Ash Ketchum

I've been watching films from that set. What happens is, I bring some discs in it to my office to try to watch while working. But if it's really bad, I stop and start another one. I just have no patience with some things anymore. Last Friday, I started PHANTOM FROM SPACE, THE SNOW CREATURE, WHITE PONGO and VOYAGE TO THE PLANET OF PREHISTORIC WOMEN, in that order, and just had no patience for either of them. So I settled on THE LOST JUNGLE (1934), but only because it had plenty of actual footage of Clyde Beatty working on-camera in real time with a ton of big cats. Silly movie, but the animal taming footage and the occasional real fights between some of them were amazing. (Where was PETA when we needed them?)

On another day, I tried ASSIGNMENT OUTER SPACE, GIANTS OF ROME and ROCKY JONES: CRASH OF THE MOONS. I'll get back to GIANTS OF ROME one of these days.

Also from this set, I've watched the following in their entirety for this challenge: FIRST SPACESHIP ON VENUS, PHANTOM PLANET and PLANET OUTLAWS (feature compilation of BUCK ROGERS serial). Those are recommended.

I've watched others for other challenges and definitely recommend UNKNOWN WORLD.

Coleen Gray is in PHANTOM PLANET, along with Anthony Dexter, who once played Valentino; Francis X. Bushman, who was a silent film star who was a contemporary of Valentino; and Dean Fredericks, who played comic strip hero Steve Canyon on TV.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

I watched some awful film with Bruce Campbell where a time traveler saved the Kennedys.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

I just realized Friday the 13th is tomorrow. As a token of appreciation, Jason X will be worth 2 points. The Friday the 13th TV series will also be worth double points an episode.

In addition, the rest of the series, with the exception of the first, would normally be ok* if you used a wild card. For tomorrow, you can spend one wild card token and watch all Friday the 13th films you want, with the exception of the first**. Freddy vs Jason is also allowed.

All films and TV episodes must be started and finished between midnight and 11:59pm, Friday the 13th (local time) for bonuses to count.

*in that Jason could be considered a creature of fantasy
** It was a regular human killer in the first film as well as part 5. 5 is being allowed because in the novelization of 6, it implies that the killer was being directed by Jason from beyond the grave which is the type of thing that could count as a paranormal possession and counts as sci-fi. If you really want to watch the first one, go ahead but don't plan on counting it.

LJG765

Which one? I love Bruce Campbell--even in his awful roles!

I ended up watching Return of the Killer Tomatoes which was worse than I remembered. I have it because of Anthony Starke, George Clooney and John Astin. I like some of the eye candy but forgot how misogynist it really is. Not unusual for this kind of movie, but all the bouncing, half naked breasts got to me this time. At least the half naked men soldiers at the end sort of made up for it. At times I like how they break the fourth wall but at times, it does go over the top.

@Trevor--the Back to the Future date is a hoax; it's actually sometime in 2015, which is close but not this year. Someone photoshopped it and it's been going around the last couple weeks.

Trevor

Sweet! So consider my apology a reminder instead. Someone bump this post in 3 years.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

Timequest. The movie is a perfect example of the minimum required to get a known name into a film, so they can advertise it. In the 5 minutes he's in it, none of his scenes really have anything to do with the main story, nor does he interact with the rest of the cast in anyway. It's basically a couple of scenes with him ham fisted into the film.

BobO'Link

I just can't bring myself to do that if it's something I've purchased. I'll suffer through to the end *once* and vow to never watch it again.
I thought Phantom from Space wasn't too bad, although those other 3... phew! Watching Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet and Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women back to back made me appreciate Prehistoric Planet a bit more but they have me wanting to see Planeta Bur, the Soviet film Corman chopped up to make them. There's a release from someone called "Video Dimensions" that looks to be a pretty good copy. At least the stills on amazon have good color and appear to be WS - but the description doesn't mention that and it's a bit more than I typically like to spend. I like many of the early foreign SF efforts so we'll see...

