Well, shit.

I periodically browse the Entertainment Earth website, partly because they have so much cool stuff, but also to monitor when Twilight Zone merchandise becomes available.  I spotted the following last week:

My heart sank.  Followers of this blog are aware of my crush on Maya the Cat Girl, and I liked to believe that my championing of her to my contact at Bif Bang Pow! had something to do with their decision to create an action figure of her.  I wasn’t nearly as concerned about Henry Corwin/Santa Claus because, frankly, it’s an action figure of Santa Claus, which would look awfully strange on a display shelf eleven months out of the year.  I emailed my contact (hell, I’m gonna go ahead and call him a friend) at Bif Bang Pow!, and he brought me up to speed on a story that was even more far-reaching and tragic than I could have imagined.

Going forward, they’re essentially prohibited from using any human likeness in their Twilight Zone products.  Not just actor/actress likeness.  HUMAN LIKENESS.  This means that if a character has a human face, it cannot be adapted to action figure or bobblehead form.

WHAT THE FUCK?

We already knew that securing actor likenesses was both a legal and a monetary issue, which is why BBP! was focusing on CHARACTER likenesses (for example, the Three-Eyed Venusian action figure is easily identifiable as such without looking expressly like Barney Philliips, the actor who portrayed him).  I can only presume that an actor (or their estate) took issue with this approach and demanded remuneration despite the fact that their specific likeness was sidestepped.  It all comes down to dollars, kids, and Bif Bang Pow! doesn’t have bottomless pockets like Hasbro.  I am not privy to the details, of course, so this is only my presumption, but I’m sure I’m not too far off.

This effectively kills both the action figure and bobblehead lines, and here’s why:  there are hardly any Twilight Zone characters that don’t have human faces, even the aliens, and they’ve already done most of them.  I can (almost) count the remaining candidates on one hand:

Janet Tyler (with bandaged face) (from “Eye of the Beholder”)

Old Ben in Alien Disguise (from “The Fugitive”)

Emily Harper (from “The Masks”)

Wilfred Harper (from “The Masks”)

Wilfred Harper Jr (from “The Masks”)

Paula Harper (from “The Masks”)

And… that’s it.  Every other character in the series --- be them human, alien or monster --- has an identifiable human face, which makes them impossible to render in action figure or bobblehead form under the current restrictions.  This means Maya the Cat Girl and Henry Corwin/Santa Claus had to be cancelled (along with the delayed Clown from “Five Characters in Search of an Exit”), despite the fact that they were already in production.  This also means the quiet death of dozens of future possible items too.  Unless something changes, both the action figure and bobblehead lines have been effectively killed.

Here's Bif Bang Pow!'s official press release on the subject.  It's cool to see some of the figures they were planning but hadn't announced yet (including Anthony Fremont from "It's a Good Life" and Marsha the Mannequin from "The After-Hours"), but the tragedy of the whole thing wrecks said coolness.  Fuck, fuck, fuck.

However, we still have four previously announced figures to look forward to in the next few months, none of which have recognizable human faces:

Nurse (from “Eye of the Beholder”)

Alicia (from “The Lonely”)

Alien (from “Hocus-Pocus and Frisby”)

Cyclops (from “The Fear”)

We may also see reappearances of some earlier figures that are now sold out, notably Dr. Bernardi from “Eye of the Beholder” and The Invader, both of which certainly deserve another run.  And Old Ben from "The Fugitive" is in bold above for a reason:  an action figure is currently in production!  I’ve been granted first scoop rights, so pardon my gloating while I post the following:

That is a seriously amazing sculpt.  Of course it is.  BBP does great work.

This whole thing is just plain heartbreaking, not to mention maddeningly frustrating.  We can hope that something changes, but as things stand right now… the end is in sight.  Of course this wasn’t going to last forever, but to have these wonderful lines abruptly ended like this is just awful. 

Bif Bang Pow! Toy Fair 2011 Preview

So I'm lying awake around 1:00 this morning, staring at the ceiling. Can't sleep, no idea why. I casually reach over, grab my Droid to check Facebook. I then proceed to Twitter, where the following grabbed me by the throat and almost threw me out of bed:

"@BifBangPow: Toy Fair 2011 Sneak Peak! http://t.co/ZlaXxUq"

I clicked the link. Of course I did. Here's what I saw:

Dear God, look at it all. I'm clearly not as "in the loop" as I like to think. I knew about some of this stuff, but a few items caught me completely off guard.


There's Henry Corwin, aka Santa Claus, from season two's "Night of the Meek." I'm more excited about Alicia, from season one's "The Lonely"! She's my second most-desired action figure. And look! Her face is blasted off and everything!



Finally I can unseal my lips. My all-time most-wanted Twilight Zone character will appear in action figure form later this year.... it's Maya the Cat Girl, from season one's "Perchance To Dream." I've known about her for several months, and keeping the secret has been killing me.


And hey, there's the alien from season three's "Hocus-Pocus and Frisby" too. I hate the episode, but the alien is pretty cool, so good choice. I'm a sucker for that 60's suit-and-turtleneck look.



