Sailor Moon
(placed on Februari 8 1999)
Christi V wrote me:
One more thing.....ever watch the Japanise anime series Sailor Moon?
My latest conspiracy theory is that the character Tuxedo Mask is actually
Erik's long-lost geeky little brother......Which would explain why they
both tend to wear dress-clothes and a long black cape and have a peculair
rose
fetish......
Casper
On the POTO mailinglist Steph wrote:
By the way, did anyone see the episode of 'Casper' where Fatso decided
he wanted to be an opera singer? He started singing, "The Faaaaaaaaatso
of the Opera is there..." I haven't seen it, but my friend told me about
it, and it cracked me up!
On the POTO mailinglist Catt wrote:
I also saw the Casper spoof. It was pretty funny They did everything
from Think of Me to MOTN only they rearranged the words to make it funny.
Animated Killer Tomatoes
On the POTO Mailinglist Catt wrote:
There are always jokes about POTO. I remember one when I was really
little. It was when they showed Attack of the Killer Tomatos the cartoon
series. I only caught the end of the cartoon but there was a tomato wearing
a cape and a white mask playing the organ. A girl (a human girl) comes
up behind him and pulls the mask off and instead of a scarred face there
a tomato with crossed eyes and big buck teeth. Isn't that horrible?
Magic schoolbus show
Jennifer wrote:
I found another show that was phantom inspired. IT was one of those
magic school bus shows on channel nine. Well, for me it was.
THe kids get stranded and they go into a 'haunted' museum. They think
there is a ghost running around. That part of the show has nothing
to do with the Phantom. At the end, when they talk about special
inaccuracies or facts they did not mention previously on the show, they
had the producer talking to someone. In the background, Ms frizzle's
lizard, Liz is playing a lizard sized organ and wearing a mask. I
just thought I'd mention that.
Quack Attack...
Jessica wrote:
I just remembered a POTO Spoof on Quack Attack...Huey, the Duck Triplet
in the red, thought he was getting braces so he'd win a contest for Mr.
Cool Teen USA, but instead stumbled into a Mad Scientists' lab. The
Scientist, think Huey to be Agent Q, put a Massive Brain-Control Device
on his head... Huey, who discovers this, (And still thinks it's braces)
hides in the sewers, and you can see him Playing the Organ, with a Cloak
and a Paperbag over his head, for a while, and then his Family comes and
takes off the paper bag, they recoil in horror... Etc. That's it.
Freakazoid
Jennifer from "Owl & Mouse Educational Software" wrote:
I found MORE POTO based stuff. I hadn't realized it before
when I saw the episode, but when I saw it a second time I realized it was
almost a spoof on the Phantom. I was watching the show 'Freakazoid'
when the episode came on. The villain is not at all like the Phantom
in personality, but in physical appearance he is.
He wears a robe with a cowl that hides the left half of his face. He stays in the shadows and at one point in the show he was considering pressing one of two buttons. One said BLOW UP WORLD under it. Also, when he is making a speech on his revenge he says that Freakazoid scarred his face permanently, the reason (duhhh....) for his revenge. On the left side of his face it was covered with what looked like computer hardware, like a giant micro chip and an eye patch he always wore even before he looked and acted (slightly) like the Phantom.
Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles III
On the POTO mailinglist Karen wrote:
I was babysitting earlier today and the kids decided to watch Teenage
Mutant Nija Turtles III. Well, I was in and out quite a bit with
the baby, but I did manage to be in the room towards the end. The
"turtles" were facing one the badguys when the other one (of course there
are quite a few
important ones) comes out and one of the turtles (can't recall which
one) yells out somthing to the effect of "Hey look! It's The
Phantom of the Opera!" I couldn't beleive it! I started laughing
and just couldn't stop. I guess it just goes to show just how many
people Phantom has really touched.
