ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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.
____________________________________________________________________

Which of these situations seem to offer the biggest threat to humanity?

~ World leaders being replaced by robots, as part of a plot to rule the world.

~ A mad scientist who discovers a way to turn animals into humanoid creatures which retain their savage nature.

~ A horrendous invasion . . . of giant arachnids! And they threaten people like Della Street (from Perry Mason), Daisy Mae (from Lil Abner), Skipper What's-His-Name (from Gilligans' Island).


_________


Alan Hale Jr. plays the inevitable small town sheriff who doesn't believe the wild stories about monster spiders, and in his first scene he greets someone with "Hey there, Little Buddy!"
____________________________________________________________________

Futureworld (1976)



Yul Brynner makes a brief appearance as the black-clad gunfighter robot in this enjoyable sequel to "Westworld", about a new section of Delos, the adult theme park with fantasy-indulging robots.

The new section caters to science fiction fantasies (great idea!), but two reporters (Peter Fonda, Blythe Danner) discover that look-alike robots are replacing world leaders as part of a plot to rule the world. Nicely done.

Directed by Richard T. Heffron.
____________________________________________________________________

The Giant Spider Invasion (1975)

____________________

Director Bill Rabane may have intended this as a tribute to sci-fi classics like Tarantula and The Deadly Mantis. But the film is so badly done it just looks like a weak copy of much better movies.

Spotting the subtle connections between the plot of this film and it's more worthy predecessors is a bit more fun than actually watching it. Here are some examples.

A strange meteorite lands near a small town — ala It Came from Outer Space. The meteor creates a doorway to another dimension, from which a host of deadly creatures emerge — ala Cosmic Monsters. Several giant tarantulas (and a few dozen little ones) begin to menace the populace of a small town — ala Tarantula.

Local vixen Leslie Parrish meets a horrible fate — ala Yvette Vickers in Attack of the Giant Leeches. Alan Hale, Jr. is the local sheriff who is skeptical about the reports of strange happenings in the area — ala The Giant Gila Monster, The Blob, Invasion of the Saucer Men, The Monolith Monsters, and The Werewolf,

Notice that I didn"t include I Married a Monster from Outer Space in the list. In that one the sheriff was an alien imposter who just pretended to be skeptical about the weird reports.

Ah, but I digress . . .

The cast of Giant Spider Invasion contains a few honorable mentions. Watch for Steve Brodie ("The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms"), Barbara Hale ("Perry Mason"), Leslie Parrish ("Li'l Abner"), and Alan Hale, Jr. (the skipper from "Gilligan's Island" -- who even greets one of the characters with the phrase "Hey, little buddy!").

The scenes of the giant spiders were created by placing full-sized mockups mounted atop small cars, with motorized spider-legs which bob up and down when they "walked". The result looks more like an amusing parade float than a convincing special effect.

Trivia Game: If we played the "six degrees of separation" game with this Hollywood masterpiece, we could connect this movie with Tarantula by pointing out that Alan Hale, Jr. was in Gilligan's Island, which also starred Russell Johnson, who appeared in The Space Children, which was directed by Jack Arnold, the man who gave us Tarantula.

And that's only five degrees of separation. Ta-daaaa!
____________________________________________________________________

The Island of Dr. Moreau (1977)



A dynamic cast and a skilled makeup man are the two strongest assets of this remake of "Island of Lost Souls", based on H. G. Well's novel about an ego-maniacal scientist who lives on a remote tropical island where he labors to turn animals into animal-people.

Burt Lancaster is the crazed doctor. Richard Basehart, in animal-man makeup, is the Sayer of the Law. Michael York is the shipwrecked young man who comes to the island. Barbara Carrera is Maria, a girl that every viewer knows is supposed to be an animal-girl of Moreau's creation. The film ends with just a small hint that she's anything other than a normal woman.

The story is basically the same as the novel and the 1933 classic. But Don Taylor chose a very different kind of look for his film than its classic predecessor, which shrouded itself in darkness and soft focus shots. Director Erle C. Kenton gave the 1933 version of "Island of Lost Souls" the look a fever-inspired nightmare, a place where reality and fantasy both existed, and no one knew where the blurred dividing line was.

Don Taylor's remake takes place in the cold light of day, with everything in sharp focus. The animal-men's features look too symmetrical and well-formed.

These are supposed to be animals whose bodies have been distorted into semi-human shapes, not animals that have evolved in the normal manner. Ultimately "The Island of Dr. Moreau" fails to be frightening simply because it looks so hard edged, clean-cut, and well lit.

Never tell a ghost story in broad daylight.
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)