THE SCIENCE FICTION MOVIE THAT ISN'T SCIENCE FICTION.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ต.ค. 2024
- #UMBRELLAENTERTAINMENT had a blu-ray sale, so I bought science fiction movies, and one that is another genre cosplaying as science fiction.
The Land Unknown: amzn.to/3IoI24g
Journey To The Far Side Of The Sun: amzn.to/3ImmTI3
Alien Nation: amzn.to/3t063be
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Saw the Land Unknown. I met Jock Mahoney while working for Marilyn Chambers production company. We talked about New Orleans for about an hour. He loved filming his police show up there. And I loved Yancy Derringer as a kid. It was set there.
Yancy Derringer was great and Mahoney was an interesting Tarzan, too.
@@terrytalksmovies I saw him at a guest appearance at Tarzan Goes to India. That film introduced me to the magnificent Woody Strode
@@wadeheaton123 Woody was great in The Italian Connection with Henry Silva, too.
I always point to The Man in the White suit as a classic example of science fiction in disguise.
TMITWS is solid SF. It's about a disruptive new technology changing society. Nothing fake about it.
@@terrytalksmovies I agree but I think the idea would have horrified Alec Guinness.
I liked "Alien Nation" quite a bit. I always thought it was an underrated movie. When I look at it in the context you described as a buddy cop movie, suddenly George Fransisco could be any heroic character braving a deadly fear who happens to not be from Earth. I had never thought about it that way before. I wonder how many other films could be analyzed this way?
A number of them. It's interesting.
It’s always fascinating to listen to you talk about films.
Thank you! 😀
The reason they shot in B&W was that the film cost was 3X, and the lighting required for color was a lot more. Also, there were tons of props that were available that were painted in weird colors (purple, green, blue, and orange) for old B&W movies to achieve certain shadings, they were dirt cheap to rent compared to the newer color ready props. So shooting in B&W could save a lot for low budget movie.
Fair enough but so many great movies would have popped in technicolor.
@@terrytalksmovies Agreed, Technicolor is a great process, but it is based on running 3 synchronizes film strips after a beam splitter and color filters. That means each frame is only getting about 18 to 25% of the light that a direct B&W frame would see. The cameras are huge and cumbersome to work with, and the only made about 20 of them as I recall. The best looking films I have ever seen were shot in 70mm Todd-AO (until IMAX came around). Unfortunately it was only used in a dozen or so movies.
This Island Earth(1955) was one of the few Universal sci fi movies in technicolor
@@terrytalksmovies Oh, and thank you for this video. I have been looking for "The Land Unknown" for years. I saw it as a kid and misremembered the title as "The Unknown World", and was disappointed when I bought that movie and it was a different story (even though it had Michael Rennie in it). I now have it on order. :)
@@waynecampeau4566 That's why I love digital. A good digital camera gives infinite possibilities for changing the look of a movie. Even with my videos, I tweak the Look Up Table depending on how my studio lights are acting on a particular day.
"The Land Unknown"...chopper blades cutting into T-Rex!
Always fun. Plane or helicopter blades are great ways of getting rid of an enemy.
Umbrella rock!- but yeah bare bones is often what you get...which is a pity cos at the least i usually need subtitles. it helps with confirming every word and as a script writer it's also good to see how the dialogue plays out in word form- as well as the discrepancies between spoken word and written word (we hear faster than we read) and what gets left out so it syncs up with the actors speaking. maybe they have subtitles more now than when they first started. Iguanas on amphetamines!!?? i never knew. i wonder if there was a reptile-rehab. So many of these double-features you talk about i'm kicking myself for not waiting, cos I've got most of them as separate movies for at least double the price per film!! very cool that you met Ed Bishop, and he was a nice guy. really love good model work, but the design aesthetic for G Anderson stuff i always love...often more than the stories they furnished. so many of those "control rooms" filled with button laden computer panels i always thought would make great night-club environments, lol. the dark ending for JTTFSOTS was one the things that lifted the whole thing for me. Spot -on about Alien Nation, buddy/cop movie in cos-play, where the aliens can be replaced by any oppressed minority-alienation is racism! another great funny thoughtful review...with the only unfortunate consequence being I now have to buy more "stuff", lol!
