One of the things I've always respected about the entirety of the Terminator franchise is that -- at its core -- its relentlessly depressing.  (Does that make me sound like I need help?)  Don't get me wrong: there certainly are hints of success healthily sprinkled in from time to time (i.e. we can defeat the machines; we can fulfill our future destiny; etc.) ... but what drives so much of the conflict is the fact that there are, indeed, a lot of dark days waiting for those willing to face the future and save mankind from itself.

Also, I've said that -- as a franchise -- it's one of the only SciFi properties that I've found something worth celebrating.  Each installment has offered something fresh and different (and, yes, that even involves the gloriously under-performing Terminator: Genisys, a feature that couldn't quite match its own ambitions); and this has given the mythos something to build upon for the next chapter.  Granted, bringing aboard storytellers with different visions for the greater Terminator universe hasn't exactly served the films well (I have to wonder if this is a franchise that might be better served by committee management, like the Marvel Films and the Pixar flicks); but -- at this point -- it is what it is as the franchise once again appears to be in limbo.

This morning, I saw over at ComicBook.com a featured article promoting (ahem) "a bold new (potential) chapter" in the Terminator story, so I thought I'd give the online pitch a brief shout-out on these pages in the event that anyone is interested.
​

It's hard to make much of it honestly.  There's no true story here but plenty of hints as to the dark turns these storytellers would want to take the tale.  As so often happens with "pitches," I tend to think the real potential is hidden (otherwise, how do you get producers to call you if not for more details?), and this one looks like this one could eventually go the way of the do-do.

However, I for one would love to see the franchise grow as I think it's definitely one of the tentpoles of cinematic SciFi.

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

The true beauty of doing as much online research as I do is that, occasionally, I stumble across the work of other smilers who clearly are as interested in the realm of Science Fiction and Fantasy quite probably as much as I am.  As I continue to grow SciFiHistory.Net, I'm always willing to give these folks a complimentary SciFi-Shout-Out, and today's Blog Alert is issued on behalf of budding author J. A. Alexsoo.  You can find her online portal right here, and be sure to check out her works as well, as I'm sure she'd appreciate your kind attention.

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

Seriously, how can any household NOT have one of these?

As a huge fan of the classic Star Trek series, I'm happy to give this particular holiday item a huge Thumbs Up as the Mega Bloks company is bringing home a fantastic Bridge Set for those of you with too much time on your hands as well as too much disposable income in the bank.  This particular set comes with four of the classic figures as well (what playset would be complete without figures?), and it looks like there are even other classic sets available.  I scoped it out at Amazon.com, so I'm happy to provide the link right here.  In fact, I realized I had some Amazon points, so I picked up one for myself just this morning.

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

There's just something about 'Giant Monster' Movies that brings out the little boy in me, so you can understand why I might reserve a special fondness for King Kong, one of cinema's original 'Giant Monster' bad boys.  I'll take the 1933 original film over any of the remakes, though, as the retreads seem to amp up the star status far too much, and that takes away much of the focus on the monster himself.

Still, I'll celebrate another cinema re-imagining if one's coming down the pike, and it looks like that's what we're getting with the forthcoming Kong: Skull Island.  It stars Brie Larson, Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, and a host of other familiar faces; and the studio recently treated mankind to a trailer advertising all of the giant-y goodness.
​

This one definitely looks like they're going for laughs along with the monster action, so it might be a good mix.  We'll keep our fingers crossed.

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

Honestly, I've never been much of a podcast person.  A number of years back, I used to have a job which allowed me to listen to them while I was working on the PC (mostly data entry and document review style work), so I did check out the occasional program from time-to-time, usually one involved with Science Fiction, fringe research, or basic science.  However, I just don't have that kind of time these days personally that I did back them, so I'm content with plugging quality programs here when I stumbled across them.

In that regard, I did listen to a few minutes of ScapeChatz, a program highlighting All Things Farscape, a franchise I totally loved from start to finish.  You can find their programming right here, and I encourage you to give 'em a try.

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

Succinctly, I’ll agree with what the mainstream has said about Arrival (2016): it’s smart Science Fiction … but I think what I found ‘smart’ and what they found ‘smart’ might end up being two very different things.
 