But still...Teenage Mutan Ninja Turtles? ::cringe::
Animated Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles
Jennifer from "Owl & Mouse Educational Software" wrote:
I agree that most people who try to include POTO in their shows have
no idea of (at least I consider it to be something like this)'sacrilegious'
mistakes they made. I would just like tell you that even the animated
'Teenage mutant ninja turtles' had a phantom person. Phantom robbed
someone at he
Opera, there is a very big mess that involves the turtles saving the
day, it is somehow a show for children that are three because in the end,
phantom is not deformed, it's just paint from some accident and it washes
right off.
On the POTO mailinglist Emryss wrote:
There's also a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles version... guy that lives
in the sewers and haunts a theatre... turns out he had paint on his face
or something and was all better once he took a bath!
Saved by the Bell
Andrew informed me:
There has been a save by the bell eposode when they have a Masquerade
party and Zack id dressed as the phantom but his mask is like the one from
the old movie, not half face one.
On the POTO mailing list Jenn wrote:
On Saved By The Bell, Zack dressed up as the Phantom for the Masquerade
ball. (this was the season when they had that girl named Tori in the show
and Kelly and Jessi weren't in the show)
On the POTO mailinglist Emryss wrote:
There was another SBTB where Kelly was dating an actor who was in a
play version of Phantom... at the cast party they had the ALW Phantom masks
as decorations everywhere. :)
Lamb Chops
"ME" wrote on the POTO mailinglist:
I was home one day sick and I was watching none other than LAMB CHOPS
:-).Anyway, they had a "scary" one and in it they went to a theatre which
wassupposed to be haunted. Only they had a phantom. I thought "oh cool"
and poped a tape in the VCR. But I didn't finish recording it because it
was such a disgrace. The mask was horrible and the "Phantom" was sad because
the kids in his neighborhood wouldn't play with him when he was a kid.
He sang Lamb Chops to sleep and inpersonated people because he wanted to
be in a play.
Animaniacs
Christi V. wrote:
Anyway, here it is-several episodes of Animaniacs open with a prolouge
describing how the Warner Brothers (and the Warner Sister) came into existence.
The prolouge is done in the fashion of an old Hollywood newsreel During
the "Newsreel of the Stars" title sequence, if you look in the upper
left corner of the screen, you can see the unmasking scene (presumably
from the silent film version of Phantom) is being played out.
Christi V. also wrote:
1.) In the Animaniacs parody of ALW's musicals (episode title: "Dot's
Entertainment"), I seem to recal that the actor playing the Phantom in
the opening sequence is wearing the mask on the wrong side of his face.
I do know that Yakko has it right during the MOTN parody
On the POTO Mailinglist Carli wrote:
Animaniacs did a whole segment called "Andy Loud Webby presents the
Cats of Phantom Boulevard!" It's so great, and I happened to get
it on video by accident. The basic plot is that Andy (complete with
a bowl hair cut and wrinkled clothes) has just written a new show
(the Cats of
Phantom Boulevard) it's opening night, and the cast (the Phantom, Norma
Desmond and a Cat) get offended by ALW and leave him in a lurch.
So, he ends up choosing Dot Warner to be his leading lady. Of course,
Wakko and Yakko have to come along. They change the show and it opens
with "Dental Avenue." The next scene opens with Yakko as the Phantom, dressed
in a mask and cape, in front of an organ singing his version of MOTN:
Snoring, boring, this play is confusing.
Lay back, way back, soon I will be snoozing.
Think I need a break, but this feeling I can't shake,
I guess I'll have to take a nap instead.
After that is a take off on "Memory" from Cats, called "Snacktime" by Wakko. The final scene is one from Evita, with Dot dressed as Eva, called "Don't Shout at Us, Mr. Webby." The lyrics are absolutely hilarious! The show ends, and the audience ends up loving the rewritten show, and Andy Loud Webby rejoices because he finally feels accepted on Broadway. Just thought I'd share this. It really is so hysterical!
Doug
Someone rememberd an epsiode of the nick toon, "Doug" That was about
Doug geting a bad zip....He had this fantasy where he was playing the organ
with a paper bag on his head and Patti(the girl he likes) come up behind
him and rips the bag off. He's apranoid all week because he has to go to
a party, then it turns out to be a coustume party, so since he's wearing
a yux he goes as The Phantom (ALW W/ half Mask) Patti see the zip and barelt
notices.
