Before MST3K there was … The Texas 27 Film Vault!
Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of this neglected cult show from the mid-1980s.
EPISODE ORIGINALLY BROADCAST: Saturday December 27th, 1986 from 10:30pm to 1:00am.
EXTRAS: Randy Clower and Richard Malmos, as machine-gun toting Film Vault Technicians First Class and members of the fictional Film Vault Corps (“the few, the proud, the sarcastic”) had two and a half hours to work with each week. Interviews with figures like Vincent Price, Forry Ackerman and others were featured and the movies being shown and mocked were often preceded by episodes of old Republic serials like Radar Men from the Moon and others. This episode featured Randy and Richard’s interview with Ben Johnson, whom they had interviewed at his ranch earlier in the year. Johnson also appeared in the episode’s film, Terror Train.
SERIAL: For this episode the movie was preceded by a chapter of Mysterious Doctor Satan in which a mad scientist called Dr Satan commanded a goofy robot and was opposed by a pulp-style hero called Copperhead.
HOST SEGMENTS: The most memorable Host Segment Randy and Richard did during this New Year’s-themed horror film was a bit where, as Midnight Dallas Time approached, they staged a countdown and then a raucous celebration of the arrival of … December 28th, 1986. Ken “Tex” Miller, Joe “The Hypnotic Eye” Riley and other Film Vault Corps members joined in the festivities in a great example of the wry humor of this pre-MST3K program.
Randy (right) and Richard way down on Level 31 hosting The Texas 27 Film Vault
TERROR TRAIN (1980) – A New Year’s Eve slasher film set on a train carrying a load of partying passengers who plan to ring in the New Year in each time zone of the United States. As required by law at the time, Jamie Lee Curtis starred since it was a slasher flick with a seasonal theme. (Look under the Federal Halloween, Halloween II and Prom Night Act of 1980 if you don’t believe me)
A few years earlier Curtis and her college buddies played an initiation trick on a freshman by tricking him into bed with a female corpse. The guy had a nervous breakdown from the ugly near-necrophiliac experience (like sleeping with Barbra Streisand must feel) and is supposedly still in a mental hospital because of it. Continue reading
#WALKAWAY MARCH ON WASHINGTON – Former Democrats disgusted with the Party’s growing intolerance and fascism walked on Washington DC. 
THE BLACK ABBOT (1897): GOTHIC HORROR – Halloween Month was, as usual, filled with Balladeer’s Blog’s examination of many neglected horror stories and films. 
BALLADEER’S BLOG OVERCAME TECHNO-FASCISTS WHO TRIED TAKING IT DOWN – Yes, I was one of the year’s many targets of privileged white one percenters and techno-fascists who abuse their wealth to try to censor all dissenting opinions. 
JOHN SILENCE: OCCULT DOCTOR (1908) – Balladeer’s Blog took a Halloween Season look at this oft-forgotten fictional hero. 
FACULTY LOUNGE FASCIST ROUNDUP: OCTOBER 11th – Yes, it was time once again for Balladeer’s Blog’s continuing look at intolerant left-wing Archie Bunkers who pretend to be “educators.” (LMAO) 
HELLRAISER: THE FOUR BEST FILMS – Just in time for the Halloween Season, Balladeer’s Blog examined some of the Hellraiser movies. 
TRUMP CARDS: OCTOBER 22nd – It was the latest edition of Trump Cards! 
THE ENSOULED VIOLIN (1880): GOTHIC HORROR – A Halloween Season review of this work of Gothic horror written by Madame Blavatsky herself. 
THE CREEPY LINE (2018) – This excellent documentary look at the abuses of techno-fascists at Google, Facebook, Twitter and all over Silicon Valley is an excellent work of investigative journalism. 
THE HOUSE ON THE BORDERLAND (1908) – Halloween day itself saw my review of this horror tale written by William Hope Hodgson. 
NEW DEMOCRAT SLOGANS – Balladeer’s Blog presented more mock slogans for the Democrats. 
