This Month In Pop Culture History: Torchwood, Dexter & More

Supanova Adelaide and Brisbane are almost here, but if the wait is too much for you, perhaps we should take a trip through October’s pop culture history to tide you over? With the month supplying plenty of gems over the years (some of which relate to our Supa-Stars!), here are some highlights from previous years:

Oct, 1974 – The claws of life

Wolverine made his first appearance on the final panel of The Incredible Hulk #180. It was a month later that the character had a more substantial role, popping up again in issue #181 and quickly becoming one of Marvel’s most-loved characters. October’s also gifted us the debut of Vision (1968) and Atom (1940) in the past.

Oct, 1978 – Let the games begin!

A designer who would eventually go on to create Pac-Man and Pole Position, Tōru Iwatani’s Gee Bee was released in 1978, marking Namco’s first internally designed arcade game. A lot has changed in 40 years of gaming!

Oct 1, 1968 – A new day for independent horror

George A. Romero changed the game with the release of cult hit Night Of The Living Dead. It proved the power of indie films, earning over 250 times its budget of $144,000.

Oct 1, 1971 – The Happiest Place On Earth opens

Disney World opened for business in Florida. It’s now the most visited resort in the world, with more than 50 million attendees each year.

Oct 1, 2006 – Dexter debuts

Pop culture’s favourite Miami-based blood splatter expert/serial killer, Dexter sliced his way from Jeff Lindsay’s pages to Showtime. The show starred November Supa-Star Julie Benz alongside chilling lead, Michael C. Hall.

Oct 2, 1950 – Peanuts premieres

The Peanuts gang – aka Woodstock, Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Franklin, Lucy van Pelt, Linus van Pelt, Peppermint Patty and Sally Brown – made their debut via a comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz.

Oct 2, 1959 – TV gets weird

The Twilight Zone premiered, taking sci-fi on the small screen to a completely different level. Although its finale aired in 1964, it’s still highly influential today, with many comparing Black Mirror to the legendary programme.

Oct 2, 2003 – Second bite

Forthcoming Supa-Star Daniel Gillies starred alongside various The Vampire Diaries alumni as they returned back to their roots in New Orleans for the Mikaelson’s spinoff, The Originals.

Oct 5, 1962 – Bond, James Bond

Sean Connery kicks off the long-running James Bond saga with the film Dr. No, with 007 taking on the film’s titular character who was trying to bring down the US space program.

Oct 5, 1999 – Angel premieres

It has been nearly two decades since Buffy The Vampire spin-off Angel premiered, reviving the vampire fandom for all of us with characters new and old, including Darla played by Supa-Star Julie Benz.

Oct 5, 2011 – American Horror Story airs

Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk’s anthology horror series premiered. It was a far cry from their previous efforts on Glee, but a formula that stuck, with the show’s eighth season, Apocalypse, airing last month.

Oct 10, 2012 – “You’ve failed this city.”

The Arrowverse started to form when Oliver Queen graced the small screen on Arrow. Only two years later came The Flash (Oct 7, 2014) and not long after that, Supergirl (Oct 26, 2015), with the universe continuing to expand to this day.

Oct 13, 1958 – For the love of marmalade

Paddington Bear waddled onto the scene in the children’s book A Bear Called Paddington.

Oct 14, 1926 – Readers enter the Hundred Acre Wood

Another condiment loving character burst onto the scene with A. A. Milne introducing Winnie-the-Pooh on the pages of a novel by the same name. With Christopher Robin hitting cinemas last month, it’s clear it had an impact.

Oct 15, 2001 – “Somebody save me.”

Superman fans were given another look at the iconic man of steel through Tom Welling’s fresh portrayal of Clark Kent on Smallville, starring alongside Michael Rosenbaum as Lex Luthor, both of whom recently visited Supanova. 

Oct 22, 2006 – Capt. Jack Harkness reports for duty

12 years ago, fan-favourite series Torchwood aired, bringing it with an amazing cast, headed up by November Supa-Star John Barrowman.

Oct 23, 1958 – Why so blue?

A Belgian comic franchise about a fictional race of blue dwarves took the world by storm, debuting in French weekly magazine Spirou. It wasn’t long before The Smurfs were across the big and small screens, video games, theme parks and so much more.

Oct 23, 2011 – Storybrooke time

ABC put a quirky and charming spin on classic fairy tales with the premiere of Once Upon A Time. Its seventh and final season wrapped back in May with the episode Leaving Storybrooke.

Oct 23, 1998 – Gotta catch ‘em all!

Catching them all seemed like an achievable goal when Pokémon: Red and Blue were first released on Game Boy in Australia, but the total number of Pokémon is now closer to 1000 than the original 150 that won over a generation.

Oct 25, 1978 – Slash to success

The film that started it all, John Carpenter’s American slasher Halloween premiered, kickstarting a franchise that’s been holding steady to this day, with the 11th instalment premiering later this month.

Oct 30, 1998 – Grim gaming

In another big 2018 anniversary, Grim Fandango celebrates 20 years. Developers released a HD re-skin earlier this year to celebrate the milestone. The ‘90s release simultaneously signified both the absolute peak and imminent decline of adventure games as a whole until mid-2000s.

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And don’t forget, October 28 is International Animation Day, which happens to be Sunday! You’ve got plenty of time to prepare your binge-watching playlists.