Welcome to a chilly and rainy South Manchester where the dreary temperature of 6°C doesn’t even begin to compete with the 33°C of Malaysia and 24°C of Hong Kong.
Yes – I am back from a two week jaunt to the Far East where we spent ten days in Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur and Penang) and four days in Hong Kong. The jet lag is just about over now but the weather in Manchester will take some time to get used to again.
Let’s wade gently back into the land of bloggery with some silly questions from Sunday Stealing.
Things I Love Beginning with S
1. Spain.
One of the reasons I started to try to learn Spanish is because I love Spain.
I first visited the country back in the mid 1980’s when myself and two mates travelled there on Interrail from Paris. We visited San Sebastian in the north, Vigo in the west before heading (via Portugal) to Sevilla, Madrid and Barcelona. Perhaps the first word I learned in Spanish was cerveza (beer). Since then I have been back countless times, visiting most areas of this magnificent land. I’ve also been to the Balearic Islands (Majorca, Ibiza and Menorca) and the Canary Islands (Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote).
We are going back in May to Nerja on the south coast and I am really looking forward to it. My Spanish, although pretty poor, is getting better and I quite enjoy stumbling through sentences when talking to Spanish people. When they speak back though it is a struggle. I soldier on.
2. Saturday
When I was working, Saturday was the best day of the week because I could have a lie in and enjoy a day that didn’t have work at all (apart form the odd exception of course). Saturday is typically a great day for sport (football, rugby and cricket) and I can relax and have fun. One of my old pals, who retired before I did, told me: “every day is like Saturday, Dave”. And now that I am retired – he’s right – well sort of.
It is still a special day because Mrs PM still works and it is the best day for us to get together and do something interesting.
3. Sea
I live on an island and no place here is too far away from the sea. Manchester is 40 to 50 miles away from the nearest coast so if I want I can easily get there. Mrs PM comes from Blackpool which is a big holiday resort on the west coast of England and I get to see the sea whenever we go to visit her parents.
However, I like to sit watching the sea in sunnier places than north west England (mainly because it can be quite cold here, even in the summer). Whenever we go on a beach holiday I like to just sit there and contemplate life as I listen to the gentle sea or ocean lapping against the beach. It is very mindful and relaxing, especially as the sun goes down.
4. Star Trek
I am a geek and a lot of the people I used to work with are also geeks. On one trip to Muscat in Oman, I was sitting in the hotel bar with such a person. The conversation was one of the most nerdy that I have ever been involved in. It wouldn’t have been out of place in The Big Bang Theory.
PM: What are you talking about? There is no way that Star Wars is better than Star Trek!
Geek 2: Are you insane? Star Wars is far more successful than Star Trek. People who like Star Trek are weird!
PM: Weird? Bloody hell – weirdness is a sad movie that had Jar Jar Binks in it!
Geek 2: Okay that was a mistake. But what about Wesley Crusher? And NEELIX! If you think they are great characters you have no taste. Well that’s obvious because you prefer Star Trek.
And so it went on. And I am sure people started staring at us, rolling their eyes and shaking their heads.
And worse, nobody won the argument because secretly we BOTH like Star Wars and Star Trek.
I’ve loved Star Trek since the original series and, while not everything is good (let me mention Neelix and Wesley Crusher again – I agree with Geek 2 about those two terrible characters), the best bits of Star Trek are far better.
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn and Star Trek: First Contact are far superior than any Star Wars movie in my opinion.
Talking of the Big Bang Theory, I love this scene – and yes I know it involve Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher) but I have long since forgiven him (mainly because of this scene!):
I have to say that I have never been to a science fiction convention and if I did go, I wouldn’t get dressed up. Nor do I ever plan to learn Klingon:
Qapla’Ha’qu’ ghajbogh wanI’vam.
I can use Google translate!
5. Summer
As I sit here in a rainy city in north west England in the middle of winter, my positive mind is already searching for summer. I had a taste of it in Malaysia and Hong Kong and I can’t wait for May to come along. I live in England so we can’t guarantee that we will have a good summer. I do know, however, that I can and will jet off to Europe to enjoy the warm weather, the sunshine and long days. Last year in the UK we were lucky because we had four or five heatwaves here, which meant that I could enjoy all of those benefits from the comfort of my own home.
Summer is only a few months away and I can’t wait for it.
I am a huge fan of science fiction and over the years I have watched numerous series, so many in fact that I have forgotten a lot of them. Modern science fiction series benefit from superior special effects thanks to advances in technology, but I have fond memories of some of those old series with wobbly sets and laughable monsters. As a kid, these things intrigued me, even though they are ridiculous when watched today.
I thought it would be fun to compile a list of my favourite science fiction shows – which is actually much harder than it sounds. I have based the list , of course, on shows that I have watched religiously, which sadly excludes some high-rated shows that I actually missed, shows like Stargate SG-1, which I am told was great. I just never got round to watching it so apologies to any fans of that show and others like it, that I have had to omit.
Also, I have omitted anything to do with super heroes and horror; this list is purely science fiction.
Anyway, without further ado, let’s dive in:
10. Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation goes down as the most improved series. The first couple of seasons were a major disappointment, which is why this show comes in at a lowly number ten. Some readers may find this controversial. Let me explain. My problem is that the writers seemed to want to sacrifice the ideals of the original series in favour of more diplomatic resolutions to problems. They even had a ship’s counsellor who looked as if she was about to burst into tears all the time. I wanted the Enterprise to attack first and ask questions later. Thankfully, as the show progressed, this started to happen and we were introduced to the best Star Trek bad guys ever: the Borg. The cliffhanger for series 3 which involved this fantastic enemy, is one of my favourites of any Star Trek series and here it is for your enjoyment:
9. Star Trek: The Original Series
Star Trek comes in at number nine simply because it is now quite dated. At the time, it was cutting edge and the idea of a space ship exploring the galaxy was fantastic. However, I found the acting also a bit dated, particularly that of William Shatner as Captain Kirk, whose eccentricities and overacting techniques sometimes left a lot to be desired. That said, I still love the series and will often watch repeats, particularly now that it has been remastered. The planets now actually look like real planets, something that was lacking originally.
My favourite episode is “The Doomsday Machine” where the Enterprise takes on a machine that can destroy planets:
8. The X Files
I loved the idea of the X Files, a tiny department of the FBI that investigated weird phenomena consisting of Agent Fox “Spooky” Mulder and Agent Dana Scully. Mulder was the one who believed in UFO’s and that the supernatural incidents were actually real, as unbelievable as they were. Scully was the sceptic who tried to use science to explain everything they saw.