I hope you enjoy the stuff you buy. 😀
I waited for years for “Colossus: The Forbin Project” to come out in a wide screen edition here in The States.
The old pan and scan DVDs pissed me off a lot.
"The Apartment and the beauty of black and white cinemascope " is an interesting short subject on TH-cam that champions the black and white format.
Yep. I think b&w suits that movies subject matter.
"The Land Unknown" Did you you know that those fantastic sets with the wonderful matt paintings were based upon a wonderful feature in Life magazine from the early 196o's that featured some impressive double page paintings of the flora and fauna from the many prehistoric eras of Earth's distant past. They also tried to model their T Rex after the one pictured in the Cretaceous spread (although I think that the set was based upon what the artist imagined the Triassic to look like.). Just a little bit of trivia there.
60s or 50s? The movie came out in 1957.
@@terrytalksmovies Wow! I found it. It was the September 7 issue in 1953. There was a copy of this issue in my 3rd grade homeroom when I was a kid. I loved those paintings. I was a real dino-junkie back then.
Small point about the Gerry Anderson movie's treatment of Astrophysics. There are a total of five Lagrange points for the Earth-Sun system where smallish objects can stay in a solar orbit but always in same place wrt Earth. NASA just put their James Webb Space Telescope at one of these Lagrange Points, L2.
There is another point on the far side of earth wrt the sun, that is L3.
So half marks for the physics. But only small objects, much less massive than earth or sun, can stay easily at the L points.
Yep, I love Lagrange points. There's an asteroid orbiting in the L4 point between Earth and the Sun.
Been thinking about your spot on analysis of Alien Nation and had an interesting thought. You remove every alien out EXCEPT for the title and that title will still work as is.
That's true!
For the first time ever, I've seen every movie you discussed. For some reason, it feels like an accomplishment. I love all of them.
You win a non 🏅 medal!
Hi Terry, I've just watched both The Sniper and The Manitou based on your reviews of them. Two very interesting films which I really enjoyed. Thanks.
My pleasure. Glad you enjoyed them. 😀
It is amazing. These old movies trigger long-lost memories. I will never unfriend the mind had a birthday his mother took us all to a matinee the feature movie was The Unknown World I remember nothing else about the movie and Jack Mahoney, the helicopter and the jungle. I haven't thought about that party with those people in many years. But I think you for restoring this pleasant memory
My pleasure.
In the UK journey to the Far Side of the Sun was called Doppelganger. When it came out I thought it was brilliant.
In 1969 we all did. 😉
Alien Nation made good use of the Cop Buddy formula with a mix of the Fish Out of Water elements (the alien trying to fit in a human job as a cop) but was awkward with the collision of acting styles between Caan and Patinkin but overall was a pretty good film.
It is, but it's still SF cosplay.
I have Alienation on a double with Enemy Mine which not only works without the SF elements but is basically a remake of Hell in the Pacific with SF elements added.
Yep. Dennis Quaid is no Lee Marvin.
@@terrytalksmovies I bet he doesn't even know the words to I Was Born Under A Wandering Star.
I enjoyed Alien Nation on the big screen.
George's last name was supposed to be Jetson, but they couldn't get permission from Hanna-Barbera.
Shame, that
@@terrytalksmovies Yeah, that would have been funny. Mandy was going to sing the theme from the show.
I also remember hearing that the title was a typo. It was originally going to be called Alienation.
@@Bobalicious Possible about the title. Mandy was going to sing a song called "Sour Milk Blues" in a bar scene with The Four Freshmen doing do-wop back up singing.
@@terrytalksmovies That would've probably been a bit much.
Journey to the Far Side of the Sun was not at all what I initially anticipated but it does fit nicely into those anxiety-filled thrillers of its time. Here in the states we have a big studio box set that has The Land Unknown and The Mole People, but I just upgraded both of those. Kino has The Land Unknown and Shout! has The Mole People for anyone who is looking. A bit pricey, but good transfers.
Good to know. Thanks.
From USA: Saw "Journey to Far Side of the Sun" on original release in Belgium. Enjoyed the twist ending. "The Land Unknown" is on TH-cam now. Never saw "Alien Nation" since non-Sci Fi audience liked it. Appreciate you "being dirty" on Russia.
I'm dirty on Putin. Oligarchs piss me off.
