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Tag: Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner

Them Giant Ants Invade Roy’s Sci-Fi Corner

What’s a picnic without ants?

This Memorial Day weekend, as the woods resonate with the eerie, UFO-like drone of Brood X cicadas, we direct our thoughts to the quintessential giant insect invasion classic – marked by equally distinctive, otherworldly calls – “Them!” (1954).

In the age of atomic anxiety, gigantic mutated ants emerge from the New Mexico desert to wreak havoc in Los Angeles. James Whitmore, Edmund Gwenn, and James Arness put in an order for a whole lot of RAID, and Fess Parker secures for himself the role of Davy Crockett with one short but memorable scene. You’ll have to watch fast for Leonard Nimoy, Dick York, Richard Deacon, William Schallert, and many others.

Released four months before “Godzilla,” drive-in thrills didn’t come any bigger than “Them!” The “Wilhelm scream” gets a good workout in this one. If Ridley Scott didn’t watch “Them!” before he made “Alien,” I’ll wander through the storm drains of Los Angeles with a box full of sugar cubes.

I hope you’ll join us as we flap our mandibles about “Them!,” on the next Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner, this Memorial Day weekend AT A SPECIAL TIME. Leave your sweets and formic acid in the comments section, as we livestream with our flamethrowers, to the full extent that Facebook allows, this SUNDAY EVENING AT 7:00 EDT!

https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner

May 27, 2021
Damnation Alley’s Landmaster Model Disaster

No, this is not one of Captain America’s bathtub toys. It’s a genuine special effects shot from “Damnation Alley” (1977).

After having a full-size, fully-functional “Landmaster” custom-built for the film, at a cost of $350,000 (in 2021 dollars, $1,643,623.93), 20th Century Fox cheaped-out in post-production, syphoning off much of the effects budget so that it could complete “Star Wars.”

So “Damnation Alley” is a showcase for every man’s dream of a 12-wheeled, articulated, post-apocalyptic, all-weather, amphibious, armored beast of a juggernaut, complete with machine guns and missile-launchers, only in the end to have this beautiful fantasy undone by the image of a $1.98 model, assembled from a Revell kit.

In any case, we’ll have fun talking about it, as we make a third attempt at “Damnation Alley.” Covid shots and technical difficulties be damned, on the next Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner. Leave your comments, or forever hold your peace, as we livestream on Facebook. The third time’s a charm, this Friday evening at 7:00 EDT!

https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner

May 20, 2021
Damnation Alley Postponed Due to Covid Shot

When I signed up for “Damnation Alley” (1977), I was really hoping I wouldn’t be living it.

The post-apocalyptic Jan Michael Vincent-George Peppard all-terrain armored adventure was to have been our topic tonight on Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner. Unfortunately, I was hit with some pretty harsh side effects from my second Covid shot on Wednesday – resulting in perhaps the worst night of my life and a pretty lousy day yesterday. I’m doing better now (at least I can read and type), but since I’ve been up since 4 a.m., I think Roy and I are doing the right thing in hedging our bets and rescheduling our discussion for Sunday night.

In the meantime, Roy will decide whether or not he plans to go solo this evening, with a possible open discussion with viewers. Follow the link later today to learn the latest developments:

https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner/

Both shows, tonight (if it happens) and Sunday, will begin at 7 pm EDT.

PHOTO: A glimpse into my brain on Wednesday night

May 14, 2021
This Island Earth a Sci-Fi Peninsula

John Donne wrote, “No man is an island.” By myself, at best I’m a peninsula.

Fortunately, I had Roy to bounce ideas off of during our chat last night about “This Island Earth.”

Interesting special effects, proto-1950s production design, pleasing Technicolor, and a memorable Metaluna mutant are all assets to this fondly-remembered pulp classic.

Tastes and mores may have changed – it’s no longer fashionable for female atomic scientists to regress into scream queens – and ultimately the movie doesn’t actually go anywhere, despite the fact that the characters travel light years to a foreign solar system. Still, “This Island Earth” – while no “Forbidden Planet” – remains an agreeable, if a little bit of a WTF, extraterrestrial journey.

We’ll return next Friday to talk about Jan-Michael Vincent, giant cockroaches, and a 12-wheeled armored vehicle bound for Albany, in “Damnation Alley” (1977) – a glimpse at what the future of movie science fiction might have been, if not for the seismic box office upset of “Star Wars.”

Join us for a dirt bike ride through a desert full of mutant scorpions, on the next Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner. The post-apocalyptic livestream will take place next Friday evening at 7:00 EDT!

https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner

May 8, 2021
Roy’s Sci-Fi Corner Silent Running & This Island Earth

While it is true that Roy’s power went out yesterday, I think he was glad for an excuse to grab a drive-through coffee while leeching off the free wi-fi.

Watch Roy confound the suits on last night’s “Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner,” as he hits the road and easy-rides his Electric Kool-Aid Acid Bus – not entirely inappropriate to our discussion of “Silent Running” (1972), the we’re-all-screwed-but-there’s-still-hope-for-the-future-I-guess sci-fi cult classic, with crazy Bruce Dern going crazy. (Yes, you read that correctly.)

Speaking of crazy, in the wake of yesterday’s stunt broadcast, Roy will be rocketing off to Rhode Island to visit with Lew Place, who will be his cohost for a very special, on-location Sci-Fi stop-by, this Sunday evening at 7:00 EDT.

We’ll reconvene next Friday for a discussion of “This Island Earth” (1955). In the meantime, I’ll be assembling my interocitor!

Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner livestreams on Facebook. Look in on Lew’s Place on Sunday; then sidle up to “This Island Earth” on Friday. Both broadcasts begin at 7:00 pm EDT!

https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner

May 1, 2021

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