Welcome to your weekly dose of pop world musings. Covering all things pop culture, this week Pop Shots is hitting you with a special edition of the column dedicated to a battle between two 80's teen queens that is still raging on today in a new, and very enjoyable, way.
If you were alive in the 80's, the music of Debbie Gibson and Tiffany was completely unavoidable. Whether you were shaking your love, celebrating your electric youth, or simply thought you were alone now, you had at least some of these ladies' lyrics ingrained in your brain in ways that even the maddest of mad scientists couldn't imagine.
The constant radio airplay and mall tours ended a long time ago, though. Debbie now goes by Deborah, the two posed for Playboy, with Tiffany appearing in the April 2002 issue and Gibson in March 2005, and in 2010, they've found a new way to take each other on - in B-movies involving giant creatures that have a love of destroying things. For this installment of Pop Shots, I'm going to compare the qualities of Deborah Gibson's and Tiffany's sci-fi flicks.
Mega Shark. vs. Giant Octopus
Plot: A mega shark and a giant octopus were frozen in mid-battle thousands of years ago, but due to climate changes, they have become unfrozen, are wreaking havoc on the planet, and have apparently developed a taste for bridges, airplanes, and anything large that's man made and floats in the water. Hey giant creatures, eating an aircraft carrier is no way to get your daily recommended dose of iron!
Deborah Gibson's Role: An oceanographer who plays by her own rules, Gibson's character of Emma MacNeil has an unusually close relationship with her old professor, who, it would seem, taught her the longstanding connection between underwater science and boxing metaphors. Let me reiterate - Deborah Gibson is a scientist in this world! Who would have thought "Electric Youth" was something she was actually working on?
Hilariously Placed Actor: Lorenzo Lamas, of Renegade and The Bold and The Beautiful fame, plays supreme jerk Allan Baxter, who is a government official who requires MacNeil and her professor's help to deal with the creatures, but routinely ignores their advice.
What I Learned: Always trust a former pop star's intuition about marine biology.
Mega Piranha
Plot: Mega piranhas aren't extinct, and thanks to an overzealous military leader who blew up a dam, they've escaped from the Amazon and are making a beeline for Florida. Are they still mad about those hanging chads? Are they really big Dwayne Wade fans? Or do they simply want to retire someplace nice?
Tiffany's Role: Tiffany plays genetic scientist Sarah Monroe. Yes, you read that right. Just like her former musical adversary, Tiffany is also playing a scientist, because nothing is more believable than seeing someone who had a career singing and dancing while wearing a jean jacket and day glow clothing moving on to a position that takes a decade of higher education to reach. Honestly, it's so ludicrous you have to love it. This is the equivalent of seeing Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera having dueling roles as brain surgeons, or Jennifer Lopez playing a historical documentarian concerned with the environmental stability of the Amazon. Wait... that last one already happened.
Hilariously Placed Actor: Barry Williams, best known for his role as Greg Brady on the The Brady Bunch, plays Bob Grady (kudos for the name play), the International Super Bunker Head, who the government is relying on for information.
What I Learned: The ab workout of bicycle kicks could one day save the world... or at least coastal Florida.
Conclusions: Life is awesome when former pop icons make a foray into b-movies. I really hope this sparks a trend and that The Asylum, which is the film production company that made both of these movies, continues to harvest their 80's record collections for stars for the upcoming projects.
And with that, my time is up for the week, but I'll be back next week with more shots on all things pop.
If you were alive in the 80's, the music of Debbie Gibson and Tiffany was completely unavoidable. Whether you were shaking your love, celebrating your electric youth, or simply thought you were alone now, you had at least some of these ladies' lyrics ingrained in your brain in ways that even the maddest of mad scientists couldn't imagine.
The constant radio airplay and mall tours ended a long time ago, though. Debbie now goes by Deborah, the two posed for Playboy, with Tiffany appearing in the April 2002 issue and Gibson in March 2005, and in 2010, they've found a new way to take each other on - in B-movies involving giant creatures that have a love of destroying things. For this installment of Pop Shots, I'm going to compare the qualities of Deborah Gibson's and Tiffany's sci-fi flicks.
Plot: A mega shark and a giant octopus were frozen in mid-battle thousands of years ago, but due to climate changes, they have become unfrozen, are wreaking havoc on the planet, and have apparently developed a taste for bridges, airplanes, and anything large that's man made and floats in the water. Hey giant creatures, eating an aircraft carrier is no way to get your daily recommended dose of iron!
Deborah Gibson's Role: An oceanographer who plays by her own rules, Gibson's character of Emma MacNeil has an unusually close relationship with her old professor, who, it would seem, taught her the longstanding connection between underwater science and boxing metaphors. Let me reiterate - Deborah Gibson is a scientist in this world! Who would have thought "Electric Youth" was something she was actually working on?
Hilariously Placed Actor: Lorenzo Lamas, of Renegade and The Bold and The Beautiful fame, plays supreme jerk Allan Baxter, who is a government official who requires MacNeil and her professor's help to deal with the creatures, but routinely ignores their advice.
What I Learned: Always trust a former pop star's intuition about marine biology.
Plot: Mega piranhas aren't extinct, and thanks to an overzealous military leader who blew up a dam, they've escaped from the Amazon and are making a beeline for Florida. Are they still mad about those hanging chads? Are they really big Dwayne Wade fans? Or do they simply want to retire someplace nice?
Tiffany's Role: Tiffany plays genetic scientist Sarah Monroe. Yes, you read that right. Just like her former musical adversary, Tiffany is also playing a scientist, because nothing is more believable than seeing someone who had a career singing and dancing while wearing a jean jacket and day glow clothing moving on to a position that takes a decade of higher education to reach. Honestly, it's so ludicrous you have to love it. This is the equivalent of seeing Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera having dueling roles as brain surgeons, or Jennifer Lopez playing a historical documentarian concerned with the environmental stability of the Amazon. Wait... that last one already happened.
Hilariously Placed Actor: Barry Williams, best known for his role as Greg Brady on the The Brady Bunch, plays Bob Grady (kudos for the name play), the International Super Bunker Head, who the government is relying on for information.
What I Learned: The ab workout of bicycle kicks could one day save the world... or at least coastal Florida.
Conclusions: Life is awesome when former pop icons make a foray into b-movies. I really hope this sparks a trend and that The Asylum, which is the film production company that made both of these movies, continues to harvest their 80's record collections for stars for the upcoming projects.
And with that, my time is up for the week, but I'll be back next week with more shots on all things pop.
[Tags] POP
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