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Tag: Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner

Planet of the Vampires Alien’s Italian Horror?

WHAT IT IS: a trippy, atmospheric, low-budget, Italian inspiration for “Alien.”

WHAT IT DEFINITELY IS NOT: a vampire movie!

Be that as it may, I hope you’ll join Roy Bjellquist and me tomorrow evening, as we sink our fangs into Mario Bava’s “Planet of the Vampires” (1965), a movie every bit as lurid as its title. Bloody reanimated corpses! Shapely foreign babes in form-fitting cat suits! Barry Sullivan!

SEE! High-collared, aviator-hatted space people of different nationalities badly-dubbed into English!

SEE! Abundant cost-cutting, in-camera effects, miniatures, mirrors, and forced perspective shots!

SEE! Deadly lava pits, forbidding skeletons, and the prototype for Ridley Scott’s space jockey!

LEARN! The singular importance of something called a Meteor Rejector!

The horror begins when we open our mouths. Your comments and insights add to the terror. Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner live-streams on Facebook this Friday evening at 7:00 EDT!

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

September 24, 2020
Time Machine & Time After Time Movie Discussion

Roy and I were on-the-clock last night, with our discussion of George Pal’s “The Time Machine” (1960). Enjoy our striking commentary by clicking on the video below.

Then, we figured we’d go ahead and make it a timely weekend, by following-up tomorrow night, with a loosely-wound chat about “Time After Time” (1979), Nicholas Meyer’s sci-fi thriller about H.G. Wells (Malcolm McDowell) and his pursuit of Jack the Ripper (David Warner) to late 20th century San Francisco.

The film also features Mary Steenburgen, ample affectionate touches that recall George Pal’s classic, and a late-career score by Miklós Rózsa!

You’re welcome to chime in with your commentary. Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner live-streams on Facebook every Friday and Sunday at 7 pm EDT.

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

September 19, 2020
The Time Machine (1960) Revisited

It’s about time.

Caught between the apathetic Eloi and the slovenly Morlocks, H. George Wells seeks a ray of sanity in a civilization on the brink of collapse. No, it’s not the U.S. in time of COVID, but rather George Pal’s big screen adaptation of H.G. Wells’ “The Time Machine” (1960).

Roy Bjellquist and I will discuss this sixty-year-old classic, about an idealistic Victorian scientist, who hopes to find validation, once free of the Boer War, of man’s higher good, only to discover an England ravaged repeatedly, by two world wars and a nuclear holocaust.

Rod Taylor and Yvette Mimieux of “Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell” are joined by Sebastian Cabot of “Family Affair” and Alan Young of “Mr. Ed.”

We are now as far away from this movie as this movie was from the year in which it was set (1900)!

Leave your comments and join the conversation, on the next Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner, to be live-streamed on Facebook, this Friday evening at 7:00 EDT.

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

September 18, 2020
Far Side of the Sun & Space 1999 Celebration

There are some who seem to think I was inordinately cheery when discussing “Journey to the Far Side of the Sun” (1969), Gerry Anderson’s meditation on the existence of an alternate Earth. But what’s not to find amusing? Be forewarned, Roy and I “spoil” everything (as we generally do), though apparently gleefully so.

Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner live-streams on Facebook every Friday and Sunday at 7 pm EDT.

“Journey to the Far Side of the Sun” kicks off a Gerry Anderson weekend, as Roy will also host a “Space: 1999” love feast tomorrow night, Sunday, September 13 – a date fans recognize as “Breakaway Day.” (For the rest of us, that’s the day the moon is blown out of orbit.) As with last week’s “Star Trek” celebration, viewers are invited to join him via Zoom to discuss their own experiences with and impressions of the show.

There will also be a special drawing for “Space: 1999” memorabilia – storyboards, a script, and an actual prop.

To find out more, visit https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner/

September 12, 2020
Journey to Far Side of Sun Gerry Anderson Sci-Fi

No, it’s not a Gary Larson cartoon. Rather, it is the brainchild of a man who built his empire on electronic marionettes.

“Journey to the Far Side of the Sun” (1969) will be our focus on the next Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner. Roy Bjellquist and I will discuss the first live-action feature film produced by Gerry Anderson, the creative genius behind the puppet-driven TV series “Thunderbirds” and “Captain Scarlet.” Oh yeah, Anderson also went on to produce “Space: 1999.”

Today, not to worry, there will be no strings attached. We’ll party – or at any rate jawbone – like it’s 1999. Leave your comments and join the conversation: Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner will be live-streamed on Facebook, this Friday evening at 7:00 EDT.

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

NOTE: This discussion will kick-off a special Gerry Anderson weekend, as Roy will also host a “Space: 1999” love feast, similar to what he did last week for “Star Trek,” in which viewers will be invited to join him via Zoom to discuss their own experiences with the show and how it may have resonated in their lives. That program will air on Sunday, September 13 – a date fans recognize as “Breakaway Day” – also at 7 pm.

September 11, 2020

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