One hundred years in the future, a star with its own planetary system passes near Earth. Four of its five planets are gas giants, but the fifth, dubbed Achilles, is Earth-sized and evidently Earth-like. Two expeditions, one Russian, one American, set out for Achilles, where they discover endless swards of grass and long, shallow lakes. Then things get weird. In fact, it's all a little weird from the beginning. Written by astrophysicist Fred Hoyle and his novelist son Geoffrey, this book doesn't read like any ordinary science fiction novel. This is a good thing: it's different and it suits the subject matter. It has the deliberateness of the scientific mind and also its leaps forward, as well as its odd digressions. In a way, its characters are digressions. They aren't quite colorless, yet they aren't quite what one would expect in a science fiction novel, either. The astronauts, for example, are strangely laid-back, largely unmoved by the momentousness of exploring a new, living world. And then there's the hero of the story. He isn't one of the astronauts; he isn't even on the trip. And he's happy about it. This is because his wife's lover is on the trip, and he's looking forward to having her all to himself for awhile. Find another science fiction book with a cuckold as the hero. There aren't many. Though its doubtful that any of this was intentionally designed this way, it all dovetails to give this book a slightly off-kilter feel that keeps it surprising -- and eerie, once the explorers begin to realize there's more to Achilles than grass and water.
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One hundred years in the future, a star with its own planetary system passes near Earth. Four of its five planets are gas giants, but the fifth, dubbed Achilles, is Earth-sized and evidently Earth-like. Two expeditions, one Russian, one American, set out for Achilles, where they discover endless swards of grass and long, shallow lakes. Then things get weird. In fact, it's all a little weird from the beginning. Written by astrophysicist Fred Hoyle and his novelist son Geoffrey, this book doesn't read like any ordinary science fiction novel. This is a good thing: it's different and it suits the subject matter. It has the deliberateness of the scientific mind and also its leaps forward, as well as its odd digressions. In a way, its characters are digressions. They aren't quite colorless, yet they aren't quite what one would expect in a science fiction novel, either. The astronauts, for example, are strangely laid-back, largely unmoved by the momentousness of exploring a new, living world. And then there's the hero of the story. He isn't one of the astronauts; he isn't even on the trip. And he's happy about it. This is because his wife's lover is on the trip, and he's looking forward to having her all to himself for awhile. Find another science fiction book with a cuckold as the hero. There aren't many. Though its doubtful that any of this was intentionally designed this way, it all dovetails to give this book a slightly off-kilter feel that keeps it surprising -- and eerie, once the explorers begin to realize there's more to Achilles than grass and water.
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*** This movie about time travel has its own peculiar timeline. Evidently author John Varley based a screenplay on his short story "Air Raid" then wrote a novel based on the screenplay, fixing it so that the movie is technically based on the story while the events of the film in fact mirror those in the novel. So perhaps it's fair to say that this film is not a poor adaptation of the book, but that the book is an excellent adaptation of the film. Either way, of the three -- story, book, and film -- the movie is the least entertaining. That said, this is an okay adventure about what happens when a woman from the future whose job it is to snatch passengers from doomed airliners meets the NTSB man investigating the mid-air collision of two passenger jets. When a weapon from the future is lost aboard one of the jets, it sets up a potential paradox that could -- not to put too fine a point on it -- destroy all humanity. It's this story, with its shifts in point of view from the man (Kris Kristofferson) to the woman (Cheryl Ladd), that keeps the movie interesting; everything else just holds it back. Michael Anderson proves that the triumph of Logan's Run was in its production design rather than his direction, while production designer Rene Ohashi probably wished he had a bunch of pretty domes to create rather than an ugly, claustrophobic world of dying men, women, and human-machine hybrids. Then, too, both Kristofferson and Ladd do their part to keep this vehicle strictly in the middle of the road. Ripe for an expensive remake, based on the book. ** Less than thrilling account of spacefarer Olof Carlsen battling alien energy vampires who can move from one body to another. After an early encounter with one such creature, in the body of a beautiful woman, Carlsen finds himself psychically linked to her, with new powers of his own to drain the energy of others as well as read their minds, using his abilities principally to cheat on his wife. Perhaps it's not as bad as all that, but this is a slow-mover that talks a good game -- linking criminality (particularly in the sexual arena) to vampirism -- but fails to demonstrate it with any meaningful action. The book, says Wilson, is "indebted" to A. E. van Vogt's short story "Asylum." Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) directed the adaptation in 1985 as Lifeforce. ** Burton's adaptation of "a novel" by Pierre Boulle, and his de facto reimagining of the 1968 film starring Charleton Heston. Here, Mark Wahlberg, an astronaut who trains monkeys to serve as canaries in deep space coal mines, follows one of his simian charges into an electromagnetic storm and is transported to a planet ruled by apes. With one exception, that planet is virtually the sole point of contact between this film and its progenitors. But the exception is important. Like the book, Burton's apes do ape-like things: they swing from trees and other handy outcroppings, sniff each other, display during sexual encounters, and so on. Indeed, Burton is so enamored with the behavior of his apes that nothing else seems to matter; he directs as if he is the chimpanzee counterpart of Miss Manners. Oh, and this time, the humans talk (making their subjugation much more difficult to understand). Indicative of the shallowness of the characters is that Estella Warren, with the power of speech, is much less interesting or affecting than Linda Harrison was in the original film, playing her counterpart. A would-be bomb that nevertheless has good special effects and a few funny lines. *** Another largely emotionless atomic age disaster movie, this time with flying saucers wreaking havoc on Washington and scientist Hugh Marlowe in charge of developing a weapon to defeat them. More ambitious, however, than most of its kind: along with the destruction of American landmarks, we see the ships inside and out, in flight and on the ground; mobile aliens in suits and one without its helmet; energy fields and death rays -- all admirably executed by Ray Harryhausen, whose stop-motion saucers are a highlight. Genuine science fiction, without the usual horror trappings. It's a pity the characters are so bland. Suggested by Donald Keyhoe's book Flying Saucers From Outer Space. ** Dr. Zarkov (Chaim Topol) blasts off with quarterback Flash Gordon (Sam J. Jones) and travel writer Dale Arden (Melody Anderson) to the planet Mongo to do battle with Earth's would-be destroyer Ming the Merciless (Max von Sydow). Laudably based on an actual storyline from the Flash Gordon comic strip (the very first storyline, as a matter of fact), but misguided in every other respect, this film features a Playgirl centerfold as Flash and a script that vacillates randomly between action-adventure and farce, only rarely succeeding at either. Tries hard to look like a comic strip without bothering to treat this particular strip with any respect. With Ornella Muti as a pretty Princess Aura, Timothy Dalton as the dashing Prince Barin, and Brian Blessed as the yells-every-line-of-dialogue leader of the Hawkmen, Prince Vultan. Music by Queen. ** Koontz shoots his wad with the ominous first half of this science fiction novel about a beautiful young woman who finds herself trapped in her own home, held prisoner by a sentient computer, the "enviromod" that runs the entire house. Degenerates rapidly thereafter as Koontz gives increasingly more time to the computer itself and its adolescent desire for sex and procreation. Made into a film in 1977 starring Julie Christie, and rewritten by the author in 1997 as entirely from the computer's point of view. ** Set 10 years after the events of Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Dawn opens with men and apes coexisting by staying out of each other’s way. But with his fuel stockpile running out and in desperate need of power for his city, human Malcolm (Jason Clarke) leads a small team into ape Caesar’s (Andy Serkis) forest home to ask permission to repair a hydroelectric dam. Nuts in each camp — led by Koba (Toby Kebbell) in the ape enclave and Dreyfus (Gary Oldman) in Zone 2, the human city — would rather wipe out the other side and be done with it. Frankly amazing ape effects that are so real they rarely amaze lay bare an all-too-conventional story of enemies learning to respect and care for each other. A movie with no surprises and little to delight the audience (other than a cute scene with a baby ape). And, in spite of the bad guys of both species understanding “human” nature better than their peace-loving leaders, no irony or satire either. Less a science fiction film than a slow-starting action movie, but well made. ** Hyperactive science fiction with Arnold Schwarzenegger as Earth-bound construction worker discovering he used to be Mars-based secret agent, going up against the evil forces that wiped his memory. The set-up, on Earth, is simple and effective enough, but the pay-off, on Mars, is a cluttered and noisy mess, as screenwriters Ronald Shusett, Dan O'Bannon, and Gary Goldman burden the story with psychic mutants, alien artifacts, and an awfully convenient hologram projector to fill in the occasional gaps between bursts of gunfire. All action, no suspense. With Sharon Stone as Arnold's Earth wife, Rachel Ticotin as his Mars girlfriend, and Ronny Cox and Michael Ironside as the bad guys. Based on Philip K. Dick's story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale." **** Jack the Ripper (David Warner) resurfaces in London in 1893 and escapes through time in a machine built by H. G. Wells (Malcolm McDowell); Wells pursues him to 1979 San Francisco, where he falls in love with bank employee Amy Robbins (Mary Steenburgen). Thoroughly enjoyable science fantasy that may not make a lot of sense (what time travel story does?) but compensates nicely with vigorous script, engaging characters, and noteworthy performances, especially by McDowell and Steenburgen. Lets Jack be Jack and picks up Wells before he began writing his famous novels, making of him a much more palatable man (one might have expected him to be wearingly wise) whose naivete in the face of 20th century violence connects well with the pessimism in real life works like The Time Machine. Based on Karl Alexander's at-that-time-unfinished novel of the same name. |
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