Tag Archives: Barbara Stock

Wizards of the Lost Kingdom (1985, directed by Hector Olivera)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

The kingdom has been conquered by an evil sorcerer named Shurka (Thom Christopher).  Young Simon (Vidal Peterson), the son of the king’s wizard, barely escapes with his best friend and pet, the white fur-covered Gufax (Eugenio Martin).  In the wilderness, they meet warrior Kor (Bo Svenson), who teams up with them to free the kingdom.

This is another Roger Corman-produced sword and sorcery film from Argentina.  Corman did a lot of these in the 80s.  Wizards of the Lost Kingdom stands out by being considerably more kid-friendly than the rest of them.  There’s no nudity.  The violence is not excessive and is largely directed at fake looking giant insects.  There’s no nudity and no scenes of the bad guys forcing themselves on women.  The hero even has a toy-friendly companion!

Wizards of the Lost Kingdom also has a lot of stock footage.  The entire pre-title sequence is stock footage lifted from movies like Death Stalker to explain how “King Tyler” came to control the kingdom.  (King Tyler sounds like someone who would be the kegger king of the local college.)  Wizards of the Lost Kingdom is a short movie with a barely 72-minute run-time.  Fourteen of those minutes is footage from other movies.

Wizards of the Lost Kingdom takes a lighter approach to the sword-and-sorcery genre and it pays off with a simple and easy-to-watch movie featuring swords, magic, and monstrous insects.  It’s not a film that demands much of the audience and Bo Svenson looks convincing grunting and carrying a sword.  It wasn’t a box office hit but found a second life on video.  Of course, it got a sequel.  None of the original cast returned.

Late Night Retro Television Review: CHiPs 4.15 “Ponch’s Angels: Part Two”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Mondays, I will be reviewing CHiPs, which ran on NBC from 1977 to 1983.  The entire show is currently streaming on Prime!

This week, Ponch continues to train Melanie and Paula.

Episode 4.15 “Ponch’s Angels: Part Two”

(Dir by John Florea, originally aired on March 1st, 1981)

We pick up where we stopped last week.  A man and his girlfriend are stealing purses and wallets at the marina.  Three escaped convicts are in a deserted house and digging for buried treasure.  Ponch and Jon are having to train two new motorcycle cops, Paula (Barbara Stock) and Melanie (Trisha Townsend).  When last we checked in, Ponch was kissing Melanie.  This episode opens with Ponch telling Melanie that they can never kiss again.

Ponch and Baker continue to train Paula and Melanie.  Ponch decides to switch with Baker.  He trains Paula while Baker works with Melanie.  But then almost the entire highway patrol comes down with the flu and, when Baker is put in charge while Getraer recovers at home, Ponch finds himself to work with both Paula and Melanie.  Once again, it’s all on Ponch because it’s The Ponch Show!

It’s all a bit exhausting to try to keep up with, to be honest.  Ponch and Baker spend this episode wondering whether or not women actually could handle being motorcycle cops.  Baker especially seems to be confused at the idea of a woman driving a motorcycle.  One gets the feeling that Ponch is just mad because he knows he’ll get fired if he tries to make a move on either woman.  Almost this entire episode is made up of Ponch trying to keep track of who is riding with who.

Luckily, Paula and Melanie prove themselves by catching the purse snatchers and also helping to catch the escaped convicts.  Good for them!  At the end of the opposite, they toss their motorcycle helmets in the air and leap for joy.  The picture freezes while Ponch and Baker have a good laugh.

I was not surprised to read that this episode was meant to be a backdoor pilot for a Paula/Melanie show.  Stock and Townsend were both likable and they acted well opposite each other so I could actually imagine them starring in a fairly entertaining series.  It didn’t happen, though.  Maybe the network felt that Ponch and Jon didn’t need the competition.

This was an okay episode of The Ponch Show.

Late Night Retro Television Review: CHiPs 4.14 “Ponch’s Angels: Part 1”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Mondays, I will be reviewing CHiPs, which ran on NBC from 1977 to 1983.  The entire show is currently streaming on Prime!

This week, Ponch protests having to do his job.

Episode 4.14 “Ponch’s Angels: Part 1”

(Dir by John Florea, originally aired on February 28th, 1981)

It’s a busy week for the Highway Patrol!  The marina is full of tourists and carnival-goers.  A group of escaped convicts are trying to get out of town.  A man and his partner are stealing purses.  But all of that pales in comparison to what Jon and Ponch are having to do.

Jon and Ponch are having to train rookies!

Even worse, from their perspective …. the rookies are women!

