Re: 5th Annual Summer Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

BECKY SHARP (1935) was the first full color Technicolor feature made by Hollywood, so it has some historical importance. You need to see the restored print that TCM has showed and not the grainy p.d. copies circulating on sets like the one Mr. Peepers is watching. It's based on Thackeray's "Vanity Fair."

Re: 5th Annual Summer Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I woke up very early and flipped on the TV to find Abbott and Costello's Jack and the Beanstalk was just starting (TCM). As I'm somewhat of a sucker for A&C it looks like it's my first title on the Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge in spite of not counting for the Historical Appreciation Challenge. They're following that one with The Giant Behemoth and it's tempting to watch it too, but I have a DVD of it so Ancient Aliens will be next to get back to the original plans. :)

With all the talk of watching Time Travel films for the overlap day it's "Leap Day Challenge" deja vu. :D

Re: 5th Annual Summer Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I'm starting off with a fantasy comedy, Blithe Spirit. Typically sparkling Noel Coward stuff, although I've never seen the Blu-ray before. That Lean/Coward box is a true joy.

Re: 5th Annual Summer Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I watched Vanity Fair earlier in the challenge and while that wasn't great, I was able to follow it. I do recall some glimpses of similarities, now that I think about it but overall wasn't that impressed.

Re: 5th Annual Summer Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I have 2 episodes of Ancient Aliens under my belt and so far, it's quite entertaining. More pseudoscience than you can shake a stick at with a preponderance to blame *any* unexplained event, drawing, or artifact on alien visitation. The segment with the theory of how the Great Pyramid at Giza could have been a giant microwave power transmitter is priceless!

It's actually one of the better History Channel "documentaries" I've seen recently with very good production values. It doesn't suffer from the "repeat half the prior segment when coming back from a commercial break" syndrome so common with their more recent programming. It's interesting to see these mysteries in spite of the "jump to alien visitation" leaps of logic/conclusions presented.

Re: 5th Annual Summer Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I started last night with two episodes of The Time Tunnel, Rendevous with Yesterday, and One Way to the Moon. Tonight I plan to finish disc 1 side A with End of the World, and on tv there is Lost in Space tonight. May also watch a Gamera movie and something from one of my MC sci fi 50 movie packs.

Re: 5th Annual Summer Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I started with John Carter. Maybe it was my really low expectations, but I really enjoyed it.

Re: 5th Annual Summer Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

i saw this a week or so ago and I did too. there as def alot of issues i had with it but i enjoyed it prolly because of how much of a bad rep this movie got i as expecting straight to syfy bad.

im off to a slow start first movie i put in i fell asleep half way thru and have no desire to return it was that bad (alien armageddon) gonna watch event horizon and real steel after the yankees get done.

Re: 5th Annual Summer Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I followed my tradition and began with an early silent film, 1903's Fairyland: A Kingdom of Fairies by Georges Melies. I remain amazed by what he did in the early days of cinema compared to some of the other directors. I keep a copy of The Films of Georges Melies (aired on TCM HD) just to take care of early sci-fi and fantasy movies on the checklist.

Re: 5th Annual Summer Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Updated my signature with the latest challenge.

Re: 5th Annual Summer Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

You learn something new everyday. If I run across it, I'll try to give a watch. I see that Billie Burke is in it, so it'd be worth viewing just to see her. I have to say period pieces like that don't really interest me though.

Re: 5th Annual Summer Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I've not yet seen this one but, based solely on trailers, don't have high expectations. One of my concerns is I've yet to read a review from or talk to anyone who's seen the film where the they were either familiar with or had actually read the novel on which the film is based. I know most film adaptations fall short to fans of the original works so I have a bit of trepidation as Burroughs' Barsoom series is one of my all time favorites. And the trailers were all somewhat underwhelming. The ones I've seen all have that "overly CGI summer action film with no substance" look about them.

Re: 5th Annual Summer Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Is that Chris Sarandon (with mustache) shaking Bill Murray's hand at 1:19:25 in Ghostbusters?

Re: 5th Annual Summer Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Watched Witches of Oz early this morning, like I mentioned earlier. It was pretty good. Kept my attention throughout the film and it was almost 3 hours long, so that's pretty good. Really, my major complaint is that they did a wonderful job on most costumes and actors, but wasted their money on a lot of special effects that looked bad rather than a few that looked really good. Like their flying monkeys looked really fake and their sizing issues with showing two characters was really bad.

Saw Battle Royale this afternoon and enjoyed it but probably won't ever watch it again. Way too bloody for me. One arterial spray is too many in my opinion and this had a few. It seemed fairly accurate to the book with some changes that I'm not sure why they made, but isn't that true with so many book to movies?

