tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-84637315503155721492024-03-19T05:32:40.764-04:00A Guide To Geek MediaA journal of all things that define the knowledge base and experience of being a geek of the 21st century, as viewed from inside the "Geek World."Fox4649http://www.blogger.com/profile/16647351735046544421noreply@blogger.comBlogger110125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8463731550315572149.post-39389707357544742922012-08-20T01:22:00.001-04:002014-01-31T22:56:24.541-05:00Falling Skies<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
Tonight (when I write this) is the second season finale, but I haven't watched it so there's no worry about spoilers. I am caught up, though, as of last week, and it has taken a total of 19 episodes over two summers to become interesting. This is a fairly harsh criticism of the show, but as much as I love Science Fiction I can't say this is a genre-worthy effort. The new TV version of <i>V</i> really should have gone this route, but didn't and that was a much better attempt at a "humans resist an alien occupation" story. I write this in the vain hope that someone attached to the show might actually read this and fix some, if not all, of my issues. Not being one who just says something is terrible and walks away, I will justify my displeasure with <i>Falling Skies</i> in the following paragraphs.<br />
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But first, maybe I should say something good. There are a few solid actors with good performances, and that helps me stomach most of the "over-Drama". The location shooting and sets are incredibly well done. I believe they really are in a ruined urban environment. The alien mech design, and alien tech in general, is pretty interesting. And the opening credit of the <i>Falling Skies</i> logo over the Earth looks great, but it doesn't contextual fit with the story.<br />
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Now for the bad stuff. DreamWorks is attached which helps with the budget, because this show needs it. I expect a lot out of Spielberg's name and the special effects often look cheap. I know they're doing their best with limited resources but I just can't buy into the invasion if the aliens look like poor CG. It has improved since last year, but not by much. They try to hide this by doing a lot of stuff at night, but that just muddles the action, too. I want to watch the resistance, not hear shouting in the dark. The action scenes should be understandable.<br />
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There seems to be a mystery in the background of the story, but I don't feel any closer to finding out why the aliens are on Earth, which seems pretty important to me. There are only ten episodes produced a year. There isn't time to drag out a mystery like you're making the next version of <i>Lost</i>. Once every couple episode someone will ask a good question (i.e. Why do aliens kidnap children? Why do the mechs have two legs when the aliens have six? Why are they tearing apart the city to build other structures?). Then, something random happens like a medical emergency or a child goes missing or any excuse not to further the plot. The stories just go in circles about surviving the day. The writers seem to have forgotten everyone is part of a military unit tasked with scouting the enemy and attacking vulnerable points. Make the occupation painful.<br />
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How many humans died? It seems to me that human civilization is over. Just like <i>Independence Day</i> there are massive casualties and city-wide destruction. If there are even enough humans to band together and kick the aliens off Earth, can anyone rebuild the society? Nobody seems to realize that if the resistance fails that's it for humanity. If the leadership can't get the very best of the people under them then everyone is doomed. And yet, characters argue the morality of teaching their kids to use guns. This isn't the same society as the viewing audience. Even Rick taught his kid, Carl, how to shoot zombies in <i>The Walking Dead</i>. There is a good chance here to compare the new morality of survivalism with what we viewers are used to. That's what Sci-Fi does, it helps us see ourselves in a different light.<br />
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The key moments I want to see in the show all happen off screen. The opening invasion is depicted by a voice-over from a child in a therapy session. There are crayon pictures of destruction. Unacceptable! The viewers deserve to see the invasion, so as adults we can put it into perspective for the characters. As it stands the war seems like a nine-to-five job. This season, the 2nd Mass' nurse under Dr. Anne Glass, Lourdes (who is given terrible dialog and rarely has anything important to do in a scene), gets a boyfriend, Jamil. He is not introduced in the show but in the comic book that takes place in the three months between the seasons. Why should I have to read the comic to learn the character? They couldn't have given him five minutes in an episode? SPOILER WARNING: he's killed horribly in front of Lourdes during episode 7. She falls apart in every episode after that because they were so close. But we never saw that happen because it occurred during the two weeks between episode 6 and 7. Season 2 often refers to The Battle of Fitchburg, and very specifically, SPOILER again, in episode 3 a boy, Jimmy, is killed and a compass of his is stolen by Pope (more on him). Unless you read the comic (or the smart-phone app) you won't know the significance of either. That is unacceptable story telling.<br />
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Who the hell is Pope? I hate his character. He's introduced as a leader of outlaws, killing aliens or humans who get near his territory. But he learned a lot of survival and has good intel on how to kill aliens. He knows humanity is doomed so he's carving out his place to watch the world burn. If he drinks, murders, rapes and pillages then so be it. Then they made him join the cast and he becomes an idiot. It took an 8-year-old's suggestion for him to use alien bullets to kill other aliens. Really? I though of that in the first episode, and he's supposed to be an expert at creative killing techniques? Once he's tamed and everyone likes him the first season ends, but season two starts three months later. He's volatile and commands a group called the Berserkers who act like they're in the <i>Road Warrior</i>. No explanation what happened or how he got his own unit, which itself is weird because nobody likes any of them. Something happened the writers didn't let us in on.<br />
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I understand there should be young people in the show, it is made up of refugees (and aliens don't actually kill children), but these kids can't act. From the kid point of view it must look awesome to see all these adults running around with guns, but no one stops to teach the kids context or what happened to the world, so they just keep getting in the way. Matt, Tom's youngest, constantly wants to join the fight. He's eight, I think. Everyone says he's "too young" without telling him (or us) what "too young" means in this new world. This constitutes the bulk of the family drama, parents hiding the horrors of the occupation and near genocide of the human race from their kids. They even put the kids in school to keep the illusion that everything is normal.<br />
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Maybe <i>Falling Skies</i> isn't meant for me. It comes off as a family show (with teenager and kid issues), but it seems really out of place. The main character, Tom Mason, has too many kids, Hal, Ben and Matt. He can't keep track of them. In fact the series starts with one of his kids missing and Tom is willing to jeopardize the whole unit to save him. In the process Hal's girlfriend gets captured, which leads him to do more suicidal missions. This really goes to the crux of my issues; the story. </div>
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Was each episode written by a committee? Almost all the scripts have equal parts teen romance, father-son moment, other family drama, medical drama, character drama and combat. Neither of these plot threads are strong enough on their own, but to shove them together in one story just frustrates me. Switching between six different plot points with six different tones ruins the tempo. There are too many characters that I don't care about getting too much screen time. <br />
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<i>Falling Skies</i> is a character drama pretending to be Science Fiction. Most of the time the camera is on a character at the height if his/her emotion at the expense of the story. No matter what's happening somewhere else, if a character is crying, the camera moves to them. Most of the drama is forced like the issue of Tom and Ben's capture. There are lots of people in every episode complaining they shouldn't be let back in the 2nd Mass. Same argument, with drama, every episode. Get over it. Episode 8 of this year has everyone arrive at Charleston to join the Continental Army. They drove all the way from New York to get there through alien occupied and devastated countryside only to find the bridge to the city was out. They stopped and cried a whole bunch. They gave up! You can't even see the city to know no one is there. Then, at the lowest dramatic point the Continental Army shows up and gives everyone hope for the future.<br />
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So my quick and easy fix is to drop the character drama and teen romance drivel. There is a mission to liberate Earth that the show forgot about. If this is a family show then why emphasize all the death and destruction. Show how the kids are having to learn to grow up out of it. All the characters seem to think everything will go back to normal as soon as the aliens leave. They need to change their attitude and be realistic. There have been two or three first contact moments where the viewers almost learned something important. The alien invasion just happened, there wasn't a breakdown in diplomacy, so any chance to actually talk to an alien should be jumped at. Think of <i>Independence Day</i>, again. And most of all, start answering questions before introducing new ones. I want this show to work as it appears to have a season 3. Maybe they could borrow some writers from <i>Jericho</i>.</div>
Fox4649http://www.blogger.com/profile/16647351735046544421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8463731550315572149.post-11957190759030437732012-08-14T21:23:00.001-04:002012-08-14T21:23:26.670-04:00The Weekend of The Bourne Legacy<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
I spent a large amount of time at the local cinema this weekend watching some current releases and catching up on a couple older titles. All this while enjoying too much Popcorn and Coke Zero. Nothing I saw had a lot of people in it, so I think the Batman Effect is still working. By that I mean people must be seeing <i>The Dark Knight Rises</i> 'cause they ain't seein' what I saw. In the usual way, I over analyzed the movies and came up with the following thoughts and there might be <u>Spoilers</u>:<br /><br /><i><b>The Bourne Legacy</b></i><br />Jeremy Renner, playing Aaron Cross (aka Kenneth Kitsom, aka Outcome #5, aka James Monroe), is about the only real reason to see this movie. If you liked him in <i>Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol</i> and/or <i>The Avengers</i> then you know why he's fun to watch. This isn't to say the other actors aren't good, they just don't have anything to do. I like all the actors present (Ed Norton, Stacy Keech, Donna Murphy to name a few) but they're on-screen time is spent ordering people to catch Aaron Cross. The director (also the writer) does a good job using music and camera edits to make these sections seem more important than they really are. Rachel Weisz, as Dr. Shearing, fares a little better, but she ends up with the damsel-in-distress role. At least she actually meets Aaron Cross, with most of her time spent dodging bullets.<br /><br />Clocking in at 2 hours 15 minutes this is about 45 minutes too long. All the action scenes involve Aaron Cross running from his handlers trying to "burn" him, but there aren't enough of them. Part of the problem is time needs to be spent explaining how <i>The Bourne Trilogy</i> sets current events in motion, leading to the killing off all Outcome agents. The plot itself is the most basic secret agent story: a top-level spy organization decides to disavow/kill all its best operative(s) and the agent in question goes on the run/fights back. I've seen this in <i>The Bourne Identity</i>. I've seen this in most of the <i>Mission Impossible</i> movies. This is the first episode of <i>Burn Notice</i> and part of the idea behind <i>Nikita</i>. I'm pretty sure there's a <i>007</i> movie with this premise. Maybe I'm missing the point but I think it's lazy writing. In all of this complaining the movie is very watchable, but when you start boiling everything down to its essence, it's a simple story. I bet if we had a third <i>Charlie's Angels</i> movie it would have had the same plot, too.<br /><br />There is one idea I do like: the agency gives its Outcome operatives two different pills to enhance physical and mental acuity. But they have to take them at regular intervals or regress rapidly to a sub-human level; somewhat of a cross between <i>Jurassic Park</i>'s Lysine contingency and <i>Limitless</i>' NZT-48 drug. By the end of the movie we learn a retro-virus was given to the agents that permanently alters them at the chromosomal level, but left the drug as a control device. Aaron Cross is only partially altered so he needs to get Dr. Shearing to help him fully convert his body, and thus shake any connection he needs to have with the agency.<br /><br /><i><b>The Campaign</b></i><br />A movie that is only funny with more people around. On your own you'll need some beer. The plot on the surface is about two ridiculous people going for a congressional seat in North Carolina. Its pretty painful to watch the back-and-forth antics between "the hero" Marty Huggins and "the bad guy" Cam Brady. In the background of this election feud are the Motch brothers, super-rich industrialists who are conniving with Chinese interests to bring Chinese child labor to North Carolina. They back whichever of the two main characters is ahead in the polls, lampooning current political entities that are being bought by businesses.<br /><br />Unfortunately this is a sad comedy. It's not funny, and over-done at times. There is a message in the movie about the manipulation of our political figures by people with money (and connecting it to the larger issue of American labor going to China). The humor is often off-putting to the point no one is going to get the message. The only joke I really appreciated had to do with Marty's father, Raymond. He works with the Motch brothers, has a bunch of money and a large mansion. In the mansion is a house maid, Mrs. Yao, another Chinese connection. The joke here is Raymond prefers Mrs. Yao to act like a 19th century African-American maid, in what I'm guessing is an attempt to compare current American industrial connections to China with the American slave labor era of the 1800s. If this wasn't intended, then I'm giving the movie way too much credit. Whatever was intended by the joke, it will likely be lost in the idiocy of the rest of the script.<br /><br /><i><b>Ice Age: Continental Drift</b></i><br />An ordinary non-Pixar CG movie for kids. I really enjoy the first two movies, but I found the third one to have "jumped the shark" as it were (even with Simon Pegg). The animation keeps getting better with every release. Since it takes them at least three years to make a movie, you can see how much better computer graphic power is getting. Fur is amazing. The voice work is still good, but I really liked Ray Romano and Wanda Sykes. The issues in the movie aren't as strong as the first two movies, but better than <i>Dawn of the Dinosaurs</i>. Sid even pokes fun at it when mentioning he doesn't understand underground dinosaurs. Overall <i>Ice Age 4</i> is a run-of-the-mill CG movie.<br /><br />I do want to complain about a couple things. The first will be Scrat; the Looney-Tunes-esque punching bag for the writers. His story isn't bad, but for some reason it was decided to show parts of it in theaters (and iTunes) as a lead-up to release day. I thought it was a prologue, setting up a plot point, but it is reshown scene-for-scene in the movie. This accounts for 90% of his scenes. Scrat's subplots throughout always halt the narrative, and since you've likely seen them already, it becomes a speed bump to the pacing. Bad call.<br /><br />Second; when do these movies take place? Since it's called Ice Age I feel confident it refers to the most recent Ice Age from 10,000+ years ago and not a random one in the past ten million years. I know this is a kids movie series, but maybe we can try to teach some accurate science while a Mastadon, a Sabertooth Tiger and a Giant Ground Sloth become BFF's. The present day continents have been the way they are for roughly the past two million years, but this movie seems to imply Scrat fell to the core of the Earth, spun it, and made plate tectonics happen. Once again, I know, it's a metaphor in a kids movie, but maybe some consistency? Which Ice Age is it? That's all I want to know. To re-enforce my original theory for a 10,000 B.C. date; <i>The Meltdown</i> has Sid joking with Manny about being extinct. Well, that, and the whole global warming vibe of the story.<br /><br /><i><b>Step Up Revolution</b></i><br />It almost goes without saying that this movie is terrible. You can tell from the previews. I also thought the same thing about <i>Jack and Jill</i>. The difference between the two is that <i>Step Up Revolution</i> is showing off the talent of dancers. Choreography is what's on display, the narrative only doing the minimum to connect the Flash Mob events. My only knowledge of this series is <i>Step Up 3D</i>, which had more of a style to it than I wanted to admit, but another dumb plot, more-or-less taken from many Kung-Fu movies. In fact, both these movies are written like a martial arts movie; but replace the word "martial" with "dance" and film something. I am going to give the creators some credit since they're taking two years between movies. <i>Twilight</i> and <i>Saw</i> movies are just drivel pumped-out every year. There's no way you can create a quality product in so little a time. They're just cashing in. I would prefer three years, but I can't have everything. <br /><br />My only real issue in the movie is the dancing. The director, stunt people, dance choreographers and others are putting a lot of work into these routines. They look decent enough on screen, but the editing is an MTV video disaster. At least put the lens some distance from the action and let the dancers do more than one move before zooming in and cutting to another angle. It's not like the director's job is to hide the incompetence of the cast. The lead actress, Kathryn McCormick, was one of the top contenders on <i>So You Think You Can Dance</i> (much like tWitch), so I know she can handle it. There are better scenes of competitions on Youtube. That's what the director should be going for. It seems an odd nitpick, but lets compare this to a Jet Li movie. He has awesome hand-to-hand skills, but when he's put in a role where he's given a stuntman and has to use wire-work, it defeats the purpose of his natural talent. That's what I'm trying to see, talent. I'm jaded enough after 35 years of movie watching to know when someone is trying to trick me (looking at you <i>Chronicle</i>). Let the action breathe and it will succeed. Also, it's called <i>Step Up</i>, not Dubstep Up. Everything sounded like dubstep, except for Kathryn's solo stuff which I found boring.<br /><br />My suggestion for a fifth movie: set it during a tournament. One day only. Like a cross between <i>The Karate Kid</i> and <i>Dodgeball</i>. Drop the romance angle. Let the tension be between the contestants. Use the actors from all four movies as a sense of continuity. Mix up the music styles. <i>Blues Brothers</i> had music from all over the genre letting the audience experience different types of Soul, R&B, Blues, etc. I'm sure there are ten forms of electronica, breakbeat, drum and bass, or techno. Feel free to take these suggestions, it would only make the franchise better.<br /></div>
Fox4649http://www.blogger.com/profile/16647351735046544421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8463731550315572149.post-33375056664638132082012-06-04T17:20:00.002-04:002012-06-04T17:20:20.012-04:00E3 2012 Game Previews<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Sunday (June 3rd) I decided to watch some pre-E3 game trailers. Here is a list and some quick thoughts about some Sci-Fi titles that caught my interest. This is not meant to be purely a game preview opinion piece, just how Sci-Fi is being represented in the near future for gaming. All these can be found on gametrailers.com.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.gametrailers.com/game/anarchy-reigns/14423" target="_blank"><b>Anarchy Reigns</b></a><br />Some kind of apocalyptic future with super-steroid people punching each other and using hand-to-hand energy weapons. A cartoonish example of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3horf9QVbQ" target="_blank"><i>Mad Max</i></a> (or <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gdv5EtZQ6jg&feature=related" target="_blank"><i>The Road Warrior</i></a> if you prefer). I do like the guy using energy claws like <a href="http://www.eucantina.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Figure-1-4.jpg" target="_blank">Wolverine</a>. Not much else to say.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.gametrailers.com/game/defiance/15380" target="_blank"><b>Defiance</b></a><br />An MMO based on, and being released concurrently with, a SyFy TV Show of the same <a href="http://defiance.com/en/" target="_blank">name</a> (and not this <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7VZ2NXGHYA" target="_blank">movie</a>). The gimmick is to play the game in between broadcasts and in some way it will effect the story, which in turn effects the game's narrative. The setting looks like the future, but during an alien occupation that has been going on for some time. Not unlike <a href="http://www.fallingskies.com/" target="_blank"><i>Falling Skies</i></a>. It's the future with aliens.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.gametrailers.com/game/dishonored/15303" target="_blank"><b>Dishonored</b></a><br />From <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dishonored_%28video_game%29" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>: "first-person Neo-Victorian/steampunk stealth action". I saw robots in the preview somewhere, too. I like the look of the world and the mechanical designs.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.gametrailers.com/game/injustice-gods-among-us/16464" target="_blank"><b>Injustice: Gods among Us</b></a><br />A fighting game using DC characters. This is the comic book form of Science-Fiction. At least <a href="http://cdn.ripten.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/InjusticeGodsAmongUsSuperman.png" target="_blank">Superman</a> is an alien.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.gametrailers.com/game/inversion/12232" target="_blank"><b>Inversion</b></a><br />Gravity is the new weapon. Some aliens take over the world and you get to fight them while manipulating gravity. So there's that. Another wrecked world apocalypse.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.gametrailers.com/game/lego-batman-2-dc-superheroes/16229" target="_blank"><b>LEGO Batman 2: DC Superheroes</b></a><br />I love LEGO games. Superman is an alien. Batman uses super-science gadgets. Green Lantern works for aliens. It's the DC Universe in LEGO <a href="http://blogs-images.forbes.com/johngaudiosi/files/2012/03/legobatman2.jpg" target="_blank">form</a>.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.gametrailers.com/game/lollipop-chainsaw/15353" target="_blank"><b>Lollipop Chainsaw</b></a><br />A school girl uses chainsaws to kill zombies, so zombie Science-Fiction. And it looks over-the-top cartoony, but not as obtuse as Anarchy Reigns.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.gametrailers.com/game/metal-gear-rising-revengeance/11392" target="_blank"><b>Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance</b></a><br />It's the future. You're a ninja (I think) and you fight giant walking robots and use all sorts of future-tech. All in the service of protecting the world from it self. Actually I have no idea what Metal Gear are about.<br /><br />My top picks to play would have to be Dishonored, Inversion and LEGO Batman 2. I usually don't play MMOs and the rest look like recycled ideas that aren't adding much to the genre.<br /><br />
