1989: MIDNIGHT COP UK VHS RELEASE (NEW WORLD VIDEO)

From 1989: the UK rental release (aka 'big box') of MIDNIGHT COP (aka NICK KNIGHT) from NEW WORLD VIDEO.

This stylish tele-flick was a pilot for what would have been a regular US drama about a night shift cop who just happens to be a vampire. Unfortunately, the tele types bounced the idea of a hero who was also undead and the Rick Springfield (memorable for his early departure from the good ship GALACTICA a decade earlier) vehicle stalled.

Except. It didn't. The concept was reworked - and recast - and rebooted as the late night cheap-as-chips cult drama FOREVER NIGHT.

New World Video repackaged as much of the US studio's TV work as possible for the UK rental market. And this was no exception. There was no rental release and it seems to have been all but forgotten in the digital era (although FOREVER KNIGHT did get some R1 box sets way-back-when.

It's a good watch and - for my money - betger than the series.

1987: PINOCCHIO AND THE EMPEROR OF THE NIGHT Movie Adaptation (Marvel)

From Christmas 1987 (cover-dated March 1988), Marvel's adaptation of Filmation's PINOCCHIO AND THE EMPEROR OF THE NIGHT animated movie.

Remakes (and sequels) of successful Disney movies based on public-domain fairy tales and stories are nothing new (and intentionally designed to trick dozy buyers and undemanding kids) but you'd expect better of the Filmation crew.  I've not seen the movie but, knowing their usual production standards, it probably isn't a stunner. 

The Marvel tie-up was because the film was released by NEW WORLD PICTURES, Marvel's owners. 

1987: HOUSE II: THE SECOND STORY COMICS ADAPTATION (Marvel)

The Marvel Mandarins try and keep their New World paymasters happy (and demonstrate some synergy) with this 1987 adaptation of the low-budget horror-comedy HOUSE II: THE SECOND STORY.  

1987: STAN LESS ANNOUNCES THE SALE OF MARVEL COMICS (Marvel Age Magazine)

"Marvel's gonna be a big-time player in the movie biz"

Turns out Stan was right... albeit a little premature.  With IRON MAN 3 going great guns at the international box office (and, at the time of writing, its not opened in the big US and Chinese markets yet) I thought it would be fun to unearth Stan's column from MARVEL AGE MAGAZINE issue 51 (June 1987) announcing the sale of Marvel Comics (including the branch offices in London and Los Angeles) to New World Pictures.

Marvel's first dalliance with Hollywood didn't go so well.  Despite owning Marvel, and producing a good slate of TV shows, the studio never seemed to get a grasp on the characters and only managed to churn-out a few underwhelming efforts (three reunions of the Hulk TV cast and the first Punisher movie) before the cash ran out and New World had to put the business back up for sale.

Marvel's post-NWwoes are the stuff of legend but now - finally - they're the Hollywood players Stan always dreamed they would become.

I've posted about New World and the purchase of Marvel before, notably here and here.

1990: GROWING UP IN THE SIXTIES - THE WONDER YEARS by EDWARD GROSS

It's no secret that I loved (and still do) THE WONDER YEARS.  Although it slowly spiralled into decline, it remained capable throughout its 115 episodes of tugging on the heart strings when least expected.  And the final few minutes of the final episode remains one of TV's finest moments.

I found this slightly battered book, many years ago, in a dump bin at London's Tower Records flagship store at Piccardilly Circus (latterly a Virgin Megastore, then a Zavvi and now a fashion store) and snapped it up.  It remains the one-and-only time I have ever seen a copy of the book on sale anywhere.

The curse of these TV tie-in books is that - generally - they are only published when a show is hot.  Therefore they only cover the early episodes and publishers have little interest in an update once the show has been cancelled and a comprehensive overview becomes possible.  The same is true here.  The unofficial tome, published in 1990, only covers the first fifty-odd episodes.

Edward Gross is a fine writer of TV tie-in factual books but the production standards of the book leave a lot to be desired.  The cover and interior layouts are both pretty amateurish and it would have been possible to condense the text into far fewer pages if the font had been smaller and the liberal quantities of white space better utilised.  Access to photos was also clearly limited, although given the quality of the printing, it's not a massive loss.

Being unofficial, Gross' access to the show, cast and crew is obviously limited but he does at least offer some insight into the creative process. 