Watched a short silent film, Jack and Beanstalk-it's always fun to watch those and try to imagine how they set up a scene for the first time as they were still experimenting with the process. First time I've seen a fairy involved with the story, but it's always cool how they can get the story across without words.

Watching It Came from Beneath the Sea right now. It's my first Harryhausen film, I believe. So far so good. Just started so not too much to say about it right now.

All 3 movies were first watches for me. So far I haven't had any duds, even though the Oz one was a blind buy as I tend to buy any with that theme.

Re: 5th Annual Summer Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Tonight on my local channel I watched an episode of Lost In Space, Curse of Cousin Smith, which had Dr. Smith's cousin in it.

Re: 5th Annual Summer Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I finished the first season of Ancient Aliens and 2 episodes of the next season and I've had my fill. I might watch an episode now and then but I'm changing up the rest of my night to time travel films. Starting off with Timequest and following it up with Time After Time.

Ancient Aliens started going off the deep end even more with the second season. Apparently the old gods like Zeus are clearly fictional but centaurs and Medusa are hybrids created by aliens.

Tomorrow I'm shooting for an Alien marathon. Planning on starting off with Prometheus and then pulling out the Alien blu-ray set and watching director cuts.

Re: 5th Annual Summer Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Many of my favorite Sci-Fi/Fantasy films are those on which Harryhausen worked. I'd have to pick Earth vs. the Flying Saucers and Jason and the Argonauts as his best. Both have very good stories and the stop motion work on them is amazing.

Re: 5th Annual Summer Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Watched TRON (the original) and Conan the Barbarian (the 2011 version). Both were very good, I imagine TRON must have been incredible for it's time. I really enjoyed Conan also, makes me wish I hadn't skipped it at the theater. As always, Rose McGowan did an incredible job.

Re: 5th Annual Summer Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I only have the first season and believe it's enough. After those 6 episodes I just couldn't see where they could go without becoming very repetitive or doing even more grasping at straws than they'd already done. From what you indicate it appears that they took the Egyptian glyphs to heart and extended them to the Greeks as well, eh? I thought they did some long jumping to asertain the Egyptian glyps depict a hybrid being created.

I got several good laughs at the conclusions and comments made in each segment, frequently wondering just how those leaps of faith were made. Everything seemed to be pretty much a case of "Here's something we can't explain/do ourselves so it *must* have been done/influenced by aliens". Of course these guys seem to be making a pretty good living jumping to conclusions so maybe they are on to something after all... ;)

But... it *was* an entertaining season even if there was no true science or proof behind any of the assertions.

Did you notice how the hair of the magazine publisher seemed to become more and more wild during some episodes? :D

Re: 5th Annual Summer Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

His hair got noticably blacker in the next season. His tan always bothered me. You can barely make out the untanned circle around his eyes, plus since he can't really grow a beard, all the skin you see through it is untanned.

Re: 5th Annual Summer Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

By way of disclaimer: I was in my early 30s when this film came out and had worked in TV production for many years. I was also a "gamer" and had learned computer programming by the time Tron came out. I knew how the film effects were done as we employed many of the same techniques as the film industry. My age, profession, and computing hobby all have major bearing on how I originally viewed this film.

That said...

Actually, Tron was somewhat of a bore unless you were an 8-14 year old video game playing male. The box office was not very good. When it came out I felt it to be a typical Disney film of the time containing many of the "standard" Disney cliches (it even had a Tinker Bell variant). Disney was in a major slump during the late 70s/early 80s and it shows in this production. The film has a marginal story/script with only passable acting. The effects, while highly touted, looked somewhat sub-par even for its day, this in spite of the computer generated nature. This was 5 years after Star Wars but looked like it was done 5 years *before*. The highly touted "inside a computer" premis felt somewhat cliche when it came out and reminded me of many of the "hippie" films of the late 60s. Basically a film that looked and sounded like outsiders attempting to be insiders (pun intended in the case of Tron) and coming out poorer for the attempt. Everyone I knew under the age of 18 pretty much thought Tron was the greatest film in the history of Science Fiction. Those over 18 pretty much knew better.

So... I'm glad you enjoyed the film. It's achieved a somewhat cult status over the years. I still don't understand the attraction.

Re: 5th Annual Summer Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

You're not alone on that. I remember seeing it as a kid and while it looked neat, it didn't take long for that to wear off and the boring plot to come out. It wasn't until just a few years ago before I could watch it from start to finish.