When you say "I'm not gonna make that joke", you pretty much made that joke...
That being said, UFO not getting a 2nd series is basically a crime against humanity (not intended as a reference to current events). Gerry Anderson was so far ahead of his time, and speaking as someone who hasn't driven for 20 years I absolutely want that car from Journey.
Haven't watched Alien Nation for years, that's definitely ripe for a re-view. The TV series never really gelled for me, maybe it could have used some more Gerry Anderson set design.
Roy Thinnes sounds like a giant dick, but hey The Invaders. He seems like one of those people they tried to make into a thing, but never quite made it (The Norliss Tapes is atrocious).
I'm not sure he had the passion and if he alienated people, they would not have supported his career.
The 2nd series of UFO was going to be based around the Moonbase, and was turned into Space 1999!
“Enemy Mine” is another science fiction film that's been done several times before. I recently watched “The Defiant Ones” with Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier and I remember another one set during WWII with an American and a Japanese soldier.
He'll In The Pacific.
@@terrytalksmovies That's the one. Thanks.
@@terrytalksmovies Hey! Wait a minute. You gave me crap for a misplaced apostrophe…
In "Journey to the Far Side of the Sun" I always felt Patrick Wymark was playing his character as a version of Sir Lew Grade who had gone into space exploration rather than entertainment. His performance was one of my favorite parts about the movie.
He really commits to it and takes it seriously.
there was a good TV spin-off of Alien Nation including a few movies. have a soft spot for journey to the far side of the sun
The Alien Nation series had its moments.
Well done as always. I grew up on Gerry Anderson. I have always marveled at the level of effort that had to go into the model and set building, not just the live action, but the 'supermarionation' shows as well.
Derek Meddings' effects work is wonderful and holds up in High-Def, too.
Just looking at the news. Hope that weather in NSW isn't affecting you too much. Stay safe, as you say.
I'm 1600 kilometres south of the hassles but thanks for checking in. :-)
U.F.O., a real gem from the old days of SciFi. Nice miniature work, but also very dark.
Terence Stamp was real creepy on Last Night in Soho. Nothing more about it, I think it would spoil the awesome story too much.
I agree. LNIS deserves to be seen cold.
I think Colossus the Forbidden Project is my favorite I.T. Sci-fi due to it's depiction of old school computer operations. All the discussions about running and scheduling jobs, and reading of hardcopy to do analysis was quite refreshing to me. It's worth keeping two copies of.
I'm rationing my shelf space. 😉
Finally, I have seen all the movies you talked about, though it has been many years. I really enjoyed Alien Nation and the series. And I'm glad to hear Colossus: The Forbin Project is out on DVD. Another one to add to my list.
And not to be one of those guys but it is a myth that names where changed at Ellis Island. The names were recorded at the ports they sailed from and simply checked off when they arrived.
Yep, good point, but I think the name thing may also be a reference to the Anglicisation of names people did all through the 19th and 20th Centuries in the US and Australia to not appear ethnic and to make them a smaller target for racists.
"Journey to the Far Side of the Sun" - excellent. What was with the whole spy scene in that film - the guy with that camera in his false eye. And that crash near the end into the launch facility - what are the odds? Last scene with the mirror in the hallway - brilliant.
The lander was programmed to return to the base.
I have "Journey to the Far Side of the Sun" in Widescreen on LaserDisc and DVD. I'm a huge Gerry and Sylvia Anderson fan. I'm trying to get all of the compilation movies on DVD from their shows. I have "The Incredible Voyages of Stingray" and "Thunderbirds: Countdown to Disaster" on LaserDisc, and "Space 1999: The Journey Through the Black Sun" on DVD (Italian release). I've just ordered U.K. releases of Anderson series' "Dick Spanner, P.I.," "Lavander Castle," "Space Precinct 2040" and "Star Fleet Bomber X," as well as the compilation film "Invasion: UFO," all on DVD. I'm still missing quite a few of the compilation films ITC released.
I also own "The Invaders" Seasons 1 and 2 on DVD, "Space: 1999" and "UFO" on DVD and LaserDisc, plus "Fireball XL-5," "Stingray," "Thunderbirds," "Captain Scarlett," "Joe 90." "The Protectors," "The Secret Service," "Terrahawks," and "The Lost Worlds of Gerry Anderson" - all on DVD. I obviously own a multi-standard/region DVD player.
