What is the name of this possibly Japanese cartoon I saw in the 80s? Futuristic soldiers are converted into cyborgs to work in space. It follows an elite team before and after the conversion. One was an alien from the planet 'Mime' who never spoke. Another were a twin brother and sister who had the code names 'Iron Heart' and 'Iron Will.' During conversion, they realized Iron Heart had a defective heart, so they replaced it with machinery, making his name more appropriate.
Brian Katcher
5th Jan 2024
General questions
29th Jul 2020
General questions
Anyone recognize this horror movie/TV show from 1990 or earlier? A surly preteen is walking down a street, when he's accosted by a strange man who says the boy is upset because it's his birthday and his parents forgot. The boy runs off, but obviously the comment hit home. He walks into an abandoned building to find a party with cake and presents all set up for him. He keeps calling for his family to come out, but instead, strange toy robots come clanking out of the darkness. When the boy opens the cake box, there's a severed human head inside which smiles and says 'hi', causing the boy to scream and run off. I was babysitting when I watched this and it was upsetting my charge so I turned it off, and I never got to see the ending, and it always bothered me.
Answer: The movie is called Spookies.
Thank you.
26th Feb 2023
General questions
What is the name of this point and click video game I played in 1986 or 87? You follow your dog through a portal in your uncle's (?) lab and wind up in a world where everyone (including the dog) is super cool. It being the 80s, that meant they dressed like martians. I could never get very far, because after a couple of minutes of game time, the bad guy would feed you to a carnivorous zoo animal.
Answer: Some of this description sounds a lot like "Pepper's Adventures in Time" but that came out in the early 90s. Also the game didn't have any Martians in it.
If it came out in the 90s, I didn't play it in the 80s.
2nd Feb 2023
General questions
I've seen this in a few movie/TV scenes. A man wants to ask a woman out on a date, but he expects her to say no and make an excuse. One common excuse is "I'm washing my hair that night." What is the origin of this? I am a woman who was born in the late '80s, so, for as long as I can remember, girls and women have washed their hair a few times per week.
Answer: According to my research, this was a more reasonable excuse before the 1980s. Many women wanted time for their hair to dry and "set", i.e. for a perm style in the 1950s. Some preferred to have this done at a salon, so an appointment could actually prevent them from accepting a date. Also, families in rural or low-income areas might conserve water. A girl/woman would not always have the luxury of going to a salon, or washing her hair every couple of nights.
Answer: They are making a lame, flimsy excuse to avoid going out with the guy. Washing one's hair doesn't take that long and isn't something that couldn't be rescheduled. Instead of coming up with a plausible excuse, they're basically letting the guy (and the audience) know they just don't like the guy.
This doesn't explain why it has become such a common joke/excuse in movies and TV.
The line "I'm washing my hair" is a way to tell a guy she's not interested. Example. In the movie "Back To The Future", Biff asks Lorraine out to the school dance and she says she's busy washing her hair. This is because she doesn't want to go out with him. Using this line in other TV shows and movies has become something of a trope.
Answer: Before the invention of shampoo conditioner, women would use lye soap. It would take literally a day for a complete washing, cleaning and grooming of hair.
Hardly something that happened after the advent of TV.
23rd Jan 2023
General questions
Looking for a cabinet game I played in an arcade in the early 1990s. It was a first person shooter, where you used a plastic gun to shoot the screen. The premise is you are in a city that's been taken over by ghosts and demons and you fight possessed items rather than monsters. The final boss on the first level is a movie poster where a actor and actress' face jump out of the poster and attack you. The second level is a restaurant where you fight flying plates and coats.
Answer: Maybe "Laser Ghost" (1990)?
That's it! Thanks.
15th Oct 2022
General questions
There was a short cartoon I saw in the early 80s where every time the guy used a figure of speech, it would happen literally: I combed the beach (with an actual comb); I put my foot in my mouth (literally); She had a lot of little ones (tiny numeral 1s).
Answer: "Symphony in Slang" by Tex Avery (1951).
Thanks. You just solved a 40-year-old problem for me.
You're welcome.
11th Oct 2022
General questions
What was this science fiction movie from the early 80s or earlier? An earth man is undergoing a procedure by aliens (or future people) to make him super intelligent. I just remember the aliens chanting 'Think about the brain...think about the brain...' over and over again.
Answer: Maybe "Starship Invasions," (1977) two alien races bring their war to Earth. One set experiments on humans, while the others ask for their help.
I don't think that's it either. I'm pretty sure I saw it in the theater and that was before my time.
Answer: There is a 1977 TV-Movie, "The Man with the Power." A man discovers his father was an alien from another planet. He has super powers. An alien emissary appears to advise him on how to use his powers to help mankind. I don't know about the "think about the brain" scene. It hasn't been broadcast in twenty years. There are a couple of other movies, but I believe this is the one your looking for.
Thanks, but after googling it, I don't think that's it. The man in my movie was older, they definitely were performing some sort of medical procedure on him, there were in some sort of futuristic hospital, there were multiple aliens, and I'm almost certain I saw this in the theater.
18th Sep 2019
General questions
There was a movie about a mad scientist who was trying to create a clone of his dead wife. He had a handsome young lab assistant. When the assistant's girlfriend falls into a coma after an accident, the scientist offers to clone her as well. The assistant declines, saying a clone wouldn't be the woman who fell in love with him; the girlfriend later recovers. The scientist realises he'll never be able to recreate the past and ends up marrying a much younger woman.
Answer: Sounds like the 1985 film "Creator", starring Peter O'Toole, although I can't be certain about the lab assistant and his girlfriend. But a young woman who agrees to donate her egg and the scientist fall in love. There's also the 2017 film called "Andover" where a scientist clones his dead wife, although that film has less in common with your description than the first.
Yep, 'Creator' was it. Thank you.
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Answer: "SilverHawks" (1986). The twins were called "Steelheart" and "Steelwill," who had artificial hearts put in during their transformation. Steelheart was the sister, though; Emily Hart, and her brother was Will Hart.
Bishop73
Thank you! Me confusing iron and steel made it impossible to Google.
Brian Katcher