Friday B-Movie Pick: Princess of Mars
A deliciously low budget adaptation of the Edgar Rice Burroughs classic. Updated a bit, John Carter is no longer a Civil War veteran (from the losing side), but a Marine in Afghanistan. Traci Lords was the “name” actor in this flick, but poorly cast as Dejah Thoris, the Princess of Helium. The movie was shot on an obvious shoestring budget and was shot in an amazing short time. Just 12 days to shoot a SciFi adventure story by one of the classic writers of the genre. Ya, the acting was bad, the script so-so, and the Tharks only have two arms. Still, not too shabby for the budget they had. I’m betting most Hollywood “indies” couldn’t pull off a feature film with the time and budget constrants this crew had to work with.
Sunday SciFi: Philip K. Dick on Bladerunner
Bladerunner, the 1981 SciFi classic movie based on the Philip K. Dick novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. A groundbreaking movie that features Harrison Ford getting beat up a lot.
Jason Calacanis has found a letter Philip K. Dick wrote after seeing Bladerunner.
To put it mildly, he liked it. Way cool, cooler than an Oscillation Overthruster sighting.
Quote of the Day
“The reason the first three Star Wars movies were so terrific, and the second three sucked so bad, is actually very simple. The first three were about rebels, shooting guns and driving fast, and speaking with American accents. The second three were about politicians, discussing treaties and holding court, and speaking with British accents.”
Bill Whittle, LAND OF THE MOSTLY FREE, HOME OF THE OCCASIONALLY BRAVE
You can also watch Mr. Whittle deliver the entire speech at PJTV.
SciFi Sunday: H. Beam Piper
In addition to the Monday Book Picks and the Friday B-Movie posts, I’ll be posting about Science Fiction on random Sundays.
To kick things off, I am starting with one of my favorite SciFi authors, H. Beam Piper. Piper was in inspiration to many in the field today, including the massively best selling author, David Weber.
A lot of H. Beam Piper’s works are available in the public domain. You can find them on the Gutenberg’s SF CD, and there are also audiobook format versions available.
My personal favorites are Space Viking and Uller Uprising, but you should take the time to read his entire catalog. Sadly, it is not as large as it should have been.
Monday Book Pick: Tunnel in the Sky
Tunnel in the Sky by Robert A. Heinlein
One of his juveniles series, but a good read for all ages. A good solid adventure story of the type Heinlein was famous for. As author Spider Robinson so aptly put it, “And I repeat: if there is anything that can divert the land of my birth from its current stampede into the Stone Age, it is the widespread dissemination of the thoughts and perceptions that Robert Heinlein has been selling as entertainment since 1939.”
Monday Book Pick: Island in the Sea of Time
Island in the Sea of Time by S.M. Stirling
Mr. Stirling got a lot of mileage out of this book, at least eight other books have been written based on this one, with only two being direct sequels. The story starts off with the island of Nantucket, and a Coast Guard training sailing ship that was just offshore, being transported back to the Bronze Age. That is good for a trilogy right there. What happended to to rest of the planet with Nantucket disappeared is good for at least two more trilogies.
Just in case your nerd cred is running low
Not a problem for me, but just in case your friends are getting a bit geekier than thou, I have the solution.
A Star Trek:TOS communicator that is a functional USB Microphone/Speaker device.
I kid you not nerdlings. You can plug this thing into your computer and use it with Skype and other VoIP apps, if you dare…
Ok, it would be cooler if it had a USB port instead of an attached cable. Perhaps in rev 2.0.
Friday B-Movie Pick: Forbidden Planet
This SciFi classic hit the screen in 1956. It had a very good cast, including Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, and Leslie Nielsen as the dashing young spaceship Captain. It was also the first time Robbie the Robot was seen! Beware the Creatures of the Id!
Monday Book Pick: Live Free or Die
Live Free or Die by John Ringo.
Woot! This book was fun! Loosely based on the back story of the Schlock Mercenary webcomic, John Ringo has fun with classic SciFi concepts like First Contact, asteroid mining, and big nasty space Battlecruisers! He doesn’t think small either. Lots and lots of mirrors in space make great big solar powered Death Rays! Ringo is planning more books in this series and I’m hoping he goes E.E. “Doc” Smith big.
Monday Book Pick: Triplanetary
TriPlantary by E.E “Doc” Smith.
The first in the classic Space Opera Lensman series. This series influenced a lot of what was to come. Robert Heinlein considered Edward E. Smith to be one of his mentors.