DAILY CALL SHEET: JANUARY 4, 2025

An Evening of Edgar Allan Poe (1970) Vincent Price sits alone on a handful of dimly lit gothic looking stage sets and recites four Edgar Allan Poe stories: The Tell-Tale Heart, The Sphinx, The Cask of Amontillado, and The Pit and the Pendulum. Les Baxter adds a little music here and there. That's all there is to this televised one-man show and that's all you need. Say what you want to about Price's particular acting style (though it better be said with respect around these parts), but his technique couldn't work more perfectly than it does here as the beloved thespian appears to have been born to interpret the master's works.

TIL: It's a shame Price didn't read Poe's "Catholic Hymn", originally published as part of the story Morella. It goes like this: Sancta Maria! turn thine eyes - Upon the sinner’s sacrifice - Of fervent prayer, and humble love, - From thy holy throne above. - At morn, at noon, at twilight dim, - Maria! thou hast heard my hymn, - In joy and wo, in good and ill, - Mother of God! be with me still. - When my hours flew gently by, - And no storms were in the sky, - My soul, lest it should truant be, - Thy love did guide to thine and thee. - Now, when clouds of Fate o’ercast - All my Present, and my Past, - Let my Future radiant shine - With sweet hopes of thee and thine.

Satan's Satellites (1958) Realizing Mars is too far from the sun to grow crops, Martians decide that rather than wasting time conquering the Earth or, you know, simply asking for help, they'll use a hydrogen bomb to move our planet out of the way so Mars can be scooted closer to Sol. It's up to cut-rate Commander Cody stand-in Larry Martin to foil their plans. This is just the Republic serial Zombies of the Stratosphere trimmed of all its cock-a-doodie cliffhanger nonsense to make it suitable for quick and easy viewing. Notable mostly for a young Leonard Nimoy showing up in Martian makeup.

TIL: Based on comments in Aquinas and Augustine, there are a number of folks who believe UFOs/UAPs are not from another planet, but from another plain of existence. Angels and demons, the Saints noted, are pure intelligence with no corporeal bodies, but they can assume physical bodies. And though they can't do miracles, they can affect things in the physical world by using certain material elements. Given this, some believe the unexplained phenomena in our skies are spiritual beings engaged in cosmic warfare. Some might be friendly while others could be... Satan's satellites. Well, it's a theory anyway.