Fantastic, other worldly, freaky music video, “Ashes to Ashes”, from the late, great, departed, David Bowie. If you haven’t explored his music yet, do so now. What a magnificent, innovative talent! He literally owned the 1970’s and continued in to the early 1980’s. Bowie explored many personas and musical styles and penned some of the great classics of rock music. I count this song as one of his strongest. A bleak, melancholy reexamination of character Major Tom, the lonely, depressed astronaut stuck in his “tin can” in outer space wanting nothing more than to return to Earth, who was originally imagined in the tune, “Space Oddity”. I think it is safe to say that Bowie’s music and contributions to popular culture were triumphant. A truly, unique individual.
Category Archives: science fiction
WESTWORLD – WHAT HAPPENS IN WESTWORLD….
Enjoyable fantasy flick about an amusement park for adults where life like robots make up the populace and, if you’re lucky, you might even be able to sleep with or kill one of them! Vegas has got nothing on this place! But, it isn’t a perfect world, even in Westworld. Computers there, as in our present society, seem to have mind’s of their own. The robots begin to act on impulse, out of control of their creators, and all Hell breaks loose. A good rainy day flick to curl up with for 90 minutes. Nice electronic soundtrack, too!
OVERLORDS OF THE UFO – 1976 – BOSS!
Until Ken Burns comes around to create the definitive UFO documentary, whet your appetite for extraterrestrial visitation speculation with this 1970’s compendium of still photos, film footage and witness interviews. A lot of zooming and panning across still images of alien abductions and weird encounters taking place are in full representation in this film. Very serious narration bolsters the claims of pilots, military personnel and civilians that they have been in the presence of other worldly beings and craft. Nice, electronic music flourishes, combined with canned orchestral passages provide the musical bed for this piece. It all has a very ’70’s feel which can be attractive or repulsive according to your tastes. For a historical refresher course on the state of UFO research up until the 1970’s, this one is worth checking out. But be warned that the film’s mellow pace may lull you to sleep as well.
ALIEN OUTPOST – TRAILER – 2015
OK. I am a sucker for this type of flick. Soldiers outgunned, outnumbered and trying to hold off a technologically advanced invading alien army. Plenty of firepower and pyrotechnic displays on hand to liven things up. What could be better? Anyway, the trailer looks promising. Of course, so did the one for “Battle: Los Angeles” and it ended up being only alright in my book. Here’s hoping for the best!
“SOYLENT GREEN” – (1973) – Recycling Taken To Its Sickening Extreme
After spending a couple of days at Disneyland during the Christmas holiday season, I was reminded of this ecological disaster movie from the 1970’s. Witness people packed in to a space like sardines, witness the repeated equipment breakdowns and infrastructure collapse. And the air ain’t that great to breathe. I don’t think I ate anything remotely resembling the type of swill the people in “Soylent Green” are reduced to consuming though. Check it out. Another fine Charlton Heston performance is in store for you.
2024 UPDATE:
What I should have commented on back in time, when this post was first written, is the notion of coverup. The greatest coverup of all time!!!! Humans are being sustained through Government provided food that is derived from dead bodies! You may be partaking in your deceased neighbors’ remains or even munching on a dearly departed relative. HOW SICK A CONCEPT IS THIS?!!! As resources disappear and food sources vanish, why not recycle fellow, recently deceased humans? Wow. A revolting and shocking solution. Don’t worry. Your government would never participate in a coverup of this scale or lie outright to your face. Right?
ALIEN – 1979 – REVISITED
This immortal classic has been making the cable TV rounds this holiday season and “Alien”, for me, still holds up as my favorite science fiction/horror film EVER! I have always been partial to the first part of the film where the crew find out about the strange “distress” signal they are sent to investigate, up until Kane (John Hurt) is brought back to the ship from the surface of the planetoid with a “guest” attached to his face. There is nice cast interaction and an effective depiction of a trek across a rather hostile planet. The rollercoaster ride of horror aboard ship which follows the delightful chest bursting sequence is a masterfully concocted spiral of dread. Who is going to confront the gigantic alien next and how will they die? The accompanying video clip showcases scenes which were shot by director Ridley Scott but were ultimately left out of the finished film. These scenes have been incorporated into an “Alien: Director’s Cut” edition of the film which appeared some years back. I think the acoustical beacon scene and the discovery of the cocooned Dallas and Brett are very effectively done. Certainly the inclusion of this material would have fleshed out the characters performed by Veronica Cartwright, Yaphet Kotto, and Harry Dean Stanton. “Alien”, for me, is, simply, a stunning film.
EL REY SAVES THE DAY! “FROGS” – 1972
I came home wiped out after a lousy day at work and wanted nothing more than to dissolve into bed with a little TV action to numb me. After checking the programming guide, there was nothing on! Figures. One last check and I stumbled upon “Frogs” being shown on Robert Rodriguez’s El Rey Network. Saved! El Rey has been showing some cool movies recently. Call them grindhouse features or exploitation or fantastic cinema films, whatever, you will find a wide range of cinema treats to keep you entertained. So, “Frogs” is a Seventies flick that touches on the theme of ecological disasters. What calamity may result if we unwittingly tamper with Mother Nature? And by tampering I mean, what effects will pollution, auto emissions, deforestation, ozone depletion, etc. have on the environment and the creatures living within that environment? It seems pollution is the likely culprit responsible for turning swamp dwelling creatures into aggressive human killers in this one. Plenty of creepy crawlies scamper through this film including snakes, birds, alligators and, of course, frogs. Humorous acting turns by Ray Milland, a very young Sam Elliott, and Adam Rourke. My favorite human offing method: death by snapping turtle!
