Highway To Mars

Another in our First Contact Series, this time we have a look at Close Encounters of the Third Kind.  If you ever wondered what a legitimate presentation of the Alien Conspiracy theories would look like, look no further as Close Encounters covers a good many.  It’s a product of it’s time, unlike the later far more cynical X-Files that would proposition large scale government conspiracies, Close Encounters presents a more benign government presence providing protection of a sort from the dangers of an alien encounter while managing a “friendly” exchange.  While faceless government motives are not entirely clear, the fact that the exchange goes off peacefully speaks of a more innocent time.  Equally it’s hard to be entirely trusting of the aliens motives, abducting people against their will.

The late 70’s gave us three defining views of Aliens, from exciting, to confronting, to terrifying, which has no doubt influenced the thinking of later film makers.  This would be the last time though that the encounter would go off so smoothly and co-ordinated.

Either we mistrust aliens, or we mistrust ourselves but I for one hope that first contact is closer to Close Encounters than Independance Day.

Like all good stories, the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy kicks off with the careless destruction of the earth in what could be considered to be an act of death by bureaucracy.  This made a lot of people happy and has been widely considered to be a pretty sweet move.  Not least the BBC Radiophonic Workshop who had no end of fun working out just what that should sound like.  So we are at the beginning of a journey that will take several months as we work through the majority of Douglas Adams catalogue.  Don’t Panic.

Widely considered the best science fiction movie, if not the best movie ever at some point we were going to have to cover this film.  While there is no doubt it is brilliant and demonstrates that science fiction is a serious medium it’s not “accessible” to all.  One of the key elements of science fiction is it takes science and presents it in a format easier to digest.  This film goes in the opposite direction, seeking to present the science matter of fact and leaving the audience to devine the implications.  It may not be every viewers cup of tea but there is no denying this was the most important science fiction film ever made.

Kicking off the Heroine Cast on Highway to Mars a discussion we had on the movie Gravity featuring the Apocalypse before she became a moody teen.  Gravity was a great movie but also part of the growing list of movies carried by actresses.

There will be bribes to get the apocalypse back for more Heroine Cast episodes, now that she is working on becoming an actress.

We drift a little off the conventional path with a black and white subtitled piece.  I really enjoyed this piece not least because the character development is in general really good.  This highlights my general disconnect with modern SF and Comic story telling, they stuff in so much what there is rarely time for more than a cursory glance at why.  Where Maggie uses the “time stretch” of the Zombie process to have a more intimate look at the effect on loved ones, this takes a tragic mistake and examines the impact on those affected.  The “SF” element comes in the fact that facial transplants while once an idea of “horror” are now relevant.  Retrospectively this is genuine SF, even if that wasn’t the intent.

One of the more important aspects of SF is not simply to imagine new technologies but it’s impact on our society or us as individuals.  While this doesn’t quite go so far as to look at the “after” it does do a pretty good job of looking at both the “horrific” and human elements of it’s subject.  The reality is while a modern medical miracle, I cannot be the only one that finds the concept hard to grasp or stomach.

Yes, it’s kind of a mad doctor story, but I think what makes it different is by narrowing down the telling to a very personal story we get to examine how we ourselves react rather than “be educated”

In the end, a human reaction on the part of the viewer is all a storyteller can really hope for.

I am done with Zombies.  Having said that, this was a huge surprise to me, firstly because Arnie is good at something other than smacking up bad guys and second because despite the fact I thought there was nothing left to say on Zombies, this movie not only reopens the conversation but rehumanises Zombies in the process.  I am a big fan of Abigail Breslin and she is really good in this role, in many ways outshining her older wiser acting partner.  To me, the resolution and who takes action represents the passing of the torch generationally – there are new generation of actors doing it their way.  I was genuinely moved  by this story and have to admit, if there are more Zombie stories like this out there, I might not be totally done.

So, Deadpool.  This is all sorts of fun and then some!  I have been waiting for this and I wasn’t disappointed.  No, it’s not super packed with story but in many ways that is so refreshing because instead we get to know the character instead of trying to determine their values from action scenes.  My only and I mean only disappointment with the movie is the fact that New Mutants isn’t following hot on the heals of this movie instead of XMen.

So we have a new star wars and after the “disappointment” of the prequels pretty much anything that doesn’t suck will be successful.  That said, having seen the movie it’s a whole lot of fun in all the right ways and I enjoyed it immensely.  This will be a movie that has significant rewatch value.  The only thing that troubles me about this movie is that it’s being seen as “diversity positive”.  While I won’t disagree that is the case when did Star Wars become more “diversity positive” than Star Trek?????   Star Trek has done more for diversity hell every issue you can think of than any SF series in history.

I am not bashing either franchise, they are both wonderful.  I have to question though that the guy promoting diversity positive star wars gave us the stripping scientist in Star Trek.  Sorry JJ but you can’t have it both ways.

This week on Highway to Mars we look at three pieces of science fiction from the perspective of what they can tell us about the country of origin.  In this case we have Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (TV Series), Mad Max (Original Movie) and Independance Day.  Each of these movies is a reflection of the world of the people that created them, not only their personal world but where people were at the time of making.  Will be interesting to do a modern followup as all three reflect past generations.

Sharks have a bit of a reputation for attacking humans and Jaws is the apex predator of Shark movies.  That said it leaves a fair bit to be desired in ascribing dark motivations to the shark and I have no doubt it has played a role in our feeling about the species.

Not that this podcast is there to proclaim the shark innocent but rather look at the fish species from around the world that are worthy of a decent horror film.

From the “Ball Ripping” Pacu to the Piranha, we cover a good selection of the scary species out there.

Let me know what you think – there are plenty more species out there @martiansarehere.

During the podcast I mention Tiger Sharks and the mad hueys – here is the video, notice that the shark goes at the point where the cage hits the water despite having the human dead in the water.  As with all animals, Sharks are driven by specific instincts.