One Science Crisis After Another!

 

There are a lot of different kinds of science fiction. It represents a broad playground for the human imagination and a wide range of structures and plotlines.

One of the most often used frames, particularly in hard SF, is the framing of one scientific crisis after another. A seemingly insurmountable problem faces the protagonists, and they must use quick scientific ingenuity to resolve it. Only to find that after that crisis is solved, they are soon faced by another one!

The book, Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, and the subsequent movie use this to great effect. Every time it looks like science teacher Ryland Grace and his alien friend have figured out a solution to deliver a much-needed microbe to save both their planets, something new and unanticipated will pop up to throw them off course. But together they solve each problem that comes up.

Another example of this is the 1966 film, Fantastic Voyage. I recently watched this as part of the 100 Best Science Fiction Movies of the 20th Century series I have been blogging*. It's not in the same league as Project Hail Mary (especially in terms of compelling characters and deeper emotional resonance). A team is miniaturized and sent into a man's body to eliminate a tumor that is affecting the man's ability to remember vital information. More far-fetched than Project Hail Mary, it nevertheless faces one unexpected problem after another. They are also under time pressure - 60 minutes and they start enlarging again.

One Science Crisis After Another!

What if we were faced with these in real life?

The record of our ability to handle it is mixed, at best.

We really should not have enough food to feed the many billions of people on the planet. But thanks to the Green Revolution of the mid-twentieth century, we were able to feed far more people than we otherwise would have.

The ozone layer in our atmosphere was developing holes. It was in danger of disappearing, but through international efforts, we were able to reduce the emissions of ozone-depleting chemicals, and the problem has been checked and reversed.

Through the efforts of Dr. Fauci and many others, we were able to develop a vaccine to greatly reduce COVID-19's harm in record time.

But science can't solve everything.

It can't solve how incredibly stupid some of us are.

Many science-based efforts to reduce COVID-19 were rejected by a stubborn and ignorant populace, particularly here in the USA. There were many, many, many unnecessary deaths because people refused to mask up, socially distance, or take the vaccine.

The biggest example is our reaction to global warming/climate change. Climate scientists know many ways we can mitigate the greatest harms caused by man-made climate change. But the most important nation on Earth has leaders who refuse to acknowledge this. Instead, they are galloping in the opposite direction.

Many in this country are more disturbed when the price of gas rises a dime than when the use of fossil fuels accelerates global temperature rise.

Scientists can come up with all the solutions in the world, but they mean nothing if we choose to ignore them.

Imagine if MAGA had been in charge of Project Hail Mary, or the micronauts inside a man's body. There would have been no solar system-saving microbe brought back, and that man's body in Fantastic Voyage would have just exploded.

Our one sience crisis after another is TRUMPed by our one MAGA crisis after another.

Our best minds are being silenced by our worst minds.

Until next time,

T. M. Strait

AOC '28

*please see my blog series Top 100 Sci-Fi Movies of the 20th Century. labeled Top 100 SciFi. Fantastic Voyage is No. 42. I am currently stuck on No. 40 - the 1966 movie Fahrenheit 451. I'm having a lot of trouble accessing it. It's like it just burned up or something.

Top 100 Sci-Fi Movies of the 20th Century!!! Part 6 No. 51 - 45

 

Top 100 Sci-Fi Movies of the 20th Century!!! Part 6 No. 51 - 45

 

  I received this issue of Remind, which Alison calls "my old people magazine," that ranked the top 100 Science Fiction movies of the 20th century.

Remind does feature many pop culture stories, primarily from the 1950s through the 1990s, though there are references to earlier decades as well. Each issue focuses on different topics, such as country music, westerns, and "where are they now" issues, among others. I enjoy it, as I love pop history. They also have puzzles and a monthly guide to what's on TCM (Turner Classic Movies).

I thought it would be fun to review the movies on the list in reverse order and share my thoughts on them. The magazine's ranking of the movies is not mine.  

I won't go into detailed reviews, but I will share the IMDb ranking and my own rating on a 1-10 scale. I am starting to grade some movies by fraction, such as grading a 7 as 7.3.  

