Science Fiction films


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Hey!  Glad to see yer back Ian.  Missed yer.

 

All seems to be proceeding as it should now.   As Hal the computer on '2001 A Space Odyssey', used to say,  "I'm completely operational and all my circuits are functioning perfectly."   Of course later on he said,  "I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that."  Made Dave really mad that did.  :-)    He unplugged a few of his chips, that fixed him.

 

Did anybody here see that film?  It was showing at the ABC in 1969.  70mm  wide screen.  A great show.

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What's more impressive is that :-   a)  I did it b) Other people found it c) Confusion didn't reign d) Everybody just carried on like in the old days

Col, Loppy and Jill. Here is the best version of Richard Strauss's Four Last Songs. Just listen to that voice. My God! Strauss was an old man when he composed these four separate songs for the fe

Col,   Gould liked to be controversial. Twas he who said that, in his opinion, at 36, Mozart lived too long!   If you have time, look into Gould. There is so much more to him than

Dunno why, but I hated that film, even though I loved Arthur C Clarke.

 

Check out:

 

Rendezvous With Rama.  A true masterpiece.

 

Childhood's end

 

The Fountains of Paradise

 

Imperial Earth

 

and many more.

 

Col

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Will do Col. 

 

What in particular didn't you like?

 

I thought that for the time it was made the special effects were very good.  He had a good understanding of the development of computers before most of us had even seen one.  

 

Music was well chosen.  (It usually was in Kubrick's films)  The scene where the cavemen were beating the tar out of each other with bones and the bones turned into spacecraft as they were thrown into the air was a masterpiece in itself.  To me anyway.

 

I found the ending somewhat enigmatic.  Never really did figure out quite was was happening to Dave as he aged rapidly in such a seemingly strange set of rooms.  What was that big black monolithic slab?

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If ever there was a film that needed re-making it is 2001 A Space Odyssey, if only to get rid of the stupid beginning and ending.

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The ending in the book is slightly different and is good.  I also like the sequels - 2010, 2061 and 3001.  In the latter, the body of Frank Poole who had been lost for a thousand years since HAL caused his death is 'retrieved, revived and enhanced'  and the purpose of the Monoliths is revealed

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If I recall correctly, '2001' was based on an earlier short story called 'The Sentinel', which featured the 'monolith' and some primitive beings.  I recall reading it way back and being left 'hanging', as it were..

 

LL. I recall reading a review of a new album by Mary Chapin-Carpenter, in which the reviewer described it being comprised of 'Well performed, well recorded, beautifully crafted, but ultimately not very enjoyable songs'.  I feel pretty much the same about 2001. I agree that the production etc., was superb. It's the plot and, as has been said, the beginning and ending which spoil it for me.  It's all a bit too clever.

 

MI. 'A Fall of Moondust' was IIRC the first A.C. Clarke book I read.   Got it from the lovely old library opposite Bulwell St Mary's on Highbury Rd. One of his very early ones I think.  Knowing what we know now the basic premise might seem faintly ridiculous, but when it was written it was entirely plausible. Also a gripping story.

 

MH.  I never had you down as a Sci-Fi fan!

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Col, you obviously missed a few posts I made several months ago.  I love sci fi as long as it's not gratuitously sexual or violent!   Most of the sci fi books I read/re-read are by older/often deceased! authors and probably would be referred to as 'classic'.   To counteract  them I also like historical romance type stories (again, often classics) and modern books on theology and Christian apologetics - bit of a mix really... and a bit of Dickens now and again...  and autobiographies particularly of people who grew up in the early to mid 20th Century.  All that is when I have time, which at the moment I don't!

 

 

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Margie, in that case I suspect that you would enjoy one of H.G.Wells. lesser known books 'Men Like Gods', if you haven't already done so.

Col

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Col, haven't read that particular book.  I actually find HG Wells doesn't have the depth and vision of some other sci fi writers, certainly compared with Arthur C Clarke!  Each to their own, I suppose..... 

 

One of of my all time favourite books is 'Winter's Tale' by  Mark Helprin.  It is difficult to describe it but as the review on the back cover says... " This is a book about the beauty and complexity of the human soul, about God, love and justice, and yet you can lose yourself in it as if it were a dream."  Most people I've spoken to seem  to refer to it as 'that book about a white horse"

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6 hours ago, Chulla said:

If ever there was a film that needed re-making it is 2001 A Space Odyssey, if only to get rid of the stupid beginning and ending.

 

I'd have thought you would have enjoyed the evolutionary beginning, Dave.   :Shock:

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Just thought of another all time favourite called 'The Shack'. It's by William P Young and once one gets past the first 80 pages or so (the story becomes very upsetting in the first part of the book) it is mind blowing - at least it is to me.  

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Loppy. Yes but - it was laboured, and the story didn't need to tell us (whether you believe it or not) that we have progressed from apes to people who can travel through space. For director Kubrick I thought it was a hammy expression and unlike him. Even more so the ending; still cannot fathom what that was all about. A re-make with today's special effects would make a good film, as would a film of the 3001 story where the meaning of the monoliths is explained. Oh, and I didn't like the Strauss waltz music. Let's have Vangelis in there.

 

Well done CT. This topic should have a good run.

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Chulla, I disagree a bit  with what you say about the beginning of 2001 - it gave an impression of time passing, which was good but I didn't like the ape costumes much.  It was necessary, though, as it IS in the book and is an integral part of the novel.  As I said before, you  need to read the ending in the BOOK which makes things a little clearer.

 

I actually liked the music in the film as that, too, gave one the feeling of time passing/timelessness in space.  

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I'm not a great fan of Johanne Strauss.  Much prefer Richard Strauss, but regardless that great shot of the earth revolving slowly underneath to the music of the Blue Danube did have an impact.  Actually I was almost forgetting the opening bars of Richard Strauss, 'Thus Spake Zarathustra'. I have that on an old LP.  Always thought the rest of it was a bit of an anticlimax after  the beginning.

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Funny innit. Also Sprach Zarathustra is my favourite piece of classical music, and not because of its opening bars. I think the rest of it is just wonderful, everything a tone poem should be, closely followed by Richards Strauss's Tod und Verklarung (Death and Tranfiguration).

 

Margie, I haven't read the book so will have to take your word for the opening scene with apes being necessary, but not for the film. Why does the viewer want to be made aware of time passing? As I recall the action takes place in modern times, where an expedition is on its way to find the source of a signal in deep space - nothing to do with evolution.

 

Jill. No

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