Births
Yancy Butler
was born on July 2, 1970, New York, New York, USA.
She starred as Sgt. Eve Edison, in Mann and Machine, as a female android, from 1992, a series that was cancelled after 9 episodes.
She also starred as Det. Sara 'Pez' Pezzini in 23 episodes, 2001-2002, of Witchblade.
Brock Peters
Born on July 2, 1927, New York, New York, USA and died on August 23 2005, in Los Angeles, California, USA of pancreatic cancer.
Perhaps most famous as Tom Robinson in To Kill a Mockingbird , he had a long television career, with his later outings in science fiction. He played:
Battlestar Galactica: Chief Opposer Solon in "Murder on the Rising Star" (1979)
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) .... Admiral Cartwright
Joseph Sisko in 9 episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1996-98)
and a variety of voices for cartoons and audio, including Darth Vader in the radio adaption of Star Wars.
Deaths
James Stewart was born on May 20, 1908, in Indiana, Pennsylvania and died on July 2 1997 in Los Angeles, California of cardiac arrest and pulmonary embolism following respiratory problems.
He made no science fiction films, but two favorite fantasy films, It's A Wonderful Life and Harvey.
Friday, July 04, 2008
Theatre: The Brain From Planet X
Bruce Kimmel (who used to produce movie soundtracks at Sarabande, then moved on to Fynsworth Alley and Broadway shows, and now has the label Kritzerland) co-wrote a 1950s sf movie spoof, the Brain from Planet X, that has been making the rounds of theatre festivals.
Here's the opening number. Lots of references to 1950s sci fi!
Here's the opening number. Lots of references to 1950s sci fi!
Lobby cards from Message From Space
What are lobby cards? you're asking yourself. (If you're younger than a certain age.) And what is Message From Space, you're probably asking yourself, regardless of how old you are.
Way back before the Internet, before the IMDB, before satellite or even cable TV, the only way that the movies could advertise their wares was via posters, stills and lobby cards, which theaters put in their lobbies for people to look at, so that they'd hopefully decide to see the film the next week, or whenever it was coming to town.
Now that the Internet can disseminate photos, trailers, etc., there's no need for movie companies to make lobby cards or stills, and they've fallen by the wayside.
For the collector of this ephemera...such as myself...it's sometimes interesting to see just what the "powers that be" at a movie company's publicity/marketing department thought were "good" stills - captured scenes from a film that would actually draw people in to see the movie.
As an example, here are 5 lobby cards from Message From Space, a film made in Japan with Vic Morrow (Combat) as the star. Pretty much a Star Wars ripoff, as was common at the time.
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Gene Roddenberry's Spectre
I've just added to my webzine, The Thunder Child, a page on Gene Roddenberry's Spectre, a TV-movie which debuted in 1977.
Check out all the photos at : TheThunderChild/TV/Spectre/Spectre.html
It starred:
Robert Culp ... William Sebastian
Gig Young ... Dr. Ham Hamilton
John Hurt ... Mitri Cyon
Gordon Jackson ... Inspector Cabell
Ann Bell ... Anitra Cyon
James Villiers ... Sir Geoffrey Cyon
Majel Barrett ... Lilith
Jenny Runacre ... Sydna
Angela Grant ... Butler
Penny Irving ... First Maid
Vicki Michelle ... Second Maid
Lindy Benson ... Third Maid
Sally Farmiloe ... Fourth Maid
Michael Latimer ... Co-pilot
The Hulk
I used to watch the original TV series, The Incredible Hulk, starring Lou Ferrigno and Bill Bixby. I liked it, even though it was pretty much a rehash of The Fugitive, except the pursuer was the reporter, and Dr. David Bannister had the capability to turn into a hulking green man whenever he got angry.
It was "believable," or at least one was willing to suspend one's disbelief, because the Hulk was played by a real person.
Then we got the movie a few years ago, in which the Hulk was not played by a man, but by a CGI entity.
Now, CGI entities can be made to look real. The dinosaurs in the first Jurassic Park, for example...you'd be prepared to believe they were real...
Yet the commercials for the Hulk showed his as just this cartoon character...nothing real looking about him.
And nothing seems to have changed for the new Hulk movie. And now they've added another CGI character, The Abomination, and he looks just as unsubstantial.
So I'm undecided if I'm going to see it...
But, when I went to see Wall-E a few days ago, the theater was handing out Hulk posters, and I thought I'd share photos of them here.
There may yet be hope for London After Midnight
London After Midnight is a lost film, not the only lost film by any means, but a rather famous one amongst a certain subsection of fans - fans of Lon Chaney Sr, and of classic horror movies. Every April 1, there usually appears at least one story saying that footage of the movie has been found in some collector's vault.
Well, something of almost the same nature has now occurred for real - almost 27 missing minutes from the classic German science fiction movie Metropolis have been found - in the collection of a film museum in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Or, to be more accurate - a complete print of the film, with those 27 minutes still in it - has been found.
It remains to be seen when the new footage will undergo restoration - and apparently there are scratches on the film that will remain even after this is done - and once it has undergone restoration, how long it will take before the new version will be released on DVD.
Among the footage that has now been discovered, according to the unanimous opinion of the three experts that ZEITmagazin asked to appraise the pictures, there are several scenes which are essential in order to understand the film: The role played by the actor Fritz Rasp in the film for instance, can finally be understood. Other scenes, such as for instance the saving of the children from the worker's underworld, are considerably more dramatic. In brief: "Metropolis, Fritz Lang’s most famous film, can be seen through new eyes.", as stated by Rainer Rother, Director of the Deutsche Kinemathek Museum and head of the series of retrospectives at the Berlinale.
Read the articles at:
Key scenes rediscovered
and
Rediscovered"! Metropolis.
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Will The Prisoner go the way as Kolchak?
Note, in the following press release, the word "re-interpretation" in front of the title The Prisoner.
Caviezel and McKellen to Star in The Prisoner
Source: AMC June 30, 2008
AMC announced today that acclaimed film actors Jim Caviezel (The Passion of The Christ) and Ian McKellen ("The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, "X-Men" films) have signed on to star in the network's reinterpretation of the highly influential 1960's cult classic, "The Prisoner." AMC is co-producing the six-part mini-series with ITV Productions and Granada International, with a worldwide premiere slated for 2009. "The Prisoner," AMC's second original mini-series, combines a wide range of genres, including espionage, thriller and Sci-Fi, into a unique and compelling drama, and expands upon the network's distinctive cinematic approach to creating high-quality programming.
Caviezel will play the title role of "Number Six," a part that was originally made famous when played by Patrick McGoohan. McGoohan also served as the creator, producer, writer and director of the 1960's series, which has become widely regarded as one of the most famous and intriguing cult TV series ever created, permanently altering the scope of the fantasy genre. Two-time Oscar nominee Ian McKellen will co-star playing the role of "Number Two."
"Jim Caviezel and Ian McKellen bring an incredible level of talent to the project, and we're honored they are taking on these important roles. We look forward to this production revitalizing a classic and bringing Patrick McGoohan's brilliant and captivating story to an entirely new generation of viewers," stated Charlie Collier, AMC's general manager and executive vice president. "The caliber of Hollywood talent AMC is attracting further validates our programming vision and our successful strategy of producing quality cinematic originals that stand alongside our library of iconic movies."
"For those of us who were watching grown-up TV in the 60s, 'The Prisoner' was dangerous, exciting and challenging TV. For those of us who were too young to stay up to watch the series, it casts a long shadow. You don't embark on something this iconic without the best team around to do it justice for a whole new era. With Bill Gallagher as writer, Trevor Hopkins as Producer, Michele Buck, Damien Timmer and Rebecca Keane as the UK Execs, AMC as production partners, ITV as UK Commissioners, and Jim Caviezel and Ian McKellen leading the cast, we have that team on board. I can't wait," said John Whiston, Director of ITV Productions.
"Bill Gallagher's new version of 'The Prisoner' is an enthralling commentary on modern culture. It is witty, intelligent and disturbing. I am very excited to be involved," said Ian McKellen.
While the original series, which debuted in 1967, was a riff on Cold War politics, AMC's reinterpretation will reflect 21st Century concerns and anxieties, such as liberty, security, and surveillance, yet also showcase the same key elements of paranoia, tense action and socio-political commentary seen in McGoohan's enigmatic original.
"'The Prisoner' spawned an enormous group of zealous fans who thrived on each week's psychological twists and turns. AMC's version brings 'The Prisoner' back to primetime, and we're tempted to discuss more details, but in the spirit of the series, what you DO know, may hurt you," said Christina Wayne, SVP of scripted original programming.
"The Prisoner" mini-series is a co-production of AMC and ITV Productions; the deal was brokered by Granada International, which holds international distribution rights. Bill Gallagher serves as writer and executive producer, along with Michele Buck, Damien Timmer, Rebecca Keane, and AMC's Charlie Collier, Christina Wayne and Vlad Wolynetz. It is produced by Trevor Hopkins, and directed by Jon Jones.
Caviezel and McKellen to Star in The Prisoner
Source: AMC June 30, 2008
AMC announced today that acclaimed film actors Jim Caviezel (The Passion of The Christ) and Ian McKellen ("The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, "X-Men" films) have signed on to star in the network's reinterpretation of the highly influential 1960's cult classic, "The Prisoner." AMC is co-producing the six-part mini-series with ITV Productions and Granada International, with a worldwide premiere slated for 2009. "The Prisoner," AMC's second original mini-series, combines a wide range of genres, including espionage, thriller and Sci-Fi, into a unique and compelling drama, and expands upon the network's distinctive cinematic approach to creating high-quality programming.
Caviezel will play the title role of "Number Six," a part that was originally made famous when played by Patrick McGoohan. McGoohan also served as the creator, producer, writer and director of the 1960's series, which has become widely regarded as one of the most famous and intriguing cult TV series ever created, permanently altering the scope of the fantasy genre. Two-time Oscar nominee Ian McKellen will co-star playing the role of "Number Two."
"Jim Caviezel and Ian McKellen bring an incredible level of talent to the project, and we're honored they are taking on these important roles. We look forward to this production revitalizing a classic and bringing Patrick McGoohan's brilliant and captivating story to an entirely new generation of viewers," stated Charlie Collier, AMC's general manager and executive vice president. "The caliber of Hollywood talent AMC is attracting further validates our programming vision and our successful strategy of producing quality cinematic originals that stand alongside our library of iconic movies."
"For those of us who were watching grown-up TV in the 60s, 'The Prisoner' was dangerous, exciting and challenging TV. For those of us who were too young to stay up to watch the series, it casts a long shadow. You don't embark on something this iconic without the best team around to do it justice for a whole new era. With Bill Gallagher as writer, Trevor Hopkins as Producer, Michele Buck, Damien Timmer and Rebecca Keane as the UK Execs, AMC as production partners, ITV as UK Commissioners, and Jim Caviezel and Ian McKellen leading the cast, we have that team on board. I can't wait," said John Whiston, Director of ITV Productions.
"Bill Gallagher's new version of 'The Prisoner' is an enthralling commentary on modern culture. It is witty, intelligent and disturbing. I am very excited to be involved," said Ian McKellen.
While the original series, which debuted in 1967, was a riff on Cold War politics, AMC's reinterpretation will reflect 21st Century concerns and anxieties, such as liberty, security, and surveillance, yet also showcase the same key elements of paranoia, tense action and socio-political commentary seen in McGoohan's enigmatic original.
"'The Prisoner' spawned an enormous group of zealous fans who thrived on each week's psychological twists and turns. AMC's version brings 'The Prisoner' back to primetime, and we're tempted to discuss more details, but in the spirit of the series, what you DO know, may hurt you," said Christina Wayne, SVP of scripted original programming.
"The Prisoner" mini-series is a co-production of AMC and ITV Productions; the deal was brokered by Granada International, which holds international distribution rights. Bill Gallagher serves as writer and executive producer, along with Michele Buck, Damien Timmer, Rebecca Keane, and AMC's Charlie Collier, Christina Wayne and Vlad Wolynetz. It is produced by Trevor Hopkins, and directed by Jon Jones.
Media is failing girls - a rant
This is the 96th anniversary of the death of Harriet Quimby. She was the first woman in the United States to get a pilot's license, in 1911. Before that, she was a journalist.
She died in a plane crash only a year later, in 1912... while flying a new plane in which something technical went wrong... a common occurrence in those days.
Aviation was a new field, and hundreds of men and dozens of women went into it. Whenever a man died, it was just, "one of those things." Whenever a woman died, it proved they weren't fit to pilot a plane, and should stay home "where they belonged.
(And of course, it was also other women as well as men who'd say this.)
Point is, this type of media coverage didn't stop other women from becoming pilots themselves. As proof, when the US Army sent out a call for women at the beginning of WWII, to serve their country as transport pilots, thousands of women pilots answered the call. (The WASP, and before them the Women’s Flying Training Detachment (WFTD) and the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS)).
So tonight would have been a nice night for a TV show to make its debut, which featured a couple of female teenage characters whose goal was to become pilots, or even astronauts, and the drama could be because their friends would tease them for having such ambitions, and their boyfriends would dump them because they wanted to spend time with their planes instead of with their boyfriends, and the girls, instead of abandoning their dreams to make sure they didn't lose their boyfriends, let their boyfriends go because they had ambition, and knew that doing what was important to them was better than submitting to someone just because they needed a boyfriend.
Such a show could have perhaps inspired other girls to seek the best in themselves, to have ambition to be pilots, explorers, etc., first, and once they've achieved their goals, then get the boyfriend or the husband who'd complement their dreams.
But what do we get instead?
