Aw, who cares? Let's see what 2000 AD was up to, thirty eight years and one month ago.
Looking at the cover of Prog 151 really does rub it in just how much 2000 AD based their version of the Stainless Steel Rat on James Coburn. It's much he didn't demand royalties.
Interesting that Prog 152 would appear to feature the arrival of Fiends of the Eastern Front, oft mentioned in the comments section of this blog but a strip that I still only recall very very vaguely.
Also interesting to see that the issue also launches a feature that will, week by week, list the ten greatest sci-fi movies of all time. It seems that this week's instalment is dedicated to Fritz Lang's Metropolis. Prog 153, meanwhile, concentrates on H.G. Wells' Things to Come. I approve of the inclusion of those films and do tend to lump both movies in together.
It does raise the question, though, of what I'd put on my own list of the Top Ten sci-fi movies of all time. Needless to say, Quatermass and the Pit, War of the Worlds, Forbidden Planet and Aliens would be on it. I have yet to decide what else would make it. As for you, should you feel so inclined, feel free to list your own Top Ten, in the comments section below.
I see the cover of Prog 153 features a reference to Satanus. Wasn't Satanus related to one of the dinosaurs in Flesh? If so, this officially makes Judge Dredd a sequel to that earlier strip. For some reason, this Marvelesque bout of universe building makes me feel strangely excited, even though I can think of no real reason why it should.
Borag thungg, Steve.
ReplyDeleteIf you never read war comics much, maybe that's why Fiends of the Eastern Front didn't register with you? At the time, despite being obviously zarjaz it did feel a bit old skool compared to the more cutting edge stuff like Dredd, like something from Battle given a twist to fit into 2000AD.
From today's perspective though, with genre mash-ups and vampires everywhere, Fiends now seems one of the most prescient series they ever published. Funny how that kind of thing can happen.
The tyrannosaur Satannus was cloned from Old One Eye of Flesh fame, but originally appeared earlier in Dredd, during the Cursed Earth storyline. Sorry if that spoils your strange feeling of excitement at world building.
Prog 150 does include the first appearance of Judge Anderson though, if that helps.
Don't eat the yellow snow.
-sean
Darn... Never read these nor do I know anything about them! But it is 50 and sunny in Chicago so something is really amiss.
ReplyDeleteI assumed the snow here was part of the "Russian" attack on the UK Charlie, but sun in Chicago does tend to point the finger of suspicion at your lot.
ReplyDelete-sean
"Nerve poison on his blade"? Unfortunately very topical at the moment :-(
ReplyDeleteMy Top Ten sf movies would be:
1. 2001: A Space Odyssey
2. Star Wars
3. Planet Of The Apes
4. Alien
5. Close Encounters Of The Third Kind
6. Blade Runner / Blade Runner 2049 double-bill ( yep, I'm cheating )
7. The Terminator
8. The Man Who Fell To Earth
9. Logan's Run ( guilty pleasure alert! )
10. Quatermass And The Pit
Of course, I've had to miss loads out to narrow it down to 10, but you get the idea...
An article by Mike Gold in Fantastic Films #15 (March 1980) said that the various 2000 A.D. strips existed more-or-less in a shared universe. The Volgon invasion was sometimes mentioned in other series, and Satannus was cloned from the son of Old One Eye from "Flesh." And Golgotha, son of Satannus, appeared in ABC Warriors.
ReplyDeleteJudge Dredd encountered Satannus in The Cursed Earth. IIUC, the "Blood of Satannus" story had a mad scientist creating mutant monsters by injecting humans with the dinosaur's blood. Or something.
2000 A.D., though, (AFAIK anyway) did not go in for frequent crossovers and team-ups the way Marvel and DC did.
Top Ten science fiction movies:
Forbidden Planet
Earth vs. the Flying Saucers
The Thing From Another World (1951)
War of the Worlds (1953)
The Conquest of Space
This Island Earth
Quatermass and the Pit (US: Five Million Years to Earth)
The Time Machine (1960)
and my guilty pleasures:
Destroy All Monsters
The Three Stooges In Orbit
TC and Sean, thanks for all the 2000 AD information.
ReplyDeleteTC and Cerebus, thanks for the Top Ten lists. I think I'd also add The Time Machine, The Thing From Another World and Planet of the Apes to my own list, in addition to the ones I mentioned in my post. I might also add the original Invaders From Mars as well.
Charlie, the warmest it's been here today has been 30 degrees Farenheit. Spring has definitely not yet sprung.
