As one of our viewers wryly observed last night: “Showed up for a discussion about ‘Altered States’ and ended up hearing how Ross and Roy spent their youth getting into R-rated movies.”

Fair enough. The digressions were front-loaded and thick on the ground.

But we also talked a bit about the nature of existence, too. If there is a God, I’m pretty sure He’s not some bearded Michelangelo sitting on a cloud. From the evidence of Paddy Chayefsky’s screenplay, the Universe is a pretty cold place and whatever comfort exists is in the here and now. So be thankful for the love you’ve got. And don’t do too many ‘shrooms.

The chill of the Universe is nothing next to the tension that existed onset between Chayefsky and director Ken Russell. There’s plenty of hard fact amidst the dime store philosophizing on last night’s show, a tribute to the late William Hurt, now archived at the link.

I can’t say it will expand your consciousness, but there’s every possibility you could regress.

Next week, we’ll observe the 91st birthday of William Shatner, with a discussion of one of his immortal screen classics, “Kingdom of the Spiders” (1977). The Shat demonstrates his incredible versatility, going from starship captain to Southwestern veterinarian, in a town besieged by crazed tarantulas. The comments section will be devoid of arachnophobes, on the next Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner. Roy and I will have the best legs in the room, when we livestream on Facebook, Friday evening at 7:00 EDT!

https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner

PHOTO: Hurts, don’t it? Maybe Edvard Munch was right.