Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Yep. I own copies of all of those, although I wish The Atomic Man would receive a pressed release (it's only available as a MOD or Amazon video). *Four* of them were made in the same year, 1955, although The Atomic Man didn't receive a release until early 1956.

Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet is one of those films Roger Corman had cobbled together for AIP using American-made scenes with Domergue and Basil Rathbone inserted into the Soviet film, Planeta Bur (1962) which he had dubbed into English. He later used *both* films for "Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (1968) which was adapted/directed/assembled by Peter Bogdanovich, who chose not to have his name credited on the film prints. He later said: "...people think I directed it when I really only directed 10 minutes of it." Domergue and Rathbone do not appear in that one. It also has more of the original film than does Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet and uses some footage from another Soviet film, Nebo Zovyot which was used by Francis Ford Coppola to make Battle Beyond the Sun, also produced by Corman (whew!).

There's a DVD-R release of Planeta Bur which is quite good. Both the film and the release. It's not nearly the camp-fest those two Corman productions are. I found a youtube copy of Nebo Zovyot that has English subtitles. I've not yet watched that one.

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

RE: The Dark Knight Returns
I wouldn't go as far as saying it's "very good" but simply "good" at best. I didn't like Heath Ledger as the Joker at all. I see where they're coming from and that they're trying to make Batman "darker" but they really should just make a film of Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns" if that's what they want to do with the character. They *did* lift a few ideas from that story for the film of the same name but it generally bears no other similarities.

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Dune with Sting? I remember trying to watch that a few times and it never made much sense until I read the book. The book was good, the movie wasn't too great but at least at that point I could follow what was going on.

I was never much of a fan of Abyss or most of the other underwater copies that came out at the same time. It kind of reminded me of Cocoon. Lots of people I knew liked them both but I was the exception.

I got that Metropolis set as a gift but haven't cracked it open yet. I watched a public domain version previously and didn't care a whole lot for it but I know this newer version might make it more enjoyable.



I think I'm one of the few people that just thought the second one was only ok. It just kind of falls apart for me in the third act.

I'm on the last disc of season 2 of Twilight Zone. After that I think I'll try watching At The Earth's Core, Petey Wheatstraw, and maybe The Killing Joke except I heard that was awful and doesn't follow the actual story too much, especially the first half.

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

You can get a pressed disc from Amazon UK. It's a Network disc under the title of Timeslip.

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I'd read the book (and 2 of the sequels) when the movie came out and *still* had trouble following it. Later rereads of the book and rewatching the film helped. If you've not seen the Sci-Fi mini series you should find a copy and give it a viewing. It's better (surprising considering where it originally aired). They did a sequel which combined "Dune Messiah" and "Children of Dune." It's not quite as good as the first but still worth a viewing.
When I first saw it (during its original release run) I thought it was overblown. A year or so back I picked up a copy of the DVD thinking that maybe I'd been a bit too harsh towards the work only to find my initial feelings were spot on. It's "OK" but *just* "OK." Like Cocoon and the other similar films of that time. I believe that was the film that convinced me to not bother with material from Cameron. I sort of liked The Terminator and didn't care for Aliens. In spite of giving him a few more chances, mainly due to high ratings, my feelings towards his work hasn't changed a bit since The Abyss came out.
I've watched that one several times with several different prints. I have a copy of the latest DVD restoration (the same print as the BR - "The Complete Metropolis") but haven't yet watched it. I probably should this week as if I don't I'll likely wait until next year. It's a fairly good film but doesn't resonate with me like it does with many others. I keep getting more complete prints hoping one will change my mind.
OK. I missed that. It just seemed odd that they were out in the open like that.
You and me both. But I'm not much of a fan of that entire trilogy. I'd rather watch Batman and Robin (1997) than any of those three (yes, you read that right).
"The Killing Joke" is one of my all-time favorite Bat Universe stories. I've avoided the movie for just that reason and haven't read anything about it. If you *do* watch it I'll be *very* interested in your opinion.

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I've only seen the first of the Nolan trilogy, and never had the desire to see the others.

