Category: Sci-Fi

Sputtering After Sputnik

Sputnik - 1957

Science News is a consistently excellent weekly magazine for keeping up with what’s really happening in the various scientific disciplines. I enjoyed reading an article about the launching of Sputnik 50 years ago. Something I didn’t know is that the launch was no surprise to American scientists, who were looking forward to it. America’s first attempt at a satellite launch was spectacular, but not successful:

On Dec. 6, the press was invited to Cape Canaveral, Fla., to witness the U.S. response to Sputnik. Newsreel cameras rolled as a modified Navy Vanguard rocket carrying a small satellite lifted off the launch pad. It rose just 4 feet before erupting in a fireball, sending the grapefruit-size satellite in its nose cone hurtling across the sands. The next day’s headlines provided the postmortem: “Flopnik,” “Dudnik,” “Kaputnik.”

You can read the article by clicking here.

June Lockhart’s TV Sons

Today, in Springfield MA, I met Jon Provost and Bill Mumy. They were separated by the Connecticut River — Jon was on the west side and Bill on the east, at two very different events. Jon was appearing at the World of Pets, and Bill was at the United Fan Con. What they have in common is June Lockhart was their mother on TV — Jon as Timmy Martin on ‘Lassie’, and Bill as Will Robinson on ‘Lost In Space’.

Jon Provost and June LockhartBill Mumy and June Lockhart

Bill Mumy shares a distinction with another former child actor — Jerry Mathers, from ‘Leave It To Beaver’. They were both directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Bill was in ‘Bang! You’re Dead’, one of the most famous installments of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and one of the few that the master himself directed. Mathers was in Hitchcock’s film ‘The Trouble With Harry’.

I can honestly say that I liked all of these guys when I watched them on TV as a kid. I’ve never had a chance to see Mathers in person, but I was thoroughly impressed by Provost and Mumy. They’re both very smart guys, as nice as anybody could ever be, and as good at listening as they are at speaking; but, then, I guess that makes sense, given their training and experience, starting at such an early age. Or maybe it comes from having June Lockhart as their TV mom!

Timmy's In The WellA while ago I posted an item about Jon Provost, whose autobiography, Timmy’s In The Well, will be out soon. Timmy was never in the well on TV, so I was pleased to show Jon the one piece of physical evidence I know of that Timmy, in cartoon form, was briefly in a well, and he was nice enough to sign it for me. Here I am today, with Jon Provost.

Jon Provost and DOuG pRATt

Bill Mumy has always been very much into music, and is a musician himself. He’s very, very good. Hear for yourself by playing the Mumy Jukebox. For a while he was in the band America. Mumy has a wide selection of great music available, and I bought his latest CD.

Bill Mumy - The Landlord or the Guest

It was a fun day! Eric got to see somebody as well, and I’m hoping to post something about that later.

Bob Dylan’s Dire Warning

On October 1, a big Bob Dylan CD collection is being released. On October 2, D. F. Rogers and I will be seeing Dylan in concert, appearing with Elvis Costello. Dylan has always been forward thinking, and being in the middle of watching Battlestar Galatica on DVD, I’m right with him on this important warning.
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Bismo’s Buddy Wins An Emmy!

I know somebody who knows somebody who’s won an Emmy! In fact, it’s his second such award. Leave it to Bismo to mention it almost as an afterthought in a blog post about beer!

Adam “Mojo” Lebowitz does special effects for the TV show Battlestar Galactica; which, as mentioned previously, we’re watching on DVD with Bismo. The award is for Outstanding Visual Effects for a Series. Here’s Mojo holding his Emmy, dressed for the occasion in Battlestar gear from the original series. Big time congratulations!

Battlestar Bows Out

My buddy Bismo has been coming over most Friday evenings for a couple of years now, getting us into the DVD releases of recent TV shows we’d never seen. He started with The Tick, a hilarious short-lived live action show that’s an absolute must-see for any comic book fan, past or present. Then we moved on to the somewhat longer-lived sci-fi show Firefly, and its finale movie Serenity, and now we’re watching the ambitious and substantial Battlestar Galactica.

We’re in the second season of Battlestar, and Bismo says the next show will introduce Lucy Lawless’ character. The third season isn’t out on DVD yet, and it’s been announced that the upcoming fourth season will be the last. FiOS Video On Demand has a short feature about the show, with some of the cast. There’s an abrupt splice where I took out a spoiler I don’t want Eric to hear.
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The (non-Web) Host

The Host is a Korean horror movie from last year. Maybe it’s a guy’s flick, but if you can stomach some graphic gore it’s very well made and is worth seeing.

Here are two short scenes I’ve spliced together from The Host. The dialog in the hospital scene is very funny. The Korean actress is Du-na Bae, who is so enjoyable in the Japanese comedy Linda, Linda, Linda. Caution! The second scene is gross.
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The Host is a partial remake to the previously-blogged Godzilla, which in turn was inspired by The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms. But another, perhaps less obvious, acknowledgment must be made to Them!, which I consider to be the absolute best of the 1950’s Sci-Fi flicks, along with Invasion Of The Body Snatchers and The Thing, which I haven’t blogged yet.

Unlike The Day The Earth Stood Still, Them! really moves along, as directed by Gordon Douglas, despite having many scenes with conversations and meetings. Not only is there a fun mix of humor and horror in Them!, it’s undoubtedly where the idea in The Host came from, of kids being endangered in a sewer.
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I think this entry has more links to previous posts than any other I’ve done so far!