Showing posts with label 1970's. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1970's. Show all posts
Friday, April 22, 2011
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Star Lost on DVD!!!
From Sci-Fi Storm
News From The Edge Of The Universe
by Doc
Originally, only a handful of episodes were released on video tape, but a couple of years ago the entire series was released on DVD.
First, a basic synopsis:
Three characters, Devon (Keir Dullea), Garth (Robin Ward) and Rachel (Gay Rowan) live in an Amish-like agrarian society called Cypress Corners. There is one bit of technology, however – the voice of the Creator, which dictates who should marry. And although Devon and Rachel love each other, the Creator deems Devon’s genetics unsuitable and says Devon and Garth should marry.
Devon learns the truth about the creator, and escapes through a hatch – where he also discovers a bigger truth – that Cypress Corners is just one part of a giant spaceship, covered in giant biodomes, each of which contains another piece of Earth’s societies, all aboard a generation ship that escaped Earth’s unspecified fate. Everyone appears to have forgotten about the spaceship, and what’s worse – an accident has killed the crew and the ship is on a collision course with a star…Devon convinces Rachel and Garth to go with him to locate the backup bridge and save the ship…
Originally aired in 1973, the show was a CTV (Canada) production and shown in the U.S. in the syndication market. It started off with grand ideas – created by Harlan Ellison for 20th Century Fox with Ben Bova as science consultant and special effects from Douglas Trumbull’s new Magicam system, it was pitched to the BBC as a co-production but the BBC turned it down. It was instead pitched as a syndicated program (which necessitated a lower budget) and sold to stations in the U.S. and the CTV network in Canada. To take advantage of lower production costs, production was also moved to Canada.
Magicam proved to be a failure, however. Using two cameras, one on the cast against a blue screen and another on a model of a set, it was supposed to eliminate the need for full size sets. It wasn’t reliable, however, and they didn’t have the space or budget for full sized sets. They were forced to use partial sets and a lot of the older chromakey system – which was very noticeable.
Harlan Ellison grew disenchanted at the constant budget cuts and changes – he perceived they studio to be “dumbing down” the story, and eventually had his name removed from the production and his alternate name, “Cordwainer Bird”, used – a name he uses on things where he felt he didn’t want to be associated with the results. In the end, Harlan Ellison won a Writers Guild award for the pilot script (called “Phoenix Without Ashes”, not the one that was shot, which was novelized), and the whole production experience was novelized by Ben Bova in The Starcrossed. And now it is a comic series.
The episodes vary greatly in quality. Some where based on outlines from Ellison, others were original stories from writers. Here is a quick rundown:
“Voyage Of Discovery” – The pilot episode, renamed. It opens strangely, with the three main characters staring out of a window in awe, before cutting back to the beginning of how they got there. This “staring in awe” happens a lot…more on that later.
“Lazarus From The Mist” – Devon and Rachel revive an engineer from cryonic suspension while Garth is captured by savage tube dwellers.
“The Goddess Calabra” – The trio encounter a male-only society of Omicron who see Rachel as the embodiment of a goddess. Sci-Fi fans will recognize John Colicos (Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek) and Barry Morse (Space: 1999). From a story by Ursula K. Le Guin.
“The Pisces” – the small vessel The Pisces returns to the Ark, having only left 10 years previously (by their time) but surprised to find the crew dead and the Ark off course.
“Children Of Methuselah” – The trio find a backup bridge, but everything is under control there – by children!
“And Only Man is Vile” – In New Eden Leisure Village, life seemed lavish…but is it nothing more than a human lab?
“Circuit Of Death” – Sakharov, in despair for the slow death that awaits the Ark, attempts to hasten it by setting the Ark’s self-destruct system and escape with his daughter about the rocket that contains the Ark’s records. This episode is the one I remember most. It involves characters being “projected” into a microcircuit, to make connections in a giant peg board with IC chips that look like it was a giant computer exhibit from a children’s museum.
“Gallery Of Fear” – Rachel and Garth are hypnotized and begin to see people – friends and relatives. Devon tries to find out why.
“Mr. Smith of Manchester” – An over-industrialized society threatens to pollute themselves to death. The model of the city really looks like a model.
“The Alien Oro” – A mysterious alien is found on the Ark, repairing his ship – but he may want more than that. Walter Koenig (Mr. Chekov, Star Trek) guest stars as Oro, in a gold suit.