I paused your video at 10:37 in to type all this. Now back to the video :)
Enjoy the rest of it. 😀
Terry, I wish you had done "The Mole People," too. It is one of the movies from my Saturday Afternoon Matinee days that I remember because it scared me good. For years, I confused it with George Pal's, "Time Machine," because of the Morlocks.
Did it in a previous video.
Seen them all, fond memories from each -- thank you.
My pleasure.
And of course, Bishop was half of "Rent-a-Yank"with Shane Rimmer.
Sheybal was allegedly teaching acting in London when Sean Connery talked him into doing a little film called From Russia With Love.
Also released as Doppelganger, I got to see JTTFSOTS in theater as a kid. Looked so great.
Always liked Alien Nation on release. Thought it was brave showing a unfiltered racism. Stamp is also great in The Hit, of course.
I really like actors like Bishop, Sheybal and Shane Rimmer. They were good honest journeymen.
In The Mole People the lost civilization is underground. Access to this civilization is from the top of the mountain, accidentally, as an earthquake drops the archeologists into the lost civilization.
True.
love Journey to the Far Side of the Sun hosever, I seem to be the only one of my friends who watched all of Alien Nation from start to finish, the tie-in novels, downloaded a font to print the VHS labels when I recorded it on Sky . Also, there was a guy in Coventry who was the UK fan club - so me and my friend went to Coventry to the convention - in his very small 2up 2down terraced house. The fandom was mainly bulleting boards - so that ages me! I have the dvd's of the film & series to rewatch. There was a podcast with two US brothers hosting, but I might give it a go myself! nok-i-vot !
Start a podcast. They're fun but they do take time to grow.
Another great topic!
It’s great question…it made me think of the film, ROBOT & FRANK (2012). Frank Langella leads an amazing cast. This movie floored me when I first saw it and I would recommend it to any and all.
I’m going to check out your first two recommendations. I saw ALIEN NATION years ago and really dug it! You may have mentioned it before Terry but, Netflix’s BRIGHT (2017) is ALIEN NATION’s mirror. Looking forward to future vids!
Bright is pretty bad. A total waste of Joel Edgerton.
A good movie for its time, the T Rex reminded me of the ones in ' The Land that Time Forgot ', pretty good but enjoyed the books more, too bad they didn't do the third book, which I think was called ' The Men that Time Forgot '. I had forgotten about this movie, almost mistook it for the ' Petrified World ' about two divers in a bell that get stuck in an undersea volcanoe/cavern
They all have their place in the history of cinema, which is why I like to remember and review them.
@@terrytalksmovies Agreed and you do a very good job. Take care and stay well.
James Caan can only play one character the loud, cocky, tough guy with issues.
Yep, true.
I watched Farside in 69 and again last December, I wonder what happened to the astronaut from the new planet on Earth.
Same thing, maybe.
The biggest problem I had with Alien Nation was the insistence that the Tenctonese were supposedly made to be slaves because they were so incredibly adaptable to whatever environment the slavers wanted them to work in. And then decided they couldn't digest cooked food (not just meat, but anything that had been cooked) and would burn to death if you got salt water on them (pretty much any planet with significant oceans, which is pretty much any planet capable of supporting life, is going to have oceans of water full of dissolved minerals). This would severely limit their vaunted "adaptability".
Yep the premise is flawed for plot convenience.
LIked this a lot.
'The Land Unknown' - Never seen it. Looks interesting.
Patrick Wymark really made his name as the star of the TV drama 'The Power Game'. As well as his movie credits you mentioned, he also had a nice role in Amicus' strange, rather good horror flick 'The Skull', as a dodgy antique dealer constantly snorting snuff I seem to remember.
Ed Bishop was in '2001: A Space Odyssey'. Not 100% sure but I 'think' he played the astronaut captain of the shuttle that takes Heywood Floyd from the space station to the moonbase. No dialogue. He's hard to spot. Whilst watching, your mind is slightly elsewhere, being washed over by sumptuous Strauss music. Blink and you'll miss him.
Try The Land Unknown for a bit of fun.
