Category: Sci-Fi

Flattery by Imitation

Almost a year ago I mentioned I was reading a complete collection of Sherlock Holmes stories. After taking a couple of breaks I am now very close to the end. I knew that long before Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock, there was Edgar Allan Poe’s C. Auguste Dupin, but until yesterday I had never read “The Murders in the Rue Morgue.”

Doyle wasn’t just inspired by Poe, Holmes could almost be a continuation of the Dupin series. Everything in “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” found its way into Arthur Conan Doyle’s creation of Holmes, including the narrator, who may as well be Doctor Watson. I sort of knew this, but now I know it.

My heretofore ignorance of the matter, impressed upon me for these many years by my own negligence, made me laugh in such a manner as I have not experienced in many a day! The longstanding failure to take the necessary action in resolving my curiosity, despite having a sense of propinquity regarding the subject, shall forever be a nagging reminder of my limitless capacity for procrastination. Having indulged at last a reading of the original text, I am intrigued not only by the tale itself as realized in the fertile imagination of its short-lived author, but also by the writing style that contains what are, by today’s standards, passages of a certain quaint opacity that are nonetheless compelling in their vividness and vigor.

Here is the story as told by Christopher Lee.

Here is the text of the story, so you can read along with Lee’s narration, which begins in the #119 section, after “The narrative which follows will appear to the reader somewhat in the light of a commentary upon the propositions just advanced.”

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Tales_(Poe)/The_Murders_in_the_Rue_Morgue

The U-Files

The 90’s! The decade of The X-Files and the infamous alien autopsy.

Lovely Rena, a member of the monster-fighting GUTS team, encounters a grey alien in an episode of Ultraman Tiga.

Like the 2005 return of Doctor Who after fifteen years, Ultraman returned to TV in 1996 after a 15-year absence. As with Who, each new Ultraman occupies a different body.

With a partial exception during Ultraman Ace, women had played secondary roles. They mostly handled communications at the command center, like Lieutenant Uhura.

Rena in Ultraman Tiga was a featured character. Her presence was obviously intended to attract teenage boys to the series.

This next scene leaves no doubt the studio knew the effect that Rena would have on their target demographic.

Rena was played by Takami Yoshimoto, who is now 51. Takami was literally born into the Ultra family, as her father, Susumu Kurobe, was the first Ultraman in the original 1966 series.

Takami’s popularity quickly extended beyond Ultraman. The LaserDisc store I frequented throughout the 90’s had Japanese “girl watching” videos for rent, similar to this one with Takami.

Click here to see the safest “boudoir” photo of Takami I can share. It is nonetheless NSFW unless you’re working from home.

Takami with her father, November, 2020.

Conteo de Glóbulos (Blood Count)

On the Criterion Channel I’m watching Dracula, from 1931, but not the familiar American film with Bela Lugosi. It’s the Spanish version, filmed on the same Universal studio sets at the same time but, appropriately, at night. NPR has the story on this unique production.

I remember agonizing over spending $80-$100 for single Criterion releases on LaserDisc thirty years ago, and those prices were 20% off. An annual subscription to the Criterion Channel is $90, so when it was announced, of course I signed up immediately.