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Operation Aliens: The Saturday Morning Cartoon We Never Got

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The 80’s had no problems with adapting hard ‘R’ rated gory action, horror and sci-fi flicks into fun, loveable Saturday morning cartoons, ya know, for kids. We had Conan, Rambo, Robocop, Police AcademyKid ‘n Play (from the House Party movies if you can even remember those) and even The Toxic Avenger! To take a Troma movie and make it an environmentally friendly kids show, Toxic Crusaders, is just unreal. Regardless of how terrible it was, they did it. You have to wonder what the marketing idea was behind all of these. Most, if not all, had toy lines attached to them, making them very profitable cash cows.

But one cartoon we never got was something based on the Alien franchise. Why not? Alien 3 had just come out, so the xenomorphs were fresh on everyone’s mind. Aliens offered a slew of cliched, but loveable cast of characters. The Marines could have all kinds of cool weapons and Ripley certainly is a positive role model for girls. With toy marketing style genius, you could think up all kinds of cool aliens based on all kinds of earthly creatures, some that ooze goo and other vehicles, like the power loader, that shoot missiles and capture those bad bugs.

Or did they make such a thing?

The short answer is ‘yes’. However, you may not remember it, because the thing never aired. Called Operation: Aliens, the idea was proposed by Fox Studios as a way to pitch Alien 3 in the form of a Saturday morning cartoon show for the kiddies. All of your favorite Marines were there! Ripley, Hicks, Hudson, Apone, Vasquez, Bishop, Drake, um… AJAX and O’Malley? Yeah, a few were created for the show, as well as the Aliens being hybrids of other creatures, such as a bull, praying mantis, snake, scroption… the list goes on. Although nobody knows who was involved (it was being produced by an unknown Korean studio) or if enough content was made to fully produce a pilot episode, apparently executives at Fox found it too violent and pulled the plug immediately. No footage can be found, but you can still find some production stills, which looks to be in the style of the X-Men cartoon.

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It was the 90’s now, parents were starting to become more aware of the violence in cartoons and weren’t putting up with it. Studios were toning down the shows or pulling them off the air entirely. But this didn’t stop the toyline from releasing, as most of us remember these. I definitely do. Heck, I still have my Ripley figure.

Kenner, already having put money into making these plastic goodnesses, and Fox went ahead with the toys anyway with a slight change. The figures were originally to go under the same title as the show, Operation: Aliens, but due to the show’s cancellation, a simple last minute change was made and thus the Aliens figure line from Kenner was born. However, some of the merchandise was already made, like the carrying case, a watch, the board game, etc., so some were released with the former title rather than wasting money reprinting packaging.

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I remember the commercials for these toys fondly and I was a fan of the first two films, so I was at least thankful for being able to have the toy line. Plus with the action figures, I was able to create crossover battles with my other toys, like Batman and X-Men! If you feel like getting nostalgic with me, you can check out the commercials and toys below.

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Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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Part Concert, Part Horror Movie M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Trap’ Trailer Released

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In true Shyamalan form, he sets his film Trap inside a social situation where we aren’t sure what is going on. Hopefully, there is a twist at the end. Furthermore, we hope it’s better than the one in his divisive 2021 movie Old.

The trailer seemingly gives away a lot, but, as in the past, you can’t rely on his trailers because they are often red herrings and you are being gaslit to think a certain way. For instance, his movie Knock at the Cabin was completely different than what the trailer implied and if you hadn’t read the book on which the film is based it was still like going in blind.

The plot for Trap is being dubbed an “experience” and we aren’t quite sure what that means. If we were to guess based on the trailer, it’s a concert movie wrapped around a horror mystery. There are original songs performed by Saleka, who plays Lady Raven, a kind of Taylor Swift/Lady Gaga hybrid. They have even set up a Lady Raven website to further the illusion.

Here is the fresh trailer:

According to the synopsis, a father takes his daughter to one of Lady Raven’s jam-packed concerts, “where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event.”

Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Trap stars Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills and Allison Pill. The film is produced by Ashwin Rajan, Marc Bienstock and M. Night Shyamalan. The executive producer is Steven Schneider.

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Woman Brings Corpse Into Bank To Sign Loan Papers

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Warning: This is a disturbing story.

You have to be pretty desperate for money to do what this Brazilian woman did at the bank to get a loan. She wheeled in a fresh corpse to endorse the contract and she seemingly thought the bank employees wouldn’t notice. They did.

This weird and disturbing story comes via ScreenGeek an entertainment digital publication. They write that a woman identified as Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes pushed a man she identified as her uncle into the bank pleading with him to sign loan papers for $3,400. 

If you’re squeamish or easily triggered, be aware that the video captured of the situation is disturbing. 

Latin America’s largest commercial network, TV Globo, reported on the crime, and according to ScreenGeek this is what Nunes says in Portuguese during the attempted transaction. 

“Uncle, are you paying attention? You must sign [the loan contract]. If you don’t sign, there’s no way, as I cannot sign on your behalf!”

She then adds: “Sign so you can spare me further headaches; I can’t bear it any longer.” 

At first we thought this might be a hoax, but according to Brazilian police, the uncle, 68-year-old Paulo Roberto Braga had passed away earlier that day.

 “She attempted to feign his signature for the loan. He entered the bank already deceased,” Police Chief Fábio Luiz said in an interview with TV Globo. “Our priority is to continue investigating to identify other family members and gather more information regarding this loan.”

If convicted Nunes could be facing jail time on charges of fraud, embezzlement, and desecration of a corpse.

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