Let me explain …
 
Arrival tells the story of expert linguist Louise Banks (played with the usual big screen charm by Amy Adams).  When twelve alien ships land at different locations about the globe, Banks and physicist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner) are conscripted into military service as their expertise makes them perfect candidates to decipher not only how to communicate with a species that speaks in symbols but also what their intent may mean for our entire planet.  As societies act out in panic, this elite team races against time to keep mankind from raising arms against an enemy it has little chance of understanding.
 
Performances are solid, but I thought Arrival did suffer a bit in the first half due to its lethargic pacing: as I’ve warned friends and family going in to see the flick, there’s an awful lot of set-up necessary to understand all of what’s happening culturally and scientifically; and – without spoiling too much of it – if you’re watching and listening closely then you might just see the feature’s last act development (i.e. plot twist) coming very early on.  (I know that I did).  Sometimes, that’s the danger of front-loading your tale with too many ideas: by requiring the audience to “keep up,” you inadvertently point them in a direction a script of slightly lesser virtue wouldn’t have, and you end up doing your story a narrative disservice.  It’s a tricky balance, but to each his own as to whether you see the twist coming.
 
Also, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that the production details are very good as well.  Visually, Arrival brilliantly juxtaposes an almost subterranean (earthy) alien atmosphere against Earth’s utilitarian approach to managing science and crisis; you practically can’t resist cheering Banks’ realization to strip off the biohazard suit and show the aliens that we’re still a race of individuals underneath all of that look-alike protective garb.  (It’s arguably one of the highlights of the film.)
 
Still, Arrival kinda/sorta cheapens its smart storytelling in two somewhat typical Hollywood ways.

​First, Eric Heisserer’s adaptation of Ted Chiang’s original story (I mention both here as I’m not certain who originated the element) perpetuates the old staple of making the military into the real enemy.  (Never mind the fact that those same militaries have been standing up for authors’ rights to impugn them throughout the years.)  Sadly, every conflict needs to have a ‘heavy,', and I (for one) have tired of always blaming soldiers trained to defend us simply acting on their own accord since apparently none of us know better or worse.  Accuse me of nationalism if you must, but indicting the military has become the easy way out all too often, especially in the realm of the SciFi thriller.
 
Second (and others may disagree with me on this point), Arrival sacrifices all the rules it rather ‘smartly’ established when it’s revealed in the last reel that the aliens apparently understood Earth speech (i.e. English) after all!  Without revealing too much, circumstances require that mankind act (and act quickly!) to save itself (a late-breaking plot development), so Banks is hauled up in a transport pod (another last act creation) only to learn that the aliens never needed symbols to communicate after all: either they’re understanding her speech (my impression) OR they’re communicating telepathically (another possibility though it’s never quite qualified but strongly implied).
 
Therefore, I stated in the opening of my review that I probably thought Arrival was ‘smart’ for differing reasons than most: it smartly uses all of the best techniques of the major motion picture to weave an adult alien invasion story – think of this as “Independence Day for the CBS 60 Minutes’ Crowd.”  It takes a few clever ideas and presents them in ways that heighten the creative aspect … but, all-in-all, I’d stop short of calling it a ‘smart’ film because in some aspects it does so by narrative trickery.  In short, Arrival is one of these films wherein it’s honestly difficult to discuss all elements of it without spoiling it for audiences, so I’m hesitant to say more than that for fear that I would take away some of its magic.
 
I’ve been no big fan of Jeremy Renner’s work, and his part here despite being advertised as central could have been handled by anyone; his character is largely inconsequential to the action, and it’s even given a postscript existence some of us wouldn’t find all that admirable anyway.  Despite her inability to express any range whatsoever, Adams continues to impress audiences and win accolades by showing up, appearing doe-eyed, and whispering lines while captured in close-up.  It helps to have an attractive centerpiece as this is clearly her picture, but I wish make-up could’ve made her look tired when she claimed to be legitimately exhausted.  (Maybe I’m nitpicking, but I’m only being honest here, peeps.)
 
