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Forum Rules Discussion › Channel › What do you want to see on SF? › Older, classic & foriegn SF perhaps?

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Older, classic & foriegn SF perhaps?

Started by Phase5 - Grumpy Old Man • 2y ago

Bearfax via website • 2y ago • Flag
Bearfax wrote:Sad thing is Luis W that A for Andromeda, which is available on DVD (I have a copy) has lost the majority of its film and the DVD relies greatly on stills with the audio in tact to tell its story...unless you know something I dont. The two Quatermass TV serials 2 and 3 are also good though not as good as the film versions. Anything produced in the 60's by Val Guest in Britain was superior fare. He was also the original writer the The Survivors story that is now in remake in the UK and was recently screened here. His earlier TV version I felt was superior to the well made series now on TV. Yes George Pal was an early special effects master the best being When Worlds Collide (being remade I understand). I think he was involved in the superior (for its time) Conquest of Space. As I earlier indicated there are a legion of great ideas from the masters of Sci Fi and Niven's Ring World series (hated the characters...loved the concepts) is an example of a story that with today's CGI could be brilliantly brought to the screen. His other masterpiece (with Jerry Pournelle) called The Mote in God's Eye is also ready made for the screen. But as I suggested many producers think they are great sci fi writers ..and they definitely are not in most cases...yet thats the fodder we now get.
My error. I believe Dr Who's Terry Nation wrote The Survivors but Guest produced the brilliant Sci Fi 'Day the Earth Caught Fire'
Bearfax via website • 2y ago • Flag
Further on George Pal (Gyorgy Pal Maczincsak to his mates), it is regretable that the US doesnt have such a innovative Sci Fi producer who uses good story lines from established Sci Fi writers. Just take a look at some of his Sci Films
Destination Moon
When Worlds Collide (he was intending to make a sequel to tell the whole story in the novel)
War of the Worlds
Naked Jungle (those nasty Marabunda ants upseting poor Charlton Heston)
Conquest of Space
Time Machine
Atlantis the lost continent
7 Faces of Dr Lao
The Power ( getting into the psychic realm..an earlier ..and better...Pusher)
Doc Savage

We could use him today eh
Phase5 - Grumpy Old Man via website • 2y ago • Flag
Bearfax wrote:Well raised Ph 5. I am also enamoured by many of the older Sci Fi films and TV series and even the serials of the 40's (yeh Commando Cody). I remember (now I'm showing my age) a friday night Channel 10 TV program called Deadly Earnest, a character in a zombie outfit and precursor to Elvira, who introduced a range of B and probably C rating sci fis and they became a tradition to watch at parties or on quiet spooky evenings. And some were dubbed non English productions. Who can forget the Japanese Sci Fis such as Godzilla, Mothra, Mysterians, Battle in Outer Space and Gamera. Then the European Journey to the End of the Universe, First Spaceship to Venus and Solaris. And of course the old favourites such as the Quatermass trilogy, 27th Day, War of the Worlds, Forbidden Planet, It came from outer space, It, the Terror from Beyond Space, It came from beneath the Sea,The Thing from Another World, Day of the Triffids, Day the Earth Stood Still, the original Invasion of the Bodysnatchers and Invaders from Mars, The Puppetmasters, Earth vs the Flying Saucers, the original King Kong, Journey to the Centre of Time, the original Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Beast from 20 thousand Fathoms, Millenium, Black Scorpion, Behemoth etc to name just a few. Cant we have one evening set aside for these tasty morsels....maybe a return to those spooky Friday nights



Believe it or not, but after years of searching I have actually managed to track down copies, (varying quality), of 99% of the films you just listed. All classic, all still exist and most in very good quality. Quiet a few from a friend in Canada who got them from a friend in Russia who fot them from friend in ........
Phase5 - Grumpy Old Man via website • 2y ago • Flag
Bearfax wrote:and Mon Capitan then there's; The Day the Earth Caught Fire, Mysterious Island, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Island at the Top of the World, Atlantis the Lost Continent, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Journey to the 7th Planet, First Men in the Moon, Last Man on Earth, Time Travellers, Eye creature, Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet, Farhenheit 451, Fantastic Voyage, Around the World under the Sea, Earth 2, Valley of Gwangi, When Worlds Collide, Red Planet Mars, Angry Red Planet, Conquest of Space, This Island Earth, Kronos, 20 Million Miles to Earth (The Ymir), The Blob, The Crawling Eye, X, On the Beach and who could forget Them Where are they all Mon Capitan. How is it very few have appeared on Pay TV in general let alone SciFi TV. They are legion and I've only scratched the surface. Give us back Deadly Earnest and Elvira to present some of these old treasures and possibly interspersed by 40's serials such as Commando Cody, Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, Dick Tracey and Jungle Girl. Bring back the fun sci fis.
Barring one or two titles, I've also managed to track down copies of these as well.
Legend films in the US has restored and added "digital colour"; (with the makers support); to a number of classic 50s SF. (Check out their website).

Always enjoyed "The Time Travellers" (1964) which last got a showing on Channel 10 over a 10 to 15 years ago. Forest J. Ackerman doing magic tricks, cat suits, and an ending that goes on forever. Literally. What more could you ask. (The remake was awful).

