Due to unforeseen circumstances, our groovy discussion of “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery” (1997) has been put on ice. Literally. The Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner fourth season opener has been cryogenically frozen for seven days.
That gives you one week to brush up on your James Bond, Derek Flint, Matt Helm, John Drake, Michelangelo Antonioni, and Russ Meyer.
Oh yes! And also to raise the ransom of ONE MILLION DOLLARS!
We’ll keep a lazy eye out for your frilly cravats in the comments section. It’s our happening, baby, and it will be freaking us out, when we livestream on Facebook, YouTube, etc., next Friday evening at 7:30 EDT!
Sure, it’s scatological, juvenile, and often just plain crass – I still don’t know how they managed to get Michael York to be in it – but “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery” (1997) has its share of amusing ‘60s send-ups, affectionately poking fun at the era’s trends and tropes and music, with scattershot allusions to everything from James Bond to “Blow-Up” to “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.” It’s our topic for this week on Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner. Join us in the comments section as we somersault into Season 4. The power of Austin compels us, when we livestream on Facebook, YouTube, etc., this Friday evening at 7:30 EDT!
While I’m at it, it occurs to me, I never posted the link to our Season 3 finale, in which we discuss the classic “Star Trek” episode “Spock’s Brain” while I enjoy a liquid dinner.
104 weeks of Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner, and all I got was this lousy t-shirt.
Last night, Roy and I celebrated two years of delving into a shared nostalgia for science-fiction film and television of the 1950s, ‘60s, and ‘70s, with a conversation about “Dr. No” (1962), the first of the James Bond films – not coincidentally marking its 60th anniversary this year.
Technically, I didn’t join the show until June 2020 (more to celebrate in June), but the series was initiated by Roy in April, with Phil Merkel the first guest, as a means of bringing everyone together during the doldrums of pandemic isolation.
We’ve had plenty of laughs along the way. Thank you to all of you in our loyal audience, who show up week after week to share your wisecracks and insights. It’s always a great way to launch a weekend. Most amazingly, Roy and I had not seen one another for a good 35 years, prior to our Zoom reunion.
You can watch two April fools blather about Bond at the link. We’ll do it again next week, once we decide on our next topic. Mix yourself a Vesper Martini (shaken, not stirred) and join us for the Facebook livestream, next Friday evening at 7:00 EDT.
Watch the show William Shatner may have watched (for two seconds). Roy and I discuss “The Spy Who Loved Me.”
We’re off next week, but we’ll be back on August 6th at 7:30 pm EDT to talk about “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea” (1961) – the movie, not the SUB-sequent TV series. (See what I did there?) Note the special start time!
We had originally scheduled “Voyage” for last night, only to discover it had apparently dropped off of all streaming services. So a big thank you to Alan Wendt, who was kind enough to share this link.
It is also scheduled to air on FXM this Monday, beginning at 11:25 am.
In the meantime, I’ll be on a “see food” diet. Leave your crab cakes in the comments section, on the next Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner. We livestream on Facebook, August 6th – Friday after next – at 7:30 pm!
All attempts to view “Voyage of the Bottom of the Sea” (the 1961 movie, not the TV series) have floundered. Currently, it doesn’t seem to be streaming anywhere. A search on Hulu reveals that it will be showing on FXM on Monday, July 26, at 11:25 a.m. So set your recorders! Due to the film’s unexpected scarcity, Roy and I will be postponing our discussion about it until Friday, August 6.
In the meantime, since it’s already fairly late in the week, we decided we had better choose a topic about which just about everyone has a passing familiarity – James Bond. To act as a kind of bridge from our last film, Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws,” to the upcoming chat about “Voyage,” we’ve selected “The Spy Who Loved Me” (1977), in which Richard Kiel plays one of the most memorable “Bond” henchmen – also named Jaws – and in which, in common with “Voyage,” submarines play a major role.
For those of us of a certain age, this aired in heavy rotation on television – in common with all the Bond films – as part of the “ABC Sunday Night Movie” (whenever they weren’t showing Clint Eastwood’s “The Gauntlet”). So even if you haven’t seen it recently, I’m fairly confident you’ll still get a charge out of our depth and be able to sink your teeth into the comments section.
It’s a nostalgic trip to the unflappable Roger Moore era, with plenty of quips, camp, and Carly Simon, on the next Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner. Nobody does it better, as we livestream on Facebook, this Friday evening at 7:00 EDT.
