For those here who are classic Sci-Fi Movies buffs-check THIS out! ;-))

As much as I loathe shopping at Wally-World (aka) Wal-Mart, they certainly hit a Home Run with this sale going on.

I saw a display they had which had some 25 or so Sci-Fi movie titles for sale. All of them at $7 bucks each. Not bad at all I say.

Some titles I saw for that price-on some sites go for about $30 bucks each. Anyway, here are a few titles that might get your mouths to water while thinking about them.

Firstly, i'll start with: Day the Earth Stood Still w/ fine British actor: Michael Rennie-as the visitor.

OK, Star Trek: The Motion Picture. (OK) I admit-this one aint worth wasting spit on but-hey-the old familiar gang is back ;-))

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn. Great sequal-aint it? Admiral Kirk when stuck on that asteroid with his ex-gal, their son, Dr. McCoy, Chekov, Checkovs Capt (Paul Winfield) another great actor whom i'll miss-great voice too) and Lt. Savvik: "KAHN!!!! KAHN!!!!." Love that scene.

Star Trek III: The Search For Spock. Great sequal to S.T 2. Kirks Son dies in this one by a Klingon hand-and dagger.

It Came From Beneath the Earth.

The Thing From 20,000 Phantoms. This one I think stars Kenneth Tobey? Good Sat eve movie to see if you want to relax and have a good time?

The Piece de Resistance IMO-is when I also saw they had: Earth vs the Flying Saucers. This is yet another good movie with great special effects by Ray Harryhausen. I think he also workd on another if not both of the nect two above titles.

Also, I didn't have enough money for it but, they also had Heavy Metal-available. This is one i'm going back for.

Also, I forgot to mention they also had Star Trek IV.

Anyway, all of these and many more are on sale for $7 bucks each. Not bad eh?

The only ones missing from the sale that SHOULD have been there are:

Forbidden Planet, THEM and Creature From the Black Lagoon.

 

I have some of those movies. I soured on the Star Trek movies when I unintentionally became a Star Trek spokesperson. I was writing, part time, for the Houston Chronicle, and I fired back when the entertainment editor totally dissed Rodenberry.

Not long after, newspapers began their slide and the Chronicle cut loose it's part timers.

Still, thanks for the heads up.

BTW, Hollywood has remade The Day The Earth Stood Still. I saw the trailer and totally hated it. Keanu Reeves plays the alien. Of course, with Hollywood being Hollywood, there's mass murder (stadiums of people being killed) and atom bomb looking explosions.

I'm not into censorship or regulation, but there should be a protected film list-films that should never ever be remade because Hollywood lacks the ability to act/direct the way it was done 40-50 years ago.

 

Hi Lias, quite glad to have pointed out these masterpieces. I know exactly what you mean about the Chronicle. I used to subscribe to it about 16 years ago-and quit because I saw how they were going down-hill. Shame too because I loved spending my entire Sundays reading it, the Corpus Christi Caller Times (now I thinks its known as the Caller Times) and the Kingsville Record and Bishop News (my hometown newpaper) I haven't bought a CC Times in years, and about 12 years since I last read a KR&BN edition.

Yuk, Keanu Reeves as the Visitor? This is one I will never give time to see. I also completely agree with you about how badly hollywoodland screws up classics when remade. The only two exceptions to that are: The Four Feathers and The Count of Monte Cristo (the version w/ Richard Harris in it)

I never have liked any movies with Reeves in it. I can't see what's supposedly so great about him? same goes for the kid who played Edward Scissorhands. This gus CAN act-but I sure hate his politics-which ruins it for me with this guy.

It only just figures that they would ruin Day the Earth Stood Still. Michael Rennie must be turning over in his grave at this one. ;-(

 

I can't agree that there should never be re-makes. As long as the people who control the rights to a project allow it, I like to see creativity at play. Of course, I do agree that no one should be allowed to tamper with the classics. I was very happy that colorization never really caught on.

