The Green Hornet inspires this Louisiana filmmaker

"I’m a huge fan of that character. I mean huge!!" says independent filmmaker Patrick Bennett of Louisiana, whom you met last week on the brand-new "Pop Ninja" podcast with Lisa Everetts. Patrick is such a fan, actually, that the GH character has inspired his work.

"I love the two cliffhanger serials they made in the '40s," he says. "One with Gordon Jones and one with Warren Hull. Just last month I put together a serial version costume of that character. Maybe someday I’ll wear it to a con."

 

"I loved the ‘60s series, too," Patrick says. "I get all those Dynamite comics and I listen to an episode of the old Green Hornet radio show every day while I’m driving to work. I’m such a geek. LOL. I’m looking forward to the animated TV series Kevin Smith is producing. I did a YouTube show a couple months back where a friend and I reviewed the two serials and the TV show."

 

Patrick produces an event every year called the Calcasieu Serialfest there in Louisiana. Last month marked the seventh one. "It’s a Saturday of serial chapter screenings, serial cosplay, etc.," Patrick explains. "This year I made some COVID masks to give to attendees to wear during the event that look like the Green Hornet mask from the early comics and radio show program. I also made up some Green Hornet buttons that look like the radio show premiums they would give away in the ‘40s. I love me some Hornet."

 

 

 

 

 

 

Learn more about Patrick's Calcasieu Serialfest at the event's Facebook page. 

Follow the "Pop Ninja" podcast on Facebook, as well.

 

Photos courtesy of Patrick Shawn Bennett; please do not copy without permission. 

Catch the brand-new Pop Ninja podcast

Patrick Bennett and Lisa Everetts are fans of a lot of great TV shows, movies and other stuff in our pop culture. If you've seen the BRBTV "Superchicks" book, then you might recall Lisa as the avid "Secrets of Isis" fan who met star Joanna Cameron in real life and remains friends with her. Lisa's interview for the book expanded on our dearly departed '70s-'80s Saturday-morning kids' programming, the phenom that us Gen-Xers remember so well. 

Well, now Patrick, who's an independent filmmaker in Louisiana, and Lisa, who owns a bed-and-breakfast in Pennsylvania, are teaming up to present a new podcast: "Pop Ninja," a discussion of all kinds of great stuff. The podcast promises "a trip back in time to the pop culture of the '70s and '80s." The inaugural episode is up right now on Buzzsprout, so check it out!

Stay up to date on the Pop Ninja Facebook page, and check out the Pop Ninja YouTube channel, where you can watch "Cliffhangers: The Serial Talk Show." Patrick loves the old-time serials like "Green Hornet" -- more on that later on this very blog!

Terrific non-TV Toys: Batgirl on scooter, DC Artists Alley series, 2019

BRBTV's Backlog of Batgirls continues. We're not anywhere near done yet. This time on Terrific non-TV Toys, it's a cute little Batgirl on a scooter straight from DC's newer comic book series. She looks like a figure, but she's actually a statue. She's part of DC's Artists Alley series, a tribute to the comic con experience.

Hazzard Fest features Luke, Daisy, Coy and more

This year of 2020 can't be a total wash, ya know? We've seen events canceled one by one in the past few months, events that, if you would have asked us back in March when this pandemic hit full force, we would have thought, oh, surely things will be better by then! But nope, a couple great car shows this summer were canceled around these parts, the Motor City Comic Con, even the Monroe Pop Fest scheduled for next month, which BRBTV really enjoyed last September! Bummer that it has to happen this way, but safety first. And we'll look forward to a much better 2021!

Meanwhile, though, the folks in Hazzard County still have this one on the books for early October. Let's pray it can happen! We just had Bo's Extravaganza a few weekends ago, so maybe this one will fly, too. It's a great lineup: Tom ("Luke Duke") Wopat, Catherine ("Daisy Duke") Bach, Byron ("Coy Duke") Cherry of "The Dukes of Hazzard," plus show mechanic Tom Sarmento, who now has a new book out. And there are lots more great celebs -- see the list below. Concerts, comedy, wow, a really nice lineup. I'm thinking about it -- are you?? Tickets are here.

Batman, Superman and friends shine in this Metro Detroit figure collection

Special thanks to Bill of Metro Detroit, along with Mike, for these photos of Bill's collection of DC Comics-related stuff. He's got a great set of superheroes, and those statues of the female DC characters are amazing. And can you see that pricetag on the Hall of Justice? Wow, we've got to work on that time machine ...

