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.
____________________________________________________________________

Sci-Fi on the bleaker side is the Flavor of the Day for the Feature Threads on this last Sunday of the 2022 summer.

~ One lone man and three silent robots keep an eye on a forest inside a dome in outer space.

~ Burt Reynolds fights a heroic battle for the rights of pigmy-like "missing links" in New Guinea.

~ A sad little man named Billy Pilgrim is bounced back and forth between events in his own life, in Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. very odd and largely plot-less story — but we do get to see Valerie Perrin naked.
____________________________________________________________________

Silent Running (1972)



Douglas Trumbull, the special effects wizard behind "2001: A Space Odyssey", directed this somber but interesting yarn. "Silent Running" did well at the box office because movie goers were hungry for more of the cosmic scenery that "2001" displayed.

The story is strongly dedicated to an environmental message. It takes place aboard one of a dozen spaceships which orbit the sun, out near Saturn. Each of the orbiting ships carries a cluster of dome-enclosed forests, miniature ecosystems which will someday be used to reforest the defoliated Earth.

Bruce Dern stars as the only crew member who genuinely values the animal life and the natural splendor preserved in the domes. The other crewmen are content with the bland, artificial environment of the spaceships themselves.

One day the crew receives word that the plans to reforest the Earth have been abandoned. Dern becomes violent and kills the other crewmen to prevent the destruction of the last dome.

He steers his ship away from the fleet, establishes a new orbit around the sun, and spends months living alone with three little maintenance robots for company (portrayed by hand-walking amputees for whom the robot suits were specifically designed). The voiceless robots steal the film. The best scene is when Dern programs the robots to play poker with him.

Dern's portrayal of this complex and intelligent character is a joy to watch. The sets and props are excellent. "Silent Running" is a deeply personal film, invoking a wonderfully melancholy mood. The post-Star Wars generation may find "Silent Running" a bit dull, but the ending frequently causes moist eyes among the audience members.
____________________________________________________________________

Skullduggery (1970)



An odd little film with a strange premise.

Burt Reynolds is an adventurer, and Susan Clark is a scientist. Together they discover a tribe of "missing link" creatures in the jungles of New Guinea — short, harry, cute little monkey people called "Tropi". The Tropi's gentle nature and "freak" status make them easy targets for exploitation.

The film attempts to deliver a message on the nature of "humanity" by boldly establishing a romantic relationship between one of the female Tropi and Burt's portly, bristle-faced sidekick, Roger C. Carmel (Harry Mudd from "Star Trek").

The touchy subject of inter-species sex is not avoided — in fact, it figures prominently in the film's climax, a courtroom scene that resembles the famous Monkey Trial which vindicated evolution.

In this version, mankind's alleged ancestors are present in the courtroom as a living Exhibit A!

The author of the novel had his name removed from the credits because he disapproved of director Gordon Douglas' film treatment.

Also starring Wilfrid Hyde-White, Pat Suzuki, Alexander Knox, Chips Raferty, Edward Fox, and Rhys Williams. The Tropi are portrayed by students of the University of Djakarta.
____________________________________________________________________

Slaughterhouse Five (1972)



Controversial author Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. succeeded in writing an entertaining novel whose plot is comprised almost entirely of flashbacks. And director George Roy Hill pulls the same trick on film, telling the story of Billy Pilgrim's bizarre life, a man who is "unstuck in time".

The concept is interesting and fun, even though it doesn't make much sense; Billy's consciousness skips back and forth within his own life, ranging from his boyhood to his elderly years — and yet he can't change anything that happens, just relive it over and over.

He spends the last few years of his life lecturing to audiences on the subject of time and its inflexibility (reliving the lectures, too).

And if that isn't weird enough for you, a middle-aged Billy is kidnapped by aliens and forced to spend a few years on another planet, where millions of invisible aliens observe him and his lover, a soft-core porno movie star named Montana Wildhack (played by the luscious and sometimes semi-nude Valerie Perrine), whom the aliens kidnap to keep Billy company.

They live in a small glass dome which sits on the moon-like surface of the alien world. When Montana has Billy's baby, the invisible aliens cheer and shoot off fireworks in the star-filled sky.

Despite the totally plotless, seemingly pointless structure of the narrative, both the film and the book are highly entertaining. Vonnegut is a man blessed with an abundance of imagination, and he seems to have the deep-seated conviction that the universe is completely mad (read Vonnegut's "Breakfast of Champions"). Admittedly its a viewpoint no one can refute with complete certainty.
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)