THE WONDER YEARS itself hasn't been treated well in the subsequent decades.  Although it has been repeated on various channels a few times, it seems that New World's initial music licensing deal wasn't permanent as reruns often feature music substitutions which can wreck the emotional impact of the scene (I tried watching a rerun of the final episode again - years later - and I was horrified to find that the piece of instrumental music playing under that poignant final scene had been unsympathetically replaced).  The same music rights problems have scuppered any form of DVD release.

1987: SLEDGE HAMMER! (Marvel US)

TRUST ME... I KNOW WHAT I'M DOING!

He's another in the surprisingly small number of examples of corporate synergy between Marvel Comics and their mid-eighties Hollywood owner New World Pictures: SLEDGE HAMMER! the comic book.

I've covered some of their other tie-ups in previous posts (most notably ONCE A HERO/ CAPTAIN JUSTICE) and I've been meaning to cover Sledge (surely the greatest show, amongst several great shows, to emerge from the New World TV factory) since I started but never quite got around to it... until today.

SLEDGE HAMMER!, a Dirty Harry/ Hunter spoof from the hilarious mind of Alan Spencer, wasn't an obvious choice for a four colour adaptation (and - arguably - the end results aren't much -ahem - cop) but Marvel New York must have been desperate to impress their new corporate paymasters.  

This two-issue limited series (although the covers don't mention that, suggesting that Marvel might have been prepared to plough-on with more if sales had been more stellar) appeared in the Fall of 1987, coinciding with the low-rated show's unexpected second season on ABC.  

Fair to say, it seems everyone involved with the show expected it to be canned after its inaugural season (it bowed-out with one of TV's all-time great OTT cliffhangers) and renewal came as something of a surprise.  New World, already beginning to experience the cash-flow problems that would cause it to sell Marvel, cut budgets on Year Two to the bone.  Generally, the second season seldom reaches the heady heights of the first year... but there is still plenty to enjoy.

Marvel's first issue spoofs the sort of low-budget horror flicks that New World's theatrical and VHS divisions were churning out whilst the second issue turns its attention to Marvel's own heroes, possibly in a desperate attempt to gain some traction in comic book stores.

MARVEL AGE MAGAZINE (issue 60, cover-dated March 1988) bundled in with the inevitable puff-piece, which you'll also find below.

In my experience, very few copies reached the UK at the time (as a young Sledge fan, thanks to ITV running the show as part of their overnight schedules, I wanted anything Hammer-related I could get my hands on... and this was about the only thing on offer) although they do occasionally turn-up in the 50p bins.  If you see them: grab them.

The two seasons, with a nice selection of extras (including a warm tribute to recurrent second season director Bill - Hulk - Bixby), were released on DVD (although they may now be deleted on both sides of the Atlantic) and I recommend them without reservation.

ISSUE 1

February 1988

ISSUE 2

March 1988

1988: THE WONDER YEARS TV GUIDE ADVERT

Here's a great TV GUIDE advert to accompany THE WONDER YEARS that I recently found online.

It's undated but *I think* it was created to promote the launch of the weekly series, which debuted as a mid-season replacement (six episodes) on ABC on 22 March 1988.

The show's pilot episode (surely one of TV's greatest ever opening instalments) aired after the SUPER BOWL on 31 January 1988.  As there's no mention of the football, and the show's in its usual first season slot, I assume it promotes that first March outing.

The New World series eventually ran for 115 episodes (the final two running as a back-to-back one hour special on ABC) across 6 seasons, ending in May 1993.

The whole series was aired on Channel Four in the UK.

Because of music licensing issues, the show isn't officially available on DVD.  Even official reruns and download versions are cursed by multiple music substitutions.

1990: TOUR OF DUTY TV GUIDE ADVERT

I found this while meandering around the web over the weekend: the TV GUIDE magazine advert promoting the two-hour series finale of New World Television's really rather excellent TOUR OF DUTY.

Despite what the copy suggests, this actually closed-out the series and not just the season.  I was always under the impression that, by the time CBS aired this, they'd already decided to cancel the show but the wording suggests that the final decision still hadn't been made and renewal was still possible.

It was only a two-hour "special presentation" because CBS glued together the last two one-hour episodes (The Raid and Payback) and played them as a tele-movie.  They certainly weren't scripted or shot as a two-hour piece.