The Secret Life of the American Teenager, starring Molly Ringwald, in which a young girl - apparently 15 years old, gets pregnant, and of course decides to keep the baby. Question is... will it be the old-fashioned type of show, in which the boy does the "right thing" and marries her, so he can provide for the child, or will it be the new fashioned type of show, where the girl probably doens't even know the father's name, and will of course raise it herself, and agitate for higher welfare payments so she can afford to stick the baby in daycare while she continues to get an education....or will she forget the idea of getting an education altogether?
There was a similar show on a week or so ago, Girl, Positive, about a girl - presumably a straight one, who tests HIV Positive. I didn't watch it and wont watch it, but one wonders if the filmmakers made the point that if she'd worn a condom she might have been able to prevent acquiring the disease?
Teenage pregnancy has been a growing problem in the USA for decades. (Well, it's not just a USA problem, of course, but I'm just making my point specific to the USA, where girls have the ability to do anything they want...and yet all they want is the boyfriend and the baby...) Why is poverty growing in America? Because teenage moms can't work and take care of their babies at the same time, so they go on welfare. And because they don't have good educations they can't get jobs. So their baby grows up in the welfare atmosphere, thinking it's the most normal thing in the world for her, or him, to sit on their butts watching TV and not working while the government pays for everything.
And the media which bombards citizens with these types of messages 24 hours a day, are just as much to blame.
She died in a plane crash only a year later, in 1912... while flying a new plane in which something technical went wrong... a common occurrence in those days.
Aviation was a new field, and hundreds of men and dozens of women went into it. Whenever a man died, it was just, "one of those things." Whenever a woman died, it proved they weren't fit to pilot a plane, and should stay home "where they belonged.
(And of course, it was also other women as well as men who'd say this.)
Point is, this type of media coverage didn't stop other women from becoming pilots themselves. As proof, when the US Army sent out a call for women at the beginning of WWII, to serve their country as transport pilots, thousands of women pilots answered the call. (The WASP, and before them the Women’s Flying Training Detachment (WFTD) and the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS)).
So tonight would have been a nice night for a TV show to make its debut, which featured a couple of female teenage characters whose goal was to become pilots, or even astronauts, and the drama could be because their friends would tease them for having such ambitions, and their boyfriends would dump them because they wanted to spend time with their planes instead of with their boyfriends, and the girls, instead of abandoning their dreams to make sure they didn't lose their boyfriends, let their boyfriends go because they had ambition, and knew that doing what was important to them was better than submitting to someone just because they needed a boyfriend.
Such a show could have perhaps inspired other girls to seek the best in themselves, to have ambition to be pilots, explorers, etc., first, and once they've achieved their goals, then get the boyfriend or the husband who'd complement their dreams.
But what do we get instead?
The Secret Life of the American Teenager, starring Molly Ringwald, in which a young girl - apparently 15 years old, gets pregnant, and of course decides to keep the baby. Question is... will it be the old-fashioned type of show, in which the boy does the "right thing" and marries her, so he can provide for the child, or will it be the new fashioned type of show, where the girl probably doens't even know the father's name, and will of course raise it herself, and agitate for higher welfare payments so she can afford to stick the baby in daycare while she continues to get an education....or will she forget the idea of getting an education altogether?
There was a similar show on a week or so ago, Girl, Positive, about a girl - presumably a straight one, who tests HIV Positive. I didn't watch it and wont watch it, but one wonders if the filmmakers made the point that if she'd worn a condom she might have been able to prevent acquiring the disease?
Teenage pregnancy has been a growing problem in the USA for decades. (Well, it's not just a USA problem, of course, but I'm just making my point specific to the USA, where girls have the ability to do anything they want...and yet all they want is the boyfriend and the baby...) Why is poverty growing in America? Because teenage moms can't work and take care of their babies at the same time, so they go on welfare. And because they don't have good educations they can't get jobs. So their baby grows up in the welfare atmosphere, thinking it's the most normal thing in the world for her, or him, to sit on their butts watching TV and not working while the government pays for everything.
And the media which bombards citizens with these types of messages 24 hours a day, are just as much to blame.
The first Captain Janeway
Kate Mulgrew was not the first choice for Captain Janeway... it was Genevieve Bujold.
There's footage of it at Youtube.
and Behind the scenes, auditions, etc. of various actors:
There's footage of it at Youtube.
and Behind the scenes, auditions, etc. of various actors:
July 1 Events in SF & Fantasy
Births
Well...according to somebody at the IMDB, Robby the Robot was "born" on July 1, 1955.
Also according to the IMDB: Robby was the brainchild of, and designed by Robert Kinoshita, and built in mid-1955 by the MGM prop department, at a reported cost of $125,000.00 from blueprint plans provided by industrial designer, Japanese-American engineer Robert Kinoshita, to 'star' in the epic science fiction classic Forbidden Planet (1956) and its B-movie followup The Invisible Boy (1957) a year later. Robby the Robot has become one of the most popular robot icons in the history of movies and media, as recognizable as George Lucas' erstwhile comedy team of R2-D2 and C-3PO who 'co-starred' in his epic sci-fi fantasy Star Wars (1977).
Robby's voice in Forbidden Planet was supplied by Marvin Miller.
Dan Ackroyd
1 July 1952, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Most famous as a comedian from Saturday Night Live, he portrayed Beldar Conehead on Saturday Night Live and later in the movie of the same name. (1993).
He also played Dr. Raymond Stantz in Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II.
Genevieve Bujold
was born on July 1, 1942, Montréal, Québec, Canada. She actually has no science fiction credits, but I include her because she was to have been the original Captain Janeway. But she withdrew from the project after 1 day of filming and Kate Mulgrew accepted the role in Star Trek: Voyager (1995).
Jean Marsh
was born on July 1, 1934 in Stoke Newington, London, England, UK.
--The Twilight ZOne (1959) played Alicia (the robot) in "Only the Lonely" with Jack Warden
--Unearthly Stranger (1963) - Miss Ballard
--Adam Adamant Lives! - Lady Lydia in "Face in a Mirror" (1967)
--UFO - Janna Wade in "Exposed" (1970)
--Goliath Awaits (1981) (TV) - Dr. Goldman
--Return to Oz Nurse Wilson / Mombi - (1985)
--Doctor Who - played Sara Kingdom in Destruction of Time in 1966 (William Hartnell as the Doctor)
played Morgaine in Battlefield in 1986 (Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor)
--The Tomorrow People - Doctor Culex in "The Culex Experiment" (1994)
--Willow -- Queen Bavmorda (1988)
and, of course, the first wife of Jon Pertwee, from 1955-1960.
Deaths
Thea Von Harbou
Born: 27 December 1888, Tauperlitz, Germany, Died July 1 1954, West Berlin, Germany
Married to Fritz Lang before he left Germany, screenwriter for Metropolis, and Frau im Mond, among many other films.
Well...according to somebody at the IMDB, Robby the Robot was "born" on July 1, 1955.
Also according to the IMDB: Robby was the brainchild of, and designed by Robert Kinoshita, and built in mid-1955 by the MGM prop department, at a reported cost of $125,000.00 from blueprint plans provided by industrial designer, Japanese-American engineer Robert Kinoshita, to 'star' in the epic science fiction classic Forbidden Planet (1956) and its B-movie followup The Invisible Boy (1957) a year later. Robby the Robot has become one of the most popular robot icons in the history of movies and media, as recognizable as George Lucas' erstwhile comedy team of R2-D2 and C-3PO who 'co-starred' in his epic sci-fi fantasy Star Wars (1977).
Robby's voice in Forbidden Planet was supplied by Marvin Miller.
Dan Ackroyd
1 July 1952, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Most famous as a comedian from Saturday Night Live, he portrayed Beldar Conehead on Saturday Night Live and later in the movie of the same name. (1993).
He also played Dr. Raymond Stantz in Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II.
Genevieve Bujold
was born on July 1, 1942, Montréal, Québec, Canada. She actually has no science fiction credits, but I include her because she was to have been the original Captain Janeway. But she withdrew from the project after 1 day of filming and Kate Mulgrew accepted the role in Star Trek: Voyager (1995).
Jean Marsh
was born on July 1, 1934 in Stoke Newington, London, England, UK.
--The Twilight ZOne (1959) played Alicia (the robot) in "Only the Lonely" with Jack Warden
--Unearthly Stranger (1963) - Miss Ballard
--Adam Adamant Lives! - Lady Lydia in "Face in a Mirror" (1967)
--UFO - Janna Wade in "Exposed" (1970)
--Goliath Awaits (1981) (TV) - Dr. Goldman
--Return to Oz Nurse Wilson / Mombi - (1985)
--Doctor Who - played Sara Kingdom in Destruction of Time in 1966 (William Hartnell as the Doctor)
played Morgaine in Battlefield in 1986 (Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor)
--The Tomorrow People - Doctor Culex in "The Culex Experiment" (1994)
--Willow -- Queen Bavmorda (1988)
and, of course, the first wife of Jon Pertwee, from 1955-1960.
Deaths
Thea Von Harbou
Born: 27 December 1888, Tauperlitz, Germany, Died July 1 1954, West Berlin, Germany
Married to Fritz Lang before he left Germany, screenwriter for Metropolis, and Frau im Mond, among many other films.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Sci Fi on BBC 7
Sunday (and available for 6 more days)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listenagain/sunday/
The Darker Side of the Border
The Captain of the Polestar: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's mysterious tale of apparitions on the ice, adapted for radio. A young doctor sails on a whaling ship. Episode 1 of 3
Report on the Barnhouse Effect
A Kurt Vonnegut celebration beginning with an academic who discovers how to control the forces of nature with his mind.
Doctor Who: Commentaries
The Doctor Who cast and crew discuss the latest episode of the current BBC TV series: The Stolen Earth. Episode 11 of 13.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listenagain/sunday/
The Darker Side of the Border
The Captain of the Polestar: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's mysterious tale of apparitions on the ice, adapted for radio. A young doctor sails on a whaling ship. Episode 1 of 3
Report on the Barnhouse Effect
A Kurt Vonnegut celebration beginning with an academic who discovers how to control the forces of nature with his mind.
Doctor Who: Commentaries
The Doctor Who cast and crew discuss the latest episode of the current BBC TV series: The Stolen Earth. Episode 11 of 13.
June 30, 2008 events in SF and fantasy
Births
Vincent D'Onofrio was born on June 30, 1959 in Brooklyn, New York. He has not done a great deal of science fiction, and he was practically unrecognizable for most of the one movie he has starred in - playing Edgar/Bug in Edgar Suit in Men In Black opposite Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith in 1997. He was also in The Thirteenth Floor (1999).
Leonard Whiting was born on June 30, 1950 in London, England...a stage actor, he has not done a great deal of film work. He played Dr. Frankenstein in Frankenstein, The True Story (1970), with Michael Sarrazin as the Creature. It was the first attempt to tell Mary Shelley's story as originally written (her Creature looks like a man to start with, and can speak intelligently, but starts to deteriorate as time goes on).
Deaths
None
Vincent D'Onofrio was born on June 30, 1959 in Brooklyn, New York. He has not done a great deal of science fiction, and he was practically unrecognizable for most of the one movie he has starred in - playing Edgar/Bug in Edgar Suit in Men In Black opposite Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith in 1997. He was also in The Thirteenth Floor (1999).
Leonard Whiting was born on June 30, 1950 in London, England...a stage actor, he has not done a great deal of film work. He played Dr. Frankenstein in Frankenstein, The True Story (1970), with Michael Sarrazin as the Creature. It was the first attempt to tell Mary Shelley's story as originally written (her Creature looks like a man to start with, and can speak intelligently, but starts to deteriorate as time goes on).
Deaths
None
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Wall-E
I just got back from Wall-E, and I enjoyed it.
http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/wall-e/
The first half of the movie takes place on a North America covered in garbage...which it is Wall-E's task to clean up. (Other Wall-E's have fallen by the wayside, he alone remains.) (Small children may constantly barrage parents with questions for the first 10 minutes of the movie, as it shows Wall-E cleaning up garbage...left behind by people who shopped huge conglomerate stores called Buy 'N Large.)
A probe ship lands and deposits Eve, a cool, slick, flying robot that Wall-E falls in love with. Wall-e had found a plant...which he shows to Eve. She puts it in her interior compartment and immediately goes dormant, sending out a signal to the probe to come and get her. (Trying to see if photosynthesis is occurring on earth is her purpose.)
Wall-e follows her onto the ship, which takes them to a huge Buy N Large spaceliner which left earth 700 years ago, now full of thousands of large, chair-bound, computer watching people... but all is not what it seems there...
Lots of good messages here, but one irony. As you went into the theater - at least at my theater - every child was handed a Wall-e watch by the movie clerk. A plastic, blue, ugly thing, which little children will probably love... but the battery isn't replaceable so it's what's called a Planned Obsolescent object. And while I intend to save mine in my movie memorabilia collection (yes, the clerk gave me one even though 'm 45) most kids will throw them straight into the garbage as soon as they stop working...if not sooner!
http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/wall-e/
The first half of the movie takes place on a North America covered in garbage...which it is Wall-E's task to clean up. (Other Wall-E's have fallen by the wayside, he alone remains.) (Small children may constantly barrage parents with questions for the first 10 minutes of the movie, as it shows Wall-E cleaning up garbage...left behind by people who shopped huge conglomerate stores called Buy 'N Large.)
A probe ship lands and deposits Eve, a cool, slick, flying robot that Wall-E falls in love with. Wall-e had found a plant...which he shows to Eve. She puts it in her interior compartment and immediately goes dormant, sending out a signal to the probe to come and get her. (Trying to see if photosynthesis is occurring on earth is her purpose.)
