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Dragons and Pendragons
Heroic or medieval fantasy has never had an easy time on the Tube. The related genres of horror and urban fantasy have done just fine: Thriller, Twilight Zone, Buffy are the most obvious examples. But the particular problems of filming a fantastic world - costumes, SFX, elaborate sets - have led to sword and sorcery of the low budget camp ( Read more... ) -
Octogenarians on the Bridge
A few weeks ago, on March 22nd, William Shatner turned 80, followed closely by Leonard Nimoy, who had his 80th birthday on March 26th. A reminder to science fiction fans who remember the original Star Trek series, or watched it in syndication, of our own aging, and a reminder as well of how long science fiction has found fans on the tube. This ( Read more... ) -
All About the Zombies
The Walking Dead
In the first sequence of the first episode of The Walking Dead, deputy sheriff Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) is searching abandoned cars along a deserted road for gasoline when he spots a little girl moving among the vehicles. He calls out to her, and she approaches, a zombie child, bloody, torn face, exposed teeth, and pale eyes - ( Read more... ) -
The Monster Pauses: Predators
It’s a standard element of horror movies: the Monster Pause. The alien/werewolf/knifeopath has kung-fu reflexes when inhuming secondary characters, but when confronting the main character(s) the mutant/vampire/cannibal slows it’s attack, or pauses dramatically or sadistically, or does a huge wind up to the killing stroke. This allows the ( Read more... ) -
I'm required by the FDA...
... to state that side effects may include: pandiculation, floundering, Big Macs, snurling, camel-toe, hagiolatry, venting of spleen, sophophobia, cat's cradles, friction, doodling, hair cramps, looming, cliches, torpor, dreamlessness, sniffling, and strumpetocracies. -
I deny all responsibility for...
soggy French fries, poppy seeds between your teeth, smelly Sci-Fi fans, Lysenkoism, silverfish, homicidal oompa-loompas, overacting, deconstructionists, Dick Cheney, the pox, dudes who call you "bud," buds who call you "dude," dog sweaters, lampreys, deodorant on the outside of your shirt, ghost hunters, frozen nose hairs, and demonic posesssion. -
Continuity
I hate when you forget something in chapter three that was really cool and then write something in chapter nine that's just as cool but can't happen if the cool thing in chapter three isn't changed and then you have to decide which cool thing to leave in to allow other specific cool things to happen in the book later. Know what I mean? -
I'm not responsible for:
grade inflation, Piltdown Man, prions, Oscar Mayer Lunchables, cane toads, spray tans, urban myths, cold scrambled eggs, Immanuel Velikovsky, Shark Week, interrupted naps, insolent seagulls, sarcosuchus, the extinction of sarcosuchas, salespeople who have read Dale Carnegie, the Borgias, high fructose corn syrup, humidity, the sedan that is ( Read more... ) -
I'm required by the FDA
to report that side-effects may include:
nattering, bloated earlobes, tone-deafness, spelunking, saggy trousers, increased gravity, manscaping, insincerity, rotoscoping, bear-baiting, spine-tingling, inability to stop humming "Horse With No Name," brittle toe-nails, instantaneous cloning, jazz hands, split infinitives, brothel breath, ( Read more... ) -
I'm not responsible for:
dry skin, overcooked steak, particle board, lampreys, the designated hitter rule, kleptomania, rusty nails, whinging, tomfoolery, nanotechnology, silverfish, the Moral Majority, deodorant body spray, lederhosen, the defenestrations of Prague, postmodernism, tubas, and the popping sounds that your knees make when you stand up.