#BLEXIT: BLACK EXIT FROM THE DEMOCRAT PARTY PLUS #BLACKLIVESMAGA – The #WALKAWAY movement also spawned allied movements like #BLEXIT and #BLACKLIVESMAGA. 
MOTHER JONES: MORE FAVORITE TRUMP LINKS – Mother Jones went ahead and provided another list of favorite links regarding President Donald Trump. 
Here at Balladeer’s Blog I’ve always had a soft spot for the Resident Evil movies. I’m not implying that they’re good by any means, but as guilty pleasures I consider them pretty watchable in a Spaghetti Western sense. You don’t expect logic or well-maintained continuity in the original Django or Sartana series any more than you do from the Stranger or Hallelujah flicks or any of the other lower-level pulp series of Italo-Westerns. 
Seventies chop-socky films are another example. You might watch them but you sure as hell can’t defend them from criticism. 
JOE MAGARAC: NEGLECTED AMERICAN FOLKTALE – What Paul Bunyan was to lumberjacks, what John Henry was to railroad men and what Pecos Bill was to cowboys, Joe Magarac was to workers in Steel Mills. 
THREE LABOR DAY MOVIES – In honor of Labor Day Weekend I reviewed three films that are very appropriate for that holiday. 
APOLLO MISSIONS TWELVE THROUGH SEVENTEEN – Since the lion’s share of the attention always goes to the Apollo 11 moon landing I decided nothing could be more Balladeer’s Blog-ish than to cover the subsequent moon missions instead. 
THREE BOOKS FROM THE GREAT DON SURBER – The one and only Don Surber churned out three of the most riveting and refreshingly offbeat political chronicles of recent years. 
RECENT MOVIES: SOME REVIEWS – Instead of the old Golden Turkeys or obscure foreign films that I usually review I gave in to reader requests and posted my takes on assorted recent big-name releases. 
BABES FOR TRUMP INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT – Beauty and brains and a daring, iconoclastic nature! 
A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1982) – Burbank Films of Australia produced this mediocre at best animated version of the Dickens classic. Previously I reviewed the 1969 Australian cartoon version and if you were to go strictly by this 1982 rendition of A Christmas Carol you would think that Australian animation technology had not progressed one bit since 1969.
BLACKADDER’S CHRISTMAS CAROL – My Ninth Annual Christmas Carol-A-Thon continues here at Balladeer’s Blog! Long-time readers know what a big fan I am of Rowan Atkinson’s work – especially his Blackadder programs. Hell, I’m even an enormous fan of his more serious work in Full Throttle. And I never tire of telling anyone who will listen that I think he’d make a perfect Dikaiopolis in Aristophanes’ comedy The Acharnians. 
BOONE MAY: NEGLECTED GUNSLINGER – The three-day Frontierado Holiday Weekend kicked off with this look at the underrated gunslinger Daniel Boone May, better known as just Boone May. 
SJW’s: LOSERS OR JUST FOOLS – SJW’s are the modern-day equivalent of those primly disapproving religious nuts who spent their lives trying to impose their own uptight notions of right and wrong on other people. Except SJW’s are even more annoying. 
LOST MOONA LISA FOOTAGE SURFACED – Balladeer’s Blog’s love of the old Movie Host Shows of the past has been well-established. Moona Lisa (Lisa Clark) has been featured here since 2011. 
#WALKAWAY MOVEMENT CONTINUES – This item examined the continuing #WALKAWAY Movement, the exodus of so many of us former Democrats from the party because of Democrats’ increasing fascism, intolerance and snobbery toward the working class. To read this item CLICK 
NEIL BREEN’S LATEST FILM: TWISTED PAIR (2018) – The Breenius behind movies like Double Down, I Am Here …. (sic) Now, Fateful Findings and Pass Thru struck again with this sci-fi/ social commentary oddity title Twisted Pair. 