THE ILLUSTRATED MAN – 1969
An attempt to bring to the silver screen a work by author Ray Bradbury. Three futuristic stories are “illustrated” through the conduit of a mysterious wanderer whose body is covered in tattoos. Rod Steiger plays the tattooed man who explains the story behind various of his body art. Steiger and Claire Bloom appear in the three episodes playing different characters. Very brooding, dark film that wears it’s ’60’s era influences on its sleeve sometimes not so well. I must say that this is not one of my favorite films and not one I would readily return to. Trippy at times and trying at others. Maybe a film best viewed loaded. The ’60’s are calling!
FORBIDDEN PLANET – 1956
Very influential, big budget science fiction film from the 1950’s. In the future, a starship from earth ventures to a remote planet to check on the well being of a colony established by earlier explorers. Only two survivors are found from the previous expedition but they flourish in their compound with the assistance of their super workhorse robot, Robby. It seems that survivor Dr. Morbius has learned a few tricks from the previous inhabitants of the planet, the uber advanced Krell. But not all knowledge is necessarily good to have. Morbius harbors some dark secrets of his own that have a bad habit of manifesting themselves in solid form thanks to tapping into Krell technology.
Among the movie’s strengths are very cool special effects, an otherworldly electronic music score from Louis and Bebe Barron, impressive movie sets and dioramas and, of course, the introduction of the amazing creation, Robby The Robot. The functioning of the earth ship and its captain and crew seem to have been an influence on Gene Roddenberry who created the TV series “Star Trek”. Leslie Nielsen played the captain of the second Earth starship.
PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES – 1965
Great Sixties science fiction/horror film from master fantasy director Mario Bava. Two ships in outer space end up setting down on an alien planet. After losing communications with one of the ships, the crew of the other vessel goes to investigate. Many of the occupants are found dead, having seemingly lost their minds and killed each other. Many crew members cannot be found. It appears that there is an alien presence on the planet that has taken over the bodies of one of the space crews. A struggle to survive the alien vampires and escape the evil planet and get back into space ensues. Among this film’s strengths are a very atmospheric, dark, planetary setting, a film shot with deeply saturated color, the intense buildup of paranoia. Barry Sullivan stars. This movie has been cited as a major influence on Dan O’Bannon who wrote the screenplay for “Alien” (1979). There are many similarities including the discovery of an ancient alien ship and it’s fossilized crew members. A nice melding of science fiction and horror elements.
“THE DOOMSDAY MACHINE” – STAR TREK – THE ORIGINAL SERIES
My favorite episode from “Star Trek” – The Original Series. A marauding super weapon of ancient origins plummets through space destroying astral bodies in its wake to provide fuel for its continuing existence. The Enterprise, commanded by Captain James Kirk, attempts to put a stop to the machine’s path of destruction before any more lives are lost. Very well paced, exciting episode that provides plenty of action and suspense. Going back and watching “The Original Series” today, I am struck by the rather talkative, slow paced nature of a lot of the episodes. This segment provided a welcome alternative to that trend. The musical score is also well matched to the action. “The Doomsday Machine” is well worth watching over again. Not so with a great many of the other episodes. Nice acting turn by William Windom as the doomed Captain Decker.
PLANET OF THE APES – 1968 – TRAILER
Classic science fiction film starring Charlton Heston as an astronaut stranded on a planet where apes rule and humans are slaves/brutes hunted for sport and used for medical experimentation. The proceedings move along at a fairly steady pace thanks to Franklin Schaffner’s able direction. Ground breaking makeup work by John Chambers and a pun-filled, satiric script by Rod Serling. This movie caught the public’s imagination and four sequels, each weaker than the last, were spawned as a result. Very striking beginning to this film as Heston is the last astronaut to enter hyper sleep and the space ship passes through star fields and time before entering the Planet’s atmosphere. The scenes with the three astronauts traversing an arid landscape in search of water and any signs of life are marked by visuals of spectacular vistas of vast emptiness. Very haunting. My favorite film of the “Apes” series.
COLOSSUS: THE FORBIN PROJECT – WIDESCREEN TRAILER
This is a riveting tale of a brilliant scientist’s creation of a super computer that can assist with the automation and running of America’s military defense systems. Things go horribly awry when the computer, Colossus, combines “minds” with a Russian super computer equivalent, Guardian. The two machines decide that their superior intellect and control of their respective nations’ defense systems make them perfectly suited to usurp their inferior human creators. The emotionless computer trust then begins to tighten its grip of control over humanity with some indelicate displays of might, namely dropping nukes on some US and Russian sites. Things get worse after that. Lead actor Eric Braeden’s performance as Forbin runs from the gamut from proud, “paternal” figure overseeing Colossus’ early achievements to a grief stricken, broken man unable to control his creation which no longer listens to him or his pleadings to stop the enslavement of humanity by thinking machines. A precursor to the Terminator series, Colossus originated as a speculative fiction book written by DF Jones.