Friday B-Movie Pick: Paul
This nerd fest of a film is a big sloppy wet kiss, with tounge, to Steven Spielberg. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost wrote the screenplay and star as a pair of British SciFi fans who make the pilgrimage to Comic Con in San Diego. Then they start on a road trip to obsure SciFi and UFO sites, including the spot where the ST:TOS episode Arena was film in order to act out the battle between Kirk and the Gorn. Then they run into the title character, a Gray, who is colored green in the film (“Little Green Men” reference). From there it, the film becomes a drinking game as you spot every single SciFi reference slid into nearly every scene.
Oh ya, of course this film, like every episode of The Middleman, has a Wilhelm Scream.
Monday Book Pick: Fuzzy Nation
Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi
When I first heard that John Scalzi wanted to do a reboot of H. Beam Piper‘s “Little Fuzzy“, it made my Sunday SciFi pick for 4/11/10. It’s out now, and I’ve read it (thanks Fred!), and I have to say it’s pretty damn good. Piper purists may yelp because there is no contra-grav, but it’s a bloody reboot! Expect change and embrace it. Scalzi clearly has serious SciFi author chops. He wouldn’t be my first choice for a reboot of Space Viking or Uller Uprising, but the Fuzzy books, sure. My top choice for Space Viking would be David Weber, and John Ringo for Uller Uprising.
Nice Product Placement
Damon has a copy of Michael Z. Williamson‘s new book, Rogue, on the couch.
Sunday SciFi: Classic Star Wars Poster
Ah yes, the original 1977 Star Wars, not episode IV, not “A New Hope”, just a low budget SciFi film with a bunch of relatively unknown actors as stars and a director who’s last movie was about hot rods in the early sixties. The version where Han shot first because he was a rogue, a smuggler, one who operated outside the law.
Star Wars was a B movie, complete with the Wilhelm scream, and we loved it.
Monday Book Pick: The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril
The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril by Paul Malmont
The book is crack for pulp fans. Really, I’m not kidding. The heroes include Lester and Norma Dent, Walter Gibson, L. Ron Hubbard, Robert Heinlein and a merchant ship working cowboy who goes by “Lew” (Louis L’Amour I’m betting, perhaps Malmont couldn’t get his estate to release the use of his name). Additional appearances by H.P. Lovecraft and E.E. “Doc” Smith. It’s pulp writing, done by someone who loves pulp and wrote a big, wet, sloppy kiss to pulp.
Sunday SciFi: Castle/Firefly Crossover
Yup, that is Molly Quinn, who plays Alexis Castle, dressed up as Mal Reynolds, Nathan Fillion’s character on Firefly.
Sunday SciFi: Star Trek Weapons
Filed under: Photography, Science Fiction, Star Trek, Sunday SciFi
Yes, I own both of those. No problem with Geek Cred here.
This is the same image I have loaded on flicker, just punched it up a bit.
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NPR’s top picks for SciFi and Elf Porn
NPR has distilled the input they got for people’s top picks for SciFi & Fantasy down to 100 selections, and are asking people to pick their top ten. There is some utter dreck in the list, along with some of the true classics in the field.
Go vote, but if your choices don’t include Heinlein, Pournelle, Niven, or Farmer, just hang your head in shame.
Sunday SciFi: The Middleman
I’ve only caught a few episodes so far from this one season wonder, but so far I really like The Middleman and his Sidekick Wendy Watson. It’s delightfully low budget, in an old school Doctor Who way, funny, a tribute to the pulp era, and the cast is clearly having fun.
The Middleman himself is a clean cut, all American, milk drinking former Special Forces veteran with authority issues and what appears to be a id case with Doctor Who’s psychic paper in it. Hmmmm….a Doctor Who/Middleman crossover. I’m sure there is some fan fic out there that covers it.
It’s good low budget fun entertainment. It’s got robots, gadgets, blasters, intelligent apes, the supernatural and a spunky sidekick that steals the show.
It didn’t run in a drive-in, so I don’t know what Joe-Bob Briggs would say, but my advice is to check it out.