I also agree that most re-makes are not worth the time that goes into making them. If ever they remake The Pride of the Yankees, I shall weep.

 

I don't like to shop at Wal-Mart much either, but sometimes a guy can save on something which makes the trip and time worth the effort. Not food of course, but appliances and such. I get my oil changed there sometimes if I am going out to buy something else, might as well make the gas count.

I bought a Victory at Sea set out of their "bargin bin" one time and was so disappointed in the quality I threw it out and bought one from Heartland. Much better quality as it was digitally re-mastered from the original NBC tapes. It is no longer available as a single box set, but can be found in this combo:

http://www.heartlandamerica.com/bro...69B-892C-4B60-8575-DBD3050BB72C&BC=S&DL=SEH28

And Carl, if you look to the side bar on the right there are many "western classics" as well. They used to have a box set of the Sci-Fi classics, but I don’t see it offered anymore. Wish I would have picked the set up since it included The Blob (original), THEM, Forbidden Planet, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Time Machine (original), War of the Worlds (original), and a host of the B movies as well.

 

Hi Clint, thank you for the link, I will be checking it out. Also, if you want to find some good deals-my favorite haunt to shop at for movies is: www.deepdiscountdvd.com which has the best selection of movies online and always the best price about 98% of the time. Also, you might try Amazon-I have found some great deals there from time to time.

I would have loved having that set-that is-until yesterdays finds ;-)) I still need from that list: The Blob-Steve McQueen was billed as Steven McQueen-and you could easily tell from that movie-that he was going to be a great Star. I still need Forbidden Planet, THEM and the Time Machine-from the above list ;-))

I thought Earl Holliman was great in Forbidden Planet. Also, look for some quick shots in THEM-for future TV greats like Fess Parker-who plays a Pilot and who is supposedly in Brownsville, Tx-which is about 3 hrs from me at this time.

 

Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers is one of the best films I have ever seen, I am truly jealous Carl!

 

Do you like the new Battlestar Galactica series? Heck, do you like the original?

 

Hi Stefan, i'll gladly buy you a copy of it if you have a way to play it? I don't know if it's a Region o release or not? Anyway, if your interested and can play the movie on something you have-please let me know by Wednesday as I will not have a chance to go back and pick a copy of it up as I am finally going to be moving into my new home in Houston by Friday. ;-))

Take care and best regards--Carl.

PS, My favorite scene in the movie is when one of the Saucers crashes into one of the most recognizable landmarks in Washington DC. Ray Harryhausen always did one heck of an excellent job with his mastery of Special Effects. Believe it or not but-another Special Effects great by the name of Dennis Muren-got most of his inspiration from Harryhausen.

 

Now that's one series I thought unlikely to be mentioned in the forum.
I enjoyed the original series as a kid and even have a DVD of the pilot of the original BSG (Lorne Greene, Richard Hatch, Dirk Benedict, etc). I'm still nostalgic about the original but I have to admit I was very disappointed with what happened to it when they made the next series about Galactica reaching Earth. The only outstanding episode in the shortlived Galactica on Earth series was the episode on how Starbuck was stranded on a planet with a Cylon.
As for the current incarnation of Galactica, it's great. The plot twists can take very unexpected turns. I really do look forward for 2009, when the show will resume airing.
Making some of the Cylons adopt human forms, that was a very good move for the reincarnated series. As for Starbuck becoming a woman, I have no complaints. Starbuck is a well developed character.
I'm a life long Star Trek fan. The original series (STOS) still retain their luster after all these years. The Next Generation (STNG) started out for me a bit slow but picked up later. When the Borg were introduced, the series really came on its own.
The Voyager series (STV) was one I thoroughly enjoyed while the Deep Space Nine series (STDS9) was for me just average though I really enjoyed their time travel episode when the DS9 crew with Worf went back in time and encountered Kirk and his gang when they had trouble with tribbles. Now that was an episode that I really enjoyed.
The Enterprise series, well, it had its ups and downs. One thing that really bothered me, though, was how the series had a tendency to contradict Star Trek history that was established by the other series.
As for the Star Trek movies, I enjoyed most of them. The first movie was not as good as I expected but at least it was a lot better than the Star Trek movie Shatner directed, which was The Final Frontier. Nuff said!

