Owner, operator, and fuzzy retro feelers giver at NightmareNostalgia.com.
Worshipper of our Lord and savior Boo Berry, Patti is a seasoned pro having written for the top horror websites and magazines over the past few years until she decided to go balls to the wall and make her own focusing on pure feel-good nostalgia. Mom to two humans and three furballs.
News and unsubstantiated rumors of “Beetlejuice 2” have been circling the interwebs since the day I started horror blogging ten years ago. So anytime I saw click-baiting websites try to stir the “viral notion” sensation up again for clicks and to fool the masses, it would just send my head spinning into a jaded Netherworld frenzy. However in recent months that news has become more likely and today, we finally got some solid sources telling us via THR that the anticipated sequel to the 1988 Tim Burton film, is indeed greenlit with much of the original cast returning and everyone’s favorite new teenage goo-goo muck in talks to joining- Jenna Ortega.
Credit NBC via Remezcla
Insiders confirmed that Beetlejuice 2 is hopefully going to start filming in London in late May or early June, although the budget has not been set. Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, and Catherine O’Hara are set to reprise their roles from the original movie. If the deal goes through, Ortega will portray the daughter of Ryder’s character Lydia Deetz. Personally, I think this is the perfect casting for the busy actress! Hot off last year’s X and Netflix’s smash Wednesday, Ortega is staying busy with Scream 6 opening this weekend as well!
If all the stars align, it’s just a matter of time before we see another viral dance from Jenna hitting social media alongside the ghost with the most.
Universal Studios and its many theme parks around the globe are fairly well-known for their amazing theatrics, imagery, and excitement that comes along with the rides and attractions of the beloved theme park. As time rolls on, the attractions change over to the next “big market” draw for the masses- but one that will never change is the tragically lost King Kong Encounter that I refuse to let anyone forget about.
I mean, it’s pretty hard to forget a 30-foot-tall Kong screaming in your face with banana-scented breath. I know I never did!
I remember my first “Kongfrontation” quite vividly in the Summer of 1993 on a trip to also my first visit to Universal Studios Hollywood. The whole thing was actually videotaped but alas, just as with the fate of this ride, it got destroyed by the flames of injustice. So I only have my memory of watching said videotape several hundred times as a kid and of course, ye’ old faithful Yous of Tubes to light the way of a core attraction memory that seems so long ago.
The ride served as a spectacular ending to the now-infamous Universal Studios Tram ride and debuted in June of 1986- 10 years after the Dino de Laurentiis version bedazzled audiences with a bloody, scarier version of the eighth-wonder-of-the world, and was a prodigal ambition for the time paving the way for the complex themed attractions we know today. Kong’s animatronics were designed by legendary Disney Imagineer Bob Gurr with Kong’s design itself was tackled by Tom Reisenbach. This duo along with the muscle and brains of many others gave the 7-ton, 30-foot-tall, banana-scent-breathing Kong figure in the attraction the reputation of being the largest and most complicated animatronic figure in existence for many years, weighing in at 14,000 pounds and able to perform 29 different types of movements.
Pretty ground-breaking stuff for the mid-80s!
Getting on the tram ride was a real treat for guests at the park and an essential at that. After riding by lots used for Back to the Future and the real Psycho house, JAWS would pop up and give you a scare after riding over a bridge of murky waters and a couple of explosions popping off. Kong was the climactic event to seal the tour’s deal as the must-ride list at Universal Parks. The show began as the tour tram entered the soundstage into a world of New York City where they stopped in front of an apartment building, while a breaking news report about Kong’s rampage on television monitors located inside of the building’s windows showed live coverage of the destruction, informing us Kong is loose, and slightly pissed in the city.
Then, there he was- in all his goddamn 7 million-dollar animatronic glory.
With a news chopper circling overhead giving us a play-by-play, like we really needed that but still cool nonetheless, we were put at eye-level with the eighth wonder of the world and a sweet sniff of that Chiquita banana breath. Police choppers start to fire at Kong to protect us passerby citizens, but this enraged the King even more who then shook the bridge and ripped the suspension bridge cables apart in an attempt to grab us. But, of course, by the grace of RKO pictures, we escaped the giant ape and made it out safely.
It was an extraordinary experience to have and it really is a shame that a fire took out this beautiful piece of history. The infamous Universal Studios fire of 2008 began when a worker used a blowtorch to warm asphalt shingles being applied to a facade. The worker left before checking if all spots had cooled, and a three-alarm fire broke out. The fire lasted a total of 24 hours and damaged the Park quite severely, most notably destroying over 150,000 master recordings of music and, of course, the King King Encounter.
