ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

One of my favorite sci-fi films is this gorgeous combination of great special effects, good writing, fine acting, interesting characters, and rousing music. I heard it didn't do well at the box office because it wasn't enough like the video game.

(By the way, what's a video game? Oh, right! Like Pong. I'll have to try that sometime. )

The design of the fighters is wonderfully retro -- they resemble WWII fighters (but not too much), and the big ships resemble battleships and carriers.

The fighters land and take off from a carrier-type flat top, not a long enclosed tube like in Battlestar Galactica.

The missiles are loaded like torpedoes before firing, so the combat scenes in space remind you of WWII sea battles.

The only weak aspect of the movie is the appearance of the seldom-seen aliens. They look like the cast of CATS on steroids.

The ending is a little weak, but once you've seen it and know it's a slight letdown, you won't be surprised the second time.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[orzel-w]

This was another of my secret pleasures. Fortunately for me, I had no expectations spoiled by having played the video game.

I enjoy the scenes of battle in outer space, with the missile trails streaming this way and that. I think it was (one of) the first movies to utilize the 3D freeze frame, in which the scene freezes (some kind of space-time warp-jump thing), and the camera sweeps around to view the frozen scene from a broad angle.
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...or not...

WayneO
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[Bud Brewster]

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I haven't watched this one in a while. Great movie.

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_________________ Wing Commander - trailer


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

[Morbius]

I played the video game, I believe for several years before the movie came out.

I really enjoyed the game and I thought that the movie followed the game and filled in a few blanks. As I recall the killrathae (sp) who looked like humanoid tigers in the videogame were much more realistic and ferocious in the movie so I was glad to see that.

Another videogame I enjoyed was the Mech Warrior series and there were a couple of movies, Robot Jocks and one or two others, that had Mech warrior types.

I'm currently playing the new version of Mech Warrior, getting my butt kicked.

[Bud Brewster]

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I'm glad to hear that the movie does justice to the game. I've never seen it, much less played it.

Love the movie. Great music!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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IMDB has several interesting trivia items for this production.
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~ The voice of Blair's fighter's onboard computer Merlin (listed as "?" in the credits) is Mark Hamill, who previously played Blair in the computer games Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger (1994), Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom (1995) and Wing Commander: Prophecy (1997) and also voiced him in the spin-off animated TV series Wing Commander Academy (1996).

Note from me: Mr. Hamil has done a fine job as narrator on several science programs.

~ This was one of only three films that was released with the theatrical trailer for Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999). Many people paid admission to see the trailer and then walked out of the theater.

Note from me: In view of the negative reaction to Phantom Menace , I'll bet some of those folks wish they could get back the money thy spent on the tickets.

~ The story of the Wing Commander franchise was inspired by science fiction author Larry Niven's Man-Kzin Wars stories. Both are about a future space war between mankind and an aggressive alien race of giant bipedal felines.

Note from me: We don't see much of the feline-like aliens, but I can see how they were inspired by tdhe Zzinti.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Krel]

The fighters are designed the way they are, because the production bought some A-10 Warthog fighter fuselages that were damaged in a train accident.

They had an actual aircraft fuselage to work with, and somehow made a very ugly unappealing fighter design.

David.

[Bud Brewster]

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I can't explain it, but I actually like these clunky-looking fighters — I guess because they resemble WWI biplanes in some ways and WWII fighters in other.











Add to this the very appealing way the big starships are like aircraft carriers that launch the fighters from exposed flight decks which have artificial gravity!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

Star of "WC" Freddie Prinze, Jr., recalls his experience on the film.

"I can't stand WC. I can't watch one scene of that movie...I read the script and loved it. So did my buddy Matthew Lillard.

We went on location and they said, 'Here's the new script.'

It was a piece of shit."

[Bud Brewster]

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What a weird thing to say about such great movie!

I've loved it for years, and Freddie Prinze, Jr's performance was perfect.

I wonder how proud he is about his rolls in Scooby-Doo and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed. I actually thought they were both enjoyable!

I wouldn't call either of them "a piece of shit" . . .
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Morbius]

WC originally was a video game, I played it a lot, and was glad to see it made into a movie. I may still have the disc, but like all old software won't play on newer PCs.

[Bud Brewster]