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

This thread is enlightening. I thought everybody on DVDTalk had a total hard-on for Nolan and his Batman (the first two films at least).

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Watching episodes of Science Fiction Theatre has become somewhat of a slog. It seems that every 3rd or 4th episode deals with a murder and the use of some science premise to prove someone's innocence. If not that, they are general melodrama with just enough science thrown in to just barely qualify as SF. I have *one* episode left in S1 (a 39 episode season) and don't know if I can make myself move on to S2 (it's another 39 episodes). I'm also getting tired of the host describing the science behind a episode. It's sometimes interesting to see what was "new" back then but it often just drags things down with rather unnecessary theatrics. It has good intentions but mostly disappoints with the guest star(s) of the week often being the largest draw. The theme music, while typical of its day, truly doesn't fit this series. Part of me wonders my issues with the series are simply because I wanted to like it more and it just didn't live up to expectations.

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

As I'm finding with "Star Trek: TOS," you have to take these things in small doses, a few episodes at a time. Or maybe single eps. regularly interspersed with other, more exciting fare.

I recently watched the very first episode of Star Trek to air, "The Man Trap," a first-time viewing. Interesting and fairly suspenseful in its execution, but an absolutely ludicrous plot (as so many of them are in my eyes these days) about a shape-shifting alien who infiltrates the Enterprise by taking on forms of other crewmen, some living, some it's already killed. It needs salt to survive so it starts killing crew members and sucking the salt content out of their bodies. A sure way to call attention to itself, whereas if it had just raided the salt supply in the pantry or simply poured lots of salt on its food in the cafeteria, it could have stayed on the ship indefinitely.

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I didn't have a problem until the last season where some would be putting me to sleep in the middle of the day. I remember the first half of that season really being a chore to go through.

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I was browsing the forum list for Airventure, and saw that on Thursday afternoon there is a 'Star Trek: Fact vs Fiction' forum. I haven't decided for sure if I'm going as it is during the actual air show, but if I do go, can I list it, or use it as a wild card?

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Sure, seems to fit the theme of the challenge.

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

[QUOTE=The Man with the Golden Doujinshi;12858792]Dune with Sting?

no, i watched the frank hebert sci fi channel version that was a 4.5 hour "faithful" adaptation. I liked it very much.

[QUOTE=The Man with the Golden Doujinshi;12858792]
I'm on the last disc of season 2 of Twilight Zone.

i looked at what you have watched. man you have burnt a hole in the twilight zone disks! aren't you burnt out?

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

If you've not yet seen it you should also watch the sequel, Children of Dune. It's not quite as good as the first but still satisfying. They combined the next two novels, "Dune Messiah" and "Children of Dune," to make that one.

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I watched the first two Indiana Jones films last night. My grandson came in while I was watching Raiders of the Lost Ark and said: "I thought this was Science Fiction Month? Why are you watching Indiana Jones? It's not science fiction." So I explained the couple of sites which *do* tag it as SF but agreed with him. Great film... But SF? Not until the last 1-10 minutes, which is debatable depending on how literally you interpret the properties of the Ark as presented in the Bible. I'd also forgotten just how annoying Kate Capshaw is in Temple of Doom. I think I'm going to wild card them due to the overall lack of SF/Fantasy elements.

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

It probably looks more impressive than it is. I watch a few hours at night and they're only half hour shows. Takes me around a week per season. Season 1 is 15 hours and 2 is about 12 hours.

Since they're only half hour shows, when I hit a dud it doesn't last long enough to really burn me out.

The Outer Limits, on the other hand, made me stop watching due to episodes like this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controlled_Experiment

A rejected SF/Comedy pilot where for 40 minutes, you see a murder and then two aliens rewind and replay it from different points in time over and over again. It felt like 12 hours before it finally ended. I watched a few more episodes after this but up to that point I wasn't really in love with any of them, so I gave up before hitting another episode like that again.

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I used to include critical comments in my list posts but then I stopped because I was convinced no one was reading them, so I just do one-line summaries now.

But some other participants are including comments and they're definitely worth reading. I especially recommend Gobear's post in the list thread for this challenge (#16), quite an entertaining read. Also check out: #31 (numbercrunch), #39 (pagefrance) and #44 (brainee). My own list is #6.

