Posts Tagged ‘Science Fiction’
Posted by Steve in Events, Latest News, The Magic Lantern - Steve Weintz on February 18th, 2010
Like Stanley G. Weinbaum, Henry Kuttner, Stan Winston and Dave Allen, Dan O’Bannon left our planet much too soon, leaving behind a world of saddened friends and fans. The sadness doesn’t linger, though, for Dan was a very funny man, and much beloved by those who knew him.
On February 9th, 2010, the New Beverly Cinema hosted the Grindhouse Film Fest’s tribute to Dan 
O’Bannon, with a double feature screening of “Lifeforce” and “Return of the Living Dead.” To experience Dan’s authentic adaptation of Colin Wilson’s seminal novel “The Space Vampires”, and his loopy, dead-on riff on zombie movies, in a Hollywood revival theater full of rabid fans, is to know what imaginative entertainment is all about.
In addition to such on-screen delights as an unveiled Matilda May, and demented lines such as “Send more cops!”, an informal RotLD cast reunion occurred.
Clu Galagher, James Karen, Don Calfa, Thom Matthews, Beverly Randolph and others shared stories and reminiscences.
Artist William Stout, whose first credit as Production Designer came on RotLD, made a last-minute appearance and explained Dan’s key place in film and comic history.
Kudos to Grindhouse Film Fest and Dan’s many friends for putting on this event! Dan’s memory will also be part of the book launch party for “The Bleeding Edge Anthology” at Mystery & Imagination Bookshop in Glendale, CA, this Saturday, Feb. 20, starting at 3:00pm.
Posted by Steve in Movies, Television & Web Series, The Magic Lantern - Steve Weintz on February 17th, 2010
“The Near Future…As It Used To Be”
What if the world of today, the early 21st Century, looked the way our predecessors thought it would, back in 1949?
What if Mars were the world imagined by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Ray Bradbury and Robert Heinlein? And what if America’s most fun and famous couple flew to Mars in search of a missing brother and became embroiled in interplanetary intrigue, local wars, desert dangers and lost Martian civilizations?
This was the concept for The Lost Hieroglyph, the first of several “Brackett & Burroughs Adventures” set in an imaginary retro-future Solar System inspired by the great pulp science fiction stories and art of yore.
A lifetime’s affection for 20th-Century pop culture (of the sort now made huge by Comic-Con) eventually percolated into a sudden document in the late 1990’s. The concept lay dormant, with occasional proddings to see if it still breathed, until the fall of 2008.
The trials of that heady year brought the realization that life is fleeting and finite, and that glorious dreams must be attended to immediately. With that existential urgency in mind, I resurrected The Lost Hieroglyph and discovered the old art of stop-motion animation; its disciplines and traditions, its involvement with so many other crafts, and most especially, the wonderful community of its fans and practitioners.
“Adventure Never Looked This Good”
I set out to create a cute couple modeled on the great screwball couples of the 20th Century: Dashiell Hammett’s “Nick and Nora Charles;” Howard Hawks’ screwball comedies and his Bogie/Bacall pairings; Indiana Jones and his female sidekicks; even the TV silliness of Hart to Hart. I wanted to give them classic American back-stories — farm kid made good and debutante tomboy, baseball player and mystery writer.
Pretty soon, Ray and Ceel began speaking to me in their own voices. Like any good pair of heroes, they have complementary powers: Ray’s a crack shot and throws the fastest pitch on the planet, while Ceel is an Olympic medalist in fencing and horsemanship. Expect gunfights, swordplay and daredevil riding, and of course, plenty of snappy dialogue!
“Rocket” Ray Brackett made history with his legendary no-hitter in the last game of the 1999 World Series between the Giants and the Cubs (hey, this is alternate history) His 110-mile-an-hour fastball is still the fastest pitch on record. His sports prowess led to a brief career in Hollywood, first in The Longest Inning, then in Biff Blaster, Ace of the Spaceways. The first soared, the last flopped, and Ray soon tired of the Business. He met Ceel Burroughs during the MidPacifica caper and they married soon after. Since then Ray has found himself in one adventure after another, often involving his and Ceel’s extensive circle of friends. Ray’s younger brother Mike is a distinguished archaeologist. Their late father was also a Major League ballplayer. Ray often taps his friend Stanley G. Weinbaum’s engineering skills for custom gear and weapons.