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Now for more Xbox360 related stuff: I have freshly watched Microsoft's E3 2012 presentation. I think I blackout during the musical number so I may have missed some things. There are a couple new technologies they're pushing for the console that seem in the realm of Science-Fiction. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.ign.com/videos/2012/06/04/halo-4-smartglass-trailer-e3-2012" target="_blank">SmartGlass</a> is something I've wanted to see for about a decade, but I never had a good way to explain it, but I think they figured it out. It's an interactive "second screen" that supplements a TV show or movie, and not just regurgitating IMDB data (I does that, too) but adding extra in-universe information. A great idea that I hope gets implemented across the board, and not just on current shows, but older stuff, too. <br /><br />Recently, I became enamored of the <a href="http://www.fitbit.com/product" target="_blank">Fitbit</a> fitness tracker, so I was sad to see Nike go full on with Xbox fitness tracking <a href="http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2012-nike-kinect/730954" target="_blank">integration</a>. It appears to track you using their equipment and a Kinect to tailor a specific training regiment to you. Great idea, but I'm not buying another sensor suite. Reminds me a little of the tennis <a href="http://www.personal.psu.edu/bxb11/blogs/brett_bixler_e-portfolio/SharonStoneTennis.jpg" target="_blank">instructor</a> from <a href="http://www.filmdetail.com/2012/04/03/film-notes-12-total-recall-1990/" target="_blank"><i>Total Recall</i></a>. Below are list of Science-Fiction games they showed off and if I intend to spent cash on them.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.gametrailers.com/game/call-of-duty-black-ops-ii/16375" target="_blank"><b>Call of Duty: Black Ops 2</b></a><br />I am not a huge Call of Duty fan, but I enjoy shooting enemies on occasion. The story, set in the future about an American drone military that is used against itself, is very compelling. I want to see their vision of the future, you know, before it goes all wrong. Stupid <a href="http://www.hotflick.net/flicks/2009_Terminator_Salvation/009TMS_Helena_Bonham_Carter_003.jpg" target="_blank">SkyNet</a>.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.gametrailers.com/game/gears-of-war-judgement/16481" target="_blank"><b>Gears of War: Justice</b></a><br />Instead of showing us a world of Gears after the Locust horde had been destroyed this is a prequel all about <a href="http://images2.makefive.com/images/entertainment/gaming/best-gears-of-war-character/baird-7.jpg" target="_blank">Baird</a>. It has the right look, and like <a href="http://gearsofwar.wikia.com/wiki/RAAM%27s_Shadow" target="_blank">Raam's Shadow</a>, we'll see the planet freshly after the Locust invasion and get to delve into the back story of my favorite character. I will have this.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.gametrailers.com/game/halo-4/14956" target="_blank"><b>Halo 4</b></a><br />Usually the reason to own an Xbox. It still is. This franchise oozes Sci-Fi elements everywhere. and there are new bad guys to shoot new looking space guns at, too. Physically-enhanced super-soldier in a powered exo-skeleton taking advice from an AI while shooting the progenitor race of the galaxy? And he has Batman's Detective Mode? Count me in.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.gametrailers.com/game/resident-evil-6/16015" target="_blank"><b>Resident Evil 6</b></a><br />This team of zombie killers never get a break. They have to shoot more zombies and get to the bottom of another infestation. I may wait on this title. It looks like more of the same.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.gametrailers.com/game/splinter-cell-blacklist/16479" target="_blank"><b>Splinter Cell: Blacklist</b></a><br />A current-day plot (or maybe near-future), but Sam Fisher has some good looking Spy-Fi gear. He also gets some of Batman's Detective Mode. It may not be enough to grab my attention, but the game looks great.<br /><br />As more games are revealed I shall put my two cents into writing again.<br />Fox4649http://www.blogger.com/profile/16647351735046544421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8463731550315572149.post-5018037429849809312012-06-02T22:57:00.000-04:002012-06-02T22:58:40.149-04:00Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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About twenty minutes in I thought I was watching a 1930s <a href="http://sittinonabackyardfence.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/annex-hopkins-miriam-dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde_01.jpg" target="_blank">porno</a>. Dr. Jekyll, who has a fiance he's deeply in love with, stops a guy from beating-up a hooker, Ivy. He carries her to her home to make sure she's okay. Ivy suddenly sees a decent guy with money (he is a Doctor) and starts coming on to him. She pretty much strips naked and gets into bed waiting for him to join her. This is nothing today but 80 years ago there must have been an argument over it.<br />
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Beyond the legend of <a href="http://books.google.com/books/about/Dr_Jekyll_and_Mr_Hyde.html?id=xaMB9LuX98IC" target="_blank">Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde</a> that persists, I'm really not that familiar with the story. I liked the <a href="http://i.imagehost.org/0439/The_League_of_Extraordinary_Gentlemen_2003_mkv.jpg" target="_blank">character</a> from <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIHh9IWt0eI" target="_blank"><i>The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen</i></a> but I'm unfamiliar with his roots in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_Case_of_Dr_Jekyll_and_Mr_Hyde" target="_blank">fiction</a>. I had no idea Mr. Hyde was such a brutal, sadistic character, made all the more shocking by the normality of Dr. Jekyll. He's got the perfect life; a college professor who has time for scientific research and a beautiful fiance he's impatient to marry. The story shows you up front how much he has to loose when he makes the decision to drink a chemical concoction that goes horribly wrong.<br />
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Mr. Hyde is nearly a <a href="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Film/Pix/pictures/2008/12/01/jekhyde460.jpg" target="_blank">werewolf</a> who is intelligent but manages to beat-up nearly every character present. He spends at least a quarter of the movie psychologically and physically torturing <a href="http://www.the-filmreel.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/jekyll_hyde_03.jpg" target="_blank">Ivy</a> before finally killing her. I never expected anything this violent on screen. Even Frankenstein killing Little Maria was played as a sad, touching <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA9opHsLACk" target="_blank">moment</a>. Not Ivy, she's abused like she was in <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVNxwNQYQKU&feature=related" target="_blank"><i>A Street Car Named Desire</i></a>. But, that is the point of the story; one part civilized, one part animalistic.<br />
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I do strangely recommend the movie even though I hated most of Mr. Hyde's scenes. Not because they were bad in any way (<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0545298/" target="_blank">Fredric March</a> won the Oscar for playing both roles), he's just not someone I enjoy watching. Except when he's running away. There is actual stunt-work in the movie. He beats people and jumps around props and such, very much a physical monkey trying to run away. Not at all the lumbering mass that denotes Frankenstein.<br />
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The camera and make-up effects are the best thing about the movie. Only a couple times is it obvious a camera cut was added to a transformation scene. Most of the time his transformation is in one take as you see him become more grotesque from Jekyll to Hyde. There are a few times we experience the movie in first person. The camera is the eye of Dr. Jekyll and we see his world as it spins out of control. A very interesting technique.<br />
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The story skirts the realm of Sci-Fi just a little so I added some thoughts on the movie to my <a href="http://fox649.tumblr.com/post/24259020714/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde" target="_blank">Tumblr</a> account. I rented it on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dr-Jekyll-Mr-Hyde/dp/B0014C5HUQ/ref=sr_1_3?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1338692134&sr=1-3" target="_blank">Amazon Instant Video</a> but it is available on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Jekyll-Hyde-Double-Feature-1932/dp/B0000EYUD4/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1338692134&sr=1-1" target="_blank">DVD</a>.Fox4649http://www.blogger.com/profile/16647351735046544421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8463731550315572149.post-941565119384318052012-05-31T23:56:00.000-04:002012-05-31T23:56:10.155-04:00Frankenstein<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Nine months after Universal released Dracula, they put out <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKyiXjyVsfw" target="_blank">Frankenstein</a>, using a couple of the same actors. Renfield (Dracula's assistant) becomes Fritz (Frankenstein's assistant), and Professor Van Helsing becomes Dr. Waldman, Frankenstein's college professor. It probably goes without saying but this movie is brilliant, especially for its time. I can't recommend it enough.<br /><br />It's been 15 years since I first saw this movie on VHS, and it looks even better up-scaled on a DVD. What still strikes me with most, even more so having just watched Dracula, is how dynamic the camera is. It moves into scenes and across them, there are close-ups and long shots mixed in, and mixing of studio and outdoor footage. It in no way looks like a stage play in the way Dracula does. The special effects are also quite good, relatively speaking, culminating in a burning windmill. There is even matte painting work in at least one scene.<br /><br />Boris Karloff becomes one of only a few quintessential "guys in monster makeup" after this movie. He will only be replaced in the role by Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney, Jr. His version of The Monster differs wildly from the novel, but it adds something to a story that would have been too difficult to film at the time. His introduction in the movie is one of the best moments on screen. It's subtle and quite. In fact, like Dracula, there's no music, a common issue for movies at this time. Somehow the lack of music still manages to set the tone nicely. And all the character motivations are out front, even though there could have been more exposition concerning Frankensten's fiance, Elizabeth, and her connection to the family, but that's what Commentary Tracks are for. <br /><br />The version I watched is a restored 1999 DVD copy with all the lines that had been deleted post-1934 as well as the famous "drowning girl" scene. I'm impressed they even bothered to have a scene like that in the movie, since Dracula only showed one death, Renfield's. Sorry, spoiler warning all around. But instead of glorifying it, the director showed how innocent The Monster was and just accidentally murdered Little Maria. Afterwords, her father finds her body and parades it into town, starting one of film's most famous "mob hunting something with torches" scene. This is about the only thing that could have been better executed, since I don't understand how any of the villagers would have known about a monster on the loose. But they sure organized quick. Maybe this happens all the time to them.<br /><br />I have a Tumblr blog internet write-y <a href="http://fox649.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">thing</a> where I like to "geek spiral" over trivial Sci-Fi matters, so below are the conclusions I drew from the movie. If you haven't already, see this movie, anyway you can. I'm pretty sure it's public domain so just find it on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_d_1QLbmQw" target="_blank">Youtube</a> or your favorite torrent site.<br /><br /><i>One of the earliest, best Science Fiction movies made. A film that is 81 years old, based on a novel written almost 200 years ago (194 to be as precise as I can). Hopefully in 2018 Universal has something planned. We don’t see enough “mad scientist” movies and this is one of the best (I also count Zuckerberg from The Social Network as a type of mad scientist).<br /><br />When classifying the Sci-Fi elements in the movie it really comes down to animated The Monster. There’s not a lot to say here, but some dialog between Frankenstein and Dr. Waldman illuminates a little of the movie’s science. Frankenstein talks of light waves (or Electromagnetic Radiation if you prefer) beyond the ultraviolet that no one knows about. X-rays and Gamma rays (the stuff that turned Bruce Banner into The Hulk) are “beyond” that point, but must not have been discovered yet in the story. This puts the time period prior to 1895, either that or the village of Goldstadt, home of Castle Frankenstein, is way behind the times.<br /><br />The point Frankenstein makes is that there is energy beyond ultraviolet that gives life. And he knows how to harness it. From the look of the tech in his lab and the Tesla-made generators, my guess is he means electricity, since the big deal is to hit The Monster with a bolt of lightning. I’m sure there’s supposed to be more than just that, but let’s exam what The Monster is. Fritz does the grunt work of finding freshly killed bodies, and a brain in a jar, for the experiment. Frankenstein stitches several corpses together and places the brain inside a slightly misshapen head. Since there are a couple bolts visible protruding from his neck, these are likely important to revival.<br /><br />His intention isn’t to bring someone back from the dead, but to create a new life from the pieces of the dead. The only real failure is Fritz grabbing a brain from someone who was criminally insane, with visible lesions. In fact, Dr. Waldman is showing his college class these lesions, so it’s odd Frankenstein didn’t notice them when installing the brain. In his defense his lab is dark and he’s a little insane. I should point out in Star Trek “<a href="http://www.technovelgy.com/graphics/content08/spocks-brain-mccoy-helmet.jpg" target="_blank">Bones</a>” had trouble putting <a href="http://media.agonybooth.com/images/articles/Star_Trek/the_original_series/Spock_s_Brain/articlelist.jpg" target="_blank">Spock’s</a> brain back in his body and he’s a 23rd century man. How in the world did he “wire” an inactive nervous system to a brain it wasn’t developed with?<br /><br />I have a feeling there are extra things going on inside the body, like more wiring and what-not. Since his head is flattened out in an unnatural way, he no doubt has more going on inside, thus accounting for increased strength, I think. The Monster knows haw to walk after a few days and understands simple commands, appearing fairly innocent until Fritz begins torturing it with fire. Then the killings begin. He constantly staggers around stiffly, grunting, but never appears to want food, so not quite a zombie. It’s just simple enough this great story works.</i>Fox4649http://www.blogger.com/profile/16647351735046544421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8463731550315572149.post-64685107965265748552012-05-30T09:06:00.000-04:002012-05-30T09:19:55.397-04:001931's Dracula<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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There is something amazingly quaint about a horror movie made for a 1930's audience. Approximately 81 years old, I think one has to enjoy cinema to even attempt to watch <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Nfmh178L98" target="_blank">Dracula</a>. Made within a decade of the first <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jazz_Singer" target="_blank">talkies</a>, it shows movies that are mostly stage plays in front of a camera. This is not <a href="http://samanthavalentine.blogspot.com/2011/03/interview-with-vampire.html" target="_blank">Interview with a Vampire</a>, or <a href="http://www.thenerdpocalypse.com/2012/02/marvel-knights-what-to-do-next-with-ghost-rider/blade/" target="_blank">Blade</a>.<br />
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I should point out I'm not a horror movie buff. Vampire movies are on the bottom of my hate list (that's where my most hated stuff goes, not at the top), just above torture-porn (which doesn't include Vampire killing movies like <a href="http://www.prad.de/images/monitore/nec-lcd2180wg-led-dvd-blade2.jpg" target="_blank">Blade</a>, I like those). The horror genre has a respectable history, but not enough for me to want to see each year's batch worth of slaughtered young adults (looking at you <a href="http://houseofjigsaw.com/house_main.html" target="_blank">Saw</a>). Sci-Fi horror is in a different class and one day I'll psycho-analyze myself to determine why I like <a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/resident_evil/" target="_blank">Resident Evil</a> over any <a href="http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/notorious/texas_chainsaw_massa/1_index.html" target="_blank">Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie</a>.<br />
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It's hard for me to image a movie-going community where Dracula scared anyone. The bat scenes are laughable but the actors sell the drama, some times too much. I never understood the motivation for Dracula to move from Transylvania to the outskirts of London, but then again, he didn't last long. Sorry. Spoiler.<br />
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All the classic Vampire traits are present: his aversion to crosses, sleeping during the day, turning women into vampires, turning men into slaves, turning himself into a bat or a wolf (sadly off screen), repelled by wolfsbane, hypnotizing victims, and no reflection in a mirror. The story even explores the idea of curing Mina Harker, after she is turned, by killing Dracula. (Yes, the same <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHYh7h0rI92Z-0GEfvhyphenhyphenjLvOH24UYU5LnDwXgMRM3mhGhlwb9skA3w3LUZU0rWXKC7FSlIHtv8BCfd32xvFi58NtpkHLPZPRAApPTSMTpTomthG2aawIGndggPuf-xVGcP5GUVkKmFJ0A/s1600/Mina+Harker.jpg" target="_blank">Mina Harker</a> from <a href="http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_League_of_Extraordinary_Gentlemen_%28film%29" target="_blank">The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen</a>.) Of note is the idea that Vampires can only sleep when under the soil of the land they are from, so Dracula had to bring <a href="http://www.romaniatourism.com/romania-maps/historical-regions-map.html" target="_blank">Transylvanian</a> dirt to England. The strongest moments in the movie are between Professor Van Helsing (this <a href="http://www.wearysloth.com/Gallery/ActorsV/17541-5335.gif" target="_blank">one</a>, not this <a href="http://i.cdn.turner.com/v5cache/TNT/Images/i0/vanhelsing_pg01.jpg" target="_blank">one</a>) and the Count as he begins to realize the other is a Vampire. And Van Helsing isn't surprised. He even keeps some anti-Vampire tools with him. If anything I would have liked more backstory on him. Sadly, all but one death is off screen. Considering it's for a '30s audience I'll let it slide.<br />
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THE classic Gothic horror movie that is slow and cheesy (and <a href="http://www.wearysloth.com/Gallery/ActorsF/6164-5335.gif" target="_blank">over-acted</a>) at times, but worth the viewing. A Universal production that will go on to make many horror monsters of the mid-20th century famous: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenstein_%281931_film%29" target="_blank">Frankenstein</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wolf_Man_%281941_film%29" target="_blank">Wolf Man</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Invisible_Man_%28film%29" target="_blank">Invisible Man</a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mummy_%281932_film%29" target="_blank">The Mummy</a> (not this <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihEbBmNZu_uotUSZXkj1xyTLHci1zeUHFSY-uOC8WKoMqdI-p98flLOiX2_phgfJKEGKjfYbLBzsjPeW56-UTGOb-qOp4zkn3HqPGa5_TxXj8OybgtQ7rbfY0Erm1_0j-rzSiUezO0oSkQ/s400/the-mummy_l.jpg" target="_blank">one</a>) to name a few. These creatures are even known to cross into each other's <a href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2190/2262575475_5549dbe3bd_o.jpg" target="_blank">movies</a>, and sometimes bump into <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFUCcPUkqNSGXWARRk5caHeHCTXS_rX6vdQ5DCUXchTutXZ71mxEQ70aZfeZDHunsGoFUM4U7NamdQRDi8MjkWV04Lb52QD-KnS-Jyri5J5ktM5xfXPUCRC3zoOjcz6Wyut5tL7QDu8Og/s1600/Abbott+and+Costello+Meet+Frankenstein+%25281948%2529.jpg" target="_blank">Abbott and Costello</a>. We are still seeing many of them reinvented every year by studios. This 1931 version of Dracula is currently on <a href="http://movies.netflix.com/movie/Dracula/22495228" target="_blank">NetFlix</a>.<br />
<br />Fox4649http://www.blogger.com/profile/16647351735046544421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8463731550315572149.post-34895999631390201972012-05-28T22:55:00.003-04:002012-05-28T22:55:20.731-04:00The Science-Fiction of Chernobyl DiariesBarely, marginally a Sci-Fi flick. The only claim it has is radioactive
cannibal mutants living in the remains of Prypiat. All this may be a
spoiler, but the trailer shows it off already.<br /><br />Now for actual
spoilers. It is left a little unclear but the main issue for the six
main characters (other than the radiation in the shadow of Chernobyl
reactors) are wild radioactive dogs and mutants.<br /><br />For the animals,
packs of wild starving dogs make sense, but there seem to be
carnivorous fish. Whether piranha, barracuda, or a radioactive mutant
fish, they have a taste for flesh. Between the dogs, fish, bear, and
people there is a large sense of hunger. And everything appears to be
flesh-eating. <br /><br />My only experience with a radioactive landscape is
playing Fallout 3. In it you have a constant Geiger Counter that goes
wild whenever you approach water. That never comes into the movie, but
at least that might explain the mutant fish. The guide, Yuri, even
carelessly plays in a stream to scare the other six.<br /><br />As for the
radioactive mutant cannibal humans, there seem to be two kinds. The
super-hungry feral humans that run and claw at you, then there are
“clever” humanoids that stalk and set traps. There’s even a child mutant
used to distract the group, while a larger one sneaks up and snatches
one of the women.<br /><br />Yuri claims he’s been bringing people to the
city of Prypiat for five years. He’s experienced enough to bring a gun
but appears not to know about flesh eating mutants. Couple that with the
Doctors at the end of the movie who talk about escaped patients or
something and the whole answer seems to be human “lab rats” gone wrong.<br /><br />Nothing
is ever explained more than that and must be inferred from the movie.
The gate guards to Prypiat turn back the tourists, surprising Yuri. This
sounds like a recent issue. The mutants are basically flesh-eating
humans which display some form of deceptive hunting practices. Most of
the time it seems inconsistent why some act smart and some act dumb. <br /><br />All
this could be chalked up to be poor writing. At least by the end the
remaining characters deal with acute radiation sickness, about the only
science that is plausible in the story. One of the women has a digital
camera, and she uses it frequently. I know radiation effects standard
film cameras, but I don’t know what it does to digital images or optics
or CCD chips, if anything at all. It would have been nice if the movie
brought it up.Fox4649http://www.blogger.com/profile/16647351735046544421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8463731550315572149.post-64554555820083511332012-05-23T20:59:00.003-04:002012-05-23T20:59:41.419-04:00The Science-Fiction of Battleship The "board" game is not Science-Fiction... at all... ever. Maybe
Electronic Battleship, but that's just because the player (you) can face
off against the computer (SkyNet) without the need of another human
player. That seems a little Science-Fiction-y to me, especially at a
time when the best home gaming console was the Atari 2600. I can only
guess as to why the makers of the movie decided aliens need to be the
opposing force in the movie. It was already taking place during THE
naval exercise, known as RIMPAC (which is actually real). Why, then add
aliens?<br />
<br />
Primariy what makes this movie Sci-Fi is the alien invasion motif. The timeline of events is as follows:<br />
<br />
<strong>2005-</strong> "Planet G" is discovered, a terrestrial world in the Goldilocks Zone of its solar system<br />
<br />
<strong>2006-</strong> NASA finishes the Beacon Project which is a laser communication system to signal "Planet G"<br />
<br />
<strong>2012-</strong> During RIMPAC 2012 an alien invasion begins in the Pacific<br />
<br />
I can't wrap my brain around a direct need to fire what looks like
the Deathstar Superlaser at a planet. Was it a message with information,
or, as the name implies, was it a beacon just advertising "Earth is
here and we are listening?" But we already have been broadcasting radio
and TV signals from Earth for the past 100 years. I guess that's not
good enough. Part of the technology involves three antennae, on the
hillsides of Oahu, that "combine" into one laser mid-atmosphere and hit
an amplifier satellite. It should be noted all with a limited window of
use every 24 hours. Then the satellite fires the laser to "Planet G."
There is some unexplained science here, since NASA has been using this
signal for six years. Lots of things that require this to work are
constantly in motion; the Earth (with Hawaii on it) spins, the amplifier
shares an orbit with GPS satellites, "Planet G" moves around its star,
and both our solar systems move relative to each other.<br />
<br />
This is an example of Super Science that Earth scientists in the
movie manage to invent. I won't get into the fallacy of seeing lasers or
hearing stuff in space. But I will get into the Speed of Light.
Assuming that Project Beacon wasn't a faster-than-light (FTL)
communication system and that the aliens themselves are not capable of
warp drive/hyperspace, then this leaves a maximum distance to the alien
solar system at 3 Light Years (LYs) away (6 divided by 2 for math
people). There are no stars that close to Earth. Proxima Centauri is the
nearest star at 4.2LY and until we have better space telescopes there
appears to be no terrestrial planets in its habitable zone. If the
aliens have warp drive then that gives them a maximum of 6LY distance.