At times the show was fantastic and quite scary, but my one criticism was the fact that Scully still insisted on rational explanations, despite all of the dreadful things she saw and even the weird events she experienced.
My favourite episode is “Squeeze” which features a weird human who can reshape his body so that he can break into buildings via impossibly tight openings. What made it worse was that this guy would kill a victim, eat their liver and then hibernate for thirty years. It was tense and disturbing.
7. Fringe
Like the X Files, Fringe was a series about an FBI division that investigated unnatural phenomena. However, unlike the X Files, we were also introduced to time travel, parallel universes and mad scientists. Some of the incidents they investigated were truly nasty.
One episode in particular inspired Mrs PM to suggest a trip to Boston, where the series was based. It involved a monster in the sewers under the city. I worry about Mrs PM sometimes:
6. Star Trek: Voyager
While not being popular with Trekkies, I actually thought Voyager was quite good, mainly because the Borg appeared quite a few times. The series contained my least favourite Star Trek character (yes even worse than Wesley Crusher). I am talking about Neelix, the self-appointed morale officer. I hoped every week that he would be killed off; sadly he wasn’t.
My favourite episodes are Scorpion (I and II) for introducing a bad guy even worse than the Borg (Species 8472) – and bringing Seven of Nine into the series:
5. Space 1999
At the time of its release, Space 1999 was fantastic. The moon is blown out of the earth’s orbit and the show follows the fortunes of the people living on the moon in Moonbase Alpha as they encounter aliens and monster in the galaxy.
My favourite episode is Space Brain, where the moon is threatened by a huge entity that protects itself by sending out a substance (that looks amazingly like foam) that can crush anything in its path.
4. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
I fear this is a slightly controversial choice. Of all the Star Trek series, Mrs PM rates Deep Space Nine as the weakest. I disagree. In my opinion it is the strongest, mainly because the series covered the struggle between the Dominion and the Federation with a little mysticism and extremely good villains, most notably, the evil Cardassian Gul Dukat.
It’s difficult to select a favourite episode because the whole storyline of the last couple of series makes that difficult. Instead, here is an excerpt from the very last episode, the showdown between Gul Dukat and Captain Sisko:
3. Red Dwarf
Regular readers will know that Red Dwarf appears at number three in my list of British sitcoms, but from a science fiction perspective, it deserves a similar accolade. Dave Lister is the last surviving human and a complete space bum. If the human race depends on this curry eating, lager swigging slob then we are totally doomed.
There are so many great episodes so it’s difficult to pick a favourite, so I’ll pick one of my favourite scenes.
Meet the Vindaloovians:
2. Babylon 5
Babylon 5 is space opera at its finest. Wars, politics, treason, mutiny, religion and fantastic bad guys (the Shadows) make this my favourite ever American science fiction series. At the time the special effects were also way ahead of anything else I had ever seen on TV. The battle scenes in space were terrific.
The show ran for five series and while series one was good, it really took off in the next three seasons introducing a massive story arc that I loved. There were so many great characters all of whom had flaws making them nowhere near as squeaky clean as their Star Trek equivalents.
If you haven’t seen the show, I urge you to watch it. While it may look a bit dated now, the storyline should more than make up for it.
Here is a battle scene with the evil black Shadow ships:
1.Dr Who
The winner has to be Dr Who, the story of a time travelling alien, known as a time lord, who has a ship that can travel anywhere in time and space. Thankfully, this hero who has lived for hundreds of years, has a real soft spot for Earth and although alien is quintessentially British, with all that such a curse entails. He is eccentric, resourceful funny and highly intelligent. He also has the power to regenerate when fatally wounded, which means that the character has been played by twelve different actors spanning over fifty years.
The show is the longest running science fiction series. In the past, the monsters and sets reflected the meagre budget of the BBC but since its resurrection in 2005, the special effects have improved massively and now the show is worthy of its cult status.
And finally …
Do you agree with my list? Have I missed anything? What is your favourite science fiction show?
It’s been a while since I’ve stolen a meme so I think I need to be a thief again. This particular meme was stolen by Pandora at Princess Pandora – Queen of Denial, who is solely responsible for leading me astray, having stolen it herself.
Anyway, enough of that nonsense; let’s dive straight in.
Travel anywhere, where would it be?
I would take a round the world trip taking in places old and new. I would bypass Europe on this trip because it is so close and I go there often anyway. So it would be a flight from Manchester to Hong Kong, with a quick visit to Vietnam, Laos and Malaysia then off to Japan via the Phillippines and South Korea. From Japan I would fly south to Australia and then to New Zealand. From there I would head east again to Chile and a tour of South America calling in at Argentina, Brazil, Peru and Uruguay, before heading north to call into Mexico. Finally I would head to Cape Town and fly north towards home via Egypt.
Meet anyone, who would it be?
I think it would have to be the three members of my favourite band, Rush. I would chat to them about their music and history and how they have managed to produce fantastic songs like this:
Also, I would hopefully persuade Alex Lifeson to teach me to play the guitar.
Bring anyone dead back to life, who would it be?
I think that would have to be my dad – just to let him know that I have done okay.
Be anyone for a day, who would it be?
I think I’d like to be an actor currently filming a blockbuster movie. When I was a kid, I always fancied treading the boards – it’s sad to say that I would probably have been too overcome with stage fright to actually do it.
Get anything for free for the rest of your life what would it be?
Free concert tickets for any band that took my fancy – complete with backstage passes so that I could meet the band.
Change one thing about your life what would it be?
My chosen career. In fact, I would leave the rat race completely and relish in the freedom it brings.
Have any superpower what would it be?
I think I’d like to be able to teleport anyway – and anywhen! Imagine being able to go back in time and watch historical events? Or pop to the future and see life in the next century?
That would be fantastic.
Be any animal for a day which would you be?
A bird of prey, for the simple reason that they have the freedom of the sky without fearing any other creature.
Date anyone who would it be?
Mrs PM- of course!
Change one thing about the world what would it be?
I would eliminate extremism of any kind and banish all extremists to a huge island with no escape, with a view to letting them all argue the toss with each other for the rest of their miserable lives. I am sick of reading about the opinions of nutters around the world who try to impose their crazy notions on the peaceful majority. It would also have a great side effect – no more war.
A simplistic view but I reckon it would work.