It's also interesting that CBS Marketing opted not to include any of the show's regular cast.  Lee Majors and Carl Weathers had been recurring guest stars in several third season shows.  Pictured is Kyle Chandler who appeared in the last two episodes as a soldier who's blinded in combat (The Raid) and shipped back home (Payback) to cope with his injuries.  Given the prominence of his storyline, it's safe to say that the producers were toying with making his character a regular had the shown been renewed.

The final episode marked a significant reboot in the format, again suggesting a very different Year Four had it happened.  Several of the regular characters ended their tours and shipped back to the United States to start a civilian life.  Had the show continued, story lines would have - presumably - been split between their attempts at readjusting to civilian life in a hostile world and the remainder of Bravo Company still serving in Vietnam.  

Unfortunately, it was not to be.

1987: SPEAKEASY FANZINE: MARVEL SOLD and SKINN QUITS QUALITY

Here is the Breaking News, albeit from January 1987!  New World Pictures have snaffled up Spidey and the rest of the Marvel Comics Group.

This was the lead story from British fanzine SPEAKEASY issue 70, cover-dated January 1987.

The prediction that the sale would have no effect on Marvel's staffers turned out to be wide-of-the-mark, Marvel's new owners didn't waste too much time in dispensing with the services of Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter.  But we'll get to that.

I've covered the post-Corman rise and fall of New World Pictures/ Entertainment in a previous post but, to cut a long story short: their core business of movies and television production lost shedloads of money, Marvel was sold-off to keep the wolf from the door and NWE eventually reinvented itself as a TV station group (with some production, including the GENERATION X tele-flick) before being absorbed by News Corporation (who wanted to add New World's local stations to their existing Fox station group) and ceasing to exist in any meaningful sense.

Marvel after New World had a turbulent 1990s, spent the first part of the noughies redefining itself and is now, of course, a lucrative part of the Disney empire.

The other front page story that issue was Dez Skinn's hasty departure from Quality Comics over - ironically - quality issues.  QC, and Skinn, had been making a splash in '86 having acquired the rights to repackage and reprint the 2000AD back catalogue (as well as other IPC archive strips) from Eagle Comics (the joint-venture between IPC and Titan Books).  Skinn had planned to use these low-cost (creators, notoriously, didn't receive extra payments for reprints or reuse of their work) reprints as the basis to grow the Quality line.

After his departure, Quality became notorious for poor production standards and sloppy reprints.  Numerous titles were released under the Quality/ Fleetway banner and, one day, I'll get around to featuring some of them here.

SPEAKEASY was a well-established British fanzine which, by this point, had positioned itself as the main "newspaper" for British comics fandom.  Taking this to it's logical conclusion, it had adopted a newsprint tabloid format, folded to A4 size for display and sale (which explains that nasty brown line through the news stories, that's where the fold is!).

NEW WORLD PICTURES AFTER CORMAN

The excellent book MIND WARP: THE FANTASTIC TRUE STORY OF NEW WORLD PICTURES (by Christopher T Koetting) is an excellent history of the low budget film producer and distributor set up by the legendary Roger Corman.  However, it pretty much signs off when Corman sells his company in 1983.  That's a shame as the now publicly-listed company issued over 100 films between 1985-89 (only CREEPSHOW 2, FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC, HELLRAISER HELLRAISER 2 and SOUL MAN showed much signs of life at the box office although New World Video fared considerably better), expanded into TV production (producing some of the finest shows of the decade) and purchased Marvel Comics.

This is an attempt to create a chronological history of the company from 1983 onwards.  For the most part, I've ignored film production and distribution (including New World Video in the USA and the UK) because it's such a vast and complicated area and requires a lot more research.

1983 - Roger Corman sells New World Pictures for $16.5 million.  He retains the film library he created although the new company remains the distributor.

1984 - NW acquires film production houses Learning Corporation of America and Highgate Pictures.

JULY 1984 - SANTA BARBARA begins on NBC.  NW becomes a production partner/ distributor from February 1985.  The daytime soap eventually clocks-up 2137 episodes, ending in January 1993.  It's seen on ITV in the UK.

FEBRUARY 1986 - GLADIATOR (a truck-driving vigilante roams the roads of California fighting vehicle-based crime) is a busted New World pilot ultimately aired as a TV movie.