There are only four stars that close to us, the three stars that compose
Alpha Centauri and Barnard's Star. The movie never fills in any blanks
but I like Barnard's Star for their origin.<br />
<br />
It's never explained but I think the aliens have a warp drive. As the
movie plays out, the alien's primary concern becomes the use of Project
Beacon to call for help or report on first contact. It would be almost
useless to "phone home" if you weren't getting a response in six Earth
years. Also, for whatever reason we only see the aliens when they pass
Saturn. Their approach involves breaking up the ship into five parts,
entering Earth's atmosphere, then (after splash-landing) combining back
together. This all goes wrong when one of the ships collides with a
satellite and breaks up in orbit. That at least shows us their ships are
more delicate than one would expect. My guess is they never use
satellites so they never thought to check for any on their approach to
Earth. <br />
<br />
All of this is tracked by NASA from Saturn to Earth, showing all the
planets in between in a nice line. That doesn't happen very often (on
the galactic scale) but certainly isn't happening now. We also can't
track things that far away. We're lucky to find Near Earth Asteroids
(NEOs) days before passing near us. So NASA must have built a solar
system scanning radar just in case we make contact. I kind of think that
puts this movie in an alternate time line. By the way, when did NASA
get the funding for these projects? Is that what happened to the manned
space flight program? It got shelved to talk to aliens? Even the
scientists involved thought it was a bad idea. As they put it "it would
be like Columbus and the Indians, and we're the Indians."<br />
<br />
The ship that collided with a satellite breaks up and tumbles out of
orbit spreading debris and at least one escape pod across the Earth,
before crashing into Hong Kong. The rest off the four ships plunge
separately into the Pacific off the coast of Hawaii and appear to rejoin
into a larger ship. It turns out the crashed vessel is a communications
ship, with paneling made from elements that don't appear on our
Periodic Table. These panels are thought to serve the dual purpose of
solar panels and communications antenna. All of our elements in our
solar system were created by the previous star that went super-nova and
formed the nebula which eventually formed our solar system 4.7 billion
years ago. This implies wherever they get their material it ain't from
the same nebula that we formed out of, even though their star is nearby
(galactically speaking).<br />
<br />
The alien fleet is composed of a mother ship, three smaller combat
vessels, and the aforementioned comms ship. After landing, the ship goes
silent and floats in the ocean like an iceberg, more vertical than
horizontal. And that's where the human cast of the movie gets involved. I
don't know why, but the aliens wait for Hopper to touch their ship
before launching an attack. Aliens by definition should have completely
different thought processes, so that tends to be my go-to answer for
weird alien behavior. It seems overly dramatic though. But first an
enormous energy barrier is erected around the Hawaiian islands, reaching
300,000 feet up and 2 miles underwater. It blocks all conventional
radio and telecommunications as well as destroying an F/A-18 that slams
into it. Standard Sci-Fi force-field that blocks matter and energy. Not
only that, but it also jams all communications within the bubble, too.
Later in the movie a NASA scientist finds a weakness that allows a
signal out so it isn't perfect. It also doesn't matter where the mother
ship is, it just has to continue to beam energy straight up.<br />
<br />
The aliens have some powerful weapons systems, but for all their
technology it doesn't come equipped with a guidance system. The
"shell-pegs" they fire head to a predicted location, which works wonders
only if the target isn't moving. Maybe it's something they learned from
space combat but never adapted to atmospheric fighting. And to make
matters stranger, they never overtly attack unless threatened, but will
destroy potential targets if their heads-up-display (HUD) highlights
them. The aliens wear a completely armored suit reminiscent of the
Master Chief's armor in Halo. The helmet's HUD (which we see a lot of)
filters everything they view as either green (ignore) or red (do
something like destroy it). I never once got the impression the aliens
were in control of their data. I think a computer was dictating all
their actions, like when a video game shows you important targets and
directions to go. This is disastrously stupid, because as we quickly see
when the destroyer USS <em>John Paul Jones</em> (DDG-53) turns its guns
away from an alien ship, they are no longer considered a threat. No
thought of destroying it just in case it's a future threat. In fact,
during a couple skirmishes the destroyer's main weapons are able to
fatally damage alien combat vessels and dodge a few attacks. No
shielding around their ships, just shielding around the battle-space.<br />
<br />
Their other weapon is a drone (which looks like a spiky ball with
spiky, extendable tentacles) that homes in on designated targets but has
a really strange Rule of Engagement (ROE). The computers running
everything may not understand life that is different than the aliens. In
one scene a "battle drone spheres" nearly kills a little-leaguer during
a game, but redirects its attack on a bridge abutment, which kills
dozens of people. Why the difference? I think the computer in charge
doesn't understand life and just wants the destruction of infrastructure
and war machines, but it knows enough about life not to kill it
directly. Weird. This is almost Borg thinking. Only get involved when
you need something or there is a threat. So why come to Earth in the
first place? Probably because we fired what looked like the Deathstar
Superlaser at them which is determined to be a threat. Or the movie is
just poorly written. There is also a sonic weapon which implies they do
sometimes need to fight in an atmosphere. I also think the machinery
(and maybe the AI) was stolen from the Decepticons.<br />
<br />
Interestingly they don't appear on radar or sonar, which would be
invaluable in space. Maybe they use a computer in space combat just to
help target opponents better. These seem like wasted concepts on a
planet, though. They can be physically seen, but somehow the hull
absorbs sound and energy. Maybe they aren't used to being shot at with
actual shells from actual barrels. This eventually means during the
movie that both forces have to guess where on a grid the enemy might be,
and fire on them. That sounds more like Battleship. Another odd feature
is the apparent ability to hover, but not glide over the ocean. The
combat ships "hop" from place to place, but the "battle drone spheres"
can fly no problem and they aren't exactly aerodynamic. The mother ship
just seems to drift in the water. How exactly were they supposed to get
back into space? Or was this a permanent settlement? For that matter,
how was Project Beacon supposed to help them if the force field jams all
communications? Were they going to drop it for a second, send a
six-year signal, and hope the entire US Navy fleet doesn't manage to
sneak in?<br />
<br />
The aliens themselves (never named) are bipedal with, I think, four
opposable thumbs, and chin spikes. Hopper and Nagata manage to get a
helmet off of an unconscious alien, which quickly wakens. So, these they
have similar atmospheric needs as pressure and breathable air, but no
discussion of diseases or immune systems or anything that would make
H.G. Wells proud. At least a character put a helmet on and learns its
just an expensive sun shield, that the aliens are light sensitive. Odds
are this means they're from a dim-starred planet. This is three knocks
against them that leads to their eventual loss by the end of the movie.
The suits they wear have "switch-blade" appendages with different tools
snapping out for different needs, but other than armor, I don't know why
the aliens don't just have sunglasses.<br />
<br />
There are a couple strange actions from the aliens which lead me to
believe they don't know what they're doing. What was first contact
supposed to be, if they still had a comm ship? Did they think we
attacked them in orbit? Are they that stupid or are they a war-like
culture anyway? It one point a scared NASA scientist and an alien meet
face-to-face and he's shaking badly. The alien reaches out to calm him.
What? The alien didn't kill him? He was green, a non-threat. Even though
he had the device to communicate through the jamming he was still
allowed to live because the HUD showed green. An alien even mind-melds
with Hopper, imparting some kind of imagery about a space battle or a
ground campaign, but it's hard to determine if it is the past or a
visual interpretation of their plan for the Earth. Human and alien minds
shouldn't mix easily so it's okay by me if the visuals are confusing.
The same thing happened in Mass Effect.<br />
<br />
In the end, with all their technology, the alien fleet was destroyed
by a satellite and 20th Century artillery. Everyone is happy by the end
that the alien threat is vanquished, but don't they think some aliens
might notice their scouting trip to Earth disappeared? Once again, a
poorly written movie.<br />Fox4649http://www.blogger.com/profile/16647351735046544421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8463731550315572149.post-9546847881897993192012-01-22T22:57:00.007-05:002014-02-01T09:32:41.411-05:00The Gears of War TimelineDue to my copious free time between job hunting, and some laziness, I've been spending some time with the <span style="font-style: italic;">Gears of War</span> game trilogy. The story is barely noticeable in the first game (I somehow didn't realize it isn't even on Earth) but the last two have so decent narrative, and it turns out I like the tale. However, lots of cut scenes barely get into why the world, Sera, is the way it is; and I'd like to know. Collecting all the goodies from games 2 and 3 help fill in some back-story (but you have to want to read it), and I still want to know more about the Pendulum Wars, Marcus Fenix's prison sentence, the Locust Queen being "human", Adam Fenix's connection to things, and lots of smaller ones.<br />
<br />
Karen Traviss is an author who wrote the <span style="font-style: italic;">Star Wars: Republic Commando</span> series as well as <span style="font-style: italic;">Halo: Glasslands</span>. She is well able to flesh out the <span style="font-style: italic;">Gears of War</span> universe using what I assume are extensive background notes from the game's creators at Epic. Each book has a number of flashbacks which all overlap each other. Four out of five books have been released and I decided to read them all in chronological order, not in intended page number; but not even Gearspedia had a helpful timeline for me to work with. So, for anyone who wants to know in what order to read the books and play the games, below is what I have mapped out.<br />
<br />
The four books are <span style="font-style: italic;">Aspho Fields</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Jacinto's Remnant</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Anvil Gate</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">Coalition's End</span>. A fifth book, <span style="font-style: italic;">The Slab</span>, is due out in May 2012, as of this posting. There are two different date systems used in the sagas based on the Pendulum Wars and Emergence Day. As far as I can tell no approximate Earth date has been given, so it's up to you to decide whether this is a future Earth colony or an alien planet with humanoids. I favor the former. [note: in <span style="font-style: italic;">Aspho Fields</span> there is an error in date for a number of chapters as being set 16 years before E-Day. It should really be 2 years before E-Day. I account for that below.]<br />
<br />
80 years before Emergence Day a new fuel source, Imulsion, was discovered deep underground. This led to the Pendulum Wars almost immediately and eventually involved all the nations of Sera, split between two sides; the COG and UIR nations. Eventually the UIR surrendered six weeks before Emergence Day. Prior to E-Day dates were counted as years after the Pendulum War started, so the siege of Anvil Gate took place during the 62nd year of the War. After E-Day and the near extinction of the "human" race on Sera, they referred to dates as Before Emergence (BE) or After Emergence (AE), which places the siege of Anvil Gate at 17 BE. The Seran day has 26 hours and the calendar includes months named Bloom, Frost and Rise. It can also be assumed that a Seran week is a least 7 days long.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">62nd year of the War</span> (17 BE)<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Anvil Gate</span>: chapters 5, 8, 11, 13, 17, and 19<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">67th year of the War</span> (12 BE)<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Aspho Fields</span>: chapter 3, part 1<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">70th year of the War</span> (9 BE)<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Aspho Fields</span>: chapter 3, part 2<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">75th year of the War</span> (4 BE)<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Aspho Fields</span>: chapter 5<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">76th year of the War</span> (3 BE)<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Aspho Fields</span>: chapters 6-7<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">77th year of the War</span> (2 BE)<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Aspho Fields</span>: chapter 9-10, 12-13, 15-17, and 19<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">EMERGENCE DAY</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Coalition's End</span>: chapters 4, 7 and 11<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">1 AE</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Jacinto's Remnant</span>: chapters 3 and 6<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Coalition's End</span>: chapter 14 part 1<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Jacinto's Remant</span>: chapter 9<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Coalition's End</span>: chapter 14 part 2<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Jacinto's Remant</span>: chapter 13 parts 1-2<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Coalition's End</span>: chapter 14 part 3 - page 250 line 32<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Jacinto's Remant</span>: chapter 13 part 3 - page 290 line 19<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Coalition's End</span>: page 250 line 33 - page 251 line 12<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Jacinto's Remant</span>: page 290 line 20 - page 292 line 13<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Coalition's End</span>: page 251 line 13 - line 22<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Jacinto's Remant</span>: page 292 line 14 - bottom of page 292<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Coalition's End</span>: page 251 line 23 - page 252 line 8<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Jacinto's Remant</span>: page 293 (end of chapter 13)<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Coalition's End</span>: page 252 line 9 - end of chapter 14<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Jacinto's Remnant</span>: chapter 15 part 1<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Coalition's End</span>: chapter 17 part 1<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Jacinto's Remnant</span>: chapter 15 parts 2-3<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Coalition's End</span>: chapter 17 parts 2-3<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">9 AE</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Coalition's End</span>: chapter 20<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">10 AE</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">RAAM'S SHADOW</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">The Slab</span>: chapter 1<br />
<div>
<span style="font-style: italic;">The Slab</span>: chapter 2</div>
<div>
<span style="font-style: italic;">The Slab</span>: chapter 3</div>
<div>
<span style="font-style: italic;">The Slab</span>: chapter 4</div>
<div>
<span style="font-style: italic;">The Slab</span>: chapter 5</div>
<div>
<span style="font-style: italic;">The Slab</span>: prologue</div>
<div>
<span style="font-style: italic;">The Slab</span>: chapter 6</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<span style="font-weight: bold;">11 AE</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">The Slab</span>: chapter 7<br />
<div>
<span style="font-style: italic;">The Slab</span>: chapter 8<br />
<div>
<span style="font-style: italic;">The Slab</span>: chapter 9</div>
<div>
</div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
</div>
<br /></div>
<span style="font-weight: bold;">12 AE</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">The Slab</span>: chapter 10<br />
<div>
<span style="font-style: italic;">The Slab</span>: chapter 11<br />
<div>
<span style="font-style: italic;">The Slab</span>: chapter 12</div>
<div>
</div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
</div>
<br /></div>
<span style="font-weight: bold;">13 AE</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">The Slab</span>: chapter 13<br />
<div>
<span style="font-style: italic;">The Slab</span>: chapter 14<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">The Slab</span>: chapter 15<br />
<br /></div>
<span style="font-weight: bold;">14 AE</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">The Slab</span>: chapter 16<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">The Slab</span>: chapter 17<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">The Slab</span>: chapter 18 - page 484 line 15<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">GEARS OF WAR</span>: ACT I / <span style="font-style: italic;">The Slab</span>: chapter 18 pgs 484 line 16- 494<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">The Slab</span>: epilogue<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">GEARS OF WAR</span>: ACT II - V<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Aspho Field</span>: prologue, chapters 1-2, 4, 8, 11, 14, 18, 20 and epilogue<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">GEARS OF WAR 2</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Jacinto's Remnant</span>: prologue, chapters 1-2, 4-5, 7-8, 10-12, 14, and 16-18<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Anvil Gates</span>: prologue<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">15 AE</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Anvil Gates</span>: chapters 1-4, 6-7, 9-10, 12, 14-16, 18, and 20<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Coalition's End</span>: prologue, chapters 1-3, 5-6, 8-10, 12-13, 15-16, 18-19, and 21-23<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">16 AE</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">GEARS OF WAR 3</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;">[UPDATE Jan 25, 2012]</span> Now that I'm reading more of the events surrounding the use of the Hammer of Dawn during 1 AE I have to improve the chronology. Some of the events overlap so I tried to separate them in the best places, but you can take it with a grain of salt.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;">[UPDATE Jan 26, 2012]</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">Raam's Shadow</span> doesn't have much timeline info in it, other than to say sometime after Emergence Day. After doing some online research it appears (from <a href="http://gearsofwar.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline" target="_blank">Gearspedia</a>) that the events of the downloadable scenario are about a decade after E-Day. It tells the tale of the Kryll-Storm attack on Ilima, which is a precursor to the Battle of Ephyra (set in 10 AE according to <a href="http://epicgames.com/gearsofwartimeline/" target="_blank">Epic's timeline</a>). I am not including the "lost chapter" from <span style="font-style: italic;">Gears of War 2</span> simply because it is an alternative explanation of the events following the death of Maria, and I prefer the actual game.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;">[UPDATE Jan 31, 2014]</span> <i>The Slab</i> is the only book in the series that doesn't rely on flashbacks. No need to jump around the narrative as in the other four books. This is the story of the Marcus Fenix's betrayal during a key battle and his four years of prison time, leading up to the first game. The story starts in 10 AE, and as Jace has a small part in the books, it takes place soon after the game expansion <i>Raam's Shadow</i>. Special note should be made that the last half of the last chapter is a retelling of the very first mission in <i>Gears of War</i>, Act I titled "14 Years After E-Day". It covers the game from Dom finding Marcus to the Grub attack in Embry Square after meeting Hoffman in the cut-scene.<br />
<br />Fox4649http://www.blogger.com/profile/16647351735046544421noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8463731550315572149.post-78347099980183156542011-09-11T23:06:00.002-04:002011-09-11T23:09:14.084-04:00The Race Against Time ExperimentSci-Fi on TV for the week of February 20 - 26, 1955, (that I can get my hands on) is a single episode of <span style="font-style: italic;">Flash Gordon</span>. They changed the opening character intros a little. I must have missed something because they are now using a new rocket that looks like the original, called the <span style="font-style: italic;">Sky Flash II</span>. Something I haven't mentioned before, even though it's really bizarre, is the parrot Flash Gordon keeps on his ship. He isn't on this new one now. I've gotta find that missing episode from yesterday.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Flash Gordon and the Race Against Time</span>- I'm getting used to the opening narration on each episode, as it tends to fill in the blanks the writers won't bother to cover in the main story. This episode starts to get into the geopolitical (galacti-politcial?) of the Milky Way in 3063 AD. The Galaxy Bureau of Investigation keeps the peace with member worlds by hiding secret weapons. I think the implication is if a planet steps out of bounds the GBI can wipe them out. However, if a majority of the member worlds want to pull out of the treaty, the GBI has to share its state secrets with all planets. There apparently has been a large scale war between much of the galaxy in the past, and the creation of the GBI helped broker a peace. This would explain more of the backstory to <span style="font-style: italic;">The Lure of Light</span> as well (just not the science). Mars wants to go back to war and has been convincing others to join. Most member planets do what Earth does, so the leadership of Mars uses some underworld contacts to intercept Earth's representative on his way to the conference. When the <span style="font-style: italic;">Sky Flash II</span>, with Flash, Dale, and the Earth Rep, are near Epsilon 30, they are hit with a planetary ray that shuts down its fusion engines. With horrible special effects, Flash manages to land near the people responsible, capture them and steal their ship. They make it to the conference in time as Earth wants to stay with the GBI, thus saving the galaxy from another war.<br /><br />Not a bad episode only marred by the <span style="font-style: italic;">Sky Flash II</span>'s crash on Epsilon 30. During the landing Flash tells the Earth Rep to strap in. As the bridge is shaking he staggers to an equipment locker, finds some belt buckles and ties himself to the floor of the bridge. Really undignified. The director did a really good job of filming a shaky bridge that I actually think might have been on gimbals.Fox4649http://www.blogger.com/profile/16647351735046544421noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8463731550315572149.post-34517882658738835752011-09-10T22:28:00.001-04:002011-09-10T22:31:09.726-04:00The Rains of Death ExperimentSci-Fi on TV for the week of February 13 - 19, 1955, is only a single episode of <span style="font-style: italic;">Flash Gordon</span>. My Time DVR once again failed to grab this piece of Sci-Fi TV, but odds are it would have infuriated my Science Bone. Here what Wikipedia can tell you about it:<br /><br />The Rains of Death- "The galaxy is threatened by torrential rains and flooding. Zarkov suspects the rains are a plot and the crew sets out to foil it."<br /><br />That about says. The galaxy can't rain on planets, unless it's a metaphor for something. I want to watch it now, just to see how aggravated I'll become.Fox4649http://www.blogger.com/profile/16647351735046544421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8463731550315572149.post-72133102279156935642011-09-09T22:08:00.002-04:002011-09-09T22:13:25.205-04:00The Lure of Light ExperimentSci-Fi on TV for the week of February 6 - 12, 1955, is only a single episode of <span style="font-style: italic;">Flash Gordon</span>. I actually have this episode from a set of DVDs called "Classic Sci-Fi TV". It has 14 episodes of <span style="font-style: italic;">Flash Gordon</span>, and 136 episodes of other things you've probably never heard of. On with the review:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The Lure of Light</span>- An interesting story that shows a complete lack of understanding about the principles of space travel. I'm accepting for the moment that everyone travels in rockets with flame shooting out the back. This allows them to travel to the stars in what I have to pretend is a chemical reaction-based FTL Drive. At least Rocky Jones was constantly refueling and he only left the solar system after acquiring new engine technology. The <span style="font-style: italic;">Sky Flash</span> is even said to go to other galaxies without going faster than the speed of light. A scientist has invented a technique for faster-than-light travel. He wants to test it on the <span style="font-style: italic;">Sky Flash</span> with Flash aboard. There is even a hint of Flash being from the 20th century as he talks about the breaking of the sound barrier. No one knows what will happen to a human that surpasses the speed limit. There's a neat animation the scientist shows as a rocket is stretched to infinity then snaps back, mirroring a little of what we'll see of Warp Drive in <span style="font-style: italic;">Star Trek: The Next Generation</span>.<br /><br />The Galactic Bureau of Investigation won't allow Flash to risk his life, but some evil despot queen of planet Diana kidnaps Dale Arden, because she also knows how to use a special ore (I think that's what it is) to modify rockets. Apparently there is a theory that is not well supported that says if you go faster than 186,000 miles per second time will go backwards. The Queen of Diana lost a great war some time ago and wishes the technology to send her back in time and be victorious. Flash also thinks this might happen and knows the queen will kill Dale for the formula. The <span style="font-style: italic;">Sky Flash</span> arrives too late on Diana, with Dale tortured to death. Flash uses his ship, now outfitted with the drive, and breaks the Light Barrier, going back in time far enough to save Dale. Mission accomplished.