The hand in the stop motion video. Beautiful.

I love it. Fancy special effects. You can tell it's the time of George Lucas' ILM and Star Wars, all these handmade effects, they really went to town with it.

Call me dumb, but I can't tell which one of the kids in either video is you...
You appear in neither?

I'm the one wearing the red and blue vest.

Ohhh my gosh! Red and blue??! Did you like, get dressed in the dark or something?


Oh haha. I crack myself up...

Looks like method acting. Is it? Kind of looking like a veristic acting style. The kid in the white pyjama is talented, he would've made a good stand-in for a shampoo commercial.

Anyway, setting particle board on fire in the garage?? Oh oh oh... if I had been your mother I would've spanked your ass.

Hahaha this is great man
Really cool that you still have this!

What's the synopsis of the films? I can't tell without sound...

>Long before I was in The Battle for Endor
I don't get it...

He was an Ewok extra (check his imdb page)

Heh, and for a long time I thought I was the only person who made movies in the 7th grade. I guess it runs on people with creative aspirations.

I love the 8mm look, makes it look more like a B movie (no offense!). It's also much nicer than my Sony 8mm tape years... where you couldn't really edit anything. :(

I used to film on my mum's mobile phone (she wouldn't let me near the camera), so I basically had to do every scene/shot in one take and in sequence, always keeping mind of pacing. I'm only 19 now so this was, what, seven years ago now, and it's already embarrassing.

Man, kids should be kept away from cameras if they want to live happily in their adulthood.

Back then, if someone had said they made a movie on their mom's mobile phone, they would have been burned as a witch.

To hell with 'back then'. I got my witch burning equipment all set up already...

You speak the truth boy! Down with all these amateur youtube "filmmakers"!

I really liked the space pirates and zombie, undead bad guy motif in Star Raiders Blasters.

Tommorow Never Came certainly had higher production costs, but not that enjoyable as Star Blasters. I guess that's what you get when an indie turns blockbuster. Also, the ad said something about 30 mins of film and I only saw 14+1/2. Another lowly marketing ploy?

And what about the real-time gfx triangle thingy at the end? Atari800?

I played with fire once... Then I was grounded for 2 weeks.

And how did whoever ever manage to lift that rock? O.O

I liked the rocket animation... Maybe it should have ended at that point. :D

grumpygamer.com/images/ LaGrande Observer.jpg

... In my mind, the pieces are slowly falling into place.

Was thinking the same thing....

So that's where Largo LaGrande got his last name from LOL

And here I thought your introduction to acting was the cop/sword-carrier in our world-famous stage production of "Arsenic and Old Lace!" Who's the non-Tom, non-You kid? I can't place him.

Yikes! My head hurts.

Mine too. I couldn't sit through the whole thing.

Tom DOES look like Mark Hamill... or perhaps everyone looked like Mark Hamill in the '70s.
BTW, Tomorrow Never Came is really criptic without the spoken dialogue.
I skipped the Super-8 era (my dad got a great Super-8 Canon camera, though), but I sank deeply into the Video-8 era! :-P

Ed Gilbert

Where did you find that soundtrack? Is it actually from a Keystone Cops movie? The track that starts at 4:06 in Star Blasters is legendary, I'd love to find out more about it. Is it still available somewhere?

The soundtrack was added by the company that did the super-8 to VHS transfer, and that happened many years ago.

What soundtrack did you envision? Will there be a director's cut with the original one? Maybe some foley and ADR?

I'll post the ones I find in order.

In Starblasters:
Perles De Cristal-Andre Popp & His Orchestra(Delerium In Hi-Fi)
Java-Andre Popp & His Orchestra(Delerium In Hi-Fi)
La Paloma-Andre Popp & His Orchestra(Delerium In Hi-Fi)

In Tomorrow Never Came:
Beer Barrel Polka-Andre Popp & His Orchestra(Delerium In Hi-Fi)
La Java Du Diable-Andre Popp & His Orchestra(Delerium In Hi-Fi)
Jalousie-Andre Popp & His Orchestra(Delerium In Hi-Fi)
La Polka Du Roi-Andre Popp & His Orchestra(Delerium In Hi-Fi)
and
Java Des Bombes Atomiques-Andre Popp & His Orchestra(Delerium In Hi-Fi)

Basically I guess that company had the rights for this album only :P
Cheers

Ronnie,
I've missed you all these years and enjoyed seeing the flick with Bro Thomas J.  I trust all is well with you!
Hugs,
LM

I'm  alive!! ALIVE!

