ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

In 1987 my daughter (All Sci-Fi's Ticket to the Moon) was seven years old, and my son was four. This was the perfect family movie, and we loved it. We saw it at the Starlight Six Drive-in (<— link) which is still in operation in Atlanta!

We saw dozens of movies there while the kids were growing up. My daughter would invite her friends and their families to join us, and then all the young ladies would spread out their blankets and pillows in the bed of my Toyota pickup truck after I parked it backwards, facing the movie screen, with the tailgate down.





My wife and I would be in our other car, parked next to the parents of all the giggling girls who occupied their blanket-and-pillow-lined nest in the bed of my truck.

This movie is a joyful experience for "children of all ages" — and that's exactly what I was that night at the drive-in!

My family loved it too, and we later bought the VHS tape so we could share if for a few Family Movie Nights.

But it's been years since I last saw this movie, and today I put it on my Netflix list. My kids are now 44 and 41 years old now, and I don't know if my daughter has ever shared this great film with my two grandchildren.

I'll call her and find out. If she hasn't, I'll send them a DVD!

As for you guys, here's a few IMDB trivia items I found.
________________________________

~ While in makeup Kevin Peter Hall's already immense height (7'2) was increased to over eight feet. This is evidenced by John Lithgow (who stands at 6'4") when he stands next to Hall

Note from me: Lock Martin (the guy who played Gort), eat your heart out!

~ Special makeup effects artist Rick Baker says that Harry is his greatest and favorite character that he created.

Note from me: I completely understand his feelings. Harry is a fully-realized "character", a brilliant makeup job which allowed the actor to express a wide range of emotions.

~ The filmmakers kept Harry a secret prior to the film's release - only glimpses of him were shown on all publicity materials and theatrical trailers. Although a wise decision for the film, this was also blamed for the film not being more successful than it actually was due to it not selling the fact that a Bigfoot was the star of the film.

As a result, the film was renamed 'Bigfoot & the Hendersons' in many overseas territories, and much of the artwork now featured Harry also. The film however has reverted back to it's original title in the DVD and Blu ray age.

Note from me: Hey, I noticed this when I was trying to find a good trailer to post with this comment. They all avoided showing Harry, so they just weren't effective. As a result, I post the review you'll find below.

~ According to Rick Baker, he based the design of Harry off of orangutans, particularly Harry's beard.

Note from me: Harry's face is brilliantly designed. He's part Yoda, part Obi-wan Kenobi, and part Santa Claus!

~ Apart from the opening camping trip and the climatic escape at the end, Melinda Dillon is barefoot throughout the film.

Note from me: Well know, there's an interesting fact that absolutely nobody but the author of that comment would ever noticed!

~ Harry puts Irene on her car after she passed out because he thinks that's what humans do with their injured, based on his own experience with the Hendersons' station wagon.

Note from me: By gum, here's another fact about this movie that few of us would have noticed! :d

~ According to cryptozoologist Loren Coleman, some characters in the film are based to varying degrees on actual figures in the search for Sasquatch. "Jacques LaFleur" (David Suchet) is a nod to the late Canadian Rene Dahinden, and "Dr. Wallace Wrightwood" (Don Ameche) combines some qualities of John Green, Peter Byrne and the late Dr. Grover Krantz.

Note from me: Seriously? There are actually dedicated men who spend years trying to track down imaginary humanoid creature who lives in remote regions?

That is . . . amazing.

~ According to Rick Baker in his book "Metamorphosis", he and executive producer Steven Spielberg made up after a falling out they had during pre-production on E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982).

Note from me: Ah, that's nice.

I wonder what the boys were fighting about.

______ Harry and the Hendersons - Movie Review


__________
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Krel]

[Bud Brewster]

________________________________

I'm currently watching a DVD of this movie from Netflix.

And before I even hit "play", I had a burst of inspiration about the true nature of Sasquatch which explains the fact that he seems NOT to exist . . . despite the many alleged sittings and questionable "evidence".

