Buck (Gil Gerard) finds himself in a political mess that probably played pretty well with the folks at the time, considering it’s a story about defectors wanting to escape to a better world. Written by Craig Buck, this episode first debuted on 7 February, 1980, and sees Buck Rogers taking in an in-person look and…
Tag: aliens
Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975) – Ishiro Honda
Director Ishiro Honda returns for the last Godzilla film of the Showa era, and while it still features space aliens intent on taking over the planet, this one feels a little deeper than some of the previous entries, by introducing some interesting characters who seem to really struggle with their natures. I’m talking, specifically about…
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974) – Jun Fukuda
These stories just get more and more out there! Delightedly so! This Godzilla adventure brings in secret Interpol agents, invading aliens, an imposter Godzilla,a new kaiju to add to the mythos, an Okinawan prophecy and a very rare non-terrestrial element, space titanium! There’s a lot going on in this one, and not a lot of…
Destroy All Monsters (1968) – Ishiro Honda & Jun Fukuda
I’ll be honest, this is the first Godzilla movie I’ve watched that I didn’t pay attention to any of the actors or their arcs, I was just having too much fun with the monster mashing, the model work, and the way the mythology of the monster-verse has expanded to include so many creatures, aliens, and…
Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965) – Ishiro Honda
Godzilla is back! But he almost takes a backseat to the rest of the story, which sees an expansion of the Godzilla universe by bringing in aliens, flying saucers, and seeing the return of Rodan and King Ghidorah. When a new planet, Planet X, is discovered in orbit around Jupiter, a joint Japanese/American mission is…
The X-Files (1998) – The End, and Fight the Future
The opening titles warns us that this is The End, and this episode would lead us into the first feature film, Fight the Future. Written by series creator Chris Carter, the fifth season came to a close on 17 May, 1998, and left fans slavering for the feature film that would span the ending of…
Battlestar Galactica 3: The Tombs of Kobol (1979) – Robert Thurston, and Glen A. Larson
The journey towards the mythical planet known as Earth continues for the lone battlestar, Galactica, and the ragtag fleet of humanity that it escorts, in Thurston’s next novel which adapts the epic two-parter The Lost Planet of the Gods, which was the first pair of episodes following the series three hour opener, Saga of a…
Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone (1983) – Lamont Johnson
Produced by Ivan Reitman, a score by Elmer Bernstein, a cast that includes Micheal Ironside, Ernie Hudson, Molly Ringwald, (an uncredited) Harold Ramis, and Deborah Pratt, Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone is an odd little b-movie science fiction film that tried to cash in on the re-blossoming fascination with 3D back in the early…
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension (1984) – W.D. Richter
For many people Peter Weller will always be RoboCop. For me, Weller will always be the super-cool Buckaroo Banzai, the neurosurgeon, rock star, comic book hero who fights Red Lectroids from Planet Ten with help from his back-up band (of fellow awesomely named scientists) The Hong Kong Cavaliers, as well as his fan club, the…
The X-Files (1996) – Jose Chung’s From Outer Space, and Avatar
Darin Morgan delivers what is definitely my favourite episode of the series. This one always ends up on ‘best of’ lists. First airing on 12 April, 1996, Jose Chung’s From Outer Space takes on the alien abduction phenomena, as well as playing with the tropes and stereotypes that spring up around them, as well as…
The Mind Reels 