It’s been forever since I watched this short-lived series, but alongside Star Wars, Star Trek, and Galactica, Buck Rogers was an integral part of my youth. I had previously written about the pilot episode, released theatrically, before airing on network television on 20 September, 1979, so I moved right on to the next episode in…
Tag: matte paintings
Enemy Mine (1985) – Wolfgang Petersen
Enemy Mine, from director Wolfgang Petersen and starring Dennis Quaid and Louis Gossett Jr., looks like a 50s era sci-fi film (particularly the model work and space suits) but it’s message of prejudice, hate, and race war, is as relevant today (and arguably more so) than it was when it was made. Feeling like a…
Space: 1999 (1975) – Mission of the Darians, and Black Sun
Johnny Byrne pens this episode that first debuted on 30 October, 1975, that sees Moonbase Alpha encountering yet another alien life form (something that they take way too easily in stride as a series. There should be wonder and discovery associated with these things, but instead we just dive into the story – although there…
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989) – Joe Johnston
Before Joe Johnston directed one of my favourite comic book movies, The Rocketeer, he directed this Disney film that took the b-movies of the 1950s into the late Disney-fied 80s. There are nods to films he hasn’t made yet (which is really fun) and dialogue lifts from classic films and a playful sense of fun….
Gremlins (1984) – Joe Dante
Practical effects, matte paintings and a dark, playful sense of humour… They just don’t make them like the used to. I was delighted when I returned to the Family section of the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book that Joe Dante’s horror comedy Christmas movie (it’s set at Christmas therefore it IS a…
The Mind Reels 