51)

Star Trek IV: The Voyage

Year: 1986  IMDb: 7.3 Tom: 6.7  Had I seen before? Yes  Service found on: Paramount +

This is the Star Trek movie with the highest cheese factor. The whole world is danger because aliens about to destroy the planet can't communicate with whales to know everything is all right? So through comvloluted scientific gobblelygook, the Enterprise travels back in time to capture two hump-back bring them...back to the future? This lace with more humor thand any other Star Trek movie. Some of it is cringey, some of it is amusing.  Watching the crew as fish out of water, particularly Spock, was fun. And, yes, the storyline is ecologically consious and WOKE, because Star TRek has always been , since the very beginning, WOKE (thank God!) Ogf course, that may all change now that Paramount + has been taken over by reich-wing overloads who worship at the altar of the Orange God. 

50)

Forbidden Planet

Year: 1956  IMDb: 7.5 Tom: 7.7  Had I seen before? Yes  Service found on: Fawsome

A science fiction interplanetary version of The Tempest? Yes, please!  This is a leap forward in storytelling and special effects, as big as Star Wars was in the 70s, this filled the sakme role for the 50s. the Star Trek movie with the highest cheese factor. Yes, it does have the stink of misogyny in parts, but, like it or not, not unusual for the times. The acting is a cut above the usual Grade B style of 50s scifi. It introdded Robbie the Robot, later made famous in Lost In Space. Although not a perfect movie, it is fun to watch and a great step forward.

49)

Scanners

Year: 1981  IMDb: 6.7 Tom: 7.1  Had I seen before? Yes  Service found on: HBO Max

Action so intense it will make your head explode! Another one from the King of Body Horror, David Cronenberg.  But this one I do like a bit better than most of his films. Therre's more social commentary and struggles against megacorporations than he uaually has.  And the story id easier to follow.  Psychics with telepathis poweers who are juiced up and under control by nefarious capitalist sources. science fiction interplanetary version of The Tempest? Yes, please!  

 48)

The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms

Year: 1953  IMDb: 6.6 Tom: 5.5  Had I seen before? Yes  Service found on: Essential SciFi

A lot of promise with mixed delivery.  On the plus side, it is the first film to use Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion technique, and it warns about the effect of radiation and nuclear testinfg. On the down side, it takes a long time to get into gear, and the ending is in the 'really? Is that it?' category.

47)

 

Tron

Year: 1982  IMDb: 6.7 Tom: 4.8  Had I seen before? Yes  Service found on: Disney+

I think this was pretty big at the time, and has spawned two sequels.  It did have Jeff Bridges and David Warner.  I had a hard time with the premise, and the look of the digital universe.  I guess it made sense with the way video games looked at the time, but it just dodn't hold my interest. 

46)

Tron

Year: 1989  IMDb: 7.5 Tom: 6.9  Had I seen before? Yes  Service found on: Disney+

Director James Cameron and his obsession with the oceans and the briny deep! Exciting in some places, slow in others, it features groundbreaking special effects and a fair-to-middling story centered around a rescue of a nuclear submarine and the discovery of a unique, intelligent life form on the ocean floor.

45)

Tron

Year: 1981  IMDb: 7.1 Tom: 8.7  Had I seen before? YES!  Service found on: Prime

Anyone who follows this list knows I loves my some John Carpenter! And this is one of his best! Introduces one of my favorite actors, Kirk Russell, in his iconic role of Snake Plissken. Manhattan has become a federal prison, and the President of the United States has crash-landed onto it.  Snake is brought in to rescue the President in 24 hours, or a bomb wired into him will go off.  Exciting and thrilling, with an eerie dystopian New York City, it's an action-filled journey enhanced by a tremendous musical score. There are two directors whose movies I watch over and over again: Mel Brooks and John Carpenter.

 As an added feature, I would like to keep a running list of those movies I have rated 8 or higher.

90) Akira 8

89) Cocoon 9

88) They Live 9

84) Face Off 8

77) The Time Machine 8

75) The Truman Show 8

          70) Galaxy Quest 8

          68) Time After Time 8

          67) Superman 8 

          63) Men In Black 8  

           56) Starman 8.1

           55) Strange Days 8.3

           45) Escape From New York 8.7

Next up? Rsy Brsdbury! A fantastic voyage, an excellent adventure, an animated giant, and Arnold Schwarzenegger fighting a predatory alien in Central America!

