ALL SCI-FI

[Bogmeister]

Remember when James Spader was post-skinny bulked up and pre-overweight? There was that brief period when this film was made. He stars as one of the crew on some kind of medical spaceship which is engaged in a vague rescue operations.

That's the problem with this film — most of the plot is unfocused and I have trouble figuring what it's about or what is the point. It has a troubled history — Walter Hill was the director, but he's not credited. Angela Bassett stars as the doctor. The elder member and captain is played by Robert Forster, who is engaged in writing up a thesis on old-time cartoons.

Lou Diamond Phillips is another astronaut whose main goal is seducing female members and having sex in outer space. Robin Tunney plays his latest conquest.



Eventually, the crew reach their destination and encounter a hostile enhanced human played by Peter Facinelli, who (in his previous human form) had been Bassett's abusive husband.

As to be expected, not all the crew survive this mission. This was the dark side of space exploration — though not even exploration in this case, since this was a rescue mission gone wrong.

This reminded be a bit of Event Horizon (97), but all the behind-the-scenes problems resulted in a less polished story — not good since Event Horizon was not very good either. There were rewrites and delays, and the film was released over a year later than originally planned.

BoG's Score: 5 out of 10


BoG
Galaxy Overlord Galactus

[Bud Brewster]

________________________________

I saw this one many years ago and I had the same problem BoG did with the puzzling plot. I barely remember it, because even though I usually have no trouble with "suspending my disbelief", in this case I had trouble "maintaining my interest".
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[The Spike]

The back story to Supernova is actually more interesting than the studio cut of the film that is available to view. Director's coming and going, one (Walter Hill) taking his name off the credits, butchery by studio interference, different endings, different planned thematics, shelved for two years and etc. Supernova was a messy production and sadly it shows, making Walter Hill's original cut (unavailable) the "Magnificent Ambersons" of the sci-fi genre.

Plot, in the skew-whiff edited version we are fed here, is basically a riff on Ridley Scott's Alien. Space dudes up in space take on board a too good to be true hitch-hiker dude, which is a bad idea. Sadly it's all very dull, yet strangely you can see that in amongst the mess, and the often used diversion tactic of Robin Tunney's breasts, there was a very good film here. Brains and effects work to light up the screen, some sexy sizzle marrying up to the tension up there in the galaxy, James Spader on wonderfully broody and heroically damaged form, and some belting deleted scenes on the DVD. But, it's not to be, so the studio should be ashamed of themselves, even if it isn't quite the ultimate stinker it has been painted as. But! Super it is not, in any shape or form. 5/10
_________________
The quality of mercy is not strnen.

[Bud Brewster]

________________________________

This trailer makes the movie look cool! I think I saw it yeas ago, but I'm not sure.

_________________ Supernova Official Trailer


__________

IMDB has several interesting trivia items for this production.
________________________________

~ Walter Hill said in interview some years after the movie was released that his version was much darker, had a very different setup and that the ending was much different from the final cut. He also expressed strong dislike for the way studio ruined the movie but he said that James Spader did a great job with his role.

Note from me: That's odd, because I remember the movie being very dark (story wise), which was part of the reason I disliked it.

~ Four different endings were filmed.

Note from me: I wonder if the DVD has all four in the special features.

~ This was the first post-Alan Smithee film. For many years, various directors who (for whatever reason) wished not to be credited for a movie and disassociate themselves from it, would have their name replaced with the fake name "Alan Smithee". After the film An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn (1997), the name was too well known, and so the Director's Guild of America decided to replace the name "Alan Smithee" with the name "Thomas Lee".

Note from me: Moral of the Story: If you're a hopeful young director named Thomas Lee, you should change it. Just don't change it to Alan Smithee!

~ When he took over the editing of the movie, Francis Ford Coppola put together the zero gravity sex scene between Angela Bassett and James Spader using out-takes of a zero gravity sex scene between Robin Tunney and Peter Facinelli, that happens later in the movie, and with Tunney's skin color being digitally darkened. He did this to add more to the relationship between Bassett's and Spader's characters.

Note from me: Wow, this is weird.

Coppola wanted a sex scene with Angela and James to show how hot they were for each other, but he was too lazy to have Angie and Jim fly around makin' whoopee, so he just showed Robin and Peter doin' the deep space cha-cha-cha, and hoped nobody would notice the switcheroo.

Just to be on the safe side, Coppola gave Robin a virtual suntan, because he knew audience don't looking at faces during sex scenes anyway! :rol:

~ Dialogue by ship's computer Sweetie in theatrical ending where it tells Nick and Kaela that Supernova will either destroy Earth or make it and humankind better and that Kaela is pregnant was added later in post production during one of the re-editings of the movie, most probably during the one supervised by Francis Ford Coppola. Original dialogue only said that Supernova will destroy Earth in 257 years and that it's unstoppable.

Note from me: Gee, I'll bet knowing all this has you guys just itchin' to see this masterpiece, huh?
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)