Catherine Louise “Ceel” Burroughs has never cared for her first name; it’s hard to live up to her amazing grandmother Kate. She publishes her best-selling “Kit Kipling” mystery novels under the name “C. L. Burroughs”, but everyone calls her “Ceel” (rhymes with “seal”). At her debut she made waves by honoring both her late father “Hap” Burroughs, the legendary rocket pilot, and her stepfather Fritz Leiber*, the famous author and literary agent. (She danced with an android version of “Hap” as well as with Fritz!) Her mother Margaux, the celebrated movie star, saw that Ceel was educated at private schools and Stanford; she excelled in fencing and horsemanship as well as literature, leading to Olympic medals in epeé and steeplechase.
Exotic Places, Familiar Faces
Heroes require suitable stages upon which to act, and the settings and characters of The Lost Hieroglyph are as rich and resonant as I can make them.
Earth and Mars are depicted as exotic worlds of mystery and adventure, and the technology and style of 1949 shape this fictional 2009. There are an awful lot of inside jokes in The Lost Hieroglyph, ranging from cameo appearances by famous sci-fi authors and Hollywood actors, to entire shots that echo classic films, comics and literature.
Notes
Like the first cut made for Comic-Con 2009 (not screened but shown around), this cut has missing shots. A complete version of Episode One is forthcoming. Meanwhile, if you like this sort of thing, check out D.B. Grady’s Red Planet Noir, and read news about Disney/Pixar’s forthcoming John Carter of Mars!
*Fritz Leiber appears courtesy Dr. Justin Leiber & Richard Curtiss.
Ceel Burroughs’ likeness features components © Integrity Toys, and are used with permission.
The Lost Hieroglyph and “The Brackett & Burroughs Adventures” are ™ & © Steve Weintz.
Posted by Jesse in Latest News, Movies on January 26th, 2010
WALT DISNEY PICTURES’ “JOHN CARTER OF MARS” BEGINS PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY IN LONDON
BURBANK, Calif. (January 15, 2010) – Principal photography is underway in London for Walt Disney Pictures’ “JOHN CARTER OF MARS.” Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Andrew Stanton brings this captivating hero to the big screen in a stunning adventure epic set on the wounded planet of Mars, a world inhabited by warrior tribes and exotic desert beings. Based on the first of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ “Barsoom Series,” the film chronicles the journey of Civil-War veteran John Carter, who finds himself battling a new and mysterious war amidst a host of strange Martian inhabitants.
Produced for Walt Disney Pictures by Jim Morris (“WALL•E,” “Ratatouille”) and Colin Wilson (“Avatar,” “War of the Worlds”), the live action/animation film marks Academy Award®-winning director/writer Andrew Stanton’s (“Finding Nemo,” “WALL•E”) first foray into live action. Stanton directed and co-wrote the screenplay for Disney•Pixar’s “WALL•E,” which earned the Academy Award and Golden Globe® for Best Animated Feature (2008); Stanton was nominated for an Oscar® for the screenplay. He made his directorial debut with Disney•Pixar’s “Finding Nemo,” garnering an Academy Award-nomination for Best Original Screenplay and winning the Oscar for Best Animated Feature (2003). He has worked as a screenwriter and/or executive producer on Disney•Pixar’s “Toy Story,” “A Bug’s Life” (which he also co-directed), “Toy Story 2,” “Monsters, Inc.,” “Ratatouille” and “Up.”
“I have been waiting my whole life to see the characters and worlds of ‘John Carter of Mars’ realized on the big screen,” says Stanton. “It is just a wonderful bonus that I have anything to do with it.”
