Embarking on a New Adventure

Howdy, you Truly Adventurous Souls! 

Well, it's been pretty hectic here at Squadron Central!  Mostly because I'm starting a new job, and it's got a weird schedule.  Consequently, I don't have anything to talk about today.  But come back next time; by then, I'll have a handle on things again!


Until then, I wish you all...

Good Adventuring!
Timothy A. Sayell

The Adventures of Smilin' Jack

Hello and welcome back to Squadron Central!

I recently re-watched "The Adventures of Smilin' Jack", so I guess I'm going to talk about another Thrilling Action Serial!  

"The Adventures of Smilin' Jack" was a Universal serial released way back in 1943, inspired by a newspaper comic strip.  There was a collection of names in the credits that I remember seeing in other serials, but a few members of the crew especially stand-out.

Chiefest of these was Sidney Toler, no doubt he is best known for playing Charlie Chan.  

Turhan Bey is also in the cast.  According to his IMDB page, he was apparently a pretty big star in Hollywood, I'm almost ashamed that I really only know him as evil priest Mehemet Bey in "The Mummy's Tomb".  

The star I am most familiar with is Keye Luke.  He was in a wide array of serials, and was Charlie Chan's number one son, Lee.  However, this was during Warner Oland's run as Charlie Chan.  A few fun facts:  Keye Luke played Kato in two Green Hornet serials, and later got to be a guest star on the show in '66.  He also got to be the voice of Charlie Chan in the Hanna Barbera cartoon series "The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan".  Of course, I first encountered him later in his career, first when he was David Carradine's old blind master on "Kung Fu", and later as the old man who didn't want to sell the Mogwai in the beginning of "Gremlins".  

But we're here to talk about Smilin' Jack.  So what's it about?  Well, the story begins in China in the early days of WW2.  Smilin' Jack Martin was a flier for the Chinese, but quits to go home and fly for the US, who will surely soon enter the war.  Before he leaves, General Ling (Sidney Toler) asks him for a favor...

The small, rural Mandon Province has a secret road through the mountains into India, and the General believes it could be a vital supply route during the war.  Jack is asked to deliver a message to the governor of Mandon inviting him to discuss releasing this secret for the good of China.

However, this information is also coveted by the enemy, embodied by the Black Samarai, a Japanese spy ring.  They bristle with resentment at their wartime leader, Fraulein Von Teufals, an accomplished and infamous German spy.

The Governor of Mandon is reluctant to disclose the secret pass without assurances from all involved that the road will again be forgotten and closed when the war is done.  The rest of the serial is spent pursuing signatures from dignitaries in China, India, and the United States (because hey!  This is an American production!) ensuring this promise.

This leads our hero and his stalwart companions on a rollicking journey over land and sea and through the air to collect the promise of three countries and release the secret.  There are bombings from planes, ships get torpedoed, submarines get rammed, and our Jack even learns that the Japanese plan to attack Pearl Harbor!

I've never read the comic strip, but I dig the serial!  There are tons of non-stop action, and the mystery of who among their group is secretly a double-agent!  

I guess if I'm to be objective, I should admit that there's really not much to differentiate this from other serials.  There is at least one fight every chapter, they don't confirm the identity of the villain (in this case, Fraulein Von Teufals) until the final chapter, each chapter starts with a summary of what's so far transpired, and ends on a life-threatening cliffhanger.  I find that earlier serials suffer from poor editing and move pretty slowly, but this one moves at a pretty brisk pace.  Yeah, it's kinda juvenile, and its VERY corny, but it's also very FUN!  Basically, if you like serials, I think you would enjoy this one.

I've watched this one more than once.  It's available for free on YouTube from multiple channels, and you could probably find it on DVD from a variety of specialty websites and Amazon, too, I'll bet.

Anyway, I enjoyed it, and I recommend it!  Have you seen it?  Do you want to?  Tell us about in the comments below, and be sure to tune in next time when I prattle on about...uh...something else!

Until then, I wish you all...

Good Adventuring!

Timothy A. Sayell

Cloak and Dagger

Calling all of you Top-secret Agents and Spies! 

Whilst sorting through all the clutter here at HQ, I found some old movies that I'm going to talk about sooner or later here on the blog.  I thought I'd start with a neat little "kid's movie" from 1984 called "Cloak and Dagger."

Fair warning:  I did not re-watch the movie for this entry; I'm going strictly off of memory here, so please bear with me.  

I first saw this movie in grade school.  I'm talking, like 4th, maybe 5th grade.  I don't remember why they were showing it.  It must have been the last day of school before some vacation or the end of the year or something.  I just remember it was extremely cool, and I was SO excited when I found it months/years later on...HBO or something.

The movie stars Henry Thomas, or as I knew him at the time, the kid from the E.T. movie.  Here, he plays Davey Osborne.  Davey lives in San Antonio, Texas, with his father Hal, who is an air traffic controller and played by Dabney Coleman!  I'm used to Dabney Coleman playing some sort of antagonistic role, and I guess he kind of is in this movie, too.

See, Davey's Mom passed away before the start of the movie, and now Hal and Davey have trouble relating to one another.  Davey seeks refuge in a role-playing game called "Cloak and Dagger," a very James Bond-inspired espionage game.  His main character is a super-spy named Jack Flack, who Davey also talks to as an imaginary friend.  In Davey's imagination, Jack Flack is modeled after his own father and is also played by Dabney Coleman.