Throughout the history of the "Bigfoot" phenomenon we've been making a foolish mistake when we've tried to explain the existence of this strange beast-like creature who lives in the deep forests and can't be explained by modern science.

We've called it "an undiscovered species" and a "missing link" — neither of which were the least bit convincing, nor did they explain the fact that an unintelligent animal could constantly evade capture for decades and fail to leave abundant clues to it's existence!

Add to this the undeniable fact that an animal like Sasquatch who inhabited the forests of North America would have to be part of a cooperative "group" (like gorillas), with young ones, females, and males . . . probably dominated by a alpha male.

This lack of evidence for the existence of these creatures seems to indicate that they don't exists —

— unless we abandon our false assumptions and replace them with these theories!

~ These creatures are highly intelligent.

~ They have strange abilities which allow them to hide their existence.

~ And . . . they are not of this Earth!

Here's what I'm suggesting.

Suppose the Sasquatch were the descendants of the crew of an alien spacecraft who was in Earth orbit, studying our abundant plant and animal life.

But their spacecraft was suddenly hit by a meteor!

They managed to crash-land in the North American forest — but their studies of human culture made them aware that the beast-like appearance of these noble aliens would not be accepted by the ignorant and fearful humans!

Because of this, the Sasquatch chose to hide their existence in the lush forests which resembled their own beautiful home planet. They realized that mankind would not accept their monstrous physical appearance and their alien nature!

But there were other compelling reasons for their need to hide from humanity!

These gentle and intelligent beings possessed the amazing ability to cloud the minds of their enemies, preventing them from seeing them when they were threatened!

This, of course, explains the fact that Sasquatch has been rarely spotted in the forests. And because these "creatures of nature" can move through a lush forest and remain virtually invisible to all the animals around them, they could easily be the ultimate hunters!

However, since they are (by choice) vegetarian, they pride themselves on being the devoted guardian's of the eco-system, both here and back on their homeworld.

This small band of amazing aliens have established a secret colony on Earth, and they use their abilities to hide from mankind while they guard their own existence, along with this beloved area of our planet.

Somewhere in various areas of the North American forest are several secret communities of these noble aliens. And hidden away, in a carefully guarded location, are the remains of their hi-tech starship!

I think this would make a great story. Anybody agree?
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

________________________________

I found out that Kevin Peter Hall played the "non-humans" in Predator (1987), Predator 2 (1990), and Harry and the Hendersons (1987).

But he contracted AIDS from a blood transfusion and passed away in 1991 . . . at the young age of 35!

Today I watched the "making of . . . " special feature on the DVD from Netflix, and I was pleased to find a copy on YouTube!

"Finding The Missing Link" — Rick Baker Documentary on Making Harry of Harry and the Hendesons


__________


The first sketch below of Harry was done by Rick Baker (who created Harry) and shown in the movie as the sketch which John Lithgow's character supposedly makes.


___________________


These next four sketches are screen shots of the many drawings featured during the closing credits.

Director William Dear didn't state who the artist was in his commentary, he just said, "We found an artist . . . " to create sketches which showed that George Henderson became full-time artist after the story ended.

I'm surprised (and annoyed) that Mr. Dear failed to give credit where credit is clearly due. If this artwork had been done by me, I'd be pretty upset!


_________

_________

_________ ]

_________


This last drawing is by a UK artist, but I can't find the name! Click on the image and scroll down a bit to see what it looked like before I modified it to display here.


_________
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

Years ago I wondered if Sasquatch could possibly exist?

Read some books on the topic, watched the Unsolved Mysteries a segment about it.

Then I saw a scientist who said that if the creature does exist, how come in all these years no body or bones have ever been found?

Eureka! That made total sense to me. These creatures must expire as do all living things. No bodies ever located.

Not by accident, not by Bigfoot hunters.

Critter does not exist.

