Watching this brilliant little documentary about the history of sci-fi in film has made me even more excited about the forthcoming Star Wars films. The bits we have seen look very promising so far, and I am delighted that the director (JJ Abrams) is using the tried-and-true methods of miniatures, in-camera effects, and excellent set design. In interviews he has said that he is attempting to avoid over-reliance on cgi, which is what has made so many recent sci-fi and fantasy films disappointing visually and ephemeral (they often look outdated very quickly). They simply don't "feel" real. Sci-fi and fantasy (including horror) were very present in film right from its inception -- Melies' iconic voyage to the moon, then the brilliant, truly groundbreaking films of the 1920s like Metropolis (Fritz Lang). That film is still stunning. Film and sci-fi have been bonded together from the beginning. I watched Forbidden Planet again recently as it has been years, and I was thinking about how impressive it still is and how influential (the first-ever electronic score, the iconic robot, beautiful sets, the the spaceship). I love listening to Scott, Spielberg, Lucas, and Cameron discuss all of those 1950s sci-fi films that inspired their filmmaking.
I was I could have been a kid growing up in the 50's. The effects back then were cheap compared to what is possible today, but the atmospher was special, the content had often more imagination, the enthusiasm was bigger and the quantity more impressive, when comparing to much of the present science fiction.
Interesting. This documentary is on my anniversary DVD set for Forbidden Planet, but it's missing the stuff from the 2005 War of the Worlds. Maybe they didn't want to pay for the rights. It's apparent watching "Them!" that Cameron was heavily influenced by it for "Aliens". There is the traumatized catatonic little girl with a doll, and they are burning the eggs with flamethrowers in the egg chamber at the end!
No, he allegedly stole The Terminator from an Outer Limits episode written by Harlan Ellison titled "Soldier." Harlan Ellison thought so once he saw the film and it helps his case that it's the same set up with a similar ending, and that James Cameron stated in an interview for Starlog that he "....ripped off a few Harlan Ellison stories." Cameron used Ellison's name directly and Ellison threatend to sue. So he was given royalties and a credit at the end of the film that acknowledged him.
Ridley Scott = Alien, Blade Runner & Prometheus. James Cameron = The Terminator, Terminator 2, Aliens, The Abbyss & Avatar. Goerge Lucas = THX- 1138 & Star Wars Saga. Steven Spielberg = E.T, A.I & World of Wars.
Acording to two Wikipedia sites, this really, this started in 1849, which is when airial bombings first started with small bombs aboard unmanned balloons, from here with advances in avaition technologies; maned aircraft were able to drop bombs in 1918 which we're about the size of granades, and eventually by WW 1, bombs reached 20lbs or more. It was about this time in 1877 that Italian Astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli observed channels or what we would call canyons on the face of Mars' equater; however due to the Italian word for channel; which is canali, being mistranslated into cannals, The American Percival Lowell, who founded the Lowell Observatory in 1894, made the most committed speculations on the subject. Despite ramping scientific skepticism to the contrary, Lowell almost single-handedly popularized the notion of the canals as proof that the planet once sustained intelligent life. I say it started with these events because, these events surly had an impact on early science fiction of the day; as did other technological developments. And as today, some of the greatest science fiction writers of the past had an interest or even experience with the developing technologies of that time period; and just like today; they were able to project into the far future and even make some accurate predictions of technological developments. It's not too hard to look at our own level of technological developments, and how hard it has been for us to venture off into space; and to then speculate how much more advanced a civalaizations must be to reach us from beyond our solar system. Its also not too far of a stretch to look at the xenophobia we direct towards one another over such trival things as, difference in appearance due to adaptation to the Earth's varying geography, the cultural diversity that has resulted due to societies being somewhat isolated from one another, and over such trival things as the diversity of human sexuality, etc, and demonstrate in science fiction stories who illogical such divisions are by showing how primitivly we might react towards an alien intelligence who's biology, culture, etc are truly forign from our own. Due to the fact fear sells, and fear can also be used to help us reflect on our own crulty towards one another; and through presenting stories about the potential of humanity; when science fiction has encouraged us to look up at the stars. World events like, the airial bombings of World Wars 1 & 2, Korea, Vietnam, etc; along with such propoganda as Duck and cover; have also encouraged us to look to the sky's with fear. The Sci-fi of the 50's and 60's added to the fear, as has countless movies and TV shows since. The conspiracy groups have only added to this fear.
My one complaint about all those gigantic insects were that they were simply tooo big. Had the ants, spiders, scorpions etc been the size of cats & dogs they would have been, to me, much more credible and, because there could be thousands of them, much more dangerous. And there is also the abiding question: did Hollywood feed the fear - or feed ON the fear? - Answers on a postcard!
Hmm, funny you mention that. We are working on a remake of THEM 1954. The ants will be the size of dogs...and far more dangerous! Especially when you have to go down in the tunnels...
