OTHERWORLD: Scenes and Things

You're outmanned, you're outgunned, you're out-equipped. What else have you got?

GUILE.

Episode: Peak Performance
Artists: Jonathan Frakes, Michael Dorn, Ron Jones
Series: Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 2 Episode 21

I decided to bring this one back from the vault and give it a fresh coat of paint. If ever we've needed this advice it's now. We must outmaneuver the Enemy. And we will. Cause we're worf it.

ESCAPE FROM SUBURBIA

All versions of ETERNAL DARKNESS use Jerry Goldsmith's score from Poltergeist 2: The Other Side as a base, so I figured before we jump into that it would be a good time to revisit the climactic scene from the first movie. Forty One years after it was released it remains one of the most intense and frankly satisfying endings in motion picture history.

Happy Easter Everybody! It's a time of hope, renewal and second chances. May the Stars shine down on us and may the Lord guide us in His Holy Light.

Song: Resurrection (plus sections of the Main Title and Finale)
Artist: Alan Silvestri
Album: The Abyss OST
Video Footage from The Abyss: Special Edition

ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE

Piper and Prue stumble into a waking nightmare of infamy and are torn from each other in the ensuing chaos. Through a Miracle they are delivered from that doomed Reality as it collapses in upon itself.

Episode: All Hell Breaks Loose
Artists: Shannen Doherty, Holly Marie Combs
Show: Charmed: Season 3
Additional Music by John Williams

Due to the unexpected popularity of the first Elvira Video I put up (How's Your Head? Well I haven't had any complaints yet) I decided it was time to present its stunning and brave sequel, MILKIN' TIME! Yeah, yeah, I know. I have a "thing" for Elvira, and this movie in particular. It probably has something to do with the fact that I saw it in the theatre on opening day when I was 13, and it was my first PG-13 movie. What can I say? I like my humor naughty, bawdy, and absurd. Perhaps you do too. Grab your milk buckets and hold onto your ten gallon hats!

I think the reason this song was cut from the final version of The Dark Knight is because having it in there made the scene too climactic for that moment in the movie. A song this incredible deserves more than just the cutting room floor so I've put it back exactly where it should have been.

Is there anything more "Gen X" than this? Well, maybe Transformers and Thundercats, but still. The opening sequence to G.I.JOE: The Movie is as campy and fun as it was 35 years ago when it first came out. It's all about Truth, Justice and the American Way, baby. YO JOE!!!!

"I Believe that unarmed Truth and unconditional Love will have the final word in Reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant." - Martin Luther King Jr.

Scene: One Grain of Sand
Artists: Barret Oliver, Tami Stronach
Movie: The Neverending Story

Song: The Theme of Sadness
Artists: Klaus Doldinger, Giorgio Moroder
Album: The Neverending Story OST

"Within a week the skies will be dark with dust from the impact and they will stay dark for two years. All plant life will be dead within four weeks. Animal life within a few months. So that's it. Good Luck to us all." - President Tom Beck

Scene: The President's Last Speech
Artists: Morgan Freeman, James Horner
Movie: Deep Impact

Now hear me out. Centipede gets a bad rap. Part Two is too grotesque even for me, and Part Three is basically a comedy shot like a seventies porn. But back in Part One the terror existed mostly in your mind and it's that horror I'm trying to tap. It's basically just a guy talking to three people with an Overhead Projector...minus a few tiny details. The Devil is always in the details.

WARNING! THIS SCENE IS EXTREMELY GRAPHIC AND HORRIFIC. CAUTION IS ADVISED.

Well, I'm a week late, but I still wanted to put something truly terrifying up on the Channel for Halloween. THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE is known as the "Great Granddaddy" of modern horror, and for good reason. This scene in particular (also known as the "meathook" scene) possesses an unending power to horrify again and again. Pam's unspeakable fate lives on forever in America's worst nightmares. Tobe Hooper's dark vision would eventually be paired with Stephen Spielberg's suburban optimism from E.T. to produce my favorite movie of all time, POLTERGEIST. But right here is where it all started. Good Luck to us all.

"But we don't reckon Time the same way do we? This is all the Time you'll ever have."

Have you ever longed to see the uninterrupted story of Clarise and the lambs without that pesky movie getting in the way? Well, here ya go. Both Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins won the Oscar for their unforgettable performances. The two are rarely on screen together, with the story being told through close up after close up, going through the prison bars and then closer still. I don't even know if they were filmed together at all. It sure as hell seems like they're in the same room but you can never really tell with Movie Magic. Truly one of the greatest scenes in movie history. Howard Shore of Lord of the Rings fame delivers a perfect score here, both sad and beautiful and swelling at just the right moments. The whole movie IS amazing....maybe I'll do a Buffalo Bill homage someday. That would be a REAL comedy.

"say are you about a size 14?"

