Songsmyth

A friend took me to play Paddle Tennis at a court in Culver City, CA and now I'm hooked. I live in Orange County and I cannot locate a place to play this sport.

Just to be clear. This is not a ping pong table game. It's played on a court that looks like a tennis court, but it's one-third the size of a tennis court. The net is the same height and the line markings are similar to tennis specifications.

The biggest difference between Paddle Tennis and Tennis is the racket itself. A Paddle Tennis racket is slightly smaller than a racquetball racket, but it has no strings. It's flat, like a smashball racket (w/ multiple 1/4" air holes as well), but it's about 1/2" thick and it's made of a hard composite material instead of wood. The surface of the paddle is textured.

You play w/ special non-pressurized tennis balls. This deadens the ball, which is perfect for the size of the court.

I got a great workout and I want to play again, but I can't locate a court near me.

(From my son) "I've already figured out how to get to the final boss, Metal Overlord, at the Supersonic level, but I'm looking for a cheat code so I can go directly to this level. Can anybody help me out?"

These films were live-action shorts about 2-4 minutes in length.

Friday Night Videos showcased them in probably 4-6 consecutive episodes in the early '90's.

Every scene was shot in a raw stop-action style, and it was clear that the "flying" action was obtained by catching actors in mid-air with single frames, but the effect was great to watch.

These films were peopled almost entirely by villain characters, but the only recurring character I clearly remember was a rather benign 'witchie-poo' sort of figure, and she managed to escape capture by flying away from pursuers no further than 2 feet off the ground. (Like "Jedi" speeder chases, but slower and messier.)

I thought I saw a production credit attributing these films to a production company called Blast Furnace Films, but I've never been able to locate a company by this name anywhere on the internet or otherwise. I could be wrong about the Blast Furnace lead, but I still want to find out where I can see these films again.