04/05/’11

Stop raping my childhood you bastards!

Some (and by that I mean one or two only) are films that I think could do with being remade, but the vast majority of the films that follow I simply cannot understand why they would need remaking.

I do understand some of the motivations for Hollywood to remake films – lapsing of copyright on the originating materials being chief among them – but is it really expecting too much from the leading producer of western cinematic product to give us some originality?
If the films fail at the box office at least they would have tried, rather than having a lacklustre attempt at regaining the fever (or otherwise) that greeted the original.
Anyway, on with the list, and in no particular order …

Sci-Fi Films of 2011 – What I Want to See

I haven’t ever really done this before, so why not give it a go now?
Well, why not indeed, so here’s a list of science fiction (or at least sci-fi tinged) films I’d like to see this year.
There may be more that crop up along the way, but for the moment these are the ones right now that I’m keen to view.

My Films of 2010

My annual tradition of posting all the films I’ve seen in the past 12 months rolls around once again.

I initially planned to systematically work my way through the BFI’s top 100 films, but after an abortive start to that I quickly realised that there were other films I’d much rather be watching, so I concentrated on those instead.

Highlights of the year included Transsiberian, Stalker, Kick-Ass and Sunshine Cleaning.
Lowlights were The Human Centipede , Paranormal Activity and Avatar.
Special mention this year goes to TRON : Legacy for possibly bridging the longest gap between original film and sequel in Hollywood history – I also enjoyed it very much, and Jackie Chan, for making so many enjoyable films.

I’d kinda also like to thank Film4 for showing the first ten Star Trek films back-to-back over the course of two nights.
That was a fun couple of evenings spent on Twiter whilst watching the films.

I seem to say this every year, but I’d like to see more science fiction films in 2011 than I did in 2010, though once again personal circumstances conspire against me in my quest to watch more films at the cinema, but we’ll see how that goes as the year moves along.

Follow the link below to get to the film listings for 2010.
Happy New Year to everyone everywhere.

How to Regenerate a Time Lord

Thanks to BBCAmerica for informing me that today is The Doctor’s 47th Birthday.

In 1966, William Hartnell stepped down from the lead role in the beloved science fiction series, ‘Doctor Who’. Rather than simply recast the part, the production team came up with a solution that would ensure the series would run for years to come.

The Changing Face of Doctor Who

Here’s to another 47 years.
Happy Birthday, Doctor Who.

Film 2010

Has anyone seen this?
I had the misfortune to see last nights show and it was truly awful.
The host hardly said anything, it was all down to some other person in the rather one-sided conversation to come up with the ‘insights’ and when the host did get a turn to speak the most interesting thing to come out of her mouth was “I agree”.
I mean, WTF?!?
There was hardly any commentary to camera and what there was was just introducing a taped interview.
I’ve been a fan of this show since I was young. Barry Norman an Jonathan Ross presented the show really well, but after last nights performance I could happily never watch it again.
What a shame.
(8+(

The Guardian’s top 25 Sci-Fi & Fantasy Films

For the past week or so the Guardian has been running a series of film lists, running down the top 25 in specific genres.
The science fiction and fantasy top 25 was posted today, and I have issues with it.

Random Musing

What would happen if the TARDIS went through a Stargate?
Can you have a stable wormhole inside another stable wormhole?
Would the world end, again, twice?

These questions keep me awake at night.

Doctor Who : Season 32 [news roundup]

This is just a small collection of news tidbits and rumours from around the web.
Some may be spoilers, some may be conjecture and fan wishlists.
I make no apologies for the veracity (or otherwise) of these comments.
So what do we ‘know’ so far?
The season will be split in two, taking a summer break to return in the autumn.
The Sun reported that Amy Pond will be the big cliffhanger to the first part of the season, but then The Sun has probably reported on the death of every main character since RTD brought the show back.
We’ll find out just who River Song is.
River Song could actually be Amy Pond.
Amy Pond could be River’s and The Doctor’s child.
Neil Gaiman has written an episode.
Let me just say that again … Neil Gaiman has written an episode.

So, is there anything that I’ve missed?
If so leave a message in the comment section below.

Blake’s 7 Remake Scrapped

Sky1 has abandoned it’s plans to bring back Blake’s 7, according to the Media Guardian and other news outlets.
The Media Guardian quotes “Following the development process we have decided not to produce Blake’s 7. However, Sky continues to invest heavily in original drama and it remains at the heart of our plans,” said a spokeswoman for Sky1. “We have just announced an extended run for the second series of Chris Ryan’s Strike Back and we’ll soon be unveiling a new long-running series for prime time.”

This both saddens me as well as cheers me.
This is quite possibly my all-time favourite science fiction TV show, and as such I wouldn’t like it to make a come-back and be derided. It also means I’ll not see an inferior version of the greatest space ship design ever (in my opinion).
It saddens me because it means the door has now closed – for the time being – on any possible greatness that a remake could have achieved – think the recent “re-imagining” of Battlestar Galactica.

I do still hope that this show will one day make a triumphant come-back and be as much loved again as the recent Doctor Who is now. I guess I’ll just have to wait a little bit longer.