“The Astro Medics” – Devon is stricken with radiation sickness, when a medic and his son show up to help.
“The Implant People” – Brain implants are used to control people.
“The Return Of Oro” – Oro is back, and he wants to help the Ark by bringing it to his home planet of Xar. But that might not be as good as it sounds.
“Farthing’s Comet” – A comet is threatening the Ark, but the scientist studying it doesn’t seem to care. This episode could qualify for worst effects ever – the telescope image of the comet looks like someone threw up some chocolate cake.
“Beehive” – Inside a food production center, the giant bees are becoming restless. Perhaps the silliest overall episode.
“Space Precinct” – Garth decides to leave Rachel and Devon and instead join the Ark’s “space cops”.
The Ark itself looks like it was a model built from a kit, and shot close up. At no point do I get the sense that I’m looking at a vast spaceship. And for great big biospheres, it sure feels like it was filmed in small soundstages.
Quaility of the transfer to DVD is great, considering the age of the source material and that it probably wasn’t well kept, although in darker images there is some noticble “screen door” artifacting (at least on my large screen).
However, it also shows the poor production quality (although pretty standard for the time when on a low budget). The chromakey effects were comparable to what was done for Land Of The Lost – you can see very visibly that the characters are composited in. Sometimes the incidental music also sound like it came from LOTL. Other parts of the production also stand out as poor – some commercial breaks were in awkward locations. As I mentioned, there are long periods where the characters just stand around and look, as if they needed to fill time. In some cases they stand there with looks of awe on their faces – as if to convey the wonder of what they are seeing, but it doesn’t look quite so good to us.
Overall, this series ended up just being silly. Although a lot of the plots could have been done well if thought out and kept in line with the whole, individually they actually introduce all sorts of continuity problems, logic errors, and just plain silliness, which gets more prominent towards the later stories. For instance, if there are space cops on the Ark, what have they done for the 400 years since the accident, and why doesn’t anyone ask THEM for help in correcting the Ark’s course?
Frankly, I’d like to see the main concept of this show revisited. At one point Sony had the rights to a feature film based on the original pilot script, but that fell into the development hole and I haven’t heard anything about it since.
Even for all its faults, The Starlost holds a special spot for me in my memories, as my father and I used to watch it together on TV. It was fun to see the program again. Of course, my memories of it were generally better than the reality.
News From The Edge Of The Universe
by Doc
Originally, only a handful of episodes were released on video tape, but a couple of years ago the entire series was released on DVD.
First, a basic synopsis:
Three characters, Devon (Keir Dullea), Garth (Robin Ward) and Rachel (Gay Rowan) live in an Amish-like agrarian society called Cypress Corners. There is one bit of technology, however – the voice of the Creator, which dictates who should marry. And although Devon and Rachel love each other, the Creator deems Devon’s genetics unsuitable and says Devon and Garth should marry.
Devon learns the truth about the creator, and escapes through a hatch – where he also discovers a bigger truth – that Cypress Corners is just one part of a giant spaceship, covered in giant biodomes, each of which contains another piece of Earth’s societies, all aboard a generation ship that escaped Earth’s unspecified fate. Everyone appears to have forgotten about the spaceship, and what’s worse – an accident has killed the crew and the ship is on a collision course with a star…Devon convinces Rachel and Garth to go with him to locate the backup bridge and save the ship…
Originally aired in 1973, the show was a CTV (Canada) production and shown in the U.S. in the syndication market. It started off with grand ideas – created by Harlan Ellison for 20th Century Fox with Ben Bova as science consultant and special effects from Douglas Trumbull’s new Magicam system, it was pitched to the BBC as a co-production but the BBC turned it down. It was instead pitched as a syndicated program (which necessitated a lower budget) and sold to stations in the U.S. and the CTV network in Canada. To take advantage of lower production costs, production was also moved to Canada.
Magicam proved to be a failure, however. Using two cameras, one on the cast against a blue screen and another on a model of a set, it was supposed to eliminate the need for full size sets. It wasn’t reliable, however, and they didn’t have the space or budget for full sized sets. They were forced to use partial sets and a lot of the older chromakey system – which was very noticeable.
Harlan Ellison grew disenchanted at the constant budget cuts and changes – he perceived they studio to be “dumbing down” the story, and eventually had his name removed from the production and his alternate name, “Cordwainer Bird”, used – a name he uses on things where he felt he didn’t want to be associated with the results. In the end, Harlan Ellison won a Writers Guild award for the pilot script (called “Phoenix Without Ashes”, not the one that was shot, which was novelized), and the whole production experience was novelized by Ben Bova in The Starcrossed. And now it is a comic series.
