Back to the Future (1985)

Marty Mcfly (Michael J. Fox), Travels back in time and accidentally alters the natural timeline that directly impacts him and his family. He must right his wrongs, before he ceases to exist.

When: 1955 & 1985

Best part: Mcfly and his rock and roll moments were worth the entire price of admission.

Worst part: The thing with his mom was just weird.

See #3 Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

Trailer of Back to the Future (1985)

The Nerdiest Lovers’ Spat Twitter Has Ever Seen

“Take my love, take my land
Take me where I cannot stand
I don’t care, I’m still free
You can’t take the sky from me . . .”

But you CAN take away my favorite TV show!

It happens to every fan of fantasy or sci-fi. The networks take a chance on a genre TV show. The fan takes a chance on the show. The fan likes it. The network cancels it.

In this episode, the strangers and aliens take on their favorite cancelled TV shows. What obscure show does Steve wish had continued? What shows do Dr. Jayce and Ben agree on? What other obscure does Steve wish had continued? And what show do all three of the sci-fi guys agree went longer than it deserved? What favorite show of Dr. Jayce went on for three seasons longer than it should have?

Also, we open up the mailbag! A few of you strangers and aliens let us know some of your favorite shows that were cancelled too soon, we read a reply to our replies to your replies about Star Wars, and we read a reply to one of our listeners about our time travel episode (way back in episode 2).

Are your favorite canceled shows represented in our discussion? Send us an e-mail or record yourself in an MP3 and we’ll address that in our next regular episode.

Our next episode will be an interview with sci-fi and comic book writer Jon Lewis!

~ Ben

Firefly is copyright 20th Century Fox

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. I’ll leave it there.

But my friend in high school got me hooked on reading a number of different books. I think it was because of his older brother, who would discover series and pass them down. I don’t remember all the books he recommended, but this one I certainly do remember.

It’s a nice twist on the old “regular guy from our world enters another world and becomes something more”. I don’t want to give too much away, because there are some nice surprises throughout the story.

I haven’t read the two newer books that Brooks did recently, revisiting the world, and I’ve heard they aren’t very good. But the first three books, the ones I AM familiar with, have some great potential to be exciting, big budget fantasy films, with some fun twists and a lot of heart. They also have some great potential to be real stinkers.

That’s the way of things, though, isn’t it. Rarely do adaptations live up to their source material. Maybe Jaws is the exception. I was not impressed with the book at all. But the movie is a classic, and rightfully so. On the other end, you have Lord of the Rings, which I think rose up to the challenge, as a movie series, to be the best movie it could possibly be.

Personally, I have reserved excitement for this news. An enjoyable and entertaining book . . . let’s hope it can become an enjoyable and entertaining movie. I believe Warner Brothers is looking for the next Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings (or John Carter), and this series has potential. I highly doubt if the first one is made, it will be successful enough to continue as a series, but if this does make it to theaters, I’ll be in line.

You can read Variety’s article here.

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: 24^th Century & 2063

Best part: Picard going all James “Tommy Gun” Cagney on the Borg.

Worst part: That it had to end.

See #4 Groundhog Day (1993)

Trailer of Star Trek: First Contact

For this episode of the podcast, Strangers and Aliens is proud to present an interview with a special guest: Mark Christopher Lawrence.

Known for playing Big Mike on Chuck, Mr. Lawrence took some time to talk with Ben and Dr. Jayce, giving us a revelation about Chuck’s final episode, revealing his favorite sci-fi movie, and talking about his early career and what he’s doing next, now that Chuck is finished.

LINK: MOXIE Theatre — where Mark Christopher Lawrence will be appearing in A Raisin in the Sun.

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 know your movie is coming. Last year was a great year for genre movie commercials. This year looks to be good too! Not great, like last year. But good.

BATTLESHIP

So, first we have a movie that when I first heard about it, I was prepared for it to be just plain awful. Now I see the trailer and think to myself that it could actually be a little bit good. Mildly entertaining. Or, at the least, pretty to look at. And while it may not look like the game . . . I’m sure when the movie comes out, the game will start to look like the movie!

JOHN CARTER

Another movie that promises to be better than it should be, considering it is a big budget action movie. Like a lot of modern sci-fi movies, it may not have a lot of substance, but it promises to look incredible. The creature design alone looks amazing.

G.I. JOE

Of the four trailers I’m posting about here, this one looks like the only one I won’t see in the theater. But I will catch it when it’s released to home video. I enjoyed the first G.I. Joe, and this one looks like they decided to take what worked (crazy action) and amp it up to 11 (audacious action). To me, the first G.I. Joe film was a lot like Speed Racer: it felt like the kind of “movie” I made when I was jumping my G.I. Joes around to fight each other from the couch to the coffee table to the stairway (which were in my imagination a city building, a secret base, and a mountain).

THE AVENGERS

And of all four of these movies, this is probably the only one I will actively try to see opening night. And this commercial reveals what a lot of this movie is going to look like. Watch it. ‘Nuff said.

It’s not the biggest year for genre movies . . . but there are some big ones to wait for.

What are you most looking forward to?

~ Ben

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 himself not only unable to leave, but also repeating the same day over and over again.

When: Same Day in 1993

Best part: Murray learning French, Piano, and a million other talents and skills.

Worst part: What would have happened if he’d just spent the day driving out of town even if the roads were shut down due to the blizzard?

See #5 T2 (1991)

Trailer of Groundhog Day

Also, we open up the mailbag! We received a lot of feedback about our Star Wars episodes and Dr. Jayce’s original blog pos, ranking the episodes. For time purposes, we only dug into the Star Wars responses we received. Next episode we will respond to some of the comments we received about other topics.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

Arnold returns in the 2^nd (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 #6 Back to the Future 2 (1989)

Trailer of T2