I will say this: Arrival impresses in much the same way recent SciFi entries like District 9, Upstream Color, and Ex Machina have, the dirty little secret being these stories always say so much more about ourselves (as a race, as a culture, etc.) than they ever do about the involved aliens, consciousness, and robots.  It’s for precisely those sentiments that I’ve long argued that the first Star Trek film from 1979 deserves a second look after suffering so much disdain and derision from fandom: way back then, even the Gene Roddenberry franchise knew that “the human adventure” was always going to be more earthbound than it ever was intergalactic.  Arrival brings Science Fiction to our doorstep and forces us to ask ‘what are you going to do about it’ in a way that’s sometimes thoughtful, introspective, and intelligent ... but sometimes not.

For those of you either living in denial or raised on an island, those insufferable holiday are right around the corner; and that means it's time to start thinking about what to get that special SciFi someone in your life.  Me?  I'm always on the lookout for great gifting suggestions, which is why I thought this year I'd 'put up or shut up' and start providing a helpful Public Service Announcement by way of informing you -- my faithful readers -- about what's out there for fans of our beloved genre.  Who knows?  Maybe it'll provide some mild inspiration for those looking for something other than socks, underwear, and rum cake.

Today, I'm shucking the Aliens minimate line, and you can check out the Aliens Minimate Deluxe APC Set available from the stellar Things From Another Planet website right here or from Amazon right here.  After all, who among us doesn't love Aliens (1986), the James Cameron film that amped up the Alien franchise on steroids?  Ripley came back.  Brought Hicks with her.  Found Newt.  It's the ultimate SciFi nuclear family right there (pun intended, given the fact that they nuked the planet at the end), and I suspect that there are plenty of geeks, nerds, and general SciFi enthusiasts on your shopping list who'd love to have this little gimme added to their toy collection.

There you are.  You've been warned.

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

Here's the thing: I'm a fanboy (true), but I'm not always a 'traditionalist' as fanboys go.

For example, I know that there's a huge following of writer/director Luc Besson's work ... but color me unimpressed.  In fact, outside of his exceptional The Professional (1994 and most definitely not Science Fiction) I really haven't been all that enamored with his storytelling abilities.  I thought The Fifth Element (1997) was the kind of flick conceived by a high schooler ... so imagine by surprise (not) when Besson himself admitted he wrote the screenplay when he was in high school.  Granted, some of his screenplays have been entertaining (both the film franchises for Taken and The Transporters remain his creations), but the characters have no real depth and the worlds created certainly have significant limitations.

Still, fandom erupted in cheers when Besson announced that he'd be bringing Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Worlds to the silver screen, and good for them: we can all appreciate another adaptation of a sterling property, right?

Well, not long after the announcement, I ordered myself a copy of the graphic novel via Amazon.  I took the time and the interest, and I read the piece.  While I found it good (it definitely had a great classic Flash Gordon feel to it at times), I wasn't all that jazzed.  It seemed kinda/sorta juvenile -- flashy ideas but not a lot of substance -- and I questioned how so much of it could, would, and should be brought to the multiplexes.

In any event, the trailer is here today, and I'm posting it below.  Like so much of what accounts for big screen SciFi these days, it looks like yet another video game fueled frenzy.  I'll hold out hope that it isn't all pop and sizzle, and feel free to sound off if you're inclined.

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

​Throughout the years, the Syfy Channel (formerly known – more appropriately – as the SciFi Channel) has taken a lot of flak for (oh!) so many of its broadcast choices.  In fact, I could make a great, grand argument that many of its programs and direct-to-TV movie releases have very little to do with legitimate Science Fiction, but even I’d be remiss if I didn’t accept the reality that the classification of what is SciFi and what isn’t has been heavily diluted over the decades.  These days, many of the network’s younger viewers take fantasy – both traditional and urban – to represent what the genre has to offer … but here’s hoping the ratings-fueled excursion into (ahem) professional wrestling never quite sticks the way Syfy’s suits perhaps figured it would.
 
But I digress …
 
The inclusion of fantasy-themed properties does allow us to consider properties like the TV classics of The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, and even Night Gallery as being something akin to the more traditional takes such as Farscape, Battlestar Galactica, and The Expanse.  I suspect that’s why Syfy was pleased to add this season’s Channel Zero: Candle Cove to its line-up … and I, for one, am pretty jazzed that they did.
 
