In his blog, Mike Resnick takes caustic aim at what he so aptly calls intellectually insulting science fiction movies. (Often) these things were almost dumber than network television shows.
Here are some high lights:
In Star wars...it drives me crazy that in 1991 we could put a smart bomb down a chimney, and that in 2002 we could hit a target at 450 miles, but that computerized handguns and other weaponry can't hit a Skywalker or a Solo at 25 paces.
Return of the Jedi? Doesn't it bother anyone else that Adolf Hitler -- excuse me; Darth Vader -- the slaughterer of a couple of hundred million innocent men and women, becomes a Good Guy solely because he's Luke's father?
In ET: if E.T. can fly/teleport, why doesn't he do so at the beginning of the film, when he's about to be left behind?
Blade Runner: the premise is dumber than dirt. We are told up front that the androids are going to expire in two weeks -- so why in the world is Harrison Ford risking his life to hunt them down when he could just go fishing for 14 days and then pick up their lifeless bodies?
Jurassic Park T. Rex weighed about seven tons. By comparison, a large African bull elephant weighs about six tons, and could probably give old T. Rex one hell of a battle. But no one suggests that a six ton elephant can throw trucks and trains around, break down concrete walls, or do any of the other patently ridiculous things T. Rex can do on screen.
and so many more...click on the title for the full blog entry
Here are some high lights:
In Star wars...it drives me crazy that in 1991 we could put a smart bomb down a chimney, and that in 2002 we could hit a target at 450 miles, but that computerized handguns and other weaponry can't hit a Skywalker or a Solo at 25 paces.
Return of the Jedi? Doesn't it bother anyone else that Adolf Hitler -- excuse me; Darth Vader -- the slaughterer of a couple of hundred million innocent men and women, becomes a Good Guy solely because he's Luke's father?
In ET: if E.T. can fly/teleport, why doesn't he do so at the beginning of the film, when he's about to be left behind?
Blade Runner: the premise is dumber than dirt. We are told up front that the androids are going to expire in two weeks -- so why in the world is Harrison Ford risking his life to hunt them down when he could just go fishing for 14 days and then pick up their lifeless bodies?
Jurassic Park T. Rex weighed about seven tons. By comparison, a large African bull elephant weighs about six tons, and could probably give old T. Rex one hell of a battle. But no one suggests that a six ton elephant can throw trucks and trains around, break down concrete walls, or do any of the other patently ridiculous things T. Rex can do on screen.
and so many more...click on the title for the full blog entry
6 comments:
Ah yes...and 'Armageddon' and, perhaps even worse if that is possible, 'Signs'....
On the subject of remakes, let's hope they never, ever try to do remakes of 'Forbidden Planet' or 'The Day The Earth Stood Still'.
With this article in mind, it would be interesting to hear what sci fi films other WRFR listeners and visitors to 'Beam Me Up' might put in their 'top 5' (and their bottom 5...)?
Do you want to kick it off, Paul???
Well Mike's rants aside, my top sf
movies are Blade Runner, Dune, The Incredible Shrinking Man, Flowers for Algernon (yep there was a movie of that...maybe tv though), Testement. That is pretty much the first five that come to mind really quick for best.
Ok, first to mind are:
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Forbidden Planet
Planet of the Apes (original, not remake)
Metropolis
Silent Running
Mission to Mars
12 Monkeys
Dune
I thought of Forbidden Planet as a fav...but top five? And since I really found out how butchered Metropolis was by censors and with the original negs being lost, kinda moved it out of the running. However Silent Running is really one of my top movies...(Dern instead of killer tech! Brilliant!) and really it is better than Testement (which was hard to find considering it was a Canadian production and for awhile baned in the USA) Both hit very hard...I only put Testement ahead of movies like On The Beach and Silent Running because it was the only movie I ever suggested that you not watch alone. Just to damn disturbing like the death of Mary E. in The Deep.
Yeah, most versions of Metropolis have been heavily edited (and some have been colourised, or given 80's soundtracks...), but a year or 2 back there was a re-release (yeah, another one) of metro with a heap of 'found' footage restored. Having seen the earlier ones I approached it with scepticism, but it was indeed very much improved (and the story more cohesive).
Silent running - sometimes derided for science innacuracies, but the general theme is very good, I think, and more appropriate now than ever (and that suggests good sci fi, to me).
Forbidden planet - wonderful effects for the mid '50s, and I agree with Mike regarding the tour of the underground Krell facility.
I wish you could get the show. I ran a talk that I recorded about science fiction used as social comment. She talked at length about Metropolis. No one knows how the original was supposed to look because the US censors wouldn't let it in without editing because it was viewed as too socialistic and the Nazis destroyed all the originals and negatives for much the same reason.
The US censors had the same view on the movie Testament, viewing it as propaganda.
Sometimes though, you have to suspend belief a bit in inaccurate science. Look at Flowers for Algernon. There is really no real science there, but its a great story and a pretty damn good movie too. Same could be said for The Andromeda Strain. Criton played fast and loose there but it was still damn entertaining.
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