DOH ! How could I forget another of Patrick Wymark's movie performances ... his encounter with Catherine Deneuve in Roman Polanski's 'Repulsion' could've ended a lot better !
You wont find these blurays at JBHIFi and KMart. I remember watching a "sf" movie on tv back in the 70s where they had attractive young blondes and brunettes in mini skirts and stilletos throwing spears and shooting arrows at a group of astronauts on this alien planet. Academy award stuff.
Try tubi.tv for that stuff.
@@terrytalksmovies Tubi has made me so lazy now that I cannot even be bothered to play a dvd or blu ray and I have over a thousand of them. Love Rainy Dog, the Incubus, The Happiness of the Katakuris, Naked Lunch, Diary of a chambermaid and a few others on Tubi. They disappear after a while.
@@artyfhartie2269 Good choices.
I remember seeing Alien Nation and quite enjoying it at the time. I couldn’t recall Terence Stamp in it though - I think I must have seen it before I became a film buff. I’ve met Terence Stamp several times, a really humble friendly man (ironically one time being one day in Soho)!
I first saw him in Billy Budd. Great movie.
Roy Thinnes had a 10 second long roll in "When Worlds Collide" . If you blink you miss him. He went on to do a TV program called the "Invaders". Space invaders that is.
I know. 😉
I briefly went with a guy who pronounced Roy’s last name as “Thines”. It was doomed from the start.
Terry , lo primero saludos y que te encuentres bien también saludo a tu gato, gracias por los comentarios de cine grandioso trabajo
My pleasure, Ernesto, and Luna the cat says gracias. 😀
Yes, when Sci-Fi movies develop into fact over time! Because sci-fi has to have something to work off of. Alien Nation is a great movie!
Yep, the Star Trek communicators became smart phones.
03:55 - LOL You don't like the term "Sci-Fi" but DO like the term "Sausage party" ??? Gotta love it. This is why I come here, the ironic jokes. Please keep it up. 💘
I am also an Ed Bishop fan since UFO. He pops up in a lot of films in this era including 2001: A Space Odyssey. I also enjoyed him as Philip Marlow in the BBC radio series.
I agree with you totally on Doppelganger, oops, I mean Journey to the Far Side of the Sun. Like your first movie, it was a product of its time with social restrictions and politics seeping into the story. The "dark ending," unusual for an Anderson production, was the turn science fiction (sorry) had taken by this time. Most of your films until Star Wars (Arguably NOT Science fiction) would be dystopian as a new generation of filmmakers took over.
You have an interesting point about Alien Nation not being science fiction. I am not sure I agree with you, but I think I could be convinced. It is simply using "talking animals" to tell the story rather than real people (Aesop's Fables) but isn't that the standard trope for these sorts of things? Animal Farm for example and the Star Trek TOS classic episode, "Let that be Your Last Battlefield." Heck, you could even make the point that "War of the Worlds" is NOT science fiction for the same reasons you listed.
I loved Alien Nation, both movie and tv series when it came out. I have not revisited it since.
I wonder if you feel the same way about Enemy Mine? The main thread of the story really isn’t science fiction.
Enemy Mine is Hell In The Pacific on an alien planet.
Terry, I was gonna post the following thoughts in response to your post about 'The Naked Jungle', but didn't. Anyway I will post them here as those thoughts still have relevance to what you've discussed here ...
You mentioned the quality of matte painting in 'The Naked Jungle' and that it had become something of a lost movie art. Then here you mentioned the rubbishness of the SFX in 'The Land Unknown'. Your discussion of lost movie arts got me thinking about other lost arts. Listen, modern cgi is great, but am I the only movie watcher who desperately misses the great stop-motion techniques of Ray Harryhausen ? I dunno, something about the way his dinosaurs & greek mythological beasts/statues moved was just sublime. Way more interesting to look at than modern cgi in my book.
A question: What do Ray Harryhausen, Alfred Hitchcock & Gerry Anderson have in common ?
Answer: Each was THE BEST in their chosen genre when it came to making movies/tv ... IMO
They were all entertainers and always remembered that, too.
Excellent choices and I’ve seen all three. I won’t break your code of silence on “Journey” but I feel compelled to say that as the years have gone by I have come to _despise_ that particular storyline. While not all such movies and TV shows are terrible I particularly blame Star Trek for overusing it, stretching the concept beyond the breaking point and bringing in the worst writing and stories I have ever seen.