Photos courtesy of Bill; please do not copy.

Screen-used TV treasures abound in online auction this month

Have you been in the market for an "Airwolf" model miniature? Maybe Claire Bennet's cheerleading outfit from the original "Heroes" (save the cheerleader, save the world)? How about Dean Cain's Superman uniform from "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman," the very outfit he so famously and protectively folded his arms across his chest in, time after time? "I Love Lucy," "Lost," "Marcus Welby, M.D.," "Sleepy Hollow," "Smallville," all kinds of "Star Trek" ... so many great TV shows represented in the catalog for this month's online prop auction by Prop Store of London and L.A. (see Propstore.com). And it's movie props, of course, too, but oh, boy, we love that TV stuff! The "Trek" and "Star Wars" stuff  just goes on for days.

The auction happens online and in person at the Petersen Automotive Museum in California.

Check out the full array of listings that go up live August 26 and 27:

https://content.propstore.com/auction/EMLA+LA/EMLA-LA2020_Catalog_OnlineView_B2.pdf?_ga=2.214181783.180733806.1595887109-1827870685.1595887109

Terrific TV Toys: Batgirl figures from "DC Super Hero Girls"

Aaaaaannnndddd .... we're back! After quite a long hiatus, really. The "Terrific TV Toys" series returns for its seventh big season! OK, make that a seventh small season, since it will be just a few episodes before Season 8 begins in January. But still, there's some cool stuff you're going to see, especially since it continues the "Backlong of Batgirls" launched a few weeks ago on the sister series "Terrific non-TV Toys."

The smart, savvy, so sweet "DC Super Hero Girls" series premiered on Cartoon Network just last year. But previously, it was a web series with a slightly different look and approach. Then, the "DC Super Hero Girls" web series featured a heapin' helpin' of both male and female figures from the DCU, teenaged and facing all the pitfalls that attending high school includes. The latter incarnation on TV focuses mainly on a core set of the female figures and how they secretly fight crime together as best friends.

For the earlier web series, a set of dolls hit the store shelves and were pretty popular around Christmastime a few years back. Though we can call them "figures," the market for these was clearly little girls. Little girls who could dream of someday becoming a superhero! So let's take a look at two Batgirls from that original "DC Super Hero Girls" set ...

Next month, you'll see two Batgirl dolls from the newer (TV) series.

Coy Duke gives us a peek at the "Dukes" fun at Bo's Extravaganza

Special thanks to Byron ("Coy Duke") Cherry of "The Dukes of Hazzard" for sharing these two snapshots with BRBTV. He had all kinds of fun at Bo's Extravaganza a couple weeks ago, it's plain to see! The event was hosted by John ("Bo Duke") Schneider in Holden, Louisiana.

And heads-up: Byron will be appearing at Hazzard Fest in Bulls Gap, Tennessee, on October 3, along with Tom ("Luke Duke") Wopat, Catherine ("Daisy Duke") Bach, Tom Sarmento, Cindy Wills and others.

Photos courtesy of Byron Cherry; please do not copy without permission.

"Collector's Call" comes to Metro Detroit to profile an amazing collection of star cars

Coming up on the next episode of "Collector's Call" ... an eye-popping assortment of star cars! And that's what it will be, this weekend on the half-hour original MeTV series on collectibles of all sorts. Who could have guessed that after all kinds of episodes about Coca-Cola goods, comic books, and "Wizard of Oz" memorabilia and the like, that host Lisa Whelchel, whom this author loved so much on "Facts of Life" back in the day, would come to Michigan and shoot so close to home ... in both geographic location (just down the road) and in friendly relations, featuring two of my friends, Mike and Mel (second from right and far right below) ...

Whelchel and the "Collector's Call" crew were in this expansive car room to examine cars from classic TV shows and movies like "The Monkees," "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!", "Knight Rider," "The Blues Brothers," "National Lampoon's Vacation" and much more. (No, that's not actually Chevy Chase standing behind Lisa below, but it sure heckin' looks like it!) There is one vehicle featured here that is screen-used; can you guess which one? If you are a regular viewer of the Barrett-Jackson auto auction, then you can probably answer that question. The rest of these cars are loving replicas. This is the collection you'll see with Motor City Reel Rides.