Davey mostly plays Cloak and Dagger with his friend Kim, a girl around his age, who hangs out with him because he's not "boring like all the other boys are."  He also plays with his friend Morris, who owns a game shop in the mall.  

Morris sends the kids on a "real life" mission to obtain some catalogs from Textronics for him.  So armed with his water pistol (filled with red ink), a softball (to stand in for a grenade), and a pair of walkie-talkies, Davey and Kim go to achieve their objective.

In the office building where Textronics is located, Davey is "in character," running from pillar to pillar, must to Kim's embarrassment.  They split up, and Kim takes the elevator while Davey takes the stairs.  

Davey pauses at a window in the stairwell and notices the windows of the next building are acting as mirrors, and he can see what's going on in an office on the floor above him.  He sees one man shoot another man.  Then the shooting victim stumbles into the stairwell, gives Davey a copy of the Cloak and Dagger Atari cartridge loaded with military secrets, and instructs him to deliver it to the FBI.

He runs out of the stairwell screaming Bloody Murder, and although the security guards are skeptical, they investigate--and find an EMPTY stairwell!  Meanwhile, the murderer found Davey's softball...with his name clearly printed upon it.

Over the next few days, Davey is drawn into a game of cat-and-mouse with these murderers and spies who chase him down to get the cartridge back.  He, in turn, learns of their drop-off point at the Alamo and intercepts the game cartridge before the pick-up is made.  Kim gets kidnapped, the murderers hunt down Davey along the River Walk, and spies kidnap Davey and hijack a plane!

It's a wild ride!  Nobody believes Davey (until it's far too late, of course!), and his only reliable help through most of the movie is Kim, who is also skeptical for half the film, and his imaginary companion, Jack Flack, who wants to play a much more violent game than Davey is willing to play.

I once read somewhere (may on Wikipedia, I forget) that the director claimed he wanted to make a suspenseful Hitchcock-style film but for kids.  I'd say he hit his mark!  

In case you couldn't tell, I love this movie!  I think it's great!  A lot of fun to watch!  It seemed really relatable when I first saw it back in school.  I have this on DVD, and I do re-watch it every once in a while.  I heartily recommend it to anyone who likes a good adventure!

It is available to rent on Amazon Prime Video, but you'd probably have to check bargain bins and eBay if you wanted a VHS or maybe even a DVD.  But I'm sure they must be available somewhere! 

What about you, have you seen it?  If so, tell us your opinions in the comments below!  Meanwhile, I have to decide just what lost treasure to discuss in the next post...

Until then, I wish you all...

Good Adventuring!
Timothy A. Sayell

Thongor at the End of Time

Hello to all you Terrific And Spectacular people! 

Well, I've been working on some upcoming projects (not quite ready to talk about them yet!), but I did take a little time to read another book.  As you probably surmised from the title above, the book is called Thongor at the End of Time and I'd like to tell you about it!

It was written by Lin Carter, published in 1968 by Warner Books, and is apparently the 5th book in the Thongor series.  You may recall that some time ago I told you about book 3, Thongor:  Against the Gods.  Of course, you may not recall, so I've put in a link for your enjoyment!

In the following There Abound Spoilers!

So...the story starts off with Thongor's death...hey!  I told ya there were spoilers!

But then it backs up two weeks to show the arrival of this guy called Mardanax, sometimes called the Black Druid, sometimes the Black Wizard.  Apparently, he is a surviving villain from the previous book, Thongor in the City of Magicians (which I have NOT read).

This guy Mardanax has come to exact his revenge on Thongor for winning in the last book.  He just walks right into Thongor's capital  city of Patanga (Thongor has been a king since the end of the first book--which I have NOT read--I think) and seeks out a minor nobleman named Dalendus Vool, who is secretly in cahoots with the wizards of the City of Magicians.

During some sort of religious ceremony in a public Temple, Thongor is struck down.  Mardanax then uses his magic to put Thongor's wife, the Queen, Sumia, into a trance and uses her authority to take control of the city and the kingdom.  Dalendus Vool is pronounced the Prince Regent, to rule until young Prince Thar comes of age.

Several of Thongor's allies, presumably first introduced in previous books, were arrested on trumped up charges.  The rest convened in a private meeting to discuss the suspicious situations.  This meeting was inconclusive, so Charn Thovis takes it upon himself to break into the Palace and see Sumia, to find out if this is all the product of her grief, or if something more sinister is afoot.

There, he finds Sumia in a trance and proceeds to rescue the Prince.  There's a daring chase across rooftops until they finally steal an Airboat.  However, whilst running from pursuing air patrols, they are attacked by a pterodactyl-like creature called a lizard-hawk.  They end up in the gulf far below, where they are eventually rescued by a passing pirate ship.

Charn Thovis saves the pirate Captain, Barim Redbeard, from a murderous crewman and from then on, he and the young Prince are endeared to the whole of the pirate crew.  Unfortunately, upon their docking in the pirate City of Tarakus, they are subject to the local pirate's laws and must be auctioned off as slaves.  

Redbeard vows to buy them at the auction so they can be part of his crew, but the Pirate King's wizard identifies young Thar as the Prince of Patanga and the Pirate King takes the boy as his own slave.  Charn Thovis and his pirate companions rescue the Prince and race for their boat in the docks...

During all of this, Thongor manifests in the spirit realm...which is not at all as he expected.  On a set of adventures of his own, he comes to the conclusion that he is not completely dead, but neither is he alive.  He learns the Three Truths and makes his way to Gorm, the Chief God of Lemuria.  He learns the century-spanning legacy of his Empire and is basically sent back to live the rest of his life.