The stellar ensemble cast is led by Taylor Kitsch (NBC’S “Friday Night Lights”, “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”) in the title role, Lynn Collins (“50 First Dates,” “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”) as the warrior princess Dejah Thoris and Oscar® nominee Willem Dafoe (“Spider-Man 3,” “Shadow of a Vampire”) as Martian inhabitant Tars Tarkas. The cast also includes Thomas Haden Church (“Sideways,” Spider-Man 3), Polly Walker (upcoming “Clash of the Titans,” “Patriot Games”), Samantha Morton (“Elizabeth: The Golden Age,” “In America”), Mark Strong (“Sherlock Holmes,” “Body of Lies”), Ciaran Hinds (“Munich,” “There Will Be Blood”), British actor Dominic West (“300,” “Chicago”), James Purefoy (“Vanity Fair,” “Resident Evil”) and Bryan Cranston (“Breaking Bad”). Daryl Sabara (“Disney’s A Christmas Carol,” “Spy Kids”) takes the role of John Carter’s teenaged nephew, Edgar Rice Burroughs.
The creative team includes Oscar®-nominated production designer Nathan Crowley (“Public Enemies,” “The Dark Knight,” “Batman Begins”), costume designer Mayes Rubeo (“Avatar,” “Apocalypto”), cinematographer Daniel Mindel (“Star Trek,” “Mission Impossible III,” “Spygame”) and video effects supervisor Peter Chiang (“The Reader,” “The Bourne Ultimatum”).
JOHN CARTER OF MARS
WALT DISNEY PICTURES
Genre: Adventure/Sci-Fi
Rating: TBD
Release Date: TBD
Cast: Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Samantha Morton, Mark Strong, Ciaran Hinds, Dominic West, James Purefoy, Daryl Sabara, Polly Walker, Bryan Cranston, with Thomas Hayden Church and Willem Dafoe
Director: Andrew Stanton
Producers: Jim Morris and Colin Wilson
Screenplay by: Andrew Stanton & Mark Andrews (credit not final)
Based on the story by: Edgar Rice Burroughs
From Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Andrew Stanton (“Finding Nemo,” “WALL-E”), JOHN CARTER OF MARS brings this captivating hero to the big screen in a stunning adventure epic set on the wounded planet of Mars, a world inhabited by warrior tribes and exotic desert beings. Based on the first of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ “Barsoom Series,” the film chronicles the journey of Civil-War veteran John Carter (TAYLOR KITSCH), who finds himself battling a new and mysterious war amidst a host of strange Martian inhabitants, including Tars Tarkas (WILLEM DAFOE) and Dejah Thoris (LYNN COLLINS).
Notes:
· Edgar Rice Burroughs was born in Chicago and is best known for writing and creating Tarzan – still one of the most successful and iconic fictional creations of all time. JOHN CARTER OF MARS is based on Burroughs’ first novel, “A Princess of Mars.”
· Academy Award®-winning director/writer Andrew Stanton directed and co-wrote the screenplay for “WALL•E,” which earned the Academy Award® and Golden Globe Award® for Best Animated Feature of 2008. He was Oscar® nominated for the screenplay. He made his directorial debut with “Finding Nemo,” garnering an Academy Award® nomination for Best Original Screenplay and winning the Oscar® for Best Animated Feature Film of 2003. He was one of the four screenwriters to receive an Oscar® nomination in 1996 for his contribution to “Toy Story,” and went on to receive credit as a screenwriter on subsequent Pixar films “A Bug’s Life,” “Toy Story 2,” “Monsters, Inc.,” “Finding Nemo” and “WALL•E.” He served as co-director on “A Bug’s Life,” and was the executive producer of “Monsters, Inc.,” the 2006 Academy Award-winning “Ratatouille” and the 2009 smash hit “Up.”
Set in the wounded planet of Mars, JOHN CARTER OF MARS chronicles the journey of Civil-War veteran John Carter (TAYLOR KITSCH), who finds himself battling a new and mysterious war amidst a host of strange Martian inhabitants, including Tars Tarkas (WILLEM DAFOE) and Dejah Thoris (LYNN COLLINS).
Posted by Jesse in Latest News, Movies on January 13th, 2010
Spoiler TV has gotten the scoop on character descriptions for Universal’s upcoming (should be shooting in March) prequel to John Carpenter’s 1982 version of the The Thing.
