AMC’s ambitious remake of the short-lived, beloved television series, “The Prisoner” has finally aired (Part I at least). What did you think? Sound off in the comments below. Be seein’ ya!
Warning: The comments likey include spoilers. You have been warned.
Hide your gerbils! ABC’s re-imagined visitors have finally arrived. As their massive ships hover above Earth’s major cities, the scaly aliens attempt to infiltrate human society in very attractive costumes. The idea of seemingly benevolent aliens isn’t new, but it’s more compelling than clearly-defined good vs. evil. How will the contemporary Vs compare to their cheesy 80’s counterparts?
In a word: Pretty frakking well (OK, three words).
This week we’re exposing examples of robots in pop culture that hinder the development of actual badass bots. If you missed the initial post on the subject, here’s a recap. Movies like I, Robot and that forthcoming Bruce Willis stink bomb feature pissed-off androids bent on human destruction. Who wants to fund a project like that? Number 5 scared the living hell out of me as a kid.
Go ahead, tell me that isn’t the scariest damn thing you’ve ever seen. It was an episode of The Bionic Woman that coined the term “fembot,” and they appeared in two multi-part episodes. The fembots didn’t have AI, but relied upon their programming. Plus, they didn’t mind when people dramatically tore off their faces to reveal the mechanics beneath.
The mindless, murderous fembots are creepy, evil and infiltrated my dreams for weeks when I was young. It’s the removable face that gets me. This also explains my fear of mannequins and CPR dummies.
This week we’re exposing examples of robots in pop culture that hinder the development of actual badass bots. If you missed the initial post on the subject, here’s a recap. Movies like I, Robot and that forthcoming Bruce Willis stink bomb feature pissed-off androids bent on human destruction. Who wants to fund a project like that? Here’s the first guilty party in our series.
The Stepford Wives
Written by the great Ira Levin, The Stepford Wives is part satire and part commentary. In the story, a young New Yorker moves to Stepford, Connecticut. She notices that the men of Stepford are married to impossibly beautiful and conciliatory women. Of course, the cyber-shit hits the fan when our heroine discovers the truth — those men have taken to killing their wives and replacing them with fawning robots. Above is what Bravo calls the movie’s scariest scene, and we agree.
Levin’s novel is a modern classic and the 1975 film adaptation by Bryan Forbes is terrific and damn creepy. Too creepy in fact. Artificial intelligence that drives murderous men to build high-tech sex toys? No, no. That’s not what we want!
All I’m after is a pit droid to change the oil in my Saturn. Maybe a bending unit to make hilariously rude comments. Levin’s robots are submissive and eerie. Bryan’s actresses are emotionless and distant. And they’re all coming between me and my own Twiki!
Artificial intelligence research has progressed by leaps and … oh, who are we kidding? It sucks! A robot that can navigate a maze of pink Post-It Notes? Really? That’s the best we can do? Where are the cylons? Where’s Daryl Hannah in Bladerunner? Heck, where’s Bender?
I’ll tell you why we don’t have those things yet. In fact, it’s because of them! Every time we get a new movie like I, Robot or that forthcoming Bruce Willis stink bomb, it features sentient, pissed-off androids whose only motivation is to destroy human kind. Sure, it makes for an exciting movie but it hinders the MIT AI lab!
“Sure, I’ll fund your project,” says the wealthy investor. “It looks incredible. Here’s a a check for 10 million dollars. Who do I make this out … Hey, wait a minute. Aren’t these robots just going to rise up and enslave us?”
“Well no, Mr. High Profiled Investor. That’s just fiction and …”
“Don’t pull that over on me! I’ve seen The Stepford Wives!”
With this in mind, we’re begging sci-fi writers everywhere. Please write docile, helpful robots into your stories. We’re talking R2. We’re talking Rosie. But don’t do it for us, do it for these pathetic souls.
Contemporary science fiction fans might name Katee Sackhoff, Zoe Saldana or Jeri Ryan when asked about the genre’s hotties. They’re certainly beautiful women, but hardly the first pretty faces to step aboard a space ship. Here are some of our favorite Babes of Vintage Sci-Fi.