Thongor is not completely dead because of a talisman one of his companions gave to him in the previous book.  It is some ward against the magic of the wizards from the City of Magicians.  Since he's still wearing it, Mardanax's magic did not have its full affect upon him.

With the young Prince stolen from them, Mardanax hatches a plan for Dalendus Vool to marry Sumia and directly become the new King of Patanga.  Charn Thovis, Prince Thar are picked up by a pair of Thongor's friends in an Air Boat, and they leave their pirate friends and rush to stop the wedding.

In the very Temple where Thongor died, the wedding is underway. The Air Boat crashes into the dome, heroes emerge, fight ensues.  Dalendus Vool is killed, Sumia's trance is broken, but Mardanax gets the upper hand on the heroes with his magic.  Then, Thongor emerges from his sarcophagus and battles Mardanax.

I don't want to just straight up spoil the ending, but I will say that there is another book after this one.

I liked the book, it was full of cheesy goodness.  The beginning was a little daunting, they name-drop a LOT of names from previous books, and they're ALL weird names.  It was a little confusing to keep straight, but after a couple of chapters, it was clear who we were actually following, and we could forget the rest!

I have only read two of these Thongor books, but I will keep an eye out for the rest!  Have you read this one, or one of the others?  If so, leave a comment telling us about it!  And I'll meet you back here next time!

Until then, I wish you all...

Good Adventuring!
Timothy A. Sayell

Tales of the Gold Monkey

Howdy you Truly Adventurous Souls! 

I know why you're here!  I knew you were coming!  I didn't bake a cake though, but I do have  a true treat this time, team, a terrific trophy of television's times-gone-by called "Tales of the Gold Monkey"!  This is a re-working of an old article that I wrote a few years back for my "Odd Reviews by Oddcube", a feature of the former Abandoned Towers ezine.

 Be warned, There Are Spoilers!

"Tales of the Gold Monkey" aired its one-and-only season on ABC in 1982.  The show was created by some guy named Donald P. Bellisario, who created some other obscure shows with names like "Magnum, P.I.", "Airwolf", "Quantum Leap", "JAG", and "NCIS".  In fact, "Gold Monkey" was apparently the very first series that he got a "Created By" credit for.

So, the scuttlebutt from several online sources is that Bellisario created "Gold Monkey", inspired by such classic movies as "Only Angels Have Wings" and "To Have and Have Not" and that he began trying to sell it to the networks since the late 70's.  He was repeatedly turned down, as them dumb ol' TV execs thought no one would be interested in way cool adventure series set in the 1930's.  And then it happened:

"Raiders of the Lost Ark" was released in theaters, and was a smash hit!

Then all of a sudden, all three networks (yeah, there were only three back then, how did people survive?!) were scrambling to find something similar that they could air.  The good news here is that some guy at ABC remembered "Tales of the Gold Monkey", which came complete with a tropical island and a hero in a leather jacket!  ...The bad news is that they really wanted it to be more of an action-oriented adventure and less the character-driven drama Bellisario originally intended.  The resulting series is somewhere in between, and way cool!

"Tales of the Gold Monkey" takes place in the South Seas in 1938.  More specifically, on the fictional island of Boragora, part of the French Mandate which covers the southern half of the volcanic Marivella Island chain.  The northern half of the Marivellas compose the Japanese Mandate.  The show focuses on the adventures of Jake Cutter, a former Flying Tiger who is now a pilot-for-hire who transports passengers and cargo with his Grumman Goose (that's an airplane, if ya don't know).  Jake is played by Stephen Collins, whom you may remember from "Brewster's Millions" starring Richard Pryor and John Candy (he's the guy Richard Pryor gets to slug at the end), or from "Star Trek:  The Motion Picture" (he's the guy who merges with V'Ger at the end of the movie...in case ya fell asleep and missed that part, which is TOTALLY understandable!), or as a priest in the TV series "Seventh Heaven". 

Of course, a good hero needs good sidekicks, and Jake has several characters to back him up.  His best, or at least most loyal, friend is Corky, the best (and only) mechanic within a thousand miles.  Corky is amiable, optimistic, a little naïve, a little dense, and has a poor memory as a result of how much he drinks.  Corky is played by Jeff MacKay, who also played recurring roles on "Magnum P.I.", "JAG", "Battlestar Gallactica" (the original one), "Black Sheep Squadron", and "The Greatest American Hero".  And on top of all that, I found out that Jeff MacKay was Robert Redford's cousin!

Jake Cutter never went very far without his faithful friend, Jack, who was a one-eyed Jack Russell Terrier.  Jack was smarter than the average dog; in fact, he was often smarter than the average human.  He could hold a conversation with you by barking once for "no" and twice for "yes"...or is it the other way around?  To be honest, I think he switched it around every once in a while, just to confound people.  Jack had a glass eye made of opal with a star sapphire center, but Jake lost in a poker game in the pilot and Jack holds a king-sized grudge against him until he tracks it down and gets it back which, of course, Jake tries to do through the entire run of the show.  In the meantime, Jack wears an eye patch and is very cool, even though he's kinda contrary.

