Well, Dr. Who and the Daleks was a mixed bag. Its production values were a lot better than the TV version, and it was surprisingly faithful to the plot for the most part, but the changes in the characters didn't work so well. The opening minutes were so goofy and slapsticky that they were rather a mismatch with the serious story that followed. Dr. Who (a human inventor in this version) was so senile and absent-minded in the opening scene that it was hard to reconcile with the focused, sharp-minded scientist we saw later on. Although they did manage to keep the klutzy, nebbishy version of Ian pretty consistent throughout. I do like it that the two granddaughters were the smart, science-savvy ones, even though that didn't get used much beyond the opening. Nice to see a kids' movie featuring girls embracing science. It seemed rather odd that Barbara's choice of attire for her date with Ian was a sweater and sweat pants. Was that the height of fashion in '66 London, or was she planning on going jogging with him? If so, why was he in a suit? It's a little surprising just how closely it does hew to the serial script. I would've thought they'd cut out most of the tedious stuff in the caves, which I think was basically just there to pad the running time. Looking over the summary of the serial, it looks like the main things they cut were the initial interaction with Susan and Alydon, some conversation among the Thals afterward, and a more involved sequence of the Doctor and Susan sneaking into the city to do sabotage before their capture. Everything else was left pretty much intact, just faster. Except that Antodus's sacrifice/suicide to save Ian is sanitized, with Antodus surviving the fall. Turns out I remembered the main dramatic musical themes from the movie fairly well (though I'd completely forgotten the livelier main title/hero theme), but I hadn't realized that the two parts I remembered were respectively the Daleks' theme and the Thals' theme. I'd just sort of blended them together in my memory, based on the cue for the scene where the Thals were walking into the Daleks' ambush in the city, which integrated both themes.
June: WED 6/3 8:00 AM: The Scarlet Pimpernel ('35): Leslie Howard/Merle Oberon adaptation of the Baroness Orczy novel. Not SF, but it's the template for masked heroes with dual identities, so sort of a prototype superhero movie. THU 6/4 9:30 AM: The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm ('62): Biopic with George Pal animation re-enacting three Grimm stories. SAT 6/6 10:00 AM: Batman ('43): Ch. 13 of the serial. 10:30 AM: Elephant Stampede ('51): Sixth Bomba the Jungle Boy movie. 10:30 PM: The Jungle Book ('42): Live-action version of the Kipling tale. SUN 6/7 8:00 PM: Close Encounters of the Third Kind ('77): Apparently the original cut, going by the running time. 10:30 PM: The Thing From Another World ('51) MON 6/8 6:30 PM: The Horn Blows at Midnight ('45): The Jack Benny fantasy. TCM can't get enough of this one. SAT 6/13 8:30 AM: Satellite in the Sky ('56): Remember this from last month? 10:00 AM: Batman Ch. 14. 10:30 AM: African Treasure ('52): Bomba #7. Noon: King Solomon's Mines ('50) SUN 6/14 2:00 AM: The Manitou ('78): Horror film with Tony Curtis, Michael Ansara, Burgess Meredith. 3:45 AM: Trog ('70): British resurrected-caveman movie with Joan Crawford and Michael Gough. 6:30 PM: Village of the Damned ('61) MON 6/15 8:00 PM: Heaven Can Wait ('43): Afterlife fantasy from Ernst Lubitsch, with Gene Tierney and Don Ameche. No relation to the '78 film of that name, which was a remake of Here Comes Mr. Jordan, which was based on a play called Heaven Can Wait. Whereas the '43 Heaven Can Wait was based on a play called Birthdays. I'm so confused!! THU 6/18 8:30 AM: Forbidden Planet ('56) THU 6/18-FRI 6/19: Insect-horror marathon. 8:00 PM: The Fly ('58) 9:45 PM: Mothra ('61) 11:45 PM: Them! ('54) 1:30 AM: The Wasp Woman ('60) 2:45 AM: The Swarm ('78) 4:45 AM: The Cosmic Monster ('58), aka The Strange World of Planet X SAT 6/20 10:00 AM: Batman: The final chapter. 10:30 AM: Bomba and the Jungle Girl ('52): Bomba #8. 8:00 PM: Here Comes Mr. Jordan ('41): Oh, there it is. WED 6/24-THU 6/25: A "pin-up girls" sci-fi marathon. 8:00 PM: One Million Years B.C. ('66): With Raquel Welch! 10:00 PM: She ('65): With Ursula Andress. Midnight: Logan's Run ('75): Presumably since Farrah Fawcett had a minor role? 2:15 AM: Barbarella ('68): With Jane Fonda, of course. (And the Bo Derek 10 at 4:00 AM, though that's not sci-fi.) THU 6/25-FRI 6/26: A somewhat macabre "Final Cuts" marathon involving stars' final appearances before they died. The two genre films included are: 10:00 PM: Brainstorm ('83): Directed by FX master Douglas Trumbull. Natalie Wood's death during production nearly scuttled the film. 2:00 AM: Soylent Green ('73): Edward G. Robinson's final film, making his character's in-story arc rather poignant. The marathon also includes Guess Who's Coming to Dinner for Spencer Tracy (8 PM), Enter the Dragon for Bruce Lee (midnight), and 1937's Saratoga for Jean Harlow (4 AM). SAT 6/27 10:00 AM: Batman and Robin ('49) Ch. 1: The second, less racist, but extremely cheap Batman serial, with Robert Lowery and John Duncan as the title heroes and Lyle Talbot (who would play Lex Luthor the following year in Atom Man vs. Superman) as Commissioner Gordon. The villain is a super-scientist called The Wizard. 