1980s Movie Villains

It’s been a weird and wonderful month so here is my weird and wonderful 80s League 80s Movie Villains (late entry) post for March 2017.  There are so many amazing 1980s evil doers to pick from so I went for the first villains to spring to mind and had to reel myself in as the list got longer and longer. I’ve listed my choices in alphabetical order.

The 80s League are a bunch of like minded and creative types who enjoy writing and chatting about all things 1980s including movies, TV, music, fashion and so much more. You can check out all the other related 80s Movie Villains posts and podcasts via the links here – Real Weegie Midget, Rediscover the 80s, Return to the 80s post and podcast, Stuck in the 80s podcast and post, Old School Evil and 80s Reboot Overdrive.

Rick Moranis as Dark Helmet from Spaceballs (1987)

Starting with an inept, yet tyrannical, villain. Dark Helmet didn’t know an asshole from his elbow but managed to, somehow, command a starship and was feared by his crew. Mostly becasue he enjoyed using his ring to dole out corporal punishment to the privates, literally. Played to perfection by Rick Moranis, Dark Helmet’s prowess using Schwartz was only matched by his stupidity and love of dolls. “They’re not dolls! They’re action figures!”

Dave Prowse and James Earl Jones as Darth Vader from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

The flip side of Dark Helmet, a skilled warrior, leader and downright evil dude. Darth Vader is a bad-ass. Yes, he doesn’t always win but in the final duel of this movie he methodically rips Luke Skywalker apart, made even more evil by his final revelation, after slicing off Luke’s hand. Willing to overthrow his own master, freeze folk, break deals and take massive risks involving asteroid fields in a bid to rule the galaxy, Vader is an outstanding 1980s villain.

Jack Nicholson as The Joker in Batman (1989)

The Joker as I like to picture him, a crazy villain with a lust for power and money who will happily kill his own men, and thousands more to get what he wants. Utilising gadgets, weapons, trickery and subversion, Nicholson’s Joker is a triumph of comic book evil. “Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight? I ask that of all my prey. I just like the sound of it.”

Grace Jones as May Day from A View to a Kill (1985)

May Day is a fictional bodyguard and enforcer employed by Max Zorin and acts as the secondary antagonist of the 1985 James Bond film A View to a Kill. An original character, created specifically for the film, she was portrayed by actress Grace Jones. A strong and deadly opponent that bests Bond and several other agents throughout the movie, May Day has a change of heart after being abandoned by Zorin and helps Bond foil his plot.

Max von Sydow as Ming the Merciless from Flash Gordon (1980)

No beating about the bush, Ming is one evil dude. From his fist appearances in the 1930s he has been the long standing enemy of Flash Gordon. Ming is a ruthless tyrant who rules the planet Mongo and all it’s people. He is infatuated with Dale Arden, whom he plans to marry, and has little regard for life, willing to have his own daughter tortured and enslave entire planets. Possibly the best maniacal laugh of the 1980s, Ming pulls no punches in this wonderfully camp movie, produced by Dino De Laurentiis.

Last, but not least… Frank Langella as Skeletor in Masters of the Universe (1987)

Skeletor was the primary villain in the 1987 live-action Masters of the Universe film, portrayed by Frank Langella. As this was a motion picture, Skeletor was allowed to be far more menacing than the cartoon version. During the course of the movie, Skeletor captures Castle Grayskull and imprisons the Sorceress. Later, he absorbs the power of the Great Eye and transforms into a golden-armored warrior god, but is ultimately defeated by He-Man. Rather than dark purple, he wears all black, and his costume is less scant, covering his entire body with a robe and a flowing cape. Langella’s performance is highly regarded by fans and critics alike.

1980s Crushes

For February 2017 the 80s League have put together blogs and podcasts on the subject of 80s Crushes. I’ve never been a “crush” kind of guy but have included a selection of ladies that I look back on fondly for various reasons. Some becasue I enjoyed watching them in movies or on TV and others becasue they were my only access to scantily clad glamour models at the time.

You can follow the #80sCrushes hash tag on Twitter and fellow 80s League articles and podcasts including 80s Reboot Overdrive Podcast, Rediscover the ’80s, Realweegiemidget, Return to the 80s and Return to the 80s Podcast. Got all that? You have? Good, then I shall begin.