Next up, we have Sarah Stickney-White, who turns out to be an American secret agent...even though she sounds British...who has been assigned to eavesdrop and relay any information that may be useful to the U.S. in the upcoming war.  As her cover, she was the singer in Boragora's central meeting spot, The Monkey Bar.  In addition to all of that, she was Jake Cutter's romantic interest throughout the series, cuz you need that sort of tension in a series.  Sarah is played by Caitlin O'Heaney who was on "One Life To Live" for a while, and was in the Woody Allen films "Zelig" and "The Purple Rose of Cairo", and for a while she had her own perfume, called "Caitlin".

The most mysterious of Jake's companions is "Bon Chance" Louie. 
Louie is the French Magistrate in charge of Boragora and also the proprietor of the Monkey Bar.  Louie is a likable scoundrel and rogue who occasionally drops little hints about various experiences in his exotic and apparently infamous life.  In the pilot, Louie was played by Ron Moody, who has apparently been in tons of things, but I only know him from Mel Brooks' "The Twelve Chairs".  Also apparently, he and somebody didn't get along, because in the ongoing series, Louie was played by Roddy McDowall.  ...I don't have to tell you who Roddy McDowall is, do I?  I mean, he's Roddy McDowall!  Everybody knows and likes him, right?  He was in, like, EVERYTHING it seems like.

 Of course, a hero also needs some opposition, and there were some members of the regular cast to help in that capacity, too.  For starters, there was the Reverend Willie Tenboom, who was actually a Nazi spy assigned to Boragora.  Of course, he wasn't much of a spy; he was actually quite content to be stationed out on that tropical paradise mostly away from weighty worries like war and politics.  He was set up as a Reverend, and his favorite pastime was giving private--ahem--"blessings" to the local native girls.  He certainly didn't seem very devoted to the Nazi cause, and in fact was rather fond of the show's heroes.  As such a reluctant opponent, he wasn't really played up as a villain, but more as focal point for occasional comedy.  Willie was played by John Calvin, who seems to be in one episode of just about everything, and a couple of small movie roles, but "Gold Monkey" seems to be the largest part in his repertoire. 

A more affective villainess was the Princess Koji, a half-Irish/half-
Japanese princess who governed the Japanese Mandate in the Maravellas.  She was sort of a classic Dragon Lady type of character, very clever and cunning, and (of course) intrigued and enamored of our stalwart hero, Jake Cutter.  Princess Koji was played by Marta DuBois, who was also Thomas Magnum's wife on "Magnum P.I." and John Larroquette's love interest on the "McBride" series of mystery movies.

Princess Koji had several people at her beck and call, but her best servant is Todo.  Todo was some sort of samurai-guy who was fanatically loyal to the Princess.  He has a quick temper, unfaltering determination, and a samarai sword--and he's ready to use them all!  Todo is played by John Fujioka, who you might remember from "Pearl Harbor", or "Mortal Kombat", but I remember him from "The Private Eyes".

Anyway, "Tales of the Gold Monkey" is an adventure show, and there's plenty of adventure everywhere!  There are claim jumpers, guys trying to blow up members of Royal Families, kidnappers, slavers, killer apes, tigers, and curses from ancient island gods!  From start to finish, it's just plain cool!

Now, some of these plot elements were part of Bellisario's vision of what the series should be, but some of the more exotic things like ape-men and natives were apparently added at the insistence of the network.  Remember, they wanted it to be more Indiana Jones.  Well, remember also that this is the first series that Bellisario got "Created By" credit for, and since his name was on it, he was very insistent about how it turned out, too.  The short version here is that arguments ensued, and the series was not picked up beyond the first season, much to the surprise of rival networks and the disappointment of their growing fanbase. 

Despite stubborn, short-sighted network execs, the show retains a loyal cult following.  I guess I'm part of it, cuz I totally dig it the most.  And what's not to like?  There's adventure, excitement, romance, intrigue, and exotic scenery!  So if you like Indiana Jones, or Allan Quatermaine, or Jungle Jim, or the movie "Firewalker", or the Disney show "Talespin" (which itself was supposedly inspired by "Tales of the Gold Monkey"), then you will like this show, so check it out!

Or maybe you've seen it already?  If so, tell us what you thought about it in the comments below!

Until then, I wish you all...

Good Adventuring!
Timothy A. Sayell

The Executioner #14: San Diego Siege

Howdy, you Triggermen And Shooters! 

So, a while back, I won a couple of auctions on eBay that were small collections of "Men's Adventure" books.  I got some Executioner (Mack Bolan), some Destroyer (Remo Williams), some Matt Helm, some Nick Carter, and the first book of the Specialist.  This time, I decided to read an Executioner book.

I have read one Executioner book before, way back when I was in my mid-teens back in the 90s.  I don't remember the title, all the covers looked alike (a white background with a collage of images and the logo was on an upward slant).  I'm under the impression he was working with the government or at least some sort of organization.  He went undercover as some kind of journalist, and I remember it being stated that articles are regularly published under the pseudonym to support the cover identity.  And I'm pretty sure he blew up a helicopter from his hotel room.  I have NO idea who was fighting, or what the bad guy was trying to achieve.

So, I was going into this with little idea of what to expect, beyond the cliche idea that he was one of those heroes who basically kills everybody and blows everything up.  Because, well, that's basically what all these guys are about, right?

I grabbed the earliest book in my current collection:  The Executioner #14:  San Diego Siege.  Of course, the author's name is Don Pendleton.  It was published by Pinnacle Books, with a copyright of 1972.  I have no clue who made the cover art.

So, Mack Bolan was some kind of special forces super soldier and sniper back in Vietnam.  He came home and found most of his family dead, his father driven to murder/suicide because of dealings with the Mafia.  His younger brother was the sole survivor and told him everything.  So Bolan began a one-man war against the Mafia, which has driven him through thirteen previous adventures.