<br /><br />I'm still hung up on how the writers never considered how far stars are from each other and that they weren't using the staple of space opera technology, an FTL Drive. But, we are still a couple years from Sputnik so maybe I should give them a break. Nah.Fox4649http://www.blogger.com/profile/16647351735046544421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8463731550315572149.post-13381297857533584322011-09-08T21:28:00.001-04:002011-09-08T21:31:17.839-04:00The Mission to Masca ExperimentMuch of the free time I have used to watch lots of Sci-Fi TV shows has come to an end. I will however change my viewing habits from a months worth of TV every day to one week per day. Today, which is the birthday of <span style="font-style: italic;">Star Trek</span> way back in 1966, I will be covering the week of January 30 thru February 5, 1955. The only show for the week is <span style="font-style: italic;">Flash Gordon</span> and my Temporal DVR didn't record it, but here is what I can dig up:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Mission to Masca</span>- "Flash and company travel to Masca, a silent planet."Fox4649http://www.blogger.com/profile/16647351735046544421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8463731550315572149.post-2136595263194911002011-09-07T23:42:00.000-04:002011-09-07T23:43:45.592-04:00The Sound That Walked ExperimentJanuary, 1955, at the beginning of the new year had two new <span style="font-style: italic;">Flash Gordon</span> episodes. I have neither, so here is what my Temporal DVR missed:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The Sound Gun</span>- "The <span style="font-style: italic;">Sky Flash</span> falls under attack by a powerful sonic weapon."<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The Weapon That Walked</span>- "The GBI crew faces a woman who can turn humans to stone with a single look."Fox4649http://www.blogger.com/profile/16647351735046544421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8463731550315572149.post-66642273778776240232011-09-06T23:33:00.006-04:002012-01-22T23:28:28.400-05:00The Return of 1984 ExperimentFive new episodes of <span style="font-style: italic;">Flash Gordon</span> debut during December, 1954. Unfortunately (or not) I only have one of them. In England, a live broadcast on BBC of the novel <span style="font-style: italic;">Nineteen Eighty-Four</span>. This is one of Peter Cushing's first major roles. It first aired on December 12th, but not recorded. The version I have is from the December 16th live broadcast that was recorded on 35mm. I love the fact that Britain is essential doing plays for TV. If you see it great, if not, we didn't really record it, so sorry. This is how early TV was. America was slowly moving away from it to shows they could syndicate, but England at the time was still doing stuff live. See my previous rant about losing <a href="http://geekknowledge.blogspot.com/2011/08/quatermass-experiment.html">The Quatermass Experiment</a>. Finally, the Disney version of <span style="font-style: italic;">20,000 Leagues Under the Sea</span> was released in theaters. Captain Nemo is fantastic, the Giant Squid battle was epic, and the song & dance number between Kirk Douglas and a seal was really uncomfortable. This movie is one of the great ideas of Science Fiction, a man at war with the world for being at war. Does it need mentioning he has a nuclear submarine to hunt the enemies of civilization? The success of the Disney version has never been replicated and I think is due for an update. <span style="font-style: italic;">The Black Hole</span> is very close in mood and that was also made by Disney.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The Great Secret</span>- I blame my Temporal DVR for missing this one: "Zarkov's experiments to return life to dead worlds are endangered."<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Return of the Androids</span>- I take some liberties with names in this episode, it's hard to hear what the characters are saying. 400 years before "present day", King Lazarene of Scipio locks away the power to use androids, because he feels it makes humans lazy. There are three secrets to the resurrection of androids, and each is held by a different member of the current Galaxy Bureau of Investigation, Commander Richards knows where the android vaults are (Earth, Saturn, Uranus, Livy, Scipio, Minos, Plius, Helio), Dr. Zarkov knows what the operation frequency to tune them to (Sign Omega Sign Omega Cosign Epsilon), and Flash knows where the power source is (under a mountain range on Scipio). Quenn Thubia of Scipio has made a pact with Trydorn, of the renegade planet Petura. The two will learn how to activate all the androids and take over the galaxy. Flash holds the key, and after torturing Dale Arden by spinning her around really fast on a table, he gives that key up. Androids are activated on all the vault planets, but Flash manages to get to the Cobalt Core power source and destroy, permanently destroying all the androids in the galaxy. An okay episode marred by the fact the "androids" were just actors in radiation gear. They even have a stiff walk which is horrendous.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Nineteen Eighty-Four</span>- This is the most subversive and terrifying dystopian future story ever told. Acted out live from the BBC somehow makes it even scarier. You can see that <span style="font-style: italic;">V for Vendetta</span> was drinking from this well. The long scenes lend a lot of authenticity to the TV movie as well.<br /><br />A Man is slowly turning against a dominant and controlled society of Big Brother. Every moment of every day tries his resolve to hide his disdain for the world; a disdain brought on by being an censor of information. Knowing there are lies all about and the people who feed on them because there is nothing else, drives him to move against the system and fall in love. No one fights the system for long and he is taken to the Ministry of Love, to be tortured. He eventually converts to the party line and turns in his lover, who also turns him in when she is tortured. Both go back to fulfilling their roles in controlled, mind-slave society.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Nineteen Eighty-Four</span> is the blueprint any clear-thinking individual should hold their government up to and hope nothing lines up. The ability to constantly monitor everyone without a clear idea who that might be, the constant push to watch your neighbors and countrymen in case their ideals start to change, a new form of language that limits the mind, the ability for truth to be edited in such a way that everyone accepts it with blind faith, a constant war with no end in sight but a clear desire to continue, propaganda aimed to insite hatred against people that may not exist, children brought up to hate the old and destroy what they fear, torture to realign ideology, etc. As a geek I joke about Sky Net and Hal 9000 destroying the human future, but this story is already happening in so many ways. Information can change on the internet with a blink of an eye. Mobile phones can do so much to track our movements and communications; it just takes flipping a switch for it to become threat. Texting has become a fascinating shorthand for thought that keeps our brains thinking in short phrases and useless acronyms. Read the book, watch the movies, educate yourself on this story because it is more powerful than you think, a certainly more relevant. It makes me wish for a alien invasion just to slow things down.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The Frightened King</span>- My Temporal DVR missed this one, too: "Flash and his GBI colleagues protect the king of the planet Xerxes, who is being plagued by terrible phantoms."<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The Deadly Deception</span>- Temporal DVR failed again: "A robot loaded with atomic bombs is launched into space. Flash must retrieve it before it's too late." (I seem to recall this plot from Star Trek: Voyager)<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Duel Against Darkness</span>- My Temporal DVR is useless this month: "A planet whose culture resembles the Middle Ages is ruled by a despotic magician. Can Flash, Dale and Zarkov end his evil reign?"Fox4649http://www.blogger.com/profile/16647351735046544421noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8463731550315572149.post-50360695712751934892011-09-05T22:55:00.003-04:002011-09-05T23:10:33.151-04:00The Trial of Akim the Claim of Death ExperimentNovember, 1954, is the end of <span style="font-style: italic;">Rocky Jones, Space Ranger</span>, but <span style="font-style: italic;">Flash Gordon</span> continues on, with four new episodes. As before if I don't have an episode I will just include the WikiPedia description. I have read much debate on the internet about the proper viewing order of the Rocky Jones story arcs. I watched them all in "air date" order, not "production" order, and I found nothing contradictory, so I endorse my viewing order. A Sci-Fi motion picture came out this month that I unfortunately don't have, <span style="font-style: italic;">Target Earth</span>. I think the title says it all. Robots attack Chicago and a small group of humans, left after an evacuation, try to survive. Sounds like <span style="font-style: italic;">Transformers: Dark of the Moon</span>.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The Trial of Rocky Jones, part I</span>- Rocky, Biff, Vena and Bobby are on their way to Ankapore (last seen in <span style="font-style: italic;">Rocky's Odyssey</span>), a subterranean world for those wanting to live off the grid. Some of Rocky's enemies have been carving out a life for themselves, because there is no extradition treaty there. After the <span style="font-style: italic;">Silver Moon</span> lands, they visit the leader, La Volga, who tells them to eat at the Ankapore Cafe. While eating they see Griff, Dr. Reno, and Rudy DiMarco, all on their wanted list. Pinto Vortando has become a beggar on the streets, who Rocky gives a medal for helping out at the end of <span style="font-style: italic;">The Cold Sun</span>. It is learned that the territorial limits of Ankapore end at the 1000 mile limit, anyone outside of it can be arrested by the Space Rangers. Later, DiMarco gets Vortando drunk, and beats him up outside of City Cave. Rocky happens by to save him. While Rocky and DiMarco fight, Griff takes Vortando away at gun point. Guards are called and DiMarco has Rocky arrested for assault and attempted murder. Since Vortando is out of the picture, La Volga has Rocky thrown in prison awaiting a trial. The <span style="font-style: italic;">Silver Moon</span> crew are confined to their ship without any explanation. Someone pretending to be with Vortando helps break Rocky out, but it was just a trap for Griff to have his men beat the piss out of Rocky. Unconscious, they put him in Griff's rocket, YC47, and set him up for Grand Theft Rocket Ship. La Volga and Griff chase after him, and as Rocky wakes up, he is re-arrested. Back on Ankapore a trial starts with all the cards stacked against Rocky, and his crew (Biff, Vena, Bobby) are present as witnesses. TO BE CONTINUED. The legal system of Ankapore is terrible, but it is the equivalent of Tortuga, just a lot less drinking and violence. It's no wonder they hate Space Rangers.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Akim the Terrible</span>- A narrator explains Charom (and especially its capital city Trantum) is a lawless planet run by Akim (who looks like a glitter Gumby). It is so lawless there are cops that arrest you for doing good. In other words, not a well thought out plot. The Galactic Bureau of Investigation sends an agent, Flash's best friend from his training days. The agent is captured and mind controlled into killing Flash. Flash is at GBI headquarters in his office when the assassination attempt occurs. Flash's office has a giant map of star systems across two walls, a schematic for the <span style="font-style: italic;">Sky Flash</span> and a screen mounted high in a corner. Dale happens by to warn Flash and they capture the agent. Dr. Zarkov determines the agent to be suffering from mind control and possible lobotomy. He is able to do this with a portable scanner sending images to Flash's screen. Flash and Dale are ordered to have their hair cut off, a Selenite Band implanted in their heads and for them to wear wigs. They head to Charom after their hair styling and storm Akim's throne room. They are immediately captured and placed in the mind control machine. It is eventually explained that it only works two weeks. This is why police look for people, so they can be re-mind controlled. Flash and Dale pretend to be under the influence, learn all they can, then stun everyone in sight. They successfully arrest Akim. I like the stun guns. They actually freeze the target in place. I don't think it has a kill setting. Of note are actually pistols used by some of the people in the story. Not everyone has Stunners or Ray-Guns. The effects of rocket travel are improved from the pilot.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The Trial of Rocky Jones, part II</span>- The biggest crime I can think of in a TV series is to have a "clip show". It frees up the writers to not actually have to write. You can tell this is the beginning of the end. Biff is appointed Defense Attorney and Dr. Reno is Prosecution. Defense calls Pinto Vortando to make a point he's missing. Then some technical legal stuff about off-worlders being able to call any witness that can add substance to a trial. As you can guess the witnesses called all retell a story from the past, including flashbacks. Nothing is resolved and the trial ends for the day. There is a strange, uncomfortable sub-plot about La Volga's daughter, Jonica (actress Melinda Plowman is 13), being attracted to DiMarco and possible marriage. He's been going along with it for now. After everyone leaves the court Bobby talks to Jonica about how cool he really is and tells more stories of Rocky (with clips and flashbacks). DiMarco interrupts and sees that Bobby is trying to influence La Volga through his daughter. Rocket YC47, commanded by Zandorf (Griff's right-hand man) , is on its way to Negato to hide Pinto Vortando, locked up in the cargo bay. They have to fuel at a space station run by Ranger Clark. Vortando escapes with the help of Clark, explaining to him that Rocky needs help. Biff visits Rocky in prison to say tomorrow is a new day. TO BE CONTINUED.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The Claim Jumpers</span>- The narrator explains that in the future, gold miners spread to Mars, Venus and even the rings of Jupiter. I think they meant Saturn, but Voyager 2 eventually discovers rings around Jupiter in 1979 (25 years later). Gamma Oil is discovered on Venus, and some kind of gas is found in Jupiter's rings. After the space history lesson an APB is put out by GBI for a space pirate ship, run by Fred and Hans. The <span style="font-style: italic;">Sky Flash</span>, with Flash and Dale, land on a radioactive planet and find the pirates by accident. While Flash is out putting an Automatic Bloodhound (a tracking device) on the ship, Fred and Hans board the Sky Flash, tie up Dale and ambush Flash. After the pirates leave, GBI sends out rockets <span style="font-style: italic;">Space Ghost</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Starduster</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">Meteor</span>, to begin searching for them. Dale gets loose, and helps Flash regain consciousness. They blast off for space and follow the trail. Planetary Pete, and his daughter Marie, radio in a claim about something found on the planetoid Maios [sic]. The pirates hear this and land on Maios to steal the claim. The Sky Flash follows them, but Zarkov at headquarters tells Flash not to move in because they need to follow the pirates to their hidden base. Flash realizes their going to kill Pete and Marie, jumps the gun and arrests them on the spot. It turns out one of the other three ships found his hidden base and the pirate operation is shut down.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The Trial of Rocky Jones, part III</span>- Series finale. The "clip show" continues. Vortando is called up as a witness for the defense, while Clark is called as a witness for the prosecution, to ruin Vortando's character. This back and forth goes on for a while. Finally La Volga is ready to make a verdict, but an earthquake (ankaporequake?) hits, devastating the subterranean culture. Dr. Reno, DiMarco and Griff use the distraction as an excuse to escape while Rocky helps La Volga who is trapped under a column. Once the leader is safe Rocky tries to stop the other three and some things happen (i.e. people getting locked up and lots of fist fighting), but nobody gets off the planet. Once the quake stops all the space port ceilings have collapsed, no one can leave. Rocky sits in the <span style="font-style: italic;">Silver Moon</span> trying to call for help and finally raises Drake and Mayberry, who happen to be on their way to Ankapore. They have one Trotanic Missile on board. They fire it and Rocky uses a magnetic tractor beam to direct it. An opening is made and Drake offers assistance to the people of Ankapore. La Volga declares his planet will no longer be a haven for pirates, joins the United Worlds of the Solar System, and signs an extradition treaty for the capture of Griff, DiMarco and Reno. THE END. I really like the characters and the attention to internal details even it it flies in the face of science as it is known today. I would totally buy this series if it was completely restored.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The Dancing Death</span>- My Temproal DVR did not record this one: "The GBI team is held captive in a vibrational device that leads people to commit suicide."<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The Breath of Death</span>- Flash Gordon feels like a universe I just stepped into without knowing the politics or geography or anything. I like the stories, because the characters are generally likeable, but they throw a lot at you sometimes without giving you time to digest information, then you miss something. Once again this is an issue with the writers and their desire to narrate everything. One other problem I have is that often times I can't understand the dialog. That goes to the quality of the recording, but this was mostly produced in Germany. Other than the main characters, all the supporting actors are German that are just acting in English. When the start to emote or yell, I know it's in English, but it sounds German and I can't make sense of the technobabble. I love technobabble. Gemini is a prison planet for hardened criminals on the edge of civilized space. Flash has to make a delivery with Dale because she can fix a water purifier for them. One of the most dangerous murderers in the galaxy, wearing the number 34, hates Flash for catching him. 34 sees a moment to escape and takes it, sneaking aboard the <span style="font-style: italic;">Sky Flash</span>. Flash's ship is the most advanced rocket in the "Universe" (read "Galaxy" due to writer misunderstanding of astronomy). After they blast off for 34 makes his move, capturing Flash and Dale. By this point Gemeni knows they have an escaped prisoner and inform GBI who sends Zarko and their boss out to hunt them down and destroy the <span style="font-style: italic;">Sky Flash</span>. This is to keep it out of enemy hands. 34 wants to go to his hideout of Leo, but they need fuel from Ariel first. Ariel was the deadliest atmosphere in the Galaxy (I think Venus' atmosphere is way more deadly and toxic). I don't know how they quantify that since you can go outside without a space helmet, you just have to hold our breath. The <span style="font-style: italic;">Sky Flash</span> lands and 34 has Flash help him run outside to grab fuel. Apparently the Sky Flash doesn't have space helmets. On a space ship? Really? No space suits or anything? These writers suck. A couple criminals get word 34 is on the loose and head to Ariel knowing about the fuel situation. They are afraid of 34 and want him dead. Zarkov is headed to Ariel, as well. Suddenly Flash beats up 34 right when the two criminals shoot him from their rocket. Zarkov sees this and shoots that rocket down. Lots of shooting happens, all the appropriate people die. Flash gets the fuel and they blast off back to GBI headquarters. In the future all prison guards are stupid, there is no space flight protocols about safety equipment, and no one thinks to inspect ships for prisoners on a prison planet.Fox4649http://www.blogger.com/profile/16647351735046544421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8463731550315572149.post-33757937613302595682011-09-05T00:40:00.003-04:002011-09-05T01:01:49.906-04:00The Flash Gordon Rocky Jones ExperimentThere's a new show in town, that began in October of 1954. <span style="font-style: italic;">Flash Gordon</span>, a joint American, German and French series (no subtitles, all in English). 39 episodes were broadcast between 1954 and 1955, but I could only get a hold of 14 of them. For the rest I will just say that my Temporal DVR failed to record. I will fill in the blanks on <span style="font-style: italic;">Flash Gordon</span> by providing the Wikipedia description of the episode. I want companies to know that I am willing to trade actual money for their TV shows. I'm not going to bit-torrent their stuff, even though it is probably Public Domain by this point. There is also more <span style="font-style: italic;">Rocky Jones, Space Ranger</span> as the series is gearing up to end.
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Flash Gordon and the Planet of Death</span>- If I were a kid of the '50s I'm sure I would have been versed in all things Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, Captain Video, Commando Cody and Rocky Jones. However I am not. This is not an origin story. Maybe I was supposed to have at least seen the theatrical serials. I was a little lost, but here's what I got out of it. The three principle characters are Flash, Dale and Dr. Zarkov, and their ship is the <span style="font-style: italic;">Sky Flash</span>. They answer to Commander Richards of the Galactic Bureau of Investigation. Zarkov wants to test a new anti-gravity device on the uninhabited planet of Tarset, but a scientific group who investigated it was all killed off except for one person. Flash, Dale and Zarkov interrogate the survivor who tells a tale of a cursed statue that shines a light, killing anyone it sees. They all head to Tarset on the <span style="font-style: italic;">Sky Flash</span>, and find the dead bodies and the statue in some ruins. The light comes on and Flash ends up hiding with the scientist, who he immediately accuses of lying. They escape a wall crushing trap while Dale and Zarkov are captured by the leader of planet Ebon. Flash learns that Ebon wants to use Tarset as a forward base for attacking Earth. Ebon's leader explains the eye is really a paralysis ray, and tries to torture Dale with it. Flash intervenes and the lone-survivor scientist sacrifices his life so they could escape and stop the people of Ebon. Something like that. My DVD copy is really hard to understand some of the dialog. I couldn't figure out anyone's names. The <span style="font-style: italic;">Sky Flash</span> seems to drift sideways in special effects shots because the FX guys don't know how to shoot space scenes yet. Rocky Jones does a much better job. Not much science to butcher, but the leader of Ebon does describe how his Paralysis Ray excruciatingly effects the human body.
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Vena and the Darnamo</span>- Wow, this is not a good episode. Rocky, Biff, Vena and Bobby head for the planet Mandora, an insignificant speck of a place that brings fear to those that land on it. Why does Rocky want to go there? Because he met a smuggler on Apollo Minor who found it by accident, and as proof, gave Rocky an umbrella with a dog headed handle, but made in Cincinnati. They go to this lush tropical planet and are immediately set upon by a German Shepherd. It's injured and Vena helps it. Rocky realizes this whole thing was dumb idea, puts the umbrella back in the ship, but changes his mind and decides to explore just to make a full report to Secretary Drake. They find a dog headed totem and get attacked by sling-shot wielding natives, that howl to communicate. They run back to the ship, but the umbrella is missing and there is noise on the bridge. Rocky rushes in and encounters an old lady, Ms. Pilkington, who wants her umbrella back. They go to her house for tea and learn she comes from a long line of explorers who left Earth in a Sky Wagon and landed on Mandora. Something to do with being inspired by Jules Verne. She gave the natives sling shots and they revere her as a god, but fear her dog, which they refer to as Darnamo. Everything suddenly becomes a Pioneer vs. Indian story as the natives attack, kidnap Vena in her sleep and prepare to sacrifice her. Darnamo saves her by attacking the locals and they all escape Mandora, leaving the old lady behind who just wishes to be a god. THE END. The final stand alone episode. They never explain much of how her family built this house on the planet, and she seems to live as if she can go down to the country store and get more laundry detergent or something. Maybe there is more to this planet than meets the eye, but I think the writers were superficially trying to make a western out of a space western.
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Escape into Time</span>- I don't have this one so here is what is known: "Flash and Zarkov must rescue Dale from a mad criminal who seeks to kidnap her with his time machine."
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Out of This World, part I</span>- The uninhabited planet Hermes has been pulled out if its orbit and flung into deep space by an unknown force (there's even a sparkle trail). It turns out Hermes is from Earth's solar system (don't ask me where). Professor Mayberry uses some star charts and traces the magnetic effect to Rigalio, in the Alpha Centauri system. It has two moons that, when lined up just right, creates an amplified magnetic beam. In 30 days that event will line up with the Earth. To make matters worse, a parachute of unknown material is found on the East Coast. There are enemy troops on Earth. Rocky gets back to Earth and is brought up to speed. The plan: to set up a base of operations on Herculon (just like <span style="font-style: italic;">Inferno in Space</span>), then launch to Rigalio to visit their ruler, Nizam. To make matters even more worserer, Juliandra is tricked by her twin evil sister Noviandra, who she locked in a secret room of the palace. Her father, Barbaro, used to be Herculon's leader and ran the war with the United Worlds. He had two daughters, Juliandra and Noviandra. When Barbaro lost power, Juliandra locked up her sister and took over Herculon with an agenda for good. But now Juliandra is locked up with her sister pretending to be her. On Earth, Rocky catches a Rigalian infiltrator (who wears a turban), and captures him, while two of his compatriots steal YN2, Secretary Drake's personal rocket. They head for station AW3, take it over and wait for further instructions. Rocky, Biff, Vena and Mayberry head to Herculon. They get jumped by a flying saucer, leaving no doubt that a more advanced culture is causing trouble (the same one from <span style="font-style: italic;">Blast Off</span>). Rocky barely gets a chance to respond, before it zips away at high speed. On arrival at Herculon they are arrested by the fake Juliandra and Biff ordered back into Herculon service. After changing uniforms he comes across the hidden room and saves Juliandra. They recapture Noviandra and the real Juliandra releases the crew of the <span style="font-style: italic;">Silver Moon</span>. Rocky is furious that he was invited to help save Earth, then thrown in prison. Juliandra wants to keep everything secret and just tells him she's a woman and that means she does random things. With Mayberry in tow, they head back to <span style="font-style: italic;">Silver Moon</span>, all the treaties with Herculon signed, and blast back into space, leaving behind Biff, Vena and Bobby. In orbit they get a call from Ranger Clark on AW3 that Drake wants to see them there. Rocky sets course. TO BE CONTINUED. All communications between ship and shore have all been by Astrophone, which is essentially a corded handset. Every race does this, just a different style of microphone. Regalians actually use wireless, handheld radios which almost look like late '80s cell phones. These can directly talk to space and even the home world in real time, orbiting a different star. I really like that the writers got back to the race of people that made the saucer. On the bad side, the Regalian infiltrators stand out stupidly with their turbans. When they steal Drake's ship he never alerts the Space Rangers, so Clark on AW3 blindly lets them land (you'd think there was a special IFF for the Secretary of Space Affairs). He then loses the station. Space Ranger security is terrible.