Yeah, those scenes with Beaty and the animals *are* amazing.
Rocky Jones is better viewed as the TV episodes. Even then you *really* need to get into the mindset of a 50s 8-10 year old male to fully enjoy them. There's a "Classic Sci-Fi TV - 150 Episodes" set from Mill Creek that has 23 of the 39 episodes in good transfers. If you enjoy vintage Sci-Fi TV fare that set has *lots* of entertainment value with mostly good to very good transfers. It also has 3 full serials, Phantom Empire, Radar Men From the Moon, and Undersea Kingdom with very good transfers.
I agree on all of those. I've had The DEFA Sci-Fi Collection in my "wishlist" for a while simply to get a copy of Silent Star, the film that was recut and dubbed to make First Spaceship on Venus. Image has a good quality WS, although *not* anamorphic, version of First Spaceship. It's not "great" but it's far superior to all those faded FS versions floating around. Both Image and Legend have good copies of Phantom Planet. The Legend one has both B/W and a colorized one. They did a good job on the color although I typically watch the B/W.

gp1086

Tomorrow is an excellent excuse for me to finally get around to watching Friday the 13th - Part 3 in my Netflix Instant queue. Heck - maybe I'll throw it on at midnight tonight.

gp1086

Finally saw Blade Runner (1982) for the first time. Watched the Final Cut version. Which do you all prefer?

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

I might watch X but I also have the tv series I haven't busted open yet. USPS on the other hand did bust a couple of them open because deep discount didn't pad it worth a damn, so the case was all messed up. It's also a clear case, so it wasn't something I had on hand to replace it with.

shadokitty

I don't have Jason X, but I have the rest of the F13 movies including Freddy v Jason, so I may watch a couple of them tomorrow.

BobO'Link

"The Final Cut", followed closely by the 1992 "Director's Cut".

If you've not done so you should read the basis for the film, Phillip K. Dick's novel, "Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?".

gp1086

Interesting. Thanks for the heads up.

Indy24LA

Watched Another Earth, not a bad concept, little slow, but compelling. And this is not listed as Sci-Fi on IMDB????

shellebelle

A Sound of Thunder is what I'm using.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

Imdb is sometimes defective like that.

SterlingBen

Sweet!

davidh777

Have gotten off to a lame start in the challenge but starting a Harry Potter marathon to get things going

ororama

I prefer the theatrical version. The narration seems to be unpopular, but for me it efficiently explained this world, while also effectively conveying the mid-1940s (I thought 1946 when I first saw it) noir atmosphere underlying the sci-fi.

The version that I watched most recently was the Final Cut. I don't find Scott tinkering with his work any more appealing then when Lucas or Spielberg do the same.

GoldenWheels

Ugh. I watched Dinosaur Island last night.

The minute I saw the Fred Olen Ray credit, I should have hit stop. But I didn't. I guess I deserved it.

shadokitty

Started my Land of the Giants set last night with the first episode, The Crash. Also watched another movie from the Sci Fi classics set yesterday afternoon, Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet.

BobO'Link

You're welcome. I should probably add that reportedly neither Ridley Scott nor screenwriter David Peoples actually read Dick's novel.

BobO'Link

But Scott *didn't* "tinker" with Blade Runner like Lucas and Spielberg did. Scott was briefly fired from the production shortly after principal photography wrapped. Executive producers Jerry Perenchio and Bud Yorkin of Tandem Productions stepped in and took over the editing of the project themselves. They *did* rehire Scott but retained artistic control. Following two disastrous preview screenings of the work print, which the audience claimed was difficult to understand, Yorkin and Perenchio decided to record an explanatory voice over and add a happy ending. Scott was not necessarily against the idea of a voice over, but he had wanted a voice over with Deckard musing philosophically on the implications of his actions. The producers insisted on the explanatory voice over. So the "Director's Cut" is more what Scott wanted from the outset but was unable to achieve due to meddling from the producers. The "Final Cut" was simply cleaning up and/or correcting inconsistencies that existed in both the "Theatrical" and "Director's" cuts of the film with a *few* visual effects added to enhance certain shots.

coyoteblue

No point letting the plot of the novel you're adapting get in the way of the story you're writing.

BobO'Link

Ain't that the truth!

The film title even comes from a *different* book. One called "The Bladerunner", written by Alan Nourse. Scott bought the rights to the title but not a screenplay based on the Nourse book. It had been written by William S. Burroughs who defined a blade runner as "a person who sells illegal surgical instruments".