Spoiler warnings

I've been thinking lately about how I watched my favourite sci-fi shows in my youth and how I see them now. Things are a bit different. For a start there was no internet back then (not as a common household fixture at least). Also, as a child, I had much less awareness of news articles. The upshot is that I was happily watching my favourite shows with little to no idea what might be coming up.

As an example, when I first started watching Doctor Who it was in the 80's. When Sylvester McCoy became the Doctor, the first time I saw what his outfit was like was when I watched the show. Now I don't know if this was due to a lower amount of coverage of the show at that point in it's history or my own general ignorance of the media. I suspect the latter. But that doesn't happen now. It's almost impossible to have missed the shots of Matt Smith in his bow tie. It's similarly impossible to have missed the media follow up to the announcment of his casting. Or David Tennant's announcment he'd be leaving.

With the recent Star Trek movie, I'd had a informal policy of not letting myself get too excited by it, to avoid possible disappointment. (So not an issue in the end!) As such I'd not sought out any information about it really. However, despite this, I went into that movie knowing that it involved Kirk going to the acadamy, a Romulan enemy, a time travel element and the appearence of the older Spock. Those are fairly key points to the story and they were really widely known. But I remember the days when each episode of The Next Generation was a complete surprise to me, I never had any idea what could be happening.

I'm basically missing the times when I could watch a tv show or film that I'd love and be in complete ignorance of what awaited me. I'm probably being a bit unrealistic in thinking this could ever really be re-captured though. Nor am I placing any real blame on anyone. After all, I could avoid this information. Though in fairness, to properly avoid all information, I would have to forgo the internet, newspapers and tv news to be completely safe, and I'd end up cutting myself off from a lot of information.

And it's not just spoilers. Though those are the worst parts of it. To really be able to enjoy a production in complete ignorance of upcoming plot twists or character appearences, I'd have to avoid reviews. General news of upcoming releases. Cast and creator interviews. Even trailers. And in a lot of cases I enjoy these things. If I see of an interview with Leonard Nimoy, I'm probably going to find it interesting and wouldn't want to deprive myself of it purely because he might let something, although minor, slip about the Star Trek movie.

The main reason this has been on my mind is the realisation of how much we already know about the Doctor Who specials coming over christmas. I won't list all the things that I've heard about in case you are forunate enough not to have heard them. And what I have heard are many things that just make me more excited about seeing it. There's some awesome stuff in there and I can't wait to see how it all comes together. And that's why a lot of this information comes out. It's to promote the show/movie. Give a preview, get people excited, bring in the fans, have a success.

But there's a little part of me that has a wistful longing for ignorance. It wonders how awesome would that episode be if I were to watch it knowing absolutely nothing that was happening? Imagine if I didn't even know it was to be David Tennant's last show? Imagine! How mindblowing a climax would that be??

But all shows need some promotion. After all, a mindblowing episode of Doctor Who with constant surprises would be useless if I didn't know it was on.

I do think sometimes it would be fun to have that childlike ignorance of the media and internet reports and enjoy everything as completely new and surprising.

Though I suspect todays youth probably have a lot more exposure to this information.

See Logan Run! Run Logan Run!

Slightly later than expected, my review of Logan’s Run.
Well, not a review, so much as just my general enthusiastic observations. Review was a stupid word to use, because I don’t like ‘reviews’ generally and also, it’s a film that’s over 30 years old, who reviews those?
Anyhow, it’s a sci’fi classic that I hadn’t watched before, so it qualified for my nerd days.

And it’s pretty awesome. I think everyone’s aware of the general plot, it’s a future utopia but people only live to age 30. Those who want to go on living have to go on the run and end up killed. Sounds simple. So it’s a warning of the price of paradise kind of thing?

So my first observation is that the utopia 200+ years from now, 70’s hairstyles are back! Actually, you can say of any film that portrays the future that they assume the hairstyles of the present day are back in by then. But then let’s observe the fashions. Wow! Those are some pretty crazy clothes.
So Logan’s a ‘Sandman’? This appears to mean he get’s better outfits than most! Must be reasonably warm in this bio-dome as a lot of these costumes look pretty flimsy.

