If you buy the restored version...you will see it was 100% intentional. The American version excises all the communist propaganda.
Classic SF...opinions....
- Thread starter Warped9
- Start date
If you buy the restored version...you will see it was 100% intentional. The American version excises all the communist propaganda.
^^ If you look further upthread you'll see my remarks on recently acquiring and watching Silent Running and Destination: Moon. I expect to pick up The Silent Star having recently seen the dubbed version First Spaceship On Venus and posted comments upthread. I also intend to pick up the 1960 The Time Machine.
Films I already have:
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Alien (1979)
Aliens (1986)
Apollo 13 (1995)
Batman Begins (2005)
The Dark Knight (2008)
The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951)
Destination: Moon (1950)
District 9 (2009)
Dracula (1931)
Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers (1956) [I haven't watched this yet]
Fantastic Voyage (1966)
First Spaceship on Venus (1960)
Forbidden Planet (1956)
Frankenstein (1931)
Greystoke: The Legend Of Tarzan (1984)
The Incredible Hulk (2008)
Iron-Man (2008)
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1956)
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1978)
The Iron Giant (1999)
King Kong (1933)
King Kong (2005)
Logan’s Run (1976)
Men In Black (1997)
Minority Report (2002)
Moon (2009)
The Mummy (1999)
The Omega Man (1971)
Planet Of The Apes (1968)
Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981)
Silent Running (1972)
Spider-Man (2002)
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Stargate (1994)
Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Director’s Edition) (1979)
Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan (Director’s Edition) (1982)
Superman: The Movie (1978)
Them! (1954)
The Thing (1982)
Unbreakable (2000)
V For Vendetta (2006)
Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea (1963)
Wall-E (2008)
War Of The Worlds (1953)
War Of The Worlds (2006)
The Wolf Man (1941)
The Wolf Man (2010)
Films I'm interested in:
2010 (1984)
20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (1954) [never seen this]
The Andromeda Strain (1971) [never seen this]
Batman (1989)
Bicentennial Man (1999)
Bride Of Frankenstein (1935) [never seen this]
Capricorn One (1978) [haven't seen this for years]
Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (1977) [haven't seen this for years]
Enemy Mine (1985) [haven't seen this for years]
The Final Countdown (1980) [haven't seen this for years]
The Fly (1986) [haven't seen this for years]
Frequency (2000) [haven't seen this for years]
Gattaca (1997) [haven't seen this for years]
Inception (2010) [never seen this]
The Invisible Man (1933) [haven't seen in entirety]
October Sky (1999)
Pitch Black (2000) [haven't seen this for years]
Predator 2 (1990) [haven't seen this for years]
The Right Stuff (1983)
Serenity (2005) [haven't seen in entirety]
The Silent Star (1960) [seen edited dubbed version]
Space Cowboys (2000)
Splice (2010) [never seen this]
Tarzan, The Ape Man (1932) [haven't seen this for years]
Terminator 2 (1991)
The Thing From Another World (1951)
The Time Machine (1960) [haven't seen this for years]
Twelve Monkeys (1995) [haven't seen this for years]
Watchmen (2009)
When Worlds Collide (1951) [never seen this]
Films I already have:
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Alien (1979)
Aliens (1986)
Apollo 13 (1995)
Batman Begins (2005)
The Dark Knight (2008)
The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951)
Destination: Moon (1950)
District 9 (2009)
Dracula (1931)
Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers (1956) [I haven't watched this yet]
Fantastic Voyage (1966)
First Spaceship on Venus (1960)
Forbidden Planet (1956)
Frankenstein (1931)
Greystoke: The Legend Of Tarzan (1984)
The Incredible Hulk (2008)
Iron-Man (2008)
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1956)
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1978)
The Iron Giant (1999)
King Kong (1933)
King Kong (2005)
Logan’s Run (1976)
Men In Black (1997)
Minority Report (2002)
Moon (2009)
The Mummy (1999)
The Omega Man (1971)
Planet Of The Apes (1968)
Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981)
Silent Running (1972)
Spider-Man (2002)
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Stargate (1994)
Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Director’s Edition) (1979)
Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan (Director’s Edition) (1982)
Superman: The Movie (1978)
Them! (1954)
The Thing (1982)