As for Alien Nation, I disagree. I once read a book which analyzed this question from the other point. The author said that science fiction could be a hard boiled detective story, an action movie, a western and even a love story, and still be sci-fi. Alien Nation is a good example. Aliens and their alternate biology and customs make it solidly science fiction even though it is also several other things.
Again, another great episode.
SF can be a number of other genres but the science fiction has to be integral not pasted on to the narrative.
Have you seen "Target Earth" (1954) Richard Denning? A psychological character study (with robots thrown in).
Yep, a long time ago. Adding it to the very long list.
Hey Terry, I just noticed you have never reviewed Bad Boy Bubby. I am sure you are familiar with the movie and would love to hear you assessment of it.
If I get the recent blu-ray release, I'll cover it.
If you think "Rapey McIncel" was rapey in this movie, check him out in The Searchers where he played the indian leader Scar and there's no telling what he did. Two women and a man were killed off screan and the women, especially the younger one, was certainly raped. The actor., who was originally from Germany, played a lot of villains.
Henry Brandon?
I loved this when I saw it as a kid. The Land Unknown, 1957, I was nine and thought this was great. Cinemascope raised it above the low budget Black and White fare. Had no idea about sexual politics the movie was innocent as befitted the time. Stop motion would have been way beyond their budget. I still think the water dinosaur was great. The woman eating plant was boy friendly. aside from King Kong, '33 there were no convincing T rex's. but there were a lot of hokey ones. puppets, rubber suits. some passible stop motion in The Lost Continent (1951) Not until Jurassic Park blew everyone away. Exception to this is Harryhousen.
Yeah, though I really like Harryhausen's Gwangi, which is an allosaurus.
Wasn't Henry Brandon (Chief Scar from The Searchers) in that playing a cave man?
They were not dinosaurs. They were more closely related to modern monitor lizards than dinosaurs and may have given rise to snakes . . . .
Loved Alien Nation❤️🐸
Cool!
The Land Unknown is great fun(no stop motion fx but still fun)The reason why it's not in color is the fact that Universal couldn't or wouldn't pay the extra money for movies to be in color and widescreen.
That's a shame. In colour it would've been cool.
I was on the point of rethinking my Jerry Lewis ban. 😠
This is why I don't hero worship people any more.
Sounds wise to me.
That's a good point about when SF isn't SF. And Alien Nation really pounds the point home by being _such_ a clichéd cop/buddy film with 4-hours-a-day worth of makeup painted on top of it.
I found the bad science of "Journey" a lot more of a detriment than the "thinness" of Roy's performance, but that's just me.
Yep the science sucked.
Thank you for this very comprehensive introduction to these three movies that I have never seen, and I thought that I sadly had come close to having seen almost everything- just joking! Now I have something interesting to look forward to as worthwhile addition to my viewing list!
Enjoy, mate!
If Alien Nation is not science fiction, would you consider Outland (1981) with Sean Connery as also not science fiction but just a cop movie in outer space?
Outland is just High Noon with spacesuits.
@@terrytalksmovies That's exactly what I said when I saw it in '81.
True.But we are not even close to having a space station like the one in Outland.
Having seen the movie at around thirteen years of age, my thought about planet rotation would wander to our Moon, which has a dark side, and light side always facing us.We never see the dark side from Earth.
But the atom for atom connection was too much.
The US NASA representative complaining of one billion dollars entry into the project was funny, like Dr. Evil on Austin Powers movie.
That they have different rooms for debriefing and interrogation was something.
The wrist cardiac monitors, they explained them away why the astronauts had wrist connectors instead.
Everything with technology was destroyed that could back up their claim they were from the other Earth.
Yep, but try not to put spoilers in your comments.
If you've read 'Make Room, Make Room' you get the same outcome... it's not so much Post/Apoc. as Police Procedural. Now the Film adaptation went a tad darker & thus remains in the Science Fiction pile.
Not only have I read it, I had dinner with the author in a Greek restaurant and he pinched olives off my plate.
@@terrytalksmovies Had a hunch you were familiar with the Classic! & I must say I am absolutely Prussian Blue with envy!!! The man's only been one of my favorites since my pre-teens! You'll be telling me you went fishing with Brian Wilson Aldiss (OBE) NEXT!
