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Has to be Joe Pineapples.

"Wait, Joe, I can operate on his brain!"
"Me, too."

--Grant

I think Frankenstein II from back around prog 130 might take the cake.  "Say, you don't suppose, with a name like that, he might... build an artificial man?!"

Brett Ewins drew another very silly villain around the same time: the civilian in charge of demobbing droids in The ABC Warriors and who sent Steelhorn to the furnace while doing his impression of a fire engine.

--Grant

I *almost* like Carlos's suggestion.  If he didn't draw it, it didn't happen.  That way, you avoid all the problems with the chronology.  And the Simon Harrison artwork.

The downside to this suggestion is that Carlos didn't draw "A Sorry Case" either, and that one was hilarious.

--Grant

Lidsville must have never aired in England.  Unfortunately, I can only find pictures of the good hats, but believe me, the bad hats were as bad as they come.  When that gangster hat said "Button your lip, chump, and start walking!," millions of four year-olds quaked in fear...

--G.http://www.cfhf.net/lyrics/images/lidsville.jpg">

One of the brokers with whom I have to speak every couple of months had a tracheotomy some years ago and speaks through a voice box which is modulated ABSOLUTELY IDENTICALLY to the one the BBC used for "Tomb of the Cybermen."

Creepy's a good word for it.  All the color is said to drain from my face when I get him on the phone.

--Grant

Well, Pertwee got a gooey plastic tentacle around his throat during the climax of Spearhead from Space, but that wasn't the cliffhanger.

By an odd coincidence, Tom Baker got a robotic pair of hands around his throat at the end of The Robots of Death pt 3, which my kids and I watched last night.  That's a really neat story to watch, with a fantastic guest cast including Russell Hunter, David Collings and Pamela Salem.

--Grant

There's always this old definition: It is science fiction if, presuming technical competence on the part of the author, the author genuinely believes that it could happen.

I think a big problem is that "fantasy," a much larger banner under which most "SF" actually falls, has been thoroughly co-opted by the unicorn porn crowd, with their RenFest filking about Bilbo Baggins and Mercedes Lackey.  So there's a public mindset which immediately equates "fantasy" with "dragons and magic" instead of "Manta prowler tanks" and "free lunch drives."

--Grant

I think I'm going to have to keep writing in if Tharg's going to be so sweet as to keep sending me these wonderful postcards.

And Trout, between "Judge Grexnix" and the "Case Closed?" episode of Vector 13, I think Tharg has brought us enough examples of Earthlets or droids getting above their station.  Replace the Mighty One, indeed!

--Grant

I think the gribligs owed more, as parodies go, to the film "Gremlins," which was in theatres around that time (c. 1984-85).

--Grant

Whatever Happened to The Gribligs...

That *is* a good question!  I remember wondering for ages why artists weren't drawing them in the backgrounds more often.  "The gribligs are here to stay!"  Yeah, for a week...

--Grant

The best Thargnote ever was the one warning that catapults are very dangerous, and if you are ever around President Reagan, don't fire one.

My favorite line is from Day of the Droids: "Get me out of here, you unbelievable idiots, I'm wearing a pair of concrete boots!"

I publish The GMS Legion, which now mainly exists as free online comics.  My most recent "for sale" material appears in the DRUNK TANK anthology.

--Grant

Link: http://www.geocities.com/gmslegion" target="_blank">The GMS Legion

It occurred to me last night that the new Devlin Waugh collection replaces two Hamlyn books entirely and adds a decent amount of supplemental stuff.  Plus I've never read "Mouthful of Dust."

I'll probably find a new home for my old edition Swimming in Blood.  I'm always trying to convert new readers, even though I rarely have any luck with it.  The old "Fetish" book I might keep.  I just really liked the way that collection read.

--Grant

Working around all the color double-spreads for Oz, at least two of which weren't pages 1 and 2 of their episodes, isn't a job I'd wish on anybody.  It sounds like a logistical nightmare!  If they decide to reprint Oz, I think we should all chip in to cover Jamie's bar tab at an upcoming convention!

--Grant

I can't say I'm pleased that the Carney episodes of Sinister Dexter will be dropped.  I don't recall whether I enjoyed them or not, but it is the first of what I hope will be a very short list of disappointments that the collection won't be a complete one.

--Grant