The episodes vary greatly in quality. Some where based on outlines from Ellison, others were original stories from writers. Here is a quick rundown:
“Voyage Of Discovery” – The pilot episode, renamed. It opens strangely, with the three main characters staring out of a window in awe, before cutting back to the beginning of how they got there. This “staring in awe” happens a lot…more on that later.
“Lazarus From The Mist” – Devon and Rachel revive an engineer from cryonic suspension while Garth is captured by savage tube dwellers.
“The Goddess Calabra” – The trio encounter a male-only society of Omicron who see Rachel as the embodiment of a goddess. Sci-Fi fans will recognize John Colicos (Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek) and Barry Morse (Space: 1999). From a story by Ursula K. Le Guin.
“The Pisces” – the small vessel The Pisces returns to the Ark, having only left 10 years previously (by their time) but surprised to find the crew dead and the Ark off course.
“Children Of Methuselah” – The trio find a backup bridge, but everything is under control there – by children!
“And Only Man is Vile” – In New Eden Leisure Village, life seemed lavish…but is it nothing more than a human lab?
“Circuit Of Death” – Sakharov, in despair for the slow death that awaits the Ark, attempts to hasten it by setting the Ark’s self-destruct system and escape with his daughter about the rocket that contains the Ark’s records. This episode is the one I remember most. It involves characters being “projected” into a microcircuit, to make connections in a giant peg board with IC chips that look like it was a giant computer exhibit from a children’s museum.
“Gallery Of Fear” – Rachel and Garth are hypnotized and begin to see people – friends and relatives. Devon tries to find out why.
“Mr. Smith of Manchester” – An over-industrialized society threatens to pollute themselves to death. The model of the city really looks like a model.
“The Alien Oro” – A mysterious alien is found on the Ark, repairing his ship – but he may want more than that. Walter Koenig (Mr. Chekov, Star Trek) guest stars as Oro, in a gold suit.
“The Astro Medics” – Devon is stricken with radiation sickness, when a medic and his son show up to help.
“The Implant People” – Brain implants are used to control people.
“The Return Of Oro” – Oro is back, and he wants to help the Ark by bringing it to his home planet of Xar. But that might not be as good as it sounds.
“Farthing’s Comet” – A comet is threatening the Ark, but the scientist studying it doesn’t seem to care. This episode could qualify for worst effects ever – the telescope image of the comet looks like someone threw up some chocolate cake.
“Beehive” – Inside a food production center, the giant bees are becoming restless. Perhaps the silliest overall episode.
“Space Precinct” – Garth decides to leave Rachel and Devon and instead join the Ark’s “space cops”.
The Ark itself looks like it was a model built from a kit, and shot close up. At no point do I get the sense that I’m looking at a vast spaceship. And for great big biospheres, it sure feels like it was filmed in small soundstages.
Quaility of the transfer to DVD is great, considering the age of the source material and that it probably wasn’t well kept, although in darker images there is some noticble “screen door” artifacting (at least on my large screen).
However, it also shows the poor production quality (although pretty standard for the time when on a low budget). The chromakey effects were comparable to what was done for Land Of The Lost – you can see very visibly that the characters are composited in. Sometimes the incidental music also sound like it came from LOTL. Other parts of the production also stand out as poor – some commercial breaks were in awkward locations. As I mentioned, there are long periods where the characters just stand around and look, as if they needed to fill time. In some cases they stand there with looks of awe on their faces – as if to convey the wonder of what they are seeing, but it doesn’t look quite so good to us.
Overall, this series ended up just being silly. Although a lot of the plots could have been done well if thought out and kept in line with the whole, individually they actually introduce all sorts of continuity problems, logic errors, and just plain silliness, which gets more prominent towards the later stories. For instance, if there are space cops on the Ark, what have they done for the 400 years since the accident, and why doesn’t anyone ask THEM for help in correcting the Ark’s course?
Frankly, I’d like to see the main concept of this show revisited. At one point Sony had the rights to a feature film based on the original pilot script, but that fell into the development hole and I haven’t heard anything about it since.