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The Electro Man</span>- I don't have this one either: "Flash and company square off against the Electro Man, a mysterious deity who reigns over a planet where all life is made of metal."
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Out of This World, part II</span>- More interstellar running around. The message to see Drake at AW3 is a ruse to call the <span style="font-style: italic;">Silver Moon</span> into the perfect ambush spot for the saucer. Rocky comes up with a good strategy and Mayberry makes the kill. Saucer destroyed! They realize AW3 is a trap, but Rocky docks anyway. He lets himself get captured so he'll be taken to Regalio, his plan all along. The Regalians destroy station AW3 after leaving, but Clark gets away in the <span style="font-style: italic;">Silver Moon</span>. On Regalio, Rocky and Mayberry start to negotiate with Nizam. Regalio never cracked the secret of the atom but they have learned a lot about magnetism. Mayberry offers a truce where there share the secrets of each worlds, mastery over magnetism for the mystery of nuclear fission. Nizam likes what they have to offer but warns them about crossing him. Then then get a tour of the Magnetorium, where two rods have been put through the planet to the core, each one positive and negative. This releases an energy which can be fine tuned to send to any location and power a ship or a factory. But, there is an energy leak at the source so a Robot manages the Magnetorium. When they channel energy into their two moons it sends a heavy attractive magnetic beam that can pull a planet out of its orbit. This is what they threaten Earth with, but no explanation why. Juliandra doesn't realize Rocky had a plan to get captured so makes her own rescue mission. Nizam wants to marry her so she uses this to her advantage. She takes, Biff, Vena and Bobby in her ship to Regalio and courts Nizam. While he's distracted Biff sneaks off to locate Rocky and Mayberry. Juliandra is able to drug Nizam so he doesn't realize Rocky and Biff are beating up every guard he has. They finally get to Juliandra's rocket and take off, but Rocky is still thinking about the Magnetorium, the source of all power. TO BE CONTINUED. Magnetic science isn't great here, but I like what the writers have come up with. I wonder if they know Rocky has one of their saucers. I like the politics, again, but I wanted to see if Rocky could actually negotiate a cease fire. Plus, the saucers have a tactical weakness the Space Rangers can exploit. Think of it as a <span style="font-style: italic;">Top Gun</span> maneuver in space.
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The Vengeance of Rabeed</span>- Don't got this one neither: "The mad Rabeed returns after 100 years in exile with plans to destroy the galaxy. It is up to Flash, Dale and Zarkov to stop his evil scheme."
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Out of This World, part III</span>- Rocky and friends get back to Herculon. For some plot driven reason Juliandra gives Bobby her special "magic" ring and tells him to pace around the palace with it. Noviandra succeeds in another escape attempt, locking Juliandra and Theba (her caretaker) in another chamber. Once again she posses as Suzerain Juliandra and calls Nizem (I never figured out if that is his name or a title). Nizem wants nothing to do with her after the spiking of his drink. She offers a new truce between them and a gift of Rocky and Mayberry. He accepts. She orders the two locked up in her ship and tells Biff to pilot for her. He's a little suspicious. After they leave Drake arrives but no one has seen Rocky or Mayberry. Nobody can find either one, but Bobby happens down the forbidden corridor where the ring opens a secret entrance. In there he saves Juliandra and Theba, allowing the Suzerain to tell the truth about her rule. On arrival at Regalio, Noviandra sweet talks Nizem, but he soon realizes she isn't the real Juliandra. He had tried to make a deal with Barbaro once, so Noviandra is hoping to take him up on it. He orders them locked up, but she and Biff escape. Noviandra even knifes a guard, Tor, in the heart to escape. Wow. She runs to the Magnetorium and lets the Robot out. All power is lost and the Robot goes on a killing spree. He breaks some necks and spines of Nizem, two of his guards and finally Noviandra, herself. When power was lost Rocky and Mayberry escaped (their door needed power) and they found some explosives. At the Magnetorium Rocky puts explosives all around when the Robot returns. He manage to destroy the Robot and blow up the place. Escaping into space, mourning over the loss of such powerful technology, they head for Herculon again. THE END. The actress who played both Juliandra and Noviandra, Ann Robinson, did a good job of separating their personalities. One had a bunch more make-up on and had crazy eyes. They FX guys even did a split screen so the two could meet each other. She is better known as Sylvia Van Buren from both <span style="font-style: italic;">War of the Worlds</span> movies, and the '80s TV show. The knife stabbing was surprisingly violent for this show. The Robot, itself magnetic, could pull people towards it, making the kill easier. It wasn't knocking people out, it either broke their neck or hugged them until their spine cracked. Take your pick. When it came at Rocky he stripped all the metal off his body. I'm not sure why Regalian scientists would have built a killer Robot then make it an engineer. I guess if it wasn't maintaining a power plant it wanted to kill.Fox4649http://www.blogger.com/profile/16647351735046544421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8463731550315572149.post-89967305624217563312011-09-03T23:00:00.005-04:002011-09-05T22:55:02.978-04:00The Cold Inferno ExperimentFour new weekly adventures of <span style="font-style: italic;">Rocky Jones, Space Ranger</span> air during September, 1954. Due to cast changes, the show doesn't get renewed past this year. I am so happy to see them get rid of Winky, but the actor went out hardcore on a shooting spree with Mexican police, so he went to jail. I won't be making fun of him anymore. Also in theaters at the time was another kid-oriented Sci-Fi movie, <span style="font-style: italic;">Tobor the Great</span>. Sadly I didn't get my hands on it in time for review here, but maybe one day. All classic Sci-Fi should just be available for streaming on NetFlix. Many are in the public domain to make it easier.
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The Cold Sun, part III</span>- This is one of the lowest points of science in the series yet. Dr. Reno helps Pinto Vertando escape Space Ranger jail and the steal the XV9, with Bobby aboard, headed for Herculon. To prevent an immediate pursuit he puts a bomb in on the <span style="font-style: italic;">Silver Moon</span>, which starts a fire in the Trotanic Missile room (i.e. Engineering). Rocky puts the fire out but the ship is delayed a while for more repairs. During the trip, Bobby calls Vertando a coward which for some reason hurts him deeply. Pinto Vertando, who was once a minor warlord in the series, is reduced to this Mongolian arch-typical over-acting bad guy that is meant for kids. He is wasted and really annoying. On Herculon, the wedding is about to proceed but Vertando decides to tell Suzerain Juliandra that her future husband and Olympian Rudy DiMarco is in league with Reno to take over Herculon and continue the fight against the United Worlds. Reno was DiMarco's trainer and wanted him to win the Olympics just to offer him up to Herculon if the need ever arose. And it did. Way to contrive for the story but it gets worse. It turns out before launch the Trotanic Missles weren't armed and only he knows how to set it. There was only time to put one on each rocket, he has one and Rocky has one. Everyone assumes that the <span style="font-style: italic;">Silver Moon </span>is destroyed, and Reno holds the only key to saving the sun. He trades this knowledge for freedom now that his plot is exposed, and they take Bobby back in XV9 for Torita, Mercury's totally made-up moon. On the way, Rocky comes across Reno in space, also heading for Torita (there must be only one flight path). Rocky disables the ship, rescues Bobby, captures Reno and DiMarco, and accidentally sets off a fully armed Trotanic Missile. I want to point out this is meant to have an explosive affect on the sun, but it explodes in space and does little harm to the <span style="font-style: italic;">Silver Moon</span>. They finally land on Torita and see a "crust" covering the sun. Reno has a wrist gun, but Rocky throws a space helmet over his arm (which I think was blown-off), and proceeds to beat up DiMarco. Rocky is in a space suit and still manages to clobber the Olympian, proving he was cheating in their last fight. The Trotanic Missile is fired and it completely breaks up the sun crust. The planets of the United Worlds are saved. THE END. Why is there a crust on the sun? You can see sunlight on Earth. Unless they upped the yield of a Trotanic Missile, which is not in evidence when one blows up while the <span style="font-style: italic;">Silver Moon</span> is in docking range of it, there is frellingly bad science on display. I do like the part where Reno grabs Bobby by the head, knocks him out and throws him in a corner.
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Inferno in Space, part I</span>- The <span style="font-style: italic;">Silver Moon</span> comes across a region of space with some kind of atmosphere. It turns all forms of wood on the ship to ash, even going so far as wrecking most of the control console on the bridge. Rocky orders the ship out of the area and heads for Earth. Professor Mayberry explains that there is a moon, Cyrko, out there surrounded by a Planetary Nebula (wrong use of the phrase) of radiation and energy. Some of those cosmic rays had penetrated the ship and effected all the wood-based products on board. The <span style="font-style: italic;">Silver Moon</span> is immediately ordered to have radiation shielding installed (really? this wasn't already in the ship's design?) and all wood-based products removed. A new sensor suite is also installed. Rocky, Biff, Vena and Mayberry head back out to the phenomenon while some nefarious goings on begin to happen involving Agar, last seen in <span style="font-style: italic;">The Forbidden Moon</span> story arc, and played by a new actor. He plans an escape from captivity with an undercover agent, Dorton, posing as a Space Ranger at Space Affairs. Bobby, by the way, is thankfully left behind to watch Mayberry's observatory and lab, which look suspiciously like Griffith Observatory. In space the <span style="font-style: italic;">Silver Moon</span> encounters the energy cloud and dives right in. They find Cyrko which is naturally erupting with nuclear mushroom clouds, spreading all sorts of radioactive material into space. Mayberry claims that not only will this cloud spread farther and farther out but it's on a collision course with Earth. TO BE CONTINUED. This is a similar set up to <span style="font-style: italic;">Crash of Moons</span>, but this moon is super-radioactive, like in <span style="font-style: italic;">The Forbidden Moon</span>. I am displeased with the science again, but that's nothing new. There is a case in the real world for naturally occurring nuclear reactions, involving deposits of Uranium under high pressure for millions of years, but not for over 1.5 billion years. Something to do with the radioactive decay of Uranium 235.
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Inferno in Space, part II</span>- Agar is on the loose with Dorton and they steal rocket ship NX7. During this time Mayberry is briefing everyone about a plan to protect Earth. It's not that Cyrko will hit Earth now, it's just that the radioactive halo around the moon will destroy all wood and paper on the Earth. He and Rocky recommend alerting everyone in the world and start using the world's industry to produce giant mirrors as part of Stage 1. These will be mounted around the world to reflect the energy or radiation or whatever it is. Stage 2 will be to send the <span style="font-style: italic;">Silver Moon</span> to Cyrko again and drop off a magnetic liquid which will spread across the planet and attract all the energy in the cloud back to the surface, to prevent it from exploding near Earth. Supposedly Earth should already be feeling these effects but the moon is blocking it for now. Hurculon has become the forward base for Stage 2 because their moon, Alpha 3, permanently shields them. But Herculon is in another Solar System so Cyrko must be moving fast and/or have a big energy cloud. But first, Rocky grabs Biff to chase Agar and Dorton. Agar finds out that his stolen ship has Cold Light installed (from <span style="font-style: italic;">Pirates of Prah</span>). He beats the bejeezus out of Dorton, puts him in a space suit, dumps him out the airlock, and cloaks the ship. Rocky spends valuable time saving Dorton and gets called back to Earth for a new emergency before he can grab Agar. On Earth Dorton spills everything he knows about Agar and his plans. Meanwhile, Agar has been listening to radio chatter and learns about the importance of Herculon during ths crisis. He arrives there and claims to be a Venusian scientist. On Earth, some regions are already experiencing devastation before Rocky's plan can be set in motion. TO BE CONTINUED. The logic of it all doesn't make any sense, but at this point I'm just going with the story. They claim to have a liquid that needs to be mixed to form a metallic skin over Cyrko. It sounds like one liquid is positive and one is negative, which I'm pretty sure can't be done. When you pour them together they form a giant magnet. I give the story a lot of credit for referring to the back catalog of characters and planets, including New Ophiuchus.
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Inferno in Space, part III</span>- Hurray, Rocky finally used a brilliant plan to save everyone aboard the <span style="font-style: italic;">Silver Moon</span>. But first, Agar secretly meets with Juliandra's right-hand woman, Shima, to set her up as Suzerain, if she only helps him. Rocky and Biff blast off Earth to Herculon. On arrival Herculonians load up missiles and magnetic liquid and stuff. Shima introduces Agar to Naboro (played by the massive Tor Johnson, who makes many appearances in bad Sci-Fi movies, and by default <span style="font-style: italic;">Mystery Science Theater 3000</span>), his new muscle. The three organize a coup and kidnap Juliandra to the stolen NX7. They learn that Rocky's journey is likely to be a one way trip. Rocky and Biff blast off Herculon of Cyrko. They get a distress call from Juliandra. Thinking they have time to save her and Earth, the <span style="font-style: italic;">Silver Moon</span> diverts to NX7's location. When they dock Agar, Shima, Tor and Juliandra emerge and a big fist fight ensues. Rocky, Biff and Juliandra are knocked out and Agar once again gets away, with Shima and Naboro. When everyone recovers on the <span style="font-style: italic;">Silver Moon</span> they realize Agar set their course for Cyrko and shattered all the controls. Now it is a one-way trip. They proceed as normal, dropping all the liquid while Earth moves all its mirrors into location. Rocky runs to the engine room and straps a rocket to the airlock, thus providing thrust to turn the ship around. Biff fixed the engine on/off button and turns on the engine when the new heading is correct, back to Earth. On NX7 Agar sets course for Medina, but Shima sicks Naboro on him for insolence. Naboro turns into the (incredible) Hulk and smashes all their controls. The ship drifts into the reflected energy from Earth and explodes. THE END. I know Rocky's thrust solution isn't perfect, he would need to correct the flat spin movement he initiated. But it was so cool to see him actually come up with a nearly plausible idea, I gotta give him credit.
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<br />Fox4649http://www.blogger.com/profile/16647351735046544421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8463731550315572149.post-57361473322372028052011-09-02T23:19:00.002-04:002011-09-02T23:38:40.882-04:00The Blast Off Cold Sun ExperimentAugust, 1954, (only 57 years ago) brought us five new episodes of <span style="font-style: italic;">Rocky Jones, Space Ranger</span>. This month is the transition from Season 1 to Season 2. Many characters change with little in-story explanation.
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Blast Off, part I</span>- This is going to be a rough one. Rocky and Bobby are flying the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span> on their own when they get caught in an asteroid storm. I'm sure with a little thought it could have been avoided, like looking at the RADAR, but the ship takes damage. They start losing Oxygen and Rocky finds a nearby unexplored planet to land on. Unbeknownst to them it is inhabited by two primitive cultures, and their arrival does not go unnoticed. Apparently Rocky's appearance coincides with a mythological second-coming of the All High. Valley People worship these beliefs and the Hill People don't (or is it the other way around, I can't tell). There has been much strife between the two, but an impending marriage after centuries of conflict is supposed to easy tensions. Then Rocky shows up by accident on their world and screws everything; Hill People resent them, and the Valley People blindly worship them. Rocky opts for First Contact with the primitive cultures (as there is apparently no Prime Directive with the United Worlds). He tries to convince them he is from Earth but they don't listen and show him a plaque saying the All High were destined to return in the future. And, that time is now. The carved face on the plaque is human. Rocky idiotically chooses to become more involved because if he manages to get off the planet it would destroy the religious nature of the people. For the time being he decides to stay and they are taken to a sacred place where they are to live their lives. It is a saucer landing site of an alien race from another star that must have been the inspiration for the current religious movement. Rocky and Bobby head back to the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span> to send a distress call, because they have no spare parts to repair the oxygen system. TO BE CONTINUED. They're mere presence is provocative enough to start a war on this planet. How are there planets in the solar system that haven't been explored yet? They show a sun rise from the planet and the sun was big enough to be from the distance of Earth's orbit. Instead of using an SOS signal, Rocky sets the distress beacon to repeat "Orbit Jet" in Celestial Code to any passing ship.
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Blast Off, part II</span>- On Earth, Space Affairs figures out Rocky and Bobby are missing. Winky is off on his own looking for Rocky so he's out of the picture. Vena, Professor Newton and Ranger Sandy blast off to the last known location reported. Meanwhile, Rocky is contending with fear and suspicion all around him as he tries to make a kiln to heat metal for the Oxygen Compressor repair. While he's distracted the Hill People drop rocks on the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span>, knocking it over. But not before the rescue ship picks up Rocky's distress signal and lands (stupidly) next to the damaged <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span>. All three are captured climbing out of the rocket. The daughter of the Valley People tries to warn Rocky all this stuff is going down and she is scratched by the Flower of Death. Rocky attends to her instead and misses out on the whole rescue-party-being-captured thing. A shaman is used to prey for anti-poison as Rocky is now being blamed for the "great evil". Then he gets really pissed to find out his friends are held captive. He runs off and negotiates a plan to save the girl, by getting medicine off-planet, and leaving Bobby behind to be sacrificed in case Rocky never returns. These people really don't respect the All High myths at all. After Rocky leaves, Bobby learns that the other three will be sacrificed, anyway, and engineers a jail break. They all run off to the walled garden, cave area the locals had set aside for the All Highs to live in; a place that is taboo to enter. TO BE CONTINUED. Newton explains that the planet has never been discovered before because it's in the outer reaches of the solar system and should be bitter cold. It obviously isn't but no explanation is giving to why this planet is thriving. Netwon also explains there are, like, a hundred unexplored planets out there, kind of like Kuiper Belt Objects, I guess.
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Blast Off, part III</span>- Rocky gets all the medicine on Earth he needs, but not any spare parts. He gets back to the primitive planet (he lands next to the wrecked <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span> again) and learns his friends have all escaped. He needs Newton to administer an anti-poison. This time he brought a personal communication device and tells Sandy to get everyone back to the village (Hill or Valley, I can't tell anymore). Newton saves the sick girl but learns the other people wrecked the second rocket. Everyone heads to the flying saucer as the only viable alternative to escape. It needs a bunch of repair, and Rocky makes up something about using gravity as energy. Over the next day or so they are able to sneak to the rockets using a complex cave system to get all the parts they need. They finally get off the ground but have to land again later to recharge something. During this time the locals tried to cause an avalanche on the saucer (Rocky and the crew, didn't even notice), but one of their own was gravely injured. Newton injects him with something that cures him of infection and all the broken bones and crushed organs (with one frakking injection!), and finally all the indigenous people like the Space Rangers. Rocky promises this new planet will be an outpost to explore the outer planets and beyond, then they finally leave in the saucer. THE END. I really want to know what happens when they land on Earth with a saucer that can travel between stars. This could completely shift the balance of power to the United Worlds. This story would have been over in about one episode if Rocky started using his ray-gun against all the hostiles. If Rocky and friends would have stopped parking their rockets in valleys none of their ships would have been destroyed. When Rocky is on Earth he couldn't have brought some Space Marines or some other back-up? I do like the saucer, it has running lights that spin around the edge and a cool sound. That's the best that can come out of this thoughtless story. This isn't a new Sci-Fi story but I do see some ideas here handled much better the <span style="font-style: italic;">Star Trek: The Next Generation</span> episode <span style="font-style: italic;">Who Watches the Watchers</span>. This is the end of the original batch of 26 episodes...
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The Cold Sun, part I</span>- ... and this is the start of the final 13 episodes; in other words, Season 2. The sun is providing light, but no heat, and might have something to do with sunspot activity. This is also causing interference on all Astrophone calls to and from Earth. Rocky is on his way back on the <span style="font-style: italic;">Silver Moon</span> XV3 with Vena, Bobby, Professor Mayberry and some co-pilot without a name. I think Winky is lost in space from last story as there is no mention of him. Neither is there mention of Professor Newton, who was probably put in a rest home. The new top Olympian on Earth, Rudy DiMarco, is visiting Secretary Drake at the Office of Space Affairs in the hopes of meeting Rocky. Dr. Reno, a civilian adviser, seems to be hatching a scheme with DiMarco. But the real thing going on is an end to the hostilities between the United Worlds and Herculon. It appears an old leader has lost his position and Juliandra, known as the Suzerain of Herculon (sound familiar?) wants to be more friendly. She proposes an exchange of personnel to better learn each others' cultures. Her most trusted officer, Biffen Cardoza, for Rocky Jones. Rocky of course declines, but they offer up DiMarco instead. DiMarco has something to prove and beats Rocky in a boxing match before the exchange. Once they get to Herculon, introductions go all around, but DiMarco sneaks off and meets with a contact to cause a rift in the proceedings. That night Vena is forced under hypnosis to write a fake kidnapping letter for Rocky. He goes out looking for her and gets in over his head, until Biffen shows up and saves him. They complain to Juliandra who has no idea what's going on, then Bobby finds Vena has been asleep in her room the whole time. (Nobody thought to look?) At this point Vena nicknames Biffen as "Biff", better than the name Winky. With everything back to "normal" Rocky calls Ranger Clark on OW9 to relay a message to Space Affairs, but all communications with Earth have been lost. TO BE CONTINUED. It's a nice touch that they no longer have the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span> since it was wrecked and stripped of parts last episode. The new rocket ship has a better looking dashboard, too. The first look at the Herculon capital is the same as the Ophiuchian capital. There must be a contractor out there building all the same buildings on the Outlaw Worlds. For that matter they also use the same mind control device that Cleolanthe was known for. In the real world of science, sunspots are a sign of a healthy star and become more plentiful during the Solar Maximum. However, during Solar Minimum we no longer see sunspot activity (or very little) and have begun to consider it indicates a cooling trend on Earth. At least heavy sunspot activity can have a huge effect on unshielded communication satellites, so that's not too far off in the story.