Live in any fictional universe which would you choose?
I think that would have to be the Star Trek universe. I would start by transporting to all of the places on Earth that I wanted to visit without the pain of having to spend hours getting there – and finally I would boldly go where Captain Kirk has gone before.
Eliminate one of your human needs which would you get rid of?
I think that would have to be sleep. We don’t live long enough as it is but wasting seven hours a day is a bit of a sick joke. That said, there are few better feelings than being in a comfy bed about five minutes before sleep is due.
Change one thing about your physical appearance what would it be?
My hair! No question.
Change one of your personality traits which would you choose?
I would eliminate my shyness. People who know me are amazed to discover that I consider myself shy but the truth is I have been battling this particular trait since I was a young man. I have had many victories and I am much less shy than I was – but there are occasions when it catches me unawares and all I want to do is crawl under a rock.
Be talented at anything instantly what would you choose?
That’s easy; to be able to play the guitar as well as Joe Satriani:
Forget one event in your life which would you choose?
I don’t think I would forget any event, even a bad one. Such things make you stronger as a human being. I wouldn’t be me if I could just forget something bad.
Erase an event from history (make it so it never happened) which would you choose?
That’s a tough question because without such significant events, the world wouldn’t be the place it is now. If pushed, I would have to go for one of the most significant recent events, the attack on the America on September 11th 2001. There have been so many repercussions because of this event – none of them positive.
Have any hair/eye/skin color, which would you choose?
I’m told that I have lovely blue eyes – it’s just a pity they are useless. I can’t imagine being anything other than blond, so I would probably just return the colour of my hair to the time I was a kid.
Be any weight/body type, which would you choose?
I am Mr Average when it comes to height and body type. I would maybe try to remove the flab that has appeared over the last ten years and replace it with a more toned upper body. I would probably make myself a few inches taller so I could see over everybody at a stand up concert.
Live in any country/city, where would you choose?
Hong Kong.
Change one law in your country, which would you change?
I would make the weekend longer. I would rather work longer hours from Monday to Thursday and have Friday, Saturday and Sunday as weekend – oh and double the amount of holidays we get.
Be any height, which would you choose?
See above – maybe 6’5’’.
Have any job in the world, which would you choose?
A travel writer. That would combine my love of travel and writing.
Have anything appear in your pocket right now, what would it be?
A cheque for 10 million pounds.
Have anyone beside you right now, who would it be?
Most of all, I love laughing at incredible (so-called) footage produced by people that proves with no doubt that the weird stuff we are looking at or watching is in fact proof of crazy conspiracy theories, the existence of aliens, ghosts and monsters, time travel or that our leaders are in fact some form of malevolent shape-shifting creatures that evolved from sentient reptiles who secretly rule the earth and shape the destiny of true humanity.
The internet is full of crazy videos, photographs and verification that the ideas conceived in the minds of highly imaginative yet slightly eccentric people are in fact absolutely true.
While there may be some footage that is difficult to explain (mainly because experts are struggling to prove that the photo or video isn’t in fact fake), I do occasionally love to surf YouTube, blogs and other sites that offer irrefutable substantiation that we are indeed in the dark about the true nature of such mysteries.
I have a very active imagination and I absolutely love science fiction and paranormal eeriness and while I mock the existence of things like yetis, ghosts, monsters in lakes, grey aliens, ghosts, demons and intelligent shape-shifting lizards in reality, I simply love reading about them and the people who believe them. If nothing else it gives me ideas for the future novels I will write.
I am currently reading a Stephen King novel about a man who travels back in time with a view to stopping Lee Harvey Oswald from killing JFK. The idea of the novel fascinates me on several fronts.
First, it involves time travel and potential paradoxes. Second, the assassination of JFK is one the most debated conspiracies of our time and finally, the novel is a riveting thriller.
And, best of all it has prompted me to scour the internet for “proof” of time travel.
I have found some gems, dear reader, that I want to share with you.
(1)John Titor was (or should I say “will be”) a time traveller from the year 2036, who appeared in 2000 and claimed, via internet bulletin boards, that there would be a civil war in America in the year 2004 and that in 2015, Russia would unleash nuclear holocaust on the European Union, China and America, with (as you may predict) America ultimately triumphing but Europe and China perishing. Do you remember the American Civil war of 2004, dear reader? I must have slept through that.
(2)In December 2008 in China, a tomb was opened containing a coffin that had supposedly lain undisturbed for over 400 years. The archaeologists scraped dirt and debris from the sarcophagus and were astounded to discover a tiny Swiss watch, even etched with the name “Swiss”, which was also covered in the same dirt as the coffin. The time on the watch was frozen at 10:06.
(3)A Swede called Håkan Nordkvist claims to have discovered a time portal under his kitchen sink, while mending a water leak, and found himself in the year 2042 where he met himself at the age of 72. By lucky chance he had a mobile phone and videoed the meeting:
A time portal under a kitchen sink. Well I believe that - don't you?
(4)Andrew Basiago, a Seattle lawyer claims to have been part of a secret US project called Pegasus in the late 1960’s that allowed him, as a child, to travel in time. He claims that there is a photo of him at the Gettysburg address and that he was in the Ford Theatre on the night that Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. Bizarrely he also claims that he and President Obama were enrolled in a program in the early 1980’s that allowed young Americans to teleport to the surface of Mars. I'm surprised Mr Obama didn't use that in his presidential campaign. I would vote for any man who claimed to have set foot on Mars - wouldn't you?
(5)Eugene Helton claims to have repeatedly travelled back in time and has photographs to prove it. He offers proof that he travelled back in the form of photographs of himself taken by other people. He also claims to be Blade, i.e. half man half vampire, which makes me think he just found photos of people who look vaguely like him from the past.
Now, is it just me or are people just basically stupid? First of all, I regard the above cases as utterly ridiculous and the claimants to be either totally delusional or out to make themselves famous and rich in the most bizarre way possible.
And what about the people who actually believe them? How can people be so utterly gullible and stupid?
If there really were time portals or time machines then surely these would either remain secret or the authorities would demand tangible proof of their existence rather than the demented ramblings of charlatans or attention seeking weirdos.
Don’t get me wrong; I would dearly love to meet a real life Doctor Who, and I would love to step back in time or see how mankind has evolved in 200 years’ time. But such desires are simply the product of collective science fiction authors – and even my own imagination.
I am very happy to enjoy stories like H.G. Well’s The Time Machine, Dean Koontz’s Lightning and even romantic stuff like Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveller’s Wife.
