50 YEARS OF SCIFI AND CURRENT EVENTS

The Day the Earth Stood still and When Worlds Collide are still my favorites - not glitzy, but full of good commentary on the human condition.

Edgar,
I don't remember. Can you briefly remind us of their significant points?

Klaatu borada nikto.

The reason SciFi makes such a good window for human behaviour (from the creator's POV) is that they can say anything, do anything, and take humanity out of context...

War of the Worlds with Gene Barry

Forbidden Planet with Robby the Robot

Here are the classics films from the 1950's:

http://www.scifimovies.com/movies/classic1950.shtml

My husband is a scifi afficionado. His favorite flick from that group is "Invasion of the Body Snatchers". I am not much of a scifi fan, but I like that one too.


I remember once seeing a talk about the proliferation of scifi movies in the 1950's. It was during the cold war, and there was a terrible fear amongst the people about nuclear holocaust. One way to allay some of the anxiety was working the fears through by seeing films about these terrible creatures from outer space. The speaker attributed the popularity of these films because of this fear.

I remember seeing the original "The Thing" with James Arness (not Recognizable) as the thing. That was a scary film when you were a little kid. When we got home it was dark. As we entered the house there was a loud thump at the top of the stairs. As the oldest boy I had to find out what it was. Creeping upstairs I soon found the cat had knocked something over. Tried to sleep with one eye open. Didn't work. I was a out like a light in no time.

I've been a sci fi nut all my life -- and love all the movies mentioned. The Thing was the first movie to scare me senseless -- rating right up there with a horror movie (not sci fi) called The Beast With Five Fingers.

BobSmyth -- Watch The Thing again -- and there are scenes where you can actually tell the beast is James Arness.

Phoenix -- The original Invasion of the Body Snatchers was a classic. Dana Wynter was a doll.

SealPoet -- Klatu Barado Nicto back to you.

It's a cookbook! It's a cookbook!

FrankApisa- There were two women I wanted to look like when I was a kid....Cyd Charisse & Dana Wynter. Unfortunately, I don't look like either!

I need to refocus. By parallels, I mean what did we see in some scifi media that actually has become apparent today. For example, what is the John Savage book, wherein he comes across containers in which genetically engineered human fetus are being grown?
Then there is the F. 451 movie where they capture and burn forbidden books. That has happened numerous times in history.

I have often mused that "Planet of the Apes" could become a reality!

When, through scientific advancement, we alter what has taken thousands or millions of years to evolve, there are bound to be unexpected consequences. We could reach the point of engineering a breed of workers and elevating selected animals of high potential. At some juncture, the selected animals, could control the workers. Remember the movie with Rod ______, The Time Machine?

What strikes me today, is the almost base nature of man when he is subjected to the harsh realities of survival. Note the adventures in Africa and other parts of the world. To me, man is not that far from his primitive side. He sees himself as above the other animals, yet...... Terminator has become a crush and burn series, but how many decades are we from developing similar machines, efficient and 24/7. Man is becoming "to much of a hassel". Some societies now operate, barely, with almost continuous strikes. Isn't it appealing to some industralists to push for better machines to replace inefficient humans?

Day the Earth Stood Still: Because humankind is so warlike and uncivilized, aliens landed in DC to tell them to straighten up or face the consequences. Their flying saucer opened up long enough for a robot to come out. After melting down a lot of hostile army equipment (jeeps, tanks, guns) he stood perfectly still throughout much of the movie. During the initial confusion an alien looking like an ordinary human escaped into the suburbs. This man took up residence with a typical family, from which he could observe human behavior and also fall in love with the family daughter. The aliens broadcast their message and warning to the humans, after which they cause everything mechanical to cease working - a demonstration of their power. After that the saucer is loaded up and it leaves.


When Worlds Collide: A great planetary body is hurtling toward the Earth. Scientists determine that it will actually displace the Earth in its orbit around the sun. Work is begun immediately on a craft that will lift a colony of humans just in time to allow them to come back down on the new "Earth". It is a tale of human strengths and weaknesses, culminating in the safe landing of the space ship.

Kurt Vonnegut's first novel about a revolt against the machines, "Player Piano," is a great read.

A little trivia about "Invasion of the Body Snatchers." The views of the little town square were shot around the corner from where a friend of mine used to live at Mt. Olympus in the Hollywood Hills. The stairs they scale are head up to the Hollywood sign, with some judicious angles that make sure the sign doesn't appear in the film! Wouldn't that have been a great editing gliche!

My favorites are "The War of the Worlds," "2001: A Space Odyssey," "Blade Runner," "The Day the Earth Stood Still," and of the new ones, "Minority Report."

Gotta mention Larry Niven's Ringworld -- and damn near every novel Robert Heinlein ever wrote.

Phonix -- Dana Wynter was a looker of massive proportions. A feast for the eyes.

Edgar,
Now I remember The Day the Earth Stood Still, a clear message. Wasn't that an Englishman playing the lead...Michail______? When Worlds Collide, I don't remember that, but something which could become a reality.

LW,
I tend to agree with your selection. The Piano Player doesn't ring a memory. Was it ever in film/TV format?

Do you remember anything dealing with the development of a warrior class. I have a series at home, but the name escapes me. One of the side visions of the Iraqi conflict was the display of technology and well trained soldiers; important to that situation, was a pool of White House advisors determined to demonstrate the modern might of the U.S. I remember one NYT reporter sharing his opinion that a small group of individuals actually ushered the war into reality. What scifi do you remember which parellels this situation?

Frank,
Briefly describe the basis for Ringworld.

Michael Renney.

Right, just remembered, the pic with the ex-Moses, Chuck Connor and the fellow who played in early gang movies. The people ate mass produced food; were encouraged to turn themselves in for disposal; unknown to them, their bodies were used to produce the food for the living.

good to see you folks again.

Seems we all have affections for old science fiction films, especially those that were consistent with the written genre's way of using future or alternative realities to discuss current social problems during its Golden Age.

The remakes of "the Thing" (which I loved by John Carpenter) and "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" just seem to update the atmosphere of paranoia of that time, and are equal to the original films, if not actually better (especially "the Thing......cant go wrong with Kurt Russell in that film).

But my absolute favorite one was a radio play adaptation of Ted Sturgeon's "Mr. Costello, Hero," which is so close a description of the drive for American homeland security and the concomitant loss of freedoms proposed by John Ashcroft that it is a profound example of reality mimicking art, 45 years later.

I see Eddie is a fan of "When Worlds Collide," a book co-authored by a favorite writer of ours, Philip Wylie, who also wrote what should be considered an ecological apocalyptic warning to us all with "The Beginning of the End" and I would love to see that made into a film too.

But of all the science fiction works I have read, the ones I would love to see are Olaf Stapeldon's "First and Last Men/Star Maker," and the best short story in science fiction, by the aforementioned Ted Sturgeon, "The Microcosmic God."

Kuvasc

Seems to me there was a movie -- The beginning of the end.

For some reason, I feel there were two different movies with that name -- or similar names.