Ash Ketchum

Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong to Mainland China and the beginning of the end of Hong Kong Cinema. So I wanted to watch something from the Hong Kong New Wave of the 1980s. PEKING OPERA BLUES would have been most appropriate, but I should have watched that on Friday for the Historical Challenge and I wanted something to fit this challenge, so I opted for an earlier Tsui Hark film and the one that truly signaled the start of HK cinema's new, freewheeling, innovative spirit, ZU: WARRIORS FROM THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN (1983), starring Yuen Biao, Brigitte Lin and Sammo Hung. I remember liking this film a lot when HK cinema was new to me, but I have to confess that this time I found the frenetic pace and nonstop special effects somewhat dizzying and I lost what little plot thread there was quite frequently and felt the good cast got overwhelmed by all the real-time effects work they had to undergo. (Lots of wires!) It all got monotonous by the final third and I struggled to stay awake. There can indeed be too much of a good thing.

A later film produced by Tsui Hark, WICKED CITY (1992), based on the sci-fi anime feature of five years earlier, is much more keyed in to the theme of the then-impending handover and I'll be watching that next.

An image from ZU WARRIORS:

numbercrunch

I started watching the Planet of the Apes TV show from 1974. I didnt realize Roddy McDowell was in it as well

malazar

As one of my early projects for this challenge, I have decided to dig into the new blu-ray set of Outlaw Star. I had the DVDs, watched it on TV, and have seen it several times over the years but it has been quite a while, so I am interested to see how it holds up. It is hard to believe it will be 20 years old next year.

shadokitty

I just finished a good docudrama on Epix On Demand, about UFOs. It was under documentaries, but played out more like a movie, so I guess it would be called a docudrama. The title it was listed under was U.F.O., but when the movie signed on, it was actually called, Unidentified Flying Objects: The True Story Of Flying Saucers. It followed a man who worked for the public affairs department of the Air Force, and how he worked on the UFO sightings.

BobO'Link

Yesterday I did a first time viewing of Six-String Samurai. It's one that got some discussion a couple of years ago and I finally picked up a copy this past year. That's one odd, but fun, film.

LJG765

One last reminder for anyone wanting to get an extra entry into the prize drawing at the end of the challenge...Please go to HamiltonBooks and pick some options for prizes (sci-fi/fantasy related.) Can be movies or books! Thanks! Will go through the suggestions either tomorrow or Tuesday night.

Decided to watch Transformers tonight. Still a fun movie, but maybe not as much as I remembered it to be. A little too long, I think.

I'm a couple movies behind, so I may go through and watch the other 3 that I have this week and catch up.

SterlingBen

Jaws 3-D as sci-fi?

BobO'Link

Saturday and Sunday I watched 3 versions of the story of Perseus and Medusa: Medusa vs. the Son of Hercules (aka Perseus Against the Monsters) (1963), Clash of the Titans (1981), and Clash of the Titans (1981). I lean towards the Harryhausen as the best but each has its pluses and minuses. The 1963 peplum was totally by accident. I'd purchased a 6 film set of Hercules films and that's one of the titles. Another in that set, The Loves of Hercules (1960), stars none other than Jane Mansfield! I never knew she'd done one of those.

coyoteblue

Hercules is played by her husband, Mickey Hargitay. The newest season of MST3K did an episode on the movie.

LJG765

Going to have to say no on this one, much more adventure/thriller/drama. The 3-D doesn't make it sci-fi. Sorry!

lisadoris

Getting my annual Independence Day viewing in one day early. This movie is so much fun. I'm going to watch Tremors next so the fun will continue.

On another note, can I get a ruling on Get Out since:

BobO'Link

I didn't know that either. Well... I knew that he was married to her at one point but didn't make the connection when watching the credits.

My grandkids are at the house today and I'm off work. They've been watching the Sabrina, The Teenage Witch TV series off and on for the past few months (the 6 year old comes in almost every day and asks to watch a few episodes). When I realized it qualifies I caved, put in the next disc, and sellected play all. We've watched 16 episodes so far today and just started the last disc of S7, the last of the series. I don't recall watching it this far during the original airings, I pretty much stopped when it left ABC, so they're all new. It's not great but it is fun and the kids all like it. The 6 year old has already asked to start the series over when it's finished...

brainee

I probably watch at least 25-30 sci-fi/fantasy movies every month, challenge or not, so I'm in for keeping a record of it for this month. Maybe I'll get lucky and win another prize for doing so

I've been working my way chronologically through the Arrowverse shows (I'm about 2/3's through season 3 of Arrow and season 1 of Flash) and still tackling the original Dark Shadows (up to episode 440 ... near the end of their time travel back to 1795) ... all of which technically counts for the challenge!