Wall-e follows her onto the ship, which takes them to a huge Buy N Large spaceliner which left earth 700 years ago, now full of thousands of large, chair-bound, computer watching people... but all is not what it seems there...
Lots of good messages here, but one irony. As you went into the theater - at least at my theater - every child was handed a Wall-e watch by the movie clerk. A plastic, blue, ugly thing, which little children will probably love... but the battery isn't replaceable so it's what's called a Planned Obsolescent object. And while I intend to save mine in my movie memorabilia collection (yes, the clerk gave me one even though 'm 45) most kids will throw them straight into the garbage as soon as they stop working...if not sooner!
A Mysterious Turn
When I was a kid, and had a lot more time than I do now, I was interested in both mysteries and science fiction, and purchased a few of the short story digests on a regular basis EQMM, AHMM, IASFFM (Ellery Qeen Mystery Magazie, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Isaac Asimov's Magazine of Science Fictin and Fantasy), as well as Analog, Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine, etc. etc.
These days I don't have near enough time to do anything, so I don't read any of the digests... except when something serendipitous happens...
In this event, someone bought me a subcription to EQMM as a surprise birthday present (had I but known, I would have asked for Isaac Asimov) and as long as I'm getting it for free, I'll make some time to read it. (It cost $4.99 an issue! That's as much as a paperback used to cost. Now books are $7.99 and about to go up to $9.99!)
There was an interesting section on mystery blogs, (Blog Bytes by Bill Crider) and I thought I'd share those links here.
Blogs by police officers:
Bish's Beat: http://bishbeat.blogspot.com
The Graveyard Shift: http://www.leelofland.com/wordpress/(the blogger is the author of Police Procedure and Investigation, a guide to writers
And by writers:
Susan Wittig Albert: Lifescapes: http://susanalbert.typepad.com/lifescapes/
Clea Simon's Cats & Crimes & Rock and Roll: http://cleasimon.blogspot.com
And finally, a website dedicated to Ellery Queen:
http://neptune.spaceports.com/~queen/Whodunit_1.html
I'll start posting similar suggestions towards science fiction related sites in future entries of this blog.
On a personal note... one more hour, and a half, and I'll be seeing Wall-E! Hope it's good...
These days I don't have near enough time to do anything, so I don't read any of the digests... except when something serendipitous happens...
In this event, someone bought me a subcription to EQMM as a surprise birthday present (had I but known, I would have asked for Isaac Asimov) and as long as I'm getting it for free, I'll make some time to read it. (It cost $4.99 an issue! That's as much as a paperback used to cost. Now books are $7.99 and about to go up to $9.99!)
There was an interesting section on mystery blogs, (Blog Bytes by Bill Crider) and I thought I'd share those links here.
Blogs by police officers:
Bish's Beat: http://bishbeat.blogspot.com
The Graveyard Shift: http://www.leelofland.com/wordpress/(the blogger is the author of Police Procedure and Investigation, a guide to writers
And by writers:
Susan Wittig Albert: Lifescapes: http://susanalbert.typepad.com/lifescapes/
Clea Simon's Cats & Crimes & Rock and Roll: http://cleasimon.blogspot.com
And finally, a website dedicated to Ellery Queen:
http://neptune.spaceports.com/~queen/Whodunit_1.html
I'll start posting similar suggestions towards science fiction related sites in future entries of this blog.
On a personal note... one more hour, and a half, and I'll be seeing Wall-E! Hope it's good...
Sci fi and fantasy on the radio, June 29, 2008
It's been another week since I've announced what was on BBC Radio 7, so I'll start this daily entry with a recap of what's still on (each radio show is on BBC Radio 7 for 7 days, so you can listen to it whenever yu want.)
The MONDAY offerings are about to drop off screen, but you can still listen to them today:
The Laxian Key
The mysterious deaths of space tourists on Planet Party give planet decontaminators Arnold and Gregor a unique job opportunity. Episode 1 of 4.
Methuselah's Children
Lazarus Long's thoughts begin to turn to home. By Robert A Heinlein. Episode 6 of 6.
Tuesday
The Laxian Key
London is melting! With the whole of earth blaming Arnold and Gregor, the planetary decontaminationists must flee, but where? Episode 2 of 4.
Slaughterhouse 5
Kurt Vonnegut's anti-war classic tells of an innocent abroad, Billy Pilgrim, who stumbles into enemy hands. Robert Jezek reads. Episode 1 of 4.
Old Harry's Game (fantasy/comedy)
Hell is close to bursting, so to stop the flow people must be persuaded to be good. Stars Andy Hamilton. From September 2005. Episode 1 of 4.
Wednesday
The Laxian Key
Guilt stricken Arnold's call home to apologise for melting Earth is traced. Our planetary decontaminationists are on the run. Episode 3 of 4.
Slaughterhouse 5
Billy Pilgrim is both a Prisoner of War and an inadvertent time traveller. Robert Jezek reads Vonnegut's cult absurdist classic. Episode 2 of 4.
Thursday
Married
When Robin starts to accept his new life in a parallel universe, he discovers 'his' past misdemeanours. Stars Hugh Bonneville. Episode 3 of 6.
The Laxian Key
Arnold and Gregor are about to be bombed senseless by Evans the Welsh vigilante, a fitting reprisal surely for melting Earth. Episode 4 of 4.
Slaughterhouse 5
Anti-hero Billy Pilgrim begins relishing his life in a zoo on the planet Tralfamadore. Robert Jezek reads Kurt Vonnegut's cult book. Episode 3 of 4.
Friday
The Voice of God
Can You Hear That: Walker plans to fire the Voice at Pine Gap, risking a global catastrophe. Sam, Joshua and Nick are locked in the brig. Episode 5 of 5.
Methuselah's Children
A colonist enters the alien temple and returns a broken man. Episode 5 of 6.
Saturday
Heroes: The Official Radio Show
Jon Holmes and Xanthe Fuller analyse the action from the TV series. Send in your theories. Episode 9 of 11.
The MONDAY offerings are about to drop off screen, but you can still listen to them today:
The Laxian Key
The mysterious deaths of space tourists on Planet Party give planet decontaminators Arnold and Gregor a unique job opportunity. Episode 1 of 4.
Methuselah's Children
Lazarus Long's thoughts begin to turn to home. By Robert A Heinlein. Episode 6 of 6.
Tuesday
The Laxian Key
London is melting! With the whole of earth blaming Arnold and Gregor, the planetary decontaminationists must flee, but where? Episode 2 of 4.
Slaughterhouse 5
Kurt Vonnegut's anti-war classic tells of an innocent abroad, Billy Pilgrim, who stumbles into enemy hands. Robert Jezek reads. Episode 1 of 4.
Old Harry's Game (fantasy/comedy)
Hell is close to bursting, so to stop the flow people must be persuaded to be good. Stars Andy Hamilton. From September 2005. Episode 1 of 4.
Wednesday
The Laxian Key
Guilt stricken Arnold's call home to apologise for melting Earth is traced. Our planetary decontaminationists are on the run. Episode 3 of 4.
Slaughterhouse 5
Billy Pilgrim is both a Prisoner of War and an inadvertent time traveller. Robert Jezek reads Vonnegut's cult absurdist classic. Episode 2 of 4.
Thursday
Married
When Robin starts to accept his new life in a parallel universe, he discovers 'his' past misdemeanours. Stars Hugh Bonneville. Episode 3 of 6.
The Laxian Key
Arnold and Gregor are about to be bombed senseless by Evans the Welsh vigilante, a fitting reprisal surely for melting Earth. Episode 4 of 4.
Slaughterhouse 5
Anti-hero Billy Pilgrim begins relishing his life in a zoo on the planet Tralfamadore. Robert Jezek reads Kurt Vonnegut's cult book. Episode 3 of 4.
Friday
The Voice of God
Can You Hear That: Walker plans to fire the Voice at Pine Gap, risking a global catastrophe. Sam, Joshua and Nick are locked in the brig. Episode 5 of 5.
Methuselah's Children
A colonist enters the alien temple and returns a broken man. Episode 5 of 6.
Saturday
Heroes: The Official Radio Show
Jon Holmes and Xanthe Fuller analyse the action from the TV series. Send in your theories. Episode 9 of 11.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
What happened on June 29 in SF & Fantasy history
What happened on June 29 in SF & Fantasy history: Actors and actresses who have guest-starred or starred in at least 3 science fiction or fantasy movies or TV episodes.
Births
Soon-Tek Oh was born on June 29, 1943 in Japan, but raised in Korea. Made his TV debut in the American TV series, I Spy, in the episode "Kabuki." Mostly Westerns (Kung Fu) and crime dramas, but a few science fiction:
The Invaders - Houseboy in episode The Experiment (1967)
The Man with the Golden Gun (James Bond movie) Lt. Hip (1974)
Logan's Run - Dexter Kim in the episode The Crypt (1977)
The Greatest American Hero - Ernie Shikinami in Thirty Seconds Over Little Tokyo (1983)
Time Trax - character unknwon, in episode Return of the Yakuza (1994)
Babylon 5 - The Muta-Do in episode TKO (1994)
Stargate SG-1 - Moughal in episode Emancipation (1997)
Ray Harryhausen was born on June 29, 1920. Happy 88th, Ray!!!
Bernard Herrmann was born on June 29, 1911. A conductor and composer, he is most famous as the soundtrack writer for many of Alfred Hitchcock's most famous films. But he also did several SF films such as The Day The Earth Stood Still, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, Journey To the Center of the Earth, and Jason and the Argonauts. For radio - he did the theme music for Suspense and Orson Welles Mercury Theater. For TV, several Twilight Zones.
Deaths
John Abineri died in Bath, Somerset, England on June 29, 2000. He was born on May 18, 1928.
Red Dwarf: Rimmer's dad - episode Better Than Life (1988)
Blakes Seven: Ushton - episode Hostage (1979)
Doctor Who: Ranquin - episodes The Power of Kroll (1979)
Fred Saberhagen died on June 29, 2007. He was the author of many science fiction novels.
Births
Soon-Tek Oh was born on June 29, 1943 in Japan, but raised in Korea. Made his TV debut in the American TV series, I Spy, in the episode "Kabuki." Mostly Westerns (Kung Fu) and crime dramas, but a few science fiction:
The Invaders - Houseboy in episode The Experiment (1967)
The Man with the Golden Gun (James Bond movie) Lt. Hip (1974)
Logan's Run - Dexter Kim in the episode The Crypt (1977)
The Greatest American Hero - Ernie Shikinami in Thirty Seconds Over Little Tokyo (1983)
Time Trax - character unknwon, in episode Return of the Yakuza (1994)
Babylon 5 - The Muta-Do in episode TKO (1994)
Stargate SG-1 - Moughal in episode Emancipation (1997)
Ray Harryhausen was born on June 29, 1920. Happy 88th, Ray!!!
Bernard Herrmann was born on June 29, 1911. A conductor and composer, he is most famous as the soundtrack writer for many of Alfred Hitchcock's most famous films. But he also did several SF films such as The Day The Earth Stood Still, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, Journey To the Center of the Earth, and Jason and the Argonauts. For radio - he did the theme music for Suspense and Orson Welles Mercury Theater. For TV, several Twilight Zones.
Deaths
John Abineri died in Bath, Somerset, England on June 29, 2000. He was born on May 18, 1928.
Red Dwarf: Rimmer's dad - episode Better Than Life (1988)
Blakes Seven: Ushton - episode Hostage (1979)
Doctor Who: Ranquin - episodes The Power of Kroll (1979)
Fred Saberhagen died on June 29, 2007. He was the author of many science fiction novels.
Cabinet of Curiosities
I've been reading a book called Cabinet of Curiosities: A Delectable Assortment of Remarkable Tales and Outrageous Stories from All Over the World, by Simon Welfare and John Fairley.
Lots of interesting things within, and I just mention a few of them here. If I ever get the time to research them more fully, I will do so...
1) Two turtle experts tried to visit Maziwi Ialand off Tasmania, only to find that it had vanished.
2) Francis Scott Key, who in 1814 wrote the poem that would become the Star Spangled Banner, had a house in Washington, DC. In 1947, a highway was routed through it. The US National Parks Department was ordered to move it. To do so, they took apart the entire house, and stored the pieces. As of 1991 (the year of this book) the house had yet to be found.
3) The Dorak Treasure is "one of the enigmas of modern archaeology. It's discovery, announced in 1959 in the Illlustrated London News, caused excitement not simply beause the hoard apparently came from ancient royal tombs unearthed near the village of Dorak, in Turkey and contained rare figurines, ceremonial battle-axes, fine jewelry, swords, daggers, a magnificent gold cup, and a throne covered with a layer of gold and hierogylphs, apparently a gift from an Egyptian king.
The find was reported by James Mellaart, then Assistant Director of the Britisjh Institute of Archaeology in Ankara. He said that while travelling through Turkey in the summer of 1958 he met a pretty girl on a train. Even more stroiking than her looks was the gold bracelet she wore on her wrist. It looked very old.
The girl confirmed Mellaart's hunch. The bracelet was indeed ancient, part of a treasure trove. She had the rest at home. He was welcome to see it. So when they reached Izmir, Mellaart left the train and went to the girl's hose where she showed him not only other artefacts but lso photographs of the tombs, complete with skeletons. As so often happens when mysteries are under investigation, there was no opportunity to take photographs: his camera was broken. Instead, the archaeologist stayed on for 3 or 4 days, recording as much detail as possible in his notebooks.