Unbreakable (2000)
V For Vendetta (2006)
Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea (1963)
Wall-E (2008)
War Of The Worlds (1953)
War Of The Worlds (2006)
The Wolf Man (1941)
The Wolf Man (2010)
Films I'm interested in:
2010 (1984)
20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (1954) [never seen this]
The Andromeda Strain (1971) [never seen this]
Batman (1989)
Bicentennial Man (1999)
Bride Of Frankenstein (1935) [never seen this]
Capricorn One (1978) [haven't seen this for years]
Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (1977) [haven't seen this for years]
Enemy Mine (1985) [haven't seen this for years]
The Final Countdown (1980) [haven't seen this for years]
The Fly (1986) [haven't seen this for years]
Frequency (2000) [haven't seen this for years]
Gattaca (1997) [haven't seen this for years]
Inception (2010) [never seen this]
The Invisible Man (1933) [haven't seen in entirety]
October Sky (1999)
Pitch Black (2000) [haven't seen this for years]
Predator 2 (1990) [haven't seen this for years]
The Right Stuff (1983)
Serenity (2005) [haven't seen in entirety]
The Silent Star (1960) [seen edited dubbed version]
Space Cowboys (2000)
Splice (2010) [never seen this]
Tarzan, The Ape Man (1932) [haven't seen this for years]
Terminator 2 (1991)
The Thing From Another World (1951)
The Time Machine (1960) [haven't seen this for years]
Twelve Monkeys (1995) [haven't seen this for years]
Watchmen (2009)
When Worlds Collide (1951) [never seen this]
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Yeah I basically skimmed the first page, so I missed some of that. I could have warned you ahead of time not to get the American version of Silent Star!
Silent Running: yes its still relevent today...and I don't need SW style space battles in my movies, but Trumball sure did make a slow moving movie..quick pacing has its virtues and CAN help convey a message across...this one comes off as preachy and the hippie sensibilities make the movie seem aged. Not a bad movie at all but its not eveyone's cup of tea.
Destination Moon: Love the dry scientific exploration...later movies like Andromeda Strain and 2001 continue and expand the style. I'm in the minority and I like this. I was happy to see a re-awakening of this to some extent with Mission to Mars and The Core.
You never saw Andromeda Strain??
Silent Running: yes its still relevent today...and I don't need SW style space battles in my movies, but Trumball sure did make a slow moving movie..quick pacing has its virtues and CAN help convey a message across...this one comes off as preachy and the hippie sensibilities make the movie seem aged. Not a bad movie at all but its not eveyone's cup of tea.
Destination Moon: Love the dry scientific exploration...later movies like Andromeda Strain and 2001 continue and expand the style. I'm in the minority and I like this. I was happy to see a re-awakening of this to some extent with Mission to Mars and The Core.
You never saw Andromeda Strain??
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Quatermass
The Quatermass movies. I think the TV shows are available now too. They were lost for years.
They comprise:
The Quatermass Xperiment • Quatermass 2 • Quatermass and the Pit
All from the 50s and 60s.
TV:
These were so popular they supposedly stopped sessions of Parliament to watch it.
The Quatermass Experiment • Quatermass II • Quatermass and the Pit • Quatermass (1979)• The Quatermass Experiment
(2005)
The original 3 were live! The 4th was taped and shown in 1979. A LIVE remake of the Q-Experiment was shown in 2005.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju6XzFIYmdw
The Quatermass movies. I think the TV shows are available now too. They were lost for years.
They comprise:
The Quatermass Xperiment • Quatermass 2 • Quatermass and the Pit
All from the 50s and 60s.
TV:
These were so popular they supposedly stopped sessions of Parliament to watch it.
The Quatermass Experiment • Quatermass II • Quatermass and the Pit • Quatermass (1979)• The Quatermass Experiment
(2005)
The original 3 were live! The 4th was taped and shown in 1979. A LIVE remake of the Q-Experiment was shown in 2005.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju6XzFIYmdw
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Just ordered Journey to the Far Side of the Sun from Amazon. I saw it when I was an early teen, probably about 30 years ago, in black and white on a little portable tv. I remember it being really suspensful so I'm looking forward to seeing it again. I wonder how it will stand up to test of time. It will be nice to see Roy Thinnes in something again.