The Simpsons
(placed on Februari 8 1999)
Christi V wrote me:
This could just be me and the way I'm wired, but it seems to me that
in the "Flaming Moe's" episode of The Simpsons, Homer seems to pull a Phantom
of the Opera. The evidence: near the end of the episode, Homer appears
on a catwalk above the stage in Moe's tavern, lit by pyrotechnics, laughing
maniacally and with his bathrobe covering the right half of his face.
At the end of this scene, Homer makes like the chandelier and tumbles from
the catwalk, landing on guest stars Aerosmith. This makes even more
sense when you consider that the basic plot of this episode (involving
Moe stealing a drink invented by Homer) mirrors the plot of the 1943 and
1962 (63?) Phantom movies......
Christi V wrote:
I'm not sure of the title, but the Simpsons episode where Martin turns
up as a Phantom character is the one where a fortune teller predict's Lisa's
first love and botched wedding-a sort of "flash forward" to the Simpsons
of the future.
Someone else was watching a Simpson's rerun and one of the minor characters was sitting at an organ in a basement or something, dressed as the phantom with mask, hat and cape. It was Martin Prince: a really smart guy that people didn't like because he acts weird and educated and stuff, and he parished in some kinda chemistry accident.
Kelly wrote me:
On a episode of the "Simpsons", Homer becomes the Springfield
Isotopes' new mascot. Later on, Homer climbs up where an old lady
plays the organ and makes a request for a song. Anyway, on the wall
behind the organ among many other posters, there is the image of the Phantom's
Mask from the original Broadway poster!
Scooby Doo
In an episode of The New Scooby Doo Movies was sort of Phantom. They
were at a music hall and there was a phantom who later turned out to be
created by bank robbers in disguise.
Chip'n'Dales Rescue Rangers
In an episode of Chip'n'Dales Rescue Rangers they had a Phantom show.
THe Chip'n'Dales were at an opera and the phantom was an alligator who
lived in the sewer system under the opera house.
Muppet Babies
On the POTO mailinglist Sheila wrote:
I was baby-sitting my sister the other day, and she was watching Muppet
Babies. I don't really remember what they muppets were doing, but
apparantly, they thought that the Phantom was in their
basement...and every once in awhile, they would show clips of Lon Chaney's
Phantom.
Another reaction:
In a Muppet Babies episode the characters had their water turned off.
The memory of the one who reported this is rather faint but she believes
Gonzo became batman and tracked down the person who "stole" the water with
his chicken Camilla as his faithful sidekick. Inside a great towering building
Gonzo found the thieif......they then showed clips from an old Phantom
film and it ended up being the Phantom who had "taken the water". The Muppet
Babies tracked him down to the music of the Valkeries I believe. Miss Piggie
was dressed up as a female viking as she and the others chased Erik in
a wild attempt to get their water back.
Beetleborgs
The is a Phantom inspired episode of "the Beetleborgs".The head Beetleborg
presents Christine to the Phantom. The Phantom called her name, took her
by the hand and led her to an organ (no that's not intended as a ribald
joke). The pair eventually disappeared into a secret panel in the wall..
Kid shows, nonetheless.
Wishbone
Yes there is also a episode of Wishbone. It's cute, but the acting
is...well, less than perfect, and they sort of make Raoul the hero (who
is of course, Wishbone). The other modern part of the show, with kids,
was a modern reincarnation and done very badly.
Beetlejuice's Graveyard Revue
Yes, fear I am never going to loose him, the Phantom also was in Florida.
In the flyer of Universal studio's the announced that the POTO would appear
in Beetlejuise's graveyard revue, a rockshow with the greatest monsters
from the Universal history in a fashionable outfit.