We already knew we were getting Doctor Bernardi from "Eye of the Beholder," but it looks like we're also getting the nurse too!


And there's the Clown from season three's "Five Characters in Search of an Exit"! Here's hoping they immortalize the other four (Army Major, Ballerina, Bagpiper, Hobo) in action figure form as well.... that'd make a helluva diorama.


Let's see.... that's six action figures, plus the previously-announced Doctor Bernardi, Henry Bemis ("Time Enough at Last"), The Invader ("The Invaders"), and The Venusian ("Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?"). That's a whopping 10 new figures, presumably before the end of the year.

And there are two new bobbleheads too! I meant to cover these earlier, as both are already available for pre-order (due to ship in May)....


It's Bob Wilson, better known as William Shatner, from season five's "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet." As you can see, they answered my prayers and designed him as a companion piece for their earlier Gremlin bobblehead. And as I predicted, when used together, they work as bookends! Here's how I'm currently using my two Gremlins:


No choice but to use one backwards, but the arrival of Bob Wilson will solve this problem. Too cool. Hopefully we'll see a color version of Bob at some future point, which will give us a second set of bookends.

Here's a better look at both new bobbleheads:



The other new bobblehead is Willie and Jerry, from season three's "The Dummy." Willie has already been given the action figure treatment, but here we get him --- and his poor ventriloquist owner (victim?) Jerry to boot. They've captured the episode's surprise switcheroo nicely. It looks great.

Notebooks! Travel mugs! License plate brackets, oh my!


Coasters! Lunch boxes! Magnets!


And finally, in the mortgage-your-kidney department, we have the life-size replicas of the Mystic Seer ($249.99) and Talky Tina ($139.99). Is it just me, or does Tina look like she's been frozen in carbonite....?


Man, I'm gonna need a second job to afford all this stuff....

TZ Spotlight: Maya the Cat Girl

As previously discussed, one of my ten favorite TZ episodes of all time is “Perchance to Dream,” which celebrated its 50^th anniversary on 11/27/09 (the same day I celebrated my 40^th birthday). The episode is notable for many things: the brilliant teleplay by Charles Beaumont… the breathless and intense performance of Richard Conte in the lead… the visual treat of the nightmare carnival… the eerie, swirling musical score by Van Cleave… but without a doubt, the single most memorable element of this episode is none other than this beautiful and talented individual:

Actress Suzanne Lloyd, in the role of Maya the Cat Girl, has haunted my dreams since I first saw this episode in the 7^th grade. I told her as much in a recent letter to her, which accompanied a purchase order for autographed 8x10s (which she offers on her website). In my letter, I asked her to inscribe the picture with the following: “To Craig, Meow. Suzanne Lloyd.” I thought it might be cute. Her written response, which accompanied the signed 8x10s, suggests that perhaps cuteness wasn’t really appropriate:

“Maya is not a ‘meow’ character. I patterned her after a panther. But (I) will write what you requested.”

You know, she’s absolutely right. I think time had blurred my memory, causing me to confuse her interpretation of Maya with Julie Newmar’s Catwoman on TV’s Batman. Further study of Lloyd’s performance proved just how wrong I was. Maya would purr. Maya would growl. Maya would even shriek like a banshee… but she’d never, ever meow. I stand humbly corrected. Thanks to Ms. Lloyd for setting me straight.

The beautiful Ms. Lloyd as she appears today, no less bewitching.

I’m REALLY hoping Bif Bang Pow! releases either a bobblehead or an action figure (or both) of Maya at some point. A well-done action figure of Maya might just displace my all-time favorite female action figure:

I’m still waiting on Vera Miles to sign and return an 8x10 I sent to her a few months back… If she comes through, I’ll post a similar spotlight.

TZ Promo: “Perchance to Dream” (11/27/1959)

Today is my 40^th birthday (but we'll get to that in the next post). Exactly 10 years to the day BEFORE I was born, tonight's episode aired for the first time. Richard Conte and John Larch star, along with the beautiful Suzanne Lloyd as Maya the Cat Girl (meeee-ow). The combination of Robert Florey's direction and George C. Clemens' cinematography, filled with odd angles and shadows, is marvelous. Nathan Van Cleave (who would score a total of 11 episodes) contributes his first Twilight Zone score here, and he hits the ground running: augmenting the studio orchestra with the theramin, he creates music that is eerie, dizzying, and terrifying.

Perhaps the single most notable aspect of "Perchance to Dream" is the fact that Rod Serling DIDN'T write it. Credit goes to Charles Beaumont, who adapted his own short story. Beaumont would go on to write many memorable Twilight Zones before being gradually consumed by Alzheimer's Disease (or Pick's Disease; accounts differ). He died in 1967 at the age of 38.

"Perchance to Dream" is not only one of my 40 favorite episodes of all time (see the list here), it's the first so far to crack my top 10. Needless to say, the opportunity to celebrate its 50th birthday on my 40th birthday is a rare gift indeed.

No, this is NOT a shot from Cat People.