Ponch protests when he’s given the assignment to train enthusiastic and blonde Melanie Mitchell (Trisha Townsend).  He tells Getraer that Melanie is attractive and that Getraer knows what happens when Ponch gets around attractive women.  Getraer replies that he wants Ponch to train Melanie precisely because Ponch has so many girlfriends.  A man with many girlfriends will be less likely to be tempted.  Okay, Getraer, that’s interesting logic….

And it turns out that Getraer doesn’t know what he’s talking about because this episode ends with Ponch and Melania passionately locking lips.  “TO BE CONTINUED” flashes on the screen so I guess we’ll get to the disciplinary hearing and the subsequent lawsuit next week.

As for Jon, he trains Paula Woods (Barbara Stock), who is as cool and reasonable as Melanie is enthusiastic and impulsive.  Paula tries to flirt with Jon but Jon keeps it all business because Jon is capable of actually doing his job in a professional manner.

What’s odd about this episode is that it’s called Ponch’s Angels, even though Ponch is only training one of the new motorcycle cops.  This season, even the episode titles were all about erasing Jon Baker!

Anyway, as I mentioned, this is the first part of a two-parter.  Apparently, this episode was actually a backdoor pilot for a series that would have focused on Melanie and Paula and it’s easy to see that Melanie was created to be another Ponch while Paula was created to be a female Jon.  Next week, we’ll see if Paula and Melanie can make use of the lessons they were taught by Jon and Ponch.

Retro Television Review: Fantasy Island 6.17 “King of Burlesque/Death Games”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Tuesdays, I will be reviewing the original Fantasy Island, which ran on ABC from 1977 to 1984.  Unfortunately, the show has been removed from most streaming sites.  Fortunately, I’ve got nearly every episode on my DVR.

“Smiles, everyone, smiles!”  It’s time for another two fantasies.

Episode 6.17 “King of Burlesque/Death Games”

(Dir by Cliff Bole, originally aired on March 12th, 1983)

I’m going to deal with the first of this week’s fantasies very quickly because, quite frankly, it’s not every interesting.  Rich Little is Tom Vail, a wall street accountant who wants to be a burlesque comedian.  He gets his fantasy.  He performs at the Fantasy Island Burlesque Revival.  He wears a hideous suit with a big bowtie.  He falls in love with a dancer.  The always likable Red Buttons appears as a Burlesque veteran.  It’s not a bad fantasy but it’s not terribly interesting.

Meanwhile, Vanessa Walgren (Joanna Pettet) has come to the Island to compete in the “First Annual Fantasy Island Pentathlon.”  However, Mr. Roarke knows that she’s there for another reason.  She wants to kill him!  A year ago, Vanessa’s husband was lost at sea while on his own fantasy.  (He wanted to retrace the route of the Kon Tiki.)  Vanessa blames Roarke and she’s put a bounty on his head.  Roarke sighs and says, “Fine, but if you don’t kill me by the end of the weekend, you have to leave the Island and never bother me again.”  Vanessa agrees….

WHAT!?  What type of vengeance is that!?  Seriously, if you’re obsessed with vengeance, you don’t just shrug and accept an arbitrary rule from the person you’re trying to kill.

Anyway, Roarke is the judge for the Pentathlon so he’s got various athletes trying to kill him over the course of the entire weekend.  He even gets cut during a fencing match!  (“If you can bleed, you can die!” Vanessa declares in a wonderfully over-the-top moment.)  Whenever anyone fails to kill him, Roarke says, “Get off my Island!,” which is rally cool.  Tattoo wonders why Roarke is allowing this to happen.  Why doesn’t Roarke order Vanessa to get off the Island.  Roarke is all like, “I can’t tell you, just trust me.”  The final event is a skydiving competition and I’m not really sure how you compete at that but whatever.  Despite Vanessa’s efforts to sabotage his parachute, Roarke lands safely.

Vanessa then offers him two glasses of wine.  One glass is poisoned!  Can Roarke pick the right glass?  Roarke is like, “Screw this,” and finally reveals that Vanessa’s husband is not dead.  Instead, he’s a secret agent who had to fake his own death but who is now ready to be reunited with Vanessa….

Again, WHAT!?  Seriously, that came out of nowhere.

Reunited with her husband, Vanessa apologizes for trying to murder Roarke.  Roarke says it’s fine because Mr. Roarke is very forgiving.

The burlesque fantasy was boring (loved the costumes, though!) but the revenge fantasy made up for it.  I love it when Fantasy Island embraces the melodrama.  Plus, this fantasy actually gave Ricardo Montalban and Herve Villechaize quite a bit to do.  All in all, this was a good trip to the Island!