The currently untitled film, to directed by Matthijs Van Heijningen, from a script by Ronald D. Moore (Battlestar Galactica) and Eric Heisserer (the upcoming A Nightmare on Elm Street remake), would follow the Norwegian expedition that first unearthed the space-borne shapeshifter in Carpenter’s version.
Both films are based on the original 1951 Howard Hawks/Christian Nyby classic The Thing From Another World, itself based on the 1938 novella Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell, Jr.
Posted by Jesse in DVD & Blu-Ray, Latest News, Television & Web Series on November 13th, 2009
Woohoo! About time, eh?
This set is sure to satisfy fans and, hopefully, birth a bunch of new ones. This show was a groundbreaking, head-spinning forray into intergalactic war, alternate realities, and puppets. Awesome puppets.
Rarely given its due by the network that spawned it, this is the perfect chance to revisit or discover the rag-tag, misfit crew aboard Moya.
The full press release as follows:
NEW YORK, NY – When a freak accident during an experimental space mission catapulted Astronaut John Crichton (Ben Browder) across a thousand galaxies to an alien battlefield, a groundbreaking cult classic was born with the epic, adventure-filled TV series “Farscape”.
On November 17, the award-winning fan favorite show, which ran from 1999-2003 on Sci Fi and was named by TV Guide as one of television’s best cult shows ever, will commemorate its 10th Anniversary with the very first complete packaging of the series. Featuring all 88 episodes on 25 discs, with original aspect ratios (4×3 for Seasons 1-3, anamorphic 16×9 widescreen for Season 4) and 5.1 surround sound, FARSCAPE: THE COMPLETE SERIES MEGASET™ delivers the venerated program to its legions of loyal fans and a new generation for the collectible price of $149.95srp.
An imaginative fusion of live action, state-of-the-art puppetry, prosthetics and CGI, “Farscape,” produced by The Jim Henson Company in association with RHI Entertainment, featured mind-boggling alien life forms, dazzling special effects, edge-of-your-seat thrills, irreverent humor and unforgettable characters — all brought to rich life by the creative minds at Jim Henson’s Creature Shop™.
Strap in and hold on tight for the extraordinary adventures of John Crichton, as he finds himself surrounded by hostile aliens and soaring through the cosmos aboard Moya, a glorious living space ship. Hunted by the relentless Peacekeepers, he allies himself with Moya’s crew — Aeryn Sun (Claudia Black), Luxan warrior Ka D’Argo (Anthony Simcoe), azure priestess Zhaan (Virginia Hey), spritely Nebari thief Chiana (Gigi Edgley), Dominar Rygel, the deposed royal ruler of the Hynerian Empire and Pilot – to search for a way out of this inconceivably alien world and return home.
FARSCAPE: THE COMPLETE SERIES MEGASET™ contains amazing surprises, including over 15 hours of bonus programming:
29 Episode Commentaries, including “Premiere” with Rockne S. O’Bannon, Brian Henson and Ben Browder; “Jeremiah Crichton” with Claudia Black, Producer/Writer David Kemper,
Browder and O’Bannon; “Bone to Be Wild” with Anthony Simcoe; “Relativity” with Lani Tupu (Crais/Voice of Pilot) and Director Peter Andrikidis; and, “Bad Timing” which features Browder, Black and Kemper discussing the series’ final episode.
Multiple featurettes and documentaries including “In the Beginning: A Look Back with Brian Henson”; “Making of a Space Opera” and “Inside Farscape: Save Farscape,” on which fans, cast and crew discuss the fate of their beloved series.
Multiple video profiles featuring archival clips and cast/crew discussing their characters and roles on Farscape.
Over 90 minutes of deleted scenes.
Slideshows and archival photo galleries, including character concepts and promo photos.
Production design galleries featuring screenshots, rough drafts and concept slide shows.
Behind-the-Scenes interviews with Ben Browder, Claudia Black, Anthony Simcoe, Virginia Hey, Gigi Edgley, Paul Goddard (Stark), Wayne Pygram (Scorpius) and more.