I hate doing top 10 lists. They change as often as the wind blows. But the following would on there most days:
ReplyDeleteStar Wars
Star Crash
Battle beyond the Stars
10th Victim
Metropolis
Ask me again tomorrow
Some sci-fi classics not yet mentioned:
ReplyDeleteThings To Come (1936)
When Worlds Collide
The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951)
Silent Running
Barbarella
E.T.
I'd also recommend the 2002 version of The Time Machine (a very under-rated film in my opinion) and War For The Planet Of The Apes (2017).
I'm very, very suspicious too!
ReplyDeleteHey - Just curious if you Sci Fi guys liked Invasion of the Body Snatchers and the original Night of the Living Dead?
I know Night of the Living Dead is all the rage in its "Walking Dead" incarnation. But when I first saw it as a young teen, in the early 1970s, on a quiet Saturday Night... Man did that thing get my attention!
And Sutherland's response at the end of I of the BS... Man if that didn't stick in my head too!
Sean - it's a Russian Plot! We caught them seeding the clouds in the Bering Sea back in the 70s and we had horrible weather that year. I mean, what else would cause bad weather in the free world but Ruskie intervention. Next thing you know they'll start flying their jets further to the south to drag the dreaded jet stream lower and freeze us all.
I also have to add the Amazing Colossal Man. It's one of those "atomic bomb" sci-fi films that popped up like mushrooms in the 1950s. But there's something about it that is near and dear to my heart. Well I guess it would be considered sci fi or no?
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of mushrooms, how about Attack of the Mushroom People? I always missed it when it was on late night tv when I was a kid. Finally got it on DVD ten years ago. It's a lot of fun.
DeleteCharlie, how could we have forgotten Invasion Of The Body Snatchers ?? Both the 1956 original and the 1978 remake are classics.
ReplyDeleteOops, I just noticed you already mentioned Things To Come, Steve - I must pay more attention :)
ReplyDeleteNo love for Zardoz? Huh, kids these days...
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of interconnectedness of 2000AD strips, there was an episode in the "Nemesis" strip where his son (whose name escapes me) drew a Mega City One judge through the time stream with a view to eating him or somesuch.
I love Zardoz, but it wouldn't be in my top ten. Wonder how they talked Sean Connery into running around in a red diaper.
DeleteThe Incredible Shrinking Man
ReplyDeleteThem!
The Beast From 40,000 Fathoms
20,000 Leagues Under The Sea
The Land That Time Forgot
Land That Time Forgot! Yeah! Great performances by Doug McClure and the guy that played the Nazi u-boat captain. Made up for the cheap practical effects.
DeleteSteve, Colin, Sean, Et al.! I been listening to Talk Sport from the U.K. (those two guys are pretty funny) and they said "the beast from the east" has left!!! Sounds like it will be Bermuda shorts and Margaritas for you chaps this weekend! Party On Garth! LOL
ReplyDeleteIf Talksport are saying the weather's going to get warmer, I'm investing in a new duvet. Their news reporting's the shoddiest I've ever heard on a professional broadcaster.
ReplyDeleteWho were the presenters? Judging by the time your comment was posted, I'm assuming it was Danny Kelly and Darren Gough. Danny Kelly's OK, even if his knowledge of British geography is terrifyingly lacking.
You folks listed so many good titles that would be on anyone's top ten. If I would throw out a list of films without repeating titles it would be:
ReplyDeleteA Clockwork Orange
Slaughter House Five
Last Man on Earth
The Blob
Day of The Triffids
Re-Animator
Westworld
Space Amoeba
Soylet Green
The Incredible Melting Man (now THAT'S a guilty pleasure!)
The Star Trek films!
ReplyDeleteCome on Charlie, its a US plot - every one knows the Americans are the only people that have the technology to launch an attack using the weather www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Frequency_Active_Auroral_Research_Program
ReplyDelete(Although I just read the cops investigating the Salisbury case have impounded a vehicle near Stonehenge - if its sorcery, then it could be anyone)
None of that changes the fact that the best sf film ever was Russian, Stalker.
The Japanese flick Tetsuo The Iron Man is great too; even though its dated - the fx were low budget at the time - its still a bit of an eye opener if you haven't seen it (currently complete on YouTube)
Killdumpster, good call on Soylent Green. American sf cinema peaked with the Heston trilogy - Planet of the Apes, Soylent Green and the Omega Man. Its been downhill ever since. I blame George Lucas.
Fun fact: the script for The Land that Time Forgot was by the mighty Michael Moorcock.
Steve - Danny Kelly is not ok. He's a Spurs man.
-sean
C'mon gents!