The phantom was introduced en came on stage in black tuxedo, cape en a white mask (like Lon Chaney) He was changed by Beetlejuice to become more modern. Whaaaaaaaaaaa!!! I had never been so frightened.... There he was: black pants, bright purple rock and roll jacket, a bright mask and very blond hair and he started to sing "Great Balls of Fire" Aaargh! I hoped for a moment that the heat made me sea things that weren't there, but my husband also saw it.
I like this music but the combination of this music and a fashion Phantom was to much for my nerves I am sure that if the "real" Phantom had seen this he would not only had dropped the Chandeliers, but had caused the hole theatre to collapse. So I was glad he was not there. Although,........... with the Phantom you never know for sure!.
Carin Klabbers
Rigoletto
(placed on February 8 1999)
Jenae Reese wrote me:
The movie "Rigoletto" (not based on the opera) is about a deformed
music teacher who teaches a young girl to sing. Through her, he starts
to care about other people and donates money anonymously to poor people
in the town. One night, while she is away, the townspeople all get
together and decide to find out about the mysterious man who lives
in the mansion. There is a scene where they kill him while the girl is
singing at this contest. Then they find out that he's been helping them
all along. But the Phantom character has redeemed himself and comes back,
unscarred to say goodbye.
Darkman
(placed on 8 february 1999)
Jennifer from owl and mouse software wrote:
I found yet another show. It's something called 'Darkman' I did
not see it but I saw the add. Some
guy whose face is so disfigured he hides it with a lot of bandages,
now he's
and outlaw looking for revenge...sounds like the phantom
Batman Returns
Christi V. wrote:
OK, this is a quckie and it might not be a Phantom reference, but I
love it anyway: Near the end of the movie Batman Returns there is
a scene at a masquerade ball. Midway through the scene, the camera
rests on a huge staircase before focusing on Michael Keaton.
On the staircase there is an extra dressed up as the Red Death, complete
with broad-brimmed hat and skull mask. The Phantom/Poe-esque actor
reappears in closeup briefly before Michelle Pfieffer's entrance.
(I've heard the rumor that director Tim Burton is the man behind the mask
in this case...)
Japanese Manga's
On the POTO Mailinglist Sanae wrote:
author, Narumi Kakinouchi, had also made a manga (Japanese comic) called
Le Masque, a two volumed manga based on POTO...has anyone else ever heard
of/read this? I've got it. A heroine is a girl who dreams of becoming a
prima ballerina, at an art school with a long and glorious history.
She is a POTO phan(grin...) and wishes her own Phantom to appear and
inspire her. She has TWO childfood boyfriends and needless to say, both
of them love her. On her behalf, they take the legendary and cursed masks,
and become TWO PHANTOMS!!!(Don't ask me why...) Now, these two Phantoms
do combat. And.....Actually, I wasn't so impressed with this manga, but
pretty drawing, anyway.
BTW, there is another Japanese POTO manga, titled "Operaza no Kaijin"(It
means POTO).
The Author's name is "JET". The story of this manga is a mixture of
Gaston Leroux's original
and ALW version.
Das unheimliche schloss
Brigitte Pikal reports in the German language Chandelier about a movie
called Das unheimliche schloss, a music film from 1993 about Verdis Opera
"Rigoletto" made into a family film.The discription in the movieguide said:
Castle owner Ribaldi, who is fysically disformed, is a gifted singer
and voice teacher. He makes Friends but becomes the victim of intrigues.
Gremlins 2
Wenn you look carefully at Gremlins 2 in you see a short spoof of POTO.
One of the Gremlins trows acid in another Gremlins face and he is horribily
disfigured. Later we see this Gremlin is masked and plays the organ, a
female Gremlin (ore one dressed up as one) sneeks up at him and snatches
his mask.
On the POTO Mailinglist Claire wrote:
I was watching a movie I hadn't seen for years, Gremlins 2, when
lo and behold, I saw an Erik Gremlin! They threw a bottle marked
"Acid: Do not throw in Face" into some unsuspecting Gremlin's face,
who promptly doubled over, grabbed a mask, and became the Phantom Gremlin.
