Category: Sci-Fi

Garage Door Theater

I was going to post this picture yesterday, but I was busy undergoing a nuclear stress test of my heart, before taking advantage of the unseasonably warm weather to get some outdoor work done.

Thanks to the new families in the area, we had the best ever Halloween turnout on Thursday. Besides my usual front porch decorations, I projected a familiar movie onto the garage door. It’s the original 1977 version, not the 1978 “Part Four: A new Hope” re-release or — ugh! — any of the “special editions.”

A little boy, probably five or six years old, exclaimed, “Obi Wan!” He ran up to the garage door, patted the image of Alec Guinness and proudly explained to the group he was with, “That’s Obi Wan!” He’ll make a fine Jedi Knight.

Regarding my stress test, the results showed a healthy heart with no indication of coronary artery disease, let alone scarring from a heart attack. Yay. I had been told that my many years of long distance running was the probable cause of my a-fib, but yesterday’s results showed there are also definite benefits to running.

The Hubbard Space Telescope

Before thinking up Dianetics and then Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard was a pulp fiction writer. As you can see in the photo, he cranked out yarns in various genres, but mostly Hubbard was a science fiction writer.

Hubbard’s 800-page sci-fi novel Battlefield Earth was published in 1982. I spotted a hardcover copy in a bookshop, marked down to ten bucks from $24. I bought the book and really liked it. John Travolta later produced, and starred in, the notoriously bad movie adaptation.

First Edition, 1st printing, Battlefield Earth, by L. Ron Hubbard. Cover artist uncredited.

On a Facebook group, somebody posted a Battlefield Earth cover with different art from my copy. I don’t know who painted the original cover, but there’s no mistaking the other artist. It was Frank Frazetta.

Battlefield Earth preliminary cover art by Frank Frazetta

My motivation to buy Battlefield Earth was remembering how much I enjoyed reading Hubbard’s Fear. I’d picked up an old, beat-up 1950’s reprint of the 1940 novella at a convention for cover price — 35-cents.

“Enjoy” may not be the right word to describe reading Fear. I recall it was genuinely unsettling. With Halloween a week away, I thought I’d read Fear again, but I no longer have my old paper copy. During the time when I was an occasional contributor to the (defunct) Comics Buyer’s Guide, I sent it to Don and Maggie Thompson for a reason I don’t fully recall. Fortunately, the Kindle edition is only $3 on Amazon.

Time and Time Again

In 1972, when made-for-TV movies were a big trend, WGBH in Boston produced one of it own. The delightfully clever and quirky Between Time and Timbuktu was based on the writings of Kurt Vonnegut.

As a young Vonnegut fan, the timing was perfect for me, especially after attending the 1971 World Science Fiction Convention in Boston. YouTube finally has a halfway decent copy of Between Time and Timbuktu

Bob and Ray, who began their career in Boston, provide hilarious commentary. The joke about Tang will be lost on younger viewers.

A Happy Landing

Trump keeps saying the country is a mess, but it appears the Fed has pulled off a rare soft landing in the economy. Inflation has been brought under control with low unemployment, while avoiding a recession along the way.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/september-jobs-report-crushes-expectations-as-us-economy-adds-254000-jobs-unemployment-rate-falls-to-41-123503927.html

Where the country is a mess is with the extreme weather. Trump of course refuses to acknowledge that it’s related to climate change.

Bismo on Brisco

I’ll be getting back to The West Wing, but first Bismo has another series he’s recommended. It’s Brisco County, Jr., starring fan favorite Bruce Campbell from — yikes! — 31 years ago, and I really enjoyed it. Watching how well the characters are introduced made me realize what the West Wing needed was a 2-hour pilot episode. You can watch the Brisco pilot episode at this link. https://dai.ly/x8hazjt