So quite quickly we pick up that the population is kept in some kind of optimum balance, new children are ‘grown’ rather than the normal conception, birth and raising, and when necessary to replace those who’ve reached thirty and gone to ‘renew’. Renewing seems to imply some kind of afterlife, or possibly rebirth in the new babies? And if you run, you won’t get to renew. Oh, and renewal seems to be a big show. We actually get to see it, it’s Cirque du Soliel! Man, all those fancy acrobatics people are so amazed by, turns out those ‘acrobats’ are renewing! No, wait, they’re exploding! Awesome! People flying up to the ceiling and exploding is now added to the list of awesome things to happen in films!

I hope there’s a skidding tank soon!

Logan is called away from the spectacle of exploding aerialists to chase down a ‘runner’. This runner has watched exploding acrobatics and come to the conclusion that it’s not for him and he’s legging it to try and live to 31.

Hurrah, Logan’s been to Stormtrooper weapons training! He’s an awful shot! Even at close range he can’t hit the guy! Eventually Logan’s mate shoots the runner, who for extra effect stumbles over a railing to plummet several floors. The two Sandmen check the body and Logan robs him! Sees an Ankh shape necklace and just nicks it! (sadly it’s not a skidding ankh!)

Now follows two of the greatest acheivements in this futuristic utopia.

The first one is Logan’s nightwear. He’s relaxing in his Sandman pad and he has the most amazing dressing gown on! It’s brilliant! It’s futuristic and so marvellously camp! Though I think Michael York wears it that way. So bored of an evening, Logan uses some high tech gizmo in the corner to beam himself a sex buddy into his flat! Yep, he flicks through a variety of people, with a comedy refusal of the muscular man, but then with that dressing gown, are you surprised he tried? Finally he settles on Jenny Agutter (known as Jessica) who materialises in his living room!

Yep, people get horny, they just put themselves into this system, known as 'The Circuit' (i.e. 'The Game'?) so anyone who takes a shine to them can beam them into their flat! It’s like a weird sex based facebook with a transporter.

A little small talk and then Logan pretty much shouts at the poor girl, ‘ALRIGHT, LET’S HAVE SEX!!’

Strangely, she doesn’t want to. They have a long chat about their respective status in society, Logan still trying to figure out how his shouting chat up line could have failed until Logan’s mate returns with 2 far more willing young ladies. So Logan gives up on his lost cause and starts trying it on with the girl his very thoughtful friend picked up for him. Meanwhile, Jessica leaves, and have we all noticed, she’s also wearing an Ankh necklace? We should, it’s probably going to be important later!

Logan later reports to Sandman HQ, where he must turn out his pockets to be scanned by computer. The computer goes a bit funny when it picks up the Ankh he swiped from the runner earlier. Excellent, Logan’s computer boss is going to chew him out about robbing from corpses! Comeuppance time for you Logan, you theiving ghoul!

Nope, it the computer gives him a secret mission! He’s to infiltrate the runners support network and find the place known as ‘sanctuary’ so the Sandmen can eliminate it. Clearly the governing computers are sick of people avoiding their high wire exploding. To help Logan infiltrate the group, the computer system winds his life timer forward to start flashing, the sign of hitting thirty. Logan’s ready to leave and begin his mission, but wants to check his timer will be wound back again afterwards. The computer stays quiet about this. I half expected it to start whistling innocently, or la la laaing to drown out the question. See Logan, this is what comes of stealing! Good moral lesson here!

So Logan begins his investigation and ivites Jessica back to his flat. Nope, he’s not trying for the sex again, he seems to have made the link between the ankh he found and the city’s computer told him was a symbol of sancturary and the exact same massive ankh that she wears quite prominantly in plain view! Helluva detective.

She agrees to set up a meeting with Logan and the people who help runners, with the intention of having them kill him. Then she changes her mind, and she accompanies him tracking down a runner.

Now it appears there’s a section of the city that’s completely blocked off to everyone else, where they keep the wild, feral children. Though it seems to be indicated that when the kids hit mid teens, they’re forced back into normal society. Not sure how they function then... Anyway, Logan catches his runner, a woman who claims that her life timer’s broken and she’s only 22. Yeah, you’re fooling no-one there. But Logan lets her go to prove how he’s changed to Jessica and they set off. But Logan’s sandman mate Francis comes along and shoots her anyway. Actually, I wonder if Logan really wanted to let her go, or just didn’t want to show Jessica what a bad shot he is?

So with Francis in pursuit, the pair try to get to Sanctuary. Sadly, Logan, thinking they’re in, summons his other Sandman colleagues and most of the runner-aiding resistance gets toasted. Logan and Jenny carry on with Francis still in pursuit.

They get out of the city and find their way into some ice caves where after Jessica strips nekkid and wraps herself in fur, they meet Box.