I will happily watch Dr Who, Back to the Future, The Terminator series and Star Trek movies that involve time travel such as Star Trek: First Contact.
However, I draw the line at believing it is possible by listening to unverified claims by (how can I put this nicely) disillusioned people who attempt to exploit gullible people with ridiculous claims.
Incredibly there are notable people who have scoured the internet actually looking for proof of time travel. I look at stores that amuse me and make me chuckle in disbelief. Yet I have found stories reporting that physicists have been searching the internet for evidence that time travellers exist, searching for predictions that have supposedly come true. Even Professor Stephen Hawking succumbed by throwing a party for time travellers, holding it before he actually sent out the invitations.
Guess what?
Nobody turned up.
Maybe that was a publicity stunt or maybe the great man dearly wanted to believe that time travel is possible.
Well, Professor Hawking, I have a revelation for you. I will share it with you dear reader.
I think you need to sit down.
TIME TRAVEL EXISTS – AND I HAVE PROOF.
We are ALL time travellers, dear reader, every single one of us.
We move forward through time at the rate of one second per second - therefore we ALL travel through time every second of our existence.
Ergo - time travel is all around us and we we can all do it.
Sadly we are constrained by the fact that we cannot travel any faster forwards in time and we certainly cannot travel backwards and anybody who claims that he has travelled into the future or the past is in fact talking nonsense - that is, unless he appears in a big blue box and calls himself the Doctor.
Earlier this year I said goodbye to my current favourite fictional anti-hero:
Dexter Morgan, a blood spatter analyst who works for Miami Police and just happens to be a cold, unfeeling psychopathic serial killer who murders bad guys that have escaped justice and then hacks them to pieces, pops them in black plastic bags, takes them in his boat, aptly called “The Slice of Life” and dumps them out at sea.
Here is the trailer for season one:
Whenever I become engrossed in a major drama, I find myself worrying about whether it will survive or not. Thankfully, in the case of Dexter, the series has finished and reached some kind of conclusion.
After eight seasons, I can’t imagine Michael C. Hall wanting to play the part of Dexter for a moment longer, mainly because people will forever consider him to be that character. I can’t say that I blame him simply because of the nature of the character as well as forever being referred to as Dexter Morgan the serial killer.
There are actually people out there who truly believe that the characters actually exist and the poor actor has to suffer being chastised for daring to do the bad things he acted out on the screen. In the UK, some actors have received hate mail simply because they committed an atrocity against a much loved character in a soap opera.
It’s amazing to think that people are that gullible and stupid – but it’s true.
While some series manage to run to a logical and satisfying conclusion, there are others that don’t. This is particularly true in America, where major drama series are judged on audience ratings and axed if they do not attract the required number of dedicated viewers.
This truly annoys me.
Series like Lost managed somehow to hold on and reach a conclusion (whether it was satisfactory are not is a subject for another debate), yet other series are simply cut short in their prime leaving a cliff hanger series finale that leaves fans totally frustrated.
One of my favourite science fiction series from the 1990’s suffered with the threat of being axed but recovered. It was hugely popular in the UK but in the US, the ratings weren’t quite as high as expected and the threat of the axe loomed over the series for four out of the five seasons, leading to a truly action-packed fourth season as the producers tried to cram everything in, but leaving season five slightly disjointed.
If you haven’t seen Babylon 5 – here’s a taster – a space battle with the evil Shadows in their malevolent spider-like spaceships:
Even the first season of Star Trek was curtailed too quickly after a mere three seasons. It was only later due to fan pressure that the show was resurrected as movies, which ultimately spawned four more separate series and even more movies.
In the UK it seems that producers are less likely to wield the axe on a show. Some shows last for years and only suffer if they are truly awful.
An example of a show that has true longevity is, of course, Dr Who, which remarkably is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Dr Who is the story of a time travelling alien who seeks adventure and has as his playground the whole of time and the whole of space. All of this means that he can travel to anywhere in the universe and anywhen.
Being an alien, he lives for centuries and has the ability to survive mortal wounds by regenerating into a different person – i.e. a different actor can play the character.
From 1963 to the early 1980’s the series went from strength to strength, despite shaky special effects and crazy storylines.
However in 1989 it was finally axed as the producers thought it had run its course. Many people were upset about this and there were several campaigns to bring it back. The show was resurrected briefly in the 1990’s in a one off special before finally returning to our screens with a bigger budget and much improved storylines and special effects in 2005.
And it has gone from strength to strength since then as one of the flagship programmes of the BBC.
I can’t imagine that happening in America.
If you haven’t seen Dr Who, here’s a taster for you, with a particularly creepy alien:
And here is another clip of the Doctor standing up to his mortal enemy – the Daleks:
Thankfully, Dr Who doesn’t show any signs of going away and there are plenty of other excellent drama series out there.
But alas I must say goodbye to Dexter Morgan. If you haven’t see it, I urge you to do so if you get the chance.
You will thank me for it.
Over to you, dear reader.
What are your favourite TV programmes? Have you ever suffered because the networks have prematurely terminated one of your favourite series? Are you a Dexter fan?
A while ago, I wrote a post called Rooting For The Bad Guy where I admired the evil that appears in TV and movie fiction.
As a follow up to that post I would like to offer to you my
top ten movie bad guys. As a rule, I love movie villains, possibly more than
the heroes themselves and many have made me cheer out loud, there evil and
nasty ways triumphantly upsetting the status quo and spitting in the face of
lawful and decent behaviour.
Without further ado, here are my top ten movie villains:
10. Lord Voldemort
Before you start laughing, yes I did enjoy the Harry Potter
novels and movies. I realise that J.K.Rowling wrote them for kids but I found
myself drawn into them on a day when I was off work sick. Mrs PM had left Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone next to the bed and I had nothing to
read – so I went for it. And I loved it. The books, and films, steadily became
darker and darker as they progressed – and in my eyes better and better.
Lord Voldemort is like a dark shadow luring throughout the story
and as the tales progress becomes more sinister and more evil culminating in
fantastic confrontation in the final book/film. He is evil personified and his
appearance is quite disturbing given the nature of these so-called children’s
films.
9. Emperor Commodus
I loved the Roman epics of old, movies like The Robe,
Demetrius and the Gladiators, Ben Hur etc. and when Gladiator appeared, I was
delighted that this genre had been modernised. The film remains one of my
favourites. I particularly like Emperor Commodus, a twisted power hungry
individual who murdered the family of the hero Maximum Decimus Meridius,
murdered his own father and became the most powerful man in the world – the
Emperor of Rome.
