Showing posts with label dinosaurs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dinosaurs. Show all posts

Friday, 31 July 2026

COMMENTARY CLUB 130 - Jurassic Park


"Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should"

 In tribute to the late great Sam Neill, we revisit the original Jurassic Park, the first dinosaur theme park with live exhibits and watch it all go wrong... There were raptors in the kitchen Phil... In the goddamn kitchen!

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Friday, 17 July 2026

COMMENTARY CLUB 129 - Triassic World


In this show we sample a film from the infamous Asylum, the home of the mock-buster! And tonight's movie is the suspiciously titled Triassic World (2018) - a tale of genetically engineered dinosaurs on the loose funnily enough...

DIRECT DOWNLOAD COMMENTARY CLUB 129 - Triassic World


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Sunday, 7 July 2024

HYPNOGORIA 265 - Kaiju History Part III - Monster Tales


In this chapter we meet the earliest examples of dinosaurs, colossal beasts, and giant mutant monsters in fiction!

DIRECT DOWNLOAD Kaiju History Part III - Monster Tales



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Sunday, 30 June 2024

FROM THE GREAT LIBRARY OF DREAMS 111 - One Prehistoric Night by Philip Barshofsky


A vintage science fiction tale from the golden age of pulp magazines, a story which pits dinosaurs against Martian invaders! 

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Sunday, 19 May 2024

FROM THE GREAT LIBRARY OF DREAMS 108 - The Monster of Lake LaMetrie by Wardon Allan Curtis


Another early tale of a surviving prehistoric monster, but this story about a lake-dwelling dinosaur takes a very bizarre turn... 

DIRECT DOWNLOAD - The Monster of Lake LaMetrie by Wardon Allan Curtis



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Sunday, 12 May 2024

HYPNOGORIA 259 - Kaiju History Part II


In this chapter we explore the discovery of prehistoric megafauna and dinosaurs and the wave of dinomania in popular culture that followed. We investigate the dubious but highly influential report of a surviving pterodactyl, and find the first kaiju in fiction courtesy of Mr Jules Verne!

DIRECT DOWNLOAD HYPNOGORIA 259 - Kaiju History Part II



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Sunday, 5 May 2024

FROM THE GREAT LIBRARY OF DREAMS 107 - The Lizard by CJ Cutcliffe Hyne


As a little crossover with the Kaiju History podcasts on our other show, we have a Victorian tale of a chap who discovers a living fossil. But unfortunately, this surviving saurian is extremely large and very hostile... 

DIRECT DOWNLOAD - The Lizard by CJ Cutcliffe Hyne



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Sunday, 27 June 2021

MICROGORIA 097 - The Sound of Thunder Lizards


In a little T Rex tangent I couldn't fit into the Damnation Alley saga, we exploring the culty connections between dread dino Satanus in Judge Dredd, Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park and Westworld, time tourism, 2000 AD's Flesh, T Rex hunting, and Ray Bradbury! 

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Wednesday, 11 July 2018

THE 'ORRIBLE 'OUSE OF TERRIBLE OLD TAT - The Blob from the Haunted House


Welcome once again my dears to the 'Orrible 'Ouse of Terrible Old Tat! Incredibly in this septic isle it is actually still summer - yes, I know, a summer that has lasted more than a fortnight! Unprecedented! Well, possibly not, but certainly for such a heatwave one probably has to go back to the 1970s, which coincidentally, is exactly what we are doing once again this week! Don't fret though, while there may be lions, and tigers and flares (oh my!),  there will at least be ice cream! 

Now ice cream itself goes back to the Ancient Greeks, and the ice lolly has been knocking about since the 1920s. However it wasn't until the 1960s that the great icy snack wars began, and these frozen treats were marketed in a host of flavours, with a legion of gimmicks (as we have previously charted in these dubious missives). Now in previous weeks we have looked at how in the early 1970s, lolly makers had hit on the idea of creating characters and mascots that tied to distinct themes to flog their wares to kids. However also around this time, the very way these chilly snacks were being made was changing. And although lollies were in rude health at the time, with a market supporting dozens of competing items, all the same, to paraphrase Oscar Goldman, they could rebuild them, they had the technology, and they could make them better than they were! Better, stronger, and even more gimmicky! 