Nine firefighters and a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy sustained minor injuries. In the aftermath of the fire, only four walls remained of the entire Kong part of the attraction, with the only option to demolish this innovative piece of Universal history. Eventually, we got King Kong: 360 3-D, which opened on July 1, 2010, and was based on Peter Jackson’s Kong film, but it really wasn’t the same as a giant head of Kong staring directly at you with the mouth the size of a truck.
At the very least, we have our memories of what once was, and by the grace of giant monster Gods of Skull Island (well actually YouTube), we can remanence in the treasure that was the King Kong Encounter.
RIP to the coolest part of the Universal Tram ride.
Well, lemme tell you something Mean Gene: It’s been a hot minute since we covered any Saturday Morning slammin’ 80s cartoons and I can’t think of anything quite more that speaks to the decade than the shameless animated commercial geared towards kids. Yep, let’s dive into Hulk Hogan’s Rock ‘N’ Wrestling!
The Dic Animation series premiered originally on CBS in 1985 and only lasted for two seasons, but even a short-lived cartoon of such a popular subject left its imprint on 80s kids. Wrestling in the mid-80s was peak entertainment for pretty much anyone and everyone with Vince McMahon bringing the sport mainstream with soap-opera dramatics and a superhero archetype for the kids to worship- Hulk Hogan. Love him, or hate him, he made the sport a rite of passage for every man, woman, and child during that time and you just have to respect that. I’m not even sure Wrestling would be as mainstream today if it wasn’t for Thunderlips, I mean Hogan. At night, we had Saturday Night’s Main Event, and in the morning, we had Rock ‘n’ Wrestling.
Image via Mercari
Of course, we can’t have a superhero without a bad guy and the man for the job was Roddy Piper– the man, the mouth, the legend. Each episode took the basic formula that wrestling had of good guys vs bad guys and would feature Hogan leading the good guys against a group of rogue wrestlers led by Piper. Like with other cartoons at the time, we usually had a happy ending and with the good vs bad trope, each episode put both groups into wacky situations that would always result in the goodies coming out on top.
As a young Piper fan, this kind of pissed me off. Yes. I was the little sociopath who really loved seeing Hot Rod get wild and slam coconuts into the skull of Superfly, (and if you know anything about Snuka’s murder charges- that sweet coconut music slaps even harder). But, this was the formula and so it shall be that Piper didn’t get on that goodie-two-shoes train until a bit later. But never wavering with his smartass remarks. I respected that. Don’t get me wrong, as a young girl, I loved the shit out of Wendi Richter because, well as a girl I felt represented. Of course, I didn’t find out until years later how the company did her dirty as she seemed to disappear from the ring almost as fast as she entered it. Which is a damn shame, but I’m happy she was at least immortalized in this crazy cartoon alongside the greats.
Anyways, the show would also feature live-action segments with the wrestlers and songs from their WWF album. “Land of 1000 Dances” which I totally loved at the time and still sing very loudly, “Hogan’s such a yoyo” to anyone that would hear it.
Although we got to see our heroes in the show in these weird live segments, they themselves didn’t provide the voices of their animated counterparts and professional voice actors were brought in. Most notably, Brad Garrett voiced Hogan.
As stated, the series didn’t last beyond two short seasons and that was simply because the cartoon couldn’t keep up with the real-life events of the wrestling world. Most noticeably, Andre, the Giant turned heel shortly after the cartoon started airing, so in the animated series, it just didn’t make much sense. The plan was indeed to keep the cartoon in line with current stories in real-time wrestling but animating at the time, was a slower process and just couldn’t play catch-up.
After its short run on CBS Saturday mornings, the series still continued with reruns on alternate networks. I mostly remember watching it on the USA network around 87-88 in my area, just before one of their late-morning Saturday programs of matches. It was a pretty great cartoon for what it’s worth even with all the flaws, and it serves its purpose of grabbing our attention in a sea of Saturday morning cartoons while also making Hulkamaniacs into those who hadn’t yet caught the wrestling train to 24-inch Python-ville.
So let’s raise our glasses of vitamin D milk to Hulk Hogan’s Rock ‘N’ Wrestling, this badass Rocky-inspired intro, and the poor lady that got trampled towards the end of this intro that never even bothered editing out.