8. Darth Vader
As a kid, Darth Vader was the ultimate villain to me. Every
box was ticked in the villain checklist. He was a fabulously powerful villain,
dressed entirely in black with a deep booming voice and had the Dark Side of the Force at his
fingertips. Had I had anything to do with the Star Wars franchise, I would have
preserved his malevolence and not allowed him to succumb to the power of
virtuosity as he did in Return of the Jedi. Darth Vader should have remained
evil.
7. General Zod
Superman is the ultimate superhero and in order to conquer
him, you need an equally powerful supervillain. Enter General Zod who appeared
in Superman II and the new offering Man of Steel. General Zod is a power hungry
psychopath whose only desire is to rule everything, a kind of superpowered
dictator. The greatest thing about him is that he has all the powers that
Superman possesses and can stand up against him on equal terms, unlike other
more feeble nemeses such Lex Luthor.
6. The Terminator
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s original Terminator is a superb
villain. Devoid of emotion, extremely resourceful and incredibly powerful he
has one purpose and one purpose alone; to kill Sarah Connor. He feels no
remorse and anybody or anything that stands in his way are crushed with maximum
prejudice. I realise there have been a few other Terminators but the original
one suited Arnie’s limited acting ability perfectly. Arnie at the time was
built like a leviathan and his physique and general demeanour was perfect for
the part of a relentless killing machine.
5. Hannibal Lecter
I read the book Red Dragon by Thomas Harris before The Silence
of the Lambs hit the big screen and I regarded Hannibal Lecter as more of a
monster than Francis Dolarhyde, the central villain in that book. Hannibal
Lecter came into his own in the two sequels, The Silence of the Lambs and
Hannibal and Anthony Hopkins’ portrayal of the psychopathic killer in the movie
adaptations is phenomenal. What I particularly like about Hannibal Lecter is the
fact that he is a brilliant psychiatrist as well as a psychotic murdering
cannibal, and this gives him the edge and the ability to get into the minds of
people. The way in which he kills Inspector Pazzi in the film Hannibal is
extremely disturbing and is a truly magnificent piece of cinema.
4. Colonel Hans Landa Inglourious Basterds is one of my all-time favourite films
and the star of it for me is the multilingual, intelligent and extremely brutal
Jew Hunter himself Colonel Hans Landa, played so brilliantly by Christoph
Waltz. Landa is a ruthless Nazi whose job is to hunt Jews, a job he loves and
does extremely well. The character is wonderful because as well as being
completely detestable, there is a charm about him and a undercurrent of malevolent
humour. While watching the film I always think “I should despise this guy – but
actually I love him.” That’s what makes him so brilliant.
3. The Joker
When I refer to the Joker, I mean the character played by
Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight. In the old batman series, the Joker was one of
Batman’s most famous nemeses and in the first Batman movie, he was also played
wonderfully by Jack Nicholson. Up to that point he was more of a humourous
comedy character but in The Dark Knight, all of the humour was stripped away
and the Joker became a totally evil, psychotic and very disturbing terrorist who
was deviously clever and almost certainly totally deranged. The Dark Knight
deserves all the plaudits it gets but without Heath Ledger’s Joker it wouldn’t
have been such a great film.
2. Agent Smith
The star of the Matrix trilogy, for me at least, is Agent
Smith, a computer generated artificial intelligence who detests humanity,
referring to them as a plague for which he is the cure. By the end of the
trilogy he has become as powerful as the hero, Neo and the movie’s finale is
the ultimate confrontation between the two. Agent Smith is played by Hugo Weaving,
who delivers the dialogue in the way you would imagine a predator speaking to
its prey just before devouring it.
1. Khan Noonian Singh
Khan is not only the greatest Star Trek villain; he is my
favourite movie villain. He first appeared in an episode of the original series
of Star Trek and then resurfaced in my favourite Start Trek movie, The Wrath of
Khan. Khan is a genetically engineered superhuman who blames Kirk for marooning
him on a planet that becomes a wasteland after a planetary explosion, leaving
Khan and his followers to survive on their own in an extremely hostile
environment. He plans revenge with dire consequences for Kirk and his crew.
“I’ve done far worse than kill you. I’ve hurt you – and I
wish to go on hurting you!”
Some of you may already suspect this but I am going to tell everybody anyway.
I think I am a geek.
There – I’ve said it. And do you know what? I don’t really care.
Some of you may disagree with me, based on some of the crap I’ve written in previous posts, but for you doubters out there I have compiled proof that I am indeed a geek.
I wear glasses.
With that statement I can imagine that there are rational people all over the world complaining that if you wear glasses it doesn’t necessarily mean you have crossed the nerd line into fully fledged geekdom. There may be an element of truth in what you say, particularly since wearing spectacles became cool some time in the last ten to twenty years, partly because super cool and extremely handsome celebrities started to wear them.
When wearing glasses became cool...
I didn’t start wearing them to look cool; I was forced to wear them as an 8 year old and there have been many years of pain because of them. Believe me in 1970 wearing glasses WAS NOT COOL! I had to suffer lots of abuse such as "Hello Four Eyes!".
Glasses added more to my geekness than just appearance. For instance, I love football but playing football in glasses is not only stupid but also likely to get them destroyed by a wayward ball blasted at your face from close range. Without glasses I may as well not bother because I simply cannot to see a ball hurtling towards my face until it is around two feet away, by which time it is far too late.
And this is why glasses wearing geeks are crap at sport. They simply can’t see and therefore have to pursue more cerebral pastimes.
I have abominable hair.
If left unchecked my already unmanageable hair mutates into a blonde mess that kind people would say is a white afro. Sadly most people just say “get your hair cut you bloody freak”. Combined with my glasses my long curly hair makes me look like an insane version of Einstein without the vast intellect and vast moustache.
I have played dungeons and dragons.
In my youth I succumbed to temptation and joined a bunch of sad individuals in a basement room in the student union at Liverpool University and played a stupid role playing game consisting of cards and dice whereupon I did battle with crazy imaginary creatures such as gargoyles, goblins and griffons. I found myself arguing with another sad individual about who should open an imaginary door and confront the troll we knew was lurking behind.
I am ashamed.
I have since seen the light and although it was 32 years ago, I still cringe inwardly when the memory surfaces of rolling dice to help me fight a dragon.
Maybe there’s hope for me.