ReplyDeleteTalk Sport is the greatest UK innovation to flood the internet and reach the shores of the US of A! My daughter has been seeing a fellow from Manchester. He visited a few weeks ago and turned me on to Hawksbee and Jacobs. For sports talk, I thought they were pretty decent and had a bit of moxy about them!
Sean - the only plot going on here is figuring out how to get the orange-haired Cheetos to stifle himself.
You guys - I just can't believe how you have neglected the whole beginning of sci-fi film from the whole atomic bomb scare in the 50s!!! Kronos was par excellence! The Amazing Colossal Man! You've mentioned "The Day the Earth Stood Still!" which was superb. The others can be seen on Youtube.
Speaking of A-bombs (well, at least I was) you have to watch "The Day After" on youtube. The most-watched American TV movie of all time from 1983.
I would say that Hawksbee and Jacobs is easily the best show on Talksport.
ReplyDeleteThe Day After was shown on British TV at the time. By one of those strange coincidences, there was also a British TV movie about the same subject that was made and broadcast at the same time. It was called Threads and shot in Sheffield. It took advantage of the fact that the city already looked like it had suffered a nuclear attack and therefore not much work needed to be done to make it look convincing.
Steve-
DeleteDidn't The Day After get a theatrical release in Europe a long time ago? It was quite a thought provoking post-apocalyptic film, being so realistic.
With so many sub-genres in science fiction the best way to do top ten lists would be to give each one a list. My DVD library is categorized like alien invasions, Esp, mutations,ect. Then many more titles would get their due.
I don't remember The Day After getting a cinematic release but it's possible. It wasn't unknown for American TV shows to get a cinema airing back then. Duel got one and so did the first few episodes of Spider-Man, The Hulk, Battlestar Galactica and Buck Rogers.
ReplyDeleteIs Duel an early 70s TV movie where a semi truck is chasing a car around? If so I remember stumbling across it on tv and next thing I know the whole family comes into the tv room as is mesmerized! If not, anyone know the movie I'm referring to? It was really thrilling at the time! Have to find it to watch with my son!
ReplyDeleteI think we need to show Day After again in the USA. Too many folks I meet think Bonespur is on the right path threatening to nuke North Korea. On the other hand that segment of the population will probably just load up on more guns to prepare for the Apocalypse. Sigh... What's a peace-loving Charlie Horse to do?
ReplyDeleteYeah, DUEL was one of Spielberg's earliest works. starred Dennis Weaver.
DeleteWe talked about it for weeks. Got into a debate with a ditzy barmaid who thought the Dennis Weaver character was "dreaming" the truck driver was after him. I gave up
DeleteIt was indeed that movie. I also remember lots of its footage being inserted into an episode of The Hulk, like great chunks of This Island Earth were inserted into an episode of Wonder Woman.
ReplyDeleteCharlie H47-
DeleteI recommend WHEELS OF TERROR. 2 guys (you never see'em) in a black primered Challenger go on a murderous rampage in a small desert town. A female ex-racer driving a short school bus with a performance engine sees the creeps kidnap her daughter. Great chase suspense. Definitely DUEL inspired.
Gents! "Duel" is on youtube and in great quality! I don't need to go to the library to get a DVD! Unlike The Day After whose quality on youtube was poor. I can't wait til my son gets back from university to watch this thing again... after 45 years!
ReplyDeleteI'll look for Wheels of Terror too, KD!
And Kronos! That movie I haven't seen in like 50 years, LOL!
Not that I would sit around watching TV with my son but poor kid has influenza, bronchitis, and been quarantined by the Uni for a week!
Can you stalwart fans of 70s movies help me with this one?
ReplyDeleteSaw it in the earlier 1970s and it is set in the 70s. It has to to with a group of well-off teenage boys vandalizing the neighborhood. Towards the end they throw a brink through a window and hit the black house maid in the head at the house of a dad who was trying to get them to change their behavior. That sparks the revenge of the white father. I vaguely recall him smashing the head punk's mailbox with a baseball bat and then lighting his car (?) on fire? All the while the Dad is screaming aloud something like "Hey Chandler! How do you like that Chandler!" Ole Chandler kind of looks out the window watching his car burn?
Sean-
ReplyDeleteThough might almost agree with your observations about American sci-fi, thank goodness it may have went "downhill". If it didn't we maynot have gotten the exquisite cheesiness of DAMNATION ALLEY, ALIEN FACTOR, LASERBLAST, ect.
I personally eat grade-z films with a snow-shovel.
Plus, in my opinion, OMEGA MAN is a shadow of Vincent Price's LAST MAN ON EARTH.
Sorry, Charlie, I don't have a clue what that film is.
