Book Review: "My Memoirs of the Dark Shadows Conventions" by Anthony Taylor

My Memoirs of the Dark Shadows Conventions by Anthony Taylor (AuthorHouse, 2021)

This very brief ebook (29 pages) focuses on Dark Shadows conventions on the east coast between 1993 and 2016. A presumably Black fan who grew up watching the television show in the 1960s and 1970s—enamored by Lara Parker, “​​a sexy, beautiful … white woman”—discovered fandom several decades later by way of a video tape advertisement for a convention. Taylor attended Dark Shadows conventions in 1993, 1995, 2001, 2004, 2006-2007, 2009, 2012, and 2016.

In a sequence of brief chapters, the author shares personal recollections of the cultural importance of the program, the impact of the show’s supernatural elements, and the many actors he was able to meet and obtain autographs from. Taylor also comments on various aspects of attending cons through the eyes of a newcomer: the speakers and screenings, the openness of the featured cast members, the dealers rooms, con literature such as the 50th anniversary album, and other attendees: “Most were rich, and from the Caucasian race.”

He details his favorite actors, recognizes the deaths of Dan Curtis and Jonathan Frid, and credits his involvement in the Dark Shadows Fan Club in part for his success as a trustee at Cornerstone Baptist Church in Brooklyn. The ebook ends with several personal photographs of what might be Lyndhurst Mansion in Tarrytown, New York.

I was surprised to find this multi-year con report available on Amazon, and I’m glad that Taylor wrote it. I’m also glad he found lifelong enjoyment and involvement through Dark Shadows fandom. His memoir ably communicates its personal importance and meaning.

This Week's Watching: Doctor Who, "The Mind Robber" III

This afternoon, I finished watching Doctor Who, "The Mind Robber," while eating lunch and folding laundry. It is available in full on Dailymotion, as well as on DVD.

This Week's Watching: Doctor Who, "The Mind Robber" II

Last night, I watched the second episode of Doctor Who, "The Mind Robber." It is available in full on Dailymotion.

Book Review: "Knight Rider" by Glen A. Larson and Roger Hill

Knight Rider by Glen A. Larson and Roger Hill (Pinnacle, 1983)

While recovering after a medical procedure earlier this year, I began to rewatch early episodes of the 1982 television series Knight Rider. A passing mention of artificial intelligence while discussing the Knight Industries Two Thousand vehicle and the pilot’s setting in Silicon Valley made me realize that perhaps Knight Rider was… science fiction—something that had eluded my preteen self when originally watching the program. Now that we’re more firmly in a time of smart cars, collision detection, and other technological developments, I thought it’d be worth learning more about the science behind the TV show.

So I read the first Knight Rider tie-in novel, credited to the series’ creator and producer Larson—who also had a hand in Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, and The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries—but written by Hill, a former journalist from Los Angeles and author of three previous novels.

The novelization is largely a straight-forward retelling of the pilot episode, though the book does include additional detail on the science fiction elements of Knight Rider. Knight Industries had previously perfected a use of plastics. There’s a reference to Burke and Hare, as well as a mention of Asimov’s Laws of Robotics. Hill also expands on Wilton Knight’s political viewpoints, which are downright Randian.

And the car itself? The “most expensive car in the world” has a “finish bonded into the molecular structure of the car body itself.” It’s not fiberglass, but a “new substance altogether. An alloy only space technology could produce.” KITT is faster, safer, and stronger than any other car. The car is virtually indestructible. “It is hydrogen-fueled and totally fuel efficient. The microprocessors that control its functions make it impossible for the vehicle to be involved in any sort of mishap or collision … unless specifically ordered to by its pilot.”

But most importantly, the car thinks. “Dr. Miles and I took pains to program KITT’s machine personality for maximum interface value with the pilot-program driver… . As the seat and dashboard are customized to your physical shape, so is the ‘personality’ of the microprocessor in conformity to your psychological profile.” The car learns.

The book is an interesting expansion on the ideas behind the show. Michael Haenlein and Andreas Kaplan’s “A Brief History of Artificial Intelligence” (https://tinyurl.com/bddc8zc5) suggests that early AI efforts date back to the 1940s and Asimov’s story “Runaround.” ELIZA was created in the mid-’60s, and investment waned in the 1970s and 1980s, not to reemerge seriously until the ’90s and more recently.

Pretty progressive ideas for the early 1980s! (This review was previously published in slightly different form in the LASFAPA apazine Faculae & Filigree #11.)

His Robot Brainchild

The Beverly Hillbillies #10 (Dell, July-September 1965, 10 cents)
Supposedly sporting a Gene Colan cover, this television tie-in comic features a three-part, issue-length story, as well as a one-page strip, a text piece, and a Farm Boy back-up story. The main piece, comprising the seven- to 10-page sections "My Son, the Monster," "The Rufus Rumpus," and "Raising the Rufus," was written by D.J. Arneson and drawn by Henry Scarpelli.