I love science fiction.
I love science fiction so much that I actively spend my time surfing the internet looking for information about my favourite science fiction TV shows and sequels to my favourite geeky movies.
I have leapt on my soapbox to point out flaws in movies like Jurassic Park and Independence Day because of plot holes so vast you could steer a planet through them. I have watched all manner of garbage on the SyFy channel in the hope that it can satisfy my weird craving for wonderful monsters, aliens and space operas.
Some of my favourite authors write vast series of novels with more than a thousand pages in each book spanning millennia and universes.
I love shows like Star Trek and Dr Who and avidly watch any other strange series that come to my attention.
I draw the line at visiting conventions dressed as my favourite characters – thankfully.
I work in IT.
In the 1970’s and 1980’s software engineering (or as it was known then computer programming) was a career reserved for geeks. Over the years, the stigma of geekdom has drifted away from IT. Nevertheless, there are still people out there who associate sitting at a desk all day, trying to get computers to do as they are told, with sad nerds.
I love gadgets.
I have a collection of gadgets that I simply cannot do without, including my smartphone, Kindle, iPod, tablet and PSP. There are numerous other gadgets knocking about my house and I am always on the lookout for the next big thing.
I am quite clever.
One of my female friends once said to me: “I wanted to speak to you but I was scared of you.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because you look so clever.”
I have often wondered whether that was my problem with women in the past. Either I look too clever (the stereotypical mad hair and glasses as described above) or they simply don’t like geeks.
I am quite clever but in some aspects of like I am totally thick – like dealing with and understanding the fairer sex.
I have friends who are geeks.
Not only do I have friends who are geeks, I actively join in sad conversations that only geeks understand. I also work with geeks (anybody reading this who works with me – I am not talking about you).
And finally ...
Having said all that, there are many aspects of my life that are not geeky at all. For example, I love to go out for beers and talk about football, I used to play a fair amount of sport and I haven’t been a single man since the age of 21.
Nevertheless, the geek within me surfaces fairly often and I spend far more of my life being a geek than not.
I guess I really am a geek.
How about you, dear reader. Are you a geek?
Do you have geek tendencies?
Would you confess to being a geek even if you were?
Have I made a colossal mistake admitting to a personality that exhibits elements of geekdom?
Do I care if people think I am a geek because of this post?
Probably not – because I think being a geek is OK!!
I often wish that I could add something to my life to make it even more enjoyable than it is at the moment and I started thinking about what I would wish for if a genie popped out of my teapot and offered to grant me a few wishes.
To be honest, there are simply too many to be able to write down all my wishes in a single blog post so I will simply list, what I like to think of, as my geek wishes, i.e. wishes that are straight out of the mind of the creators of my favourite science fiction movies and shows.
Here are five for you to ponder.
1. Observational Time Travel
I would love the ability to be able to observe past events first hand without actually being there. As I’ve got older I’ve become more fascinated with history and, in particular, significant events that shaped the world in which we live.
For example, I would love to be able to pop back to the court of King Henry VIII to watch the tyrannical King in action.
How about popping across the pond to see who really shot John F. Kennedy?
Or visiting Jerusalem to listen to what Jesus had to say, first hand?
Or maybe wander around Hitler’s bunker at the end of the Second World War to observe his demise?
Sadly, my German is nowhere near good enough to understand the ranting and raving of Adolf Hitler as his world crumbles around him. I would need a second wish.
2. Universal Translator
Whenever Dr Who lands on a distant planet, the TARDIS translates the speech of the indigenous aliens. Similarly whenever the Starship Enterprise makes contact with an alien species, the Universal Translator makes sure that both parties totally understand each other before all hell breaks loose.
My next wish would be to have the ability to understand not only all human languages on earth but also to be able to make sense of any attempts by animals to communicate with me or other creatures.
Can you imagine being able to talk to your cat? I’m sure, in my case, my three cats would say:
Jasper: FEED ME NOOOWWWW!!!
Poppy: Leave me alone; I’m terrified. Liquorice: What can I attack next?
To be honest my desire to have a built in Universal Translator stems from my love of travel. Although English is fairly widely spoken, and I have a smattering of French and German with a hint of Spanish, my inability to communicate with the local people is deeply frustrating. I certainly make an effort but Chinese people would like to hear me say more than just:
“Waiter! The bill please!”
Japanese and Russian people want more entertaining conversation than:
“Hello! Beer! Thanks! Goodbye!”
I still love to travel though. And I would love to make it easier – which leads me nicely onto my third wish.
3. Teleportation
Many science fiction shows introduce the concept of teleportation. Star Trek has its transporter and other shows have similar devices to get a person or object from A to B in the blink of an eye.
Regular readers will know that although I love to travel, I hate travelling, i.e. sitting on board a metal sausage for twelve hours in a space that can barely accommodate a child let alone an adult male like myself. As well as the discomfort, the time difference, the length of time it takes and the ignominy of having to be nice to immigration officers and customs officials is another source of irritation.
If I had the ability to teleport instantaneously anywhere in the world, I could pop to a restaurant in Hong Kong and then pop back to feed the cats.
I could materialise into an electronics shop in Tokyo , buy the latest must have gadget and still be home for tea.
I could look outside at the good old British summer, turn my back on the torrential rain and pop along to a glorious beach in Barbados.
I could beam into any major concert or sporting event worldwide and watch it for free and even get up close and personal with the stars of the show during the after show party.
I’d have to make sure that I had some sort of navigation system to make sure that I don't materialise in the middle of a ladies changing or, worse, where a cruise ship had been ten minutes earlier, or even worse, in Piers Morgan's house.
I imagine that I might get a little bored with travelling the planet and wish to spread my wings a bit further afield.
How about a fourth wish?
4. Observational Space Travel
Although I really do want to keep my feet firmly on planet Earth, I would love to be able to observe other planets, again without having to actually travel there. Imagine you could project yourself to the centre of the huge hurricane raging on the planet Jupiter?
How about perching yourself on the summit of Olympus Mons, the tallest volcano on Mars?
Or following in the footsteps of Neil Armstrong and seeing Earth from the moon?
Why stop there? There are billions upon billions of stars and potentially several billion gazillions of planets out there, far too many to see in a human lifetime.
And that’s a problem. Here’s where wish number five comes in.
5. Immortality
With the progress of technology in the past 50 or so years, I envisage huge leaps and bounds in the next few hundred years and am deeply annoyed that I won’t be around to witness it first-hand. Immortality combined with the other wishes above would mean that for the remainder of my existence I would be able to enjoy bearing witness to the development and evolution of the human race.