ReplyDeleteI don't know that one either.
DeleteGents - I can't believe it! I put in this ridiculously long google search the movie is "Outrage!" It was a made-for-TV movie that was in 1973 with Robert Culp! Gets 7.5 out of 10 on IMDB for what that's worth, lol! And, it's on Youtube. Now if someone could somehow tell me how to get a nice, sharp picture of all these films on Youtube. All are a bit fuzzy.
ReplyDeleteI know Metropolis is considered a sci-fi classic but has anybody actually watched it? A silent film made in 1927 (the same year my late father was born) is rather hard-going nowadays. Perhaps it's time for a remake - or is that heresy?
ReplyDeleteI've viewed it a couple times. Great etc for the time plus thoughtful social observations. Think it had a re-release decades ago with a rock/pop soundtrack. I think Adam Ant was on it!
ReplyDeleteI've seen it a couple of times, although not for a long time. It's the sort of thing that I think you watch from curiosity, rather than because it's actually entertaining. It is, however, very impressive, for such an old film.
ReplyDeleteI've never seen the rocked-up version.
Colin-I concur Metropolis is worth a look!
ReplyDeleteCharlie H47-
DeleteRobert Culp rules!
Charlie H47-
DeleteSaw on YouTube that there's Wheels of Terror in "supposed" good quality. And the car is a Charger, not Challenger. Got Challengers on the brain cuz I'm thinking about buying a new one.
This is the colourized version of Metropolis that everyone is on about, with the Georgio Moroder soundtrack? They should have left it alone.
ReplyDeleteHaven't seen Last Man on Earth, Killdumpster. Damnation Alley isn't really my cup of cheesiness either.
I might modify my comment about sf films since the early 70s though, as I watched Starship Troopers on the tv last night and rather enjoyed it.
Ghosts of Mars was on after which was disappointing, but thinking about John Carpenter reminded me of The Thing and the brilliant They Live.
-sean
Sean-
DeleteLast Man on Earth was the first filmed version of I AM LEGEND, The second one was OMEGA Man. Though I love Chuck Heston, Vincent Price's performance blows him out of the water. The film's antagonists are more threatening also. The vampire zombies inspired Romero's NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. It was an american/French production, an a staple here in the states on late night tv. It's available on budget dvds and collections. I HIGHLY recommend.
I can understand your unappreciation of DAMNATION ALLEY,but like I said, I love grade-z films.
Anyway,I truly recommend LAST MAN ON EARTH. If you view it, let me now what you think.
Now I'm going to pop in LAST MAN ON EARTH in the player when I get off work. Maybe doubled-billed with DAMNATION ALLEY.LOL! (After a couple of pints, tho.)
DeleteKD - I was watching the "good quality" of Wheels of Terror. It's a bit fuzzy on the PC. Probably more so on the television. But, what is one to do?
ReplyDeleteI'm really wanting to see Amazing Colossal Man again. When he's like 25 feet tall, in a diaper, in the big tent, eating food by the truck load, chatting to his girlfriend... it's just marvelous!
Sean-
ReplyDeleteI love THEY LIVE, but the one thing that may stop it from being "brilliant" is the pro-wrestling style fight scenes. Other than that,story,effects, Meg Ryan (what a gorgeous woman), and even Piper's dramatic performance make it memorable.
Charley H47-
DeleteI "could" hookup a copy for you, but I don't know what Steve's rules are about exchanging e-mail addresses on his site. I wouldn't want to get blocked, I dig rapping with you guys.
Sorry. Sean. I meant Meg FOSTER. The pints ate kicking in.
ReplyDeleteTrue enough about the wrestling in They Live, but I still like it all the same.
ReplyDeleteSlipping from strong opening concept into predictable action is a bit of a John Carpenter signature now I come to think about it. Like with Escape From New York.
-sean
Killdumpster, you're perfectly free to post your email address on here. However, if you're going to do it, I strongly recommend you create a new brand email address in order to do it and that you spell it out, rather than posting it in its literal form. For instance, write "at" instead of "@" and write "dot com," instead of ".com".
ReplyDeleteThe reason for this is that if you write the address in its proper form, any bots that visit this site will spot that it's an email address and, at best, it'll get spammed to death by them. At worst, they could try to hack it. If you look at the way my own email address is written in this site's sidebar, it's an example of how to write it so that bots won't recognise it.
Ah, very good. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteHi KD - Thanks for the offer but I'll just YouTube it! It's "good enough " just not great, like lots of stuff copied on YouTube.
ReplyDeleteDude! Where's that Thursday post? Yer killin me... lol!
ReplyDelete