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AUSSIECON4
Jul. 22nd, 2010 07:20 pm |  |  | ||
| Kim Stanley Robinson | Shaun Tan | Robin Johnson |
The 68th World Science Fiction Convention will be held 2-6 September 2010 at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. Our Guests of Honour are Hugo-winning author Kim Stanley Robinson, award-winning Melbourne artist Shaun Tan, and dedicated fan Robin Johnson. Melbourne has also hosted Worldcons in 1975, 1985, and 1999.
The annual Worldcon brings together science fiction and fantasy professionals and fans from around the world. All forms of SF&F are represented - film, television, comics, costuming, gaming, and especially literature. Programming includes panel discussions, lectures, science demonstrations, films, readings, and autographing.
More details at http://www.aussiecon4.org.au/And NO, I'm not going (given up going to SF cons since Swancon 21, with the exception of Aussiecon 3 back in 1999) ), but it occured to me that a number of my friends might be interested, and might want to.
Dimension X!
Dec. 25th, 2009 07:44 pm
Discovered copies of these old radio shows on the net for downloading. seems to have been an SF radio show from the 1950s in the USA. I found it interesting that there was a 1951 episode entitled "The Outer Limits" - was there a "Twilight Zone" episode as well?
There seem to be several sources for shows and details on the net:
X Minus One (the sequel radio show)
I liked that many of the stories I'd read when young (like The Green Hills of Earth, Nightfall, There will come a soft Rain, and End as a World). You might have to sort out your CODECS and players to play these - see The Codec Guide (Media Player Classic) and VLC.
Voice cast going back to the Futurama
Aug. 6th, 2009 06:41 amFrom TVFIX:
Good news, everyone! All the key members of Futurama's voice cast will be back for more episodes of the animated sitcom.
Fans were overjoyed when US pay TV network Comedy Central announced it would produce 26 new episodes of the cult cartoon, which was cancelled in 2003.
But happiness quickly turned to anger when it was later revealed that 20th Century Fox TV had rejected the original voice cast's salary demands for the new episodes, and planned to replace them with cheaper "soundalikes".
Variety reports that Futurama's key cast — Billy West, John DiMaggio, Katey Sagal, Maurice LaMarche and Tress MacNeille — have now reached a "compromise" with Fox, though it was not specified exactly how much they'll earn per episode.
"We are thrilled to have our incredible cast back," said Futurama creators Matt Groening and David X. Cohen in a statement. "The call has already gone out to the animators to put the mouths back on the characters."
Futurama is expected to return to television in mid-2010. It was renewed following the success of four straight-to-DVD movies, which were released in 2008 and 2009.
essential science fiction films MEME
May. 16th, 2009 09:00 am![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
Time Out's list of essential science fiction films. Italicise the ones you've seen, and bold those you like, while strike-through the ones you disliked (nb: I've changed the formatting codes to make this clearer).
The Abyss (1989)
Alien (1979)
Batteries Not Included (1987)
Cocoon (1985)
Battle Beyond the Stars (1980)
Battlefield Earth (2000)The Black Hole (1979)Cherry 2000 (1987)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
ET: The Extra Terrestrial (1982)
Contact (1997)Sphere (1998)
Critters (1986)
Dark Star (1974)
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
Dune (1984)
Earth vs The Flying Saucers (1956)
Enemy Mine (1985)Event Horizon (1997)Explorers (1985)
The Fifth Element (1997)
Sunshine (2007)
Flash Gordon (1980)
Flesh Gordon (1974)
Forbidden Planet (1956)
The Fountain (2006)Howard the Duck (1986)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
The Hidden (1987)
The Last Starfighter (1984)
The Man Who Fell To Earth (1976)Mars Attacks! (1996)
Metropolis (1927)Morons from Outer Space (1985)Pitch Black (2000)
The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)
Planet of the Apes (1968)
Quatermass and the Pit (1967)
Red Planet (2000)
Mission to Mars (2000)
Repo Man (1984)
Brother From Another Planet (1984)
Serenity (2005)Silent Running (1972)Solaris (1972)
Solaris (2002)
Soylent Green (1973)Spaceballs (1987)Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone (1983)
Ice Pirates (1984)
Solarbabies (1986)
Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)
Star Trek Generations (1994)
Star Trek: First Contact (1996)
Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)Star Trek Nemesis (2002)Star Trek (2009)
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Starship Troopers (1997)
Supernova (2000)
The Thing (1982)
Things To Come (1936)
This Island Earth (1955)
Total Recall
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
War of the Worlds (1953)
War of the Worlds (2005)
Independence Day (1996)
Zardoz (1974)
Boxing Day Excursion
Dec. 26th, 2008 04:22 pmI thoroughly enjoyed the remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still. It was a good choice for a Boxing Day film. I'll do a fuller review later (I'll just say that l-u-v the new GORT).
Everything surround it however was not so good. Due to Sunday bus timetables, I had an hour's wait before and after the film. I also had cramps and extended sessions in the toilets afterwards (so maybe it was just as well I had an hour after the film).
Glad to be home. Zombie time again. If I'm no better tomorrow - I probably need to see a G.P.