MAY 1986 - NW acquires the Lions Gate sound post-production facility for $3.25 million.

SEPTEMBER 1986 - ABC airs SLEDGE HAMMER!, created by Alan Spencer.  Although low-rated, the half-hour Dirty Harry spoof is renewed for the 1987-88 season but NW demands budget cuts to reduce its per-episode deficit funding.

SEPTEMBER 1986 - NBC premieres Michael Mann's CRIME STORY.  Set in Chicago in the early 1960's, the show is a hit with critics but only attracts moderate viewer attention.  It's renewed for the 1987-88 season.  The show is released on rental video in the UK by New World Video and aired, in late night slots, on ITV.

1986 - NW purchases Marvel Entertainment Group (including Marvel Comics Group, Marvel Books, Marvel UK and Marvel Productions) for $46 million as part of its plans to become a major entertainment conglomerate.  Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter is included in the deal but doesn't last long under the new regime.  Stan Lee fares much better and continues as Marvel's West Coast creative force.  His Stan's Soapbox pages in MARVEL AGE MAGAZINE begins to promote New World's projects.

1987 - New World officially become the diversified NEW WORLD ENTERTAINMENT (NWE).

AUGUST 1987 - NWE launch a hostile takeover bid for Kenner Toys, citing potential synergy especially for Marvel Entertainment properties and the chance to develop Kenner products as film and TV shows.  Kenner resist and NWE eventually withdraw.

SEPTEMBER 1987 - CBS premiere the Vietnam war drama TOUR OF DUTY.  Despite low ratings, the network renews the series for both the 1988-89 and 1989-90 TV seasons. The show is released on rental video in the UK by New World Video and aired, in late night slots, on ITV.

SEPTEMBER 1987 - Superhero comedy/ drama ONCE A HERO is cancelled after only three episodes.

OCTOBER 1987 - The world-wide stock market crash has an adverse affect on debt-heavy NWE.

OCTOBER 1987 - Marvel publish a two-issue SLEDGE HAMMER! limited series to coincide with the show's second season.

OCTOBER 1987 (cover date) - Marvel publish a one-shot adaptation of the New World movie HOUSE II: THE SECOND STORY.

JANUARY 1988 - Delayed by the 1987 writers strike, the second season of TOUR OF DUTY launches on CBS.  To shave production costs, New World moves the show from Hawaii to California.

JANUARY 1988 - The first episode of THE WONDER YEARS airs in the coveted post-superbowl slot, winning healthy ratings, critical plaudits and an Emmy Award for best comedy series.  A further five episodes make up the truncated first season, returning with more episodes from November 1988.  The show runs six seasons (and 115 episodes), ending in May 1993.

MARCH 1988 - NWE announces full-year losses of $18.5 million for 1987.  The financial problems were caused by poor box office receipts, shrinking demand for the company's productions on home video and deficit funding expensive (but only marginally successful) television shows.  Marvel's publishing activities are, however, profitable and bring in $2.3 million in income.

APRIL 1988 - NWE sells the Lions Gate facility for $5 million.

APRIL 1988 - NWE does a deal with Michael Landon Productions to bow out of distributing the star's HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN series.

MAY 1988 - THE INCREDIBLE HULK RETURNS is the first NWE production to directly result from the acquisition of Marvel.  It reunites the principal cast of the 1977-82 Universal series as well as serving as an (unsuccessful) back-door pilot for a spin-off Thor series.

JULY 1988 - Announcing expected pre-tax losses of $25 million for the second quarter, the embattled NWE puts its Marvel Entertainment subsidiary up for sale.

AUGUST 1988 - CBS airs the failed pilot SNIFF about a reporter and his dog.

OCTOBER 1988 (cover date) - Marvel publish their adaptation of the New World film ELVIRA: MISTRESS OF THE DARK.

NOVEMBER 1988 - ABC airs the comedy/ drama MURPHY'S LAW.  The series airs sporadically through March 1989.  A total of twelve episodes are produced and aired.  The show's later episodes perform badly in the ratings, one ranking 70th out of 73 programmes.  The series is shown in the UK on ITV as part of their overnight schedules.

1988 - A glut of syndicated animated series, and Marvel's lack of ownership of shows based on Hasbro characters (Transformers, G.I. Joe etc.), as well as their inability to sell shows based on their own characters, hurts income for Marvel Productions.