Elizabeth Montgomery
She’s best known for playing Samantha on Bewitched, but I enjoyed her performance as a soldier in the Twilight Zone episode, “Two.” She and Charles Bronson play the only people on Earth after a long and bloody war. The catch: they’re members of opposing armies. Eventually they learn to abandon their hate and begin life anew. It’s a fun yet predictable episode, and Elizabeth turns in some nice acting, despite the fact that her character doesn’t speak.
When The Plan was announced at the end of Battlestar Galactica’s run, I feared that it would be a lame attempt to recapture the glory of the series (see “After M*A*S*H“). Now that the teaser trailer is out, I’m starting to get excited about it. There are references to several episodes in the brief clip which need a thorough examination.
“… My heroes are Jonathan Swift, and Albert Schweitzer. Many of them are unknown people I’ve met which I consider remarkably brave, patient and understanding. But I have less of that collection of heroes than an overwhelming affection for humanity. I think the human race is just a fascinating creature.
I know that humans, even today, capture and torture people and commit war and all of that. But that’s because they are still children and children are violent. But I refuse to think any other way about the human race but that they are beautiful children. They will, in the end, persevere.”
- Gene Roddenberry
I’ll never forget the time had the privilege to meet Mr. Gene Roddenberry. One fateful day back in 1978, my father clipped an article from our local newspaper that the creator of Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry, was coming to speak at our town’s high school. I had been addicted to Star Trek ever since I first started watching television and my parents knew I’d be excited to hear Roddenberry speak about how he created the show, as well as his other projects. To say I was excited was an understatement.
The first television serial that grabbed my attention was V. If you’re unfamiliar, I’ll explain the plot’s basics. Aliens arrive on Earth in enormous ships and convince humankind of their altruistic intentions. Of course, they’re really reptilian bad guys who want to replenish their planet’s exhausted natural resources by robbing Earth of her own.
Also, they eat gerbils.
V was replete with 80’s cheese and typical sci-fi conventions and plot twists (who can forget the V baby?). When we first heard of the pending remake, we were cautious. Could it possibly be good?
I know you can’t judge a project by a 90 second trailer (The Phantom Menace is proof of that), but these clips have gotten us excited. Above we see the ships arrive and human kind’s terrified response. Here’s what V has going for it:
1. The Aliens are sexy. Morena Baccarin plays Anna, the alien leader. I’ll be quite happy to stare at her for 40 minutes a week. Not to mention Lisa on the New York mother ship, played by Laura Vandervoort.
2. It’s not on Fox or SciFi. Fox has a hair trigger when it comes to under-performing TV shows (not to mention a very broad definition of “under-performing”), and SciFi’s scheduling is managed by a monkey. I feel that ABC will give it a shot it wouldn’t enjoy elsewhere.
3. The special effects look good. That brief scene of the shuttle taking off from a landing pad looks great. BSG set a standard for FX on TV. It seems ABC is answering the call.
4. Religion is front-and-center. BSG demonstrated that heavy-handed religious themes in a prime-time television show, when done right, are compelling. The clip above suggests that we’ll find a similar tactic in V.
We’re still not 100% convinced that this is going to be good, but we’re certainly encouraged. Let the invasion begin! Watch another clip after the break.
For more of our thoughts on the popularity of sci-fi “reboots,” check out Episode #31.
If you love the Oscars, but hate having to stay up until 2am, and wish they’d give awards in your favorite BSG categories, then have we got the episode for you! The long-awaited Toastie Awards are being handed out and you have a front row seat right next to Jack Nicholson (as a seat warmer).
Join Dave, Jen & Ged as we announce the best and worst of the Sci-Fi Channels’s Battlestar Galactica as voted by you, our nine listeners. This is a fun one filled with suspense, drama, comedy and a few twists & turns so you won’t want to miss it.
Warning: The Toasties contain spoilers for all four seasons of BSG, so if you don’t want to know who frakked whom or who bought that big space farm in the sky, then don’t listen.
Original post date: 4/11/09
Duration: 33′33″
Links for this episode:
Rolling the Hard Six
Lucy Flawless Fan Site
Billy Crystal Opens the 69th Academy Awards
Old Glory Insurance