The sequence details the story of the Clampett family taking in a lodger while their parent goes on a trip. Professor Dyno leaves his robot brainchild with the family because "I can't leave him in my workshop. He gets so lonely!" Rufus proves quite helpful, retrieving a football from some electrical wires for Elly and Jethro before falling into the pool and seizing up. The Clampetts try to revive the bot using oil and "good old mountain tonic," which does the trick.

Rufus dances with some appliances and frightens the locals when he goes to the supermarket with Granny. He accidentally hits Granny with a football and wanders off, alarming a neighboring family—the Drysdales—at the dinner table. When the police arrive, they accidentally hit Rufus with their patrol car, destroying him. The family does their best to repair him before Professor Dyno returns.



Not having watched a lot of The Beverly Hillbillies, I'm not sure how true the tone or pacing of the comic is to the TV program. I tend to be skeptical of tie-in books. This issue in particular seems focused on accomplishing something the producers might not have been able to do on TV—feature a robot—but I can actually see most of this done with rudimentary practical effects like cardboard and paint. And I can hear the laugh track in response to some of the gags.

The one-page gag opening the issue—in black and white rather than color—features a monkey named Skipper making breakfast. The one-page text piece, "The New Friend," tells the tale of a "ten-year-old with  chauffeured limousine" who finds the true meaning of friendship after getting a black eye from a new friend. And the Farm Boy back up, "How Now, Brown Sow," looks at potential prize sow Sarah and the ruckus raised at a rodeo. Farm Boy was a regular back up in this series in 1965-66.

Availability: The first four issues of this series have been collected in TV Classics: Classic Comics Library #37. The first season of the TV show (as well as subsequent seasons) is available on DVD.

A New Number Six

The Prisoner: The Uncertainty Machine #1-2 (Titan, June 2018, $3.99)
When I first learned about this comic, published in part to help celebrate the TV show's 50th anniversary, I was excited—but expected it to be a straightforward tie-in comic or adaptation of the show. Imagine my surprise when I read the first two issues and realized it was not an adaptation, but an all-new story occurring in the Village—and in the present day! This comic is much better than I was expecting, and that's a pleasant surprise.



Written by Peter Milligan and drawn by Colin Lorimer, with #1's cover by Mike Allred, the series focuses on a new Number Six, an MI5 agent named Breen who is framed as a traitor and forced to go on the lam after a mission gone wrong in the Middle East. His partner Carey captured, Breen returns home to a new assignment: Go to the Village and "liquidate" Carey.



It's not entirely clear whether Breen's arrival at the Village is planned or otherwise, but there we find him, wearing the characteristic black jacket with white piping. #2 opens with another hallucinatory flashback—a Milligan hallmark—this time to childhood, as the Village's proprietors try to get to Breen's memories. He evades his escorts and finds Carey's cabin before attempting an escape. Rovers take on a double decker bus, and the issue ends with a bang after Breen eats some cheese with a strange texture.

I look forward to #3, and reading the comic inspired me to watch the first episode of the series again—TV at its finest.

Availability: A collection of this comic series will be published in October. An unpublished comic by Jack Kirby and Gil Kane (!!!) will be published next month. DC published a graphic novel titled Shattered Visage in 1991. You can also get the show on DVD.

Age-Appropriate Adventures

Spidey Super Stories #2 (Marvel, November 1974, 35 cents)
"In the Hands of the Hunter" Writer: Jean Thomas; Artists: Winslow Mortimer, Don Heck, and Mike Esposito; Editor: Roy Thomas; Art Director: John Romita. (13 pages)

Presented by Marvel Comics and The Electric Company, a production of the Children's Television Workshop, this ad-free (!!!) comic book aimed at readers age 6-10 was based on the recurring live-action skit featured on the TV show. It ran 57 issues between 1974 and 1982, living beyond the skit on TV—which ended in 1976-1977.



Written by Jean Thomas, who also wrote Night Nurse, the comic book was thoroughly vetted by the CTW to be sure it was true to the TV show, was age appropriate in terms of content and reading level, and featured female characters. In early issues, a story adapted one of the TV segments, and in many issues, Spider-Man was paired with a well-known Marvel hero or villain to introduce that character to younger readers and viewers. (Similar to the Marvel Heroes and Marvel Ultimate Spider-Man magazines published by Redan today.)

In this issue, Spidey and Jennifer of the Jungle encounter Kraven the Hunter after a film shoot. Kraven takes the web slinger prisoner, and Jennifer—with her friend Paul the Gorilla—go to rescue him. The writing is very simple, and the artwork larger-paneled (most pages with fewer than six panels)—but not quite coloring-book basic.

In the five-page "very short comic book ... as seen on The Electric Company" story "Spidey Vs. Mr. Measles," Spider-Man "meets the meanest menace of all," a man plans to throw spots at people so they get the measles. "Then everybody will have to stay in bed... in the dark, where they can't read!"

"The Long Arms of the Law-Breaker" (12 pages) pits Spidey against Doctor Octopus. The issue also features several one-page items: "The Secrets of Spider-Man's Costume," "Let's Pay a Visit to Peter Parker's Place," "Let's See Some More of Peter Parker's Place," and "Reader Vs. Speeder," which features Electric Company character Easy Reader.