The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #377: Welcome My Brother, Jeremy, as We Talk About Young Sherlock Holmes (1985)

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #377: Welcome My Brother, Jeremy, as We Talk About Young Sherlock Holmes (1985)

https://archive.org/download/podcast-377/Podcast%20377.mp3

This week, my brother and I are watching the 1985 film, Young Sherlock Holmes, which we had both seen as kids but not recently.  This is probably both our favorite of the ones we have watched for this series of 80s fantasy films.  This one has many fine elements that make it an enjoyable adventure movie, even if (or perhaps especially if) you’re not that familiar with Sherlock Holmes from the original books.

Jeremy and I do a little DnD style interactive adventure ourselves in the latter part of the episode.  You can follow along by using the rule set depicted below.  This was an attempt to come up with a more nuanced combat system with health, stamina, and combinations using an 8 sided die, so picked since the number 8 figures into a lot of Thirteenth Hour imagery, and I wanted to pilot a more advanced combat system for the Thirteenth Hour Patreon DnD campaigns here.

The 3 playable characters

The bad guy

Based on some ideas from the martial arts Sherlock supposedly practiced, bartitsu

Just using an eight sided die …

Check out Jeremy‘s work over at Pixel Grotto, CBR.com, and Classic Batman Panels on IG.  You can support his work on Ko-fi and get access to in-depth, exclusive Batman content here.   If you are of the DnD persuasion, his articles on DnD Beyond may be right up your alley.  Thanks, Jeremy, for coming on the show!  

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #375: Welcome My Brother, Jeremy, as We Talk About Ladyhawke (1985)

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #375: Welcome My Brother, Jeremy, as We Talk About Ladyhawke (1985)

https://archive.org/download/podcast-375/Podcast%20375.mp3

This week, my brother and I are watching the 1985 fantasy film, Ladyhawke, which we had both seen as kids but not since.  I got the impression when rewatching it this time is that what they wanted to do is create a modern fairy tale.

They do have the elements.  There’s a dark wolf …

…who transforms by day into a man in black who has a hawk …

… that transforms by night into a lady …

… and since they are never both wild animal or both human at the same time, they need some intervention in order to break the curse that keeps these star-crossed lovers apart.  Their go-between comes in the form of an escaped convict / thief: 

Don’t think too hard and enjoy it for what it is.  There is a cool (probably impractical) double crossbow that the Rutger Hauer character uses that I have never seen elsewhere.  That was one of the few things I remembered from the film. 

Jeremy and I will be back next month to discuss the 80s fantasy film, this time in Victorian England – Young Sherlock Holmes!

Check out Jeremy‘s work over at Pixel Grotto, CBR.com, and Classic Batman Panels on IG.  You can support his work on Ko-fi and get access to in-depth, exclusive Batman content here.   If you are of the DnD persuasion, his articles on DnD Beyond may be right up your alley.  Thanks, Jeremy, for coming on the show!  

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #345: Welcome My Brother, Jeremy, as We Talk About Legend (1985/1986) Part 2

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #345: Welcome My Brother, Jeremy, as We Talk About Legend (1985/1986) Part 2

https://archive.org/download/podcast-345/Podcast%20345.mp3

This week, my brother, Jeremy, rejoins the show to talk about the 80s movie, Legend in the second of a two part series (part one is here).  As mentioned, depending on which part of the world you were in, it had different release dates (1985 in Europe, 1986 in the US) and different soundtracks and cuts, making for different viewing experiences.  In this podcast, we focused on the 1986 US theatrical release with a soundtrack by Tangerine Dream and the 2002 director’s cut (more similar to the original 1985 European release) with the soundtrack done by Jerry Goldsmith.  