Later, they showed this selfsame Gremlin in Phantom garb at an organ playing
the infamous tune, while a ladyish Gremlin in medieval dress snuck up behind
him and snatched the mask. Erik Gremlin whirled, raising one finger,
and advanced on the other with a sinister expression. We never
get to see them again.....it's just proof that Erik surfaces in the
weirdest of places.....
The Big Heat
ALW foreshadowed in film-noir?: In the old film-noir classic The Big
Heat there is also a very, very small Phantomy aspect. In the movie, Debby
Marsh (played by Ado Annie herself: Gloria Grahame) is scalded when her
gangster-boyfriend throws coffee in her face. The next time we see her,
she has a white bandage covering the entire left half of her face! It looks
very much like the mask used in the musical, but with no eyehole and she
also has it wrapped around her neck.
Killer Tomatoes
In the movie "The killer tomatoes eat France" there was a very short
fragment in which a Phantom based creature appeared. It was a creature
with a giant tomato head that breathed fire. It wore a cape and zorro mask.
You do not recognise it as being POTO related until the actors said something
like: "whats that thing , its wearing a cape and mask? . Oh no! It's the
Phantomat of the Opera!" The "phantomat" was terminated by a wooden chandelier
with candles that was dropped on its head and sliced it into four equal
tomato parts. Its all very offensive.
hi, my name is elektra and i found a phantom inspired episode of a show.
It is called Big Wolf on Campus. This girl named Lori is dating this guy
and Tommy (the main character) is also in love with Lori. and Lori and
the guy go out on a date and then Lori goes home and when the guy is walking
home this guy with the Phantom's costume (and a mini me of him) come up
to the guy and telles him to stay away from Lori, then vanishes. then the
mini me tries to vanish but he cant (this happens several times). The Phantom
guy is called the Phantom of the Factory (the factory is a club where Tommy
lives) the next day the guy tells Lori that a guy and his little friend
told him to stay away from her. Lori suspects that it is Tommy and his
friend Mertin. Meanwhile Mertin is making a rippoff of Cats which he calls
Felines. some other stuff happens, then the Phantom steals Lori and takes
her to the basement of the Factory and tells her that she is like a woman
he loved and then the Facotry had burned down and he wuz scarred. and lori
tells him to take off his mask and she wouldnt be scared. so he does *it
is eriky!* she sez she would run away cause he is a jerk, she kicks him
and runs. then there is a part where the Phantom, Lori, Mertin, and Tommy
to this singing thing on the stage. thats all i remember.
in an episode of a show called Histeria they were talkin bout the National
Anthem and people were "trying out" their songs and one of those people
wuz supposed to be Erik. and on another episode they were doing this dating
game thing and there were a lot of guys from history and one of the guys
wuz supposed to be Andrew Lloyd Webber dressed as Erik and he said something
about writing the music to The Phantom of the Opera and the girl said "oh
i love Oprah!" and the backround of Andrew's set wuz the Phantom's lair.
i just wanted to share that with u
Wonder Woman
(placed on February 8 1999)
On the POTO mailinglist Allison wrote:
I'm surfing Alta Vista with "Roddy McDowall" stuck in the search engine,
and lo and behold I come across this Wonder Woman episode guide page. I
was scrolling along, already past my point of interest, and at the bottom
of the page I found two episodes entitled "Phantom of the Roller Coaster
Part One" and "Phantom of the Roller Coaster Part Two". They aired in September
1979, and the basic premise is Wonder Woman is looking for some foreign
spy ring leader, goes to an amusement park (?) and discovers a disfigured
war veteran living under the roller coaster who 'haunts' the park as its
'phantom'. Besides Lynda Carter, Joseph Sirola, Jared Martin and Ike Eisemann
also
starred.
Highlander
(placed on February 8 1999)
On the POTO maililnglist Katherine wrote;
I thought this might be of interest to some: I was up rather late last
night (1am) and saw a sort-of Phantom themed episode that I hadn't heard
of before. I was flipping stations when I recognized the interior
of the Paris Opera House. So, of course, I stopped to check it out
and found I had landed on the SciFi Channel and watching an episode of
Highlander (of which I've seen only once). Because of the setting I stuck
on it to see if it would carry a Phantom theme, which it did, well sort-of.