Until next time!

T. M. Strait (thanx, H. G. Wells!)

AOC '28

Top 100 Sci-Fi Movies of the 20th Century!!! Part 5 No. 58 - 52

 

  I received this issue of Remind, which Alison calls "my old people magazine," that ranked the top 100 Science Fiction movies of the 20th century.

Remind does feature many pop culture stories, primarily from the 1950s through the 1990s, though there are references to earlier decades as well. Each issue focuses on different topics, such as country music, westerns, and "where are they now" issues, among others. I enjoy it, as I love pop history. They also have puzzles and a monthly guide to what's on TCM (Turner Classic Movies).

I thought it would be fun to review the movies on the list in reverse order and share my thoughts on them. The magazine's ranking of the movies is not mine.  

I won't go into detailed reviews, but I will share the IMDb ranking and my own rating on a 1-10 scale. I am starting to grade some movies by fraction, such as grading a 7 as 7.3.  

58)

Soylent Green

Year: 1973  IMDb: 7.0 Tom: 7.0  Had I seen before? Yes  Service found on: Library Rental

Imagine 2022 New York City.  Pollution is rampant, there is overcrowding, poverty, unemployment and hunger. The only food in abundance is Soylent Green.  And what is it made of?  Huh? Eh? Eh? At the time, it was perhaps the biggest surprise I had experiencec in cinema.  It features a disillusioned cop in Charlton Heston, and Edward G. Robinson in his final film role. I enjoyed revisiting this science fiction mystery thriller.

57)

The Andromeda Strain

Year: 1971  IMDb: 7.6 Tom: 7.3  Had I seen before? Yes  Service found on: Pluto TV

Well, this time we did it to ourselves.  Achrashed sattelite brings in deadly microbes, killing an entire town, except for an old man and a baby. Wickedly realsitic, sometimes plodding, but always focused on the crisis at hand, aa small group of scientists try to figure and neutralize the virus. This was based on a bestseller by Michael Chrchton (Jurrasic Park), a writer I followed until he went globel warming denier.

56)

Starman

Year: 1984  IMDb: 7.0 Tom: 8.1  Had I seen before? Yes  Service found on: Roku

It's no secret that I am a huge John Carpenter.  I seldom see movies more than once, but most Carpenter films I could watch again and agian.  This one is one of his best, and is unique in it's romantic ... stariness.  Jeff Bridges plays an alien doing his best to emulate human behavior. He was nominated for Best Actor, a rarity for a scince fiction film performance.  And he deserved to win.  He is aided by a Karen Allen (also a steller performance), assisting him in trying to return to his home world, while being persued by those pesky governemtn agents.

55) 

Strange Days

Year: 1995  IMDb: 7.2 Tom: 8.3  Had I seen before? No  Service found on: Library Rental

Yeah. I have no idea how I hadn't seen this before.  To date, of those movies I had missed, this was the biggest surprise. Set just four years in the future, it's use of VR and other elements are more prophetic for now than 1999/2000. I found the story very engaging, and the two leads, Ralph Fiennes and Angela Bassett, very engaging. It really rings true today, not just thte VR, but with AI, and the increasing racial and social injustice of our times. Successful both as a social commentary and an action thriller, I highly reccomend it.  But, oh boy!  Is it ever hard to find!  Your best bet is a livrary DVD rental.

54)

The Thing From Another World

 

Year: 1951  IMDb: 7.0 Tom: 5.9  Had I seen before? Yes  Service found on: Roku

This is based on a famous novella by John Campbell.  I'm not sure how close to the source material it is.  John Carpenter may have benn slighltly closer in his 1982 adaptation. It's strenght is on a more realistic dialogue and presentatiion than many science fiction movies of it's time. It's scare factor is fairly muted.  James Arness (Gunsmoke's Mattt Dillon) plays like a giant alien carrot.  Not phenomenal, but impressive fot it's time, and worth a watch,

53)

 Starship Troopers

Year: 1997  IMDb: 7.3 Tom: 7.4 Had I seen before? Yes  Service found on: Pluto TV