That music is so hilariously awfully perfect

What is the secret of Monkey Island?

It's 42.

Tomorrow Never Came synopsis: The story is about an Air Force jet pilot who steals a jet to build his secret space ship which he plans to fly to another solar system to save a civilization from destruction (he knows this will happen because of some precognitive dreams that have been haunting him). His friend accidentally discovers the ship in his garage and thus has to be shot (with a tranquilizer) and taken along so as to preserve the secret of the ship. It turns out that his next door neighbor also found the ship and was sleeping in the back when they took off. Unfortunately, the ship only has one extra radiation vest, and so the neighbor dies later on in the story from radiation poisoning. The mission to rescue the extrasolar civilization fails when they encounter a time warp and get sent six hundred years into the future. Too late to do anything about it now, they turn around and head back to Earth. After encountering a mysterious radiation storm that catches the ship on fire (we had the most fun filming those scenes), they safely land back on Earth. Another time warp in an abandoned underground cellar sends them backwards in time to one day after the day they originally took off (hence the title of the film).

When I was that age, my friends and I filmed skits about alcoholics and abusive parents. We were weird.

Pure excellence.

Wow, that was funny.  I saw the first part of your posting, and into my head popped the name "Tomorrow Never Came" - then I scrolled down and saw I was right.  You told me about that movie early on, I think when you interviewed at Lucasfilm or perhaps shortly after you started, and I always remembered that as a great title, particularly as it came before the name "Back to the Future" which had a similar feeling.  I think we talked about doing a game with that name at one point.  Good thing you didn't have the video when you interviewed or I'm sure George would have just grabbed you for ILM and we'd never have seen your games...

You've put on some weight, Ron.

Back in my day a friend of mine and I would film terrorist investigations on toys. We managed to discover who assasinated JFK and find the stolen 10 million American barabons. We used many interrogation tactics like good cop, bad cop, prodding the terrorist with a stick but the most effective method of all was throwing the lego bricks at them. Good times, good times.

This stuff is great, must have taken ages. Shame about losing the soundtrack though.
By the way Ron, you shouldn't denigrate your past genius, some of these youngens here may not realise just how close these two films are to your heart. One day you'll probably be talking about the fabled Monkey Island as though it were some crude blunder, and that there really was no secret after all.

Got any earlier material?

At that time, everybody in the US wanted to become a filmmaker. Hasn't changed much, actually.

Every f*cking idiot wants to become a film director and go to Hollywood nowadays. It's a glamour business, which means everyone from your grandma to your niece to your gardener and the local milk boy is attracted to it. Sadly some people delude themselves in the thought that they have the chops and talent to actually make something of value.

yea and it's those same people who manage to fool y'all that what they have is of value. I've seen it!

This blog is like a dusty old book.

Then why do you come round here?

Good question. I don't know. I really don't know.

On http://adventurecorner.de is a small poll (Umfrage) at the moment with the question "Who in your opinion is the best adventure designer?"
and guess who's #1! ;)
Go Ron!

I thought I was the only one who made crazy movies...hmm, maybe we should collaborate and well make a crazy movie.

The Academy Award nominations have been announced. The Dark Knight was nominated in 8 categories... but Ron of course still thinks it's a big pile of poo, unlike his "movies", which are better of course.

You don't need to be a rockstar to have your opinion about music on the radio, dear Josh..
About Academy Awards.. I think that their judgments are opinable :|

Do you people want something worst of this by Ron?
See the addons on "The Sixth Sense" movie.. first movies by Michael Shyamalan.. that was creepy.. and was Michael Shyamalan!! :D

Uhm, what?

Great short films!

i loved the red and blue vest, don't listen to Joe;
it was great, it reminds me of when i was a kid.

the music was a good choice for an arbitrary soundtrack.

i can't help wondering what it would be like if you decided to do dialog for it...

PS, waiting for DEATHSPANK, but i am overseas these days... HOPE I CAN GET GET IT ON STEAM, hint, hint, hint.

Grumpygamer.. Reposted it :)