Franklin was almost a real state -- I believe the settlers of eastern Tennessee tried to join the union under that name, but didn’t follow the Constitutionally prescribed procedure, setting the process back a few years.

Mulder believed in Snuffleupagus even when nobody but Big Bird could see him.

It seems that Zoe (the e is silent, for some goddamn reason)

The premise of The Dirty Dozen was built around an ad hoc “suicide” unit of prisoners, so there was no inherent problem with having Jim Brown aboard. Carl Weathers escaped from abusive MPs to hitch a ride on a departing bomber and was pressed into service with Force 10 from Navarone. The Inglorious Bastards were…

You could have a point there, in that it’s using the original book jacket image rather than the flashier movie one. I’d expect it was a real “advance” poster, in that case — created before the familiar poster and marketing campaign were in full swing, and still probably distributed mostly to book stores.

I would assume that was a poster for bookstores circa 1975, marketing the novel based on the success of the movie.

Spielberg’s Amazing Stories contribution, “The Mission”, is essentially an hour-long illustration of that principle that once you’ve ratcheted up the suspense on the audience long enough, they’ll drop nearly any objections regarding how you choose to release it. It’s also an impressive example of the importance of…

I’m sure that an air tank taking off like a rocket inside the shark’s throat (as shown on Mythbusters) would have been lethal to it, but much more difficult to depict in the film without it looking unconvincing or downright silly. The explosion was a perfectly reasonable directorial decision.

That’s evolution for ya.

The story I’d heard somewhere around here recently regarding his joke thievery is that because his routines were so free-form and improvisational (Steve Martin he was not), he was prone to just toss out lines he’d heard recently, along with the ones he was making up on the spot. It didn’t appear that he was doing it…

I bet she’d make a pretty creepy and badass Ligeia.

They only resorted to that after the first season unsuccessfully attempted animating in front of a live audience.

Another William Dawes-ite, eh?

I’m pretty certain it had a bed... but why would you ever look directly opposite the poster?

Kickstarter here we come!

I’m taken with the idea of a religion based on ‘shipping the departed —

I’ve always enjoyed being fought over. And surely I could make a more informed choice of a faith after I’m dead.

I’d like to go on record as authorizing any church to baptize me and/or marry me after I’m dead.

Hmmmm... A group of friends once active in Vietnam war protests are reunited at a country lodge where someone starts killing them off one-by-one in “Deadly Sin” themed murders...

It was specifically an adaptation of the parody Flaming Carrot comic book series — the Mystery Men being the Carrot’s supporting hero team. I guess the Carrot himself would have been difficult to pull off with 1999 special effects.