My starter for ten is the very lovely Kim Cattrall from the movie Mannequin (1987), one of my guilty pleasures becasue it really is very cheesy. Kim goes through several fashionable 80s looks and various states of undress during the movie which is basically just boy meets mannequin, mannequin becomes girl when nobody else is looking and several chase scenes featuring Captain Harris from Police Academy. Next!

Sticking with another movie from my guilty pleasure list, my next crush is actress and singer Olivia Newton John as the muse Kira from Xanadu (1980). Xandau is a fantasy musical that features some amazing musical numbers and pop songs from ELO and tracks written for Olivia Newton John by producer John Farr. We even get an alternative 80s track by The Tubes and a memorable final performance by Hollywood legend Gene Kelly who teams with Olivia on “Whenever You’re Away From Me”. Olivia goes from floaty rollerskating muse to a hot disco chic by the end of the movie, even rocking a leopard print mini skirt and knee high leather boots.

As an alternative look at 1980s life in the UK I’ve picked two models that became (in)famous in the computer gaming community for lending their image to titles of the time, namely Maria Whittaker for Barbarian I & II and Corinne Russell for Vixen. The promotional imagery used for both these games caused a bit of a stir at the time and I remember the posters quite vividly. “Sex sells” as they say and it certainly helped raise the profile of these games, amongst other things (fnar, fnar).

My final choices are two space vixens with attitude from the TV series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century which ran from late 1979 to 1981. Pamela Hensley as Princess Ardala and Erin Gray as Colonel Wilma Deering, one an evil but incredibly hot space princess with attitude and the other a dedicated, motivated pilot and soldier who also happens so be a smoking hot blonde / brunette with attitude. I was younger at the time this show first aired and I only remembered the space battles but later viewings opened my eyes to a few things. As Twiki once said “BeedeeBeedeeBeedeeBeedee, what a body!”.

1980s Innovations

The January 2017 80s League crossover blog and podcast event is all about 1980s innovations, things that came on leaps and bounds and gave us something fresh and new or mind blowingly amazing. I could have picked toys, games, gadgets, fashion or movie special effects but I’m focusing on the technological innovations that had a direct impact on my life in the early to mid 1980s.

Links to all the other 80s League posts & podcasts – 80’s Reboot Overdrive podcast, 80’s Reboot Blog, Rediscover the 80s, Return to the 80s, Realweegiemidge Blog

Feel free to visit, read, listen, share and join the conversation by using the #80sInnovations hash tag on Twitter.

The BBC Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, is a series of microcomputers and associated peripherals designed and built by the Acorn Computer company for the BBC Computer Literacy Project, operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation. Designed with an emphasis on education, it was notable for its ruggedness, expandability, and the quality of its operating system. For these reasons the BBC Micro was adopted by most schools in the United Kingdom.

The above recreated scene represents a typical IT classroom in the early 80s, although we had less computers and hard plastic bucket chairs. Lessons involved learning the BASIC programming language and occasionally we were allowed to play Chuckie Egg. The BBC Micro was not a hugely popular home computer due to its cost but this is where my love affair with computers really began. Today children learn how to use computer applications, in the 80s we were learning how to write the software.

The Compact Disc is a digital optical disc data storage format released in 1982 and co-developed by Philips and Sony. The format was originally developed to store and play only sound recordings but was later adapted for storage of data.

The Sony CDP-101 is the world’s first commercially released compact disc player. The system was launched in Japan on October 1, 1982. Sony’s partner in development, Philips CD100 launched their model in November 1982 and the system was launched worldwide in March 1983. Despite costing up to $1000, over 400,000 CD players were sold in the United States between 1983 and 1984.

As an avid follower of music in the 1980s I had a large record and cassette collection. It took me a while to wrap my head around the new format, they were expensive but sturdy, portable and easy to store. My second music system had a built in CD player and until downloads became the in thing I accumulated an extensive and varied music collection on compact disc.

Space Shuttle Columbia was the first space-rated orbiter in NASA’s Space Shuttle fleet. Columbia launched on 12 April 1981 and returned on 14 April, 54.5 hours later, having orbited the Earth 37 times. Columbia carried a crew of two – mission commander John W. Young and pilot Robert L. Crippen. It was the first American manned space flight since the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975. The launch occurred on the 20th anniversary of the first-ever human spaceflight.

I’m no rocket scientist so I’ll leave the technical mumbo-jumbo out of this but as a ten year old the excitement for the launch was immense. The build-up was featured on news and science programmes here in the UK and the launch was broadcast live on Tomorrow’s World. The Space Shuttle is an awe inspiring feat of science, technology and engineering and certainly ranks as my top 1980s innovation.