10:30 AM: Safari Drums ('53): Bomba #9. SUN 6/28 2:00 AM: Twice Upon a Time ('83): Obscure cutout-animation fantasy produced by George Lucas, starring the voice of Lorenzo Music. 3:15 AM: Zotz! ('62) Magic-amulet fantasy starring Tom Poston, Jim Backus, and Margaret Dumont. 4:00 PM: The Birds ('63) 8:00 PM: Godzilla vs. Monster Zero ('70): US cut of Invasion of Astro-Monster, the second King Ghidorah film. 10:00 PM: Godzilla, King of the Monsters! ('56): Massively altered version of the original Gojira, retold from Raymond Burr's perspective as a reporter covering the story.
I wonder if any channels will ever air the 1984 Godzilla movie again. I remember that being on TV once when I was a little kid.
Just before Dr. Who and the Daleks in the time-travel marathon was the French short La Jetee, the inspiration for 12 Monkeys. Apparently it's a really highly regarded art film and considered by some to be one of the greatest films ever. But I just watched it (after Daleks -- hey, it's time travel!), and I found it rather clumsy. Weirdly, it was made almost entirely with still photos and narration, apparently because the director couldn't afford to rent a movie camera except for one shot. It feels more like a presentation reel for the actual film. Maybe the narration works better in French, but it was often awkwardly worded in English; and the third-person narration was rather distancing. It might've been better narrated in first person. But there were still parts of it that were really boring, and the segment involving time travel to the future was kind of silly in how easily it was resolved. Also, I suspect the twist ending would've been pretty easy to predict even if I hadn't seen the Gilliam movie. Call me a Philistine, but I just don't see the appeal. (Although the way that one moment of live action was integrated into the photo montage was pretty well done, led up to in a way that made it feel meaningful.)
Thanks for posting the list, Christopher. These TCM schedules are all over the place. They just aired Brainstorm this week and they can't seem to go two months without airing The Manitou. I'd love to find out the method to their madness.
Maybe they moved some things around after they discovered that an entire month would've gone by without them airing Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (starring Spencer Tracy, of course) and that shall not -- EVER -- come to pass, not while Robert Osbourne still draws breath, so Brainstorm pops randomly into the schedule at like 2 am on a Thursday.
^^ Now that I approve of. Well, I have another shot at Satellite In The Sky. Let's see if I have time this month. And you can't go wrong with Giant Insect and Pin-Up Girl Marathons.
Passing along an update from Greg Cox on Facebook: TCM has redone its schedule for Monday, June 22 with a marathon honoring the late Christopher Lee. Schedule is as follows: This presumably does not affect the June schedule I posted previously, since that had no entries for the 22nd.
Trying the watch Satellite in the Sky, but it's pretty painful even though I was expecting that... the smoke from the rocket would have been amusing in a ship chasing Ming of Mongo. And Moneypenny serving coffee was almost the final straw. ...I'm REALLY hoping the annoying-professor character is a spy so they have an excuse to shoot or space him.
Aside from the smoke rising in space, I felt the effects were well-done for the era. After all, they were done by Wally Veevers, a veteran FX artist whose other credits include 2001 and Superman: The Movie.
Yeah, the rest isn't too bad... I'm not sure if the professor's sacrifice makes him more or less annoying. ...and after watching the "up next" ad, I'm somehow vastly amused at the idea of Woody Strode in a Bomba movie.
I don't think it particularly affects his annoyingness one way or the other. Although I, too, was expecting him to be the villain and was a bit disappointed that such an irritating character was granted redemption.
I'm more forgiving when it happens in old movies. But smoke in space was and is still annoying in "Cause And Effect" (though it's still one of my all time favorite TNG eps).
Don't forget. Tomorrow is the Christopher Lee marathon. Got ready by rewatching "Taste the Blood of Dracula" this weekend.
I watched the whole thing, but it was pretty painful. Not because of smoke, but just because it was so boring. Very disappointing. Hopefully, I'll get to see at least part of the Christopher Lee marathon. He was quite an amazing person in real life.