ALL SCI-FI Forum Index ALL SCI-FI
The place to “find your people”.
 
 FAQFAQ   SearchSearch   MemberlistMemberlist   UsergroupsUsergroups   RegisterRegister 
 ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 

FEATURED THREADS for 6-22-22

 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    ALL SCI-FI Forum Index -> What's New at All Sci-Fi
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Bud Brewster
Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)


Joined: 14 Dec 2013
Posts: 17020
Location: North Carolina

PostPosted: Wed Jun 22, 2022 2:57 pm    Post subject: FEATURED THREADS for 6-22-22 Reply with quote



If you're not a member of All Sci-Fi, registration is easy. Just use the registration password, which is —

gort



Attention members! If you've forgotten your password, just email me at brucecook1@yahoo.com.
____________________________________________________________________

High Adventure is the theme for today's Featured Threads, with the latest installment about the theme park attractions which now threaten the humanity, a battle for survival in a post-apocalyptic world, and a trip to the North Pole in a submarine! Shocked



____________________________________________________________________

Jurassic World: Dominion (2021)

Thanks, Miss Eadie! Hollywod can't take a deep breath without you knowing about it! Very Happy

I suspect that some of All Sci-Fi's members might exclaim, "For God's sake, give the damn dinosaurs a rest!"

But I think that great screenwriters can come up with plenty of new idea for a modern day world which is suddenly forced to share our planet with prehistoric creatures! After all, Jurassic Park warned us that bringing these creatures back to life would have serious consequences! Shocked

It's easy to imagine a world in which some portions of mankind decide to wipe out all the dinosaurs that have escaped and gone into the wild — but we mustn't forget the tree-hugging naturalist who would oppose this effort, along with the powerful industrial complex which would have their own financial reasons for preserve these creatures.

Those reasons would NOT be humanitarian, of course . . . Sad

So, the battle lines have been drain. Killing off all the escaped dinosaurs would not be as simple as sending out dinosaur "dog catchers" to round them up.

The situation involves both human emotions and corporate greed.

In short . . . the world is in trouble. Sad

____________________________________________________________________

The Omega Man (1971)

Krel wrote:
I think that Ron Grainer's soundtrack is fantastic! I bought the CD when it came out years ago.

I particularly like the decaying bell that was also used in "Colossus: The Forbin Project".

I like the music too, but mostly because I have fond memories in connection with this movie. I saw it at a drive-in with my first wife when we were both pretty young. Our shared enthusiasm for the movie is a very pleasant memory.

A few years later (when I was single again . . . ) I was working on a painting of a girl in my art class, and The Omega Man was on television while I worked. I had a huge crush on the girl — and the painting (despite being one my earliest attempts at painting in oil) was coming along well, so I was feelin' mighty fine. Very Happy

I gave her the painting! Boy, was I stuck this gal . . . Rolling Eyes

_____________

For the reasons described above, I associate this movie with two separate and pleasant "romantic" experiences! (Hey, who knew this movie was chick flick, huh?)
Shocked
____________________________________________________________________

Ice Station Zebra (1968)

IMDB has 55 trivia items for this movie. Here’s a few of the ones I found the most interesting, in the blue text. Very Happy
________________________________

~ In the era before VCRs, Howard Hughes would call the Las Vegas TV station he owned and demand they run this particular movie. Hughes so loved this film that it aired on his Las Vegas station over 100 times during his lifetime.

Note from me: Hey, that's what All Sci-Fi needs! Our own TV station so that you guys can PM me with movies requests, along with when you want you selection shown. (Please include date and time, with you time zone).

I'll work out a schedule and post it on the boards, and all the folks who want to share the experience can meet in All Sci-Fi's Chatzy room!

~ Unique and innovative underwater camera equipment was developed for this movie by 2nd unit cameraman and cinematographer 'John M Stephens', a former U.S.A. Navy diver, who is billed in the credits for additional arctic photography.

The camera system enabled the first ever filming of a continuous submarine dive and this technical innovation produced some outstanding photography for the picture. This achievement was encapsulated in an accompanying MGM short promo film The Man Who Makes the Difference (1968) which is available on the DVD for this movie.


Note from me: And by gum, here it is!
Wink

_____ The Man Who Makes the Difference (1968)


__________


~ In one scene Patrick McGoohan was supposed to dive into the flooded torpedo room of the nuclear sub to rescue a trapped naval officer.