1980s Christmas: My Top 3 80s Gifts

Here we are again, back with an 1980s themed multi-stream (don’t cross the streams) crossover event! In December “The 80s League” are contemplating #80sChristmas, be it toys, games, fashion, electronics or anything else from the 80s. My choices are items that arrived in my bulging sack (really, my parents used a sack with Santa on it until the mid 80s) on Christmas morning, either becasue I asked for them or things that fall into the “it’s the thought that counts” category.

Links to other 80s League #80sChristmas blogs and podcasts – 80s Reboot Overdrive blog and podcast, Realweegiemidget, Rediscover the 80s Blog and Podcast and Return to the 80s. We’re all on Twitter and using the #80sChristmas hash-tag so why not join the party and send us your 1980s Christmas memories.

Let’s get this show on the road. Born in 1970 I quickly became a technology geek and consequently the only member of the household that could wire plugs, set up the Hi-Fi and video, tune the TV or play computer games. From a basic pong system this was upgraded to an Atari 2600 followed by my first pick from the 80s.

I had been saving for several months to buy a Sinclair ZX81 home computer, it was the cheapest option available for me to start learning basic programming. I spent many an hour in WH Smith messing about on the computers that were set up on display. Along came December 1982 and my pocket money savings had topped £20, my parents took that and surprised me with a ZX Spectrum 48K (RRP £175) for Christmas. They hit the big time and received my unending gratitude, which lasted at least two full days.

From the offset I could tell this was a massive upgrade from the Atari and quickly got to grips inputting basic programs on the quirky rubber keyboard. Games came on cassette tape and took anywhere from one to five minutes to load, a far cry from the instant gratification of slapping a cartridge in a console but the games were worth the wait. I have great memories of playing the early releases including 3D Tanx, Arcadia, Ant Attack, Atic Atac, Manic Miner and the Horace games.

Skip forward one year and pop music had begun to infiltrate my sponge-like teenage mind. I picked up my first 12″ single in 1983, Blue Monday by New Order. I would spend a huge chunk of my Saturday afternoons hitting the record and games shops, probably making a nuisance of myself browsing the chart titles and hunting for reduced bargains. I needed a way of taking my music with me so in 1983 I added the Sony Walkman to my Christmas list.

This is the point where my parents lack of either money or understanding began to become apparent and they bought me a Sanyo (or something similar) Stereo portable cassette player. It did the job and I would spend the next few years recording the chart from BBC Radio One and carefully editing mix tapes to cut out chatter and jingles. By this time I had discovered the dulcet tones of John Peel and other alternative radio shows which formed the basis for my wide ranging music tastes of today. Along with the cassette player my parents would also wrap up multi-packs of tapes for several years to come. I got through many, many blank cassettes and filled them with music and ZX Spectrum games, all of which were catalogued and indexed.

A few years later and I’m in my mid teens and unfortunately at this point nobody has any idea what to buy me. The terms Axel F, Ultravox, Starglider and Microdrive meant very little to my parents and relatives so I inevitably started receiving talcum powder, soap on a rope, socks and the pièce de résistance… Hai Karate.

Still popular in the 1980s Hai Karate was, and still is, bloody awful. I didn’t use talcum powder but had a never-ending supply and the aftershave was grim. Also, I hadn’t started shaving yet. You name it and I got it from Brut and Old Spice to Pagan Man and Insignia. If growing up ever seemed like it was going to suck this was definitely the turning point. From Star Wars action figures, Britains soldiers and Matchbox cars to soap, a box of biscuits and the occasional toothbrush wrapped up and waiting for you on Christmas morning. I still have a Hai Karate body talc tucked away in a drawer.

Thankfully, it’s not all bad as I bought myself a Nintendo Entertainment System with my hard earned paper round money. My relatives wouldn’t spring for £50 games but that meant I could ask for Christmas cash and buy my own. In conclusion, the best gift is a thoughtful gift but when in doubt cold hard cash in a Christmas card works a charm, Merry Christmas!

What’s Your #Fave80sCar?

So, several bloggers and podcast folk have stuck their collective heads together and decided to talk about 1980s pop culture cars and vehicles via the #Fave80sCar hashtag on twitter. The brain-child of 80s Reboot Overdrive features a cross-section of like-minded geeks waxing nostalgic about stand-out or personal favourite vehicles that blew us away in movies, TV and games from the 1980s.