Those sketches and Mellaart's testimony are the only evidence that the Dorak treasure ever existed. All efforts to trace the girl later - she said her name was Anna Papastrati - came to nothing. Even the huse which Mellaart claimed to have visited could not be identified.
Missing manuscripts:
(Perfect ideas for plots)
1) Lawrence of Arabia "claimed" that he lost his only copy of the first eight 'books' of The Seven Pillars of Wisdom in a railway refreshment room in Reading in December, 1919.
2) British writer Jilly Cooper put down the first draft of her novel Riders in a London store in 1971, and that was the last she saw of it. (Took her 14 years to rewrite it).
In the early 1980s, a gigantic Egyptian metropolis, the City of Rameses, containing the Pharoah's palace, a ceremonial avenue, rows of sphinxes and four huge statues of Rameses the Magnificent.
This city was buried in the sand dunes at Guadalupe, California, a small town north of Los Angeles. They formed part of a spectacular set built, in 1923, by Cecil B. DeMille for the first version of his epic, The Ten Commandments. When shooting of the film finished, DeMille decided it would be cheaper to bury the set rather than deconstruct it.
DeMille had expected it to be buruied for a thousand years, but it was dug up in 1983. (And a movie has been made about it! A horror movie!)
6. Giant squid have been known to leap out of the water and get caught in the rigging of ships. (Perhaps jumping out of the water in order to escape attack by a sperm whale?)
7. Why is Mt Rushmore called Mt Rushmore, instead of The President's Mountain, for example? Rushmore was a lawyer. According to the story, "a gold miner was riding past the mountain with his attorney, whose name was Rushmore. "What's the name of this mountain?" asked Rushmore. "Why, Mount Rushmore, of course," the miner replied. The name stuck, and in 1930 it was officially given that name.
There are a few "lost villages": Semerwater in Yorkshire, Dunwich, Wharram Percy in Yorkshir, and Cheesewring in Cornwall. Although they're all interesting, the one I find most interesting is POLPHAIL, in Argylshlshire, Scotland. A town, it was built in 1976 for workers constructing the North sea oil platforms. By the time it was ready, the work had gone away. Also of interest are the villages of St. Kilda, and Samson in the Scillies.
8. And finally..is the Mona Lisa in the Louvre the "real" Mona Lisa? Apparently, Rembrandt painted several versions.
Lots of interesting things within, and I just mention a few of them here. If I ever get the time to research them more fully, I will do so...
1) Two turtle experts tried to visit Maziwi Ialand off Tasmania, only to find that it had vanished.
2) Francis Scott Key, who in 1814 wrote the poem that would become the Star Spangled Banner, had a house in Washington, DC. In 1947, a highway was routed through it. The US National Parks Department was ordered to move it. To do so, they took apart the entire house, and stored the pieces. As of 1991 (the year of this book) the house had yet to be found.
3) The Dorak Treasure is "one of the enigmas of modern archaeology. It's discovery, announced in 1959 in the Illlustrated London News, caused excitement not simply beause the hoard apparently came from ancient royal tombs unearthed near the village of Dorak, in Turkey and contained rare figurines, ceremonial battle-axes, fine jewelry, swords, daggers, a magnificent gold cup, and a throne covered with a layer of gold and hierogylphs, apparently a gift from an Egyptian king.
The find was reported by James Mellaart, then Assistant Director of the Britisjh Institute of Archaeology in Ankara. He said that while travelling through Turkey in the summer of 1958 he met a pretty girl on a train. Even more stroiking than her looks was the gold bracelet she wore on her wrist. It looked very old.
The girl confirmed Mellaart's hunch. The bracelet was indeed ancient, part of a treasure trove. She had the rest at home. He was welcome to see it. So when they reached Izmir, Mellaart left the train and went to the girl's hose where she showed him not only other artefacts but lso photographs of the tombs, complete with skeletons. As so often happens when mysteries are under investigation, there was no opportunity to take photographs: his camera was broken. Instead, the archaeologist stayed on for 3 or 4 days, recording as much detail as possible in his notebooks.
Those sketches and Mellaart's testimony are the only evidence that the Dorak treasure ever existed. All efforts to trace the girl later - she said her name was Anna Papastrati - came to nothing. Even the huse which Mellaart claimed to have visited could not be identified.
Missing manuscripts:
(Perfect ideas for plots)
1) Lawrence of Arabia "claimed" that he lost his only copy of the first eight 'books' of The Seven Pillars of Wisdom in a railway refreshment room in Reading in December, 1919.
2) British writer Jilly Cooper put down the first draft of her novel Riders in a London store in 1971, and that was the last she saw of it. (Took her 14 years to rewrite it).
In the early 1980s, a gigantic Egyptian metropolis, the City of Rameses, containing the Pharoah's palace, a ceremonial avenue, rows of sphinxes and four huge statues of Rameses the Magnificent.
This city was buried in the sand dunes at Guadalupe, California, a small town north of Los Angeles. They formed part of a spectacular set built, in 1923, by Cecil B. DeMille for the first version of his epic, The Ten Commandments. When shooting of the film finished, DeMille decided it would be cheaper to bury the set rather than deconstruct it.
DeMille had expected it to be buruied for a thousand years, but it was dug up in 1983. (And a movie has been made about it! A horror movie!)
6. Giant squid have been known to leap out of the water and get caught in the rigging of ships. (Perhaps jumping out of the water in order to escape attack by a sperm whale?)
7. Why is Mt Rushmore called Mt Rushmore, instead of The President's Mountain, for example? Rushmore was a lawyer. According to the story, "a gold miner was riding past the mountain with his attorney, whose name was Rushmore. "What's the name of this mountain?" asked Rushmore. "Why, Mount Rushmore, of course," the miner replied. The name stuck, and in 1930 it was officially given that name.
There are a few "lost villages": Semerwater in Yorkshire, Dunwich, Wharram Percy in Yorkshir, and Cheesewring in Cornwall. Although they're all interesting, the one I find most interesting is POLPHAIL, in Argylshlshire, Scotland. A town, it was built in 1976 for workers constructing the North sea oil platforms. By the time it was ready, the work had gone away. Also of interest are the villages of St. Kilda, and Samson in the Scillies.
8. And finally..is the Mona Lisa in the Louvre the "real" Mona Lisa? Apparently, Rembrandt painted several versions.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Science Fiction on BBC Digital Radio 7
I've been very remiss of late in sharing the science fiction that's on offer every week at BBC Radio 7. http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listenagain/monday/. You can listen to any show at any time, any day of the week. Each day's shows is available to listen to for 7 days.
So, what's on this week?
You can still listen to an ep from Tuesday for the next 20 hours or so..
TUESDAY
Atomic Tales
I've Got Your Number: Krank has created a brilliant think piece where all of mankind has a unique number. But what if your number was copied? Episode 3 of 6.
The Day of the Triffids
A visitor to Shirning threatens Bill's family and their future together. Episode 17 of 17.
Old Harry's Game (fantasy)
When the Professor and Thomas discover Satan's never been to sleep, they try to give him forty winks. First heard in May 2001. Episode 5 of 6.
WEDNESDAY
Animal Farm
Bill Nighy reads George Orwell's famous cautionary fable. The windmill is smashed, and Squealer swears it's Snowball's fault. Episode 3 of 5.
Atomic Tales
Land of Plenty: Futuristic tale set on Mars, where human food is stored in specially sealed Mag-cans. What if the can-openers malfunctioned? Episode 4 of 6.
Shambleau
A sci-fi thriller by American author CL Moore. A space bounty hunter lives to regret rescuing a young woman from attack. Episode 1 of 3.
THURSDAY
Married
Robin Lightfoot is grumpy yet happily single, then he wakes up to discover he's in a parallel universe, with a wife and kids. Episode 1 of 6.
Atomic Tales
Unstoppable!: The tension continues in the sci-fi serial as a space train hurtles towards Earth. Episode 5 of 6.
Shambleau
A sci-fi thriller set on Mars by American author CL Moore. Northwest Smith discovers the secret power of the alien woman he rescued. Episode 2 of 3.
FRIDAY
Animal Farm
Bill Nighy reads George Orwell's famous cautionary fable. Boxer becomes gravely ill, and the animals discover betrayal. Episode 5 of 5.
Atomic Tales
Night of the Cicadas: The cicada is a friendly chirruping insect, but what if it grew to a vast size and hungered for human flesh? Episode 6 of 6.
Shambleau
CL Moore's space thriller on Mars continues. Is Northwest's number up as he falls under the spell of the snake-haired alien? Episode 3 of 3.
SATURDAY
Heroes: The Official Radio Show
Jon Holmes and Xanthe Fuller analyse the action from the TV series. Send in your theories. Episode 8 of 11.
SUNDAY
Alpha
Tale about a computer so all-knowing that it seems to have an independent life of its own. Chilling award-winning drama.
Doctor Who: Commentaries
The Doctor Who cast and crew discuss the latest episode, Midnight.
and upcoming on MONDAY
The Voice of God
Fields of Thunder: A series of quakes rocks Australia. When Sam Rideout investigates, she stumbles into a nightmare of biblical proportions. Episode 1 of 5. (The popular serial written by the equally popular Simon Bovey.)
Methuselah's Children
Paul Birchard reads Robert A Heinlein's sci-fi novel about a group of families who can live for several hundred years. Episode 1 of 6.
So, what's on this week?
You can still listen to an ep from Tuesday for the next 20 hours or so..
TUESDAY
Atomic Tales
I've Got Your Number: Krank has created a brilliant think piece where all of mankind has a unique number. But what if your number was copied? Episode 3 of 6.
The Day of the Triffids
A visitor to Shirning threatens Bill's family and their future together. Episode 17 of 17.
Old Harry's Game (fantasy)
When the Professor and Thomas discover Satan's never been to sleep, they try to give him forty winks. First heard in May 2001. Episode 5 of 6.
WEDNESDAY
Animal Farm
Bill Nighy reads George Orwell's famous cautionary fable. The windmill is smashed, and Squealer swears it's Snowball's fault. Episode 3 of 5.
Atomic Tales
Land of Plenty: Futuristic tale set on Mars, where human food is stored in specially sealed Mag-cans. What if the can-openers malfunctioned? Episode 4 of 6.
Shambleau
A sci-fi thriller by American author CL Moore. A space bounty hunter lives to regret rescuing a young woman from attack. Episode 1 of 3.
THURSDAY
Married
Robin Lightfoot is grumpy yet happily single, then he wakes up to discover he's in a parallel universe, with a wife and kids. Episode 1 of 6.
Atomic Tales
Unstoppable!: The tension continues in the sci-fi serial as a space train hurtles towards Earth. Episode 5 of 6.
Shambleau
A sci-fi thriller set on Mars by American author CL Moore. Northwest Smith discovers the secret power of the alien woman he rescued. Episode 2 of 3.
FRIDAY
Animal Farm
Bill Nighy reads George Orwell's famous cautionary fable. Boxer becomes gravely ill, and the animals discover betrayal. Episode 5 of 5.
Atomic Tales
Night of the Cicadas: The cicada is a friendly chirruping insect, but what if it grew to a vast size and hungered for human flesh? Episode 6 of 6.
Shambleau
CL Moore's space thriller on Mars continues. Is Northwest's number up as he falls under the spell of the snake-haired alien? Episode 3 of 3.
SATURDAY
Heroes: The Official Radio Show
Jon Holmes and Xanthe Fuller analyse the action from the TV series. Send in your theories. Episode 8 of 11.
SUNDAY
Alpha
Tale about a computer so all-knowing that it seems to have an independent life of its own. Chilling award-winning drama.
Doctor Who: Commentaries
The Doctor Who cast and crew discuss the latest episode, Midnight.
and upcoming on MONDAY
The Voice of God
Fields of Thunder: A series of quakes rocks Australia. When Sam Rideout investigates, she stumbles into a nightmare of biblical proportions. Episode 1 of 5. (The popular serial written by the equally popular Simon Bovey.)
Methuselah's Children
Paul Birchard reads Robert A Heinlein's sci-fi novel about a group of families who can live for several hundred years. Episode 1 of 6.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Jouney to the Center of the Earth
The movie is coming July 11.
The trailers for this movie, starring Brendan Fraser, are out, and to date I'm not impressed with them.
The special effects...suck! If you can't do CGI...try the old fashioned way that'll give better results!
And, looks like all the characters are young, but of course there's got to be the obligatory teenager as well, who will doubtless be both know-it-all, obnoxious, and get into trouble requiring rescue. Unless that role will be saved for the token woman.
The trailers for this movie, starring Brendan Fraser, are out, and to date I'm not impressed with them.
The special effects...suck! If you can't do CGI...try the old fashioned way that'll give better results!
And, looks like all the characters are young, but of course there's got to be the obligatory teenager as well, who will doubtless be both know-it-all, obnoxious, and get into trouble requiring rescue. Unless that role will be saved for the token woman.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Fireball XL5
I just ordered the complete DVD set of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's 1962 creation, Fireball XL5.
It is a lot of fun!
Yes, the Supermarionation is not on a par with later efforts - the wires are visible at all times, and kids might not like the fact that it's in black and white, - but the plots are interesting, as are the gadgets - quite a bit of foreshadowing of future SF shows and even a bit of reality.
I'm going to quote the copyright free Wikipedia:
Set between the years 2062/2063, the series features the missions of spaceship Fireball XL5, commanded by Colonel Steve Zodiac of the World Space Patrol. Also aboard as part of the crew are the glamorous Doctor Venus, middle-aged navigator and engineer Professor Matthew Matic, and Zodiac's co-pilot Robert the Robot, notable for being transparent. Robert was the only character in an Anderson series that was actually voiced by Gerry Anderson himself.