The basic premise was the same: mysterious man lives below the Opera House
and is infatuated with a singer (who is actually a pop-R&B style singer).
But the singer's character likens herself more to an evil Carlotta and
the Phantom reminded me more of, say, Quasimodo of "The Hunchback of Notre
Dame" fame. For starters, no mask and he didn't talk (but was an
accoplished singer, go figure). He's also an immortal. Anyway, he starts
off by killing the singer's manager because she had an arguement with him
and when the singer realizes that "Quasi" had killed for her she starts
manipulating him to kill off whoever she wanted (including her back-up
singer who was probably the most similar to Christine - btw, he doesn't
kill her because he can tell she is not
evil and lets her go). The best thing about it all was that it
was filmed at the Paris Opera House and near the end there was this sword
fight (and yet it was modern day) on the roof of the opera house, very
cool shots!! To make a long story short, thinking that "Quasi" was
dead (he had fallen off the roof, but remember, he's immortal), "Evil Carlotta"
admits her manipulations and he overhears. She runs from him (not
that he was going to hurt her, he was just really upset) and right into
a passing car and dies. Duncan, the Highlander guy, places "Quasi"
in a monestary for his best interest. The End.
Coach
(placed on Februari 8 1999)
On the POTO mailinglist Jenn wrote:
Coach: Mon, Oct 19 11:00pm KFTY - 10 A jealous Hayden is
no phantom when he dons a disguise to follow Christine and an old boyfriend
(Mike Farrell) to the opera. Claude: Gilles Savard. Male Patron: Joe Dorsey.
Hayden: Craig T. Nelson. Kelly: Clare Carey.>>
In living color
Kelly wrote me:
This one is very vague, so bear with me! On an episode of "In
Living Color", a person who was imitating a singer like Little Richard
or Jackie Jackson or something (I couldn't tell) and he attended a private
opera party. Well, guess who showed up. The Phantom himself!
And with a date, too!!!!!! Anyway, they were looking at some
paintings and that Little Richard guy came up and insulted him. With
that, the poor Phantom started to cry and his date held him in her arms
and escorted him out of the room. Poor guy.......
The Drew Carey show
On the POTO mailinglist Stephanie wrote:
I think just about every show has done a Phantom spoof. Remember on
the Drew Carey show when everyone was telling whats-her-face that she was
too ugly to be the receptionist at the door, so she went to live in the
basement and played a pipe organ? .
Beverly Hills 90210
On the POTO mailinglist Jenn wrote:
On 90210 the Halloween episode where Kelly dresses like a whore and
almost gets raped, some guy at that party was wearing a Phantom costume.
Home improvement
On the POTO mailinglist Jenn wrote:
I saw the Home Improvement where Wilson wore the Phantom costume.
South Park
On the POTO mailinglist Judy Gale wrote:
Anyone else catch South Park on Wednesday the 19th? Mr. Hankey
was living in the sewers below South Park and was playing a pipe organ
at one point. I was not exactly amused....
On the POTO mailinglist Jenn Wrote:
Another thing I saw recently was South Park this past Wednesday. They
scene where Mr. Hanky is playing the organ in the sewers surrounded by
candles.Though he isn't wearing a mask, but it did remind me of Phantom
The new adventures of Batman
Jennifer wrote:
I have found YET another POTO inspired show. I saw 'the new adventures
of batman' This time it was very good. The penguin (a criminal who
likes the fine arts) decides to reform. A wealthy woman, Veronica
Vreland (or something) decides to take him out to dinner and invites him
to a party to win his trust and get him embarrassed on the papers.
Unfortuneatly, the penguin over hears Veronica and her boyfriend talking
about how crude they think he is. He gets mad, and abducts Veronica.
Later, he is yelling at veronica that all he wanted was friendship with
her tied to a giant chandeleir with herr boyfriend chained to the spot
under it. ANd you can guess who saves the day.
