Friends, it was 39 years ago when the animated adaptation of the popular Heavy Metal magazine was released on unsuspecting theater goers – immediately becoming a cult film thanks to its rather adult aspects. While I did have the opportunity to catch the 1996 reissue of Heavy Metal to theaters, the first time I ever saw the film was thanks to the Movie Channel. As with many of the films that left a lasting impression on me in my youth – I watched Heavy Metal in the very early hours of the morning, after my Father had left for work, and I was killing three to four hours before it was time for the school bus to arrive. You might imagine I had something to talk about on the playground at my elementary school that afternoon!
Heavy Metal was an animated anthology film that adapted a few of the stories from the magazine – although there were a few original tales in the mix. The overall direction of the film was overseen by Gerald Potterton (The Rainbow Boys) – however as a handful of animation studios worked on the film at the same time, each segment had one or more directors.
When I first saw the movie, I had no clue that none other than Ivan Reitman (Meatballs, Ghostbusters) co-produced the film along with Leonard Mogel – who was the publisher of Heavy Metal at that time. What I was blown away by the most was a segment that was written by the late Dan O’Bannon (Alien, The Return of the Living Dead) – a frightening World War II story entitled B-17.
Imagine my surprise yesterday when I stumbled across an ad on Facebook – featuring a stop-motion version of the B-17 tail gunner as well as Taarna from the film’s segment of the same name. It turns out that Incendium through their FigBiz line have released both Taarna and the resurrected ‘Nelson’ as collectible figures – available now through their official site.
There is a whole lot more Heavy Metal goodness available from Incendium too – ranging from collectible pins, to skate decks and even a pinball machine. However you will also find goodies for Creepshow, Highlander, and even Bill & Ted!
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