[Bud Brewster]

________________________________

You're quite right, Mike. And when I was a kid I used to get excited about news story which reported Bigfoot and Yeti sightings.

However, the only way these mysterious creatures could exist would be if they were something like I described above — intelligent, extra-terrestrial, and capable of hiding their existence in ways which defy current logic and modern science.

I'm not saying Sasquatch E.T.'s do exist. I'm just saying that any serious movie about them would have to explain why all the evidence against their existence is wrong.
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Krel]

Years ago (at least a couple of decades), the Discovery Channel did a show on the famous Bigfoot film. The one that has since been acknowledged as a fake by the creators.

They showed the film to an anthropologist, who said the creature was real, not a man in a suit and gave reasons why, one being how it walked.

They then showed the film to a SPFX costume maker, who said it was a man in a suit, and gave reasons why, one being how it walked.

The SPFX man then started to make a Bigfoot costume to recreate the Bigfoot film...Then I had to leave, so I never saw the end of the show.

David.

[Bud Brewster]

________________________________

David, your writing skills are on display in the quote below.

The way you mirrored those two phrases is a classic example of how to hammer home an important point to the reader!

[Bud Brewster]

__________________________________________________

It's time to admit that if Bigfoot existed, there would be abundant evidence of his existence in the forests of North America, and there would be numerous photographs and videos. We'd either actually have one that somebody captured. or the body of one that somebody shot.

But the best video we have has been proven to be hoax.

So much for Bigfoot!

Unless . . .

What if we threw out the idea that he's some wacky "missing link" and we can't find a single one, because he can avoid detection in some mysterious way.

Instead, what if Bigfoot can't be found simply because he's extremely smart, and because he has technology that helps him escape detection, and because . . . he's an alien.

So, what's he doing here? Well, lots of reasons come to mind.

~ He's alien xenobiologist who comes to Earth to study Earth's flora and fauna.

~ He's a fugitive from interstellar justice, hiding on Earth.

~ He's vacationing on Earth, and he enjoys (a) roughing it in the wild, and (b) eluding mankind, just for the fun of it!

We could actually tell a lot of the story while delaying the revelation about his true nature. The fun part would be withholding the revelation that Bigfoot is also BigBrain, and not an terrestrial creature, until an exciting scene that springs the surprise on the audience and the characters.

In one of the scenes in this imaginary movie, we see BigFoot roaming through the woods when he's suddenly faced with a hugh female grizzly and her two cubs.

Defending her cubs from potential harm, momma bear charges at Bigfoot, forcing him to defend himself. But to the great surprise of the audience, Bigfoot doesn't turn into a savage snarling beast like we would expected.

Instead he performs a series of graceful, fluid, martial-arts-like moves which deflects the bears attack and inflicts just enough targeted pain to drive the bear (and her cubs) away.

The human characters in the story could be a team composed of scientists and experienced hunters, and their purpose would be to investigate recent evidence which is more convincing that ever before that Bigfoot exists.

The team includes a macho middle aged billionaire who wants to be on the cover of all major magazines as the leader of the team that proved the existence of Bigfoot.

One surprising revelation would come when the billionaire leaves the camp on morning to wash up in a stream, a few hundred yards away, and he's bitten on the leg by a crotalus oreganus — commonly known as the Western Rattlesnake, the most common venomous snake in California.
The billionaire tries to get back to camp so his hunter/guides can treat him for snake bit, but as he struggles to climb an inclined terrain back up to the camp, the venom begins to take affect, make him weak and nauseous.

Suddenly Bigfoot appears and uses a strange device to inject the man, then he disappears into the woods.

Dazed and bewildered, the billionaire quickly begins to recover, and he sees several members of his team hurrying to his aid when they spot him lying on the ground. As they help him back to camp, the millionaire silently wrestles with the idea of telling the men what happened, knowing they won't believe him.

I don’t know where thw story might go from there. Any suggestions, guys!
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)