I often mention that POLTERGEIST is my favorite movie, but I rarely talk about WHY it's my favorite movie. I saw it for the first time when I was seven years old - we had free HBO for a weekend, Mom and Dad were out of town, and the babysitter was into it. The rest was history. Tobe Hooper's masterpiece was forever imprinted on my soul. This clip of the infamous "sucked into the closet" scene perfectly encapsulates everything that makes the movie work so well, from the effects (No CGI here!) to Jerry Goldsmith's legendary score, to the superb acting from the cast. There's been a raging debate since the movie was released as to who ACTUALLY directed Poltergeist - was it Tobe Hooper or was it producer Steven Spielberg? In the end I give it to Tobe. Spielberg provided the story and the suburbs, but it was Tobe who provided the horror through his Texas Chain Saw eyes. Film making at it's finest.

I originally was going to make this scene a part of IT KNOWS WHAT SCARES YOU but decided to put the clip up in the OTHERWORLD: SCENES AND THINGS department instead. Ah, Hellraiser. Where would horror be without you? Clive Barker's most famous work, based upon his story THE HELLBOUND HEART, is classic 80's horror. This scene is the first time we get a good look at the Cenobites....Female Cenobite, Butterball, Chatterer, and of course Pinhead. The rest of the movie at times devolves into some serious cheese, but there's nothing cheesy about THIS scene. It's the stuff of nightmares.

"It's not their fault. They have been consumed by the Darkening."

"You cannot explain away a wantonly immoral act because you think that it is connected to some higher purpose" - Jean-Luc

Do the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one? This is the quintessential question that Star Trek has grappled with for the past 50 years. This episode from season six of The Next Generation tackles this question head on. MAN OF THE PEOPLE is one of Star Trek's most important episodes. And I'll tell you this - those who exploit the innocent for their own ends will regret it for the rest of their lives....and beyond.

"Because I believe that God, whomever you hold that to Be, hears all Prayers.....even if sometimes the answer is No."

Today they summon the One who must save them.

A lot of people think Star Trek is about Outer Space. These days you might be forgiven for thinking it's about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. But back in the day when Gene was still alive Star Trek was actually about morality, and the unbreakable Spirit of the Human Race. That's why I put so many clips of it on the Mix Channel - there are lessons in life here that should be passed on and not forgotten. This episode from season one aired way back on October 26th, 1987. This scene where Picard encounters his mother is incredibly moving, in large part thanks to the incredible score by Ron Jones. I used this song as the first track on the mix THE MASTER SWORD for anyone who wants to hear this exceptional piece of music on it's own.

There are so many incredible scenes in The Joy Luck Club that I had a hard time deciding which one to use. I finally decided on Tiger in the Trees, an emotional scene that deals with the Human Spirit and Redemption. Anyone who has never seen this movie owes it to themselves to experience it, especially mothers and daughters, whose unique and special bond is the central theme of the movie.

"Death is that state in which one exists only in the memory of others...which is why it is not an end. No goodbyes. Just good memories." - Tasha Yar

Lt Natasha Yar's death in the episode SKIN OF EVIL from the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation was one of the most shocking things I can remember growing up. Her farewell is one of the most beloved scenes in the entire series. THIS is what Star Trek is all about, no matter what you may see these days. May the Light of Certitude guide our efforts.

This is the last song on the mix MOM, which I made in honor of my mother after she passed in 2006.

While I'm working on the Fireside Chat for GROWLTIGER I thought we could use a little naughty humor. This clip from ELVIRA: MISTRESS OF THE DARK is one of the greatest extended comedic bits of all time. Just wait for it.

Sigh. What a depressing day. Maybe we all need something to cheer us up.
I KNOW!!! How about a nude woman getting sucked up a chimney and landing in a duck pond. Sound good to you? Alright, let's do this.

The post credits opening scene from Clash of the Titans sets the tone for the entire movie. This portrayal of the Gods of Olympus is perhaps the best ever put to film. Laurence Olivier's Zeus is a Masterclass in character choice and dedication - at no time do you ever get the sense that this is "acting". This is the Real Deal baby.

"THEY ARE YOUR CHILDREN. THEY ARE THE CHILDREN OF ALL WHO WALK THE EARTH UNSEEN. THEIR NAMES ARE IGNORANCE AND WANT. BEWARE OF THEM, FOR UPON THEIR BROW IS WRITTEN THE WORD.....DOOM."

May we all heed this warning from the past. Dickens knew what he was talking about. These shall be our children, the products of a fearful and spiritually bereft society, the spawn of a people who devalue and cheapen all life.

Get the fucking masks off of the children's faces, let them breathe the free air, and look upon them full in the face with Honesty and Love. If this is not done right now their Spirits may soon be damaged beyond the ability to heal.

In twenty years time when we, the elderly, look to this younger generation for assistance and compassion, there we shall find only ignorance and want, callousness and cruelty.

This need not be our fate if we turn the corner now.

WE HAVE BEEN WARNED