Check out the cross-over blogs from Realweegiemidge, Return to the ’80s Part I & Part II, 80s Reboot Blog and the 80s Reeboot Overdrive Podcast!

It was hard limiting myself but as I didn’t want inflict “War & Peace: 1980s Car Edition” upon you here are my top five vehicles in no particular order. Feel free to drop me a list of your favourites via my fast paced Twitter Account or main Facebook Page. Enjoy.

B is for Batmobile

The hype for Batman (1989) was through the roof, I was at college so myself and a few mates hit our local ABC Cinema and sat down to watch a new kind of superhero movie. Dark, twisted, action packed and heaps of fun. The casting was spot on, the sets and effects were exemplary, the music was inspired and the new Batmobile was awesome. Built specifically for the movie the car was constructed using a Chevrolet Impala chassis, Chevy V8 engine and modified 1970 Corvette body. Movie merchandise included action figures, die-cast vehicles and the cool missile launching Batmobile toy by ToyBiz.

E is for ECTO-1

Winter 1984 and I went to watch Ghostbusters with my parents. They were a little shocked by the sprinkling of colourful metaphors from the offset of the movie but I’m glad I got to enjoy this ride at the cinema. Funny, scary, tongue-in-cheek comedy horror featuring the outstanding ECTO-1. Created by Steven Dane, ECTO-1 and ECTO-1A are a Miller-Meteor Futura Ambulance/Hearse Combination mounted on a 1959 Cadillac Fleetwood Professional Chassis. Kenner would go on to release ECTO-1 as part of The Real Ghostbusters toys and action figures line.

K is for KITT

“Knight Rider, a shadowy flight into the dangerous world of a man who does not exist.” As a teenager in the 1980s this was the THE car you wanted to be seen cruising the streets in. Cool and fast with an array of weapons and gadgets which including “Turbo Boost” and a frickin “Laser”, K.I.T.T. (Knight Industries Two Thousand) is a fictional computer that controls the high-tech Knight 2000, a black Pontiac Firebird Trans Am T-top. The voice for KITT was provided by actor William Daniels. ERTL produced several diecast KITT models in various sizes including this large 1/16 scale version.

A is for Aliens APC

The school holidays of 1986 were in full swing, my mates decided we should try and sneak in underage to watch Aliens (Cert 18) as we were all fans of Alien. We put on our “oldest” clothing and strutted in with deep voices “Four tickets to Aliens please.” which led to instant success. In retrospect, it was the middle of the day and the screening was empty so the cinema were probably glad we turned up. I’ll never forget the scene with the Facehugger that launches at the side of the stasis tank causing me and my friends to shout “whoah!” simultaneously.

Back to cars… Aliens is my favourite movie, it blew me away at the time and it still does to this day. The APC (Armoured Personnel Carrier) is a heavy duty bit of kit that takes some serious punishment from acid, fire and rugged surface driving before finally giving up the ghost. Gutted we never got to see what kind of punishment the weaponry could have dished out to the pesky Xenomorph infestation on LV-426.  The APC is based on a four-wheel drive, four-wheel steering, 635 hp Hunslet Air Towing Tractor, acquired from British Airways at London Heathrow Airport.

A is (also) for Airwolf

Okay, so this defo isn’t a car but as kick-ass helicopters go this one is top of my list with Blue Thunder running a close second. With a killer main theme by Sylvester Levay, this high-octane cold war action show really grabbed my interest in the 1980s. Airwolf was derived from a Bell 222, a twin-turboshaft helicopter produced for the civilian market.

I bought the Crash Smash! Airwolf game for the ZX Spectrum and several years later picked up the large and small ERTL diecast vehicles. It was without doubt a mean machine.

That’s my top picks but there are so many more I could have included including Back to the Future DeLorean, A-Team Van, Street Hawk, Automan’s Car, The General Lee, ThunderCats Thundertank, Transformers, MASK, Tron Light Cycle, Christine, Mad Max 2, Spy Hunter, Magnum’s Ferrari, Fall Guy Truck and Miami Vice. Iconic cars as far as the eye can see, the 1980s officially rocked!

Movie, TV and comic book prop replicas by Ricardo Coutinho Dos Santos

I spotted these amazing prop replicas shared in a group while browsing Facebook. Thundercats, He-Man, She-Ra, Dungeons & Dragons, Superheroes and villains, quirky props and cult horror movies all feature in this great looking replica selection. Unbelievably, this talented artist makes these awesome items for his friends and fellow cosplaying brethren and has no website or Facebook page that I can find.