 

Hey Carl next year is the 30th anniversary of Ridleys Scot's classic Sci-Fi Horror, ALIEN.

Man that film blew me away and still is a damn good film today. I've never seen it on the big screen, I was hoping my cinema was going to screen his 2003 special addition but no. Maybe next year I've be in with a chance I hope.

 

Carl, thanks for the offer but as it turned out I found a copy in a shop in town for a couple of quid. Just watched it and it is better than I remember. I love the effects, from a time when they were genuinely 'special' rather than the computer generated stuff we get today.

 

some nice movies, Carl, I used to have the whole Startrek collection , but sold it on Ebay a while ago (needed space and money for militaria) .I have a couple of classic SC FI left like Dune

 

BSG-the original series (TOS)-it was a really great right wing series (really rare in Hollywood) with some very new ideas. I liked everything about it. The earth series, never saw it-I wasin the military and far too busy to watch TV. The new series-didn't like anything about it.

Star Trek (TOS)-Kirk overacting, Scotty drinking-good stuff
TNG-Didn't like anything about it, waaaaay too much political correctness
DS9-Too bizarre to follow
Voyager, was good until Jeri Ryan arrived, became excellent after that.
Enterprise-the biggest problem with this show was that the writers and the rest of the crew were still in Voyager mode when they made the show. Kirk and company were horndogs, logic would dictate that Archer and company be very similar. Finally, I have a serious problem with so called star trek fans who objected to the nudity in the show. Did they see TOS? Rodenberry was constantly underdressing starlets who appeared on the show.

The movies-all good.

The movie presently in production:

Should have some horndogs on the crew
There had better be some nudity
No political correctness please, we've had too much of that.
No time travel protocol please

 

Sorry I couldn't get back with you sooner on this question. I've been having computer problems.

Anyway, I was about 12 years old when the original series was on trhe air-and I loved it. I really do miss Lorne Greens acting and it's a damned shame he passed away the way he did.

As for the new series, I tried to force myself to sit through a few of the first episodes-and absolutely hated them.

 

Hi Falcon, Richard, Stefan and Skipper,

Falcon-like you, im a lifr long fan of the original Star Trek. I came home many-an-afternoon after school let ouy-and it came on channel 10 at 4PM. I don't know how many times over the years that I saw every episode over and over again. That show usually alternated with McHales Navy, Gillligans Island, Gunsmoke, The Rifleman etc etc etc.

As for ST TNG-I have come to like it fairly well over the yearws. I haven't liked any of the other spin-offs except on occasion the one show that has a black guy as the commanding officer-I can't think of the actos name but-I think the show he was on is a good one-just never watched it much.

Hi Richard, I never cared for any of the Aliens movies. I saw Alien for the first time when it came on HBO back when I was about 15 or so. I liked most of the actors in it like Harry Dean Stanton, and Sigourney Weaver etc-but meaning no malice in my reply but: "it was not my cup of tea". ;-)) I saw the 2nd film but thought it was way over done.

Nopw-speaking about the special effects used in the movies-I thought they were top notch-even though I was sickened by that chest-bursting scene in the first movie. When I saw that, I had been eating my Lunch-and almost puked it right back up. I even remember what I was eating-which was a bowl of Wolf Brand Chili.

Stefan, quite welcome. I wasn't sure if it had been available over there yet? ;-)) I watched my copy on Monday night and thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm now still watching the extras on the 2nd disc.


Hi Skipper and thanks ;-)) Ackkk, you sold off your Star Trek stuff??? oh sin of sins-but I will forgive you since you spent the money wisely-and bought Militaria with it. :-D

 

Carl, you reminded me of something funny as per the "Star Trek" collections. I have a buddy who used to live in the Tuscon area ( he is now in northern AZ near Flagstaff), and one time I stopped in on an OTR cross country trip to see him. I had a drop in Tuscon.

