Happy SciFi Tuesday, peeps!  It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, and -- for a whole host of reasons -- that means we'll be gifted from Hollywood with a slew of tentpole holiday releases, the likes of which pit some pretty big names against one another.  Well, how nice it is to find a few big names joining forces in our beloved realm with a SciFi/Drama/Romance the likes of Passengers coming down the pike.  The trailer dropped today, and I've posted it above.  Check it out, and feel free to sound off.

​As always, thanks for reading ... and live long and prosper!

​As I’ve mentioned before, I grew up at a time when society at large wasn’t afforded so many entertainment choices.  The late 1960’s and early 1970’s were their own pop culture Dark Ages (if you ask me); and growing up on a farm then an equally small city meant that, at best, you were only going to have anywhere between eight-to-ten television channels … so long as you were provided good weather!  Fortunately, one of those channels only afforded programming that was (apparently) fantastically cheap, so I “cut my teeth” on a plethora of black’n’white films, creature features, and monster movies, the favorite of which was any of the original Godzilla flicks.
 
(NOTE: The following review will contain minor spoilers necessary solely for the discussion of plot and/or characters.  If you’re the type of reader who prefers a review entirely spoiler-free, then I’d encourage you to skip down to the last three paragraphs for my final assessment.  If, however, you’re accepting of a few modest hints at ‘things to come,’ then read on …)
 
From the product packaging: “With a higher budget and more advanced special effects than any previous film in the serious, THE RETURN OF GODZILLA (aka GODZILLA 1984) returns Japan’s greatest monster to his intended role as an epic force of destruction and the film’s spectacular success re-launched the Godzilla franchise after nearly a decade in suspended animation …”
 
There’s more, but I’ll leave it at that.
​

Like so many men of a certain age, I'm a pure sucker for monster movies, and is there any greater monster to worship than Godzilla?  Sure, I enjoyed the Americanized reboot from 2014 probably more than any genre purist should have, but it is what it is.

Still, I'll welcome the return of the original monster, though I've been led to believe that even this creation is being accomplished via CGI ... CGI that's been made to make audiences believe it's still a man in a suit!  Now, that's some genius work right there.

As happens all too often with these rare foreign imports, Godzilla Resurgence (or "Shin Godzilla") will only be given a limited release throughout the United States compliments of Funimation (link here for some details) ... so all of you smilers will have to be on the lookout for opportunites to catch this one theatrically in your area come this October.

As always, thanks for reading ... and live long and prosper!

Well, well, well ... guess who still looks great at 50?  Star Trek does!

​I saw this announcement the other day over at Blu-ray.com, and -- while I like most dedicated Star Trek enthusiasts would certainly be hungry for anything new honoring one of the most respected SciFi franchises of all time -- I'm having a hard time believing that Gene Roddenberry (of all people) had held anything back of relative substance.

Let me explain ...

For those of you who may not have followed the behind-the-scenes history of Trek, it's fairly well known that Gene pretty much "bailed" on Star Trek in its third season on NBC.  There are various accounts of why that was, but -- for the most part -- it's been accepted that the writing was on the wall: his show was moved into the Friday night death slot, so it was only natural that this Trek would be coming to an end and soon.

It's at this point that many allege Roddenberry decided that -- since the fan base was still ravenous for all things Trek -- he's branch out more into merchandising the Trek brand and build a different future for the property.  Always the visionary, Gene wanted to keep his vision alive, and -- if that meant selling out to what I'd term crass commercialism -- then so be it.

So as that was his reputation for some time, does it stand to logic that there would still be footage yet unseen, stills and images that could've previously been put onto discs and sold for exorbitant prices by Paramount?

As rapid a fan as I am, I'm gonna wait for the reviews on this one.  I'll let the experts -- those who get freebie advance copies anyway -- give me the straight skinny on whether or not this collection is worth the investment.  Besides, all of us know how Paramount is, and that means there's likely to be dozens and dozens of re-issues of this material down the road; and re-issues have a way of bringing prices down.

Still, I'm exciting ... just more than a bit cynical, too.

​As always, thanks for reading ... and live long and prosper!

Like so many Science Fiction fans, I've written often about my love of all things Star Trek.  Truth be told, I never quite took to the whole 'Trekkie' or 'Trekker' moniker, instead choosing to simply call myself a die-hard Star Trek Enthusiast.  (I just think it's a more fitting tagline.)

In any event, for those of you who were born on an island, 2016 happens to be the 50th anniversary of what continues to be one of the most popular and (obviously) enduring franchises in all of SciFidom; so -- in that respect -- I'm officially calling September "Star Trek Month" here at SciFiHistory.Net.  After all, over the course of the next thirty days you'll see daily citations about Star Trek's television premiere and other things.  Additionally, as time permits I promise I'll write up a few pieces that'll screen on the main page (so watch for them).  Naturally, if any of the readers out there in the Internet would like to contribute something to feature in written form, don't hesitate to drop me a line at [email protected], and I'll be happy to take a look at it.

As always, thanks for reading ... and live long and prosper!

Welcome to September, faithful peeps, and hasn't it been -- like -- forever since theatres had a superhero movie?  Why, it seems just yesterday that they were all the rage, and ... oh, who am I kidding?  Here's a little something called Max Steel (2016), which kinda/sorta looks like an "Iron Man Meets Spider-Man" creation if there ever were such a thing.  Check out the preview above via the link I've posted to YouTube.com.

As always, thanks for reading ... and live long and prosper!