On the POTO mailinglist Virginia wrote:
Then there is the Batman cartoon where the Penguin turns from crime
and falls in love with a beautiful but corrupted soprano at the local theatre
and he drops a chandelier and kidnapps her to the sewer for betraying him.
Married with Children
While zapping I cought an episode of Married with Children and when
I heard someone say Phanton I immediately put a tape in my VCR. The part
I cought was about Kelly getting lessons from a famous actor. He had written
a Phantom of the Opera play with lines in the style of the old south and
he and Kelly had the premiere in a small theatre. But Al Bundy takes the
place of the actor who has had an accident because of Al. The play Kelly
and Al put on stage is pure parody and when Kelly wants to unmask al he
flees, she accidentally pulls down his pants and a part of another costume
(wolf or some thing) shows. Al flees though the emergency exit and everybody
else gets arrested. Kelly later thanks him for trying to help out but the
rest is very angry because they had to spend some time in jail.
On the POTO mailinglist Jenn wrote:
I saw the Married with Children spoof. It was about Kelly wanting to
become a big actress and she was with this theatre company and they gave
her the role of Christine in Phantom of the Opera. It was pretty funny,
the only thing Al could play on the organ was some baseball theme. I haven't
seen that episode since 4 years ago.
Bay Watch
Karin Willison wrote on the POTO mailing list that she actually had
seen a Phantom Baywatch episode on. The gueststar was Jekyll and Hyde leading
actor Robert Cuccioli.
Teresa who also has seen it writes: I did see this episode, mainly to see Cuccioli, whom I saw in J&H both on tour & Broadway. He played a man who had been severely burned & wore bandages around his face most of the time. He lived in the cellars of a power plant (I think that was what it was). He developed an obsession with one of the female characters because she resembled his wife, who died in the fire which injured him. He rescued the lifeguard after she was injured, and took her back to his home to care for her. He ended up being pursued by some guys who had videotaped his rescue of the lifeguard & hoped to capture him and put him on display (sounds pretty lame in this day & age).
On the POTO mailinglist Stephanie wrote:
Did anyone ever see the episode of Baywatch where the story followed
Phantom? One of the baywatch girls almost drowned, and this guy with a
deformed face, black cape, and mask rescued her and took her to his "lair",
which was an abandoned factory, or something, by the beach. He helped her
recover, and told her that she reminded him of his dead wife. Then some
dumb guys came to rescue her, and they scared the "phantom" of the roof
and killed him. It was really depressing. I just remember that he
was obsessed with Edgar Allen Poe and had a black raven.
Oh yeah; his name was Erik. Coincidence, or not?
On the POTO mailinglist Viginia wrote:
There was a spoof on Baywatch where the guys family dies in a fire
and he is scarred from the accident. They he saved Pammy from
something and some bad guys chase him around this abandoned oil rig wich
is his make-shift lair.
Night Court
AlyssaI saw a Night Court episode where Dan ws the Phantom of the court
and the lady's name on there is Chistine so her name fit the story perfectly.
F/X
There is a tv series called F/X that features a POTO logo in the beginning
of each episode.
Lois and Clark
I also stumbled on a Lois and Clark episode in which Superman opponent,
Lex Luthor junior. was very much like the Phantom because there are a lot
of similarities.: Lex lives in the cellars, his face is deformed, he listens
to opera, is very intelligent (invents a lot), sits on a throne, manipulates
people with force, falls in love with Lois gives her a red rose and wants
to force her to live with him by some kind of mind control device. Even
some lines the actors use are a little POTO for example:
Lois:"What has your father done to you to change you into something
like this?"
Lex: "I was a big disappointment for my father and grew up alone and
in shadows, but now I am not alone anymore"
Lois: "You will always be alone!"
Lex: "Don't waste your time with hating me"
Lois: "I don't hate you, I pity you. You want everything but can give
nothing, that's what being alone is"
Lex: "You could teach me how to love you"
Lois: "I can't teach you that, I don't love you.You have wasted all
this time, thinking it was your deformity that ruined your life, but is
not your appearance but your soul, you don't have one.You are a monster,
the only thing I could ever feel for you is pity!"
