Surveying the Gen X landscape and the origins of geek
The Gamma One Quadrilogy is Wild, Wild Planet (1965), The War of the Planets (1966), War Between the Planets (1966), and The Snow Devils (1967). The films were shot consecutively in about four months using many of the same sets and actors. The miniatures seen above were used in all the films.
I’ll review Gamma One separately, as I’m a great fan of colorfully inane Italian sci-fi, this series in particular.
(All images via modern_fred/Flickr except the last one, which is from Cinema Knife Fight)
The Capitol Theater, New York City, 1968. (Photo: Rory Monteith collection)
Ad for advanced ticket sales. (Photo: Rory Monteith collection)
If I had to choose a favorite movie of all time, it would be a tie between 2001 and It’s a Wonderful Life. Over the holidays I went to see the Kubrick exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). There was a separate room dedicated to each of his movies. It was wicked.
2001‘s world premiere was on April 2, 1968 at the Uptown Theater in Washington, D.C. It premiered at the Capitol Theatre in New York City on April 3, 1968. The Capitol was demolished later that year.
(Images via Rory Monteith via Cinema Retro)
According to the seller (Beach Parking/eBay), these are from the estate of a Disney animator. It’s a shame we don’t know his/her name or the history of the drawings, because I find them pretty interesting. The basic storyline appears to be in place, but instead of the gorgeously gothic vision we ultimately (and thankfully) got, the artist here presents much cheerier (i.e. typical Disney) fare.
In place of the dreary, massive, cathedral-esque Cygnus, we have the rotund, smiley-faced New Cosmos. And instead of lobotomized zombie slaves, we have a perfectly jovial crew traipsing about the amenity-laden ship like so many Eloi.
The miracle of The Black Hole is that its darker elements were allowed to shine through. That’s a big reason I’m so fond of the film despite the mediocre script.
UPDATE (4/3/13): Please see AcroRay’s comment and link below. These sketches appear to be of prequel stories designed for educational media kits. The kits are, naturally, very rare. If anyone comes across one or has more info, please let me know.
Oh yeah. Rogue Synapse is working on a “functioning Starfighter cabinet” that will play like the one in the nerdtastic ’80s classic, The Last Starfighter. You can actually download and play the final version of the game here. I’ll be all over this when the kid goes to sleep tonight.
Thanks to Wil Wheaton for the heads up.
Happy Friday.
Yeah, I just bought it. Can you make out the shrink wrap surrounding the box, nerds? That’s right. It’s never been opened. I win.
Who the hell is going to play this with me, you ask? Not my wife, obviously. She won’t even let me buy a Winnebago.
There can be only one person, really. He knows who he is. Yes, I refer to friend J.
Friend J. is very probably not going to be happy about it, because friend J. isn’t big on kiddie board games based on a much maligned Disney movie that attempted to capitalize on Star Wars (irony abounds).
In other words, friend J. doesn’t share my obsession with The Black Hole. But that’s too bad. Because The Black Hole is awesome, and he’s going to play this awesome game with me.
There will be vodka.
“The story of a boy, a girl, and a universe”? What the shit does that mean? Just because the story takes place in the universe doesn’t mean the universe is part of the story. Unless the story is about the Big Bang, which it’s not. Maybe I’m being overly philosophical. My point is, what’s with all these creepy narrators ruining trailers for classic ’70s movies?
I do kind of dig the ambient strings in the background, but it’s way more Star Trek than Star Wars. Was the pompously awesome John Williams score not ready yet? Here’s a later trailer with the original music.
This is better. “No legendary adventure of the past could be as exciting as this romance of the future” is pretty lame, but the narrator is not as invasive, and there’s nothing about a boy-girl-universe love triangle.
Friend J. sent me the first clip. He’s hunting down more as we speak.
This movie is awesome and you should see it at least once before you die. It’s the semi-official Star Wars rip-off from Japan.
“I’m a human being from the planet Earth!”
(Source: Trash Trailers)
(Images largely via Dallas1200am’s Flickr, but a few shots are from Behind the Couch and Bloody Pit of Rod)
2 Warps to Neptune 