Indy24LA

Just got back from Disney World, I wish eating at the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater counted

Time to break out a big gun... E.T.

Ash Ketchum

I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art today to see an exhibit, "Age of Empires: Chinese Art of the Qin and Han Dynasties (221 B.C. - 220 A.D.)" which dates back to the era when they started building the Great Wall. So afterwards I went to Best Buy on 86th Street and they had THE GREAT WALL (2017) on DVD for $19.99 and Blu-ray for $24.99, a film I want to see but missed when it came out. They also had POWER RANGERS (2017) on DVD for $14.99 and Blu-ray for $19.99. I was tempted to pick up the latter because it had a number of Power Rangers-themed extras that I was curious about. But I decided to wait till I got home to check out Amazon's prices. They're about the same for POWER RANGERS, but cheaper for THE GREAT WALL. Both films are eligible for this challenge.

LJG765

I haven't watched it but it sounds like it should fit. Go for it.

Sounds like fun. I used to love this show when it originally aired. Like you, though, I never really watched the last season or two.

Welcome!

You know, I ate there a few years ago and as long as that reel is still playing, I'd say it counts! Just not for the checklist.

LJG765

Thanks to shadokitty, coyoteblue, alyxstarr, SterlingBen, hbsvb, BobO'Link, and caligulathegod for prize suggestions!

Just spent some time going through all the suggestions for prizes. I have to say I'm surprised we didn't have any repeats! There was a nice selection of DVDs, BRs and books.

I did have several different suggestions with Star Wars so there will most likely be at least one prize with that as a topic.

I'm waiting to hear back from GoldenWheels on a question I had, but once I do, I will announce the official prizes. Since I can't finalize until then, feel free to suggest anything else for an extra entry in the prize drawing.

shadokitty

Happy 4th of July to those of us in the states. Gonna go to a
Bbq tonight, but other than that, plan to celebrate by hitting the Challenge hard today.

Last night, I watched the first episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, and enjoyed it as much as when I first saw it. Woke up early today, and watched an episode of the new Battlestar Galactica, from Season 2. I really like that show.

shadokitty

I don't know if it is isp issues or what, but lately, I've been having problems with Netflix. It plays fine for a few minutes, and then it starts to stutter.

LJG765

Are you having trouble with your net connection any other place? I have a Roku, and pretty sure you do too. I had issues with Vudu (watching through my Roku) doing the same thing. What I had to do, was completely reboot my Roku. Unplug it, wait several minutes, and then replug it in and go through the start up again. Worth a shot at least.

Happy 4th to those who celebrate it!

ntnon

Assuming Zombies come under "fantasy", watching Cockneys vs. Zombies and it's utterly hilarious.

Vudu's subtitles are questionable, though. There was one bizarre mistake earlier that I forget, but now famous song "I Predict a Riot" is showing up as "I put it to rest." Weird.

Trevor

I love that song, the Kaiser Chiefs rock.

shadokitty

I'll try it. It might be my Roku, as my net connection when I watch on my tablet is fine for the most part.

LJG765

Did this work?

Watching Transformers: Dark of the Moon for the first time tonight. Just started so no opinions yet. Do have to wonder why Michael Bay needs 3 hour movies, though. They're very pretty to watch, but man, totally feel like he could have trimmed a good 30-40 minutes off the first two and still been fine...

shadokitty

Yeah, that fixed the problem. Thanks for the tip.

I've been watching sci-fi animation today. Watched an episode of Robotech, on Amazon Prime, an episode of Beast King GoLion, which I followed immediately with the corresponding episode of Voltron. When we got home from our barbecue, I went into Google Play, and watched an episode of Batman: The Animated Series, and then followed that with part 1 of 'The Last Son Of Krypton', from Superman: The Animated Series, which happens to be on Amazon Prime. Finally, when we got home from watching fireworks, I put in the first episode of Saber Rider And The Star Sheriffs. I remember reading somewhere that it was the dubbed version of some show called Operation Bismark. I would like to see that some day.