Fireball XL5 is based at Space City, located on an unnamed island in the South Pacific, headquarters of the World Space Patrol headed by Commander Zero. Zero is assisted by Lieutenant Ninety. The patrol rocket Fireball XL5 takes off utilising a mile-long launch rail which culminates in a 40 degree incline, or sky ramp, which Anderson explains was inspired by an old Soviet design, a concept also used in the film When Worlds Collide.
There is a fleet of at least 30 'Fireball XL' ships (an XL30 is referred to in The Firefighters episode), of which XL5 is the most famous.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Alexander Courage - composer, Star Trek theme
Alexander Courage, composer of the Star Trek theme (for the original and best series) died on May 15. I've only just heard.
From the copyright free Wikipedia
Alexander Courage (December 10, 1919 – May 15, 2008) was a 20th century American orchestrator, arranger and composer of music, primarily for television and motion pictures.
Courage, most famous to SCI FI fans for his work on Star Trek, became alienated from Star Trek's creator Gene Roddenberry over the latter's demand for half his music royalties. (Gene Roddenberry wrote words for Courage's Star Trek theme, and even though those words were never sung - on the show or anywhere, Roddenberry was still able to claim acknowledgement as the co-writer, and was paid half of the royalties from the song.)
Radio
During World War II, Courage began composing for radio. His credits in this medium include Broadway Is My Beat, Hollywood Soundstage, and Romance.
Motion picture work
Courage began as an orchestrator/arranger at MGM studios, which included work in such films as Show Boat ("Life Upon the Wicked Stage" number), The Band Wagon ("I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plan") and Gigi (the can-can for the entrance of patrons at Maxim's), and the barn-raising dance from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.
He frequently served as orchestrator for Andre Previn (My Fair Lady, the "The Circus is a Wacky World" and "You're Gonna Hear from Me" production numbers for Inside Daisy Clover), Adolph Deutsch (Funny Face, Some Like it Hot), John Williams (Superman, The Poseidon Adventure, Jurassic Park, and the Academy Award-nominated musical films Tom Sawyer, and Fiddler on the Roof), and Jerry Goldsmith (The Mummy, Mulan, Rudy, et al.).
Apart from his work as a highly respected orchestrator, Courage also contributed original dramatic scores to films, including two important 1950s westerns, Arthur Penn's Left Handed Gun and Andre de Toth's Day of the Outlaw. He continued writing music for films throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, including the score for Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (which incorporated 3 new musical themes by John Williams, in addition to Courage's adapted and original cues for the film). Courage's score for Superman IV: The Quest for Peace was finally released in early 2008 by Film Music Monthly as part of their boxset, Superman - The Music.
Television work
He is probably best known for writing the theme music to the original Star Trek television series, but also worked as composer on such shows as Lost in Space, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Judd, for the Defense, and Daniel Boone.
Jerry Goldsmith and Courage teamed on the long-running TV show The Waltons, in which Goldsmith composed the theme and Courage scored the Aaron Copland-influenced incidental music.
Death
Courage had been in declining health before he died on May 15, 2008 at the Sunrise assisted-living facility in Pacific Palisades, California
From the copyright free Wikipedia
Alexander Courage (December 10, 1919 – May 15, 2008) was a 20th century American orchestrator, arranger and composer of music, primarily for television and motion pictures.
Courage, most famous to SCI FI fans for his work on Star Trek, became alienated from Star Trek's creator Gene Roddenberry over the latter's demand for half his music royalties. (Gene Roddenberry wrote words for Courage's Star Trek theme, and even though those words were never sung - on the show or anywhere, Roddenberry was still able to claim acknowledgement as the co-writer, and was paid half of the royalties from the song.)
Radio
During World War II, Courage began composing for radio. His credits in this medium include Broadway Is My Beat, Hollywood Soundstage, and Romance.
Motion picture work
Courage began as an orchestrator/arranger at MGM studios, which included work in such films as Show Boat ("Life Upon the Wicked Stage" number), The Band Wagon ("I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plan") and Gigi (the can-can for the entrance of patrons at Maxim's), and the barn-raising dance from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.
He frequently served as orchestrator for Andre Previn (My Fair Lady, the "The Circus is a Wacky World" and "You're Gonna Hear from Me" production numbers for Inside Daisy Clover), Adolph Deutsch (Funny Face, Some Like it Hot), John Williams (Superman, The Poseidon Adventure, Jurassic Park, and the Academy Award-nominated musical films Tom Sawyer, and Fiddler on the Roof), and Jerry Goldsmith (The Mummy, Mulan, Rudy, et al.).
Apart from his work as a highly respected orchestrator, Courage also contributed original dramatic scores to films, including two important 1950s westerns, Arthur Penn's Left Handed Gun and Andre de Toth's Day of the Outlaw. He continued writing music for films throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, including the score for Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (which incorporated 3 new musical themes by John Williams, in addition to Courage's adapted and original cues for the film). Courage's score for Superman IV: The Quest for Peace was finally released in early 2008 by Film Music Monthly as part of their boxset, Superman - The Music.
Television work
He is probably best known for writing the theme music to the original Star Trek television series, but also worked as composer on such shows as Lost in Space, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Judd, for the Defense, and Daniel Boone.
Jerry Goldsmith and Courage teamed on the long-running TV show The Waltons, in which Goldsmith composed the theme and Courage scored the Aaron Copland-influenced incidental music.
Death
Courage had been in declining health before he died on May 15, 2008 at the Sunrise assisted-living facility in Pacific Palisades, California
Monday, May 26, 2008
What happened at Piedmont?
I actually missed the first hour and a half of The Andromeda Strain miniseries on TV today... too caught up in the final episode of the Law & Order Marathon on TNT.
The Andromeda Strain is one of my favorite books, indeed when I was a kid and first read this book I wanted to create a Project Wildfire myself!
The movie made in 1971 was as close to the movie as you'd expect, but from the plot synopsis that I just read on Wikipedia, this miniseries is a bunch of garbage!
I won't give away the new plot - just be aware that it's verrrrry loosely based on the novel, and you can check it out at Wikipedia, or watch the thing yourself.
The one fun thing about it is the clever marketing, a fictional blog called What Happened at Piedmont?
I've toyed with fictional blogs myself - for my TechnoOcean Academy books that I've yet to actually write...so I thought I'd share this.
I don't mind them making a miniseries with the plot that they've got in The Andromeda Strain ---- but don't call it the Andromeda Strain, cuz this ain't it!!!!!!!
The Andromeda Strain is one of my favorite books, indeed when I was a kid and first read this book I wanted to create a Project Wildfire myself!
The movie made in 1971 was as close to the movie as you'd expect, but from the plot synopsis that I just read on Wikipedia, this miniseries is a bunch of garbage!
I won't give away the new plot - just be aware that it's verrrrry loosely based on the novel, and you can check it out at Wikipedia, or watch the thing yourself.
The one fun thing about it is the clever marketing, a fictional blog called What Happened at Piedmont?
I've toyed with fictional blogs myself - for my TechnoOcean Academy books that I've yet to actually write...so I thought I'd share this.
I don't mind them making a miniseries with the plot that they've got in The Andromeda Strain ---- but don't call it the Andromeda Strain, cuz this ain't it!!!!!!!
Way to spoil the movie, TNT! (Spoiler for Prince Caspian)
I've been watching the Law & Order marathon on TNT for most of the day... it's 5.04 pm and they've just shown a commercial for Prince Caspian.
Right dab smack in the middle of the commerical is a shot of the White Witch, Tilda Swinton, (who had ostensibly died in the first movie). Swinton is uncredited in this movie, and I'm 100% sure that her appearance in this movie was meant to be a surprise.
And yet here in this commercial - there she is.
Okay, it's not TNT's fault. It's the fault of the movie company that put together the trailer... but it's only bloody common sense that you don't put the star of a previous movie - who died - in the trailer for the new movie!
Right dab smack in the middle of the commerical is a shot of the White Witch, Tilda Swinton, (who had ostensibly died in the first movie). Swinton is uncredited in this movie, and I'm 100% sure that her appearance in this movie was meant to be a surprise.
And yet here in this commercial - there she is.
Okay, it's not TNT's fault. It's the fault of the movie company that put together the trailer... but it's only bloody common sense that you don't put the star of a previous movie - who died - in the trailer for the new movie!
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Prince Caspian
I went to see Prince Caspian today, and for the most part I enjoyed it more than The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. (Although the final fight between Tilda Swinton's White Witch and Peter kicked butt and made the whole thing worth sitting through.)
As all the critics are saying, this is a "darker" Narnia... it begins with a woman giving birth to a male child. Her husband sees this as his cue to kill his nephew, Prince Caspian, so he can ascend to the throne of Narnia. However, Caspian is warned by his tutor, and flees into the forest where no soldiers will go. (Well, they will go, but reluctantly.) His tutor has given Caspian a horn, which he is to blow if he needs help. Caspian is almost captured by pursuing soldiers..and blows the horn.
In England, back in London, apparently, the Pevensie children are going to school. It's a year later. Peter resents not being treated as the king he once was, and he and Edward are bickering. Lucy and Susan are much the same, however. While they sit on a bench, a train comes...and when the train passes the Pevensie children are back in Narnia...and near the ruins of Cair Paravel, their former castle.
What happened to Narnia? The Telmarines invaded...and the great lion Aslan left the Narnians to their fate - to be butchered and/or driven deep into the forest. Now that the four sons of Adam have returned, they must save Narnia from the Telmarines who intend to invade their forest refuge and kill them all.
There is a clash, of course, between Peter Pevensie who still regards himself as King, and Prince Caspian who is older than he and had expected someone else... Peter also refuses to wait for Aslan to come and help them, as Lucy suggests. He no longer believes in Aslan.
In the end, Peter accepts that he can't do it on his own, and sends Lucy into the forest to ask Aslan to help them. Once Lucy arrives, and asks for that help, Aslan obliges...and the battle, in which hundreds had died on both sides, is soon over...
(Do you detect a tinge of contempt for Aslan here?)
All of the Chronicles of Narnia books are Christian allegories, and I have no problem with that. It's just very interesting what those allegories actually show about the Christian religion... (or any religion, for that matter!)
It's interesting to read the message boards on the IMDB about this movie. There are several threads up in arms about the "shameless Christian propaganda," so much so that you've got to laugh. Where were they when Catholics were up in arms about The Da Vinci Code and its "insult" to the Catholic religon? I suppose anytime a movie has a priest as a hero instead of a hypocritical villain, that'd be shameless propaganda, too.
(Don't get me wrong, like I said, I'm an atheist, I just find it interesting how some of my fellow atheists get all up in arms when a movie apparently showing Christianity in a positive light is "shamelesss." (I use the word apparently advisedly, of course, as I hardly see Aslan's passive behavior throughout the film "uplifting.)
But, of course, as many Christian pundits will say, and which is perfectly true, Christianity is the only religion that can be portrayed as hypocrital or ridiculous in movies. Hindus are up in arms about Mike Meyers The Love Guru, for example, and of course if you make any movie critical of the religion of Islam you can expect fatwas and the murders of all involved toot sweet.)
But, of course, just as the first movie was criticized, so is this one. "WHere's all the blacks?"
Well, I gotta tell you. Before the "sons of Adam" arrived, the only beings living in Narnia were dwarves, fauns, talking animals, centaurs, minotaurs, et al. When the sons of Adam arrived...well, there were only a handful, and they came from 1950s England...
But what about the Telmarines, in Prince Caspian? In the movie at least, they all speak with accents that sound Spanish, and it turns out that they came from "our world" and were pirates, and somehow found a portal into Narnia where they proceeded to kill all the Narnians and drive any survivors deep into the forest.
Sounds like the Spanish arrival in the new world to me... but if you look at the threads at the IMDB, they're being cast as Muslims invading the Christian worlds...ie. the Crusades, Muslim against Christian, rather than Spaniards against innocent native Americans. (And of course, the people who have that view of the movie are critical of the movie because of it. Just more propaganda against Muslims...)
Spoiler
The movie ends with Prince Caspian promising everyone that Narnians and Telmarines will live together in harmony. But, if there are any of those who dont' want to remain, Aslan will take them back to their original world... this is actually how the book ends as well...and I know there's someting allegorical about that as well.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Small Gods: Disappointed!
As I said four weeks ago, I was very disappointed in the adaption of Small Gods - my favorite Terry Pratchett book. (A very powerful book about the ridiculousness of religion (any religion), among other things.)
It has just completed this Saturday. (The episode will be available at BBC Radio 7 for the next 7 days. http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listenagain/saturday/
I just listened - or rather tried to listen - to the last five or so minutes of it. In the book, it's a great scene, Om zooms up to Dunmanifestin, has a fight with the other gods who are using the humans as playthings, and convinces them to appear in front of their followers, and bring peace. They say, "This is not a game. Here and now, you are alive."
Okay..unless you've read the book -- (and it appears in several of Pratchett's works) -- you might not recognize the phrase, "Here and now, you are alive," but Pratchett revisits this concept again and again throughout his work - about the preciousness of an individual's life, of the "here and now," and the different paths that can be taken...and the different futures that will result.
But..yeah..it really needs a bit of expansion for a radio episode and - the adaptor has no problem rewriting Pratchett's text throughout this adaption - but he can't expand on those two sentences here at the end??
The voicework of Barlow at this point also is, I'm sorry to say, disappointing. Well...it's not how I heard Om speaking in my own head while reading the scene, anyway! Also, they mess around with his voice...putting it in an echo chamber. That's not necessary - Barlow could have, and should have, done it all with his own voice.
