Sci fi documentary (Tomorrow's Worlds, BBC)

[Jo Zebedee]

starting on BBC2 tonight for the UK peeps at 9.45. It looks good, exploring the genre, its roots, tropes and icons.

 

[Venusian Broon]

I quite enjoyed that Springs. Didn't tell me too much that I didn't already know, but still very nice. Three more episodes I think. On series record definitely.

I'm also recording the 'red button' stuff at the moment - looks like loads of the actor/writer/film maker interviews all strung together. Will see that later.

This is a bit late to point out in trying to get word of this out to peeps, but talking about documentaries on literary works - supernatural horror in this case - I see there is Room 237 on 'the unusual theories some obsessive fans have attributed to Stanley Kubrick's classic horror movie The Shining.' on Film 4 at half midnight this Sunday morning (so about an hour after I've edited this!).

That's definitely on record as well.

Will probably need to delete stuff off my YouView Harddrive to make sure I've still got space on it pretty soon...

 

[Ursa major]

When it started with Star Wars, my heart fell a little, but that was merely a device to link the writer/presenter to the genre and we at least visited earlier works and other media. I'll probably tune in next week.


By the way, I thought it was (slightly) ironic that the clip from Star Trek used to show (reasonably accurately) that Kirk (and by implication, Star Fleet) had a "19th century view" of their mission (bringing civilisation to the wider galaxy) was from an episode** whose main message was that humans (and Klingons) are far from being the peak of civilisation in our galaxy. In fact, the out-in-the-open way Kirk addresses the aliens is designed to help convey that message to the viewers, by highlighting the contrast between Kirk's assumptions and reality.


** - And it isn't the only episode to convey that message.

 

[Venusian Broon]

Ursa - Yes, I was a little worried it would be too focused on the telly and film side of SF - some of which is of course excellent, but it was always the books and the written word that did and still attract me to SF.



p.s. Room 237 - ended up watching it last night. Now either its a bunch of people who have taken this film way too seriously, or perhaps Stanley Kubrick did in fact litter it with paradoxes, clues and hints to utterly disturb and terrify us. After watching this alone, in the dark in the quiet after midnight, my animal mind had definitely decided that it was utterly spooked and drenched in fear- as I refused to look into any mirror in the house* when I got up to empty my bladder but...absolutely loved this documentary**! Makes me want to 'research' The Shining more now.

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* When I get afflicted and get the 'fear' I get the irrational thought that when I look into a mirror the reflection will have more than I'm expecting in it. There will be other things, crazy distortions, faces over my shoulder leering at me.... You know, that sort of stuff!

** As I do like terrifying myself. Doesn't happen that often with film and television, so I find that I'm drawn to it when it does.

 

[wam]

p.s. Room 237 - ended up watching it last night. Now either its a bunch of people who have taken this film way too seriously, or perhaps Stanley Kubrick did in fact litter it with paradoxes, clues and hints to utterly disturb and terrify us. After watching this alone, in the dark in the quiet after midnight, my animal mind had definitely decided that it was utterly spooked and drenched in fear- as I refused to look into any mirror in the house* when I got up to empty my bladder but...absolutely loved this documentary**! Makes me want to 'research' The Shining more now.

A truly silly movie (Room 237) . There seems to be stuff in there that the obsessives haven't got right. They say something happens but the clip doesn't show it on a couple of occasions. I suppose that's what you get with blu-ray. People who search every individual frame for evidence of their personal obsession. At least none of them were diametrically opposed. If that had happened and they'd shown the speakers it could have been really hilarious.

 

[wam]

starting on BBC2 tonight for the UK peeps at 9.45. It looks good, exploring the genre, its roots, tropes and icons.

Trouble with such things is that, as usual, they bring out the cliches and the usual suspects. For a British show, it relies an awful lot on US product. Maybe that's down to the age of the presenter but I suspect they're going for export. At least, I didn't spot any real mistakes this time.

 

[Venusian Broon]

A truly silly movie (Room 237) . There seems to be stuff in there that the obsessives haven't got right. They say something happens but the clip doesn't show it on a couple of occasions. I suppose that's what you get with blu-ray. People who search every individual frame for evidence of their personal obsession. At least none of them were diametrically opposed. If that had happened and they'd shown the speakers it could have been really hilarious.

I think your being a little unkind to the documentary - I assumed it was a study of the obsessives that have pulled apart the movie pixel by pixel and have been reading far too much into it. Not sure what clips you meant, please tell us! Seeing them try and attach their theories to the weakest of evidence is all part of the fun I find.

I don't think you can be 'diametrically' opposed when debating the Shining film - these people would tend to say that Kubrick deliberately 'layered his movie with different meanings on all levels.' i.e. my reading and probably everyone else's reading of it is valid!

The 'Kubric faked the moon landings' guy was hilarious. He latched onto anything to 'prove' his theory. I liked the bit when he's describing the key to room 237 which had ROOM No written above the number. He tells us solemnly that that you could also, from the capital letters alone derive the word 'MOON'. So 237 was the Moon Room. ROOM N also makes another word 'Moron'. I wonder what we can derive from that astounding connection

EDIT - oh, if you mean the 'face in the clouds one'. Yep I didn't see a thing. Just lots of clouds...

 

[chopper]

did you also catch the mini-docs on the red button, from the Geek Syndicate podcast guys? full of love for the genre

 

[Fried Egg]

...The Unearthly History of Science fiction

Has anyone been watching this series on BBC?

It's a four part series witch each episode focusing on a different theme. Space, Aliens, Robots & Time.

I've quite enjoyed it although I think it has probably placed too much emphasis on film/tv rather than book and some real glaring omissions when they're tracing the timelines of particular sub-themes. But all in all, not bad.

 

[HareBrain]

There is already a thread on this series, Fried Egg. I'll merge this into that. (Also changed title so it's clear which series it's about.)

 

[wam]

The problem with this series was the limitations. There's a concentration on particular movies and TV shows to the point that they try to shoehorn particular ones into slots they don't belong in and ignore others that would have fitted the slot better. Even the odd books don't always belong in the slot. As an example, the last episode is listed as Time and approaches the subject, initially, as Time Travel. Then it brings in Ballard on High-Rise. Although this could be taken as Dystopian Future, it was only barely futurist at the time and, since it has never been filmed, they work with old Ballard interview pieces. Then they add in "Blade Runner". They've already put this in a previous episode and don't really have anything to add. "Time-Traveller's Wife" get's an interview with Niffenegger and no film-clip. This is the only version of the Time Travel Romance that was so popular for a while among the non-SF genre folk. Digging a little more they could have found "The Lake House" or "Quest for Love" (Wyndham, Alternate World). Surprising omissions include "Slaughterhouse 5", "Planet of the Apes", or the TV show "Goodnight Sweetheart". I expect they couldn't get the clips for the first two and the latter had no profile outside the UK (it still has the highest recorded viewing figures for any SF show in this country). Oddly, the segment they put in on Phillip K Dick in the last show does not include anything that really relates to the stated subject. "Minority Report" and "Flow my tears..." would have worked but weren't mentioned even in the cover gallery.

 

[M. Robert Gibson]

In case anyone missed this first time around, it is being repeated tonight at 8pm on BBC4 Space, Tomorrow's Worlds: The Unearthly History of Science Fiction - BBC Two