Sci-Fi Media: Films, Books and Television

[southerncross]

Sad to say I am finding them all very boring. Until they jump in to some cutting edge physics I will walk away from Hollywood formula fables.
I could get in to some particle physics/entanglement fun. I mean the fact (and it's been verified) that one particle here can be intertwined with another particle across the universe definitely gets my attention. I could run with that. But current writing is a yawnfest.

[CasperParks]

This year's Sci Fi TV shows have not gone well:

Terra Nova - Cancelled. Netflix may pick it up and stream it on demand.

The River - Facing cancellation. Netflix looking at this one too.

Grimm - Turned into a Monster of the Week police procedural. Mostly boring.

Alcatraz - Serial Killer of the Week with nasty villains and unconvincing heroes. Keep wishing it was better but I skipped it this week.

Once Upon a Time - Good acting, good stories. I hope it stays around.

Walking Dead - I like it, some hate it. Finale had the highest cable ratings ever in younger demographics.

BattleStar Galactica: Blood and Chrome - Idea dropped by Sci Fi. They may run it online.

Did I miss any?

The only two that caught my attention as worth watching, Grimm is okay so far. Alcatraz is interesting, perhaps as a min-series.

Fringe was a good run, see it winding-down for closure of the series.

Terra Nova as a min-series, maybe...

[calikid]

Another SciFi classic The Day of the Triffids
A rare color film from 1951. The prints that survived today are only average in quality, and the special effects are almost laughable, but another fantastic story line the more modern updates did little to improve upon.

After a night of metor showers, 99% of the worlds population ends up blind. This includes in flight airliners, in transit cruise ships, and entire city populations. The survivors must beat a hasty retreat as the blinded crowds turn ugly demanding care.
Add to this an invasion of sorts when carnivorous mobile plants know as Triffids march on human kind with deadly intent.

This could have turned into a campy frollic, but instead works as a full on SciFi classic.
Excellent story line based on John Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids book.

91D6+Pu0AeL__AA1500_.jpg

[Doc]

One night we had to stay over in Needles in a room with a cold water bed, which was like trying to sleep on a sack of wet cement. While we waited for it to warm up we channel surfed and found a marathon of the 1891 British "Day of the Triffids" Mini-series. It was fascinating...and long...oh, so long.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day...981_TV_series)

[CasperParks]

Another SciFi classic The Day of the Triffids
A rare color film from 1951. The prints that survived today are only average in quality, and the special effects are almost laughable, but another fantastic story line the more modern updates did little to improve upon.

After a night of metor showers, 99% of the worlds population ends up blind. This includes in flight airliners, in transit cruise ships, and entire city populations. The survivors must beat a hasty retreat as the blinded crowds turn ugly demanding care.
Add to this an invasion of sorts when carnivorous mobile plants know as Triffids march on human kind with deadly intent.

This could have turned into a campy frollic, but instead works as a full on SciFi classic.
Excellent story line based on John Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids book.

91D6+Pu0AeL__AA1500_.jpg

I recall a black and white movie of the book...

[calikid]

I recall a black and white movie of the book...

I own a DVD of Day of the Triffids and it is in color, but it is dated 1963.
Maybe you saw an earlier version?
Or, dare I ask, did you perhaps watch it on a B&W televison back in the day?!?

[Lee]

One of my favorites too. There's a remake on Youtube somewhere, which was pretty good. I'll see if i can find it....

Edit: Here's a preview:

[CasperParks]

It was a black and white TV... We couldn't afford a color TV. Still, enjoyed watching it. Makes me want to try and find it to watch again.

[calikid]

I recall, as a 4th grader in elementary school back in the early 60s, the day my parent brought home our first color television.
It was all B&W TV prior to that.
The younger generations won't even remember anything prior to flat panel screens, let alone B&W.
Still, with such a limited medium the story mattered. Probably a hold over from the radio days (I am to young to remember those days haha).

BTW CP, while the memory is usually better than the actual movie, it is a cheap DVD ($4 USD) and worth 90 minutes of your time to view. Hope you decide to watch it again. Fun times.

[calikid]

Nice find Lee. A BBC production that AFAIK never made it The States.
I'll have to check it out, hope the whole showing is available somewhere.

One of my favorites too. There's a remake on Youtube somewhere, which was pretty good. I'll see if i can find it....

Edit: Here's a preview: