The next big stop in the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book as I return to the Historical chapter, is Peckinpah’s ultra-violent, wonderfully bloody take on the Hollywood Western. A group of professional outlaws out of step and out of time looking for one last score find themselves fatally wandering the line between…
Tag: 1969
Doctor Who (Matt Smith) – The Impossible Astronaut, and Day of the Moon
Astronauts, the Silence, the Doctor’s (Smith) death, and some tons of temporal shenanigans launch the sixth series of Doctor Who with The Impossible Astronaut. The episode was written by Steven Moffat and first aired on 23 April, 2011. The Doctor after showing off in history to attract the attention of The Ponds, invites Amy (Karen…
Dune Messiah (1969) – Frank Herbert
A substantially shorter novel than the first book in the series, Dune Messiah is on the Book Shelf this week. Published four years after Dune, Messiah is set twelve years after the events that saw Paul Atreides become Emperor, marry a princess in name only, and his Fremen launched their jihad on the galaxy. Paul…
Star Trek: The Original Series (1969) & The Animated Series (1973) – Turnabout Intruder and Beyond the Farthest Star
Captain’s log: stardate 5928.5 The last live action television episode chronicling the adventures of Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner), Science Officer Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and Dr. Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley) is a bit of a mixed bag. It was the first time someone else besides Shatner played Kirk, but the story itself sure could…
Star Trek: The Original Series (1969) – The Savage Curtain and All Our Yesterdays
Captain’s log: stardate 5906.4 The Savage Curtain. It doesn’t get much simpler in terms of themes or ideas than this, the antepenultimate episode of the Original Series. Written by series creator Gene Roddenberry and Arthur Heinemann, it aired on 7 March, 1969. I always liked this one because it’s so simple, and has Captain Kirk…
Star Trek: The Original Series (1969) – The Way to Eden and The Cloud Minders
Captain’s log: stardate 5832.3 If there’s a worse episode than Spock’s Brain, then The Way to Eden has to be it. I knew, even when I saw it as a child that this was a terrible episode. The story and I did not reach, man. Written by Arthur Heinemann from a story he developed with…
Star Trek: The Original Series (1969) – The Lights of Zetar and Requiem for Methuselah
Captain’s log: stardate 5725.3 Poor Scotty (James Doohan). Unless your name is James T. Kirk (William Shatner), it seems your love life aboard the Enterprise is lacklustre at best and doomed at its worst. Scotty learns that in The Lights of Zetar. Written by Shari Lewis and Jeremy Tarcher, this episode first aired on 31…
Star Trek: The Original Series (1969) – The Mark of Gideon and That Which Survives
Captain’s log: stardate 5423.4 The Mark of Gideon, which was written by Stanley Adams and George F. Slavin first aired on 17 January, 1969. When Captain Kirk (William Shatner) beams down to the planet Gideon II, he is stunned to find himself still on the Enterprise. A seemingly empty starship, except for one other living…
Star Trek: The Original Series (1969) – Whom Gods Destroy and Let That Be Your Last Battlefield
Captain’s log: stardate 5718.3 Whom Gods Destroy was penned by Lee Erwin and Jerry Sohl and had it’s first broadcast on 3 January, 1969. The Enterprise arrives in orbit around Elba II, which serves as an asylum for the criminally insane. They have arrived on a mission of mercy, they are carrying a serum that…
The Italian Job (1969) – Peter Collinson
The recommendations from my viewing of Rififi for the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film keep coming, and this one was highly enjoyable. Michael Caine leads the cast in this comic caper that sees he and a group of thieves organizing a gold heist, worth four million dollars, by causing a traffic jam…
The Mind Reels 