At the very end of the book. ..... SPOILERS
One hundred years have passed, and as soon as Brutha is reminded of this -- and Brutha never forgets everythingm but he had forgotten this -- he dies, as Om had foretold.
"I forgot," he says in the book. He laughs, and says again "I forgot."
But the voice actor in Small Gods doesn't laugh. He's not amused that he forgot, he's surprised. That's not the way Brutha would react.
And then...the BBC version goes silent. There's got to be at least two more minutes of the program, where Brutha meets Death, walks into the desert, and finds Vorbis, who died a hundred years ago, but has not had the courage to walk across the desert. Brutha holds out his hand, Vorbis takes it, and they begin the journey.
It's not that the radio version cut this out... it just isn't there! Something happened to the tape or something, and all we get is silence! (It also happens in a 15-minute episode of something called Brian Appleton's History of Rock and Roll, on friday, so it's got to be somethign going on with the BBC7 website...)
Anyway...I've recorded all four episodes, but I doubt if I'll ever listen to them. Small Gods deserves a much better adaption than this.
It has just completed this Saturday. (The episode will be available at BBC Radio 7 for the next 7 days. http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listenagain/saturday/
I just listened - or rather tried to listen - to the last five or so minutes of it. In the book, it's a great scene, Om zooms up to Dunmanifestin, has a fight with the other gods who are using the humans as playthings, and convinces them to appear in front of their followers, and bring peace. They say, "This is not a game. Here and now, you are alive."
Okay..unless you've read the book -- (and it appears in several of Pratchett's works) -- you might not recognize the phrase, "Here and now, you are alive," but Pratchett revisits this concept again and again throughout his work - about the preciousness of an individual's life, of the "here and now," and the different paths that can be taken...and the different futures that will result.
But..yeah..it really needs a bit of expansion for a radio episode and - the adaptor has no problem rewriting Pratchett's text throughout this adaption - but he can't expand on those two sentences here at the end??
The voicework of Barlow at this point also is, I'm sorry to say, disappointing. Well...it's not how I heard Om speaking in my own head while reading the scene, anyway! Also, they mess around with his voice...putting it in an echo chamber. That's not necessary - Barlow could have, and should have, done it all with his own voice.
At the very end of the book. ..... SPOILERS
One hundred years have passed, and as soon as Brutha is reminded of this -- and Brutha never forgets everythingm but he had forgotten this -- he dies, as Om had foretold.
"I forgot," he says in the book. He laughs, and says again "I forgot."
But the voice actor in Small Gods doesn't laugh. He's not amused that he forgot, he's surprised. That's not the way Brutha would react.
And then...the BBC version goes silent. There's got to be at least two more minutes of the program, where Brutha meets Death, walks into the desert, and finds Vorbis, who died a hundred years ago, but has not had the courage to walk across the desert. Brutha holds out his hand, Vorbis takes it, and they begin the journey.
It's not that the radio version cut this out... it just isn't there! Something happened to the tape or something, and all we get is silence! (It also happens in a 15-minute episode of something called Brian Appleton's History of Rock and Roll, on friday, so it's got to be somethign going on with the BBC7 website...)
Anyway...I've recorded all four episodes, but I doubt if I'll ever listen to them. Small Gods deserves a much better adaption than this.
Jon Pertwee Speaks!
On the anniversary of Jon Pertwee's death on May 20, 1996, today and for the next seven days you'll be able to hear Jon Pertwee speak about his acting career, at BBC Radio 7.
It's called An Hour With Jon Pertwee.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listenagain/saturday/
Time Lord. Scarecrow. Naval officer. Is there nothing Jon Pertwee couldn't do? Jon himself enthralls us with tales of his life
The show is an hour long - he talks about Doctor Who for the last 15 minutes - but the whole thing was fun.
A bit serendipitous, as I just saw today for the first time the 10th Doctor episode, School Reunion, in which the 10th Doctor meets Sarah Jane Smith. Who fans will know that Sarah Jane started out with the Third Doctor, Pertwee, and ended with Tom Baker.
Elisabeth Sladen has an unoffcial webiste: http://www.elisabethsladen.co.uk/
There's sparks between Rose (the current companion) and Sarah Jane, and Sarah Jane has a zinger for the Doctor (can't remember the exact quote but something like, "I can tell you're getting older. You're assistants are getting younger.")
And Anthony Head does a masterful job as the villain... definitely alien acting, and his delivery of the line "Forget the shooty dog thing," is fantastic. Now, if I'd actually purchased a TV a few days ago with a built in DVD-recorder, I would have taped it and watched it again. Unfortunately, I'd misread the box and all I've got is a tv with a player that plays DVD-Rs as well as DVDs... very annoying.
I didn't know that Anthony Head was the brother of Murray Head (Chess), although now that I do know I can see the resemblance. I'd liked him in his coffee commercials that made him famous decades ago... but never watched him in anything. I knokw he was in Buffy the Vampire Slayer but I don't like horror shows (except Darren McGavin's one and only Night Stalker!) so I never watched it... but perhaps I might revisit it.... ; )
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Any coin collectors here?
I recently read a book on US gold coins, which re-ignited my interest in coin collecting that had lain dormant for several years.
And of course when anything ignites my interest I usually do a website about it.
So, here's a website called The Coin Chronicles.
It's still under construction, and always will be because there's such a vast amount of info out there, but it will feature a biographical and chronological history of US coin collecting, as well as articles on the hobby itself.
And I've got a blog attached to it called Only Gold, which discusses collecting gold coins and investing in gold bullion: only-gold.blogspot.com
And of course when anything ignites my interest I usually do a website about it.
So, here's a website called The Coin Chronicles.
It's still under construction, and always will be because there's such a vast amount of info out there, but it will feature a biographical and chronological history of US coin collecting, as well as articles on the hobby itself.
And I've got a blog attached to it called Only Gold, which discusses collecting gold coins and investing in gold bullion: only-gold.blogspot.com
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Murder in Myanmar
Well, apparently over 10,000 people are dead in Myanmar because of the typhoon that hit a week or so ago. And the junta that rules the country isn't letting in humanitarian aid at all, let alone on a timely basis. I wonder if this same disregard for people would be evidenced if the country was still Burma?
Of course, in one sense the US has little room for criticism. How much red tape did international help have to go through after the catastrophe of Katrina? Indeed, there is NO excuse for the lack of effort after Katrina - either for the local, state and federal governments, OR for many (not all, just many) of the people who just sat back and waited for aid rather than taking matters into their own hands.
And there is NO excuse for what's happening in Myanmar, and you sure as hell can't blame the people for it. Well... I suppose you can. Instead of throwing all the dead into the river (which I kind of sort of think will pollute that water supply for decades to come), they should carry their dead to the capitol city where this military junta rules, and pile them on the steps of that capitol.
Okay...I don't really know the solution. But something needs to be done to help the people of Myanmar, and if that means getting rid of that junta.... ?
Of course, in one sense the US has little room for criticism. How much red tape did international help have to go through after the catastrophe of Katrina? Indeed, there is NO excuse for the lack of effort after Katrina - either for the local, state and federal governments, OR for many (not all, just many) of the people who just sat back and waited for aid rather than taking matters into their own hands.
And there is NO excuse for what's happening in Myanmar, and you sure as hell can't blame the people for it. Well... I suppose you can. Instead of throwing all the dead into the river (which I kind of sort of think will pollute that water supply for decades to come), they should carry their dead to the capitol city where this military junta rules, and pile them on the steps of that capitol.
Okay...I don't really know the solution. But something needs to be done to help the people of Myanmar, and if that means getting rid of that junta.... ?
Saturday, April 26, 2008
The ways of adaptors are woundrous [stet] strange
Yes...woundrous strange. That's my conflation of the word wounded and the word wondrous.
The average audience member has long been puzzled as to why adaptors of books to film have to change everything around...sometimes jettisoning the source material altogether. I am certainly one of those. I refuse to watch The Lord of the Rings trilogy because of the shabby way Peter Jackson treated Christopher Lee's Saruman in The Return of the King, for example. [Well, also because I didnt' actually like any of the movies, but that's a different kettle of fish.]
Anyway, in England, the BBC produces quite a few book dramatisations each year for radio. And many of these books are given a lot of time - relatively speaking. Running from 1 1/2 to 2 hours for most of 'em. Still not enough time to get through a complete book, but enough to do it justice, one would assume.
Which brings me to Terry Pratchett's Small Gods, currently playing every Saturday at BBC Radio 7. (Each episode is online for 7 days, so if you're reading this blog, you have no exuse to miss it!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listenagain/saturday/
Earlier today I tried to listen to it, and turned it off after 10 minutes in a fury. Small Gods is my absolute favorite Terry Pratchett book, and one of my top 10 favorite fiction books, period. And Patrick Barlow, who plays Om, is one of my favorite actors. So I hoped for great things. But knowing the quirks of adaptors, I was a bit nervous.
And in the first 10 minutes two rather vital changes had been made that just ticked me off. However, after calming down, I decided to return to the episode, and it turned out to be not that bad. Lots of the original dialog and prose was left "as is" and Patrick Barlow has a lot of fun with the role.
But the changes - oh the unneccessary changes - or.... were they unneccessary? Did this adaptor, Robin Brooks, have some motive in my mind? In other words, why did he change what he did?
There is a lot of narrative in a Terry Pratchett novel. This narrative voice provides much of the humor. In this adaption, Anton Lesser does the narrating, and he's excellent at it. (I don't know that American actors will know who he is - or indeed anyone in this cast, except for those fortunate enough to have been theater goers and London tourists during the late 1990s, as I was. Visited London, and saw the play Richard II, starring Anton Lesser as Henry, and Alex Jennings as Richard II. And here they are almost 20 years later, in a radio play together, Lesser as Narrator, Jennings as the evil Vorbis.)
Anyway, Brutha is a novice monk in the Citadel. A teenager, he can neither read nor write, but he has an eidetic memory. He remembers everything he sees, and has done since the day he saw a bright white light and somebody hit him.
The Citadel, in the land of Omnia, is the home of the Quisition, which makes sure that the Great God Om is properly worshiped. Om, who normally appears in the form of a great Bull, had come to earth one day three years ago to do some smiting...and when he had metamorphosized found that he had the shape of a small, one-eyed tortoise instead.
An eagle, intending to crack open his shell and eat him, has lifted him up to a great height, and dropped him. But he lands in a garden which is being hoed by Brutha.
And, as will become apparent in this episode, only Brutha can hear Om, because only Brutha, of all the people in the Citadel,( and indeed the land of Om) really believes in him.
So, below is the first change that really set me off, because there was no reason for it:
Om is telling Brutha to go fetch a high priest. If he doesnt, "there will be a shaking of the earth, the moon will be as blood, agues and boils will afflict mankind and diverse ills will befall." This is where the radio version stops. Pratchett adds another sentence - which is absolutely hilarious. "I really mean it." It's perfect. It's hilarious. It would have taken another second or two to say. Why leave it out? Especuially considering the inflection Patrick Barlow could have given it.
Next, we get something more egregious.
Brutha hears the voice of Om, and runs to tell Brother Nhumrod, Master of the Novices about it.
In the book, Nhumrod says, "Sometimes, as He in His infinite wisom sees fit, the God speaks to chosen one and he becomes a great prophet. Now, I am sure you wouldn't presume to consider yourself one of them?"
Brooks version has it:
"Sometimes, as in His infinite wisdom sees fit, the God speaks to chosen one and he becomes a great prophet. Do you consider your voice to have been in that category, Brutha?"
Do you see the difference?
Pratchett is saying that in this religion, there are no real prophets. It's just the religious hierarchy who decides someone is going to be a prophet, and they choose that person.
Then Brooks has Nhumrod going on --- adding a couple of sentences that Nhumrod never said in the book, about nighttime manipulation, etc. (Brutha thinks this, Nhumrod never says it.]
Then, when Brutha brings Nhumrod to hear what Om has to say, Om calls Nhumrod a pederast. Nhumrod is not a pederast. Moreover, Pratchett never uses this word in the book. Pratchett's words are these: Sometimes demons and devils did put disquieting thoughts in his head, but he saw to it that they stayed there and he did not in any literal sense deserve to be called what the tortoise called him, which, in fact, if he had heard it, he would have thought was something to do with feet.
Again, why the change? Pratchett assures his readers that Nhumrod is not a pederast, and so why even mention it in the radio version? Why not have Om call him an "old fool" instead. Unless Brooks wants to make some kind of a point linking Omnian priests to Catholic priests... but it's simply unfair. And at the end of the scene, Brooks has Nhumrod say another couple of sentences that are not in the book - a bit about cucumbers - another hint about Nhumrod's sexuality that simply does not exist in the book -- and therefore should not be introduced into this radio program. (Indeed, in the book Nhumrod' obsession is with melons - ie women's breasts, ie women...)
Then, things are really altered when Brutha and Om talk about religion. Brutha points out all the things that Om had done in the past, and Om points out that he never did any of that stuff.
"He [Ossory] said that you spoke unto him from out of a pillar of flame."
"..."
"And you dictated to him the Book of Ossory, which contains the Directions, the Gateways, the Abjurations, and the Precepts. One hundred and ninety three chapters."
"I don't think I did all that...."
"What did you say to him, then?"
"As far as I can remember, it was, "Hey, see what I can do."
Hilarious and quite a smiting at religion, with its one man seeing the burning bush, or the this and the that, and everyone else believing what this one man has to say...
There's no reason at all why Pratchett's dialog here should be changed...yet Brooks changes it. Very annoying!
Obviously, the point about the Omnian religion being created by men and not by Om himself has to be made, in less time than it takes to do in the book. Although, if you leave out Brother Nhumrod's extraneous added dialog, you have more time to say Pratchett's dialog here.