Before i talking about sci-fi tv and movies. I have a good news. Said on Wikipedia Power rangers season 18 will return on tv on Nickelodeon by 2011. Now that's a good news. Now sci-fi classic tv and movies are great. Com per to the new once like Smallville and Buffy. I stick to the sci-fi classic tv and movies
tony748748a on the blu ray I have it’s incredibly difficult to watch this, the disc locks all your buttons at the end of the movie and shows you innumerable copyright warnings in about 69 languages for like 20 minutes unskippable, even if I reject the disc and return it it still carries on unaffected, but IF you can bear to be punished for buying this official disc version and sit through this joyless ordeal right to the end, you can then pick from a number of fascinating extras, this being one of them. There’s also an entire other movie hidden on there! But boy do you have to bloody work for it. (Uk version played on a PS3).
Thanks, TheAltair4. I don't say that kind of thing lightly. There have been so many good to great filmmakers that have played with the science-fiction genre. A lot of filmmakers have failed to really connect audiences. Some filmmakers - like Stanley Kubrick with 2001 - have proven themselves to understand the genre as an art. They are certainly great at what they do. Ridley Scott did the same thing with Alien. Spielberg did it with ET, Close Encounters and AI. But, Cameron is A #1 IMO.
Watching this brilliant little documentary about the history of sci-fi in film has made me even more excited about the forthcoming Star Wars films. The bits we have seen look very promising so far, and I am delighted that the director (JJ Abrams) is using the tried-and-true methods of miniatures, in-camera effects, and excellent set design. In interviews he has said that he is attempting to avoid over-reliance on cgi, which is what has made so many recent sci-fi and fantasy films disappointing visually and ephemeral (they often look outdated very quickly). They simply don't "feel" real. Sci-fi and fantasy (including horror) were very present in film right from its inception -- Melies' iconic voyage to the moon, then the brilliant, truly groundbreaking films of the 1920s like Metropolis (Fritz Lang). That film is still stunning. Film and sci-fi have been bonded together from the beginning. I watched Forbidden Planet again recently as it has been years, and I was thinking about how impressive it still is and how influential (the first-ever electronic score, the iconic robot, beautiful sets, the the spaceship). I love listening to Scott, Spielberg, Lucas, and Cameron discuss all of those 1950s sci-fi films that inspired their filmmaking.
Well this aged poorly lol
I have this on tape from 5 years ago....I use to watch it all the time.
Finally an accurate documentary about extraterrestrials on CZcams.
Getting hold of all these guys for one documentary must have been a challenge unto itself!
The Fifties was the best era for written and filmed science fiction alike.
Have you read any of the EC comics Weird Fantasy and Weird Science? They're pretty damn good.
@@jeffeastwood15 I love them as well!
THANK YOU for posting this!
Sweet, thanks for posting this!
I was I could have been a kid growing up in the 50's. The effects back then were cheap compared to what is possible today, but the atmospher was special, the content had often more imagination, the enthusiasm was bigger and the quantity more impressive, when comparing to much of the present science fiction.
Interesting. This documentary is on my anniversary DVD set for Forbidden Planet, but it's missing the stuff from the 2005 War of the Worlds. Maybe they didn't want to pay for the rights.
It's apparent watching "Them!" that Cameron was heavily influenced by it for "Aliens". There is the traumatized catatonic little girl with a doll, and they are burning the eggs with flamethrowers in the egg chamber at the end!
Unfortunately, this is just an ad for the new W of the Ws at the time of the original publication of this programme. See Part 6.
No, he allegedly stole The Terminator from an Outer Limits episode written by Harlan Ellison titled "Soldier." Harlan Ellison thought so once he saw the film and it helps his case that it's the same set up with a similar ending, and that James Cameron stated in an interview for Starlog that he "....ripped off a few Harlan Ellison stories." Cameron used Ellison's name directly and Ellison threatend to sue. So he was given royalties and a credit at the end of the film that acknowledged him.
Spielberg has such an eccentric mind: filling the bath tub etc haha XD What a genius! :D
great documentary on sf. thx for sharing
Ridley Scott = Alien, Blade Runner & Prometheus.
James Cameron = The Terminator, Terminator 2, Aliens, The Abbyss & Avatar.
Goerge Lucas = THX- 1138 & Star Wars Saga.
Steven Spielberg = E.T, A.I & World of Wars.
You forgot "Close encounters of the third kind"
this is available on the forbidden planet dvd on the extras menu! a lot better quality than this, which looks like it is from a vhs recording!!
Acording to two Wikipedia sites, this really, this started in 1849, which is when airial bombings first started with small bombs aboard unmanned balloons, from here with advances in avaition technologies; maned aircraft were able to drop bombs in 1918 which we're about the size of granades, and eventually by WW 1, bombs reached 20lbs or more. It was about this time in 1877 that Italian Astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli observed channels or what we would call canyons on the face of Mars' equater; however due to the Italian word for channel; which is canali, being mistranslated into cannals, The American Percival Lowell, who founded the Lowell Observatory in 1894, made the most committed speculations on the subject. Despite ramping scientific skepticism to the contrary, Lowell almost single-handedly popularized the notion of the canals as proof that the planet once sustained intelligent life.
