For me the challenge and threshold for success for HBO’s series His Dark Materials was huge. The first adaptation of Philip Pullman’s wildly successful series of novels was the 2007 big-screen film The Golden Compass, which rated #1 on my all-time favorite fantasy movie list here at borg back in 2012. Late last year HBO took on its own adaptation, and the first season arrived, but fell in the shadow of more popular, and more marketed series last year like The Mandalorian. So on the one hand we have a big-budget movie with an all-star cast–so how does the TV series fare by comparison? At last His Dark Materialsjust arrived on Blu-Ray and DVD and the studio sent us a copy for review (you can order it here at Amazon), so check out my review below, along with a preview of Season 2.
For more than six years we at borg.com have been covering entertainment memorabilia auctions–sales of not merely replicas or mass-produced collectibles, but the real objects seen on film–rare or even one-of-a-kind costumes created by award-winning Hollywood costume designers, detailed props created by production crew, model vehicles created by special effects departments like Industrial Light and Magic, prosthetics created by famous makeup artists, set decoration, concept art, and much more. Amassing a wide variety of artifacts from classic and more recent film and television history, London and Los Angeles-based Prop Store is hosting its annual auction later this month. Known for its consignment of some of the most well-known and iconic screen-used props and costumes, Prop Store’s ultimate museum collectibles auction will be open for bidding from anyone, and items will be available at estimates for both beginning collectors and those with deeper pockets.
The Prop Store Live Auction: Treasures from Film and Television will be auctioning off approximately 600 items. You’ll find the following movies and TV shows represented and more: 3:10 to Yuma (2007), 300,Aliens, Back to the Future films, Blade Runner, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Chronicles of Narnia films, Elysium, Enemy Mine, Excalibur, The Fifth Element, Gladiator, The Goonies, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Jason and the Argonauts, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, the Indiana Jones films, Iron Man, the James Bond films, Judge Dredd (1995), the Jurassic Park films, Kick-Ass 2, Kingsman: the Secret Service, Lifeforce, Looper, The Lost Boys, The Martian, The Matrix, Men in Black III, Mission: Impossible (1996), The Mummy (1999), Patton, Pirates of the Caribbean series, Predators, the Rocky films, Saving Private Ryan, Scarface, Serenity, Shaun of the Dead, Shawshank Redemption, Sherlock Holmes (2009), Star Trek franchise, Star Wars franchise, Starship Troopers,Superman films, Terminator films, The Three Musketeers (1993), Tropic Thunder, Troy, True Grit, Underworld: Evolution, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Willow, The Wolfman (2010), World War Z, and the X-Men films.
You can flip through the auction house’s hefty 360-page catalog, or start with a look at what we selected as the best 50 of the lots–what we predict as the most sought-after by collectors and those that represent some of fandom’s favorite sci-fi and fantasy classics and modern favorites.
Industrial Light and Magic 17 3/4-inch Rebel Y-Wing filming model from Return of the Jedi
Sark (David Warner) Grid costume from the original Tron (1982)
Julie Newmar’s Catwoman costume and Burgess Meredith Penguin hat from the classic Batman TV series
Buttercup (Robin Wright) Fire Swamp red dress from The Princess Bride
Chekov (Walter Koenig) “nuclear wessels” costume, Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) costume, and Sulu (George Takei) double shirt from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Full crew set of costumes (Malcolm, Zoe, Wash, Jayne, Inara, Kaylee, River, Book, and Simon) from Serenity(sold as individual costume lots)
Jack Nicholson purple Joker costume, plus separate coat and hat, from Batman (1989)
Enterprise-D 48-inch “pyro” model from Star Trek: The Next Generation
Will Munny (Clint Eastwood) stunt shotgun from Unforgiven
Star-lord helmet from Guardians of the Galaxy
Thor (Chris Hemsworth) Mjolnir hammer from Thor
Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II jumpsuits made for Bill Murray as Dr. Peter Venkman
Witch-king of Angmar crown from The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
Val Kilmer Batman suit and cowl from Batman Forever
Maverick (Tom Cruise) flight suit from Top Gun
Geoffrey Rush Captain Barbossa costume from the first Pirates of the Caribbean film, Curse of the Black Pearl
Every bit like a crazy and dark Sam Raimi production, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters takes an already creepy Grimm fairy tale and amplifies it into a bloody Rated R monster movie. It is as true as you could probably hope to get to the spirit of the original story of two kids who outwit a witch in a house made of candy. We even get to see the original tale laid out nearly verbatim to the centuries-old story, including the triumph of the kids who foil the witch and throw her into the oven.
But that is only the beginning of the tale, and this is the story after the story, a sequel where Hansel and Gretel become mercenaries who hire themselves out to small forest towns to rid them of the plague of witches who have stolen nearly a dozen children. Witch Hunters never takes itself seriously. Images of the missing children end up on printed broadsides on the 1800 version of a milk bottle. And after decades of consuming candy, Hansel is diabetic (he has the “sugar” disease) and must take an early form of insulin to prevent him from dying.