@@thrashpondopons8348 Harry and Joan Harrison were a lovely couple, and terrific gossips, too.
In s lot of ways science fiction is more like a filter that is applied to other genres rather than being a genre all of it's own. Anyway that's my current theory.
I've not seen Journey To The Far Side Of The Sun since I watched it as a intrigued but perplexed teenager. Probably worth digging up again.
Science fiction is definitely its own genre, IMHO. Dumbed down movies like SW have convinced the punters otherwise, but that's not the case. Movies like Splice, GATTACA and Colossus: The Forbin Project are in a genre distinct from other genres.
@@terrytalksmovies No doubt. I think a lot of science fiction (more so movies than books) is also in another genre. And clearly some barely wear their science fiction part that well.
Terry, Journey to the far side of the sun is a very good film.
Yep but Thinnes is weak in the main role.
@@terrytalksmovies The overall feel of the film is great and I love the ending.
Alien Nation worked so much better on television, because it had room to develop the Tenctonese: language, culture, reproduction (they have three sexes). I was gutted when it was axed.
Yeah, I think it was a TV sized idea.
Science Fiction can only be a reflection of the times and places its was made. By your assessment HG Wells in writing War of the Worlds wasnt writing science fiction as you could replace the tripods and heat rays with German airships and mustard gas.
I think you're mis-stating what I said, but I understand your point.
Hi Terry.
Echo here.
I saw your Video about those 3 movies and i must say, your view about this 3 movies is absolutely right.
But most people would still consider the movie Alien Nation as a SF-Movie because the have aliens in it and they are different from earthlings.
I am still very amazed that you always mention how much you like the european cinema.
That tells me that you know a lot of movies that most critics on youtube really do ignore, because of the hollywood empire in cinemas worldwide.
By the way, what do you think about the movie moonfall from roland emmerich ?
And have you ever watched the german western movies from 60s with the karl may figures, like winnetou, old shatterhand and kara ben nemsi ?
Best regards from germany to australia.
Hi Echo. I haven't seen Moonfall yet. Not sure it's worth a cinema visit. I'll see it later.
I'm aware of the Karl May westerns but I really need to find some copies to watch.
@@terrytalksmovies ,good Morning from germany.
Can't you just buy them as DVDs or BluRays in your country ?
Most critics say Emmerichs newest Movie is the worst he ever made.
Best regards to you.
I so wish the future (our present) really was designed by Gerry and Silvia Anderson - they really had techno-chic nailed.
Oh, and the "science fiction" in Alien Nation was the fiction that refugees would only be locked up for 3 years...
That second point is spot-on.
Terry. Buying physical media vs purchase online (or streaming). DVDs and BT physical media has value anyway - but question... Do you buy physical media even if you could buy a digital copy? Most of this sort of content is presumably not often on streaming services Value for money and quality comparison?
I buy physical media. Digital copies can still go if hard drives crash and rights change.
The parallels between Journey to the Far Side of the Sun and 2001 though minor are interesting. Do you know if the model maker worked with Kubrick?
The EU flag like logo of the European Space Agency made me do a double take, as did the two towers either side of the rocket. The only thing that doesn’t sell the models more is the lighting and the rocket exhaust, though it’s still Andersen’s best attempt.
The story itself was similar to one my mum told me about as a kid, but I don’t think it was this movie. Was the film based off a book? Or a radio show? If you know I’d love to know. Thank you.
It's not based on a book, but the idea was out there for a long time.
I first saw far side of the Sun in French because I grew up in Montreal and there were only 2 local English channels (this was pre-cable) and all the good stuff was on the French channels. I remember thinking it was an episode of UFO until I saw it was different. The familiar Anderson production design was what confused me.
Great that Ed Bishop turned out to be a decent person because the Ed Straker character he played was such a jerk. Great acting on his part!🙂
Yep. Mr. Bishop was a cool guy.
The mole people. With Nester Pieva
It's on a previous list/video.
Of note: Alien Nation, the movie, was developed into a Fox TV episodic series stateside in the late '80s with a different cast. Thru the American prism of race relations, the TV series was themed more like "alienation" of the hapless creatures seeking integration on Earth.