I say it started with these events because, these events surly had an impact on early science fiction of the day; as did other technological developments. And as today, some of the greatest science fiction writers of the past had an interest or even experience with the developing technologies of that time period; and just like today; they were able to project into the far future and even make some accurate predictions of technological developments. It's not too hard to look at our own level of technological developments, and how hard it has been for us to venture off into space; and to then speculate how much more advanced a civalaizations must be to reach us from beyond our solar system. Its also not too far of a stretch to look at the xenophobia we direct towards one another over such trival things as, difference in appearance due to adaptation to the Earth's varying geography, the cultural diversity that has resulted due to societies being somewhat isolated from one another, and over such trival things as the diversity of human sexuality, etc, and demonstrate in science fiction stories who illogical such divisions are by showing how primitivly we might react towards an alien intelligence who's biology, culture, etc are truly forign from our own. Due to the fact fear sells, and fear can also be used to help us reflect on our own crulty towards one another; and through presenting stories about the potential of humanity; when science fiction has encouraged us to look up at the stars. World events like, the airial bombings of World Wars 1 & 2, Korea, Vietnam, etc; along with such propoganda as Duck and cover; have also encouraged us to look to the sky's with fear. The Sci-fi of the 50's and 60's added to the fear, as has countless movies and TV shows since. The conspiracy groups have only added to this fear.
5:22 Yeah that worked well, George
My one complaint about all those gigantic insects were that they were simply tooo big. Had the ants, spiders, scorpions etc been the size of cats & dogs they would have been, to me, much more credible and, because there could be thousands of them, much more dangerous. And there is also the abiding question: did Hollywood feed the fear - or feed ON the fear? - Answers on a postcard!
Hmm, funny you mention that. We are working on a remake of THEM 1954. The ants will be the size of dogs...and far more dangerous! Especially when you have to go down in the tunnels...
the documentary is called Hollywood Between Paranoia And Sci Fi The Power Of Myth
How do we make giant insects scary again? lol that would be fun if possible.
War of the Worlds 2005.... i hate to say, i think i prefered the original movie... even though the UFOs arnt tripods (which yeah i know a big deal)
What year is this from?
In order of awesomeness:
1. James Cameron
2. Steven Speilberg
3. George Lucas
4. Ridley Scott
I chuckle at them duck and cover drills. it purely psychological because nuclear death will not be prevented by duckin under table.
Before i talking about sci-fi tv and movies. I have a good
news. Said on Wikipedia Power rangers season 18 will
return on tv on Nickelodeon by 2011. Now that's a good news.
Now sci-fi classic tv and movies are great. Com per
to the new once like Smallville and Buffy. I stick to the
sci-fi classic tv and movies
Trying to find this dvd and cant does anyone know where I can find it to buy
It's available on the Blu-Ray release of FORBIDDEN PLANET. I'm unsure about a previous DVD release on its own.
thank you
tony748748a on the blu ray I have it’s incredibly difficult to watch this, the disc locks all your buttons at the end of the movie and shows you innumerable copyright warnings in about 69 languages for like 20 minutes unskippable, even if I reject the disc and return it it still carries on unaffected, but IF you can bear to be punished for buying this official disc version and sit through this joyless ordeal right to the end, you can then pick from a number of fascinating extras, this being one of them. There’s also an entire other movie hidden on there! But boy do you have to bloody work for it. (Uk version played on a PS3).
LMAO - George Lucas talking about making aliens look real... lol
Thanks, TheAltair4. I don't say that kind of thing lightly. There have been so many good to great filmmakers that have played with the science-fiction genre. A lot of filmmakers have failed to really connect audiences. Some filmmakers - like Stanley Kubrick with 2001 - have proven themselves to understand the genre as an art. They are certainly great at what they do. Ridley Scott did the same thing with Alien. Spielberg did it with ET, Close Encounters and AI.
But, Cameron is A #1 IMO.
i always wonder how old mentaly steven speiberg. out of all thes guys ridley scotts the coolest
@teetertotter68 Maybe if you were ranking their beards.
Father Speilberg?
In Sci-Fi the unlikely is likely to happen. It's Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz and Not Of This Earth. watch?v=xz2qgCZch0Y
James Cameron mostly made science-fiction into an A-quality genre himself, mostly. lol. There is no end to his genius.
Will Smith and Tom Cruse spoiled modern sci fi.
@MintythecatIsABeast This Island Earth
George Lucas raped the Star Wars Saga. He negated his accomplishment of the first film with the last three.
War of the Words of the 50th is light years ahead the Spielberg version. Spielberg version is ridiculous, depressing, idiot, sorry Spielberg.
Fake
good god American Sci-Fi sucks, British Sci-Fi all the way!