Harkening back to the German origins of the fairy tale, Witch Hunters is a German production with lots of German design influences. Like the original Grimm tales this is a violent and gory story. Witches are instantly the unsympathetic villains who are bad for bad’s sake. Led by the beautiful Famke Janssen, who for most of the film dons some impressive prosthetics, these witches are the stuff of the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz. A motley assemblage of Halloween-esque witches with brooms don dark garb on their own evil sabbath day and congregate in a spot in the woods in something strangely similar to an annual rally in Sturgis.
Imagine all the songs that spin around your head all day. Do you sing as you drive to work? Go for a walk? Think of the catchiest lyrics that have stuck with you since you were a kid. Do you remember these clever phrases?
It’s a world of laughter, a world of tears, it’s a world of hopes and a world of fears. There’s so much that we share that it’s time we’re aware it’s a small world after all.
Anyone who has waited for an hour at Disney World to ride the “It’s a Small World” ride has those lyrics forever etched in their brain. What about this:
The wonderful thing about Tiggers is Tiggers are wonderful things. Their tops are made out of rubber. Their bottoms are made out of springs. They’re bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, pouncy, fun, fun, fun, fun, FUN! But the most wonderful thing about Tiggers is I’m the only one.
These lyrics are perfect for getting something done quickly, by trying to sing these lyrics as fast as you can, like Tigger did (you know, the tiger-y fellow from Winnie the Pooh).
And sometimes these songs stumbling through your day give you good advice. Such as:
A spoonful of sugar goes a long, long way. ‘ave yourself a ‘ealthy ‘elpin’ ev’ry day.
Any idea where I am going with this? Some more lyrics may help. Here are some words to get you moving in your day:
A robin feathering his nest has very little time to rest while gathering his bits of twine and twig. Though quite intent in his pursuit, he has a merry tune to toot. He knows a song will move the job along.
Hey, that’s from a movie, right? Can’t. Quite. Place. It. Some more lyrics from that movie:
Up where the smoke is all billered and curled ‘tween pavement and stars is the chimney sweep world. When the’s ‘ardly no day nor ‘ardly no night, there’s things ‘alf in shadow and ‘alf way in light. On the roof tops of London… Coo, what a sight!
and
Chim chim-in-ey, chim chim-in-ey, chim chim cher-ee! A sweep is as lucky, as lucky can be. Chim chim-in-ey, chim chim-in-ey chim chim cher-oo! Good luck will rub off when I shakes ‘ands with you.
And then it all comes together with a word that’s not really a word and yet we all know it really should be a word:
Because I was afraid to speak when I was just a lad, my father gave me nose a tweak and told me I was bad. But then one day I learned a word that saved me aching nose, the biggest word I ever heard and this is how it goes…
C’mon, you know it, right? It’s Mary Poppins, of course. And the word:
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
But these aren’t the only songs repeating through your head as you vacuum and mow the lawn. How about:
Hup 2, 3, 4, keep it up 2, 3, 4. Company sound off! Oh, the aim of our patrol is a question rather droll. For to march and drill over field and hill is a military goal! [insert elephant trumpeting here]
Maybe you need the music for that one. Think of elephants marching through the forest, a bear named Baloo and a kid named Mowgli and monkeys. Including:
You hoo hoo. I wanna be like you hoo hoo. I wanna walk like you. Talk like you. Too hoo hoo.
Sure, some songs require context, like maybe:
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, we love you. And, in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Chitty Chitty Bang Bang what we’ll do. Near, far, in our motor car, oh, what a happy time we’ll spend. Bang Bang Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, our fine four fendered friend.
The original Chitty Chitty Bang Bang from the movie of the same name based on James Bond creator Ian Fleming's book, was at auction last year at Profiles in History.
Imagine these songs rummaging around in your gray matter and then you find out all of those songs have something in common–they all came from the same place. The songs were all written by Robert and Richard Sherman. One-half of the songwriting team, Robert, passed away last week at the age of 86.
All in, the duo wrote songs for all these movies: Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Absent-Minded Professor, Parent Trap, In Search of the Castaways, The Sword in the Stone, That Darn Cat!, Winnie the Pooh, The AristoCats, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Snoopy Come Home, Charlotte’s Web, Tom Sawyer, American Graffiti (“You’re Sixteen”), Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, and The Magic of Lassie, and more songs for other venues like TV shows and amusement parks.
The sheer volume of their musical catalog and the fact that most of it is catchy and easy to hum… Seems like a pretty impressive life’s work! I grew up with a compilation LP of their songs as well as the soundtrack to The Jungle Book. All of their music is readily available on CD, download, etc. Nearly all of their famous songs are available on one disc, The Sherman Brothers Songbook and snippets of each song can be heard and full versions downloaded at Amazon.com here.
. All of their music is readily available on CD, download, etc. Nearly all of their famous songs are available on one disc, 
and snippets of each song can be heard and full versions downloaded 