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I started The Killing Joke last night and got a little into the Joker part before going to sleep. I'll admit up front that I read the comic a few years ago and thought it was really overrated and not all that good and pre-Joker comedian looks like Lyle Lovett to me. I never saw this totally insecure comedian as being the sociopath that the Joker is. Sure he could have stuff go bad, snap, then become a bad guy but I'd see him more as a 60s Batman TV series Joker.

Back to the movie, the dialogue of the first part seems like it's written by someone else. It wasn't bad but it felt like, and had a running time close to, an episode of some Batman cartoon that they added on for time. Batman and Batgirl talked to each other exactly how Hank Hill and Luanne Platter would talk to each other if they went out as Batman and Batgirl. The sex scene between them wasn't as awful as people make it out to be but it was awkward and a bit weird if you thought it'd be fun to watch a Batman cartoon with your kids.

I'm planning on finishing this today and then starting on Star Wars: The Clone Wars, since that'll give me a head start on trying to finish it during the animation challenge.

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

The original The Outer Limits is a favorite. I don't care at all for that episode and, until I read that wiki article you linked, didn't know it was originally a script for a *half hour* comedy pilot. For me it's *not* funny nor engaging and that it was expanded to a full hour could be part of that and also what makes it drag so much. There *are* other lackluster episodes but the good ones more than make up for them.

I see you've watched a few episodes of The New Outer Limits. What did you think? Several years ago I purchased the 6 "Best of" discs and after watching a few picked up 3 seasons on the strength of those half-dozen or so episodes I'd seen. I really need to open those seasons and watch them or at least finish watching those "Best of" discs.

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

A couple of the last few I watched weren't great but only one of those I thought was completely awful. The other was alright but then turned really sappy.

I used to rent these on VHS with my girlfriend years ago and we had fun with them. I get Comet TV and they show them sometimes, when they aren't showing Stargate, which seems to be on all the time lately.

I wish the DVD releases weren't edited and expensive. Some episodes have nudity removed or nipples poking through a shirt a blurred out and then some episodes don't have anything edited.

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I like looking at comments/ratings. One of the big things I get from these challenges is suggestions for new things to try. Even simple number/star ratings help that by giving me an idea of how closely a person's taste might run to my own ... and if their taste in movies seems reasonable, the reviews/comments of things I hadn't seen has a little weight.

I've been lazy with my own comments this challenge. But I guess considering I almost was so lazy to not even do a list, that isn't so bad ;) I'm still stumped at writing a comment for Hardcore Henry. It is what it is ... and that's exactly what I heard it was going into it. And I've got nothing else :lol: Good thing I'm not a reviewer.

It's been a year or so since I looked into it ... but the new Outer Limits still does not have a definitive (unedited) complete release for home media, correct? Even if it doesn't have any importance to the story, editing annoys me so much that I don't even want to watch episodes that way (let alone buy them).

I have strong positive memories of a number of episodes. It's been a while since I've seen them though. And I'm sure the truth is that the series was a mixed bag (some great eps, some ok eps, some crap). Though that's true of many shows.

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I forget those have been edited. That, and the prices, somewhat temper my enthusiasm for additional purchases.

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

The best I've seen for pricing in a very limited search was about $150 for the first 7 seasons together plus whatever awful price the last season goes for. My limited reading showed nobody bought it in the US and the rest of the series was released in Canada. I predict the prices are only going to go up as time goes on.

The last really memorable scene from any of the episodes was one where a robot kid was made to replace a dead one. Then dad comes home one day and the robot is all excited that the cat is letting him pet it and dad's excited but you know what's coming It kind of reminded me of the plot to Deadly Friend but not as good.

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

thanks for reading my list! I try to take the time to write my synopsis of the film or i use IMDB plus whatever i want to add to it

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

i started the day off bad with Sgt Kabukiman NYPD. I have come to the conclusion after sitting through the Toxic Avenger and now this that i just don't like Troma.

day ended on a high note with The Terminator and Brazil (criterion blu ray)