As for the voice work... that's fine.
I would've had Patrick Barlow use a different voice inflection in a few of his lines during that religion quarrel... but then he was saying Brook's lines, not Pratchett's, but overall he does a great job... has a lot of fun with it.
Everyone else does fine as well. Alex Jennings in particular as the cold Vorbis is excellent. Anton Lesser does a good job as the narrator.
So... three more episodes to listen to. Three more chances to hear Robin Brooks interfere with perfection.
The average audience member has long been puzzled as to why adaptors of books to film have to change everything around...sometimes jettisoning the source material altogether. I am certainly one of those. I refuse to watch The Lord of the Rings trilogy because of the shabby way Peter Jackson treated Christopher Lee's Saruman in The Return of the King, for example. [Well, also because I didnt' actually like any of the movies, but that's a different kettle of fish.]
Anyway, in England, the BBC produces quite a few book dramatisations each year for radio. And many of these books are given a lot of time - relatively speaking. Running from 1 1/2 to 2 hours for most of 'em. Still not enough time to get through a complete book, but enough to do it justice, one would assume.
Which brings me to Terry Pratchett's Small Gods, currently playing every Saturday at BBC Radio 7. (Each episode is online for 7 days, so if you're reading this blog, you have no exuse to miss it!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listenagain/saturday/
Earlier today I tried to listen to it, and turned it off after 10 minutes in a fury. Small Gods is my absolute favorite Terry Pratchett book, and one of my top 10 favorite fiction books, period. And Patrick Barlow, who plays Om, is one of my favorite actors. So I hoped for great things. But knowing the quirks of adaptors, I was a bit nervous.
And in the first 10 minutes two rather vital changes had been made that just ticked me off. However, after calming down, I decided to return to the episode, and it turned out to be not that bad. Lots of the original dialog and prose was left "as is" and Patrick Barlow has a lot of fun with the role.
But the changes - oh the unneccessary changes - or.... were they unneccessary? Did this adaptor, Robin Brooks, have some motive in my mind? In other words, why did he change what he did?
There is a lot of narrative in a Terry Pratchett novel. This narrative voice provides much of the humor. In this adaption, Anton Lesser does the narrating, and he's excellent at it. (I don't know that American actors will know who he is - or indeed anyone in this cast, except for those fortunate enough to have been theater goers and London tourists during the late 1990s, as I was. Visited London, and saw the play Richard II, starring Anton Lesser as Henry, and Alex Jennings as Richard II. And here they are almost 20 years later, in a radio play together, Lesser as Narrator, Jennings as the evil Vorbis.)
Anyway, Brutha is a novice monk in the Citadel. A teenager, he can neither read nor write, but he has an eidetic memory. He remembers everything he sees, and has done since the day he saw a bright white light and somebody hit him.
The Citadel, in the land of Omnia, is the home of the Quisition, which makes sure that the Great God Om is properly worshiped. Om, who normally appears in the form of a great Bull, had come to earth one day three years ago to do some smiting...and when he had metamorphosized found that he had the shape of a small, one-eyed tortoise instead.
An eagle, intending to crack open his shell and eat him, has lifted him up to a great height, and dropped him. But he lands in a garden which is being hoed by Brutha.
And, as will become apparent in this episode, only Brutha can hear Om, because only Brutha, of all the people in the Citadel,( and indeed the land of Om) really believes in him.
So, below is the first change that really set me off, because there was no reason for it:
Om is telling Brutha to go fetch a high priest. If he doesnt, "there will be a shaking of the earth, the moon will be as blood, agues and boils will afflict mankind and diverse ills will befall." This is where the radio version stops. Pratchett adds another sentence - which is absolutely hilarious. "I really mean it." It's perfect. It's hilarious. It would have taken another second or two to say. Why leave it out? Especuially considering the inflection Patrick Barlow could have given it.
Next, we get something more egregious.
Brutha hears the voice of Om, and runs to tell Brother Nhumrod, Master of the Novices about it.
In the book, Nhumrod says, "Sometimes, as He in His infinite wisom sees fit, the God speaks to chosen one and he becomes a great prophet. Now, I am sure you wouldn't presume to consider yourself one of them?"
Brooks version has it:
"Sometimes, as in His infinite wisdom sees fit, the God speaks to chosen one and he becomes a great prophet. Do you consider your voice to have been in that category, Brutha?"
Do you see the difference?
Pratchett is saying that in this religion, there are no real prophets. It's just the religious hierarchy who decides someone is going to be a prophet, and they choose that person.
Then Brooks has Nhumrod going on --- adding a couple of sentences that Nhumrod never said in the book, about nighttime manipulation, etc. (Brutha thinks this, Nhumrod never says it.]
Then, when Brutha brings Nhumrod to hear what Om has to say, Om calls Nhumrod a pederast. Nhumrod is not a pederast. Moreover, Pratchett never uses this word in the book. Pratchett's words are these: Sometimes demons and devils did put disquieting thoughts in his head, but he saw to it that they stayed there and he did not in any literal sense deserve to be called what the tortoise called him, which, in fact, if he had heard it, he would have thought was something to do with feet.
Again, why the change? Pratchett assures his readers that Nhumrod is not a pederast, and so why even mention it in the radio version? Why not have Om call him an "old fool" instead. Unless Brooks wants to make some kind of a point linking Omnian priests to Catholic priests... but it's simply unfair. And at the end of the scene, Brooks has Nhumrod say another couple of sentences that are not in the book - a bit about cucumbers - another hint about Nhumrod's sexuality that simply does not exist in the book -- and therefore should not be introduced into this radio program. (Indeed, in the book Nhumrod' obsession is with melons - ie women's breasts, ie women...)
Then, things are really altered when Brutha and Om talk about religion. Brutha points out all the things that Om had done in the past, and Om points out that he never did any of that stuff.
"He [Ossory] said that you spoke unto him from out of a pillar of flame."
"..."
"And you dictated to him the Book of Ossory, which contains the Directions, the Gateways, the Abjurations, and the Precepts. One hundred and ninety three chapters."
"I don't think I did all that...."
"What did you say to him, then?"
"As far as I can remember, it was, "Hey, see what I can do."
Hilarious and quite a smiting at religion, with its one man seeing the burning bush, or the this and the that, and everyone else believing what this one man has to say...
There's no reason at all why Pratchett's dialog here should be changed...yet Brooks changes it. Very annoying!
Obviously, the point about the Omnian religion being created by men and not by Om himself has to be made, in less time than it takes to do in the book. Although, if you leave out Brother Nhumrod's extraneous added dialog, you have more time to say Pratchett's dialog here.
As for the voice work... that's fine.
I would've had Patrick Barlow use a different voice inflection in a few of his lines during that religion quarrel... but then he was saying Brook's lines, not Pratchett's, but overall he does a great job... has a lot of fun with it.
Everyone else does fine as well. Alex Jennings in particular as the cold Vorbis is excellent. Anton Lesser does a good job as the narrator.
So... three more episodes to listen to. Three more chances to hear Robin Brooks interfere with perfection.
Thoughts on Paul Potts (2007)
I don't watch talent shows - not amateur ones, not professional ones like American Idol, or in England, something called England's Got Talent.
Simon Cowell is famous for being vicious towards the amateurs who come on the show, who aren't any good. I don't like that. So of course he gets his comeuppance in 2007 (which didn't raise his consciousness at all) when an overweight, snaggle-toothed phone salesman came onto the show to sing opera.
A year later, Potts is still overweight, but he's got his teeth fixed, and he's touring the world singing opera. A great success story.
But what about the other Paul and Paula Potts out there? The nice people who don't look like much, and just want to live nice lives... but are looked down upon because of their appearance - none of which they can help for the most part. (Yes, getting teeth fixed and losing weight is possible, but your facial features are the result of your parents and there's nothing you can do about it that isn't risky..)
Anyway...what of all the millions of people in the world who dont have great voices in their homely bodies - are they worth less than those people who do? Shouldn't everyone be treated kindly, as if it's not a great voice, perhaps they can write well, or do math, or just be kind to others, etc.
Simon Cowell is famous for being vicious towards the amateurs who come on the show, who aren't any good. I don't like that. So of course he gets his comeuppance in 2007 (which didn't raise his consciousness at all) when an overweight, snaggle-toothed phone salesman came onto the show to sing opera.
A year later, Potts is still overweight, but he's got his teeth fixed, and he's touring the world singing opera. A great success story.
But what about the other Paul and Paula Potts out there? The nice people who don't look like much, and just want to live nice lives... but are looked down upon because of their appearance - none of which they can help for the most part. (Yes, getting teeth fixed and losing weight is possible, but your facial features are the result of your parents and there's nothing you can do about it that isn't risky..)
Anyway...what of all the millions of people in the world who dont have great voices in their homely bodies - are they worth less than those people who do? Shouldn't everyone be treated kindly, as if it's not a great voice, perhaps they can write well, or do math, or just be kind to others, etc.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
April 28 - May 1 will be Terry Pratchett week at BBC Radio 7
I am very pleased to report that BBC Radio 7 will be having a Terry Pratchett tribute, for his 60th birthday, coming up the week of April 28-May 1.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/drama/pratchett.shtml
The more so because I will finally be able to hear the dramatisation of my all-time favorite Pratchett book, Small Gods, and starring a favorite actor of mine - Patrick Barlow, as the Great God Om. (Indeed, see my blog for him, The Patrick Barlow Experience - still under construction.)
Three years ago the Great God Om decided to pay a visit to his believers and do a little smiting, but when he materialized on Earth he was not a gigantic, ravening bull as he expected, but a small, one-eyed tortoise. He comes to learn that in all the great land of Omnia, crushed under the heels - and racks and pincers - of the Inquisition, the only person who still truly believes in him - is a young man named Brutha.
This was first broadcast about 3 years ago, and I missed it, and I have yearned to hear it ever since.
[I have to admit I'm a bit apprehensive about it. Adaptions are really a hit and miss affair. I'm sure I'll enjoy Barlow's performance but I hope they do justice to this - my favorite Pratchett book.)
Also to be broadcast is an adaption of Mort (one of my least favorite Pratchett's - I'll skip this one) and The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents - an excellent adaption which I'd listen to if I hadn't already recorded it.
Also, Philip Pickard will read Truckers, an excellent Young Adult book written by Pratchett, the first in a trilogy.
Saturday, April 05, 2008
Video fan fiction: The Avengers: Let's Get Avengerous
I've been putting together some video fan fiction of the Avengers: John Steed and Emma Peel, as well as Steed's previous partner, Cathy Gale. And John Drake (aka the Secret Agent, aka The Prisoner) makes an appearance, and eventually, so will other 60s secret agents....and villains...
I've got this player at various locations (the videos themselves are at YouTube) but decided I'd embed it here as well.
Please note that the episodes show up in reverse order. So, instead of doubleclicking on the arrow to start the video you see in the screen, go down to the bottom where you see the box of buttony-type things, and click on that, and that will bring up all the episodes. They run from right to left - in other words chapter one is on the far right, then chapter two, and so on.
If it's easier, just go to: http://youtube.com/user/LetsGetAvengerous, subscribe, and create a playlist so you can have them run in the right order without all this fuss.
I've got this player at various locations (the videos themselves are at YouTube) but decided I'd embed it here as well.
Please note that the episodes show up in reverse order. So, instead of doubleclicking on the arrow to start the video you see in the screen, go down to the bottom where you see the box of buttony-type things, and click on that, and that will bring up all the episodes. They run from right to left - in other words chapter one is on the far right, then chapter two, and so on.
If it's easier, just go to: http://youtube.com/user/LetsGetAvengerous, subscribe, and create a playlist so you can have them run in the right order without all this fuss.
Monday, March 31, 2008
The Blob podcast
Just got news that the B-Movie Cast.com has done a podcast about the classic Steve McQueen movie, The Blob.
Check it out at the URL below.
http://www.bmoviecast.com/
Bmoviecast.com is a pretty interesting site, for other movies as well. Other podcasts there are on The Illustrated Man (starring Rod Steiger) and I Am Legend - the various versions.
Check it out at the URL below.
http://www.bmoviecast.com/
Bmoviecast.com is a pretty interesting site, for other movies as well. Other podcasts there are on The Illustrated Man (starring Rod Steiger) and I Am Legend - the various versions.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Brian Aldiss' Song of the Silencer
At BBC Radio 7:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listenagain/friday/
Friday
Song of the Silencer
Man plays God, causing galactic disaster, in this chilling sci-fi tale by master storyteller Brian Aldiss.
The Adventures of Tintin
The Red Sea Sharks, Part 1: Tintin, Captain Haddock and Snowy try to avert a coup d'etat in Khemed. Episode 5 of 6
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listenagain/friday/
Friday
Song of the Silencer
Man plays God, causing galactic disaster, in this chilling sci-fi tale by master storyteller Brian Aldiss.
The Adventures of Tintin
The Red Sea Sharks, Part 1: Tintin, Captain Haddock and Snowy try to avert a coup d'etat in Khemed. Episode 5 of 6
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Slipstream pt 2
Simon Bovey's "Slipstream" pt 2 "rockets" along (I hope that's a pun...mebbe "slips along" would be better?), after the slow-starting episode 1 where everyone had to be introduced and the "set-up" explained.
It's the Tuesday episode, but really, anyone in the States can now listen to eps 1, 2, 3 and 4 - just type in the next day in the URL line and it'll show it to you.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listenagain/tuesday/
I tried to listen to H.G. Wells' A Dream of Armageddon (1901), pt 1, yesterday, read by Robert Bathurst, but it was a bit too grim for my taste. However, I've recorded both it and pt 2 and will listen to it when I'm in a better mood, and review it in due course.