Original TV promos and trailers
In addition to the complete MEGASET™, on November 17, FARSCAPE will also be available in single season sets. Each re-packaged DVD release in FARSCAPE: THE COMPLETE SEASONS 1-4 will feature over 18 hours of interstellar entertainment — 22 episodes on six jam-packed discs filled with hours of revealing bonus materials –for $44.95 srp.
Prepare for Starburst!
A&E Home Entertainment, part of the Consumer Products Division of A&E Television Networks (AETN) is a video distributor of non-theatrical programming , featuring collectible DVD editions of the high quality programming from A&E Network and HISTORY™, as well as acquired classic programming. A&E Home Entertainment brings the best of critically acclaimed entertainment presented in award-winning packaging to the special interest category. For more information about ordering these and other titles from the A&E Home Video Collection, call (212) 206-8600 (TRADE ONLY). Consumers please call 1-800-933-6249 (A&E). In addition to placing orders by phone, A&E Home Video products may be purchased over the World Wide Web at ShopAETV.com.
Posted by dominie in Events on April 10th, 2009
As mentioned previously, here at Famous Monsters our emissary is to cover what you want to know. Your thoughts and commentary are always appreciated in helping us make FM your go-to community for genre news! On that note, I’d like to point you in the direction of this year’s FUNimation Anime Festival at the L.A. Comic Book and Sci-Fi Convention. Don’t miss this One Day Super Show on April 26, 2009!
Read the full press release below or visit www.comicbookscifi.com for more details.
LOS ANGELES, CA – APRIL 10, 2009 – FUNimation Presents THE BEST OF SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY ANIME at the LOS ANGELES COMIC BOOK AND SCIENCE FICTION CONVENTION on SUNDAY, APRIL 26, 2009.
The LOS ANGELES COMIC BOOK AND SCIENCE FICTION CONVENTION collaborates with FUNimation Entertainment for a special ANIME FESTIVAL. FUNimation is one of the leading producers and distributors of ANIME, and in this special six hour ANIME FESTIVAL, THE BEST OF SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY ANIME, West Coast Premieres of D. GRAY-MAN, ROMEO X JULIET, and HEROIC AGE will be featured. Films run from 11:00 A.M.-5:00 P.M. FUNimation will also be providing free give-aways such as posters to attendees.
Other events happening include a personal appearance by FRANK COGHLAN JR., who starred in the 1941 Republic Pictures Serial THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN MARVEL. FRANK starred as Billy Batson, radio reporter, who upon speaking the word Shazam turns into CAPTAIN MARVEL. FRANK also starred as a child actor in many silent movies, and Flicker Alley is releasing FRANK’s 1927 movie THE YANKEE CLIPPER on dvd. FRANK will be at the Flicker Alley table signing his book, THEY STILL CALL ME JUNIOR: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A CHILD ACTOR, and while there is a charge for an autograph, it includes a choice of photo. This is a rare appearance by FRANK, who at age 93 is one of the few actors from the silent era making personal
appearances. (more…)
Posted by dominie in Latest News, Movies on September 8th, 2008
With the influence of anime on Western films becoming increasingly prevalent, artists and filmmakers continue to push the boundaries and explore new creative dynamics. The following press release from Resonance Features popped in our mail today.
The Boston Science Fiction Film Festival presents Anime After Dark, a twelve hour film festival event at Boston’s historic Somerville Theatre, 55 Davis Sq., Somerville on October 18th, 2008. It will start at dusk, 7:00 PM, and run continuously until dawn, 7:00 AM.
The festival will bring some of the best in new and vintage anime to the big screen, in many cases for the first time. Ticket holders will be treated to an array of cinema treasures by masters of the genre like Studio Ghibli, Satoshi Kon, Leiji Matsumoto, Kenji Kamiyama, and others in a program that will run from dusk until dawn and include rare 35mm prints. Special events and more surprises to be announced.
In the spotlight of the lineup is Grave of the Fireflies in a special promotional screening of its upcoming 20th anniversary pay-per-view release. Anime After Dark will be one of the first times that this masterpiece has been projected on an American screen. Roger Ebert has called the film, “an emotional experience so powerful that it forces a rethinking of animation.”