MAY 1989 - THE TRAIL OF THE INCREDIBLE HULK is the second of the New World-produced Hulk reunion movies.  This time, it's Daredevil who's intended to receive a spin-off.

AUGUST 1989 - Announced US premiere for the Australian filmed THE PUNISHER, based on the Marvel Comics character.  New World's financial problems means its seen in overseas markets first and eventually goes straight-to-video in the United States in 1991.  Marvel issue their movie adaptation in 1990.

AUGUST 1989 - CBS airs the vampire-cop pilot NICK KNIGHT.  It doesn't sell immediately but eventually spawns the series FOREVER KNIGHT, produced without New World's participation.

1989 - Ronald Perelman's Andrews Group purchases the publishing divisions of Marvel Entertainment Group from New World for $82.5 million.  New World retain the Marvel Productions operation.

1990 - Andrews Group acquires New World Entertainment for $300 million.  Perelman ends film production, leaving several completed pictures (including BRENDA STARR, FELIX THE CAT and WARLOCK) in temporary limbo.

FEBRUARY 1990 - THE DEATH OF THE INCREDIBLE HULK is the third (and final) tele-flick.  Despite the title, more movies are planned but the project is abandoned when star (and sometimes director) Bill Bixby is diagnosed with cancer.

MARCH 1990 - The sitcom BAGDAD CAFE, based on the 1988 feature film, staring Whoopie Goldberg, premieres on CBS.  The show returned for a second season that September but production ended suddenly in November when Goldberg walked off the show.

1990 - New World announces Brigitte Neilsen will play the SHE-HULK in a movie.  The actress is even photographed in (a fairly crude) costume and these images are used in adverts in the trade magazine Variety. The film is never made.

1991 - New World shoot a pilot for a live-action POWER PACK series, based on the Marvel comic.  Initially intended for NBC's Saturday morning schedule, NW unsuccessfully attempt to launch it as a syndicated series when the network passes.

1993 - Perelman begins to acquire a number of local television stations which he assembles under the NEW WORLD COMMUNICATIONS banner.

MAY 1994 - New World agrees to switch affiliation of much of its station group to FOX.  As part of the deal, FOX invests $500 million into New World in exchange for a 20% stake.

JUNE 1994 - New World Communications hire ex-NBC head Brandon Tartikoff to head its revitalised production division.

FEBRUARY 1996 - FOX airs the New World-produced GENERATION X TV Movie, based on the Marvel Comics mutants.  Critics and fans are largely unimpressed but ratings are healthy and a stream of post-broadcast news stories suggest plans for either another movie, a FOX TV series or a retooled syndicated series.  Presumably these plans are ultimately scuppered when New World ceases to be a producer.

APRIL 1996 - New World teams with veteran producer Stephen J. Cannell Productions for the critically acclaimed (but swiftly cancelled) PROFIT.  It would be amongst the last original series made by either production company.

JANUARY 1997 - News Corporation purchases the remainder of New World Communications.  NW's station group is placed under control of Fox Television Stations and all original production ceases.

1987: ONCE A HERO / CAPTAIN JUSTICE

ONCE A HERO was a Fall 1987 action/ adventure/ comedy, with a comic book twist, from ABC and New World Television.

The to-smart-for-TV premise revolved around a superhero (Captain Justice) who crosses over from the pages of a comic book into the "real" world.

The show was produced by New World Television so, dutifully, sister company Marvel Comics issued a comic book version: a two-issue limited series (although its not identified as one) adapting the TV pilot under the title CAPTAIN JUSTICE. 

The show was plagued by a number of pre-launch problems.  Stan Lee's Hollywood-focused column in MARVEL AGE MAGAZINE (see below) detailed several name changes, network-dictated recasting and reshoots (unfortunately he doesn't go into too much detail) and deleted scenes (including his own).

Lee was meant to make a cameo in the pilot episode but his scene was left on the cutting room floor.  A transcript of his scene (a faux interview) appears on the first page of the first Marvel issue.

The show's various working titles were, according to Lee: Believers; True Believers; True Believer (this may be a typo of True Believers); True Colors and - eventually - Once a Hero.

Ironically, because of publishing deadlines and lead times, the show would have been cancelled before either of Lee's in-print plugs appeared.