Oh my goodness! Box. There’s not much I can say about Box, the mad robot who’s freezing humans and is just generally mad. He is absolutely amazing. If there was one reason only to watch this film, (though there are several) it would be Box. You just have to see him.

The pair then wander on through peaceful countryside, realising their lifetimers have turned white away from the influence of the city. There we have it, the representation of freedom regained by turning away from the seeming idyllic life!

The discover some familier landmarks representing the giant president of old and finally come across andother person! Hurrah! And it’s the oldest man they’ve ever seen!

Peter Ustinov’s turn as the old man is funny, sad and heart warming. You do feel teribly sorry for this man who’s lived alone for so much of his life, only a bunch of cats for company. But he’s managed quite well and has some brilliant moments as he tries to explain his life to his visitors.

After a fight to dispatch Francis, they take the old man back towards the city. Then they leave him outside while they go in to tell everyone about an outside world where you can get old. Of course they’re promptly arrested. However, the computer systems try to probe Logans mind and end up blowing up! Not sure what that says about Logan. Naturally this explosion engulfs most of the city’s systems so the populace are forced to evacuate and this is when they emerge into the world to meet a scruffy old bearded man.

Brilliant! This movie is so much fun! You can have fun with the silliness of it, some of which I think is intentional and fun with the crazy sci-fi action. There’s a number of interesting themes and ideas, though most of them don’t get explored that much. But then it’d make for a longer film. I’m left with a number of questions about the society in the dome, many of which about the raising of children. I’m re-watching this with my fiancee soon and it should be interesting to hear her take on the society. And Box the robot!

The Day the Nerd Sat Still...and watched some movies.

Last week I had the pleasure of a couple of days off work before the weekend and planned a massive three day event of being a total nerd!

Obviously I am a nerd 24/7, but for these three days I was going to revel in it! I gathered up some classics in the Sci-fi movie genre that I hadn’t seen before to watch for the Thursday and Friday, with Saturday being given over to a long session of Dungeons and Dragons.

So, to the first of these classics of the sci-fi movie genre.

The Day the Earth Stood Still.

It’s been a massive oversight for me not to have watched this film before! It’s absolutely incredible!

Obviously I’m talking about the orginal Robert Wise version, not the recent re-make with Keanu Reeves in it.

So the first thing I notice is hey, that spaceship actually looks pretty ok as it flies in! It’s not wobbling or anything! It’s in black and white, I don’t know if that helps, but it’s looked pretty realistic on film I thought, which impressed me as I’d expected something on string wobbling its way across the screen. That’ll teach me not to make assumptions.

The first thing I’m realising about this story, is the human reaction to this alien visitor. As newsreaders urge the public not to panic, stating that the government has said there’s no cause for alarm, the same government has amassed a serious little armed force up around the spaceship! Do they mean there’s no cause to panic as they’re going to blow up anything that comes out of the ship? I especially enjoyed the tanks as they were deployed from their base, they come screaming out onto the road and actually skid as they turn! It looks awesome, and ‘tanks doing skids’ is now on my list of Awesome things in movies’, like spaceships and people throwing themselves across a corridor while firing two guns.

However, I’m a tad disturbed that there’s such an overt military response to this ship’s landing. It’s not very friendly is it? We’ve got no indication that this ship is hostile, though if it was coming to invade, isn’t it more likely there’d be hundreds and they’d be blasting the crap out of us instead of landing on a baseball field?

So the ship opens up. I was watching this with my friend Nick, who pointed out that this alien race clearly prefer complex, slow and elaborate door openings! We enjoyed the idea he’d come to Earth to discover the secret of our quick and easy door openings and needed to go to B&Q for some hinges and a handle!

Then they shot him! The alien, not Nick. He produced some kind of egg whisk and he was shot! Obviously the military is in the pocket of America’s restauranteurs , and were under orders to open fire if any sign of culinary prowess was displayed!

It’s ok, it wasn’t a fatal shot. And a large robot has now appeared from the ship! (That’s another tick on the list of ‘Awesome things in Movies’ along with the Spaceship and the Skidding Tanks)

So the robot reveals his eys, (He’s a prototype Cylon!) and then shoots out a laser and disarms all the soldiers. I particularly liked that he would shoot 3 guns in turn, but the later ones would heat up quicker so that they could all be dropped in unison.