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The Cold Sun, part II</span>- Space Affairs is in lock-down on Earth because they are the only ones who know anything about the sun being the cause of the cold spell. This includes Drake, Mayberry and Reno. Mayberry has a theory, which isn't too far from something Newton would come up with. The sun's heat is being absorbed by a blanket effect over the surface of it. What ever that effect is the sun is still shining, but all the heat is trapped on the surface. Huh?!? The new plan, is to first get two ships, XV9 and the <span style="font-style: italic;">Silver Moon</span>, loaded with Trotanic Missiles. Since there is no solar heat, Mercury is approachable, something the Space Rangers can't normally do. Mercury has a moon named Torita [sic]. Again, Huh?!? Both rockets are to land on the little moon and shoot four rockets into the sun to overheat it and blow away the blanket effect. Did anyone notice that the eight Trotanic Missiles fired at the moon, Posita, in <span style="font-style: italic;">Crash of Moons</span> had no effect? Rocky leaves Herculon, with a special message for Drake's eyes only from Juliandra, and heads for station OW9. Little does anyone expect but at that moment OW9 is being ransacked by Pinto Vertando, who has turned interstellar pirate. To make his escape, Vertando, shoots a gyro control and the station becomes unstable and shakes a bunch. They leave Ranger Clark stuck on the station when Rocky tries to land. To make matters worse, all visiograph activity and Astrophone use is dead and Rocky has to dock on a moving target blind. He succeeds on manual, rescues Clark, then chases down Vertando. Even blind he disables his ship and captures all three pirates before heading to Earth. When Rocky arrives he hands over his three prisoners to authorities and gives Drake the message. For whatever reason, Juliandra is smitten with DiMarco and plans to marry him, making the Olympian the new ruler of Herculon. All part of some plan I think. Repairs (that aren't explained) are being made to the <span style="font-style: italic;">Silver Moon</span> and all are nearly ready to go to Torita and fix the Sun. TO BE CONTINUED. The Space Rangers must have reversed engineer that saucer Rocky took, because the <span style="font-style: italic;">Silver Moon</span> is able to go to Herculon, which orbits a different star, they call Oona. Even though it looks the same as all the other rockets, Bobby points out a new super-fast XV27, no doubt with more saucer parts, while on Herculon. According to the story, Earth is still getting light, but without heat, from the sun. So in this universe the photon packet of energy that is released from the sun, as light, cannot impact any molecules and vibrate them, thus causing heat. That's just not how light works, there is no light without heat. It's good they understood that the sun effects the Earth's weather but they get the rest wrong. I'm trying to suspend my disbelief for the shows sake, but these scientists have got to go. For payment to help the displaced people of Ophiuchus, Cleolanthe must have shared Trotanic Missile technology with the Space Rangers.
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<br />Fox4649http://www.blogger.com/profile/16647351735046544421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8463731550315572149.post-9899486573250108472011-09-01T22:00:00.003-04:002011-09-01T22:17:59.805-04:00The Crash of War ExperimentThe year was 1954, in the summer month of July. Four new episodes of Rocky Jones, Space Ranger was on the air waves. If you were a Sci-Fi fan with a black and white TV and an antenna, this is what you saw.
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Crash of Moons, part I</span>- The Gypsy Moons, from <span style="font-style: italic;">Rocky's Odyssey</span>, are the center of attention, again. Posita and Negato are moving into the inner solar system where most of the habitable planets are. Newton, Vena and Robby take Transport TR14 from Earth to space station OW9 to get close enough for radio contact. Rocky, Winky and Secretary Drake are on Ophiuchus trying to convince Cleolanthe to join the United Worlds. She wants nothing to do with them and kicks them off the planet. In space Rocky talks to Newton on the Astrophone and learns of the Gypsy Moons' movement. Rocky, being way smarter than Professor Newton (a scientist!), calculates that not only will the moons pass near OW9, but the station will be caught in between with the atmosphere chain. (There is a great visual of the two moons floating in space with lightning striking between the two.) Space Stations aren't designed for atmosphere and everyone needs to get off of it. The closest ship is TR14, but it isn't responding. Rocky races the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span> as fast as it will go, but OW9 is thrown all about. Quickly abusing science again he has Ranger Andrews use the Magnetic Tractor Beam to stabilize them, relative to the station, for a landing. He then pushes the station out of the atmosphere using full rockets and saves everyone. On Posita Bovaro is obsessed with his new child and their culture really has no idea about astronomy or where their moon is relative to anything. He just wants Rocky Jones to see his baby boy and makes everyone learn English. On the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span> Newton finally steps up his game and learns he better figure out if the Gypsy Moons are going to hit anything else. Even though every character on the ship, including Drake, questions him, Newton declares without a doubt Posita will impact Ophiuchus in one month. The <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span> lands on Posita to deliver the bad news which insanely infuriates Bovaro who just wants people to love his baby. TO BE CONTINUED. Not a bad idea going on. The writers actually almost figured out gravity. Of course Newton was describing things, so it makes little sense. He claims the Gypsy Moons orbit each other (which is surprisingly spot-on science) and randomly move through the solar system. If that were the case then there would be no way to predict that Posita would hit Ophiuchus. He does mention all the planets orbit the sun, so that's something. However, since it used to be a planet in the solar system why isn't it still in the ecliptic plane of the sun, unless its orbit was more like a Kuiper Belt Object. I want the show to work, but I'm asking too much of these writers. Now to Rocky's science abuse: He saves the station by docking with it, then turning on his rockets to move it. That's fine except the docking port is asymmetrically positioned on the station. It would just spin in circles, unless for some reason the center of gravity is the docking port, then I'm not sure it would spin correctly as seen on screen. For that matter, why does the station spin? I thought it was for gravity but when you see the interior, the floor is flat and the walls are curved, not at all what you see in <span style="font-style: italic;">2001: A Space Odyssey</span>. It also appears that there are no thrusters on the station at all, but it ought to at least have a Reaction Control System to stabilize its position from all the gravitational effects of so many planets in the solar system. So close, yet so far for 1954. NASA won't be able to start advising Sci-Fi writers for another 4 years at the earliest.
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Crash of Moons, part II</span>- Bovaro comes to his senses and heads to Negato for to negotiate a total evacuation of Posita to the other moon. They do get in an argument whether or not they should warn Ophiuchus, since they were banished from the planet, but Rocky and Winky take the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span> to give it a try. On Ophiuchus, Atlasande is preparing for an important audience with Cleolanthe while his wife, Trinka, talks of leaving the planet. Even before landing on Ophiuchus Rocky sits in orbit broadcasting to anyone with an unscrambled Astrophone (something that is illegal on the planet punishable by death) about the impending disaster. Cleolanthe's standing order is to scramble any United Worlds' transmissions that arrive on her planet as she doesn't want her people to learn anything about the outside systems. Trinka has such an Astrophone, and gets his message. Atlasande comes home and catchers her with it, dragging her and the device back to Cleolanthe, to curry more favor. Cleolanthe won't listen to a traitor like Trinka and orders the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span> destroyed while it's trying to land. Trinka interferes (because she is stupidly left in the "war room") and Rocky safely lands. He runs into the city and captures Atlasande to make Cleolanthe listen to him. She finally believes him, but uses knockout gas on him and Winky while she, Atlasande and her new Lieutnant, Lassbaun, (I guess Darganto is still in prison) plan to destoy Posita with Trotanic [sic] missiles before it becomes a threat. Atlasande had laid out a similar plan that involved destroying the moon after it was evacuated, but Cleolanthe finally shows she is in fact insane and just wants to kill people. They leave at once to destroy Posita. Trinka escapes her super-minimum security holding cell, grabs Rocky and Winky, then run back to the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span> to chase down Cleolanthe. TO BE CONTINUED. We finally learn that Ophiuchus has been forcibly cut off from the outside and the citizens have no idea what happens off planet. That might explain why the is a communication blackout around the Ophiuchus Formation in <span style="font-style: italic;">Beyond the Curtain of Space</span>. There is reference to a growing resistance movement.
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Crash of Moons, part III</span>- I'm impressed with the goings on in this one. Cleolanthe begins firing on Posita, but Rocky is able to disable her ship. Atlasande, who has become disillusioned with her, takes her into custody when she declares him a traitor. Cleolanthe becomes even more insane throught the episode. On Posita there is only 14 days left and evacuation to Negato proceeds using their aircraft. Several days later, the evacuation is complete. Rocky and Atlasande have a new plan, using the Ophiuchian rocket, fire all the Trotanic missiles in the hope of changing its orbital trajectory. Newton declares the bombardment a failure (furthur solidifying Cleolanthe has no idea what she's doing), Rocky leaves Winky and Drake in charge of the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span> and he heads off to Ophiuchus to warn everyone that the United Worlds will help evacuate the entire planet. When they land they are overrun with military personal trying to take their ship, since they no longer listen to Cleolanthe. Trinka somehow manages to calm everyone and a planetwide broadcast is made. Cleolanthe further complains no one cares about her planet and it's all conspiracy to remove her from power. In good faith the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span> will be the last one to leave the doomed planet with Rocky, Winky, Vena, Bobby, Professor Newton, Atlasande, and Trinka. Cleolanthe wishes to die on Ophiuchus, but at the last second Atlasande forcibly drags her to the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span>. Far from planetary orbit they watch Posita slam in to Ophiuchus. On the Astrophone Torvak, leader of the Negato people, explains it's the people that make a culture not to land. THE END. I'm surprised they destroyed an important planet in the story, and the visuals weren't bad either (for the time, that is). There is a good evacuation scene with at least a dozen rockets scattered in a landing field launching one after another. Medina rockets were mixed in with Space Ranger rockets, so they must have offered assistance, too. This three-parter was turned into a movie that appears on Mystery Science Theater 3000.
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Kip's Private War</span>- Someone has been sabotaging some important pieces of equipment around the Office of Space Affairs. Rocky and Winky come back to Earth on the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span> to help figure it out. There is an issue with the planet Apollo Minor to contend with as well. A new boy, Kip, has been employed and runs around the place unsupervised. I hate when writers give the audience more of a clue than the characters. It makes them look like idiots. The episode title has Kip's name in it and we see him sneering in the background, so we know way too early that Kip is involved. Has Space Affairs learned nothing from all the Human agents Cleolanthe has working for her? Kip manages to break communication equipment, the gantry system and cars. No excuse. Bobby finds him letting out the air of Drake's car. How does Bobby stop him? He attacks him, totally beating Kip. Rocky and Vena come outside and see the boys fighting, which they break up. Keep in mind Bobby totally idolizes Rocky Jones and goes on lots of missions with him. Rocky usually deals with a problem by beating it up, so it's no wonder Bobby reacted violently. Why does Space Affairs keep employing children? It turns out Kip's dad, Mickey, was a thief who was caught by Rocky and held in jail at headquarters. Kip gets visiting rights and his dad is proud of his chaotic behavior. Instead of restraining Kip for terrorist actions against Earth, he makes Kip live with him and Winky. Kip plays a joke on them using a sound board device he made that keeps the two awake. To further the positive influence Rocky is sure Kip needs, there's the Apollo Minor mission. Apollo Minor has a weak, but legitimate government, that is trying to keep a warlord, Pinto Vortando, from winning a local election. The United Planets want the same thing so they send Rocky there to support the legitimate government. (This sounds like a political Afghanistan story.) So Kip comes along on this important mission and wants attention by using his sound board device to scare Winky. Rocky reads him the riot act, but Kip doesn't care. After landing on Apollo Minor Vortando's henchmen capture Rocky, Winky, Vena, Bobby and Kip. Kip backstabs Rocky and Winky by telling them a lie about the United Worlds. Vena, Bobby and Kip are free to hang out on the planet, but they all go back to the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span>. Kip is in their face about what he did, but Bobby actually refuses to beat the crap out of him because it ain't worth it. You see, Kip just wants attention. Rocky and Winky escape their cell, and get captured again, this time with the threat of death. Kip uses his sound board to simulate an all out Space Ranger attack on Vortando's compound and they rescue Rocky and Winky. Pinto Vortando is humiliated in front of his own people by two children and he loses power. The government is once again in charge, and the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span> leaves for Earth. THE END. One of only three stand-alone episodes. This is almost an exact repeat of the episode <span style="font-style: italic;">The Boy Who Hated Superman</span> in <span style="font-style: italic;">The Adventures of Superman</span>. No new tech showed off except Kip's stupid sound board which must have been more than it appeared, because it simulated deep bass and surround sound like a Boze speaker system.Fox4649http://www.blogger.com/profile/16647351735046544421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8463731550315572149.post-39442747518263343612011-08-31T23:43:00.004-04:002011-09-03T11:47:47.195-04:00The Silver Moon Experiment<span style="font-style: italic;">Rocky Jones, Space Ranger</span> continues to air new episodes during the summer of 1954. Five in total during June. The middle of the month saw the release of a fantastic classic Sci-Fi movie called <span style="font-style: italic;">Them!</span>. I don't think you can get a more generic name (maybe <span style="font-style: italic;">The Thing</span>). A wonderful movie about about giant mutant ants.
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Silver Needle in Space, part II</span>- There must be only a dozen Space Rangers (and half of them seem to work for Cleolanthe) because once again an Ophiuchian rocket, the <span style="font-style: italic;">Nautilus</span> led by Atlasande, with less than a dozen armed troops take over a space station with one Space Ranger, and some Space Ambassadors. This must be where <span style="font-style: italic;">Moon</span> got the idea to put one man on the moon for three years at a time. On Peritane, Rocky calls XO7 to check in, and Dr. Tyson gives a verbally coded message before everyone is hustled on board the <span style="font-style: italic;">Nautilus</span>. They then blast off for Ophiuchus. Rocky finally gets the message, cancels R&R, and heads back to XO7. It's empty. They call Drake on Earth. Cleolanthe calls everyone. Her ultimatum is to trade all the ambassadors for Griff and Darganto, both held prisoner for crimes against the United Worlds at the end of <span style="font-style: italic;">Bobby's Comet, part III</span>. Nobody trusts her. Atlasande figures that with the return of Darganto, he'll be sidelined. Rocky demands, on behalf of Earth, the trade will be done on XO7 and no weapons present, or this is an act of war. Cleolanthe agrees, mainly because she appears too afraid of an all out war. I'm guessing that since Ophiuchus is one of the Outlaw Worlds, none of the others would back her up. Everyone arrives at the XO7 the trade the goes well, except Atlasande pulls a weapon on everyone and takes Dr. Tyson back as a trophy to remain in Cleolanthe's favor. TO BE CONTINUED. Rocky is kind of a gullible person. It turns out XO7 has weapons, but they are never once used against a threatening rocket ship. Once again I like the fallout of previous episodes and the political maneuvering of Atlasande. I believe this is the first mention of a Tractor Beam in the series, used to dock at space stations. There is a crazy magnetic periscope thingy in the control that helps ships dock.
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Silver Needle in Space, part III</span>- This is the best episode of this series so far. It's all survival in space and political maneuvering. While Atlasande explains why he's changing the prisoner exchange plan, Dr. Tyson in the background takes some sort of capsule, then gets dragged out of the Conference Room. They put a 3-hour timer on the door so Rocky and friends and ambassadors don't go anywhere. Darganto conspires with Griff to discredit Atlasande by shutting off station air, but when he returns to main group Dr. Tyson collapses dead. Darganto uses the moment to seize control of the operation and all the men follow him. He plans to tell Cleolanthe that Atlasande screwed up and killed Dr. Tyson and everyone else. After they leave Rocky and friends begin to feel the effects brought about by lack of oxygen. One them is an Army Engineer and recommends sending Bobby through a vent to the air and water recirculation room. Bobby makes it but has to smash his head into the grill on the other end to open it. With air restored he unlocks the Conference Room and everyone heads to the control area to save Ranger Anderson. On the way they find the discarded body of Tyson, who comes back to life. It turns out he used a Suspended Animation Capsule to fool the Ophiuchians. The group radios Earth on a scrambled line (sort of like dictating a fax on ticker-tape) to inform them of current events, then head home. Darganto and Atlasande arrive back on Ophiuchus and are called before Cleoplanthe. She's angry at both of them for not working together and getting all their hostages killed, Darganto insisting it was all Atlasande. She refuses to believe anything she hears when one of her other operatives lets her know they finally cracked the encrypted Space Affairs Astrophones. She's even more mad because they even failed to really kill anyone and locks both of them in the same jail cell for two months. THE END. The personal one-ups-manship between Atlasante and Darganto is quite entertaining and doesn't give much time for the writers to ruin science any more. Bobby is even helpful.
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The Forbidden Moon, part I</span>- The Office of Space Affairs loses contact with RV5, so the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet </span>is sent to investigate with all the main characters (including Bobby who stows away). When they arrive, there is one ship already docked and no one is answering. After docking Rocky and Winky check the other ship and experience pounding radiation coming from it. There is some dren about Anti-Radiation Serum everyone will have to take, but Rocky just goes aboard anyway. After a little while they all meet in the control room (except for Bobby who is grounded on the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span>) and find Ranger Clark in a coma. It's a radiation coma and Professor Newton needs to determine the original of radiation to recommend a treatment. The more I see the character of Newton the more terrible he becomes. All the science he spews is garbage. According to the logs and some audio recordings the radioactive ship is from Medina. The voices of the ruler, Yarra, and her brother, Agar, are heard on the recording. Rocky goes back to the Medina ship and gets his butt kicked by Agar, who was hiding all this time. Agar then steals the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span>, with Bobby on it, and heads to Medina. Back in the control room Rocky fills them in on what happened and learns that the Medina ship had crashed on the Forbidden Moon. While Agar had been trying to fix the ship he suffered severe radiation sickness, but found a local plant that not only cures you of radiation but makes you immune. It appears, though, that you become radioactive (only because the entire darn moon is radioactive). Rocky and friends take the Medina ship and follow the stolen <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span>. TO BE CONTINUED. Science is bad again, this time with magnetism and radiation. After the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span> takes off from Earth all the gauges show a reverse magnetic polarization effect as soon as they go beyond Earth's magnetic field. Right after that Rocky finds Bobby hiding in the engine room with his favorite quartz rock. When he drags Bobby back to the Nav room where Vena and Newton are, he suddenly remembers that bismuth is in quartz and it is highly magnetic. Newton then spews how bismuth becomes even more powerful when it leaves the magnetic field of the Earth. I expect senile comments of dubious scientific nature from Newton, but Rocky is just making stuff up. In the real world Tetradymite has bismuth in it and can be found near hydrothermal quartz veins, but that's about their only relationship. Bismuth does have magnetic properties but it wouldn't reverse polarize a whole spaceship. I would like to point out the bismuth is sometimes used in cosmetics, and with Rocky always harassing Vena about her makeup, there's a better chance she's at fault than Bobby. The Anti-Radiation Serum must also fix DNA damage, too. Poor Ranger Clark.
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The Forbidden Moon, part II</span>- Things are almost explained better. Yarra and Agar want to take over the universe. Who doesn't in this show, but i don't think they realize how big it is, since none of the humanoid species in the series (including Humans) have left the solar system yet. They sounds stupidly grandiose. Bobby is brought to Yarra at the Rotasium Headquarters, then escorted around the grounds of the walled capital. Rocky in Agar's ship attempts to land, but an anti-spaceship weapon is trained on them. Thinking quick Bobby, who happens to be nearby, asks why he's about to shoot one of his own ships down. This is a point of contention I have in the series. The prop people built different rockets to represent different cultures. As a viewer you can pick out an Ophiuchian ship from the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span> from a Medina ship from a Fornaxian missile. But characters never recognize any design. Anyway the guy doesn't shoot his own ship down, which is good because Rocky and friends are on board. They are here to warn Yarra to quarantine Agar as a massive Cosmic Radiation source (they finally figured that part out). She doesn't believe them, throws them in jail and starts to feel radiation sickness. Bobby convinces her Rocky's telling the truth, she visits them and Newton gives her the Anti-Radiation Serum. It is temporary, though, and they still need to lock up Agar as he's beginning to affect the whole planet. Some of the palace guards lose faith with their leadership and try to mount a coup. Yarra slows them down by declaring they're going to the Forbidden Moon to find a cure and some other things. All the main characters plus Agar (who has everyone at gunpoint) and Yarra board the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span> and leave Medina. TO BE CONTINUED. They edited around a scene where Vena flirts with Milo the jailer, takes him somewhere private, knocks him out and takes his uniform. What gets me about Newton, other than his horrible science, is he never looks like he's paying that much attention, but suddenly wakes up to deliver a line of dialog. I'm happy the ray-guns in the series have stopped being props and are actually being used to shoot people, not just threaten them. They make a loud bang with lots of smoke.