Like most of the human beings I want to live forever so my final geek wish is immortality and the ability to grant or revoke that gift from any other human being. I would need this latter part to ensure that friends and family were immortal too (unless they annoyed me in which case I would take away their privilege).
Of course, there are downsides to being immortal and I’m sure that you can suggest many. For example, one day the world will end or become hostile to humanity; for example if pollution and global warming make the Earth uninhabitable, a giant asteroid collides with the planet or the huge volcano under Yellowstone national park finally erupts.
The Yellowstone Caldera, which erupted so spectacularly in the movie 2012, is absolutely huge (measuring 34 miles by 45 miles). The last eruption was 64,000 years ago – apparently we are due another.
That’s scary and being immortal when that happens might be an unpleasant experience, watching the world disintegrate around me.
Nevertheless I would go for it because I think it is a risk worth taking.
I guess ultimately I want to end up being Q from Star Trek: The Next Generation. For those of you who don’t watch Star Trek, Q is an omnipotent being with a mischievous streak.
Sounds like that might be fun.
There will be more wishes in a future post, perhaps a lot less selfish, a little more realistic, more global and a little more serious.
In the meantime, over to you, dear reader. What would be your geek wishes?
I am a bit of a geek therefore I am a huge fan of science fiction – or so those who believe in stereotypes suggest.
In this instance, however, certainly as far as I am concerned, they are right. I love science fiction novels, TV series and movies.
There are so many fabulous science fiction films that I am going to give you my top 20.
Please feel free to let me know your favourites – who knows – I may not even have seen it (but I doubt it).
Also, let me know if you disagree with me. I’d be happy to know why.
(20) Star Wars – The Empire Strikes Back
I was never really a huge fan of the Star Wars saga. I don’t really know why. Perhaps it is because the distinction between good and evil is just that little bit too obvious. Darth Vader himself had a lot of potential as an evil villain but he never quite realised it for me, I’m afraid. Sadly, I do actually like Star Wars III – The Revenge of the Sith and it was touch and go whether that made the top twenty instead of this one. In the end, I opted for The Empire Strikes Back simply because I was as shocked as everybody when it was revealed that Darth Vader was in fact Luke Skywalker’s father.
I apologise to Star Wars purists but I much prefer Star Trek to be honest (as you will see later).
(19) Galaxy Quest
Once of the reasons I love Galaxy Quest is because it is a science fiction remake of another great film, The Three Amigos. A bunch of washed up actors being mistaken for intergalactic heroes and the aliens in the film is a wonderful idea. There are so many great comedy moments in the film; nothing escapes including sci-fi conventions where goons dress up as the characters and believe it is real and Star Trek itself including the one unknown character who always gets bumped off when the crew lands on an alien planet. Tim Allen is excellent as the captain but the best character in the movie is Alan Rickman’s reluctant alien.
Never give up – never surrender.
(18) Starship Troopers
I hope you don’t think of the tacky I Lost My Heart To A Starship Trooper that was a crappy little single in the seventies. Starship Troopers is a very violent, very scary and very political movie that makes me shudder when I watch it. Why? Because I loathe creepy-crawlies and the monsters in this film are basically huge insects that rip men to pieces. My one criticism is that the characters are a little shallow. However, that fades into insignificance when you consider giant fire breathing beetles, monstrous insects with razor sharp claws that can slice off a man’s limbs and, worst of all, the horrific species we meet at the end that suck out human brains. Revolting yet utterly compelling.
(17) Total Recall
Unlike most of Arnie’s mindless movies, Total Recall has a fairly convoluted plot that makes it that much better than most of his action films. The story is intelligent and has lots of nice twists, particularly for Arnie’s character. I can accept the fact that he has to flex his muscles and beat the crap out of bad guys but the intricacies of the plot adds that extra portion of enjoyment.
(16) The Time Machine
H.G. Wells is my favourite classic author and I have read most of his books. The Time Machine is one of the best and I am going to take a liberty and include both the original film and the recent remake at the same time. The original movie starring Rod Taylor is a fabulous adaptation of the book and, despite being fifty years old, it is still very enjoyable today. Moreover, the 2002 remake starring Guy Pearce, although panned by some, is also very enjoyable. I particularly like the idea that you simply cannot go back in time to “fix” things. The Morlocks in the remake are also particularly nasty but both movies stimulate my imagination.
Also, if you like the H.G.Wells story, check out the “official” sequel written by Stephen Baxter called The Time Ships. It will blow your mind as you try to get your head around the complicated concepts of time travel. I have to say that if somebody dared to make a movie of that it would be an absolute blockbuster.
(15) Blade Runner
I love dark films and, as far as science fiction is concerned, you can’t get much darker than Blade Runner. I particularly like Rutger Hauer’s psychotic replicant and the ending of the movie is exciting and also a little sad. I empathised with Hauer’s character all through the film (I’m a little weird you see).
(14) Forbidden Planet
I watched Forbidden Planet as a kid and it really scared me (much to the amusement of my father). I remember asking my dad with a quivering voice “What is the Monster from the Id?” and as the characters struggled with the vast and violent invisible monster, I was clutching my dad’s arm as he chuckled at my fear. For that reason, I have always remembered this wonderful film. Of course it had a fabulous robot too and that was the icing on the cake. I saw it recently actually and was amazed that the star was Leslie Nielsen who I imagined was always a comedy actor.
(13) The Terminator
Violence, time travel and a fantastic story combine to provide the perfect Arnie film. This, believe it or not, was the first film I saw Arnie star in. I was bored one day so decided to go to the pictures and there was nothing on but The Terminator – what a fortuitous decision. I was captivated by the movie and urged everybody to go and see it, including complete strangers (I told you I was weird). You can’t beat time travel and a virtually unstoppable cyborg whose sole purpose is kill its target no matter what.
It will never stop until you are dead – that’s a scary thought.
(12) The Thing
I saw the trailer for The Thing and thought to myself, this is just another tacky horror film. A bunch of university mates persuaded me to go and see it and I am so glad they did. It is easily John Carpenter’s best film in my opinion, and has everything the discerning science fiction fan loves; horrible monsters, a great story and an ending that leaves everything to your imagination. If you haven’t seen it, don’t be put off by the title – it is a truly scary and thought-provoking film.