Now makers of lollies had been fusing different flavours together, and even making lollies in different shapes for quite a while. A recent breakthrough had been creating lollies with an ice cream centre and this would lead to the next leap forward - lollies made completely of ice cream and moulded in amusing shapes! An early hit in this new breed of lolly was the Brr Blobs from Lyons Maid. As the name suggests, the technology wasn't really up to creating a terribly exciting shape other than a roughly humanoid blob with an in-set smiley face, and they only came in ice cream flavour, but they were excitingly different.


More ambitious moulded lollies were to come however, with Lyons Maid launching Dinosaurs in 1974. Priced 8p, these were formed from two pieces of ice cream, one chocolate and one vanilla, and as you might have guessed, were moulded into the shape of a mighty prehistorical saurian. Ok, the moulding wasn't exactly super-detailed, and in fairness they looked more like generic lizardy shapes, as seen by Mr Magoo sans spectacles. But on the upside, the wrappers came with exciting dino-facts on the back, making an attractive series to scoff and collect.


Arch rivals Walls it seems came late to the moulded ice cream lolly game. Possibly the technology wasn't quite good yet, for even Lyons Maid don't appear to have attempted another shaped ice cream lolly in the rest of the '70s. However when Walls did venture into the moulded ice cream arena, they did knock it out of the park. Launching in the early 1980s, the Funny Feet lolly was a deceptively simple and silly idea - an ice cream lolly shaped like a cartoon foot. And this combination of flavour and absurdity proved to be extremely popular, and when all other lollies aimed at kids had passed away, Funny Feet still endured.

However, back in the 1970s, another ice cream lolly is perhaps the most fondly remembered. In July 1973, Lyons Maid launched a lolly destined to live long in the freezer and indeed in our hearts. It didn't have a fancy moulded shape, although it did come with badges. But this lolly did have another trick up its monstrous sleeve. For this lolly was the fondly remembered and much missed Haunted House!  


Now flavour-wise, Haunted House was nothing to write home about - it was just basically milky ice cream frozen onto a stick. But what made this lolly somewhat legendary was the fact each one had a picture of some horror stenciled on the ice cream in edible inks! Drawn in pink, orange, red, green and blue, there were different pictures on the lollies, with the marketing hook being that you wouldn't know which one was on until you unpeeled the wrapper. The full range was as follows - a ghost, a skellington, some bats, a spider in a web, Frankenstein's monster, a witch and something resembling a close relative of the Jelly Terror! Oh yes, Haunted House delivered a lot of fun for the 4p asking price!

And indeed, while its launch mates such as Captain Cody, Freakout and Freckles were forgotten in a summer or two, Haunted House still lived on, and indeed the memory of its simple but spooky fun is still cherished to this day. However Walls had noticed that the kids loved a monster too, and they would produce a rival icy horror... a lolly that came with a stick through its heart...


Saturday, 1 March 2014

DINOSAURS! A Ladybird Leader!


Ladybird Books were an essential part of childhood for many British children in decades past, delivering books for a variety of ages, covering everything from fairy stories, to history, to science to hobbies. And this 1974 tome was many a child's introduction to those most beloved prehistoric monsters, the dinosaurs!


Lavishly illustrated and with handy phonetic pronunciations of all those tongue-twisting names, this little book not only parades all our favourite dinos such as the T Rex and Triceratops, but also gives us a simple but detailed potted history of early life on earth.


So with the Shonky Lab turning their attention to dinosaurs, I just couldn't resist doing a reading of this much loved little book, and with Mr Pete Kelk's help, the reading became a little movie.... Enjoy!


Sunday, 20 January 2013

HYPNOBOBS 106 - The McClure Quartet



This week we're venturing to lost worlds where strange rubbery beasts lurk! In the company of adventurer extraordinaire Mr Doug McClure, we're taking a trip to The Land That Time Forgot (1974), discovering what lies At The Earth's Core (1976), meeting The People That Time Forgot (1977) and facing the wrath of the Warlords of Atlantis (1978). It's a truly epic journey through '70s dinosauria, in which we'll meet luminaries such as Peter Cushing, Caroline Munroe, Amicus Films, and Edgar  Rice Burroughs!


DIRECT DOWNLOAD - The McClure Quartet

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Saturday, 8 September 2012

DOCTOR WHO 7.2 - Dinosaurs On A Spaceship


Scanners indicate an absence of spoilers

Ah dinosaurs! The monsters guaranteed to strike terror into the hearts of long-time Doctor Who fans! Is it because the ground shakes when these titanic reptiles walk by? Is it because they sport fearsome jaws and claws? Is it simply their incredible size? 