On the POTO mailinglist someone wrote: In this video there is a masquerade-type scene going on and during the masquerade a chandelier falls. The guy that plays Loveless in the vid looks kinda like he would be a good candidate for the darker side of Phantom.
"I Would Do Anything For Love." by Meatloaf.
(placed on Februari 8 1999)
On the POTO mailinglist Emryss wrote:
I'd noticed that when the video was played constantly a few years back
- has elements of POTO, BatB, and Francis Coppolla's version of Dracula..
including falling chandeliers, lots of candles, a throne, and a disembodied
voice asking a beautiful girl if she could love it...
"Let MyLove Open the Door" by Pete Townsend ????
On the POTO Mailinglist Joanna wrote:
I was at the Hard Rock Cafe in Niagara Falls, Canada about two weeks
ago. I was sitting in the bar area waiting for my table, watching
the TVs they have set up. They play all kinds of music videos, and
"Let MyLove Open the Door" by Pete Townsend {i think....} {sp?} came on.
It
was a live performance video and in the background there was a screen
type thing where pictures were projected of people that fit the song {i.e..
famous screen lovers, civil rights activists, etc.}. And who pops
up but Lon Chaney's Phantom! .
Backstreet boys
(placed on Februari 8 1999)
On the POTO mailinglist Emryss wrote:
On the topic of music videos - the Backstreet Boys' video of "Everybody"
features a crop of movie monsters, including a hip-hop dancing Phantom
with his harem of Christine types... it's.. interesting.
(placed on Februari 8 1999)
On the POTO mailinglist Meg wrote:
Has anyone seen the Backstreet boys video 'Everybody' The one guy is
supposed to be the Phantom, but his mask is on the wrong side of his face.
And for you Jekyll and Hyde fans he's in there too!
(from Carin)
There also appears a Phantom in the new clip "everybody" from the Backstreet
boys. In the clip they impersonated famous monsters including the Phantom.
The person who represented the phantom wore a half grey mask at the wrong
side of his face. His forehead was completely covered and underneath the
mask you could see a little of the deformity.
Garfield
(placed on Februari 8 1999)
On the POTO mailinglist Eleni wrote:
It's from "Garfield Hangs Out", the 19th book. I flipped when I first
saw it, it's really cute.
(placed on Februari 8 1999)
On the POTO mailing list Jenn wrote:
I was just wondering what comic strips you all know of that have
a Phantom spoof or reference!! Today I was looking through an old Garfield
comic strip and the thing at the front that says "GARFIELD" in large letters
had a one liner and picture accompanying it; it had a picture of Odie at
a pipe organ and holding up a Garfield mask and Arlene (the girl
cat that Garfield likes) cringing on the floor and saying "It's the Odie
of the opera!" or something like that.
Mother Goose and Grimm
(placed on Februari 8 1999)
On the POTO mailinglist Jenn wrote:
And then there's always the Mother Goose and Grimm comic strip
with the Phantom of the Opera Airlines thing.
Banjo Kazooie
(placed on Februari 8 1999)
Kelly wrote to me:
I have a video game for the Nintendo 64 called Banjo Kazooie that I
love playing. There is a level on it called "Mad Monster Mansion"
which is a giant (you guessed it) mansion surrounded by eerie things like
an old church and graveyard, a vine covered maze and an old, stagnant pond.
Anyway, getting to the point, if you go underground you come to an old
wine cellar, complete with wine kegs. Anyway, on the wine barrels,
the date that is printed on the face of it is "1881"!!! If I remember
correctly, that was the date when the "Phantom of the Opera" thing took
place in the original novel and that Erik had a very good wine cellar!
It just might be a coincidence, but...... maybe not!
This page is a co-production of P.M. and C.A. Klabbers, created on Februari
7, 1998
On March 4, 1998 the page was completely restyled and expanded.
Last update August 10, 2003