R.I.P. Forest J Ackerman
Dec. 6th, 2008 05:39 pmI once met him in a lift, but that's like saying that I had a friend who once went to the same bathroom as Hugh Jackman.
Roddenberry's dreams
Sep. 26th, 2008 07:32 pm
One of the things I've been doing to keep me from totally vegetating has been watching Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda.
Cathy sent me copies of the first 18 episodes years ago on video tape, but when I found that the whole series is now (and at an affordable price) available on DVD I started watching from the start. I'm working my way through season 2 just now.
The thing about this series is that it has it's creator's mark all over it. The basic premise is...
Captain Dylan Hunt is captain of the star ship Andromeda Ascendant. The ship was one of many in the Systems Commonwealth military. When the Nietzcheans turned against the Commonwealth and went to war, Andromeda and Dylan became trapped on the edge of a black hole, frozen in time for three hundred years. Three hundred years later, the Commonwealth has fallen and salvager Beka Valentine, captain of the Eureka Maru rescue the ship. Dylan finds the universe very different from the one he left. It is a chaotic mess and he's determined to fix it and re-establish the Commonwealth. SCIFIPEDIA
Now you could easily substitute Captain Kirk or Picard for Hunt; The Enterprise (though probably the 'D') for the Andromeda; The Federation for Systems Commonwealth; Klingons for Nietzcheans; and maybe either The Borg or Species 8714 for a species (and ultimate threat) of the Magog (not mentioned above). The show was initially developed further by Robert Hewitt Wolfe and of course not by Paramount, so that's why they're all different.
It's a Canadian production and I like that. There's a certain "cheesiness" to the show that I like. It stars <th></th> <td>Kevin Sorbo (have you seen his force lance?) for a start! </td>The plots and ideas are better than they ought to be, but often the show doesn't seem to take itself seriously, even playing with the format:
- Harper: Yeah, sure, that explains everything. No chance that they've been left alone because they're a bunch of cannibals, or killer robots, or…
- Trance: Harper!
- Harper: What? You're gonna say I'm wrong? C'mon, every single High Guard remnant we've encountered has been psychotic, evil, or both… Present company excluded, of course.
- Dylan: Of course.
Also today I visited the Star Trek Museum in Second Life. Once again things were better than I expected. There was a recreation of Ten Forward in one area, and another building had replicas of the main ships from all five series (the one shown above being the best) and lots of other stuff too.
Sometimes it's fun to veg out on fan type stuff, even though I no longer have anything to do with organised fandom. Some folk however might have too much time on their hands - check out the Unnamed USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) personnel listing at Memory Alpha to see what I mean!
Restored (again?)
Jul. 6th, 2008 05:52 pm
From the Metropolis Wikipedia Page:
On July 1, 2008, Berlin film experts announced that a 16mm reduction negative of the original cut of the film, which runs over 210 minutes in length, had been discovered in the archives of the film museum Museo del Cine in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The find has been authenticated by film experts working for ZEITmagazin. The print is badly scratched and will require considerable restoration before it is viewable. British Broadcasting Corporation's teletext service reported on July 4-5, 2008 that the only copy of the film had now received its first viewing.
Apparently the film will be released by Kino. I had a look at their page for it, and the description reads (in part):
Now, restored in Germany with state-of-the-art digital technology, under the supervision of the Murnau Foundation, and with the original 1927 orchestral score by Gottfried Huppertz added, Metropolis can be appreciated in its full glory. It is, as A. O. Scott of The New York Times declared, "A fever dream of the future. At last we have the movie every would-be cinematic visionary has been trying to make since 1927." (my emphasis)
This may be referring to their 2001 restoration though, and new footage may have to be inserted still. Having seen at least two previous "restored" versions (and yes, I liked Moroder's version except it's score) I'll wait and see.
The version I have on my shelf was bought for $2 at Go-Lo, and there's no telling which version it is.
Snow Crash
Mar. 4th, 2008 01:46 pm
I finally finished Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson this morning. I can remember seeing this in the discard bins for years, but never getting around to buying a copy for $2. I still haven't as it was a library copy.
The style of this book reminds me of Mick Farren in it's combination of high/low tech and streetwise anarchic savvy. Very neat depiction of a dystopia that hasn't quite happened yet. It also depicts the Metaverse (apparently the term is coined from this novel) with avatars. Although Stephenson may not have invented the term, he popularised its use.
I found the description of the Metaverse interesting after having played Second Life. In the book the entire VR world takes place on a black sphere where everything is black until something is created there. There are subsystems (called daemons) at work that do automated tasks, but these (and almost everything else in the world) have been created by hackers.
There are nightclubs, businesses and homes in the metaverse. There's no flying or teleportation however, and avatars have either catch a monorail or have their own transport to travel any faster than walking (and also have to climb into and out of the metaverse to login/logout). Avatars become semitransparent in the main street to avoid traffic congestion but are solid otherwise, and can be "killed" in world, forcing the user a delay in logging back in.
The novel certainly paints a vivid description of both the metaverse and of a future America, balkanised by franchises and the disintegration of government. Somehow though, it ends flat when the current crisis is resolved. While it's tempting to want another chapter (what happens to Raven?) I can understand why it ends there.
Also, check out The Web Site of Aleph for some interesting essays about the book.