Being a strong swimmer, he insisted on doing the scene himself rather than use a stuntman. A change was made to the script so allowing Olympic swimming champion Murray Rose, who'd been cast in another role, to do the scene with him in case anything happened.

It was only after the scene was completed that Rose revealed that whilst he and McGoohan were standing up to their necks in the rising water just before the cameras rolled, Pat had whispered to him "Now I've done it, my foot's stuck". Rose dived down and freed his foot which had become wedged tight in the torpedo rack.


Note from me: Can't you just hear McGoohan saying that in his wonderful British accent? Laughing






~ Rock Hudson said this was his personal favorite film.

Note from me: I guess part of the reason for Rock's high opinion is the fact that his character is so macho. If is so, that's kinda ironic, ain't it? Wink

~ The movie's plot has similarities with the real life 1962 CIA Project COLDFEET aka Operation Coldfeet. Conducted in May and June of that year, the assignment purpose was to gather intelligence from an abandoned Soviet arctic research ice station.

Two agents parachuted from a B-17 Flying Fortress and searched the facility and were collected three days later via the Fulton surface-to-air recovery system.


Note from me: If it was abandoned by the Russians it seems unlikely there was anything of value left behind. Rolling Eyes

~ The film's story has similarities with the real life events, reported in the media in April 1959, of the Discoverer II experimental Corona satellite capsule that went missing and was recovered by Soviet intelligence agents after it crashed near Spitsbergen in the Arctic Ocean.

Note from me: Read about the Project Corona here. It was actually very similar to the concept presented in Ice Station Zebra.

Project Corona: America's first photo reconnaissance satellite

~ The production began with shooting the film in Ultra Panavision (2.76), but soon switched to Super Panavision (2.21). This can be seen in the shots of the Lear jet near the start of the film. The engine intakes which are round have a slight oval shape. This is because the Ultra Panavision was scaled down horizontally to match the Super Panavision aspect ratio.

Note from me: It seems odd that they didn't just crop the ends off the wider image, rather than distort the full Ultra Panavision image to the size of the Super Panavision image to make it fit.

I can always tell when an image on TV has been squeezed or stretched, even slightly. It drives me crazy. Rolling Eyes

~ To do the orbital plane change from an equatorial to a polar orbit described by Jones (Patrick McGoohan) would require an enormous amount of fuel, certainly more fuel than could ever be carried on a practical satellite. Even the tiny orbital plane changes carried out during the Gemini and Apollo programs were extremely costly in fuel, and mission planning always sought to minimize the necessity of such maneuvers.






Note from me: Boy, those science fiction writers always cheat a little, don't they? Gosh, I NEVER do that . . . much. Embarassed

~ In early casting news for Ice Station Zebra (1968), Peck was announced to play the submarine Commander James Ferraday (played by Rock Hudson), while Niven was going to be the British agent David Jones (played by Patrick McGoohan).

Note from me: I can sort of see those two in the roles played by Hudson and McGoohah . . . but I'm glad the casting change was made.

~ When they are waiting for the approaching planes, the first shot is of 5 MIGs in a V, then they become 4 MIGs in a right echelon and then back to a V, but they are F-4 Phantoms in a V.

Note from me: The unimpressive special effects of the miniature MIGs is a distraction for folks who love fine FX and dislike sloppy ones. Those scenes are good examples of why I feel like CGI is capable of doing scenes like those much better — even when it's the kind that some folks might call "poorly done CGI".

The problem here is that it was so painfully obvious the miniatures were anchor to a piece of glass in front the typically shaky aerial photography which bounced around, while the planes were rock steady! Rolling Eyes






Thankfully the underwater scenes were done to perfection!





I was inspired by this idea of a submarine going through an "ice canyon" when I wrote Sail the Sea of Stars in the early 1980s, so I took my starship, the G.S.C. Candlelight down into a canyon on a barren planet to shield it from a bizarre hurricane-like storm on the surface.





~ In an interview, given in 1990 to french student Michael Laborie, director John Sturges said that he did not like Michel Legrand's music for this movie.

Note from me: Hmmm . . . I actually like it quite lot. Different strokes for different folks, I reckon.

_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    ALL SCI-FI Forum Index -> What's New at All Sci-Fi All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group