Even for all its faults, The Starlost holds a special spot for me in my memories, as my father and I used to watch it together on TV. It was fun to see the program again. Of course, my memories of it were generally better than the reality.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes! (1978)
A group of scientists band together to save the world from mutated tomatoes that KILL!
Monday, April 4, 2011
Thursday, February 12, 2009
The Boys Are Back In Town - Thin Lizzy
Guess who just got back today?
Them wild-eyed boys that had been away
Haven't changed, haven't much to say
But man, I still think them cats are crazy
They were asking if you were around
How you was, where you could be found
Told them you were living downtown
Driving all the old men crazy
The boys are back in town
The boys are back in town
I said
The boys are back in town
The boys are back in town
The boys are back in town
The boys are back in town
The boys are back in town
The boys are back in town
You know that chick that used to dance a lot
Every night she'd be on the floor shaking what she'd got
Man when I tell you she was cool, she was red hot
I mean she was steaming
And that time over at Johnny's place
Well this chick got up and she slapped Johnny's face
Man we just fell about the place
If that chick don't want to know, forget her
The boys are back in town
The boys are back in town
I said
The boys are back in town
The boys are back in town
The boys are back in town
The boys are back in town
The boys are back in town
The boys are back in town
Spread the word around
Guess who's back in town
You spread the word around
Friday night they'll be dressed to kill
Down at Dino's bar and grill
The drink will flow and blood will spill
And if the boys want to fight, you'd better let them
That jukebox in the corner blasting out my favorite song
The nights are getting warmer, it won't be long
Won't be long till summer comes
Now that the boys are here again
The boys are back in town
The boys are back in town
The boys are back in town
The boys are back in town
The boys are back in town
The boys are back in town
Spread the word around
The boys are back in town
The boys are back in town
The boy's are back, the boys are back
The boy's are back in town again
Been hangin' down at Dino's
The boy's are back in town again
Friday, January 30, 2009
You Light Up My Life - By Debby Boone
So many nights I sit by my window
Waiting for someone to sing me his song
So many dreams I kept deep inside me
Alone in the dark but now
You've come along
You light up my life
You give me hope
To carry on
You light up my days
and fill my nights with song
Rollin' at sea, adrift on the water
Could it be finally I'm turning for home?
Finally, a chance to say hey,
I love You
Never again to be all alone
You light up my life
You give me hope
To carry on
You light up my days
and fill my nights with song
You light up my life
You give me hope
To carry on
You light up my days
and fill my nights with song
It can't be wrong
When it feels so right
'Cause You
You light up my life
Thursday, January 29, 2009
My Sharona - By The Knack
Ooh my little pretty one, pretty one.
When you gonna give me some time, Sharona?
Ooh you make my motor run, my motor run.
Gun it comin' off the line Sharona
Never gonna stop, give it up.
Such a dirty mind. Always get it up for the touch
of the younger kind. My my my i yi woo.
M M M My Sharona
Come a little closer huh, ah will ya huh.
Close enough to look in my eyes, Sharona.
Keeping it a mystery gets to me
Running down the length of my thighs, Sharona
Never gonna stop, give it up. Such a dirty mind.
Always get it up for the touch
of the younger kind. My my my i yi woo.
M M M My Sharona
M M M My Sharona
(Instrumental)
When you gonna give it to me, give it to me.
It is just a matter of time Sharona
Is it just destiny, destiny?
Or is it just a game in my mind, Sharona?
Never gonna stop, give it up.
Such a dirty mind. Always get it up for the touch
of the younger kind. My my my i yi woo.
M M M My my my i yi woo
M M M My Sharona
M M M My Sharona
M M M My Sharona
M M M My Sharona
(Instrumental)
O-o-o-o-a-a-a My Sharona
O-o-o-o-a-a-a My Sharona
O-o-o-o-a-a-a My Sharona
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Bang A Gong (Get it On) - By T-Rex
Well you're dirty and sweet, clad in black
Don't look back and I love you
You're dirty and sweet, oh yeah
Well you're slim and you're weak
You've got the teeth of a hydra upon you
You're dirty sweet and you're my girl.
Chorus:
Get it on, bang the gong , get it on
Get it on, bang the gong, get it on
You're built like a car, you've got a hub cap diamond star halo
You're built like a car, oh yeah
You're an untamed youth that's the truth with your cloak full of eagles
You're dirty sweet and you're my girl.
Repeat chorus
You're windy and wild, you've got the blues in your shoes and your
stockings
You're windy and wild, oh yeah
You're built like a car, you've got a hub cap diamond star halo
You're dirty sweet and you're my girl.