Another film whose thmes hit harder today than they did at the time of the film's release. Based on Robert Heinlein's sceince fisftion novel, the film presents a mix of younf adult angst  and outright fascism.  Earth fights off an invasion of giant bugs, eventually trying to take the fight to the bug's home planet. There are news clips and TV ads icleverly interspersed throughout.  I understand what director Paul Verhoevan (Robo Cop) was going for, but the message against facism is somewhat lost in the miltary glory of the young soldiers, fghting as much for their home planet, as they are for the right to be a "citizen." I'm not sure everyone gets what they're watching, but that just might be me. Yes, the scariness of what we're going through now effects how I view this movie.

54)

Year: 1976  IMDb: 6.6 Tom: 4.0 Had I seen before? No  Service found on: Puto TV

I'm sorry to end this segment on this downer of a note, but this movie is terrible. Maybe you'll find it palatable, but I didn't.  It just meandered incoherently, and i didn't understand much of it. This is not a crticism of David Bowie.  He's a great musician, and he probably just did what they told him.  Sotry line is somewhat similar to Starman, I guess.  I'm not sure. In my opinon, a waste of celluloid. 

 As an added feature, I would like to keep a running list of those movies I have rated 8 or higher.

90) Akira 8

89) Cocoon 9

88) They Live 9

84) Face Off 8

77) The Time Machine 8

75) The Truman Show 8

          70) Galaxy Quest 8

          68) Time After Time 8

          67) Superman 8 

          63) Men In Black 8  

           56) Starman 8.1

           55) Strange Days 8.3

Next up? More John Carpenter! Perhaps the best of 50's science fiction planetary visits! James Cameron enters the charts! Star Trek chase whales! And much more!  Well, two or three more.

Until next time!

T. M. Strait (thanx, H. G. Wells!)

AOC '28

 

Top 100 Sci-Fi Movies of the 20th Century!!! Part 4 No. 65 - 59

  I received this issue of Remind, or what Alison calls "my old people magazine," which ranks the top 100 Science Fiction movies of the 20th century.

Remind does feature many pop culture stories, primarily from the 1950s through the 1990s, though there are references to earlier decades as well. Each issue focuses on different topics, such as country music, westerns, and "where are they now" issues, among others. I enjoy it, as I love pop history. They also have puzzles and a monthly guide to what's on TCM (Turner Classic Movies).

I thought it would be fun to review the movies on the list in reverse order and share my thoughts on them. The magazine's ranking of the movies is not mine.  

I won't go into detailed reviews, but I will share the IMDb ranking and my own on a 1 to 10 scale. I am starting to grade some movies by fraction, such as grading a 7 as 7.3.  

65)

Mad Max

Year: 1979  IMDb: 6.8 Tom: 6.3  Had I seen before?   No?  Service found on: HBO MAX

No quite what I was expecting.  More of a revenge picture, with more muted elements of dystopian science fiction than I was expecting. Nevertheless, Mel Gibson plays his role well, and the basic story is good, if not that surprising.  The sequels were right to play up the more "future gone bad" elements of it, and the vehicle racing scenes. 

64)

The Invisible Man

Year: 1933  IMDb: 7.3  Tom: 7.1  Had I seen before?   No  Service found on: Library Rental

Being a huge H.G Wells fan, I find it hard to beleive I hadn't seen this before.  Securing this movie was a real challenge, and that may be part of why.  It took a while for even the library to find a copy for me.  I rhought it might be timid in showing The Invisible Man in broader settings, but it included village scenes, and that the invisibility had driven him mad. Claude Rains is amazing projecting a complex character descending into madness, even as he is wrapped from head to toe. 

63)

 Men In Black

 

Year: 1997  IMDb: 7.3  Tom: 8.0  Had I seen before?  Yes.  Service found on: Starz

I found this movie quite enjoyavble. A delightful and surprising assortment of clever aliens, this is a great blend of comedy and scifi action. Both Will Smith and Tommy Lee Johns are on their A game, and make a great team, with real chemistry and charisma.  Sometimes you rewatch a movie, and it does not live up to your memories of it.  Not so with this one! 

62)

 

 Westworld

 

Year: 1973  IMDb: 6.9 Tom: 7.7  Had I seen before?  Yes.  Service found on: Prime Rental

Some ports of this were very pro forma.  But, overall, it's another one I found better than I remembered.  Although concentreated on Westworld, they do show other parks, and I enjoyed that.  Yul Brynner as the relentless gunslinger android was top notch.  It was lees than two hours, so it clearly couIdn't get into the depths that that the excellent (if often confusing) TV series could.  But you got the gist - wealthy elites using everyone else as background players in their little dramas.   

61)

Them!

Year: 1954  IMDb: 7.2 Tom: 6.6  Had I seen before?  Yes.  Service found on: Fawsome

Giant ants!  And boy, are they mean! The first of the "big bug" movie, and one that played on the fear of the use of atomic weapons, and the damage that may come just from testing.  The beginning and middle is better than the ending.  Over the course of the movie, they become less of a threat in that they are fairly easily put down. The real threat lies in their ability to colonize almost faster than they can be eliminated. And the implication that this might not be the last mutation coming out of the atomic era.  And from cinema, at least, it wasn't the last one.  Atomic mutation became a popular theme for decades to come.

60)

 The Incredible Shrinking Man

  Year: 1957  IMDb: 7.6  Tom: 7.1  Had I seen before?  Yes.  Service found on: Prime Rental

Speaking of playing off of the atomic theme, going through a cloud of radioactive pesticides results in a man who is slowly shrinking.  As he goes through the unrelenting stages, he befriends some little people (until he shrinks smaller than them), lives in a doll house and is threatened by the family cat (chased into the basement), and duels with a spider.  The ending is more bleak than I remembered.  It tries to play it off as a cosmic wonder, but I'm not buying it.  Ant Man he is not. There is no clear promise of some wondrous sub-atomic universe.  Adapted from a story by Richard Matheson, one of our most cinematic science fiction writers, who also wrote the book Psycho is based on.

59)

 

The Fifth Element

  Year: 1997  IMDb: 7.6  Tom: 7.5  Had I seen before?  Yes.  Service found on: Pluto                                                                                TV

There are a number of movies on this list that use dreamy or borderline incoherent themes, like Barbarella, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and they don't always hit the mark with me as they do with some people.  The Fifth Element is the exception that proves the rule.  I like its quirkiness and the strange places it goes. It has many over-the-top characters and weird scenes. And for the most part, I loved it.  I had forgotten how much I like Bruce Willis, and Gary Oldman's character was a lot of fun. There has been some modern criticism of Leeloo's costuming, but, in the context of the movie, it made a lot of sense. I enjoyed revisiting this movie.

 

As an added feature, I would like to keep a running list of those movies I have rated 8 or higher.

90) Akira 8

89) Cocoon 9

88) They Live 9

84) Face Off 8

77) The Time Machine 8

75) The Truman Show 8

          70) Galaxy Quest 8

          68) Time After Time 8

          67) Superman 8 

          63) Men In Black 8  

Next up? We have a challenging dystopian dietary choice, John Carpenter's purest sceince fiction opus, a raging virus, Dsvid Bowir, who goes there?, and the bad days of not partying in 1999.

Until next time!

T. M. Strait (thanx, H. G. Wells!)

AOC '28

 

Top 100 Sci-Fi Movies of the 20th Century!!! Part 4 No. 72 - 66

 

Top 100 Sci-Fi Movies of the 20th Century!!! Part 4 No. 72 - 66

  I received this issue of Remind, or what Alison calls "my old people magazine," which ranks the top 100 Science Fiction movies of the 20th century.

Remind does have many pop culture stories, focusing primarily on the 1950s through the 1990s, although there are some references to earlier decades as well. Each issue focuses on different topics, such as country music, westerns, and "where are they now" issues, among others. I enjoy it, as I love pop history. They also have puzzles and a monthly guide to what's on TCM (Turner Classic Movies).

I thought it would be fun to review the movies on the list in reverse order and share my thoughts on them. The magazine's ranking of the movies is not mine.  

I won't go into detailed reviews, but I will share the IMDb ranking and my own on a 1 to 10 scale.

