December is the time for end of the year retrospectives, so here is a look at Balladeer’s Blog’s Best of January 2021.
MYSTERIOUS PLANET (1982) – My review of this forgotten science fiction bomb which vaguely parallels the Jules Verne novel Mysterious Island. This unintentionally hilarious flick is one of the worst movies ever made. Click HERE.
SIXTEEN FAILED PREDICTIONS FROM 1975 – Four provinces seceding from Canada to join the United States? Indonesia trying to conquer Australia? A military junta in France? All this and more with a look at predictions which were WAY off. Click HERE.
THE GODFATHER CODA (2020 Edit) – My review of Francis Ford Coppola’s December 2020 re-edit of Godfather III. I look at the reshuffling of scenes, the omission of some and different takes for others. Click HERE.
DYSTOPIA NATION: TECHNO TYRANTS – A fanciful tale of Big Tech tyranny which has in many ways come true. Click HERE.
RIVALS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES – Episodes of the 1970s series. Duckworth Drew HERE, Charles Dallas HERE, J.T. Laxworthy HERE, and Professor Van Dusen HERE.
ANNE SPIELBERG – Steven’s sister was involved with some very bad science fiction flops in 1980 and 1981. My reviews of them are HERE.
BEST OF BIDEN GOOFS AND GAFFES – The hilarious mock commercial for a collection of Joe Biden’s blithering idiocy. Click HERE. Continue reading
If you are heavily into films and hearing from directors and actors offering comments on their work long ago when those movie projects first came out you may enjoy the old Matt and Greg Podcasts. The pair listen to and comment on 1990s to early 2000s radio junket interviews. 
A CHRISTMAS CAROL GOES WRONG (2017) – The players from Great Britain’s Mischief Theater Company strike again in their guise as the Cornley Polytechnic Amateur Dramatic Society. After the absolute disaster they made of their 2016 production of Peter Pan (see Peter Pan Goes Wrong), the Society were banned from the BBC. 
From there the Society mount their own production with their highly flawed but immensely likable players, highlighted by Chris (Henry Shields), Annie (Nancy Zamit), Robert (Henry Lewis) and others. Naturally, a LOT goes wrong.
We need alternate political parties. The Democrats have become basically “The Party” in 1984 fashion, with intolerant functionaries pushing Democrat Dogma into every aspect of the social, professional and educational aspects of life for the rest of us. Dissenting from Democrat Party policy has become grounds for driving people out of their jobs and even out of entire professions. 
A JETSON CHRISTMAS CAROL (1985) – Christmas Carol-A- Thon 2021, my 12th annual Christmas Carol-A-Thon, continues here at Balladeer’s Blog! This 1985 animated version of the Dickens classic incorporates the characters from the Hanna Barbera program The Jetsons. They were a family who were the far-future counterparts of the Stone Age family The Flintstones. 
FIRST QUARTERFINAL – The NORTHWESTERN (IA) COLLEGE RED RAIDERS took the field against the MARIAN UNIVERSITY KNIGHTS. The Red Raiders led 6-3 in the 1st Quarter and 19-10 come Halftime. In the 3rd Quarter the Knights pulled to within 19-17 before Northwestern College won out in the 4th 25-20. 
SECOND QUARTERFINAL – In this game the GRAND VIEW UNIVERSITY VIKINGS played the CONCORDIA (MI) CARDINALS. A 7-3 Cardinals edge in the opening Quarter became a 17-10 Vikings lead at the Half. The 3rd Quarter ended with Concordia University trailing by just 17-16 but it was all Grand View U in the 4th as they won the game 31-16. 
GIANT-SIZE SPIDER-MAN Vol 1 #4 (April 1975) 
Our hero defeats three of the four and a bullet fired from a rooftop by the Punisher kills the fourth. The Punisher flees the scene while Spider-Man takes care of the still-frightened woman. An ambulance and some cop cars show up on the scene. The police insist Spider-Man must come in to answer questions regarding the deaths of Captain John Stacy and Norman Osborn, both of whom he is mistakenly suspected of killing.
If it’s the Friday after Thanksgiving, then regular readers of Balladeer’s Blog know it’s the day when I kick off my annual Christmas Carol-A-Thon in which I review several versions of A Christmas Carol. I look at movies, television shows, radio shows and books which adapt the Dickens classic. Every year I present new reviews and a few old classics since new readers will have missed them. 
A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1943) – An early experimental broadcast on December 22nd, 1943 from Dumont TV’s station W2XWV in New York, presumably to mark the 100 year anniversary of the publication of A Christmas Carol. 
CHRISTMAS, 1944 (1944) – This half hour production of the Carol aired on December 19th, 1944 at 8:45 PM as part of the Video Varieties television series. Dumont TV station WABD in New York presented the show in conjunction with WOR-TV in New Jersey. Reviews of the time indicated it was an adaptation of the story of Scrooge set in 1944.
JAMES BATMAN (1966) – HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Balladeer’s Blog takes a Turkey Day look at a film from the Philippines. This movie teams up Batman, Robin and James Bond as they battle an evil organization called C.L.A.W. It’s another of the many unauthorized Batman movies from around the world. 
Dolpho is in love with Shirley (Shirley Moreno), but she considers Dolpho boring and has the hots for Batman. Just as Shirley is oblivious to the fact that Dolpho really IS Batman, she has no idea that her sister (Bella Flores) is secretly the sultry costumed villainess called Black Rose. 
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