Stan regularly used his soapbox pages to plug New World's TV, film and home video activity.

Only the first issue of the Marvel adaptation mentions its TV origins on the cover, presumably being associated with a defunct-for-months TV show had no perceived sales benefits for the second.

The adaptation was written by J.M. DeMatteis (based on Dusty Kaye's TV screenplay) with art by Steve Leialoha.  Unsurprisingly, it has never been reprinted (although copies still turn up in back issue bargain bins) and there was no UK edition.

Seven episodes of Once a Hero were completed when the show was cancelled, although ABC aired only three (the feature-length pilot and two one-hour shows.  The remaining episodes (including one guest starring Adam West) never aired in the States but - presumably - aired in overseas markets.

Once a Hero was a ratings bomb and the first show of the 1987-88 season to be axed.  Its poor performance was compounded by a number of ABC affiliates which, sensing a stinker, pre-empted the pilot for the double-length debut of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION.  Some affiliates continued to substitute Trek for subsequent episodes.

Television production operated under a deficit-funded model which meant ABC would only have contributed a percentage of Once a Hero's production costs.  New World only had a real chance of recovering the true cost of shooting the series if it accumulated enough episodes (usually 75-100) for a successful afterlife in reruns and overseas sales.  It's cancellation left New World considerably out-of-pocket and contributed to its increasingly perilous financial situation (the Los Angeles Times reported, in an article published 6 March 1988, that the company had debts of $304 million and 1987-88 third-quarter losses of $6.4 million).

New World Video released the pilot episode as a direct-to-video movie in 1988 (VHS art below).  The rental-only release was never followed by a sell-through edition.  The video was promoted by a video store poster, using the same artwork as the tape.

The show has never been released on DVD.

VHS ARTWORK

TITLE SEQUENCE

(watch for some familiar Marvel characters!)

CAPTAIN JUSTICE 

ISSUE 1

March 1988

CAPTAIN JUSTICE 

ISSUE 2

April 1988

STAN'S SOAPBOX ARTICLES IN MARVEL AGE MAGAZINE

ISSUE 59

Cover-date: February 1988

ISSUE 61

Cover-dated: April 1988

TOUR OF DUTY SIGNED CAST PHOTO

Here's a TOUR OF DUTY season three publicity still from the late eighties.

Around 1990 (or thereabouts) I signed-up, and paid my membership fee, for the about-to-launch unofficial TOUR OF DUTY UK FAN CLUB (in those pre-internet days, fanzines, newsletters and fan clubs were the best way of keeping-up-to-date with obscure US TV series).  This photo (obviously not really individually signed by the cast) was sent out to new members along with a letter promising more from the club shortly.  Members are - ahem - still waiting.

1994: GENERATION X TV MOVIE

Prior to the first X-MEN feature film, Marvel dipped their toes into the mutant gene pool with this potty-mouthed teleflick, GENERATION X, an aborted pilot for a possible series.

The show was based on the X-MEN spin-off comic book of the same name, created by Scott Lobdell and Chris Bachalo, launched in November 1994.

The screen version, produced by Marvel's former owner New World Entertainment alongside Marvel, is a sorry affair.  It's starved of the money and resources required to bring a super team to the screen and looks embarrassingly cheap.

For a family-friendly project, there's a surprising amount of mild profanity, possibly shoe-horned into the home video version to give it a little spice.

The movie aired on FOX in February 1996 and was released in the UK on rental VHS the same year.  It never received a sell-through VHS or any DVD release in the UK.  The VHS sleeve is above.

The Canada-shot pilot apparently scored healthy ratings for FOX.  This improbable success prompted talk of a weekly series, either for Fox or for first-run syndication.  Predictably, it didn't happen.  It may have been scuppered due to lack of industry interest or by the January 1997 takeover of New World (principally to secure its network of local television stations) by FOX, who promptly closed NW production business. Generation X was presumably not a viable enough project to survive at 20th Century Fox.

Here is the complete pilot:

PART ONE

PART TWO

PART THREE

PART FOUR

PART FIVE

PART SIX

PART SEVEN

PART EIGHT

PART NINE

(Final part)

1987: TOUR OF DUTY VHS COVER

Vietnam war drama TOUR OF DUTY is generally regarded as one of the best US drama series of the era.  And, not unsurprisingly, it was released on (rental) VHS in the UK.