Each star car in this room has its own corner of memorabilia, and that is another amazing part of this collection. Just a handful of cars are featured in this "Collector's Call" episode, but the collection goes way beyond that, as you can get an idea of in the photos at the Motor City Reel Rides Facebook page. Other star-car owners join in when Mel and Mike go to car shows like the Woodward Dream Cruise and  Cruisin' Hines, so this goes way beyond Metro Detroit. Some travel from other parts of Michigan. And, many of these cars are available to appear at special events like weddings.

The episode airs this Sunday, August 2 on MeTV.

Photos courtesy of Motor City Reel Rides

Please do not copy without permission

Terrific non-TV Toys: Batgirl statue from DC Core line

This snazzy 2018 Batgirl statue from the DC Core line by DC Collectibles sits on a snazzy cell-phone base. That's because it's the Batgirl of Burnside, known in the newer DC Comics as fighting crime from a very modern, high-tech and socially connected perspective. We're making our way through our "backlog of Batgirls" with this next installment of the Terrific non-TV Toys series ...

Maximum "Magnum": A look at one fan's collection

Yesterday you saw the highly creative "Magnum, P.I." helicopter scene diorama by Canadian artist Jim Wilson. Today, he shares photos of his collection of "Magnum" memorabilia. The classic TV series starring Tom Selleck was one of Jim's favorite shows back in the '80s.

Photos courtesy of Jim Wilson; please do not copy without permission.

"Magnum, P.I." soars again in this clever diorama

You've seen the artistry of Jim Wilson of Canada on this blog before, as he has painted images inspired by "The Dukes of Hazzard." See the November 26, 2013 and March 27, 2017 posts. Well, Jim is a fan of other great classic TV shows -- for instance, "Magnum, P.I." This incredibly creative artist most recently set about creating a diorama inspired by Tom Selleck's 1980s TV show, more specifically, T.C.'s helicopter.

Nice:

"Believe it or not, the water is plaster of Paris I made ridgey and painted with white caps," Jim says.

"I watched 'Magnum' three times a day after school on three different channels," he says. "I so wanted to live that life."

(And Jim's not the only inspired "Magnum" fan -- check out this blog post.)

Tomorrow: Part 2, with a look at Jim's "Magnum" memorabilia collection!

Images by Jim Wilson;

Please do not copy without permission.

Embrace your inner Batgirl with new BRBTV playlist

All roads lead back to Batgirl, it seems, here at BRBTV. In our two collectible series, Terrific non-TV Toys and Terrific TV Toys, we do try to be diverse in the items profiled. A wide variety of TV shows, movies, characters -- that's what we aim for. Something to please everybody. But the thing this author has the most of, and the thing we keep returning to, is that redheaded, cycle-riding crimefighter Batgirl. Just can't help it. Cuz, really, there are quite a few of them downstairs in the BRBTV Batcave ...

The current count, as of presstime, is 84 figures, dolls and statues. Many of these items (dare we say most? not sure) have been profiled on the two collectibles series on YouTube, with several of them on the schedule for the next few months. So I decided to create a separate playlist for all the Batgirls in my life:



The playlist begins with last week's installment, though I might reorder that to start with the oldest, which was the very first episode of the T3 series back in 2014, the Mego Batgirl. Anyway, for the convenience of the Batgirl fans out there, hope you enjoy.

Brace yourself: It's a backlog of Batgirls

We've all been through a lot the past few months, right? If you're reading this, you've survived thus far, so let's just continue doing that, shall we? In the interest of the usual fun diversion we like to specialize in here at BRBTV, we are rolling out a backlog of Batgirls from the BRBTV Batcave in the coming months, beginning today, in our two collectibles series on YouTube. We're dealing with this backlog because we have to, frankly, since stuff has piled up in recent months while the COVID-19 thing has been raging about, and while the new rules of YouTube regarding content for kids has been rolled out and we've been adopting a wait-and-see approach on that. Well, we've waited and we've seen. For the most part. And it's time to come out again and do some stuff. So let the backlog of Batgirls commence ...

You're going to see statues, you're going to see figures, you're going to see beautiful Batgirls from the comics, from TV and from only the imaginations of folks at DC (beginning with this first one, since she's from a sort of "alternate take" series of DC Collectibles.There are eight in total right now in backlog, and who knows, once we get rolling full-force, others may even come along. But as it is, this is going to take us through the next few months, on both the Terrific non-TV Toys and Terrific TV Toys series.



Coming in a couple weeks: Another statue with a much different look!