In this novel, Mack Bolan has been "summoned" to San Diego.  He meets with Bancanales, apparently, they fought together in Vietnam, and in one of the previous books.  Bancanales tell him that their former Colonel reached out for help.  But Bolan is unsure because he found some dirt on this Colonel in a previous novel.  First, he wants to scout things out and try to see how dirty the Colonel is, to determine if he is deserving of Bolan's help.

However, when he goes to spy on the Colonel, he finds that the Colonel is dead, and embroiled in some plot with the local Mafia.  Somehow, this changes things, and Bolan is determined to figure out what happened and clearly establish the Colonel's involvement.

It was a pretty fun story, but a little silly.  See, the Mafia was using the Colonel to steal military radio equipment so they could set up a series of radio relays from Las Vegas to San Diego to Mexico in order to capitalize on horse race gambling.  I can't help but picture these radio relays set up like the fire beacons between Minas Tirith and Rohan in the Lord of the Rings movies.

To tell the truth, this seemed a lot lighter in tone than the Specialist did.  In the Specialist, the villain made people fight to the death with steak knives for his amusement, another mobster had a secret dungeon in his basement where he kept teens that he planned to sell into sex slavery, and the descriptions of inflicted damage seemed more visceral and gritty and generally stomach-churning.  

Now I'll admit that Bolan's family dying by murder/suicide is pretty dark, but you don't see it, you're only told that it happened.  The first guy Bolan kills gets shot in the head and you're told that his head exploded and he fell off the boat into the ocean where you didn't have to see it.  This was probably the most gory thing in the book.  Yes, a bunch of people were killed and others got hurt, but they didn't dwell on it.  Plus, these bad guys were really only after the goriesthorse track gambling market.  Mostly, it felt like an episode of the A-Team or some other 80's action show.  Except people died, and one girl spent two whole chapters wearing nothing but a bikini bottom so you knew this was "more grown-up" or whatever.

Maybe this is because this book came out in '72 while the Specialist came out in '84.  Or maybe it's just my own mindset and sensibilities.  Some things seem more serious depending on your outlook, after all.  But I think I liked this book better than the Specialist and I'm looking forward to reading the other books in my collection.

Of course, you can still get this physical book through Amazon or eBay, and a digital version from various places on the net if you want to check this one out.  Or perhaps you've read it already, if so, leave a comment below and tell us what you thought about it!  Well, I guess that's all I have to say for now, so I'll see you next time!

Until then, I wish you all...

Good Adventuring!
Timothy A. Sayell

The Shadow in Temple of Crime

Howdy, you Trackers And Sleuths! 

Hope everyone is doing well because we have a mystery to solve!  And it's a classic, too!  This time we're going to talk about a story that appeared in The Shadow magazine, it's called "Temple of Crime".

It was written by  Walter B. Gibson but published under the house name of Maxwell Grant by Street and Smith in November of 1941.  However, my copy is in "The Shadow #77" published by Sanctum Books in 2013.  I got my copy from Radio Spirits, a company that specializes in CDs of old-time radio shows and other (sometimes loosely) related items.

This issue also features another Shadow story called "The Curse of Thoth", a brief essay by Will Murray, and a radio script for an Egyptian-themed episode of Nick Carter.

So here's the situation in this one:  a rich guy named Amru Monak has reconstructed an Egyptian temple of Ammon-Ra on his estate and started up a cult to worship him.  The Shadow sent Margo Lane to join the cult, to investigate it from within.  During their first ceremony in the temple, a murder occurs!  

Amru Monak is one of the primary suspects, but not the only one.  The other two suspects are  Basil Gorth, an archaeologist who was part of the expedition who found the temple in Egypt; and Jan Ravion, a university professor who hopes to be the first person to translate the mysterious hieroglyphics on the pedestal that supports the statue of Ammon-Ra.

The premises are stalked by Monak's sinister servants and also a mysterious gang of ruffians who wear masks styled after Egyptian gods.  The weird temple seems to be magical...or haunted.  And at one point, The Shadow gets locked in a mummy case!

I'm not going to spoil the ending for you, but I will tell you that there are abundant action scenes, panicky crowds, the enigmatic Book of Thoth, and mysterious goings-on!  The Shadow does not "cloud men's minds" like he does in the radio show, but he does seem to have the supernatural ability to...well...become darkness, and therefore go unseen by human eyes. 

I have only read a few Shadow stories, so I don't know how the die-hard connoisseurs rate this one, but I enjoyed it very much.  If you like pulps, you'll certainly like this!  Or maybe you've found it already, if so tell us what you thought about it in the comments below!  I'll be back in a few weeks to talk about something else!

Until then, I wish you all...

Good Adventuring!
Timothy A. Sayell

Gunthar (and the) Devil From Beyond

Greetings Friends and Fans! 

So, I've been busy and distracted with other things, so let's see if we can get back on track.  I've got a short one to talk about this time, called "Gunthar:  The Devil From Beyond".  This is part of a series about a barbarian adventurer named Gunthar, in this adventure he is embroiled in an adventure against the Devil From Beyond.  Gunthar himself is NOT the Devil From Beyond, I just want to make that clear.

The story is written by Steve Dilks and published by Carnelian Press, this edition is copywritten in 2018.  There are a few other stories in this series, and a collection as well.  