He came over to the truck stop on the south side of town, and took me to his place. He was poor as a church mouse at the time (recent divorce) and didn't have much in his apartment. We slept on the floor and ate on it too. Any way after dinner that night I came out of the bathroom to find him sitting on the floor starring at a box leaned up against the wall with his arms crossed. I asked "what the hell are you doing Mike?" and he nodded toward the box, which I saw was the box set of the original Star Trek series and replied "watching Star Trek".

He had sold his tv, his stereo, and his other stuff was gone in the divorce, but he still had his box set of Star Trek!

 

Are the chest burster made you feel ill.

I think it was the best of the lot and Ridley Scott did a great job directing the film. ALIEN comes from the time before all this blue/green screen cgi crap came on the scene, I agree with Ridley it dose not matter how good it looks you can see the cgi effects. Shame the follow up films were not as good. What about Ridley's third film Blade Runner?

As for the vintage ere of Sci Fi Forbidden Planet & The Day the earth stood still were great. Hey Carl did you ever see the Quatermass films? Scared the crap out of me when I as a nipper, lol.

 

Heh heh, that's a great story. It proves your friend was wise enough to keep what was most important ;-)) My friend Greg Newman is the same way. He got "wiped out" financially thanks to "spreading around too much lovin' with too many women," and just barely had enough money lsft over to rent a small crappy-unkempt apartment which was made out of single car garage. The owners of the place clearly did nto spend any money on maintaining the place and you had to watch out where you stepped-because the floorboards were rotten as the cieling leaked in several places when it rained. This was about 5 or so years ago-and the rent for that eh-hem-so-called apartment-was only $100.00.

Anyway, Gregs most important property were his hard rock album collection and his posters. He would starve before he would sell off anything in order to have something to eat. I was in a similar situation right after I got out of College. I had one fantastic Comicbook collection-and I refused to sell anything in order to eat. I can now laugh back at it but-it got so bad one week-that all I had for meals that week-were Sugar sandwiches. That is, nothing but two sliced of bread with suger poured in the center of the slice-almost like one might be eating a hotdog in. That was what I ate once a day for a week. Im surprised I still even like the taste of sugar these days. I don't use much for anything and one small bag of it will last me two years.

Anyway, I refused any and all offers from people to buy my collection.

 

Hi Richard-that chestburster scene sure did make me feel ill. I was eating that bowl of Chili when the scene happened. Needless to say, the cats wound up eating what was left. I sat and watched the movie but was glad when it was over because -believe-it-or-not-two great movies came on (on two different stations) after Alien was over. I had a tough choice of which to see-because it was either: The Big Red One-which by that time, I had seen probably 100 times- and was played on The Movie Channel. The other I had ato choose from-was Hondo-which is one of my all-time most favorite Duke Westerns. This one was played on either HBO or Cinemax? Guess which I watched? :-D

I DO like movies directed by Ridley Scott-in fact, I THINK he directed Black Hawk Down? but not sure? Anyway, his Directing was not what the poblem was, the problem I had with Alien-is that people made what I took to be some VERY stupid decisions-which got them quickly killed. Take what Harry Dean Stanton did-he went into some huge and of course-very dark room-looking for that Cat. He heard a noise and turned around-only to get his face eaten off by that grown Alien. Im a fan of H.D.Stanton-and thought he just didn't "fit" in this movie. I did liek him in Escape From New York-though-where he played the character of "Brain."

Those vintage Sci-Fi movies are great-and I too hate that cgi crap. I recently watched: "Snakes on a Plane," and during a sex scene in a bathroom-one with a very attractive Blonde in it-well-when the snake decided to attack her-on hie nip/ that looked so darn stupid and was totally unbelieveable. I then switched the channel and found that a much greater movie was on-on one of the Encore Western stations-which was: Fort Apache. ;-))