DYSTOPIA NATION: THE NEW COLONIALISM – This controversial blog post was another in my Dystopia Nation series. 
SHARK GOD OF FIJI: NDAKUWANG-GA – Balladeer’s Blog’s look at the Gods of Fiji was incredibly popular. 
JOHN BRENNAN: CIA FILTH … PLUS MORE – John Brennan, The Man From S.C.U.M. himself, headlined this look at the ongoing offenses of America’s forever-slimy CIA and NSA. 
THE PRISONER: LIVING IN HARMONY – Balladeer’s Blog’s episode by episode look at this 1967 Patrick McGoohan sci-fi/ existential drama raised a lot of interest. 
ROBERT MUELLER: GANGSTER BOSS – Accused rapist and accused suborner of perjury Robert Mueller, the modern-day Martin Dies and Joe McCarthy, was the topic of this blog post. 
FLASHMAN ITEM: SO HOW WOULD I HAVE HANDLED HIS CIVIL WAR ADVENTURES? – The love for George MacDonald Fraser’s antihero Harry Paget Flashman kept pouring in all summer long. 
ANTIFA IS REALLY KLAN-TIFA – A look at the cowardly masked fascists of Antifa, who are really KLAN-tifa, no matter what they pretend their name is short for. 
DEMOCRATS LOVE CORPORATE FASCISM – The new motto of the Democrats seems to be “Vote all you want – we’ll use our corporate fascist allies to force you to comply with our every bizarre notion.” 
A CAROL CHRISTMAS (2003) – Here’s another entry in Balladeer’s Blog’s Ninth Annual Christmas Carol-A-Thon. This version is one of the many that tries mining laughs out of setting the Dickens classic in the modern age. These adaptations have varying degrees of success and on a scale of 1 to 10 I would give this effort a 6.5. 
MAVERICK (1994): MOVIE REVIEW – Frontierado was fast approaching when I posted this review of the 1994 film version of the James Garner television series Maverick. 
#WALKAWAY MOVEMENT: DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE FROM THE DEMOCRAT PARTY – Gay man Brandon Straka became a dissident hero as he launched the #WALKAWAY movement. Straka provided organization to the ’til now random exodus from the increasingly fascistic and intolerant Democrat Party. (I myself went Independent years ago.) 
TUILAKEMBA: FIJIAN DEMIGOD – Balladeer’s Blog’s examination of the saga of Fiji’s heroic demigod Tuilakemba was a hit. I covered not just the original myths but the way Tuilakemba’s tale evolved over the centuries. 
ASK BALLADEER: WHY DID I LEAVE SICILY OUT OF MY EXAMINATION OF THE ANCIENT GREEK COMEDY THE BIRDS? – Many readers were curious why I left out the usual academic speculation about the invasion of Sicily in my look at Aristophanes’ comedy The Birds. 
FLASHMAN: THE LOST ADVENTURES – I took advantage of the heavy interest in the reviews of my Top Five Harry Flashman Novels to go into total fanboy mode. 
THE CLONES (1973): MOVIE REVIEW – Balladeer’s Blog reviewed this neglected science fiction suspense movie. 
CLIVE BARKER’S THE SCARLET GOSPELS (2015) – What Ridley Scott did to his Alien saga with Covenant, Clive Barker did to his Hellraiser series with his novel The Scarlet Gospels. 
THREE NEGLECTED GUNSLINGERS – Cash Hollister, Zip Wyatt and Black Ike don’t get as much love as names like Wild Bill Hickok, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid but they had eventful lives nonetheless. 
A DIVA’S CHRISTMAS CAROL (2000) – Balladeer’s Blog’s Ninth Annual Christmas Carol-A-Thon continues with a look at this Vanessa Williams venture. Due to the nature of this adaptation of the Dickens classic it is often categorized as one of the “African-American versions.” Among other such Carols I have reviewed are Christmas is Comin’ Uptown with Gregory Hines and John Grin’s Christmas starring Robert Guillaume. 
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