Seriously, are you watching this?
 
Candle Cove tells the story of budding psychologist Mike Painter (played by Paul Schneider) and his trip back home to the town of his youth where an unspeakable tragedy occurred decades ago: the death of children and his supposed involvement in all of it forced him to abandon his hometown, but a recent reconciliation with his estranged mother (Fiona Shaw) brings him back, only to soon realize the evil that was is also nostalgic for a reunion.  Before you know it, he’s wrapped up in a new series of killings which appear to involve a creepily suggestive children’s program called (you guessed it) “Candle Cove.”
 
Now – as I suggested in the above – Channel Zero isn’t Science Fiction, except for the fact that it might involve parallel dimensions or some other kind of fringe elements (I won’t spoil it for you) genre fans are generally happy to include.  It’s most definitely Fantasy with a healthy helping of horror thrown in for good storytelling measures.  What promises to be an ongoing anthology series boasts multiple-episode story arcs, and it’s safest to describe this as a kinda/sorta Twilight Zone wherein the tales stretch out to more miniseries proportions.  And Candle Cove – as the inaugural tale – is pretty exciting: it combines elements from The Twilight Zone with a modern-day spin by way of a side trip into Twin Peaks territory.  As TV mindbenders go, it’s compelling.
 
Perhaps the greatest strength of Cove is the setting: this is meant to be small-town America … and I do mean “small town.”  It’s the kind of place where houses have big yards with open expanses of grass.  Gone is the suburban influence wherein families are pressed up against one another for efficiency: these folks have room to run and ample space to stretch their legs.  There are forests and water towers and empty, abandoned factories; all the vestiges that healthily (or not) depict those little burgs some of us once called home.  I think it’s safe to say that it’s the kind of place wherein one could commit a murder (or a series of them) and no one would know where the bodies were buried for quite some time; and Cove’s storytellers have made great use out of its unique, disappearing setting.  (I say this as one who did grow up in such a time and such a place myself.)
 
Schneider is an odd choice for a lead, and (again) that might be why this tale works as well as it does.  Most folks will recognize the actor for his stint as Mark Brendanawicz aboard NBC’s Parks and Recreation, a program where he never quite ‘seemed’ comfortable.  His soft-spoken city employee just seemed too ‘average’ for the cast of borderline weirdos (maybe that was the intent), and he ended up disappearing from after only two seasons (it went on for seven).  Here, Schneider’s character is wrapped in a cloak of duplicitousness, and viewers are never quite sure whether he’s told them everything he knows about the past OR the present.  All the more reason to stay glued to the events.
 

​As for the villain?
 
Well, children who grew up in the 1970’s (guilty, as charged) might recognize the influence of the programs of Sid and Marty Krofft.  As shows go, these were odd ducks, ones relying on characters in sometimes bizarre costumes or ‘puppety’ creations not unlike those found on Sesame Street.  Having stumbled across a few sequences recently (thanks to YouTube and the greater World Wide Web these things continue to have a second life), I can say that it’s surprising to me as an adult what somehow captivated my young mind, so Channel Zero’s pirate clan built around the fictional ‘Candle Cove’ fits in perfectly as a throwback to a culture when big things were achieved on a simple budget.  Maybe it’s best to think of this as The Muppets if they were done by Charles Manson instead of Jim Henson, and I think you’ll get the picture.
 
And the biggest twist?
 
This couldn’t be done the way technology is today, but the pirate-themed Candle Cove appears on what would’ve been a UHF channel: Weird Al Yankovic cleverly and warmly satirized them in UHF (1989), a series of kinda/sorta unofficial channels on the ol’ TV dial.  (The closest thing today would possibly to community access networks, the kinds of places that allow local programming performed on the cheap.)  In the program’s biggest twist of irony, Candle Cove – a show about pirates – was purported to be a legitimate pirate broadcast: no one knows where it originated, so no one knows where it went much less what it was all about.
 
Well, apparently Candle Cove is encouraging the town’s youngest to commit murder, a kind of technology-themed “Children of the Damned.”
 
Creepy.
 
Major Creepy.
 
