Category: Commentary
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Zombies as Walking Blasphemies
Zombies (both classic and modern, and if you don’t know the difference, please listen to our show) can be seen as types of blasphemies. Think about it for a second: the one thing God made in His image* becoming soulless and dead, but animated as if they were alive, in direct mockery of His creation.…
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My Mount Rushmore of Sci-fi TV
My Mount Rushmore of Sci-fi TV celebrates the man himself, Captain Jean-Luc Picard, The Twilight Zone, X-Files,and the often overlooked Farscape. MY RUSHMORE FOUR: Star Trek:The Next Generation- Picard rocks my face off! The Borg is scary as all get out. Data kicks tail. Worf makes me laugh. And the Holodeck makes my imagination go into fits…
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RANKINGS: Top 10 Time Travel Movies of All Time (#1)
Muppets’ Christmas Carol (1992) Kermit and the gang play the ensemble cast to the famous story of Ebenezer Scrooge (Michael Caine). This is one of the most famous stories ever written and this version is the best in my opinion. Before Back to the Future was even conceived this classic story had Scrooge visiting his…
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NEWS: Terry Brooks’ Landover Coming to the Big Screen!
According to Variety, Terry Brooks’ non-Shanarra fantasy series is in development for the big screen. I liked the Shanarra series, but after reading Lord of the Rings Shanarra was a world I never wanted to go back to, even with the implications that while Middle-Earth is from pre-history, Shannarra might be . . . not.…
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RANKINGS: Top 10 Time Travel Movies of All Time (#3)
Star Trek: First Contact (1996) Captain Picard and the crew of the Enterprise must travel back in time to defeat their arch nemesis (The Borg), from wreaking havoc on Earth in the past. When: 24th Century & 2063 Best part: Picard going all James “Tommy Gun” Cagney on the Borg. Worst part: That it had…
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VIDEO: Superbowl Sci-Fi commercials!
The Superbowl is IN Indiana. But I honestly couldn’t care less than I actually do. I have no dog in this pony show. But. It’s a big event for commercials. All types of commercials. Especially for big budget movies. When you spend hundreds of millions of dollars to make a movie, you need eyeballs to…
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RANKINGS: Top 10 Time Travel Movies of All Time (#4)
Groundhog Day (1993) Phil Connors (Bill Murray) is an egomaniac who just happens to also be a weather man from Pittsburgh. He ends up in a small town covering a story he loathes-the annual Groundhog Day event. Connors is a self-focused jerk who wants to get out of small town, USA ASAP, but he finds…
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RANKINGS: Top 10 Time Travel Movies of All Time (#5
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) Arnold returns in the 2nd (and best) installment of the Terminator franchise, but rather than being the baddy, Arnold is the protector of John Conner. When: 2029 & 1991 Best part: Robert Patrick is perfect as the T-1000. He is creepy, cold, and seemingly unstoppable. Worst part: T3 See…
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VIDEO: Tron: Uprising! (I added the exclamation point)
Tron is something I’d like us to tackle here at Strangers and Aliens sometime soon, even though the first movie is really old (by real time standards) and the second movie is really old (by American consciousness standards). Still, both Tron and Tron: Legacy were movie that I enjoyed, for different reasons at different times.…
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VIDEOS: 2 Star Wars Videos
Two incredible Star Wars related videos surfaced last week. One is polished and high budget. The other is absolutely the opposite. And yet, both of them are worth watching. The first one will take you a minute. The second one, I suggest bookmarking and watching what you can, then writing down the time you stopped…
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Grateful Dead/Star Wars mash-up
My friend, collaborator, and editor Bud Rogers sent this to me. Have to say, I love, love, love this image. I’m not a follower of the Dead, but he’s a fan. Here’s the note he sent me about the image: Hi Ben, Just saw the cover to the newest release from the Grateful Dead (thanks to…
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REVIEW: Alcatraz
(Mild spoilers ahead . . . very, very mild.) Last night, the Fox network tried to fill the hole left in so many people’s lives after Lost disappeared from the airwaves with Alcatraz. Say what you will about Lost’s finale, the the show defined “appointment television” in a television environment that had become increasingly difficult…
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Steve’s reply to Dr. J’s Star Wars Rankings
This list is my reply to Jayce’s list, and represents a totally non-objective view of the movies. This is not based on the merit of their acting, production, directing, etc. but solely on how I perceived them at the time and their impact on me. I present them chronologically so the narrative will make a…
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Star Wars Burgers
I’ve seen articles about this around the internet and I find it very, very interesting. And very, very disgusting. In anticipation of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace being re-released in theaters next month in 3D, a burger joint in France is making the experience even MORE interactive . . . but letting…
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RANKINGS: Top 10 Time Travel Movies of All Time (#6)
#6 Back to the Future 2 (1989) Marty McFly must travel back and forth in time in his pursuit to save his kids and a less than stellar future. However, lots of things go wrong which alters his home time in 1985. When: 2015, 1985, and 1955 Best part: Till this day I STILL dream…
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Time Travel in Early Heroic Mass Media
Time travel takes on a lot of forms, and comicbook/superhero writers have certainly done their fair share in broadening the tradition. This article covers some of the earliest instances of time travel concerning comics and superheroes. The Shadow (radio series) Chronologically, this old-time radio episode of The Shadow is the first instance of time travel…
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RANKINGS: Top 10 Time Travel Movies of All Time (#7)
#7 Planet of the Apes (1968) Planet of the Apes is about an astronaut crew who crash-land on a strange planet in the distant future. At first the planet seems uninhabited, but soon the humans discover a civilization where apes are the dominate species, while humans are nothing but animal like servants. When: Distant…
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RANKINGS: Top 10 Time Travel Movies of All Time (#8)
#8 Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989) “Ted” Theodore Logan & Bill S. Preston, Esquire are two metal headed slackers who end up time travelling, meeting some of history’s most famous individuals, and give one of the best school reports of all time. In the process, they shape the entire future for the better and…
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RANKINGS: Top 10 Time Travel Movies of All Time (#9)
#9 Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, and Bones take off with the rest of the Original Star Trek crew to the past in order to bring back a humpback whale to save all humanity. If that isn’t a sci-fi premise then I don’t know what is. When: 1986…
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RANKINGS: Top 10 Time Travel Movies of All Time (#10)
#10 #10 The Time Machine (1960) Rod Taylor’s character travels into the future to see how his world turns out. At first he sticks to the not too distant future, but due to an accident he travels more than 800,000 years into the future. When: 1917, 1940, 1966 and finally 802,701 Best part: This was…