72)

Silent Running

Year: 1972  IMDb: 6.6 Tom: 5  Had I seen before?   Yes  Service found on: Classic Movies & TV

Interesting in theory, kind of dull in execution.  Burce Dern plays a man determined to keep what may be the last plant life/forest left, one that is in a domed bubble on a spaceship. There is still life on Earth.  How it's getting along without vegetation, I'm not sure.  Lots of bits with robots.  

71)

 THX 1138

 

Year: 1971  IMDb: 6.6 Tom: 6  Had I seen before?   Yes  Service found on: Library Rental

This is George Lucas's first work, and it started as a student film!  Given that, it's pretty good. Robert Duvall, in an early role, effectively plays the man trying to escape a dystopian society. Francis Ford Coppola even had a hand in getting the film made.  I found it a little disjointed, and some of the plot hard to follow, but it did have an effective dystopian feel to it.  

70)

Galaxy Quest

Year: 1999  IMDb: 7.4 Tom: 8  Had I seen before?   Yes  Service found on: Pluto TV

Great send up of 60s style science fiction, especailly Star Trek.  Humorous, with above average special effects and make up/costuming (special notr to Sigourney Weaver).  This is and the first Santa Clause movie are the only things I've seen Tim Allen in, including TV series. All the characters are enjoyable, especially Alan Rickman as the frustrated Spock stand-in. I enjoyed the oportunity to see it again, and it held up pretty well! 

 69)

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Year: 1975  IMDb: 7.4 Tom: 6  Had I seen before?   Yes  Service found on: Prime Purchase

When the phrase cult classic comes to mind, this is the first one people think of.  Some places had (or maybe even have) this film running at midnight, with attendees wearing outfits from it, and chanting well-known lines.  Me? I thought it was okay, good but not worthy of worship.  Tim Allen romps through this move with as much joy and verve as I've ever seen from an acting performance.  I do love the song Time Warp.

68) 

Time After Time

 

Year: 1979  IMDb: 7 Tom: 8  Had I seen before?   Yes  Service found on: Library Rental

Time travel? Yes, please!  HG Wells? Oh, thank you! A romance that I actually cared about?  Yes!  I'm not a big romance person, but this one was so beleivable and affectionate, I couldn't resist.  Malcolm McDowall and Mary Steenbergen became a real-life couple, married for a while (in Hollywood, little lasts forever).  HG Wells, with the Time Machine used in his novel of the same name, pursues an escaped Jack the Ripper (played engagingly by David Warner) to 1970s San Francsico.  The time travel did not focus on paradoxes or how we can't change things, but instead delvered a fast paced story that made sense.

67)

Superman

Year: 1978  IMDb: 7.4  Tom: 8  Had I seen it before?   Yes!  Service found on: HBO Max

There a number of missteps in this movie, but there is also a lot to love.  Way too long is spent on the origin story.  Lex Luthor is played a bit too broadly by Gene Hackman. The flying around Earth to turn back time is quite a reach, even for a comic book superhero.  But Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent/Superman? Perfection!  The scenes with his Lois and the Daily Planet family? Loved it! And the montage of Superman's first super feats, rescuing kittens and interrupting robberies in progress?  As a lifelong Superman fan, it was the kind of stuff I had waited a lifetime to see.

Superman II was, up until that time, the movie that most effectively felt like a comic book.  And the 2025 Superman movie?  I can't even talk about that movie without breaking down into tears of joy. 

66)

Dune

A David Lynch extravaganza! I'm not sure if what I saw was an edited version, but the story unfolded okay until the last half hour, which rushed through almost half of the novel it's based on. It was et with atmosphere and some strong characters, but the scripting was shaky.

Year: 1984  IMDb: 6.7  Tom: 7  Had I seen before?   Yes!  Service found on: Netflix

As an added feature, I would like to keep a running list of those movies I have rated 8 or higher.

90) Akira 8

89) Cocoon 9

88) They Live 9

84) Face Off 8

77) The Time Machine 8

75) The Truman Show 8

          70) Galaxy Quest 8

          68) Time After Time 8

          67) Superman 8 

Next up? We turn invisible, dress in black, rampage an amusement park, get small, and find a new element..

Until next time!

T. M. Strait (thanx, H. G. Wells!)

AOC '28