If you’re not watching it, then you’re truly missing out something wonderful.  Its final hour of a six-episode run is slated for November 15th on Syfy, so I encourage those of you who might be interested in checking out the first five on the web before its big finish.  It’s definitely been a wild ride.

Believe it or not, I do more than a fair share of reading about Science Fiction films.  This isn’t meant to say that I’m bookish on the subject; rather it clarifies that I’m always checking out flicks and SciFi-related series in my efforts to continue to grow SciFiHistory.Net’s own data citations.  When a title catches my interest, I’ll bookmark it so that I can return to it when I have more time.  And when a title keeps popping up in my reading, I’ll scour the cable listings to see if it’s subject to some near-future airing so that I can see personally just what all the fuss is about.
 
I can’t begin to tell you the number of times The Satan Bug (1965) has appeared on my radar.  Honestly, it seems like every week for the last year I stumbled across it in scouring IMDB.com’s biographies.  A Blu-ray version even “streeted” of it a year back in 2015 (I think that may be the first time the United Artist release caught my interest), so you can imagine my delight when it finally dropped onto Turner Classic Movies’ schedule.  I finally watched it the other night, and I wanted to sound off on it briefly.
 
Basically, Bug is a biological warfare thriller kinda/sorta in the same vein of The Andromeda Strain, which would be released by Universal Pictures six years later.  The difference between the two of these closely-related films is that Andromeda’s man-killer comes from space while Satan’s “bug” (as it were) is entirely man-made.  Here’s the (edited) plot summary as provided by Amazon.com:
 
“The Message is clear: put an end to war research... or prepare for the end of the Earth. Officials have no doubt about the madman s ability to carry out his threat; they know he has access to The Satan Bug. George Maharis, Dana Andrews and Anne Frances face the terror of a death germ in this race-against-time thriller directed by the great John Sturges. The Suspense begins at a top-secret U.S. germ warfare laboratory when containers of lethal microbe are stolen and soon after the group behind the theft proves its deadly resolve by using the weapon to completely annihilate the residents of a small town Florida community. The next target: Los Angeles... unless government agent Maharis and an elite task force can somehow prevent the City of Angels from becoming Hell on Earth.”
 

​Honestly, The Satan Bug isn’t a bad film.
 
The capable Maharis is introduced late in the film’s set-up, and the script fashions him rather easily into what I suspect was intended to be a ‘thinking man’s James Bond.’  However, rather than show us just how good he is, the audience is informed of his exploits, and this necessarily removes some of the visual excitement that accompanies the standard Bond picture.  Otherwise, everyone else in the film is rather flat and non-descript; even the normally plucky Anne Frances delivers her dialogue with somewhat surprising seriousness, even when flirting with Maharis.  No one injects his or her character with much … well … character.
 
Perhaps Bug’s greatest sequence is when the cast is being treated to the videotaped aftermath of the first terrorist attack, that on the unsuspecting Floridians.  A plane flies over a state highway lightly filled with stopped automobiles and dead people lying about the road; the virus killed them not quite instantly (as evidenced by the fact that they could get out of their vehicles), but the graveyard is captured in almost documentary fashion, leaving the cinema audience of its day to feel a sense of rising dread over what science has wrought.  No words are required, and the sequence plays out long enough to make its point: this is serious stuff, and mankind ought to be alarmed.
 
Also, Bug fashions a pretty spiffy underground laboratory where scientists work to understand the science of biological warfare.  Granted, it isn’t as high-tech looking as what eventually makes the aforementioned Andromeda Strain so memorable, but the production staffers should be commended for a job well done.
 
Lastly, Bug certainly deals with an interesting subject matter – the probable end of life as we know it by our own construction – and so far as stories go this one has an obvious beginning, middle, and end with plenty of modest “developments” sprinkled along the way.  I think my issues with the film is that despite the premise of a world-destroying-virus-on-the-brink-of-being-released there’s just so little suspense delivered in the leaden performances of all involved (far too much seriousness and everyone seems like a cinema character instead of folks wrapped up in jeopardy).  It’s good, but it’s no “owner” as today’s consumers might attest.
 
Think of this Bug as likely good for a single viewing but with practically zero re-watch quality.