I found the series by accident when I was searching the internet for vintage Conan clones like Lin Carter's Thongor and Gardner Fox's Kothar.   When the Gunthar stories popped up in my internet search, I wasn't sure if they were old or new.  Turns out they're new!

So the hero is Gunthar.  Apparently, he is from some western culture that is not named in this story, but spent a lot of time with a nomadic tribe of warriors in the steppe land of Tatukura and now considers himself one of them.  He is sometimes called the Black Wolf of Tatukura, and a black wolf's head is carved into the handle of his signature curved sword.

This is actually the second Gunthar story I've read, the first was "Gunthar and the Jaguar Queen".  It's been a while since I read that one, and I don't remember the exact passage, but I am under the impression that Gunthar actually lives in some sort of post-apocalyptic world.  In "Jaguar Queen" there was a type of steamship that took him and his companions across the sea, and in this one, the city guards are equipped with energy whips.  These are sort of like lightsabers, except when turned on you get a flexible cord of energy instead of an erect blade.

This is a contemporary story, it's available on Amazon (for Kindle and physical book) and probably other places, too; so I don't want to spoil the ending.  I mean, I wouldn't want someone leaking the plot of my story so no one has to buy it, and I'm not going to do that to someone else.

But I can go ahead and explain the setup.

Gunthar has come to the city of Pashuvia as a merchant caravan guard.  Pashuvia is an Arabian-Nights-inspired location.  It's out in the desert, with buildings made of stone and stucco, with domed tops and onion-shaped towers.  There are dancing girls in harem pants and men wearing turbans and gauzy desert costumes.  Pashuvia is a major midway point on a prominent caravan route and is also a seaport city.

On his first night in town, Gunthar is carousing and gambling and runs into a runaway concubine from the King's harem.  Her name is Ranya and she is having frightening prophetic dreams about a shadowy thing that is coming for her.  She is pursued by the King's guard, led by Captain Jamal.  After a brief altercation, both she and Gunthar are captured.

In the dungeon awaiting trial, Gunthar meets Tullus Vantio, a wandering poet and minstrel who came to Pashuvia to make his fortune and has not fared well.  Upon their eventual release, Gunthar looks up Tullu, and the two become friends.  

Meanwhile, King Shunga II is feeling poorly, possibly suffering from the mind sickness, but really being slowly poisoned by his trusted advisor, the astrologer Kabir Kaaliya.  Upon learning about Ranya's escape and capture by the guards, he is disturbed by the role of Gunthar, an outlander!  According to some horoscope or prophecy he privately received, the presence of an outlander could be the undoing of his plan to reclaim his rightful place as King of Pashuvia!  

To preserve his plot, Kabir summons his shadowy demon Shimunu and instructs him to kill Gunthar!  This is about the halfway point of the story, and I don't think I should reveal more.

Gunthar is a likable hero, in my opinion.  He is not stupid and is a skilled and cunning combatant.  He has a set of morals and seems like an everyman trying to get through life when the adventure imposes itself upon him.  The world he lives in feels bigger than the story itself as they allude to other cities and kingdoms, and mention deities and snippets of history.

So if you like sword and sorcery, then I can heartily recommend that you check out the Gunthar series by Steve Dilks!  Like I said, I've read two of them, and I will be looking for the rest of the series!  I guess that's all I have to say about that, so I'll see you next time!

Until then, I wish you all...

Good Adventuring!
Timothy A. Sayell

Dark Tower

Welcome back to the Trove of Ancient Secrets! 

I was reminded of the greatest board game ever.  It was a rare masterpiece even in my youth and has only grown more scarce as time lumbers ever on.  It is an epic game of Good vs Evil, spanning over four great kingdoms all riddled with tombs and ruins, bedeviled by Brigands, beset by an Evil Wizard, and stalked by a ferocious Dragon!

I am, of course, talking about the Milton Bradley fantasy board game called Dark Tower!

In the center of the board stood the Tower itself, really a computer that kept track of all the monsters, as well as your troops and supplies.  Each player starts in a different Kingdom.  No matter which kingdom you start in, you have to retrieve a Key from each of the other Kingdoms.  You must use all three keys--in the proper order--to enter the tower and confront the bad guy.

But that's not all!  You can hire warriors to help you in your fights with Brigands.  You can hire a Healer so you don't lose as many during a fight or from sicknesses you can get during your travels.  You can hire a Scout so you don't get lost during your travels.  But then you have to buy enough food to feed everyone, and sometimes hire a Beast of burden to carry your supplies.  If you're lucky enough to find the Magic Sword, you can kill the Dragon if you happen to cross paths with it!  All of these are represented by different Icons that appear on the Tower.

Once you rally your forces and collect the three Keys, you advance to the Tower and try to unlock the main gate.  If you use the Key in the wrong order...I think you lost at least one of them and had to go find it again.  It's been a long time, I don't recall exactly.

But it was the coolest board game ever!  Stop Theif only had sounds, making it the third-best game ever.*  This had sounds and pictures (and was Fantasy!).  I really can't think of anything else that was quite like it.

I understand that Restoration Games had a Kickstarter to raise funds to make a reboot called Return to Dark Tower.  I believe the Kickstarter was successful, and they were hoping to release the game in July of last year, but I haven't found it anywhere.  The release was probably screwed up by the lockdowns, everything else was.

As for the original Dark Tower, I've only ever seen it on eBay, and if it has all the pieces and actually works--it costs a small fortune!  But I still have very fond memories of that game!