Hard to believe, but no. I have a very dim memory of seeing something way back in the early '70s on TV, but I'm not sure if it was The Andromeda Strain or not.
Sad to say, but there are a number of classic SF and horror films that for some reason or other I haven't seen until recently or yet. That's part of what I'm working on.
I thought Dark Star was kinda meh.
The Hitchhiker's Guide feature film was nowhere near as entertaining as the miniseries I saw on public television back in the olden days, even though they're both based on the same material.
Wow, I don't know how you missed that, it was a staple of afternoon TV and summer vacation theater matinees when I was growing up.
I know a lot of people don't like it for being a kiddie version of a classic and for straying substantially from the original. I am also a big fan of the book but I have watched the DVD a couple of times in the past few years and still find it to be a real winner on its own merits. It is a Disney production, no doubt, but aside from one song and a couple of comic scenes it is fairly grown-up and even gets fairly dark at times. The production design is first rate, with a 19th century tech look that really works. The Nautilus is not really as the novel described, but is a striking and original design that incorporates most of the ideas, if not the form, of Verne's original. The effects are solid studio-age Hollywood, great matte paintings, practical models and mock-ups, rear projection and such. The underwater photography, with actors in working Victorian-era-looking diving suits, is top notch.
I take it you are buying these sight unseen? That makes it hard for me to recommend strongly, but I think it's definitely worth a look.
--Justin
This afternoon I finally watched Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers. I opted to watch it in remastered B&W rather than the optional colourized version so I would see it as it was originally played in theatres.
I couldn't help comparing this with the more recent Independence Day. And in my final assessment is that while there are many similarities between the two films, and taking into account the differences in age and production resources, I think Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers is a smarter film than Independence Day.
I liked how the aliens, while still wanting to take over the planet, initially opted for a somewhat quiet takeover rather than just blasting away from orbit. There was also the rationale that they were the survivors of a destroyed solar system. I appreciated these small conceptual details. It also lent credibility to the idea that they themselves didn't want an all out conflict because they knew their resources were limited and that they had studied humanity enough to possibly suspect us capable of fighting back in some way or other.
I also quite liked how little over the top anything in the film was. It looked like the writers and everyone involved really tried to walk that fine line of not going campy or overdone.I got a sense of restraint from the film.
I loved the final solution of humanity being able to understand the principles of how alien tech seemed to be working and then devising a means to combat it. And for me it made a helluva lot more sense than the computer virus idea in Independence Day.
I can't help thinking that if this can seem like a fine enough film now as seen from the perspective of 2010 then this should have been seen as quite something when it was first released in 1956. There are a lot of little details in writing, visual f/x and even subtext that make the film a cut above the seeming usual fare of sci-fi films from that era.
If I have one quibble it was with the metallic suits they aliens wore. The idea behind them (solidified electricity???) was interesting yet the depiction was too stiff and awkward. Unlike much of the rest of the film it is really dated.
Still overall I quite liked it.
I'm going to watch it again yet the colourized version because from what I've seen it looks pretty good.
I couldn't help comparing this with the more recent Independence Day. And in my final assessment is that while there are many similarities between the two films, and taking into account the differences in age and production resources, I think Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers is a smarter film than Independence Day.
I liked how the aliens, while still wanting to take over the planet, initially opted for a somewhat quiet takeover rather than just blasting away from orbit. There was also the rationale that they were the survivors of a destroyed solar system. I appreciated these small conceptual details. It also lent credibility to the idea that they themselves didn't want an all out conflict because they knew their resources were limited and that they had studied humanity enough to possibly suspect us capable of fighting back in some way or other.
I also quite liked how little over the top anything in the film was. It looked like the writers and everyone involved really tried to walk that fine line of not going campy or overdone.I got a sense of restraint from the film.
I loved the final solution of humanity being able to understand the principles of how alien tech seemed to be working and then devising a means to combat it. And for me it made a helluva lot more sense than the computer virus idea in Independence Day.
