he's up there... operating beyond the pale of any decent merchandising procedures

May 20, 2008 9:11 AM

Ernie Fosselius, writer/director of Hardware Wars and more recently creator of the Mechalodeon, also created a brilliant parody of Apocalypse Now: Porklips Now. YouTube: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7
posted by Armitage Shanks (10 comments total)

Oh this is so wonderful. Thank you! I still have my Betamax copy of Hardware Wars taped off of HBO sometime around 1980... back when it was cool. I never even heard of this! There's another parody that was on that tape--I don't think it was a Fosselius production, but it may have been: Close Encounters of the Nerd Kind I think was the name.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 9:35 AM on May 20, 2008

Jesus... sorry to double-post, but watching it I just noticed Hearts of Darkmeat. So great.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 9:39 AM on May 20, 2008

Closet Cases of the Nerd Kind!
posted by Armitage Shanks at 9:40 AM on May 20, 2008 [1 favorite]

I saw a third-generation videotape of Porklips Now years ago. It is pretty brilliant, thanks for posting this.
posted by marxchivist at 9:47 AM on May 20, 2008

You are correct, good sir.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 9:49 AM on May 20, 2008

I'm pretty sure that I remember watching this on Night Flight all those years ago.
posted by octothorpe at 9:56 AM on May 20, 2008

"Did they... say what the beef was?"

Dumb but brilliant. Thanks!
posted by languagehat at 11:12 AM on May 20, 2008

Porklips Now is Fosselius's finest film. It's a funny parody with some fine filmmaking.

This post motivated me to pull my VHS copy of Hardware Wars and Other Film Farces off the shelf. It's from 1983 and dense, very heavy plastic, built to last.
posted by Chinese Jet Pilot at 11:33 AM on May 20, 2008

Fosselius also directed the Pointer Sisters' Pinball Number Count for Sesame Street.
posted by EarBucket at 12:12 PM on May 20, 2008

He was close. Real close.

I couldn't see him yet, but I could sense that he was close.

He was so close you could really feel the closeness.

He was almost too close for comfort.

Boy, was he close now. Way closer than earlier.

Words... can't describe how close.

The man is a genius.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 4:43 PM on May 20, 2008