After Tuesday's Part 2 of "A Dream of Armageddon", there's about a 3- minute interview with Simon Bovey and producer Mark Beebe, about "Slipstream", so you can fast forward to the end of it to listen to that!
Also on Tuesday
The Adventures of Tintin
The Prisoners of the Sun: Professor Calculus is in grave danger. Who better than Tintin, Captain Haddock and Snowy to lead a rescue? Episode 2 of 6.
A Dream of Armageddon
War is declared and the hero of HG Wells' anti-war story escapes with his wife in an attempt to shield her from the horrors. Episode 2 of 2.
It's the Tuesday episode, but really, anyone in the States can now listen to eps 1, 2, 3 and 4 - just type in the next day in the URL line and it'll show it to you.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listenagain/tuesday/
I tried to listen to H.G. Wells' A Dream of Armageddon (1901), pt 1, yesterday, read by Robert Bathurst, but it was a bit too grim for my taste. However, I've recorded both it and pt 2 and will listen to it when I'm in a better mood, and review it in due course.
After Tuesday's Part 2 of "A Dream of Armageddon", there's about a 3- minute interview with Simon Bovey and producer Mark Beebe, about "Slipstream", so you can fast forward to the end of it to listen to that!
Also on Tuesday
The Adventures of Tintin
The Prisoners of the Sun: Professor Calculus is in grave danger. Who better than Tintin, Captain Haddock and Snowy to lead a rescue? Episode 2 of 6.
A Dream of Armageddon
War is declared and the hero of HG Wells' anti-war story escapes with his wife in an attempt to shield her from the horrors. Episode 2 of 2.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Simon Bovey's Slipstream
Simon Bovey's new 5-part radio serial, a WWII science fiction adventure, has begun on BBC Radio 7.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listenagain/monday/
I have just listened to the first episode...and... it's okay. A bit formulaic to start with.
It's nearing the end of the War, the Allies are assured of a win, then one night a British bombing raid suddenly loses over a hundred planes - destroyed by a single, silver, shimmering saucer-shaped aircraft. The British decide that they want to find this technology before the Americans and Russians do, and send a team of men - and one woman - into the heart of Germany to make off with the craft.
The head man in charge, Barton, is an unsympathetic character, the half-German/half-English pilot they bring along with them to fly the craft out is sympathetic, and the female scientist whom they bring along - for no real reason established, in my mind, except that there's going to be some kind of love interest perhaps... - is also sympathetic.
Although the personal relationships seem to be formulaic, knowing Bovey's work, the action itself is going to veer into the unexpected...
Here's the cast:
Major Barton: Tim McMullan
Jurgen (the pilot): Rory Kinnear
Kate Richie: Joanna Tincey
Teazle: Sam Pantalon
Dundas: Ben Crowe
Brigadier Erskine: Peter Marinko
Other parts played by: Simon Bovey, Alex Lanney-Peckin, Simon Treves, Lloyd Thomas
Directed by Mark Beebe
Slipstream
Into the Wolf's Lair: It's 1945. The Allies are certain to win the war. Then a strange aircraft is spotted. And nothing will ever be the same again.
Episode 1 of 5.
The Eagle's Nest: Barton and his team head deep behind German lines, to track down a terrifying new weapon. But things aren't going as planned. Episode 2 of 5.
The Tomorrow World: Barton and the team have found what they've been looking for. But no-one has ever seen anything like it before. Episode 3 of 5.
This Island Earth: With the Slipstream disabled and the Americans approaching, things can't get much worse for Barton and his team. Or can they? Episode 4 of 5.
Fight for the Future: Jurgen and Kate are desperate to get the Slipstream away before all is lost. But there are surprises in store for everyone. Episode 5 of 5.
Also on Monday
The Adventures of Tintin
The Seven Crystal Balls: When an expedition returns from Peru and all the participants fall mysteriously ill, there's only one person to call.
Episode 1 of 6.
A Dream of Armageddon
HG Wells creates a disturbing vision of the future with a powerful anti-war message. Episode 1 of 2.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listenagain/monday/
I have just listened to the first episode...and... it's okay. A bit formulaic to start with.
It's nearing the end of the War, the Allies are assured of a win, then one night a British bombing raid suddenly loses over a hundred planes - destroyed by a single, silver, shimmering saucer-shaped aircraft. The British decide that they want to find this technology before the Americans and Russians do, and send a team of men - and one woman - into the heart of Germany to make off with the craft.
The head man in charge, Barton, is an unsympathetic character, the half-German/half-English pilot they bring along with them to fly the craft out is sympathetic, and the female scientist whom they bring along - for no real reason established, in my mind, except that there's going to be some kind of love interest perhaps... - is also sympathetic.
Although the personal relationships seem to be formulaic, knowing Bovey's work, the action itself is going to veer into the unexpected...
Here's the cast:
Major Barton: Tim McMullan
Jurgen (the pilot): Rory Kinnear
Kate Richie: Joanna Tincey
Teazle: Sam Pantalon
Dundas: Ben Crowe
Brigadier Erskine: Peter Marinko
Other parts played by: Simon Bovey, Alex Lanney-Peckin, Simon Treves, Lloyd Thomas
Directed by Mark Beebe
Slipstream
Into the Wolf's Lair: It's 1945. The Allies are certain to win the war. Then a strange aircraft is spotted. And nothing will ever be the same again.
Episode 1 of 5.
The Eagle's Nest: Barton and his team head deep behind German lines, to track down a terrifying new weapon. But things aren't going as planned. Episode 2 of 5.
The Tomorrow World: Barton and the team have found what they've been looking for. But no-one has ever seen anything like it before. Episode 3 of 5.
This Island Earth: With the Slipstream disabled and the Americans approaching, things can't get much worse for Barton and his team. Or can they? Episode 4 of 5.
Fight for the Future: Jurgen and Kate are desperate to get the Slipstream away before all is lost. But there are surprises in store for everyone. Episode 5 of 5.
Also on Monday
The Adventures of Tintin
The Seven Crystal Balls: When an expedition returns from Peru and all the participants fall mysteriously ill, there's only one person to call.
Episode 1 of 6.
A Dream of Armageddon
HG Wells creates a disturbing vision of the future with a powerful anti-war message. Episode 1 of 2.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
David Wayne sings Revenge from It's A Bird, It's A Plane, It's Superman
I was surprised to see that there were actually a few clips at YouTube featuring the 1975 TV version of the 1966 stage musical, It's A Bird, It's A Plane, It's Superman.
However, none of them featured the man who was, to my mind, the only reason to watch that show, David Wayne as the mad scientist, Abner Sedgewick, driven mad because he lost out on the Nobel Prize 10 times.
The line that isn't in the clip below, but which is my favorite, is "Together, Max, we'll rule the world. But Sweden's mine!"
As far as a review of this show... I can remember seeing it when I was a kid, in 1975, and liking it. Rewatching it last year...I was just cringing. It was a forerunner of the superhero movies of the 90s, where the hero - in this case Superman - was reduced to the background and the villains had center stage. In this case, David Wayne's villain was charming, but Clark Kent/Superman was just too much of a wimp for my taste.
However, none of them featured the man who was, to my mind, the only reason to watch that show, David Wayne as the mad scientist, Abner Sedgewick, driven mad because he lost out on the Nobel Prize 10 times.
The line that isn't in the clip below, but which is my favorite, is "Together, Max, we'll rule the world. But Sweden's mine!"
As far as a review of this show... I can remember seeing it when I was a kid, in 1975, and liking it. Rewatching it last year...I was just cringing. It was a forerunner of the superhero movies of the 90s, where the hero - in this case Superman - was reduced to the background and the villains had center stage. In this case, David Wayne's villain was charming, but Clark Kent/Superman was just too much of a wimp for my taste.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Isaac Asimov speaks - on video - on science fiction
A Literature of SF DVD is available at http://www2.ku.edu/~sfcenter/. It's brought to you by AboutSF and the Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas. For more info, visit http://www.aboutsf.com.
Legendary science fiction author Isaac Asimov talks about the history of SF magazines--especially the changes at Astounding Stories during the late 1930s under editor John W. Campbell.
Legendary SF author Isaac Asimov discusses the transformation of science fiction from the 1950's to 1971 (when this interview occurred).
Legendary science fiction author Isaac Asimov talks about the history of SF magazines--especially the changes at Astounding Stories during the late 1930s under editor John W. Campbell.
Legendary SF author Isaac Asimov discusses the transformation of science fiction from the 1950's to 1971 (when this interview occurred).
Friday, March 21, 2008
Arthur C. Clarke's last message to Earth
a Youtube video of comments he made at his 90th birthday party.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Simon Bovey's new SF thriller at BBC Radio 7
Simon Bovey is the scriptwriter for previous SF thrillers Cold Blood (Antarctic setting) and The Voice of God (Australia setting), (that'd be radio drama - the best kind!) and I interviewed him for the Thunder Child at Simon Bovey.
Now he's got a new radio series about to be broadcasts at BBC 7 from March 24-28, 2008: Slipstream
1945, the Allies’ victory is a forgone conclusion and everyone is fighting for a piece of the spoils. And then the UFOs are sighted.
On BBC7 - available on DAB or Freeview, Satellite or online.
Form Monday 24th March to Friday 28th.
6pm and repeated at Midnight.
Starring Rory Kinnear and Tim McMullan
Directed by Marc Beeby
Description of Cold Blood:
Cold Blood by Simon Bovey is a five-part sci-fi techno thriller. It was first broadcast on BBC7 in January 2005.
It is 2015 and an Antarctic research station is settling down for another winter - but this will be a winter like no other.
Episode 1 -- Freezerville
Nathaniel Taft is cast into the front line at the Antarctic base in Ellsworth. To survive the horror he must kill a friend.
Episode 2 -- Cold Heart
Taft confronts Bowers and puts him under house arrest, and they discover that their radio equipment has been sabotaged.
Episode 3 -- The Changing Man
Deb makes a frightening discovery in Bowers' journals.
Episode 4 -- Sanctuary No More
Revenge and madness stalk the corridors of Ellsworth base. Taft directs everyone to the garage to defend themselves against Bowers, and orders them to shoot him on sight.
Episode 5 - The Antarctican
The final battle -- and a strange new beginning. Anaya and Taft fight for their lives as Bowers stalks them across the Antarctic, can they stop him?
Description of The Voice of God
Fields Of Thunder --
A series of quakes rocks Australia. When Sam Rideout investigates, she stumbles into a nightmare of biblical proportions.
Silent Roar --
The enigmatic Colonel Walker persuades Sam and Joshua to help him in his deadly project.
Dreamtime Is Over --
Hoping to stop the quakes Sam and Joshua design a new cradle for the weapon. But their chances of success are being undermined.
Blowback --
Southern Australia has been devastated by an earthquake, and now Sam and Joshua have discovered that there is a spy on the base.
Can You Hear That? --
Walker plans to fire the Voice at Pine Gap, risking a global catastrophe. And Sam, Joshua and Nick are locked in the brig.
Now he's got a new radio series about to be broadcasts at BBC 7 from March 24-28, 2008: Slipstream
1945, the Allies’ victory is a forgone conclusion and everyone is fighting for a piece of the spoils. And then the UFOs are sighted.
On BBC7 - available on DAB or Freeview, Satellite or online.
Form Monday 24th March to Friday 28th.
6pm and repeated at Midnight.
Starring Rory Kinnear and Tim McMullan
Directed by Marc Beeby
Description of Cold Blood:
Cold Blood by Simon Bovey is a five-part sci-fi techno thriller. It was first broadcast on BBC7 in January 2005.
It is 2015 and an Antarctic research station is settling down for another winter - but this will be a winter like no other.
Episode 1 -- Freezerville
Nathaniel Taft is cast into the front line at the Antarctic base in Ellsworth. To survive the horror he must kill a friend.
Episode 2 -- Cold Heart
Taft confronts Bowers and puts him under house arrest, and they discover that their radio equipment has been sabotaged.
Episode 3 -- The Changing Man
Deb makes a frightening discovery in Bowers' journals.
Episode 4 -- Sanctuary No More
Revenge and madness stalk the corridors of Ellsworth base. Taft directs everyone to the garage to defend themselves against Bowers, and orders them to shoot him on sight.
Episode 5 - The Antarctican
The final battle -- and a strange new beginning. Anaya and Taft fight for their lives as Bowers stalks them across the Antarctic, can they stop him?
Description of The Voice of God
Fields Of Thunder --
A series of quakes rocks Australia. When Sam Rideout investigates, she stumbles into a nightmare of biblical proportions.
Silent Roar --
The enigmatic Colonel Walker persuades Sam and Joshua to help him in his deadly project.
Dreamtime Is Over --
Hoping to stop the quakes Sam and Joshua design a new cradle for the weapon. But their chances of success are being undermined.
Blowback --
Southern Australia has been devastated by an earthquake, and now Sam and Joshua have discovered that there is a spy on the base.
Can You Hear That? --
Walker plans to fire the Voice at Pine Gap, risking a global catastrophe. And Sam, Joshua and Nick are locked in the brig.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Arthur C. Clarke has died
Science Fiction Legend Arthur C. Clarke, 90, Dies
Arthur C. Clarke was the last of the "Big Three" - comprising Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein and himself, the great authors of the "Golden Age" of science fiction who continued into the 50s and 60s.
Arthur C. Clarke was the last of the "Big Three" - comprising Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein and himself, the great authors of the "Golden Age" of science fiction who continued into the 50s and 60s.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)