I can't help thinking that if this can seem like a fine enough film now as seen from the perspective of 2010 then this should have been seen as quite something when it was first released in 1956. There are a lot of little details in writing, visual f/x and even subtext that make the film a cut above the seeming usual fare of sci-fi films from that era.
If I have one quibble it was with the metallic suits they aliens wore. The idea behind them (solidified electricity???) was interesting yet the depiction was too stiff and awkward. Unlike much of the rest of the film it is really dated.
Still overall I quite liked it.
I'm going to watch it again yet the colourized version because from what I've seen it looks pretty good.
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Dark Star is supposed to be a comedy but its not very funny (even Dan O'bannon admitted that), so its not successful in that sense. Its slow moving, and the rewards for lasting through it aren't very great, despite the best scenes happening towards the end of the movie. I'm afraid its on of those movies whose reputation is far greater than its actual quality.
HHGTTG: Watch the mini-series, not the movie. Better yet, read the book first.
RAMA
This afternoon I finally watched Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers. I opted to watch it in remastered B&W rather than the optional colourized version so I would see it as it was originally played in theatres.
I couldn't help comparing this with the more recent Independence Day. And in my final assessment is that while there are many similarities between the two films, and taking into account the differences in age and production resources, I think Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers is a smarter film than Independence Day.
I liked how the aliens, while still wanting to take over the planet, initially opted for a somewhat quiet takeover rather than just blasting away from orbit. There was also the rationale that they were the survivors of a destroyed solar system. I appreciated these small conceptual details. It also lent credibility to the idea that they themselves didn't want an all out conflict because they knew their resources were limited and that they had studied humanity enough to possibly suspect us capable of fighting back in some way or other.
I also quite liked how little over the top anything in the film was. It looked like the writers and everyone involved really tried to walk that fine line of not going campy or overdone.I got a sense of restraint from the film.
I loved the final solution of humanity being able to understand the principles of how alien tech seemed to be working and then devising a means to combat it. And for me it made a helluva lot more sense than the computer virus idea in Independence Day.
I can't help thinking that if this can seem like a fine enough film now as seen from the perspective of 2010 then this should have been seen as quite something when it was first released in 1956. There are a lot of little details in writing, visual f/x and even subtext that make the film a cut above the seeming usual fare of sci-fi films from that era.
If I have one quibble it was with the metallic suits they aliens wore. The idea behind them (solidified electricity???) was interesting yet the depiction was too stiff and awkward. Unlike much of the rest of the film it is really dated.
Still overall I quite liked it.
In reality its no more likely that a sonic weapon would be more effective than a computer virus in defeating advanced aliens. Its probably more likely that the ID4 solution would somehow be able to piggy-back or hide its way into an alien computer system because of its simplistic nature, rather than a pure hardware solution like EvsTFS. Nevertheless, its a fun movie, and they really do make it less campy than most invasion movies, though the dialogue is still stilted. Kudos for the alien suit design, which was unusual and the wonderful FX for the time.
Another rare SF item from Czechoslovakia: Once again its really creative: Ikarie XB1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp4o2I8S2Mw
http://www.amazon.com/Voyage-Universe-Ikarie-NON-USA-FORMAT/dp/B0035G1316
RAMA
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I saw it on the telly about 10 years or so ago and enjoyed it a lot. Good movie, with a couple of genuinely unsettling bits... suspenseful is a good word for it. I don't think you'll be disappointed seeing it as as adult.
I think you should listen to the original radio play first. It can be found. After that, read the book, watch the old TV show, and watch the new film.
Okay, it doesn't matter that much... they're all great. I have thoroughly enjoyed every version of THGTTG.
I enjoyed the hitchhikers film quite a bit, although it was lacking in certain areas. But the overall charm, and the performance of Sam Rockwell make it well worth seeing IMO.
Just be aware... if you have not read the book, you may not be aware of how 'odd' the film will be. (even though the film is toned down)
Just be aware... if you have not read the book, you may not be aware of how 'odd' the film will be. (even though the film is toned down)
That's encouraging.
The only thing I remember about it in detail is a lightswitch on the wrong side of the room.I have great memories of sitting on a train as a student laughing my ass off reading HHGTTG, and other people in the carriage trying to ignore me!
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