When I was a kid watching the US release, I wasn’t really a fan of the ending song (“Loved by the Sun”), since I just wanted to listen to the backing melody (which is mostly synth and is the “Unicorn Theme” refrain) but watching it this time, I was struck by how this ending scene really caps off the whole movie.  It’s basically a music video inside a film that’s 70% music video already (speaking for the US release), and what was running through my head was, “Now that’s how you end a movie! (especially an 80s movie).”  While the director’s cut version is probably cinematically the better ending and makes a bit more sense (well, sort of), I couldn’t help wishing for the emotional swells of the vocals, keyboards, and synthesizers of the Tangerine Dream / US version. Check it out:

Jeremy had much the same thought.  It was really nice to be able to share this little slice of the 80s with my brother, since he was not really old enough to get into it when I was into the film.  Check out Jeremy‘s work over at Pixel Grotto, CBR.com, and Classic Batman Panels on IG.  You can support his work on Ko-fi and get access to in-depth, exclusive Batman content here.   If you are of the DnD persuasion, his articles on DnD Beyond may be right up your alley.  Thanks, Jeremy, for coming on the show!  Look for more in part 2 next week!

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #344: Welcome My Brother, Jeremy, as We Talk About Legend (1985/1986) Part 1

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #344: Welcome My Brother, Jeremy, as We Talk About Legend (1985/1986) Part 1

https://archive.org/download/podcast-344/Podcast%20344.mp3

This week, my brother, Jeremy, rejoins the show to talk about the 80s movie, Legend.  Depending on which part of the world you were in , it had different release dates (1985 in Europe, 1986 in the US) and different soundtracks and cuts, making for different viewing experiences.  In this podcast, we focused on the 1986 US theatrical release with a soundtrack by Tangerine Dream and the 2002 director’s cut (more similar to the original 1985 European release) with the soundtrack done by Jerry Goldsmith.  

Watching this film again for the first time since I was a teenager, I was struck by how much I liked the Tangerine Dream score in the US release, something I really noticed when watching the director’s cut version of the film.  Before I was able to find the soundtrack, I recall trying to tape record parts of the soundtrack off the TV as a kid.   Unfortunately, as was often the case, not all parts of the score were included on the official release.  For example, this scene has a variation of “The Unicorn Theme” that was on the official soundtrack, if I recall.  Listening to those home-made recordings through the years helped provide inspiration for what would later become the sound behind The Thirteenth Hour soundtrack.  

It was really nice to be able to share this little slice of the 80s with my brother, since he was not really old enough to get into it when I was into the film.  Check out Jeremy‘s work over at Pixel Grotto, CBR.com, and Classic Batman Panels on IG.  You can support his work on Ko-fi and get access to in-depth, exclusive Batman content here.   If you are of the DnD persuasion, his articles on DnD Beyond may be right up your alley.  Thanks, Jeremy, for coming on the show!  Look for more in part 2 next week!

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #337: Welcome My Brother, Jeremy, as We Talk About The Black Cauldron (1985)

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #337: Welcome My Brother, Jeremy, as We Talk About The Black Cauldron (1985)

https://archive.org/download/podcast-337/Podcast%20337.mp3

This week, my brother, Jeremy, rejoins the show to talk about the 1985 Disney film, The Black Cauldron.  The film is loosely based on the first two books in the Chronicles of Prydain series by Lloyd Alexander, a series I was sort of introduced to as a kid when I bought The Black Cauldron book in a school book fair since it had the cover of the movie, like this one:  

The film poster usage for the cover of the novel is a bit misleading since the majority of the plot to the film is actually from the first book in the series, The Book of Three, which I was unaware of at the time.  So, it’s not surprising it didn’t make much sense.  However, we did have this Scholastic comic adaptation of the film which we found at a yard sale and read many times in childhood:

You can find copies on eBay periodically (click on the picture above to search):

Here’s the theatrical trailer and some screencaps:

The film had to be cut for length and content.  Here is the first in a series of videos that has deleted scenes from the film:

As a part of discussing the film, we also discuss a bit on the computer game made by Sierra.  Some screenshots:

A full playthrough:

Check out Jeremy‘s work over at Pixel Grotto, CBR.com, and Classic Batman Panels on IG.  You can support his work on Ko-fi and get access to in-depth, exclusive Batman content here.   If you are of the DnD persuasion, his articles on DnD Beyond may be right up your alley.  Thanks, Jeremy, for coming on the show!