Repeat chorus
You're dirty and sweet, clad in black, don't look back
And I love you
You're dirty and sweet, oh yeah
You dance when you walk so let's dance, take a chance, understand me
You're dirty sweet and you're my girl.
Repeat chorus and fade
All By My Self - By Eric Carmen
When I was young
I never needed anyone
And makin' love was just for fun
Those days are gone
Livin' alone
I think of all the friends I've known
But when I dial the telephone
Nobody's home
All by myself
Don't wanna be, all by myself anymore
All by myself
Don't wanna live, all by myself anymore
Hard to be sure
Some times I feel so insecure
And love so distant and obscure
Remains the cure
All by myself
Don't wanna be, all by myself anymore
All by myself
Don't wanna live, all by myself anymore
When I was young
I never needed anyone
And makin' love was just for fun
Those days are gone
All by myself
Don't wanna be, all by myself anymore
All by myself
Don't wanna live, all by myself anymore
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Afternoon Delight - By The Starland Vocal Band
Gonna find my baby, gonna hold her tight
gonna grab some afternoon delight.
My motto's always been; when it's right, it's right.
Why wait until the middle of a cold dark night.
When everything's a little clearer in the light of day.
And you know the night is always gonna be there any way.
Sky rockets in flight. Afternoon delight. Afternoon delight.
Thinkin' of you's workin' up my appetite
looking forward to a little afternoon delight.
Rubbin' sticks and stones together makes the sparks ingite
and the thought of rubbin' you is getting so exciting.
Sky rockets in flight. Afternoon delight. Afternoon delight.
Started out this morning feeling so polite
I always though a fish could not be caught who wouldn't bite
But you've got some bait a waitin' and I think I might try nibbling
a little afternoon delight.
Sky rockets in flight. Afternoon delight. Afternoon delight.
Please be waiting for me baby when I come around.
We could make a lot of lovin' 'for the sun goes down.
Sky rockets in flight. Afternoon delight. Afternoon delight.
Repeat chorus.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Black Betty - By Ram Jam
Oh Black Betty
Bama Lamb
Oh Black Betty
Bama Lamb
Black Betty had a child
Bama Lamb
The damn thing gone wild
Bama Lamb
Said weren't none of mine
Bama Lamb
The damn thing gone blind
Bama Lamb
I said
oh Black Betty
Bama Lamb
Woh Black Betty
Bama Lamb.
Woh Black Betty
Bama Lamb
Woh Black Betty
Bama Lamb
She really gets me high
Bama Lamb
You know that's no lie
Bama Lamb
She's so rock steady
Bama Lamb
And she's always ready
Bama Lamb
Woh Black Betty
Bama Lamb
Woh Black Betty
Bama Lamb.
Woh Black Betty
Bama Lamb
Woh Black Betty
Bama Lamb
She's from Birmingham
Bama Lamb
Way down in Alabama
Bama Lamb
Well she's shakin' that thing
Bama Lamb
Boy she makes me sing
Bama iamb
Woh Black Betty
Bama Lamb
Woh Black Betty
Bama Lamb.
Seasons In The Sun - By Terry Jacks
Goodbye to you, my trusted friend.
We've known each other since we're nine or ten.
Together we climbed hills or trees.
Learned of love and ABC's,
skinned our hearts and skinned our knees.
Goodbye my friend, it's hard to die,
when all the birds are singing in the sky,
Now that the spring is in the air.
Pretty girls are everywhere.
When you see them I'll be there.
We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun.
But the hills that we climbed
were just seasons out of time.
Goodbye, Papa, please pray for me,
I was the black sheep of the family.
You tried to teach me right from wrong.
Too much wine and too much song,
wonder how I get along.
Goodbye, Papa, it's hard to die
when all the birds are singing in the sky,
Now that the spring is in the air.
Little children everywhere.
When you see them I'll be there.
We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun.
But the wine and the song,
like the seasons, all have gone.
Goodbye, Michelle, my little one.
You gave me love and helped me find the sun.
And every time that I was down
you would always come around
and get my feet back on the ground.
Goodbye, Michelle, it's hard to die
when all the bird are singing in the sky,
Now that the spring is in the air.
With the flowers ev'rywhere.
I whish that we could both be there.
We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun.
But the stars we could reach
were just starfishs on the beach
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