Re: 5th Annual Summer Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I might have missed it but Formats dumped from the checklist?

Re: 5th Annual Summer Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

If anyone in this thread happens to invent a time machine, I won't ask you to kill Hitler or anything, all I ask is that you go back to earlier tonight around 9 o'clock and slap me before I watch The Darkest Hour. Much appreciated.

Re: 5th Annual Summer Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

got off to a bad start last night qwith a stinker but knocked out some good first time views.

Real Steak which i thought was alot better then i thought based on the trailer
King Kong PJ's version which iv seen a few times now i love this film one of the few films i can put on randomly and 3 hrs gone from my day

then i got invited to the drive in and sa Abraham Lincoln and Prometheus

Re: 5th Annual Summer Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

:lol: Not trying to nitpick or anything, but this is my favorite typo in a long time.

Re: 5th Annual Summer Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Predator never gets old. Although the DNR is annoyingly waxy at times watching Predator in high definition with the Ultimate Hunter Edition was a revelation compared to the DVD, immersive vibrant colors and better detail. "The demon who makes trophies of men."

Next up is Predator 2...

Re: 5th Annual Summer Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Been revisiting the first 3 Spiderman movies in anticipation of watching the reboot. Just caught the new one today and it's pretty good! :) Can't really make up my mind about whether I prefer Andrew or Toby as Spidey - I think they both brought something extra special to their respective roles. I do prefer MJ over Gwen any day though :p

Re: 5th Annual Summer Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Up early this morning, watching the end of The Day the Earth Stood Still with the three recent Olive sci-fi Blu-rays - Project X, Colossus of New York and The Space Children - on deck.

Re: 5th Annual Summer Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Was kind of slow last night, only watched the episode of Lost In Space, but plan to watch The Time Tunnel and more sci fi tonight.

Re: 5th Annual Summer Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Apparently. I copied it over from last year but it wasn't something I planned on removing. On the other hand, it doesn't really add to anything.

I watched the wrong time machine/JFK assassination film last night. Right away I knew I had the wrong one but I figured, what the hell. Then Bruce Campbell showed up. I thought that even though nobody looked liked the characters they were portraying that it might still be good.

This was one of those DTV films where they shoehorn in a famous name for 15 seconds, just to get their name on the cover. He had no interaction with anyone in the story and you could have easily taken out all of his scenes and wouldn't have lost anything. It also would have helped because all of his scenes were shoehorned in at a couple spots and they were all out of place and ruined any pacing the film had.

I'm pretty sure Running Against Time is the one I really wanted.

Re: 5th Annual Summer Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I've seen something I thought somewhat impossible. A film from Asylum that's actually not bad!

Merlin and the War of the Dragons is about a young Merlin and his "coming of age". He defends the Normans from a Saxon warlord and a rogue wizard (a former co-student) who controls some fire-breathing dragons. Along the way he helps Uther Pendragon become king. It's a step up from a typical made-for-syfy film with a fair plot, mostly good acting, and very passable special effects. While at times they show the low budget it's not too often. It's almost as good as The Beastmaster which is in the same set.

I got the film in a "6 movie pack" from Echo Bridge that also has The Beastmaster (the film I purchased the pack to get), Beowulf (Christopher Lambert), DragonQuest (another from Asylum), Warriors of Virtue: The Return to Tao, and Midnight Chronicles (horrible film).

So far I've watched The Beastmaster, Merlin, and Midnight Chronicles.

Midnight Chronicles is more like what I expected from Merlin. It's so derivative that it's easily a lawsuit in the making for being a blantant LOTR ripoff. All of the character names sound like LOTR characters (Izradur - the "dark force" - really jumped out from the start). Elves, Orcs (who look almost identical to those in LOTR), a Strider/Aragorn clone, and a Frodo/Sam clone. Of course the Elves are on the side of good while the orcs are on the dark side. Just like in LOTR. Add to all that a worse than syfy script, acting, and effects and you have a waste of 100 minutes. If you purchase this set, be advised that this one is a stinker from the start. If you're like me you'll watch it at least once simply because you purchased it but boy was it a difficult watch.

Re: 5th Annual Summer Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Speaking as a nerd, that's how things go and how they all look 99.9% of the time.

With all these different sources using elves and orcs the same way, couldn't it be possible that these are somewhat based on fact? Ancient alien scholars believe that...

