Spaced Out! | Spaced Out! Too
Spaced Out! | Spaced Out! Too
By Cesare A.X. Syjuco [Video Troll + Book Worm]
Published in: The Manila Times, November 23, 1987
Spaced out!
SCI-FI films, particularly the extraterrestrial kind, were once the undisputed kings of the Bijou. Mostly carved out of Grade-B budgets, many were outrageously crude, while a few eventual-classics transcended their limitations and revolutionized the cinematic arts with imaginative processes that were the predecessors of today's high-tech special effects. And even while landmark filmmakers like Lucas and Spielberg have now rejuvenated popular interest in the outer space genre, we find so much of what was defined in the 40s and 50s recurring again and again in contemporary screenplays. Here are some readily-available titles worth looking into:
ALIEN — One of the great special-effects masterpieces of all time, this academy-award-winning film by Ridley Scott features awesome sets by the Swiss surrealist painter H. R. Giger and a terrifying seven-foot alien built by Carlo Rambaldi, creator of E. T. Starring Tom Skerritt, John Hurt, Harry Dean Stanton, Yaphet Kotto, and a luscious Sigourney Weaver, a lot of the hair-raising action takes place on board the 800-foot Nostromos (actually an eight-foot scale model), which stops to answer a distress call on its way back to Earth and gets waylaid by a leach-like hypermutant. While serving as inspiration for a whole new wave of gory thrillers capped by John Carpenter's "The Thing" and H. P. Lovecraft's "From Beyond", this exorbitant 1979 blockbuster bears a striking resemblance to a low-budget space flick made in 1958 entitled "IT: The Terror From Beyond Space".
CRITTERS — This fairly recent feature is certainly among the best extraterrestrial films to come our way in a long while. A small town in the American Midwest gets an unexpected visit from a retinue of fuzzy, razor-toothed aliens who arrive on a crippled saucer. But unlike Spielberg's amiable waddler, these infinitely more cudosome creatures haven't the slightest intentions of phoning home. Escaped convicts from another solar system, they eat anything from furniture to people and overwhelm their prey by curling into tight little balls and scooting around like high-speed tumbleweed. The fun really begins when a pair of intergalactic bounty-hunters arrive in hot pursuit. Stop-heart excitement, a great many laughs, and the wildest stunts ever, make this one a potential family favorite.
LAST FLIGHT OF THE NAVIGATOR (also known in some tape shops as "Flyer") — A small boy is lost inthe woods and is presumed to be dead. He return home a good ten years later without having aged a day, strangely devoid of all memory and understandably perturbed at how everyone else looks a lot older. Virtually abducted by a top-secret government agency to undergo intensive testing, he feels an alien force beckoning to him in the night and escapes undetected to find the truth behind his macabre disappearance. A nice, wholesome fim in the Disney tradition rescued from the doldrums by an exhilarating climax.
ANDROID — On an isolated research satellite in the farthest reaches of space, Max the Android dreams of someday becoming human — much like Pinocchio before him. His spare time is spent watching video tapes of the Mother Planet, even while faithfully attending to the needs of a flesh-and-blood master who secretly intends to phase him out in favor of an updated model. When Max inadvertently discovers his master's treachery, he hitches his wagon to a derelict starship manned by a trio of desperados bound for Earth. A surprisingly entertaining if slightly weird movie suitable for both mature and not-so-young audiences.
THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH — This 1976 adaptation of the novel by Walter Tevis stars a perfectly-cast David Bowie in the role of an extraterrestrial who comes to Earth to earn enough money to build a spaceship and save his wife and children from their doomed planet. His inventive prowess earns him a fortune, but Bowie's mirror-imaged Major Tom is ill-equipped for the ways of man. Exploited by human vermin who are determined to steal his savings, he is eventually framed for murder and permanently incapacitated. A beautifully-crafted film of British origin that also stars Candy Clark, Rip Torn and Buck Henry.
CREATURE— Six members of an exploratory force landing on one of Saturn's moons discover to their horror that a malevolent alien-being is intent on having them for supper. To make matters worse, they have been virtually shipwrecked by a bad landing, and their dwindling air supply forces them out into the open to salvage spare parts from another wreck. Ironically, people will be people, and the mixed-gender-crew manages to get caught up in some decidedly adult entanglements despite sub-zero temperatures and cumbersome space gear. Fairly good viewing in a pinch, the film stars Klaus Kinski, Robert Jaffe, Stan Ivar, Lyman Ward, Wendy Schaal and Marie Laurin.
Book Worm: Spaced out! Too
APROPOS Video Troll's sci-fi binge, the Book Worm, a creature visiting these pages, suggests some written-word options, specially to those who have not been completely charmed by the telly and the video, and would rather broadly imagine their fantastic flights than view them on a little screen.
THE SCIENCE FICTION OF EDGAR ALLAN POE — Sixteen tales ranging in subject matter from galvanism (electrical activity) to the resurrection of the dead to time travel show why Poe is an apocalyptic prophet and a pioneer of science fiction. The craft (the writing style, not the space type), however, may make this little book a little cumbersome to read.
THE MACHINERIES OF JOY — Boob tube babies enthralled by Friday evening’s prime-time “Twilight Zone” should be familiar with the author, Ray Bradbury, some of whose stories have been adapted. Twenty-one tales include those of a boy raising strange mushrooms in his basement, an ancient maiden courted by death, a mirage of a miraculous city, and a well of souls.
ANCIENT EVENINGS — Talk about being spaced-out! From the first chapter, Norman Mailer bends the mind with descriptions of a soul whose earthly body is going through mummification. Haunting and magical is the treatment of age-deep memories, a lost time, and timeless images.
THE BOOK OF IMAGINARY BEINGS — This precious little book by Jorge Luis Borges may not be too easy to find in book stores, but is well worth a persistent search. The book is an alphabetical inventory of curious and fabulous creatures conceived through space and time, by man's unlimited imagination. This fictional bestiary goes back to years BC.
ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND AND THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS — No, children, this book is not for children only. Lewis Carroll’s Alice's magical mushroom is probably the same species that sends today's tripsters to dangerous flights. (No, we are not advocates of chemically-induced highs.)
In this connection, anything by Carlos Castaneda is a shoo-in as vehicles for spacing-out.
— CSA
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Cesare A.X. Syjuco, “Spaced Out! | Spaced Out! Too” (page 1 of 1), The Manila Times, November 23, 1987