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #328: Welcome My Brother, Jeremy, as We Talk About DnD and Red Sonja (1985)

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #328: Welcome My Brother, Jeremy, as We Talk About DnD and Red Sonja (1985)

https://archive.org/download/podcast-328/Podcast%20328.mp3

This week, my brother, Jeremy, rejoins the show to talk about movie we watched a fair amount as a kid, 1985’s Red Sonja.  Neither of us had seen it in decades and we honestly weren’t expecting much, but I asked Jeremy if he’d want to join me in rewatching it given all the experience he’s had the last few years with tabletop role playing games like Dungeons and Dragons.  From what I had recalled, it seemed like an example of those games in live action, and I was curious to see what he thought.  Suffice to say, Jeremy did a deep dive and more than delivered, which you can hear if you check out the episode.  I had always operated under the assumption that 1986’s Howard the Duck was the first real Marvel comic book movie, but you could make a case for Red Sonja, which was under license by Marvel at the time, though there’s no mention of it in the credits from what I recall.   Click on the picture below to watch:

If watching the whole film is not your bag, check out this 8 min compilation of some great lines plus the trailer.  You’ll get the basic gist of the film and perhaps learn a thing or two, like why it’s important to not grip your hilt too tight (important life skill courtesy of Red Sonja that is generalizable beyond sword play, though I’m not exactly sure how).

Check out Jeremy‘s work over at Pixel Grotto, CBR.com, and Classic Batman Panels on IG.  You can support his work on Ko-fi and get access to in-depth, exclusive Batman content here.   If you are of the DnD persuasion, his articles on DnD Beyond may be right up your alley.

 

 

In toymaking news, I’ve been working on all these Beverlys!  There is also a connection to our 1985 film above.  A year after, we would, of course, see the film version of Beverly Switzler, another lead heroine, but one of a considerably less violent nature, the one depicted in the figurine above.  Her costume in the film was equally impractical as Red Sonja’s but a lot less revealing than that of Red Sonja’s.  There’s another connection, though.  The very first issue of Howard the Duck featured a vaguely Red Sonja like character (it’s Beverly, though it’s presented kind of as a dream) in a parody of a Conan / DnD story.  There’s even an appearance of everyone’s favorite friendly neighborhood webslinger for some off-the-wall reason (the original comics were pretty bonkers).

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #161: Summer Schwarzenegger Series 3: Reflections on Rewatching Commando (1985) with Adam from @mom_gave_them_away

Episode #161: Summer Schwarzenegger Series 3: Reflections on Rewatching Commando (1985) with Adam from @mom_gave_them_away 

https://archive.org/download/Podcast161_201809/Podcast%20161.mp3

This week marks the third in a four-part summer Arnold Schwarzenegger 80s action fest where Adam from the Instagram page @mom_gave_them_away and I rewatch four classic Arnold movies we originally saw as kids and discuss our reflections (listen to last week’s show here).  Today, continue where we left off last week with Commando.  Released only a year after The Terminator, this one is an entirely different kind of movie.  There are even touches of comedy, and Arnold even says, “I’ll be back.”  Enjoy a little collection of animated gifs from the film:

The podcast now has a page on Facebook, so head over there and to Instagram to check out some scenes from the film.  And if you’re wondering what song is playing over the ending credits of the film (the one we used for Adams’s theme song), it’s this one:

One of my favorites I’ll link to here. To end on a humorous note, despite the fact that these movies had a degree of badassery that no one could deny, the video games that came out in association with them with pretty horrendous.  But I’ll let the AVGN do the honors:

 

This arcade and NES game wasn’t related, but it was better than an of the official sanctioned products and was around at the same time:

Adam will BE BACK next week for Predator.  In the meantime, check out all the excellent custom action figure work he does for a taste of some truly heroic work.

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Between Two Worlds, the synth EP follow up to Long Ago Not So Far Away is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.  

The bonus track, called “Flight of the Cloudrider” has a 80s movie mashup music video (see if you can identify all the movies!) which is available on youtube.   This app was largely created with the iphone app Auxy.

Stay tuned.  Follow along on Spotify!  There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hourplaylist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.

Check it out!

As always, thanks for listening!

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