TOUR OF DUTY

VHS

TAPE 1

NEW WORLD VIDEO (UK), 1987

This is the VHS sleeve for the first rental VHS tape derived from episodes of the US Vietnam war drama (58 episodes, 1987-90).  It contained episodes one (pilot) and two (Notes From The Underground) re-edited (removing the end titles from episode one and the credits and on-screen credits from episode two) into a movie-length presentation (albeit still with two distinctive stories and an obvious break mid-way).

The NAM branding only appears here and not on the series itself.  Presumably coincidentally, New World-owned Marvel Comics were publishing the 'NAM comic book (reprinted in the UK in PUNISHER) at the same time.

Several further volumes followed (always rental-only) combining several first season episodes and, on the final release, Saigon (the two-part second season opener).  No further second or third season episodes were released.

The soundtracks on the VHS versions were as-per the CBS broadcast versions, including Paint It Black by The Rolling Stones.

The VHS' did not feature any additional material not seen in the TV versions.

The first season was shot on location in Hawaii with production (rather obviously) moved to California for the following two years.

The series was initially shown in the UK on a station-by-station basis, normally as part of the recently launched overnight services.

Some regions, notably Anglia Television, ran episodes out-of-order which occasionally led to continuity issues, especially during season two (where the final two episodes were reversed in the running order so that the final episode, with cliffhanger, became the penultimate episode).  Anglia also took an unscheduled break in transmission just after the beginning of season two, despite still including it in the schedules published in TV TIMES magazine.

A further break in UK transmission happened during the first Gulf War (1991).  As the series had originally aired region-by-region, some ITV companies (including Anglia) had completed season two before the break whilst others were further behind.

When transmission was resumed, the series was now networked across most of the country (albeit still in a late night slot) as part of the LWT-led ITV Nighttime sustaining service.  To accommodate slower regions, the entire second season was repeated (in order) followed by the third and final year.

Other New World-produced series aired on ITV during this period included daytime soap opera SANTA BARBARA, CRIME STORY, SLEDGE HAMMER! and MURPHY'S LAW (which, like Tour of Duty, was a Zev Braun production).

This is the third season title sequence with original theme: Paint it Black by The Rolling Stones.

THOSE REALLY WERE... THE WONDER YEARS!

THE WONDER YEARS

1988-1993

115 EPISODES

NEW WORLD TELEVISION

THE WONDER YEARS really deserves a DVD/ Blu-Ray release but the complexities and costs of music licensing have prevented it.  Above is the cover of the 1991 UK VHS release of the first four episodes, re-edited into a movie format.

The series, which debuted in the prized post-Superbowl slot, won the 1988 Emmy Award for best comedy series and a Peabody Award in 1989.

Here's the memorable theme, by Joe Cocker, and titles:

Here's the introduction to episode one:

And... here's the poignant final moments of the final episode (with the original music intact!  When the UK's Channel Five aired a rerun, the track was replaced and an ending ruined!)

BIO/ THE BIOGRAPHY CHANNEL aired an excellent documentary about the making of the series:

PART ONE - Follow the links to the rest!

1988: ELVIRA IN THE FUNNY PAGES

"Elvira is outstanding... well two bits of her anyway!"

Barry Norman. BBC FILM '89

ELVIRA

MISTRESS OF THE DARK

NBC PRODUCTIONS/ NEW WORLD

1988

The ample charms of Elvira need no introduction but the eighties were her decade.  Oft-overlooked, but once-seen, never-forgotten, is her low-budget ($7.5 million) theatrical mis-fire (it grossed a paltry $5.5 million domestically).

New World Entertainment purchased Marvel Comics Group for $50 million in 1985 so, inevitably, Marvel churned out a comic book version (other New World tie-ups included HOUSE 2 (1987); CAPTAIN JUSTICE/ ONCE A HERO (1988); SLEDGE HAMMER! (1988)).

ELVIRA

MISTRESS OF THE DARK

MARVEL US

1988

Marvel's adaptation was a one-shot in a black and white magazine format.  It's never been reprinted and there was no UK edition.

MARVEL AGE MAGAZINE (issue 68, November 1988) ran a tie-in feature to promote it.

Here's the movie trailer.  It's got all the - ahem - stand-out moments in it.

