Sci-Fi Malady

We wrap up Juvenile June reviewing Zathura. If you haven’t seen this movie, you probably still have since everyone has seen Jumanji. This film was written by the same guy and follows the plot, kids find board game, board game is real, the only way out is to survive the game. The only difference is this time ,it is in space. It is derivative? Yes. It is a fun and entertaining film? Yes.

Symptom 200. What an amazing journey over these last five years. For episode 200 we decided to imagine what it would be like if Sci-Fi Malady became huge and we became rich and famous. The answer of course is infighting, greed and insanity, resulting in us losing it all. Please enjoy what I think is our greatest production, symptom 200, Behind the Malady.

Written by Mark

Edited and Produced by Matt Rukstar

Performed by - Mark, Matt, Shane, Thomas, Sara, Halv, Scott

This week we review a much better film than Space Camp. It has a plot, a beginning, middle and end, so it already is miles ahead. More than that though, it is just a fun, well paced, funny and enjoyable tale that conveys a sense of wonder and awe.

Also, we find out what bad the Ragemaster hates with a passion.

The talented Mr. Rukstar strikes again. The world debut of Rage in the System.

Space Camp - a terrible movie with a nonsense plot powered by contrivances; contrivances which require NASA to be stupid and/or incompetent in every way. Space Cap manages to have an all star cast and John Williams scoring, and somehow still be absolutely horrible. Lots of ripping in this review.

***There was an encoding error due to computer lag. We could not fix it in post, both Ruk and I tried all that we could. Apologies for the clicking.

Courtesy of the incredibly talented Ruk - a stay sick sickies dance remix, for your enjoyment.

It’s Juvenille June all this month join use in our immaturity all this month

We wrap up Monster May with a review of the 1954 film Them! This one is a fun filled action romp about mutated giant ants and humanity’s struggles to eradicate them. It continues the theme of the month of the dangers of atomic power and the artistic motif that to create a menace greater than nuclear power you’d have to go to the absurd, like Godzilla or Giant Ants. I think this film continues the 1950’s belief that we have found the ultimate monster haunting humanity and it is us.

In this symptom we review Godzilla. We took a look at the 1954 original that spawned the legendary series. Watching this it is easy to why Godzilla endures and has been proclaimed the King of the Monsters. Not only do you get the one and only Godzilla, you get a film that examines humanity and how as a society we deal with our ever more powerful weapons of mass destruction and the scientific advances that can and are inevitably weaponized. It also shows that even as humanity faces an existential crisis we individually remained focus on what we always do, people and our interpersonal relationships. This is an amazing synthesis of entertainment, action and a deep introspective examination of issues at the core of the question of the human condition.

The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, or proto Godzilla. It is an interesting movie about a prehistoric dinosaur that is unfrozen as a result of atomic testing. The beast rampages its way to New York City where it it is a destroyed by a scientist with an radio active isotope bullet. The creature made its last stand by a roller coaster in an amusement park that conveniently had barrels of oil stored under it. I can’t say much more than this is the inferior version of Godzilla. It is bad, it is just that everything this movie does is done much better in Godzilla a year later.