No, it's none of the above - we dyed-in-the-scarf Who fans fear them because they have a habit of appearing as ruddy awful not-so-special effects. Let's look at their track record...

The first saurian monster from the past appeared way back at the beginning of the Third Doctor's time. In his second adventure he encountered the Silurians who had a large dinosaur as a pet/watchdog. The actual species of this reptilian horror is unclear; the Target book adaptation identified it as a Tyrannosaurus Rex but most viewers more accurately pegged it as a large glove puppet. 

However this wouldn't be the last time the Third Doctor would encounter monsters from prehistory. They would return en masse in his final series for Invasion of the Dinosaurs in 1974. Now in fairness, some of the dino effects in this are rather decent for the time and the budget they had. However few viewers can forget the sight of a wobbly T-Rex which although it's supposed be attacking a Brontosaur appears to be attempting to do some unmentionable to it! 

The next terrible lizard which would cross the Doctor's path was the Loch Ness Monster in Terror of the Zygons. Yes, I know that the story revealed that Nessie was actually a cyborg alien moo-cow (no, seriously) called the Skarasen, but as its design was modeled on the popular idea that the Loch Ness Monster is a plesiosaur I'm shamelessly crow-barring it in here. Once again, the realisation of the Skarasen was a case of reality trumping the hopes of the effects crew, with the beastie menacing the Fourth Doctor in very jerky stop motion animation. And in this adventure's climax, it terrified Londoners in glove puppet form, popping up out of the Thames like a scaly Sooty

Now the last appearance of dinosaurs in classic era Who came in  1985's Mark of the Rani. With their wicked schemes foiled, renegade Time Lords the Master and the Rani flee in her TARDIS, but the Doctor has sabotaged the ship's systems. This resulted in a time spillage which caused one of the Rani's biological samples, a T-Rex embryo, to spring into life and begin to grow at an accelerated rate! Viewers however were largely unconcerned - partly because it was the baddies getting their just desserts, but mostly because it looked like the Rani had procured said T-Rex from a seaside joke shop... 

So then with this less than impressive track history, you can understand why dinosaurs are feared by fans. And although this episode is being made in the modern age, with a better budget and the magic of computer  created effects, personally I did wonder whether the 'curse' of the dinosaurs might not still strike again. After all, we've all seen plenty of rubbish CGI FX work haven't we...

But... as it turned out the dinosaurs looked fine. Yes, at some points they were clearly only TV quality CGI but nicely realized on the whole plus there was some nice practical stuff too! Decent dinos on Doctor Who at last... Come to think of it, how come it's taken them seven series to do a dinosaur story! Anyhow, now we know the saurians were up to scratch, how was the actual episode itself?

Well this is another adventure penned by Chris Chibnall who gave us the Hungry Earth/Cold Blood two parter back in Series 5. Now I rather enjoyed that one, as it felt like a nice blend of old and new Who, but Dinosaurs on a Spaceship is as different for his Silurian story as it was from it's predecessor 42 in Series 3.  And this latest offering seems very in tune with Mr Moffat's tag for this season of Doctor Who being 'a blockbuster every week'. For Dinosaurs on a Spaceship felt like a big fun family film, simple straightforward plot, lots of actions, familiar faces in the cast, and plenty of laughs. Yes, it's another light and fluffy episode, but jolly good fun all the same.

Now I know some of you will be groaning 'oh Rassilon, not another bloomin' romp!', but I don't mind the show being a daft and lightweight sometimes. But of course, for every one who hates the frothier episodes, there will be others who are rejoicing, who equally disliked the dark and scary episodes last year.  Now for me personally, I embrace the different styles as it's the wonderful thing about the format of Doctor Who - you can be creepy one week, silly the next, and epic after that.

If I'm honest, I do prefer my Doctor Who dark or epic, but I will say that in this case, I was more than happy to have an adventure will higher humour quotient. For, let's be honest, dinosaurs on the a spaceship is n't the most high-brow SF concept out there: it is a daft idea. But what made it work so well here was that the comedy was clearly in the great tradition of SF comedies like The Hitch-hikers Guide To The Galaxy. 

Now bearing in mind we've avoid spoilers here, I don't want to say too much about the plot. Though I will say say that the story is constructed about the mystery of why there are dinosaurs on a spaceship, and having the Doctor and his companions riddle out what is actually going on makes a pleasing change for the endless the galactic threats the Doctor is called upon to thwart. And what is going on, does make for a cracking little adventure.

