Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner

Altered States William Hurt Float Tank Friday

It’s time to fortify the flotation tank with Espom salt and boil up the magic mushrooms, as tomorrow night we’ll salute the late William Hurt, with a discussion about his breakout role as Dr. Edward Jessup, the navel-gazing, commitment-phobic scientist at the center of the psychic maelstrom in Ken Russell’s “Altered States” (1980).

Paddy Chayefsky’s jargon-heavy screenplay is lent verisimilitude by Howard Hawks-style overlapping dialogue, and punched up by mind-bending hallucinations steeped in religious symbolism, apocalyptic sexuality, and Kubrick-worthy Rorschach revelation. Future Pulitzer Prize winner John Corigliano provides the eerie underscore, with tender interludes for the scenes between Hurt and Blair Brown.

Is it a horror movie or a relationship parable? The evolution of man or the evolution of self? Paradise lost or paradise found? In the quest for meaning, even to the origins of life, perhaps the most transformative answers are closer than we think.

The role of Jekyllesque Dr. Jessup fits Hurt like a surgical glove. It’s easy to see why he became one of the most interesting leading men of the 1980s.

Back in those days, whenever they couldn’t get Jeff Goldblum for the quirky scientific sidekick, they usually turned to Bob Balaban. Charles Haid brings just the right mix of skepticism and comic relief as Jessup’s skeptical colleague.

Complete sensory deprivation is guaranteed, when you join us for the next Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner. The regression will be evident in the comments section, when everyone goes ape, as we livestream on Facebook, this Friday evening at 7:00 EDT!

https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner

March 17, 2022
Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner Classic TV Themes!

Roy and I were on a mission from God last night. Fueled by porter and whatever it was that was in Roy’s mug, we tore up a whole lot of forbidden road as we celebrated classic television themes on Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner.

The file is now archived in four tattered parts (with one missing) and some of the content silenced. I wouldn’t count on it sticking around, so if you want to try to piece together some of the fun we had before the program disappears entirely, you’d better head over ASAP and have a look around.

In situations like this, I’m always sorriest to lose the viewer comments. While we burned, we burned very brightly indeed. We put the pedal to the metal for the first hour or so. Then we got to Henry Mancini. This is the one that tripped the sensors.

The show’s four surviving segments:

Part Four is gone!

If the idea of Tie-Dye with your coffee appeals to you, join Roy tomorrow, bright and early, for a special edition, to enjoy a chat with Warren Friedrich and Suzanne Peterson. Friedrich is deeply involved with “Space: 1999” fandom and the planning of the conventions, and Peterson participated as a stand-in during the actual making of the show.

This is after the time-change, mind you, as we spring forward into Daylight Saving Time. So if it sounds like your thing, set your alarm for the Facebook livestream, this Sunday morning at 10:00 EDT!

https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner

March 12, 2022
Classic TV Theme Song Singalong This Friday!

This week on “Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner,” there’s no homework for you, the viewer, as we’ll be playing to your innate knowledge of classic television themes.

Roy and I have been busy assembling 20 of our favorites, taking into account viewer suggestions, and tomorrow night we’ll let slip the dogs of war. At least until Facebook A.I. shuts us down! Be advised that, for copyright reasons, there’s every possibility this show, if completed, will not be available from the archive. So it’s a matter of be there, or be square!

Seemingly a lost art, the classic television theme is an elusive balance of melody, tone, and insistent memorability, serving as a kind of mini-overture, casting its spell in a minute or less – in the hope of reeling a prospective audience into the show and insidiously boring into its consciousness.

Where are the Twilight Zones? The Hawaii Five-Os? The Bonanzas of yesteryear?

Why, on Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner, of course! Sing along in the comments section, when we livestream on Facebook, this Friday evening at 7:00 EST!

https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner

March 10, 2022
Flash Gordon Camp Classic or Space 1999 Lost Universes

When “Flash Gordon” was released in 1980, many were inclined to view it as a “Star Wars” cash-grab. George Lucas’ interstellar success may have made a feature length “Flash Gordon” possible, but in no way is “Flash” attempting to track the Millennium Falcon through hyperspace.

On the contrary, the film revels in its comic strip origins, as a gaudy spectacle that is all about elevating camp production design and celebrating its own proto-pop pulpiness. Like the overripe performances of the actors themselves, “Flash” knows just what it is all about, with a deliberate tongue-in-cheek vibe and a subversive, foreign film sensibility – a surreal blend of high and low style, go-for-broke fashion, Mediterranean sensuality, and kink.

The heightened artificiality and lightness of touch make the film seem like one big party, underscored by Queen’s giddy, hilarious soundtrack. FLASH! AH AHHHHHHHHH!!

Clearly, there’s a lot to say about Flash Gordon – wholly befitting of the savoir of the universe. Enjoy last night’s overstuffed conversation, with special guest Jon Haag – and collectibles – here:

Join Roy tomorrow at a special time, as he welcomes authors David Hirsch and Robert E. Wood, who will talk about their new release, “To Everything That Might Have Been: The Lost Universes of ‘Space: 1999.’” The book draws on recently-discovered documentation and correspondence regarding the early days and development of the cult-favorite TV series, shedding new light on how exactly “Space: 1999” came to be.

“Space: 1999” fans will be over the moon for the next Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner. Bring your Eagles to roost in the comments section, when they livestream on Facebook, THIS SUNDAY AFTERNOON AT 3:00 EST!

https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner

March 5, 2022
Flash Gordon Movie Mania A Colorful Celebration

Pathetic Earthlings… who can save you now?

Cue the Queen soundtrack (on vinyl, of course) and join us as we discuss the Dino De Laurentiis cult classic “Flash Gordon” (1980).

We’ll talk about Flash’s colorful history, from Alex Raymond’s hit comic strip, to the fondly-remembered Buster Crabbe serials, to an unsuccessful early attempt by George Lucas to obtain the rights, so that he could direct a feature film. (Poor George had to create “Star Wars” instead.)

And of course, we’ll extensively fetishize the movie itself, which at times plays like “The Wizard of Oz” on mushrooms. With a campy script by Lorenzo Semple Jr., an unlikely director (Mike Hodges of “Get Carter”), and lurid set and costume design by Fellini favorite Danilo Donati, “Flash” is the film “Barbarella” only wishes it could be.

Max von Sydow, Brian Blessed, Timothy Dalton, Topol, Ornella Muti, Mariangela Melato, Peter Wyngarde, and any number of familiar faces from sci-fi and fantasy films of the ‘70s and ‘80s join a buff, gee-whiz Sam J. Jones as Flash – now a quarterback for the New York Jets (because a Yale-educated polo-player is just too effete?) – and Melody Anderson as Dale Arden.

Jon Haag will be our guest on the next Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner for a colorful celebration of this gaudy, fleet-footed mash-up of art deco and pop art. Go, Flash, go! Lashes and bore worms will be dispensed in the comments section, when we livestream on Facebook, this Friday evening at 7:00 EST!

https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner

March 3, 2022

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