And here's a remix of the best scene from the movie intercut with other scenes.  It exposes Elvira's real talents.

Here is the video sleeve for the first UK VHS sell-through release.

FANGORIA 77 ran an article on the making of the movie:

Elvria's Marvel one-shot wasn't her first (or last) comic book encounter.  DC Comics had already nabbed her to front their 1986 revival of horror anthology HOUSE OF MYSTERY (previously 1951-1983).  ELVIRA'S HOUSE OF MYSTERY ran for 11 issues (1986-1987) and a special.

And the hostess of horror would go on to enjoy considerable longevity in Claypool Comics' ELVIRA MISTRESS OF THE DARK (166 issues, 1993-2007).

SLOW ROBOT BONUS FEATURE

Elvira also starred in her own, unfortunately unsold, TV pilot.  The 1993 production for CBS never aired.  But here it is:

PART ONE

PART TWO

PART THREE

Unpleasant dreams!

1984: MARVEL PRODUCTIONS IN 1984/85

COMICS FEATURE 33

JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1985

Throughout the 1980s, Marvel's West Coast animation off-shoot MARVEL PRODUCTIONS was responsible for many familiar animated series (and several long-forgotten).  The studio was previously DePatie-Freleng (of PINK PANTHER fame) and was acquired by Marvel in 1980 to spearhead their expansion into areas seen as being more 'future-proof' than the core comics business.

Stan Lee, of course, departed Marvel's New York offices to relocate to California to become MP's creative director, chief pitch-man and sometime TV show narrator.

Principally created to exploit Marvel's own creations (the company's remit always included live-action film, TV and theatre but it never seemed to expand out of animation), it enjoyed its greatest success in partnership with Hasbro's marketing agency Sunbow as a producer of toy-based animation.

Former Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter (dismissed from Marvel mid-decade.  More on that from Slow Robot in future) has claimed in his excellent blog that Marvel Productions only appeared profitable because the accountants budgeted the shows on the assumption that Marvel would enjoy a regular revenue stream from reruns and, eventually, go into profit once the initial costs of making the shows was covered.  But, according to Shooter, Marvel's deals were on a work-for-hire basis and the company had no profit participation.  So, if Marvel didn't cover all its costs up-front (and Shooter claims they didn't), they had no further income to push them into profit.

With no apologies for running a second Marvel-themed COMICS FEATURE article so soon, Slow Robot presents this excellent article from early 1985 (which would have been penned sometime in 1984).  Some notes follow.

SLOW ROBOT NOTES:

SPIDER FRIENDS (which sounds awfully like DC's rival, and more successful SUPER FRIENDS) was the working title for SPIDER-MAN AND HIS AMAZING FRIENDS.  Heatwave, obviously, became Firestar.

MEATBALL AND SPAGHETTI really did exist although it appears to have never run in the UK.  Here's the title sequence:

THE TRANSFORMERS.  According to Jim Shooter's blog (here again), Marvel Productions had a very different plan for how to realise the Robots in Disguise.  Hasbro opted to use the ideas concocted by the comics creatives across all media.  The pitch artwork shown below the box artwork presumably reflected MP's thinking (with kids as 'pilots').

PANDOMONIUM appears to have never gone into production.

MUFFY IN CAR AND CABLE.  The Transformer-a-like Bumblebee-wannabe, which has something of the GOBOTS about it, never happened.

DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS.  The artwork contains a few differences in design and colouring compared to the finished series, which ran on CBS and BBC ONE.  And never had an official first or last episode.

The pitch artwork for IRON MAN, ANT MAN and (new creations) THE MONSTRESS and THE ALIENS didn't sell.

HOWARD THE DUCK never became an animated hero but did become an infamous George Lucas live-action mis-fire.

HULK HOUND and TEEN HULK, unsurprisingly, went nowhere.  

DAREDEVIL AND LIGHTNING THE SUPERDOG did sell to ABC after Mark Evanier wrote a series bible and pilot script.  But according to his account, an executive at Marvel Productions pissed-off someone at ABC and the project was swiftly dumped.

And, finally, here is the memorable MARVEL PRODUCTIONS logo that appeared (unless the BBC faded it too soon or cut it off) at the end of their shows after Marvel were acquired by New World Entertainment in 1985.  It contains similar design elements to New World's own logo.