There's some nice surprises along the way, both in terms of the little plot twists and in the characters who appear. Now as I like to largely ignore all the pre-showing publicity, I was pleasantly surprised to see the sprinkling of famous faces appear and who they portrayed, and so if you don't know either I won't go into detail. However I will say, the guest cast were great fun and we met some fascinating new folk.

All in all I had great fun with Dinosaurs on A Spaceship, despite being very wary of the funnier episodes as a rule. Now obviously I'd not want the show to be like this every week, in exactly the same way you wouldn't want a bag of jelly babies for breakfast every day... But once in a while it's tremendous fun!












Wednesday, 16 March 2011

What species of dinosaur are the current political party leaders?

Well Mr Anonymous, now there's a question! And after much bickering, we decided on the following choices...

So cry havoc and unleash the dogs of satire!



Deputy PM and England's best known liar, Nick Clegg would be a brontosaurus! And yes we know that technically these beasts should be called apatosauruses nos jours, but old habits die harder than Bruce Willis.

And why? Well, the brontosaurus turned out to be something of a disappointment didn't it? See not unlike the Lib Dems already eh! Where were we? Oh yeah, brontosaurus = big let down. Because when you first encounter these prehistoric behemoths, you imagine it being something huge,impressive and powerful, fully deserving of the translation of its name 'thunder lizard' .

However contrary to their cinematic appearances, these beasts didn't charge about the place, making the earth shake and scoffing cavemen... Sorry kiddiewinks, Willis O'Brien and Ray Harryhausen lied to you; actually all brontosauruses did was loaf about in foetid swamps, chomping on muck-drenched weeds, and generally doing sod all exciting and/or useful.

Sounds familiar doesn't it! Though many thought Mr Clegg was going to be an impressive, puissant beast in British politics, just under a year as Deputy PM has proved him to be fat, bloated and useless, happy to wallow in the filth of Westminster.

However the similarities don't end there! Where Cleggy most resembles the brontosaurus is here. This dinosaur was once believed to possess a second sub-brain located in its rear quarters - because it was so massive it needed two brains to coordinate it's hefty bulk. The practical upshot of this was, that the brontosaur could happily continue it's business for some time before it eventually realised that predators had eaten it's arse end and was in fact stone dead...

...Just like the Lib Dems, a dead party that has yet to realise that no one is going to vote for them ever again. For demonstrating the same limited brain capacity of a brontosaurus, they can't seem to grasp that blatantly breaking election pledges and lying to the public is political suicide.




But what of the opposition? Well Ed Milliband is clearly an archaeopteryx. The uneasy mix of fowl and reptile mirrors exactly Milliband - neither politically fresh enough for many voters tastes, nor far enough removed from the taint of New Labour to convince either. And so far he's done very little but squawk and flap about ineffectively - almost criminal when the Condems are serving up such a smorgasbord of sticks to beat them with. And just as some palaeontologists have suspected the archaeopteryx fossils might be hoaxes, I'm not entire sure Milliband, or proper credible opposition for that matter, really exists either!



And finally what of our not very beloved at all PM David "Call Me Dave" Cameron? Blatantly a Tryannosaur - a monstrous predator with the brain the size of a pea. Let's face it, only a cerebral cortex smaller than a penny could come up with the Big Society and then introduce legislation that destroyed the very services and organisations that are actually doing what the BS is proposed to do. And having a political vision whose initials are 'BS' doesn't seem terribly smart to us either.

But then again perhaps we're being thick - we didn't have the top draw Oxbridge education Dave and his pack Bullingdon Club T-Rex chums had. No, we had had to study facts and learn how to critically evaluation them, rather than smash up posh restaurants and then write a big fat cheque and avoid charges of criminal damage.

The other week at the Tory spring conference, Call Me Dave made a rousing speech pledging to fight the 'enemies of enterprise' like bureaucrats and the civil service... Apparently his grip on how government works is so poor that he doesn't realise that actually he's in charge of all the red tape. Evidently in the Camersaurus Rex, generations of not doing a proper day's work, has evolved fore arms which are stunted and useless, which would explain why he has such a poor grasp of reality.

Of course, all these beasts will soon be extinct. Socio-political astronomers have sighted a huge comet heading their way...