How about you?  Have you ever played Dark Tower?  Were you fortunate enough to have owned it once?  If so, what happened to it?  Tell us about it below in the comments!  

Until then, I wish you all...

Good Adventuring!
Timothy A. Sayell

*  The Second-Best board game ever is obviously Fireball Island, but you knew that cuz you read my post about it.

Unknown Island

There you are!  I've been waiting for you because it's Time for Another Safari! 

So get this:  I was over on YouTube, minding my own business; when I spied this suggested video.  It was an old adventure movie from 1948 called "Unknown Island".  I had never heard of it before.

It stars a bunch of people I don't know who are, but then I found a point of reference for a couple of them.  Virginia Grey was in "Another Thin Man" (great series of mysteries starring William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles) and also in "The Big Store" (a Marx Brothers vehicle).

Richard Denning will go on to be in the classic Universal Monster movie "The Creature From the Black Lagoon".  And later in the less prestigious films "Creature With the Atom Brain" and "The Black Scorpion"; a pair of really bad B-movies that are in my vast collection.

So here's the story:

In Singapore, a formal WWII pilot named Osborne and his fiancée Carole (played by Virginia Grey) want to charter a shady ship's captain to take them to an island well off the shipping routes.  During the war, Osborne was knocked off course by a storm and found the island to be inhabited by dinosaurs!  He wants to go back and get a bunch of pics so he can make a ton of money.

 The ship's captain informs them of another man who knows about the island:  a local drunkard named Fairbanks (played by Richard Denning).  Fairbanks was once on a boat that also got lost in a storm and shipwrecked on the island.  He and his fellow castaways built a raft to escape, but Fairbanks was the only one who made it...the rest of the castaways were eaten by dinosaurs.

Since the two stories seem to corroborate the other, the shady captain agrees to the voyage.  The trip is long and arduous, and his crew of natives tries to mutiny...but fails.  Then they get to the island...and things start to get dangerous!

Yes!  There are cheesy dinosaurs!  Some are stop-motion brontosaurus-types, others are rubber-suit T-Rex wannabes.   And some...I guess are just some kind of puppets.  

But that's not all!  The crew are still mutinous, Fairbanks is falling for Carole, Carole is getting disillusioned with Osborne who wants more pics, and the shady Captain vows he won't leave the island until he captures a dino alive!  

In addition to all of this, there is another creature on this island.  They call it a Giant Sloth, but it looks more like a guy in a gorilla suit.  In fact, according to the all-knowing Wikipedia, it's supposed to be none other than Crash Corrigan in that gorilla suit!  He played a LOT of cowboys and a LOT of gorillas and he went to the Undersea Kingdom!

This was a fun bit of cheese!  It mostly went the way I expected it to...thought one guy lived that I thought was gonna die and another guy died that I thought was gonna live...  I tried to go in with low expectations, but it was surprisingly good!  

Is it the best movie ever?  No!  But it was an enjoyable way to kill an hour-and-a-half.  There's a pretty good chance I would sit through it again, and I recommend you try it out, too, if you like those cheesy old movies with rubber-suit monsters!  Like I said, a simple search on YouTube will lead you right to it!

Or maybe you've already seen it?  If so, what did you think about it?  Tell us down in the comments below!

Until then, I wish you all...

Good Adventuring!
Timothy A. Sayell

Jack Hunter

Greetings, you Treasure and Antiquity Seekers! 

Good to have you back!  I hope you're ready for adventure because this time we're talking about the Jack Hunter miniseries.  I believe this debuted on the Syfy Channel (but don't quote me on that) around New Year 2008-2009.  

These three episodes run about an hour and a half each, forming a single, all-encompassing story arc.  First is "Jack Hunter and the Lost Treasure of Ugarit".."  Here we meet Jack Hunter, jaded and cynical archaeologist, on a mission to photograph a tablet in a private collection in Paris.  A bad run-in with a security guard smashes his camera, so he takes the entire tablet.

His friend and mentor believe this tablet holds a riddle that leads to a long-lost Ugaritic treasure.  Jack thinks it's a bunch of hooey and refuses to get involved until someone kills his mentor.  Before his death, the mentor marked a spot on a map, and this leads Jack to Syria, where he is joined by Nadia Ramadan from a local antiquities institute (she and Jack hate each other right away, so you know they end up together by the end of the series) and Tariq, a driver/tour/guide provided by some tourism bureau.

The main opposition is a rival archaeologist named Littman, who is working for the Russian Mafia.  There are other bad guys, too...but I don't even remember who they were supposed to be.  Some weird secret society that's still around from ancient times...they worship the magical staff that is part of the Treasure.

There were foot chases, car chases (Tariq is supposed to be their driver, but somehow every time Jack drives, there turns out to be a car chase...go figure!).   There are some caves and ancient ruins and weird ancien traps.  Anyway, all this leads to the staff.

What staff?  Oh yeah, there's this magic staff.  It's the first of a two-part ancient superweapon.  The weapon is called the Eye, and the Staff is the Iris.  It's a solar-powered magic staff that shoots a laser beam.  The secret society is trying to keep everyone away from it.

But they blew it.  Everyone gets to the temple where it's kept, and--of course--Littman gets it by the end of the first movie!  

But that's ok because we're not done yet!  We move to part two, "Jack Hunter and the Quest for Akhenaten's Tomb."  See, there's a second part to the superweapon.  It's called the Star of Heaven, and it attaches to the orb at the top of the staff, and...no one's quite sure what it does.  But Littman is after it, so we have to stop him!