Thundercats Panthro’s Nunchucks

I’m not linking to Ricardo directly as getting bombarded by randomers asking questions might not be a high priority in this man’s life but these are way too good not to share. If you do want to contact Ricardo, he lives in Brazil and his first language is Portuguese.

For a larger selection of Ricardo’s work check out my Flickr Album.

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Thundercats Sword of Omens

She-Ra’s tiara and Sword of Protection

He-Man’s Sword of Power

X-Men Magneto’s Helmet

Nova’s Helmet

Wonder Woman’s tiara and arm bracelets

Thor’s Hammer aka Mjolnir

The Neverending Story

 

Multicade of the Universe – custom He-Man arcade cabinet by Tom Ace

Toy collector, customiser and all round master tinkerer Tom Ace picked up a vintage arcade machine about a month ago, with 620 games built in. “The guy told me it was called a Multicade, so naturally I had to put a Masters of the Universe twist on it, and I turned it into Multicade of the Universe!”

Tom designed, printed and installed all of the graphics, replaced the T-trim, changed out the buttons and joysticks, replaced the clear plastic over the control panel, tinted the glass and added an LCD monitor. The entire cabinet is smothered in retro Masters of the Universe imagery originally used to promote the hugely successful Mattel He-Man and the Masters of the Universe toy line and the animated television series produced by Filmation.

“[It’s] been a fun project and the games are a ton of fun to play!”

Tom is indeed the Master of the Universe when it comes to creating something that toy collectors, arcade enthusiasts and 1980s kids would love to get their hands on. Some might even be prepared to trade their precious Wonder Bread He-Man and Laser Light Skeletor for such an awesome looking arcade cabinet.

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Castle Grayskull & Snake Mountain repaints by Ryan Lansdon

One of the most famous childhood playsets of all time, Castle Grayskull was a huge epic looking beast with ladders, guns, weapons rack, trap door and came in a wonderful shade of murky green. Here’s where Masters of the Universe fan , and toy collector, Ryan Lansdon stepped in and unleashed his artistic skills upon the classic He-Man playset. Ryan got to work and now the castle looks like a real castle! Below you can see the highly detailed repaints and the classic originals for a side-by-side comparison. “By the Power of Grayskull…I Have the Power!” Next Ryan took his hand to Snake Mountain, the rather amusing looking playset that was always the poor cousin of Castle Grayskull despite packing a trap door, voice changer and huge snake. Anyone else think the face on the front looks like Cyril Sneer from the Raccoons? Anyway, another glorious repaint later and you have two awesome looking playsets with details that really pop! I wonder what’s next for this talented artist? I vote for the Ghostbusters Firehouse.

Follow my Retro Toys Twitter account for all the toys, games and comics action you could ever want. Also give my Retro Gamer account a whirl for everything computer and console related.

WIN a set of cool TV, movie and toy posters from Bill McConkey Illustration.

Bill McConkey is an award-winning illustrator based in the North of England known for lively character and pop culture infused art.

Along with providing many of the biggest selling British magazines with illustrations for over a decade, he also produces prints of his most popular artworks, many of these currently reside in the homes of discerning owners in every corner of the planet, from the West and East Coast of America to mainland Europe, Australia and the UK. You can find more amazing art and illustration by Bill McConkey on his website, blog and Twitter. He is more than happy to take on commissions *hint hint*.

Here is a chance to win a set of posters comprising of I ♥ He-Man, Aliens & Robots, 80s Last Supper (see below) and a couple of random surprises!

Two ways to enter, you can do both if you like and double your chances –

Follow Retro Action Figures on Twitter and re-tweet this post.

And/Or

Head over and follow Killer Kitsch on Pinterest and re-pin this post.

Please note: the prize can only be despatched to UK residents so feel free to share but don’t expect to win if you live in Outer Mongolia, sorry. Competition closes at midnight on Wednesday 29th April 2015.

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Krang oversized belt buckle by Christopher Genovese’s Freakshop

For Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles fans, and those that love the retro look, this Krang belt buckle by Christopher Genovese is totally radical. Dude.

Available on-line from his Etsy Freakshop, this item is cast in urethane resin from an original clay sculpture, hand-painted, and hard-coated with polyurethane clear coat. It can also be mounted for wall display or included with small easel for display on your shelf of wondrous items. Cowabunga!

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