The alien, Klaatu, reveals that his egg whisk was in fact a gift for the president so he could communicate with other worlds, but now it’s broken. Whoops! Given the initial attempt at contact with an alien, it’s probably best for these other worlds...

So they take Klaatu to hospital. They’re assuming that earth doctors will be able to quickly work out an alien anatomy? Not sure, at this point they haven’t worked out smoking is bad for them! I do enjoy older movies where everyone’s always smoking. Not like nowadays where only evil characters light up. Anyway, he’s taken to hospital where apparently he’s similar enough they can treat him. Then it’s revealed he’s in his 70’s but due to advanced healthcare appears 30 and his bullet wound is almost healed already.

Then Klaatu is approached by the government. He explains that he needs to address all the world leaders. However this is impossible, they could never agree on a neutral venue and he’s treated to a demonstration of how humanity would much rather argue and fight than listen to the message of an alien visitor. I’m getting a little depressed here as I’m cynical enough to believe this is pretty much the reaction a peacful alien would recieve here. I.e. he get’s shot and no one listens to him.

Fortunately, Klaatu is a little more determined. He escapes from the hospital and goes on the run. He finds a guest house of some sort and rents a room. I note that no references or deposit are required. Ah, simpler times!

So now Klaatu is hanging out with some humans, trying to learn about humanity more direcltly. Another resident of the house wants to go out for the day with her new boyfriend but has no-one to look after her young son. No problem, the stranger who arrived last night and speaks slightly strangely will take him out for the day! Really, simpler times!

So on his day out, Klaatu hears about war, Abraham Lincoln and the smartest man on the planet, a local professor. He visits the professor, to find he’s out, so helpfully solves a complex equation for him. Shortly some government agents come to the guest house and take Klaatu back to the professor.

Professors got some serious influence then?

Klaatu’s new plan is to tell as many scientists as he can the message intended for world leaders. They decide a demonstration is needed too, so Klaatu promises to arrange one.

He visits his ship and signals to Gort, the large robot. Gort attacks some guards and Klaatu can get in his ship. But oh no, the little kid has followed him and witnessed everything!

The next day Klaatu visits the childs mother to find out what the kid says. Then in a bizarre display, he get’s in a lift with her and is amazed when it stops. He asks what time it is and then announces they’re stuck there. Well, this is because he’d arranged for the whole worlds electricity to cease at this time. So he’s capable of that immense feat, but didn’t realise it was nearly half twelve when he got in the lift? Ah well.

It is a pretty awesome sequence with the worlds power out, even the shots of other countries and the dodgy cockney accent. But the whole world bought to a standstill. Quite amazing.

Eventually the power comes back on and Klaatu has now convinced his companion that he’s a good alien. But the military have decided that taking Klaatu alive is a luxury they can no longer afford.

Klaatu is chased, and eventually gunned down. This leaves his female companion to run off to Gort to deliver a message to him that Klaatu had told her previously. Gort has now started wiping out soldiers with his laser eye beams (that’s another tick on the list) but stops when he hears ‘Klaatu Barada Nikto’. Cut to a local jail, where one of the military guys is on the phone, telling someone that Klaatu is definitley dead, so they’ve locked him in a cell. That’s pretty harsh, if he’s dead. Fortunate though, as Gort can smash the wall of the cell and retrieve the body. Returning to the ship, Gort places Klaatu in a machine I like to call the ‘Resurrectotron’ and brings him back to life.

Now a little bit pissed off, Klaatu addresses the scientists and warns them that Earth is too violent. That’s fine when restricted to Earth, but attempts to get into space are worrying the other races. He explains that the spacefaring races of the galazy have created a race of machines like Gort to police all cultures, destroying those who try to commit violence against others. The robots are answerable to no-one but their programming now and if Earth get’s into space, we must renounce our violent ways or Gort’s people will kick our asses.

Wait, so everyone’s living in fear of these killer robots if they don’t behave? The enlightened alien culture lives under a self imposed tyranny?

Maybe we’re reading too much into that description.

So those were the key points of a movie, that frankly, blew me away. I loved it. The overall message is probably more relevant today as it tells us as a people we should be united, not blowing ourselves up. Obviously there are some parts that show what a different time it was, like easily trusting a strange man with your young son, but things like that are part of the amusing charm of older films. I have a certain curiosity about the re-make, but I’d be surprised if it was a patch on this.

Following this, I watched Logan’s Run. Well, I popped out for beers first, then I watched Logan’s Run. I shall be gathering my thoughts on that in a future blog.