(11) Cloverfield
Everything JJ Abrams does at the moment is a triumph. I am a huge fan of his TV work (Lost and Fringe) and Cloverfield is no exception. Monster movies are excellent and what makes Cloverfield stand out from the rest, for me, is the mystery factor, that is, the fact that you don’t really see the monster at all and there is no explanation of what it is or where it came from. The heroes of the movie are basically clueless idiots and that makes it even more enjoyable because you know that they should just get out of there instead of hanging around waiting for a lovelorn buffoon to rescue his girlfriend. I can’t wait for the sequel.
(10) Terminator 2 – Judgement Day
I know – Arnie again – but, incredibly, the second Terminator movie is even better than the first. It has all the fascinating elements of the first film, plus the added bonus of trying to change future history. The kid was annoying but the transformation of Sarah Connor from an innocent young woman into a violent, psychotic warrior bent on changing the future and protecting her son, was a great idea. Best of all is Robert Patrick’s liquid terminator. A great sequel.
(9) Predator
Ok – this is the last Arnie film, I promise. The concept of an alien coming to Earth to hunt humans, string them up and keep bits of them as trophies is vastly appealing to me. Arnie and his elite band of mercenaries make tough opposition for the creature and that is why this first in the series is by far the best.
(8) Alien
I was too young to see Alien at the time it hit the cinemas and it wasn’t until around five years after its release that I saw it for the first time. It is tense, scary and takes the idea of a bogeyman to the extreme. The guy who dreamt up the alien, a remorseless, intelligent, violent killing machine that bleeds acid is exactly on my wavelength because that is the kind of monster I would create. A fabulous film.
(7) The War of the Worlds
The War of the Worlds is my favourite science fiction story by H.G. Wells and I’m going to take yet another liberty and mention the two movies in the same section. The original adaptation from 1953 is another of my favourite old style science fiction films – and although it is totally different from the book, it contains a lot of the elements that I love from the book. The recent Steven Spielberg adaptation starring Tom Cruise is absolutely magnificent though. Set in the modern day, it has the tripods from the book and for once Tom Cruise plays a hero who is simply terrified and completely helpless. And the special effects are something else.
I have to make a special mention of the musical version by Jeff Wayne which is one of my favourite concept albums of all time. The story aside, the songs, the vocalists and the narration of Richard Burton are the icing on the cake. I took Mrs PM to see a live performance at the Manchester Evening News Arena a year or two ago with Jeff Wayne, a full orchestra and Justin Hayward. The stage show was simply awesome.
My one wish is to see yet another remake that is even closer to the book, set in England in the late nineteenth century.
(6) Pitch Black
I was on a business trip to Atlanta, sitting in a hotel room on a Sunday evening, watching any old garbage on US TV when I saw a trailer that perked my interest. It showed a guy in pitch blackness who lit a flame – and when he did so, he was surrounded by hideous black monsters that shrank from the light. As soon as I got back to England I told Mrs PM, also a science fiction buff, and we went to the pictures to see Pitch Black. And we both absolutely loved it. I hadn’t heard of Vin Diesel at the time but I thought his character, Riddick, was indcredible – a truly flawed hero. The film exceeded my expectations because it had monstrous aliens, great characters and it was all set in darkness which added to the fear and tension. I loved the ending.
I have to say, I also like the sequel The Chronicles of Riddick, despite the criticisms.
(5) Star Trek
Please allow me to indulge myself – I love Star Trek, and J.J. Abrams came up with a magnificent reboot of the franchise that has incredible potential for future films. I went to see this with a little trepidation but it blew me away. The casting of Zachary Quinto (Sylar from Heroes) as Spock was inspired. And it was a delight to see Simon Pegg playing Montgomery Scott. It was a terrific action movie and cut aside the political correctness that had crept into later versions of the series. More – I say – give us more of the same. I can’t wait for the sequel.
(4) Star Trek – First Contact
I was totally disappointed with Star Trek – Generations. To allow the next generation to take the reins in this dreadful way was frankly absurd. When I heard that the next film with Jean-Luc Picard would be a Borg film I was excited but at the same time, nervous that it would be like the series, i.e. nice and diplomatic. It wasn’t. It had everything you could hope for in a movie; time travel, evil villains, a wicked Borg queen and a normally sensible and professional captain of the Enterprise mutating into a weird version of Captain Ahab. Even Worf had a bad time. Easily the second best Star Trek movie.
(3) The Matrix
I had no clue what The Matrix was like. I just knew it was a science fiction film. And I left the theatre with a huge grin on my face, citing it as one of the best and most original movies I had seen. I particularly like Agent Smith, superbly played by Hugo Weaving. In fact, most of the characters are terrific. And the special effects are wonderful. I particularly like the scene where neo and Trinity walk into the building and march through the metal detector loaded with guns and a bomb. And the mayhem that ensues it one of my favourite action scenes of all time.
The sequels were quite disappointing, actually. The Matrix Reloaded had some great actions scenes, notably the freeway chase but I left the cinema feeling that something was missing. It was the same with The Matrix Revolutions. I think it all got a little silly really. They should have stopped after the first one.
(2) Star Trek II – The Wrath of Kahn
To this day, Star Trek II – The Wrath of Kahn is the only science fiction movie that makes me cry every time I see it. I simply cannot watch the scenes surrounding Spock’s death without blubbing like a baby. I have to watch the movie alone lest others laugh at my emotive outburst. When it appears on the TV I simply have to find time to watch it because it is easily the best Star Trek film. Ricardo Montalban was immense as the evil Kahn, driven by revenge at the expense of everything else. Even William Shatner, a man whose acting leaves a lot to be desired, excelled himself for once.
(1) Aliens
What could be better than being trapped in a space ship with the scariest and most vicious alien in the universe? I would suggest being stuck on a planet with hundreds of the buggers is far worse. Okay, so this time Ripley had a small army with her, complete with weapons that could take out on or two of the beasts, but in the end it didn’t really help. At the start of the film, I was shouting at Sigourney Weaver – “Don’t go back there!” while at the same time thinking to myself “You have to face the alien again – just for me.”
And she did – with gusto. The final scene where she is kicking the alien queen’s bottom is simply wonderful.
This film has everything I need from a science fiction movie: a brave hero, violent mercenaries, tension, blood, fear and a whole army of large evil monsters with big teeth.
The perfect science fiction film – and that’s why it is number one.
I hope you enjoyed my list and I will be happy to hear your thoughts, whether you agree with me or not and I am happy to hear your suggestions.