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The Forbidden Moon, part III</span>- This one starts falling apart about here. On the way to the Forbidden Moon, Rocky hatches a plan and takes control of the ship back from Agar. On the visiograph they see the Forbidden Moon for the first time, glowing from Cosmic Radiation. Newton remembers he brought special ray-shielded goggles because the radiation will seep into your eyeballs and paralyze your brain. Riiiiight. Agar uses the opportunity to take over the Orbit Jet. again. After they land someone pulls out a metal detector to look for plants and a Geiger Counter (which should be useless because the entire moon is "hot"). The landscape is snow and rock, so plants stand out on the surface, but the main characters still need a sci-fi device to find one. A nearby cave provides just the shelter Newton needs to refine the plant cure and save Medina. At this point characters take off their helmets because their couldn't possible be any radiation in the cave. Agar has other plans and steals most of the collected plants, runs off in the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span> again, inoculates his crew, then plans to take over the universe. He fails to realize you need to refine the serum and everyone passes out, the ship adrift in space. With all the humans, plus Yarra, trapped on the Forbidden Moon, Newton detects a super-strong radiation source coming from a mountain next to their cave. He removes the atomic piles from their spacesuits (you mean their spacesuits are nuclear powered?) and makes a sort of detonator that creates such an explosion it will be picked up on Earth. They pretty much hide face down right next to a nuclear blast that destroys a mountain, but it works, Secretary Drake sees it. He loads up on the XV7 and heads out to save Rocky. Once they're safe XV7 hunts down the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span>, where they revive the comatose Medinans and return Yarra to her planet, no longer an evil despot. THE END. My problems with the sciences could fill a whole other blog post. I do like the exterior matte paintings of both the Forbidden Moon and Medina
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<br />It is difficult not to be hard on this show, but there is something to it I like. Even though all the rules of space fact and even modern space fiction seem to be ignored, they are at least internally consistent to themselves. There are plenty of carry-over characters from previous episodes and their ship naming follows a pattern. The uniforms seems to follow a rank structure, and decisions have consequences in the future. I find myself looking forward to seeing how Cleolanthe does without her top two men. And Griff is still alive of Ophiuchus.Fox4649http://www.blogger.com/profile/16647351735046544421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8463731550315572149.post-10295968188574184602011-08-30T21:44:00.004-04:002011-09-05T22:53:57.764-04:00The Pirates in the Sky Experiment<span style="font-style: italic;">Rocky Jones, Space Ranger</span> is the show for May, 1954, with four new episodes. I like the fact the studio accepts having almost no budget to make the show as just an inconvenience. They are still trying to tell big stories on other planets with space battles and such. To save money all the different rockets in the show have the same interior bridge (something <span style="font-style: italic;">Star Trek</span> is known to do). But to differentiate between them the prop people change the seat covers.
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Pirates of Prah, part I</span>- Vena (in a totally new outfit) is with Reggie, on cargo rocket CM7, on her way to see her brother, Paul. They are disabled by pirates, lose their cargo and are left to float in orbit of Cassa VII [sic] for eternity. It turns out a pirate group has been preying on cargo ships for the past week, including one from Mars known as <span style="font-style: italic;">Double M</span>. Rocky and Winky are on vacation when they get the call Vena has dissappered. They launch with Bobby (for some reason) and a new piece of tech from Professor Newton, Cold Light. It should only be used in emergencies and emits Gamma Radiation. The <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span> gets to the last known area of space CM7 broadcasted from when they come across the <span style="font-style: italic;">Double M</span>. It shoots at them, but Winky easily destroys it. The pirates had burned off all the call letters from the tail fins of CM7, so when Rocky finds their ship he doesn't recognize it (even though it looks exactly like the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span>). All power (except gravity and life support) is out on CM7 so Vena pushes a missile through a missile tube to dump it into space. Rocky recognizes it as a sign of communication and they dock with the rocket. Now suddenly rockets have airlocks. CM7's airlock is on the bridge and we never see where the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span>'s is, but at least Rocky stopped cutting through his own hull. Maybe the airlock was part of the upgrade last episode. They bring Vena back to <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span> (leaving Reggie on his ship), hear her sad tale and tow it back to Cassa VII. TO BE CONTINUED. Rocky makes reference to going to the far edge of the solar system, which sounds like no one was done before. I am suddenly struck with the realization this whole show takes place in our solar system yet there are extra planets and people everywhere. Lazy Sci-Fi writers.
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Pirates of Prah, part II</span>- Cold Light is finally explained as essential a cloaking device. It emits a field of light around the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span> that makes it so cold that it becomes invisible (I'm guessing at Zero Kelvin, molecules stop moving so you can't see them). It's bad science, but it goes something like that. It doesn't make the inside cold, though. Nor does it require radiation shielding like we were warned about last episode. Everyone lands on Cassa VII, which has a way better space port than Earth, and everyone meets Paul Ray, Vena's brother. They go over some astronomy notes for the next day or so and Rocky thinks they're operating out of the planetoid Prah. No one has ever been able to land because the defenses are too great. On Prah, the pirates, Rinkman, Dr. Vanko, Markoff and some other guy, drop off all the stolen goods and call their boss, Cleolanthe. She learns that they failed to kill Rocky and she orders her second-in-command Atlasande to have them assassinated. Rocky, meanwhile, tricks Bobby and Vena into staying on Cassa VII while he and Winky blast off for Prah. They engage the Cold Light device and land on one of the pirate's landing pads. The pirates hear a ship but they don't see one. Rocky pops out and confronts the pirates but gets captured. Cleolanthe gets word they are holding Rocky prisoner, stays their execution and heads to Prah (with Atlasande). Rocky learns what he needs and escapes Prah just before Cleolanthe arrives and they both head to Cassa VII. TO BE CONTINUED. I just can't get over how repeatedly dumb all the bad guys seem to be.
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Pirates of Prah, part III</span>- This story is beginning to fall apart. Cleolanthe orders all the pirates (like about 5 people) to land on Cassa VII and take over. They have a contact, Ken, who works in space traffic control. Everyone wants Rocky's Cold Light device (something that shouldn't have been shared with everyone in the story, but Rocky has a big mouth). Ken knocks out Rocky and stashes him in his own engine room, then turns <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span> invisible so everyone thinks Rocky left. Rocky gets loose and begins working against Ken and the pirates on his own. Once the pirates are on Cassa VII then kidnap Winky, Robby and Vena, planning to take them back to Ophiuchus. This way Rocky has to come to them and they'll get the Cold Light thing. Some muddled things happen which ends with Rocky and Winky beating up all the pirates, who they refer to as traitors so they must be humans, and they head back to Earth with everyone on board; Winky still trying to get a date. THE END. An okay story with some promise until the writers get in the way by the end. No new abuses of science in this episode, unless you count the continued use of Cold Light. For the first time in the series we are introduced to Martians, which I think are supposed to indigenous (not just a human colony). They seem a little barbaric but are technologically capable as we see with Haggar Nu, Ken's assistant set up as a scape goat. I forgot to mention the painful moment Winky chooses to sing, playing an instrument that looks way cooler than the space station models already in use.
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Silver Needle in the Sky, part I</span>- There is to be an Interplanet Peace Conference held in space and the crew of the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span> are tasked with taking the Space Ambassadors there. One of the few outstanding things I like about this show is the use of alien languages. Vena wants to go along as navigator and interpreter but Drake explains the conference is being held in neutral territory so the Universal Language will be spoken. I'm pretty sure that means English. They are headed to Space Station XO7 in the orbit of Peritane [sic], a planet in the Jupiter equalateral. I can only assume they mean it shares Jupiter's orbit but at a distance, and no where near Fornax, or they could have saved Rocky a lot of trouble in <span style="font-style: italic;">Bobby's Comet</span>. There are asteroids way ahead and way behind Jupiter's orbit that are in a gravitationally stable position, so maybe that's what they intended? Winky worries about the Outlaw Planets respecting the neutrality of the conference which leads me to believe that any planet not part of the United Worlds is considered an outlaw. Not everyone is invited, either. Cleolanthe of Ophiuchus is mad (I don't blame her this time), so orders her human agent on Earth, Duveen, to blow up the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span> on the ground. A new alarm system warns the crew, they stop Duveen and then successfully blast off for XO7. Cleolanthe has a new idea and sends Atlasande to crash the conference and kidnap the ambassadors. Rocky gets everyone where they have to go and plans for a layover on Peritane for a re-fuel and some R&R. As soon as he leaves the station, Atlasande forces his way aboard and takes everyone captive. TO BE CONTINUED. Every space station in the show has only one Space Ranger crew member, but all rockets have at least two. It's good to see Rocky let Vena be the navigator (a job Winky used to do) and give the job of updating the log to Bobby. Another point I have in favor of the show is the use of uniforms, with rank stripes on the arms, but Winky and Bobby are the same rank and that's bull$#!7. They even have a unit affiliation symbol on the upper left of their uniforms, not unlike <span style="font-style: italic;">Star Trek</span>. Each different culture on every planet also has a different planetary symbol. These are details I like. Now my big complaint I've seen throughout the series: rockets can only carry about a dozen people, yet we haven't seen a planet (except Ankapore) with more than a few people. It is so easy for the bad guys (pirates or Ophiuchians) to take over a space station or a planet with one rocket and some ray guns. This is so unrealistic, yet the writers kept moving forward as if nothing is wrong with the plot. Don't get me wrong, I still like the show.
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<br />Fox4649http://www.blogger.com/profile/16647351735046544421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8463731550315572149.post-76776421843000779682011-08-29T22:24:00.002-04:002011-08-29T22:50:07.874-04:00The Comet into Space ExperimentApril, 1954, gave us four more <span style="font-style: italic;">Rocky Jones, Space Ranger</span> episodes. The writers of this show are about as far from scientific accuracy as you can get. I suppose I can't blame them, because everything they're writing about is almost unknown or just speculative. This is an era where we still thought there could have been intelligent life on Mars, because those canals had to be built by someone. Right? Today we, non-scientist and non-astronomers, have access to the accumulated knowledge of half-a-century since the show aired. Then again, if this is the kind of stuff networks were showing kids then it's no wonder Sci-Fi has been looked down upon for so long. It took <span style="font-style: italic;">2001: A Space Odyssey</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Star Wars</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">Alien</span> to show the true potential for the genre. As much as I complain I still like watching Rocky Jones, because every once in a while they have a good idea.
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Bobby's Comet, part I</span>- There is so much wrong with the premise of this episode I'll try to be brief. Missiles from an unknown source in space land on Earth, one near Newton's Observatory (which looks suspiciously like Griffith Observatory). Rocky and Winky are out on their own looking for Griff, even though we all saw his car explode in <span style="font-style: italic;">Behind the Curtain of Space, part III</span>, he may have lived. Rocky is recalled to face this new menace. It is explained by Vena that by back tracking the ellipses (their word for "orbit") of the missiles they originate on Fornax, a moon of Jupiter. This is surprising because their current science says there's no life on that moon. They begin to describe a world that actually sounds like Io, but with a people adept at using crystal technology (sadly not in the way of Kryptonian tech). The Space Ranger fleet is alerted to the new threat, but on one of the stations Griff is in fact alive and holding the one crew member at gun point. He learns Rocky is planning a trip to Fornax and leaves to intercept him. The <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span> crew assembles and boards, taking all the main characters. After clearing Earth orbit Griff attacks them (because nobody but Vena ever looks at a RADAR); Rocky manages to cripple his engines. But they wasted a lot of fuel in the fight, so they have three options; go back to Earth and refuel, go to station RV5 for fuel, or just go there and hope they find a civilization advanced enough to give them fuel. They unanimously choose the latter. It makes for a better cliffhanger I guess. They arrive and find a place to land on the planet near some artificial structures, burning their remaining fuel on a moon with twice Earth gravity. TO BE CONTINUED. Just a thought; wouldn't it have been faster to send someone already in space, then going through the time and expense of launching from Earth? Things wrong with science: Newton gets meteors and comets confused, as well as not really caring that one is about to hit the Earth; Rocky does a 180 degree turn with the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span> and flies through its own sound wave to wake up a napping Winky (What?). To be fair, he was flying in what looked like atmosphere, but he was supposed to be in space; There is no such moon as Fornax anywhere, it's a constellation; There is never an attempt by the crew to wear a space suit while on board, Professor Newton even wears a top hat; The launch of the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span> has to be pull more g's to get to Jupiter in one go, but the crew blacks-out at just over 4g's. The average human blacks-out at over 5g's, but if only the crew would at least put a G-Suit on they could go up to 9g's. If you are lying on your back during a rocket launch you can handle up to 17g's without losing consciousness. Winky almost kills everyone because the Orbit Jet has an auto-pilot lift-off routine, which he accidentally turns off when he blacks-out, wakes up, then blacks-out again; The Office of Space Affairs has a map of the solar system that is just a non-moving picture on the wall, yet they plan all their navigation routes from it, like the solar system isn't in motion; Since they run their rockets during the entire mission wasting fuel anyway, there is no reason for a such a dramatic blast-off.
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Bobby's Comet, part II</span>- On the surface of Fornax we see a new piece of tech, the Mechanical Canary. I assume the name is meant to reference the use of a canary in a coal mine as an early warning of bad air. The Mechanical Canary is an atmospheric sensor suite that deploys from the side of the ship. The data is relayed to a panel on the Bridge near the door. From the visiograph they see strange pyramidal shaped buildings. The atmosphere is breathable so they all take a walk to the first pyramid with a door in it. The door opens and out comes Zoravac, leader of the Fornaxians, and an old rival of Newton, Professor Cardos. Zoravac has been hosting Cardos on the moon for eight years since he crashed landed, and gets all of his knowledge of the United Worlds from him. Zoravac even claims the only way to get the attention of Earth was to shoot a missile at it, I'm guessing because the Space Ranger radio system doesn't extend to Jupiter orbit. Everyone seems friendly but Rocky takes Winky back to the ship. Using the visiograph he spies on everyone, with an X-Ray vision setting that also includes audio, they watch Vena try out some local fashions and catches Cardos hatching a plan with Zoravac. Rocky and Winky head back the pyramid and get in a fight while overhearing Cardos' plans. Zoravac has been lead to believe humans from Earth are evil and want war, but Rocky's offer of friendship intrigues him, so he shares the fuel system they use on their missiles to help get the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span> back into space. The test flight works and Rocky takes Winky and Zoravac to Earth, leaving Vena, Newton and Bobby on Fornax. TO BE CONTINUED. More bad science, but at least a visually interesting moon. Fornax has twice Earth gravity (in other words 2g's) but the only effect on the main characters is getting out of breath while running around. Rocky makes an insulting joke to Vena that she's putting on weight and to go check on the cargo scales. She's shocked to find out she weighs 236 pounds. Then they laugh at her. All of them should feel heavy, but they don't. The three rooms are laid out along the length of the rocket, but even when it's vertical the room's gravity always points toward the deck plating. So artificial gravity must be on at all times or everyone would fall to the back of the rocket. But then, while vertical on Fornax, Vena weighs herself, which doesn't work either. The only way I can justify this is to say the interior is actually gyroscopically balanced for gravitational environments and rotates around the middle room where the "airlock" is. Artificial gravity must only be used for space.
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Bobby's Comet, part III</span>- The <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span> makes it to Earth and Zoravac meets with Secretary Drake. On Ophiuchus, Cleolanthe meets with Darganto, her right-hand man, and Griff about Fornax and the power their crystals hold. They want to get their own ship there and plant a flag before the United Worlds can. With the Fornaxian leader on Earth, Darganto's crew, including Griff, land on Fornax and take it over. Cardos sees an opportunity and joins the invading force (totally about half a dozen). Bobby has been hanging out with Zoravac's daughter, Volaca, and since the Ophiuchians didn't lock up the Space Rangers, he realizes they'll ignore a couple kids running around. A deal has been made on Earth, so Rocky and Winky launch in the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span> to deal with a new missile threat before taking Zoravac home. Meanwhile, Bobby manages to grab their portable astrophone (which is a real-time, wireless space communication system) and hide out with Volaca. He calls Rocky to warn him what's transpiring on Fornax. The Ophiuchians finish loading power crystals on their ship, the WOV, when the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span> enters the atmosphere and shoots at it. The crystals are unstable and blowup the ship, killing all bad guys, except Darganto, Griff and Cardos. Once Rocky lands he takes them all captive and leaves Fornax with all the main characters on board (and I assume the prisoners). THE END. I wish the show had more budget so we could see more of the alien civilizations and maybe aliens that aren't human.
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Escape into Space</span>- This one has a promising start but descends into stupidity really quick. Truck Harmon, an Earth criminal, and his accomplice, Lawson, escape into space by stealing rocket R74 in front of the Office of Space Affairs. When Secretary Drake calls Rocky and Winky at home, the latter is going through his black book looking for a date. Eventually Drake gets through and tells Rocky what's up. This is his chance to catch Harmon, because running away into space puts him in Space Ranger jurisdiction. But the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span> is being repaired and upgraded, so it won't be ready until noon the next day. The next day they chase Truck to Fornax, but first, both ships get caught in a meteor storm. Harmon calls for help and locks Lawson in a damaged part of the ship where he suffocates to death. Rocky breaks more laws of science and gets Truck aboard the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span>. For some reason the closest place to land turns out to be Fornax. When they get there Rocky has a meeting with Zoravac and makes up a whole bunch of shazbot about losing custody of Harmon due to local laws. Bobby forced himself into the crew rotation just in case he could meet his new girlfriend from the last couple episodes, Volaca. Some time has passed since the last episode because the Fornax people actually had a Christmas to correspond to the Earth calendar, and now Bobby tells Volaca it's October. Fornax is really drinking the Earth Kool-Aid. Since it's near Halloween, Bobby teachers her about ghosts and scaring people, when Rocky remembers Harmon is superstitious. In the dumbest thing I've scene yet in the show Rocky takes a remote control ghost toy from Volaca and proceeds to fly it around Harmon, all the while hiding in the background, pretending to be the voice of Lawson. And it works, Harmon confesses. Rocky arrests them and they leave for Earth. THE END. One of a very few stand-alone episodes. I like the Fornax continuity and that's about it. There is no big deal now about launching from Earth to Fornax, which I assume is part of the crystal tech upgrade all Space Ranger rockets would get in the new treaty from last episode. Here is my big science complaint for the episode. Even though all rockets in the show have an external hatch there is no way for one ship to dock with another. For Rocky to get to Harmon in the R74, he magnetically clamps to the ship so his engine room hull touches the navigation room hull of the other. He then dons an actual spacesuit and proceeds to blowtorch a hole, first in the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span>'s hull, then into R74's hull. Once he crosses through he has Winky vent all the atmosphere from <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span>'s nav room into its engine room to force air into R74's nav room. Once he grabs Harmon and all the money he's stolen in his career (leaving the dead body of Lawson), they cross back over to the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span> and Rocky has to re-weld the hull. That's how dumb this episode is.
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<br />I have mentioned before that some characters on different planets seem to drive the same car. I think there is only one car model left in the future that everyone (even aliens) drive, and it is a 1953 Grantham Stardust. There must be weather modification technology on all these planets because that car is a convertible.
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<br />Fox4649http://www.blogger.com/profile/16647351735046544421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8463731550315572149.post-15090307555810446722011-08-28T23:08:00.006-04:002011-09-05T22:53:03.314-04:00The Beyond the Lagoon Whistling Around Rocky's ExperimentToday's blog post is all about March, 1954. <span style="font-style: italic;">The Adventures of Superman</span> ends season two (with two episodes), and <span style="font-style: italic;">Rocky Jones, Space Ranger</span> becomes the new series to watch (with five episodes). Superman won't be back for season three until over a year later in 1955. By then it will be in color. One of the rules of this blog I have mentioned in the past isn't just about watching a TV series but doing it in chronological order, by air date. This doesn't necessarily synchronize with episode production, but most TV at the time was stand-alone, anyway, with a status quo being met by the end. In other words, it doesn't matter what order you see it in. Rocky Jones did have a sense of production continuity as characters came and went and plots ebbed and flowed. However, by the air dates established on Wikipedia they were first broadcast out of order. This may not matter in the long run but I wanted to come clean in case any reader sees a chronology and wonders why I'm not watching it in that order. Did I forget to mention <span style="font-style: italic;">Creature from the Black Lagoon</span> was released in theaters during the first week of March? It's a monster movie, so it counts as Sci-Fi.
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Beyond the Curtain of Space, part II</span>- Rocky Jones and friends leave fuel station RV5 fully repaired and enter the Ophiuchus system to fake an SOS, so they can land and find Professor Newton (and Bobby). After Winky trashes the starboard engine they land and are greeted by Cleolanthe, the Suzerain of Ophiuchus (oh-FEE-shus). She has secretly brain washed Newton to get something out of him, as well as threatened bodily harm to Bobby and a good brainwashing. Cleolanthe allows Rocky and Winky to see their friends so they'll be convinced they want to stay. None of the Space Rangers buys it, so Rocky takes Bobby back the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span> to shake him out of it. Bobby wants nothing to do with them and leaves with Vena. On the way back to Newton, Bobby snaps out of it and needs to talk to Rocky. Cleolanthe has another meeting with Rocky because the brain washing memory messer-upper machine is in her office. He tries to use it but Vena interrupts and Rocky runs out. He beats up all the guards, and learns from one of them the name of the person in the Space Rangers who ratted them out. Rocky then gets Newton, Bobby and Vena to the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span> and blasts off back to Earth, but doesn't think they're in the clear. TO BE CONTINUED. We see ray guns that aren't fired and the brain washing machine is a globe on the wall that glows. There is a nice touch that some characters speak Ophiuchian and they need Vena to translate, but for the most part, they also speak English. The Office of Space Affairs classifies the region as the Ophiuchus Formation, where ship communications are lost. This effect is referred to as going "through the curtain". The operation to rescue Professor Newton is called Haystack, and encrypted communications between space stations and Earth Headquarters are done by ticker-tape. Commander Drake is the head of Space Affairs.. I wish this show would better explain the locations of all these systems, but I like the space opera. Also, you don't need to keep burning rocket fuel once you're in space. The writers didn't think about momentum and inertia. I like the design for station RV5, it is a spinning ring (for artificial gravity) with an axial docking port for two rockets.