Our heroes believe that the Star of Heaven was captured by the forces of the Pharaoh Akhenaten and hidden away in Egypt, so that's we they go next.  

More political intrigue, more ancient mysteries, another secret society.  But it turns out that the Star of Heaven is not here because thousands of years ago, the Romans looted the place and moved the entire treasure, but left a pair of Roman coins on the eyes of the Pharaoh.  Oh yeah, and we fail to get the Staff away from Littman!

But we're not through yet; we still have "Jack Hunter and the Star of Heaven."  This time there's a trail of private collectors that our heroes must follow to eventually find the Star.  And of course, Littman gets it, and we have to get it back before he can turn it over to the Russian Mafia...or is that even his true intention?  I won't spoil it, just in case you want to check it out for yourself.

So, how was it?  Well...it was okay.  The mystery and intrigue really weren't so bad.  They make the mistake of dressing the hero up in a way that reminds you of Indiana Jones, and I think that was a bad idea.  Jack Hunter is NO Indiana Jones.  

As I said, the plot is okay.  It has all the necessary parts to be something great, and it takes place in the modern world, which helps set it apart from period pieces like Indiana Jones.  However, in my opinion, none of the characters were very likable.  And the story just isn't told in the fun style of Indiana Jones or "The Mummy" with Brendan Fraser.  It's like they wanted all the corny adventure stuff but were hoping to inject verisimilitude and believability...or something.

It was good in its way, it was watchable, and I'm not sorry I watched it.  On the other hand, I'm in no hurry to watch it again.  It just wasn't as much fun as Indy or O'Connell.

But if you want to watch it, I'm sure you can find it on some streaming channel or other; I watched it on YouTube.

Have you seen "Jack Hunter and Lost Treasure of Ugarit"?  If so, tell us what you thought about it in the comments below!

Until then, I wish you all...

Good Adventuring!
Timothy A. Sayell

The Star Kings

Howdy-do to all you Travelers Among the Stars! 

Welcome back to another fun-filled thrill-a-minute report here at Squadron HQ!  This time, we're talking about a rollicking space opera adventure that encapsulates the sort of entertainment we strive for here at TAS.  It has everything!  It has telepathy, time-travel, planet-hopping, imposter royalty, romance with a space princess, mutant blob monsters, a massive space war, and a weapon that could destroy the entire galaxy!

What is it?  It's "The Star Kings" by Edmond Hamilton! 

Edmond Hamilton was, of course, a popular, prolific pulp writer whose stories filled the pages of many a sci-fi and horror magazine.  Later, he moved on to write stories for comic books like Batman, Superman, and Green Lantern.  He wrote several space opera stories, including the Captain Future and Starwolf series.

John Gordon is a pilot who survived World War II and returned to his everyday life as an accountant, which he now finds very dull.  At night when he drifts off to sleep, he begins to hear a voice in his head.  It is Zarth Arn, a prince of the Mid-Galactic Empire calling from 200 centuries in the future.  He wants to study history first-hand by switching bodies with John Gordon, kinda like in Quantum Leap.

Gordon--craving adventure, excitement, and really wild things--jumps at this opportunity.  His consciousness is transported through Time And Space into the body of Zarth Arn in his Earth laboratory 200,000 years in the future.  Zarth Arn is not only a prince (second-son of the Imperial Emperor) but also a scientist.  Apparently, he does this mind-swap thing with various persons throughout history, and his trusted associate is present to help Gordon get oriented and updated with simple things like language.

But then Gordon gets pulled into a much more exciting adventure than he planned.  The laboratory where the mind transfer took place is attacked by a group of political dissidents; they are troops of "the Cloud," headquarters of the League of Dark Worlds.  They want to kidnap Zarth Arn, who--as a member of the royal family--knows the secret of the Empire's super-weapon.  They have come for John Gordon!

They conveniently kill the assistant guy, the only guy who knows that Gordon is NOT Prince Zarth Arn.  Then, by luck and happenstance, these troops are in turn conquered by a passing patrol of the Imperial navy, and Gordon is saved!  Sort of!  They insist on reporting the incident to Zarth's father--the Emperor!--who orders his son return home to the safety of the Imperial capital city of Throon!  They take Gordon away from the lab and the precious mind-swapping device!

From here on out, Gordon's sole objective is to return to Earth and bring the real Zarth Arn back to deal with his own problems.  But Gordon just keeps getting farther and farther from this goal as he is bombarded with one setback after another!  

He is accused of treason, framed for the assassination of the Emporer, kidnapped by agents of the Cloud, tortured with a mind-reading ray, crash lands on a planetoid filled with monsters, causes a mutiny, and pressured to use a secret weapon that-if used incorrectly-could destroy the entire galaxy!  Wow!

This is a nonstop thrill ride!  Like, no kidding, EVERY chapter ends with a little cliffhanger that makes you want to keep going!  It is a little episodic, and, as others on the internet have pointed out, it is corny and cheesy--but these are just plusses, in my opinion!  

I WILL be reading this again sometime!  I've read some other Edmond Hamilton stories, but this just makes me want to find some more!  So if you like super-cheesy, action-packed space operas, I highly recommend that you read "The Star Kings"!  You won't go wrong!

Apparently, there are more stories in this series, but I haven't found them...yet!  Have you read this one?  Or any Edmond Hamilton stories?  Drop a comment below to tell us what you read and what you thought about it!

Until then, I wish you all...

Good Adventuring!
Timothy A. Sayell