New features include the recently released Tekkon Kinkreet winner of the 2008 Japan Academy Prize for Animation of the Year. Other notable films in the lineup include Millennium Actress, Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society, and Project A-Ko. (more…)
Posted by EricC in Movies on August 22nd, 2008
Outlander, a science fiction tale with creepy creatures, is headed direct to DVD without a theatrical release by The Weinstein Company. Expect it on November 18.
The film from director Howard McCain (Perfect Prey) stars James Caviezel, Sophia Myles, Jack Huston, Ron Perlman, and John Hurt.
Posted by EricC in Television & Web Series on August 22nd, 2008
The third season of Torchwood has begun filming in Cardiff, Wales with Paul Copley (Coronation Street) joining the cast. The team has also added Noel Clark’s Mickey character but Copley apparently replaces Freema Agyeman, whose Martha Jones was expected to join the team. Instead, when Agyeman signed with BBC rival ITV for a show, she was excised from the story.
The shortened season will last a mere five episodes but will tell one story, “Children of Earth” with scripts from Russell T. Davies, James Moran, and John Fay. In the United Kingdom, it will air across one week although BBC America will likely run it weekly when it gets to the states in 2009.
Posted by dominie in Comics on August 21st, 2008
Production for the animated sci-fi feature film, Technotise: Edit and I, has been going on for eight years now and will finally premiere in November this year. The film is the first Serbian animated feature to be created. Writer-director Aleksa Gajic first developed it as a sequel to his Technotise graphic novel.
“The plot is set in Belgrade in 2074. The main character is Edit, a female psychology student. After her sixth failure at the same university exam, she decides to have the chip installed to help her pass. From that moment, her life changes and unusual things start happening to her.”
Rumors are that the animated feature “looks far from being unoriginal, both in style and substance.” Inspiration for the graphics came from a mixture of Japanese anime and realistic drawings with static scenes, emphasized atmosphere, and authentic artistic expression. The process also included explorations in classic 2D animation and transitioned to improved 3D animation followed by vector animation.
Posted by dominie in Movies on August 19th, 2008
Bloody-Disgusting caught up with director Mark A. Lewis (Ill Fated) of the new Sci-Fi Thriller/Horror, The Thaw. In the plot, four ecology students discover a deadly parasite that can potentially cause a global epidemic. Each student successively becomes infected and turns on each other until the remaining survivor must decide to sacrifice their lives and burn everything to the ground.
Lewis tells Bloody-Disgusting that production has wrapped, gasping, “Thank God” and was very happy with the outcome of the project. In comparison to this previous project, Ill Fated, whose budget was only 1/10 of The Thaw, he was ecstatic to have had a proper budget to hire experienced key crew members, but the pressure was always on with time against them.
Filming a bloody horror film was “more something that just happened” Lewis reveals. He had been working on several pieces lately, all of which have been rather dark, and the toughest part of each being to make it meaningful. (more…)
Posted by EricC in Movies on August 18th, 2008
The Dark Knight surpassed Star Wars twice this weekend. First, it firmly grabbed second place on the All Time Box Office charts with a total now estimated at $471,493,000. It’s weekend take of $16,790,000 also surpassed the debut of the CGI-animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars which managed a so-so $15,505,000. The film received mixed reviews and little in the way of anticipatory buzz so its performance over the next week or two will be telling.
20th-Century Fox, which has had a miserable summer, finally got some good news when Mirrors opened with $11,125,000, exceeding studio estimates by 10%. (more…)
Like Stanley G. Weinbaum, Henry Kuttner, Stan Winston and Dave Allen, Dan O’Bannon left our planet much too soon, leaving behind a world of saddened friends and fans. The sadness doesn’t linger, though, for Dan was a very funny man, and much beloved by those who knew him.
O’Bannon, with a double feature screening of “Lifeforce” and “Return of the Living Dead.” To experience Dan’s authentic adaptation of Colin Wilson’s seminal novel “The Space Vampires”, and his loopy, dead-on riff on zombie movies, in a Hollywood revival theater full of rabid fans, is to know what imaginative entertainment is all about.