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Creature from the Black Lagoon</span>- An expedition in the Amazon, led by Dr. Maia, uncovers a fossil of a clawed hand from the Devonian period. Something that points to a link between sea and land creatures. Maia heads back to civilization, leaving behind someone to watch the dig site. At a marine biology institute he is able to drum up interest for a second expedition to look for the rest of the skeleton. With lots of talk about what humanity could learn from studying evolution like this the new expedition is green lit. They new group boards the <span style="font-style: italic;">Rita</span>, headed for the Amazon. When they arrive on site, the man left behind has been killed by something with big with claws. They spend time digging in the rock face but find nothing more. The group is about to head back when the ship's captain, Lucas, says there's a body of water in the area, known as the Black Lagoon, where they might find more evidence of fossils on the bottom. Over the next couple days of diving, collecting and analyzing, the group encounters a new humanoid aquatic creature that can breath underwater and on land. It is highly aggressive, but curious about the one woman they brought, Kay. To defend themselves against what they call the gill-man, Lucas offers up some poison, Rotenone, he uses to fish. It has little effect on the gill-man but paralyzes all the fish. After loosing a few people, they capture the gill-man, but it escapes, so the group tries to leave the lagoon. They find a large tree has been dropped across the only exit. They have a winch system to move the log, but the gill-man sabotages every attempt. Armed with spear guns the group chases it into an underwater lair (with a cave leading to the surface). Finally the gill-man captures Kay and the remaining members of the group chase it back to the lair and shoot it. Wounded, the gill-man crawls back to the lagoon and sinks to the inky bottom.
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<br />A much better movie than I remember (and streaming in HD on Netflix). Not much Sci-Fi other than a half-billion year-old humanoid species still living in an uncharted part of the world. The implication being that evolution stopped with the fully amphibious gill-man species (a Devonian?) and the one in this movie is the last of its kind. Maybe it was looking for a mate? It has a huge healing factor, as it is able to heal from two spear gun wounds, at least three exposures to Rotenone, and being lit on fire. It takes a number of bullet wounds, including one in the head, to make it run off, where it sinks into the lagoon, presumable dead. It only clawed the crap out of one person, everyone else it basically choked out. Filmed very well above water, sometimes the underwater scenes get murky and boring. The gill-man suit underwater, though, is amazing. I was absorbed just watching it move. The best moment of this movie is when Kay takes a swim in the lagoon and the gill-man follows her. It swims underneath her just watching, then careful tries to touch her. Following that she gets back aboard the <span style="font-style: italic;">Rita</span>, and the gill-man (in pursuit) gets caught in a fishing net. The whole boat rocks and creaks as they try to reel it in, but it escapes leaving a piece of it behind. An impressive moments that were made ten times more terrifying in <span style="font-style: italic;">Jaws</span>.
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The Whistling Bird</span>- Professor Quinn, from <span style="font-style: italic;">The Machine That Could Plot Crimes</span>, is back with a new invention. He is still stupidly absent minded, but aware that some people might want his formula for a new kind of flavored stamp glue. This is something that Willie Wonka might want, but not international governments. Even though the formula is supposed to be a secret, Nancy, his niece, tells Clark and Jimmy to come over and witness the first test. At the lab Quinn tells Clark someone stole a copy of the formula but he left out a key ingredient that he taught to Skylar the parakeet. When he rings a bell Skylar quotes a needed part. Quinn has Clark test a stamp by licking it, which Clark claims tastes good, but when he slams (super-slams) it on an envelope it explodes violently destroying the lab, tossing everyone around but leaving them unhurt. I'm guess Clark absorbed most the blast. Quinn declares the formula a failure, but Clark says he's contacting the government to classify the new explosive. This is what the bad guys really want, but how did they know the formula would turn out to be explosive (bad writing I say)? By the way, I hate the Quinn character, mainly because he's written for kids but everyone in the story takes him seriously. Jimmy takes a group photo, and later back at The Daily Planet, develops it to find people looking in a window. Clark knows these are the bad guys, but where to ind them. Quinn takes Skylar for a walk and meets a lady who takes an interest in the bird. Clark comes along and distracts Quinn, while the lady swaps Skylar for another parakeet. The bad guys don't know how to make Skylar talk so they head back to Quinn's lab. There they learn about the bell, get the formula and lock Quinn, Nancy and Jimmy in a secret lead-lined room (a Gamma Radiation test chamber) to suffocate in an hour. Jimmy uses a match to set off the fire alarm, but the room being air-tight begins to flood. Superman flies in and saves them by going through the ceiling (it seems the lead in the room had no effect on the plot). Quinn realizes his formula is unstable and will explode on its own, so Superman drinks it. Skylar then says "El Dorado" which means the bad guys ran to a ghost town upstate. Superman flies up there, finds the bad guys, rescues them as their hideout explodes, and then has them arrested. In the end Skylar is brought into Clark's office and the bird calls him Superman. kind of a dumb episode, with a dumb character, but the bad guys were all right.
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Beyond the Curtain of Space, part III</span>- Rocky Jones is escaping the Ophiuchus Formation, but Cleolanthe hits them with a long range magnetic weapon to scramble their controls, aiming them at an unseen moon. They decide to save energy (I think) by turning off their viewer. Lena is ordered to take care of Professor Newton and Bobby as well as take a log entry about the traitor, Griff, in the Office of Space Affairs. I don't now how Rocky is the best Space Ranger because he treats Vena like a piece of meat and almost fails to notice they're going to hit a moon. Anyway, they don't crash, and Vena gets some praise for saving them. Cleolanthe fails to get them before the XV2, aka <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span>, gets to station RV5. They send a fake message to Earth to lull the traitor into a false sense of security. But an Ophiuchian ship (WOA or WAO or something) warns Griff who takes Secretary Drake hostage and plans to blow up the landing platform. The <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet </span>lands, some people get in a fist fight, and Rocky saves the day. In fact, he saves the day by hitting the self destruct of Drake's official government car and killing Griff. THE END. The SOP for flying in space is really shoddy. I don't know how Rocky Jones has lasted as long as he has. He reminds me of Zapp Brannigan from <span style="font-style: italic;">Futurama</span> (or the other way around). Drake has his own official car which looks exactly like the official Ophiuchian capitol car. It must be an Earth import. The show continues to make a point that Vena is a girl who doesn't belong in space and she fights for her role every time. The exterior of the landing pad on Earth appears to be power plant, which works for the look of the show. You can definitely see the Sci-Fi movie serial roots in this series. I still like the show for some reason.
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Around the World with Superman</span>- This has to be my least favorite episode to date. It's a real kid-oriented story about a blind girl who wants her parents back together. The Daily Planet is holding a contest where the best letter written from a child, on why he/she should fly around the world with Superman, will win. This little girl is blind and wants her mom to go around the world. She doesn't believe in Superman, but she thinks it's okay for her mom to fly. Ridiculous. Plus, that's outside of the rules and the mom flips out over all the publicity. Other papers, like The Blade, get wind of the little girl, so Perry White is forced to write an article about the winning entry (including name and address), or lose the news race. Clark is obsessed with helping her out and goes so far as to have Lois distract the mom while he X-Ray scans her optic nerve. You see, she's blind because her dad had an accident and she was hurt. The dad took it bad and left the family, going so far as harassing the mom with a lawyer (which she runs from). This character drama is so forced and doesn't make sense under analysis. Anyway, Superman sees a shard of glass on her optic nerve and takes her to a hospital for an operation, staying in the operating room to guide the doctor. It works, and the only interesting part happens when we actually see Superman fly around the world in two hours. He hits the hot spots of London, Paris, Vienna, a random middle-eastern desert, the Himalayas, Japan, San Francisco, the Grand Canyon and back to Metropolis. Let's do the math. He never landed once, but stayed low enough for her to breath. The Earth is almost 8,000 miles in diameter. He had to be going roughly 4,000mph (or the Hypersonic speed of Mach 6). And he went all over the place making his trip longer. He must have some kind of friction barrier around him that protects the girl. The writers were trying to pull at heart-strings and it just comes of as schmaltzy, which was probably the intention.
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Rocky's Odyssey, part I</span>- Lot's of Sci-Fi stuff in this one and not a lot that makes sense. The <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span>, with Rocky, Winky, Vena, Professor Newton and Bobby, encounter an atmosphere in space with a lightning storm. No planet detected just atmosphere. Rocky goes out on a limb using science and supposes that there are two Gypsy Moons (I think he means planets, not moons, without a star to orbit), and were once much closer, sharing an atmosphere. They have since drifted part but an Atmosphere Chain still connects them. Newton agrees when they are attacked by an airplane. Instead of shooting them down Rocky has the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span> leave the atmosphere for space. The airplane can't follow and heads back to a moon. Bobby, who is forced to read <span style="font-style: italic;">The Odyssey</span>, says they have to explore and be just like Ulysses. Rocky agrees and upon attempting to land are forced down outside a walled city, by a magnetic beam that won't allow them to leave. Several indigenous people board the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span>, and through the use of a ticker-tape translator (and Vena, too) they are able to learn each others' language. The moon is called Posita and they are at war with another moon, Negato. The two people Rocky and Vena happen to be talking to are King Bovaro and his Queen Cotanda. Bovaro demands they carry a doomsday bomb that will destroy Negato because the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span> can use it successfully from space; something neither of these peoples can do. They take Vena prisoner and exile the rest to the hills until they agree. Winky fires several rockets at the city walls with no effect. Bobby explains to Rocky the point of the Trojan Horse, so everyone leaves, Bovaro thinks no one is aboard, and Rocky and Winky sneak back in their ship. Sure enough Bovaro has the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span> moved into the city and the Rocky/Winky duo save Vena. TO BE CONTINUED. Science is so bad here but you kind of get caught up in the action. The fist fights are epic. I also like the name of the main screen, the Visiograph. They appear to have moved the RADAR to the Bridge finally. Did I mention before that the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span> has wings for atmospheric travel?
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Rocky's Odyssey, part II</span>- Something went screwy with the plot between last episode and this one so I'll skip it. Apparently they've been gone so long search parties have given up, having been declared dead. Secretary Drak makes a system-wide speech to this effect; even Cleolanthe hears it. Meanwhile, Rocky has everyone aboard the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span>, but can't take off because of the magnetic beam on top of damage to the electric parts of the engine. Bovaro offers to fix it if only Rocky will destroy Negato. It seems there used to be a single planet, named Electro, but once the people (Electronians?) harnessed electricity something went wrong and the planet split in two, becomin the moons, Posita and Negato. Strangely an airplane very similar in design to the Posita airplane from last episode broadcasts some bizarre music. Bozaro takes over the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span> long enough to shoot it down, then explains the music drains a man's soul and will to fight or some crap. Rocky accepts Bozaro's offer to fix the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span> but only if he has the chance to negotiate peace between the two people and get them to join the United Worlds of the Solar System. Bozaro agrees and the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span> heads to Negato. It also has a walled city exactly like Posita. (Get it positive and negative?). During the trip Bobby explains the part of <span style="font-style: italic;">The Odyssey</span> where Ulysses meets the Sirens. He stuffs cotton in the ears of his men to protect them. Rocky devises the space solution by using their space helmets with the audio cord pulled out, except Rocky who for some reason wants to hear. As soon as they step outside the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span>, Rocky loses his mind and runs aimlessly all over the city to a woman standing on a roof top. Winky, Vena, Newton and Bobby chase him down and pull his audio cord. Then they grab a guy standing outside the gates and kidnap him back to the ship. Once free of the Negato Music he agrees to a peace between the people. Bobby also points out in his book that while Ulysses is away from home people take advantage of his absence. To mirror this Cleolanthe makes a soundboard of Rocky Jones catch phrases to use against the United Worlds. TO BE CONTINUED. It bugs me Rocky has the smartest scientist in the United Words on board and he never asks him to help in any situation. Maybe the scientist can figure out how to break a magnetic tractor beam, or how the Negato Music works. Rocky just comes up with ideas and Newton agrees with him. The writers named him NEWTON; he's supposed to be smart!
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Rocky's Odyssey, part III</span>- To finish out <span style="font-style: italic;">The Odyssey</span> metaphor, Rocky must contend with coming home and the plots revolving around his absence. Once the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span> makes it into United World space they pick up a false message of Rocky Jones (being broadcast by Cleolanthe) asking Secretary Drake to attend a fake summit at the free moon Ankapore. Rocky can't break through the transmission so he takes Bobby's suggestion from <span style="font-style: italic;">The Odyssey</span> again, head to the planet disguised as beggars and get close enough to Drake to save him. They all arrive at Ankapore; Rocky and friends as beggars, Cleolanthe and Atlasande as Vena and Rocky respectively, Drake and Higgins as themselves. Cleolanthe has a plan to use her brain-washing machine on Drake. This will make him pliable enough to agree to release several United Worlds planets to the Ophiuchians. Rocky and friends spend some time getting close to Higgens in the market square and bring him up to speed. Very quickly Rocky is able to tip the tide in his favor and save Drake. After Rocky beats up all the Ophiuchians it isn't clear what happens to Cleolanthe. Winky is happy that they survived their adventure just like Ulysses. But Bobby reminds him that everyone except Ulysses died in the book, so Winky shuts up. This is my favorite episode of the day. It was far clearer and didn't rely on bad science. THE END.
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<br />Fox4649http://www.blogger.com/profile/16647351735046544421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8463731550315572149.post-45966633859175769652011-08-27T23:15:00.005-04:002011-08-31T18:41:46.407-04:00The Superman Rocky Jones ExperimentFebruary, 1954, debuts a new show: <span style="font-style: italic;">Rocky Jones, Space Ranger</span>. This new show is more of a proper Sci-Fi series (but still meant for kids) as it involves rockets traveling between planets, artificial gravity, alien races (that look human), etc. It aired during the final week of February and takes over after <span style="font-style: italic;">The Adventures of Superman</span> ends its second season the following month. But more of that tomorrow (assuming I don't lose power from Hurricane Irene).
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The Golden Vulture</span>- A crazy sea captain of the <span style="font-style: italic;">S.S. Golden Vulture</span>, a salvage ship, is running a racket. Stolen gold is brought on board at night, disguised as crates of food. A special smelting room is run by a jeweler with a criminal record. His job is to melt down the gold and make doubloons, necklaces and cutlery that would look like treasure dredged out of the Caribbean. It is then sold to museums as authentic because they pay better than the black market. One of the crewman has a problem with this, and puts a message in a bottle asking for help. Jimmy Olsen finds it while fishing and gets Lois and Clark involved. The note was ruined but Clark could read the ship's name. Lois scoops Clark and takes Jimmy to the ship where the captain becomes paranoid and captures them. Jimmy stupidly lets it out that a crewman tipped them off, so he's captured and put in irons. Clark uncovers the conspiracy and heads over, first as Clark and then Superman, beating everyone up. The most interesting part of the episode happens when Clark takes his glasses of to fight and gets mixed up with Lois and Jimmy. They don't seem to notice in the dark, but he's supposed to be "mild mannered" so he stops fighting. They make him walk the plank, which gives him the perfect opportunity to change underwater. All is saved, but I wonder if Jimmy kept the fake doubloon he was handed. It's still made out of real gold.
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Jimmy Olsen, Boy Editor</span>- Perry White is having a bad dream that Jimmy Olsen is the editor of The Daily Planet. When he gets to work, it turns out that Metropolis is having a youth day for 24 hours where young people take the big responsible positions to learn them. It's a really dumb idea (that Superman oversees) but the episode plays out well enough with Jimmy in charge of the paper. It is also mentioned that the Mayor and Chief of Police are replaced as well. Jimmy knows that almost seven years ago a group of thugs robbed a bank, but there wasn't enough evidence to convict. In 24 hours the statute of limitations is up and they can't be prosecuted. Jimmy runs a false story to bait them, which works; all three barge into the his office at gun point. These are some dumb frakking criminals. Clark does some creative stuff and gets a live audio feed to the office where he and Perry listen to the standoff. The criminals think if they just wait until midnight they're free, but Jimmy reminds them they're up to gun charges now, and there is no way they're getting away. Superman secretly uses a gas in the vent system to knock them all out and Jimmy gets all the credit for catching them. Bank Robbery is 20 - 30 years, but Gun Possession is 1 year. It turns out The Daily Planet had a list of all the serial numbers of the $2,000,000 they stole and the thugs were dumb enough to bring the money with them. A dumb idea that's fun to watch. I think Clark left Jimmy and Lois as hostages just to see what Jimmy was made of. I wish this had been a dream episode.
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Lady in Black</span>- This is something else that seemed like a dream. Jimmy is back living with his mom. She goes on vacation with a friend of hers and Jimmy offers to watch the friend's apartment. At night he reads a mystery novel, <span style="font-style: italic;">The Lady in Black</span>, and it spooks him. Also, thumping in the basement and a weird eyeball painting is also freaking him out. He gets the superintendent, goes to the basement to investigate and gets knocked out for his troubles. He wakes up on the couch and calls Clark, who shows up immediately. The superintendent explains Jimmy whacked his head on a beam and heard a cat, named Timmy, hunting for mice. Clark doesn't believe Jimmy's version of events and leaves. The next morning Jimmy heads to work and has a strange run in with several people; a man with a scar on his face, a black-veiled woman with an accent, and a man with a package. The lady hands Jimmy the package filled with money and someone throws a dagger at him. Jimmy loses his mind, but when he calls Clark the line goes dead. He then checks with the superintendent who lies dead on the floor. Superman shows up but finds nothing wrong and claims Jimmy is crying wolf. That night, terrified, he calls Clark one last time to listen to the noises over the phone. Since Clark has super-hearing he finally learns what the sounds really are. Superman shows up to stop a counterfeit painting ring that was operating out of the basement with the blessing of the superintendent. Not the best episode by plot, but Jack Larson nails the Jimmy Olsen role. The more ridiculous the characters become the better Jimmy reacts to them. He is the entertainment of the episode.
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Beyond the Curtain of Space, part I</span>- For a pilot episode there is no real character introduction, except Vena. The episode is also all over the place with lots of technobabble and alien names. Space stations and rocket ships all have alphanumeric codes, to make it all sound futuristic. Rocky Jones is a Space Ranger, which means he has the XV2 (a rocket) and a sidekick, Winky (the worst character name ever). He is of course the best Space Ranger in the fleet, run by the Office of Space Affairs. The two just finished a big mission and are being given two months leave, but a top Earth scientist, Professor Newton (and his ward, Bobby), defects to the Ophiuchus system. Rocky thinks he's being coerced and wants to mount a rescue mission. Vena Ray is an alien liaison (or something) who agrees with Rocky. She is an accomplished navigator and speaks 27 alien languages. Rocky doesn't want a girl in space with him and proceeds the rest of the episode to be as chauvinistic as humanly possible. Vena bites back every time and eventually gets put on the crew. They launch to the Ophiuchus system but must fuel up on the way. Someone back at headquarters is feeding the bad guys in space intel on Rocky, who intercept the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orbit Jet</span>. But Vena is the only one with a RADAR and warns Rocky who, disables the other rocket ship. They then continue to fueling station RV5. But they took a hit and the engine room is venting air. Vena tries to help but gets sealed in the engine room. Rocky and Winky put on space helmets (not suits, just helmets) and have to blow-torch their way back in to the engine room. (I'm guessing because the ship's computer wouldn't voluntarily open a door into vacuum.) They save her and make it to RV5. This is my favorite episode of the day. TO BE CONTINUED.
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Star of Fate</span>- I don't know where to begin. Ahmed, an Egyptian (who doesn't look like it), holds an auction for a mysterious lead wrapped box. Lois and Clark are present to witness and the two bidders are Whitlock, a curio shop owner, and Barnak, who has his own plans. Barnak eventually wins the bid with $10,000. Clark thinks something's up and goes back to The Daily Planet. As Barnak leaves, Whitlock warns him there's a curse on the box and not to open it. Barnak agrees but his secretary opens it later and collapses. Whitlock steals the box, but an employee of his opens it and collapses. Both of them fight back and forth over it until Superman gets involved and takes the box to The Daily Planet. Lois doesn't believe in curses and opens it. She collapses, too. Clark opens it and catches a poison needle that he gives to a hospital to analyze. Inside the box is a huge gem and a clue to an antidote. There is a plant at the base of the Egyptian Pyramids that needs collecting. Superman goes to Egypt and actually lifts part of a Pyramid to get at the plant. Meanwhile Jimmy isn't satisfied with the outcome, so he threatens Barnak with calling the police. He pulls a gun on Jimmy, who gets stuffed in a sarcophagus. Superman saves him, gets Barnak, and everyone is saved at the hospital. There was also something about a dead Professor of archeology, but that was dropped, too. A so-so episode.
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Rocky Jones, Space Ranger</span> is an interesting show to watch today. Incredibly primitive and aimed at kids, but it takes itself just seriously enough I can enjoy it. The pre-Sputnik era is in full effect. The most successful rocket designs of the time were the German V-1 and V-2 from World War II. This was the template for the rocket program, which NASA will eventually inherit, and also the template for Sci-Fi. Either you have a flying saucer or a rocket ship, that's it for classic Sci-Fi. It was also assumed that rockets are reusable and would just land on their tails to be refueled. If you can get over this, Rocky Jones is watchable. The XV2 was also the precursor to a lot of tech that will show up in future TV series, like <span style="font-style: italic;">Star Trek</span>. They have a front-facing view screen, automatic doors, artificial gravity, real time space communication, and I think the rocket is supposed to be atomic powered. One of the most interesting ideas in the pilot episode was the hull breach in the engine room. Rocky couldn't see it at first so he hit a button, a balloon popped out and was pulled right to the hole in the hull. (I think <span style="font-style: italic;">Mission to Mars</span> did the same thing with Dr. Pepper.) They didn't have anything to repair it with so Rocky sealed the door, but a great idea. I guess duct tape hadn't been invented yet. For poor ship design I have no idea why the RADAR is not on the bridge. The whole navigation suite (with paper charts) are in a room between the bridge and main engineering. Vena has to keep running back and forth to get any work done; really inefficient, and almost got them killed.
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<br />Fox4649http://www.blogger.com/profile/16647351735046544421noreply@blogger.com0