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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 8416717" data-attributes="member: 27780">Polyhedron Issue 73: July 1992part 4/5Into the Dark: Another fairly commonplace theme from James this month. Time to look back half a century for a bit of pulp action. A rich vein of inspiration for making movies out of, but many unfortunately follow their inspiration in being cheaply made and implausibly plotted. Which ones will work and which are best forgotten?Doc Savage's 1975 movie outing gets thoroughly slated. Cheesy and grating, he gets the feeling the filmmakers have no respect for the source material and  are taking the piss throughout. Batman '66 was at least sincere with it's cornball humour. Plus listening to this much John Philip Sousa in one go is just cruel and unusual punishment. No thanks. Buckaroo Banzai, on the other hand, perfectly encapsulates the feeling of picking up a pulp serial in the middle despite not being based on a particular one. The cast is excellent, the humour fascinatingly oddball, and the plot audacious. It's just a shame it never got any follow-ups, even if it would ruin the central joke long-term.King of the Rocket Men is our token serial from back in the day. It's actually pretty decent for the time, although the effects are simple and the acting sometime wooden. Still, the story is exciting, and was popular enough to inspire a whole load of imitators, so maybe it's worth checking out. The Rocketeer is obviously one of those. It's a little disneyfied, but that just means it has clear heroes & villains and is suitable for the whole family. A good one to introduce your kids with before getting to the more convoluted and ambiguous examples of the genre.Dollman has the same name as a pulp character, which is why James rented it in the first place, but turns out to be completely unrelated. He is not impressed, finding a 13 inch cop from another world cleaning up the bronx just too silly to stomach, particularly with the crappy effects and attempts at grimdark seriousness. As is often the case, the direct to video sequel is even worse. Don't know why film companies keep throwing good money after bad.</blockquote>

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