Re: 5th Annual Summer Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Very true but it'd be nice if someone would use Elves as they were perceived in Anglo-Saxon lore, more malevolent/mischevous type beings rather than the post-Tolkien benevolent/wise beings or the more ambivalent variety.
While they could *somewhat* make that connection with Elves, Orcs originated in the writings of Tolkien. While he took the name from the Old English word for "demon" his "Orc" is not the same creature. But that means the Ancient Alien "scholars" would have to actually research their suppositions, eh? :D

Re: 5th Annual Summer Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

That type sounds more like leprechauns, minus the times they're helpful. Coast to Coast had an interview a few years back with a couple of English guys that claim leprechauns, fairies, gnomes and other related creatures are all real. They ran a business where they take people out on tours to try and see them. As absurd as the entire interview was, it was so crazy that I couldn't stop listening.

Looking through the rules, I noticed a past rule fell off. As a reminder, everything that airs on the SyFy channel, minus infomercials, count.

I'd also like to implement something new when it comes to counting entries. Seeing as there's many epic style sci-fi and fantasy films that have longer than average running times, such as LOTR, I'd like to change how those are counted.

In keeping with the line that 90 minutes of tv shows would count as a standard 90 minute film, if you watch a film that runs longer than 90 minutes, you're allowed to start adding to how much a film is worth as an entry.

To break it down:
112 minutes (1 hours 53 minutes) = 1.25 entries
135 minutes (2 hours 15 minutes = 1.5 entries
157 minutes (2 hours 37 minutes)= 1.75 entries
180 minutes (3 hours) = 2 entries

You don't need to be exact and some slight rounding of minutes is ok or you can break out your calculator* and find the exact count that a 137 minute movie would count as.

I'm doing this as if you're someone that's trying to get to the magic number of 100, you'll be able to watch what you want and not have to put away your LOTR/Star Wars/Aliens films because they're too long, to then pull out a bunch of cheap and short films from the 50s.

If you watch a film that's less than 90 minutes, it still counts as 1 entry. I haven't gotten that anal yet.

Since the challenge already officially started, I'll call it optional but if there's no mass revolt, it will show up next year as an official rule. If it's a crazy idea, tell me now but I know I've skipped watching longer movies in the past when I had a goal of trying to get a high count in these challenges and I know I'm not the only one.

* The formula is x/90 where x is the number of minutes of the movie. We use Base 90 in this challenge.

Re: 5th Annual Summer Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I just watched Battleship at the theater and I have to say that I enjoyed it very much. The rating of 6.2 on IMDB is not bad but the reviews were terrible and I don't know why. I'm guessing that the reviewers didn't actually watch the movie, it had a lot of special effects but having seen many special effects movies I would not burden it with that description. Although many scenes were very cliche that is true of most movies and I felt the actors rose above it. I felt that it was in the tradition of Independence Day (in a good way) with actors that of course were not as good as those in Independence Day.

Re: 5th Annual Summer Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Good to know, this might come in handy!

I like this idea, but it gets a bit hard to do when you do your counting list without numbering with decimals. Mine looks like this with the new numbering:

6/30/12
1.75 Witches of Oz (164 min)=1.75
3. Battle Royale (122 min)-1.25
3.25 6/30 Jack and the Beanstalk (1902, an Edison film)(~15 mins)=.25
3.75 Special Unit 2: The Wraps (1 hour show)=.5
4.75 It Came From Beneath the Sea
5.75 Gamera Vs Guiron

7/1/12
6.75 Return to Oz

where you include the tv shows and shorts in the numbering list rather than waiting until you have a full entry, otherwise it gets really confusing of what you've counted and what you haven't. On my actual tally sheet, I've only taken advantage of the first one I've watched as that was almost 3 hours. Haven't decided if I'll keep on counting that one or start counting them all that way.

I like this idea, just not sure how I'd go about keeping track of the extra time.

Mister Peepers: Do you have a preference on how we keep track of them?

Re: 5th Annual Summer Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Perhaps we should consider simplifying like the Action/Adventure Challenge did:

Everything counts as one

Re: 5th Annual Summer Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

It would be an issue if you don't like decimals. Thinking on it a little more, if I continued on with it, I'd keep it strictly optional. Personally, I'm not even going to bother with it unless I'm hitting something that's around 2 hours.

Maybe I just have to much time on my hands, thinking about rules like this. If nobody finds it at all useful, I'll drop it for next year but there's no harm in letting it ride out the rest of the challenge since it's completely optional.

Personally, I'd rather not have numbered lists before going that route. I don't agree that watching a 2 hour movie should count the same as watching a commercial for a movie.

Re: 5th Annual Summer Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Another cameo - Sigourney Weaver as one of Wiliam Baldwin's hallucinatory conquests in Flatliners?