There's the theory the title was originally ALIENATION, so it's possible.
A friend of mine once stated that Landau and Bain were the most wooden actors Anderson ever worked with. That's a bit harsh but I didn't like Dr Russel for a raft of in universe things. All the bedside manner of a codfish.
That same friend also said that the plots of Gerry Anderson shows were just a pretext for "Gerry to play with his trainsets".
I can see that.
I would say that Journey to the Far Side of the Sun qualifies more as a bogus Sci Fi movie. It has always bugged me because the basic premise simply isn't scientific. You could possibly do the story if there was a transition to a mirror universe but just travelling to the opposite side of the sun doesn't work. It's basically fantasy not Sci Fi. Alien nation, on the other hand, if you rule out the obvious requirement for some kind of faster than light travel, which is currently impossible, is not too bad for entertainment Sci Fi. My main objection to your claim that the Sci Fi element wasn't required is that overdosing on the drug turned users into homicidal mutants, which works much better if you have an alien physiology in the mix and would introduce a Sci Fi element even if the story was told with humans.
The Land Unknown is a dead ringer for Marvel's The Savage Land. I wonder if Stan Lee saw that movie and borrowed the concept.
Stan Lee clearly borrowed the concept. He was good at mixing movie genres, so he mixed Tarzan with The Land Unknown and got Ka-Zar.
Which god do you have to offend for your last memory to be Melbourne? 😉
Melbourne isn't bad... when the football isn't on.
28:40 Quick separate point, don't you hate when politics interferes with your programing schedule? 😄😄
I hate it when short dictators invade other countries.
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. No longer sci fi?
It was when it was written. It's now one of the first steampunk stories and steampunk movies.
Originally saw Journey as a young sf fan in the 70s, and rewatched a couple years back. I remembered the premise and the neat designs that Gerry Anderson always had, but I was surprised at how... mediocre the rest was. All the characters are horrible people. I wouldn't have cared if Thinnes had fallen into the sun on the way. The Herbert Lom part was cool in a 60s spy movie kind of way, but was also superfluous. As far as bad science goes, the counterbalanced planet was the least of it. That it's also a mirror Earth in every way is absurd science. But the rockets and stuff were awesome, and that was the first frogman outfit that actually lives up to its name.
Yep. I think an external scriptwriter might've helped sell the premise a little more strongly.
Hi terry some wonderful choices, I’d like to revisit Alien Nation and I have The Land Unknown but haven’t got to it yet 🤦♂️ a film that blew me away with its sexual politics of the Time was “I married a Monster from Outer Space” the aliens taking over a man just newly wed, the Alien clearly has it off with his wife, it’s all part of the plot being that the aliens hope to impregnate earth women leading to an amusing gathering of the disappointed replacement husbands, none of whom are having any luck impregnating Earth women, sneaking out of their homes to commiserate in a earth bar. About their woes of having sex with earth women 🤷♂️😜 most definitely a Sci- Fi film but way more subtext going on than it’s schlocky 50s title would suggest.
I did IMAMFOS a while back. The implication is that the aliens are impotent.
I watched Journey to the Far Side of the Sun, visual effect good, special effects good, acting OK,but the story was not convincing..
No, it wasn't but it lead to UFO which is much groovier.
Predictive programming perhaps?
😀
I've seen the first 2 films. Got to say I felt the reveal in Journey to the Far Side of the Sun is silly and ruined the film for me. I recall Alien nation and the TV series that followed but never saw it. The Ukraine situation is very sad and scary. Hope things work out and Putin gets a villain's fate,
I wish Ukraine 🇺🇦 all the best. Particularly LGBTQIA+ people. Russia isn't kind to them.
@@terrytalksmovies Yeah, he's done that and plenty of other bad stuff. I thought he might be bluffing but I guess he isn't that smart. He just wants the Soviet Union back. Hope this can be resolved soon.
@@terrytalksmovies I never liked Putin from the start. Many American white nationalists admire him and even met with his people.
JttFSotS is a fantastic movie.
It looks really, really good in high definition, too.
Watch some good movies, watch some bad movies but don't watch any Russian movies.
I couldn't stomach them right now.
Props to Terry for taking a political stance!
I see it more as humanitarian than political.