As for the 40s serials, check out TVS if you're in Sydney, they put them on quiet a bit. Most are available on DVD from the USA, having gone into the public domain. Always enjoyed the "Rocket Man" triology. A fight pack with a switch that has "up, down, left and right" controls. Classic.
Phase5 - Grumpy Old Man via website • 2y ago • Flag
Bearfax wrote:Further on George Pal (Gyorgy Pal Maczincsak to his mates), it is regretable that the US doesnt have such a innovative Sci Fi producer who uses good story lines from established Sci Fi writers. Just take a look at some of his Sci Films Destination Moon When Worlds Collide (he was intending to make a sequel to tell the whole story in the novel) War of the Worlds Naked Jungle (those nasty Marabunda ants upseting poor Charlton Heston) Conquest of Space Time Machine Atlantis the lost continent 7 Faces of Dr Lao The Power ( getting into the psychic realm..an earlier ..and better...Pusher) Doc Savage We could use him today eh



Grew up watching "The War Of The Worlds" every school holidays. Yes the programmers were that regular. (Plus "King Of Kings" on Good Friday). Because of where I lived, (the ABC and one commercial, both in those days closed at 10:30pm)), I didn't get to see "Destination Moon" until the late 70s, and even then i was still brilliant. If you can find a copy of the DVD "Fantasy Film Worlds Of George Pal" there's a "hidden extra" consisting of a 50 minute telecine recording of a promotional piece done for the film, showing most of the sets. It was all done in one big studio it seems.




And "Naked Jungle " freaked me out as a kid. SF that was but wasn't SF. Didn't sleep for a week after that one.
Bearfax via website • 2y ago • Flag
Viewers probably laugh at the special effects of some classic yesteryear SciFis now. But for a small lad (yes I was young once) I remember the classic THEM with the giant ants. In those days we often had the 'powder room' out side the house...they did that back then and a nice man used to come and pick up the toilet can and replace it with an empty one...great trying to see if he would trip with the load on his shoulder leaving the property...but back to THEM... I was so scared after seeing the film I wouldnt go outside to relieve myself because the noise the giant ants made sounded suspiciously like the sound various garden insects make and they were particularly abundant at night time many years ago. Had to have my parents escort me out......must have been about 25 at the time. Got so scared I used to close the windows in case they tried to get in. All very trying for a little boy. So dont dismiss the effect of a good SciFi of yesteryear.
yvett64 via website • 2y ago • Flag
Phase5 - Grumpy Old Man wrote:Just thought I'd mention it, as I don't expect my suggestion to go beyond this post. There is a huge amount of classic SF from the 50's & 60's both film and TV and not just from the USA out there that I think would make interesting viewing, for those who never seen it before, and for those who haven't seen it in a long, long time. It shouldn't just be Star/Trek/Gate and nothing made after 1990. A friend has sent me a box set of films by the Cech film amker Karel Zeman which are mostly SF, based on the works of Jules Verne and without big budgets or CGI are absolutely brilliant. Most made in the late 50s, through to about 1970. These are the sort of programming I'd personally like to see on SciFi. I know it probably won't happen because it's more about whats available then getting a specific title. Which is a pity. And don't start me on some the classic russian and "eastern block" SF films which only ever made it to the west as butchered dubbed versions. Some original prints of those would be great, except that they aren't in english, so they'd probably never be shown especially with subtitles. Anyway, just some thoughts.



I grew up watching these movies and reading Karel Capek's books and I loved it. Still do. You all have been so fortunate to grow up in this great country with so many opportunities and to have almost everything at your fingertips...I could have watched only what passed through a heavy communist censure of everything and everyone...still many of us found a way how to get a great scifi book or movie but it was rare and in different language. I got to watch Star trek for the first time in 90's, well known scifi books and shows became available to me only after we finally brought the communist system to its knees in 1989 ...anyway...if youre interested you can find the best of Zeman's movies on Youtube,many of them were translated to English because of US market (probably his best films are: The fabulous Baron Munchausen, On the Comet, The stolen airship, The fabulous world of Jules Verne, The deadly invention and Journey to the beginning of time)

Bearfax via website • 2y ago • Flag
Hmm you were from Eastern Europe maybe Yvette? Czech Republic perhaps or Slovakia? Perhaps Prague or Bruno? How close am I?
yvett64 via website • 2y ago • Flag
correct...on both :)

where do one say one was born if ones country is no more?...i was born in czechoslovakia but it ceased to exist...i lived/studied/worked in Prague (now Czech rep) and in Bratislava (now Slovakia)....btw we so hated the cold's war definition of eastern bloc...in geography some surveys claim that geographical point of europe is in central slovakia so we love to say we come from the heart of europe...i think all of it's pointless because we all have mixed nationality there and one day the whole world will be just one mixed race....:)

nice to see someone here recognizes that small part of europe...usually everyone i meet thinks slovakia is somewhere in yugoslavia :)
Bearfax via website • 2y ago • Flag
Some top SciFis came from that part of the world. I recall one as a teenager called Voyage to the End of the Universe where the ark like vessel was trying to get to what I think was identified as the Green Planet......turned out to be Earth (was well ahead of its time). I think one of my favourite scientists Milutin Milankovitch came from nearby Serbia. He was the scientist who developped the theory about the 100000 year Ice Age cycles we are presently in.
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