Anti Gravity explained !

Sugar Puff Wee !

I've just taken a break from the work I'm doing to visit the Loo, and although the last time I ate Sugar Puffs was probably well over 3 years ago I've just encountered that strange phenomenon of Sugar Puff smelling wee. I'm sure most people will know what I'm talking about, not too sure if ladies will though, I get the feeling it's a man thing.

Man claims new sleepless record

Man claims new sleepless record

I once did the opposite of this and slept for 11 days !!!

Star Wars 30 today !

I first remember seeing a clip of Star Wars in 1977 on the News at 5.45 here in the UK. It was the clip when they're fighting the Tie-Fighters after escaping the Death Star in the Falcon, as a 10 year old I was totally amazed by what I was seeing. I started buying Magazines like Starburst and going through the Newspapers my Dad brought in for clippings about this film. Hard to believe that was 30 years ago. Pity he fucked things up big style with the Prequels and the Special Editions.

I could have went with a Star Wars poster for the pic, but hey I thought this pic of Carrie Fisher was way better !

1977: Star Wars in London

Angus McBride - RIP

I've only just read that artist Angus McBride had passed away on May 15th. As a kid I remember McBride's work from Look and Learn magazine, then later I loved his artork on Role Playing games like Rolemaster and MERP ("Middle-earth Role Playing") Only last year I bought Angus's great book Warriors and Warlords featuring his historical artwork. He was a superb artist and it's sad to read of his death. Rest in Peace Angus Bride.

First Look: Check out the new ''Flash Gordon''!

I really don't like the sound of the direction this is going in, Flash fights an android in his kitchen etc... still we'll wait and see but Alex Raymond this ain't gonna be !

First Look: Check out the new ''Flash Gordon''!

The Adventures of Mark Twain" (1985)

I first seen this film in the UK on video under the title of Comet Quest, it US title is The Adventures of Mark Twain. Directed by Will Vinton I'd have to say that it's one of the finest Claymation films made, not sure if I'd call it a kids film though as there are some genuinely spooky sequences in the film. This was the first full length feature in claymation. I highly recommend this film and is available on Region 1 DVD The Adventures Of Mark Twain (1985) (Region 1 DVD)

Another Beard bites the dust !

When I have a beard I tend to just shave it off as a spare of the moment thing, I like my beards but I do tend to get a lot of stick from Friends and Family, I was all for keeping this one for a while longer, but earlier whilst taking a break from work I went for a pee and after washing my hands I suddenly decided to re-fill the sink and have a shave, so now the plug hole is full of hair and my face feels bare. :( It'll take ages to grow another good one !!!!

Pumpkinhead (1989)

Pumpkinhead, also known as Vengeance: The Demon was the directorial debut of Make-up FX artist Stan Winston and was inspired by a poem by Ed Justin.
The film was shelved for a few years due to the bankruptcy of DEG - De Laurentiis Entertainment Group. Made for $3.5m the film had a very limited release and ended up straight to VHS in many countries.

Plot summary:
A group of city kids go into the country to relax. While there, one of them is involved in a biking accident that takes the life of the son of the local storekeeper (Lance Henrikson). In a fit of rage, the storekeeper has a witch unleash an unstoppable demon called "Pumpkinhead" to kill the group. When he realizes he's gone too far, the storekeeper attempts to save the kids, but is continually afflicted by visions of peoples' deaths through the eyes of the monster.Imdb

Stan Winston who was busy directing the movie left the creation of the creature in the hands of his effects team headed by Tom Woodruff Jr. who'd previously worked with Winston on The Terminator, Aliens, The Monster Squad and Leviathan. Lance Henrikson is one of those actors who really can add a touch of class to any low budget film. Also starring in the film is Jeff East who played Young Clark Kent in Superman: The Movie. Another notable cast member is that of George 'Buck' Flower who has appeared in The Fog, Escape from New York, Back to the Future and Demolition Man as the IMDB states he was frequently cast as drunk or homeless characters.
I always loved the Pumpkinhead demon design, the creature was suspended on wires, not unlike the early Predator creature that failed that I mentioned a while back Predator - The original design
Winston's team do a great job of bringing this creation to life and for me this is one of their most memorable creatures. The films Cinematography is pretty colourful, night scenes tend to be very blue were as a lot of interior scenes have a very red/orange look, especially those in Haggis's shack.
I think it's a shame Pumpkinhead didn't find a bigger audience at the time of it's release, but has gone on to spawn toys, comics and 3 sequels made for VHS and DVD.

Happy Birthday - Bill Paxton

I first seen Bill Paxton in either The Terminator of Lords of Discipline in the mid 80's, after that he was in a steady run of fun movies such as Weird Science, Near Dark, Aliens, Predator 2, True Lies. He's also appeared in some pretty big productions Apollo 13, Twister, Titanic and the remake of Mighty Joe Young. One of my favourite Bill Paxton films is A Simple Plan directed by Sam Raimi, hey Bill even made Spy Kids 2 and Thunderbirds worth watching. Bill Paxton has done his fair share of jobs in the industry, he met James Cameron whilst he was working as a set decorator on Galaxy of Terror and he's even art directed on some 70's porn. I love his line from Weird Science which I have been known to quote "I'm gonna tell Mom and Dad everything. I'm even considering makin' up some shit!"

Happy Birthday Bill and "That's it man, game over man, game over! "

My Favourite Movie Spaceships

Ships are always referred to as 'She' but I suppose this is the one ship that truly was a female ship. Nell was designed and built by James Cameron for the Roger Corman produced Battle Beyond the Stars in 1980.The ships exteriors were designed and built first but the interiors were just going to be generic sets for each ship, it was Cameron who designed the interiors to hopefully compliment the exteriors.

The 'Valley Forge' and it's sister ships the 'Berkshire' and 'Sequoia' were based on the Expo Tower at the 1970 World's Fair in Osaka, Japan. The actual miniature was 26 feet in length and used over 650 army tank model kits for detail. I've always loved the film since I was a kid, so I was very disturbed in the late 70's to find footage from Silent Running showing up in Battlestar Galactica with shots of the 'Valley Forge' been attacked by Cylon Raiders.

The Dropship from Aliens is another James Cameron design, both Ron Cobb and Syd Mead had a go at designing it, but the final look was based on a rough model that Cameron put together himself to show the basic layout and form. I suppose you could argue the fact that the Dropship isn't so much a spaceship in the true sense, but we do see it travel into space to and from the Sulaco.
The ship that almost never was, most Star Wars fans know the tale of how the original Pirate Ship owned by Han Solo was going to be a much longer vessel, a miniature that ILM made for the ship later got re used as the Rebel Blockade Runner after a crew member commented how it looked a lot like the Space 1999 Eagle Transporter, so the cockpit and Radar dish were removed and a knew ship was designed for them, which became the Millenium Falcon that we all know and love. Also at one point the Millenium Falcon was going to fly upright once in space and the cockpit was going to rotate so the cockpit crew were sat at the top of the ship, nice idea but glad they scrapped it.

Discovery is a spaceship that really has stood the test of time design wise, especially where the interior detail is concerned, the control panels, HAL's flat screen monitors all still look very high tech even in this day and age. Discovery and other ships from 2001:A Space Odyssey were the first miniatures used in films to ever really use plastic kit parts to add detail, the original studio miniature was a whopping 54 Feet in Length, with a smaller 15 foot version built for the long shots.

My favourite of all the Star Trek 'Enterprise' ships, this was designed by Andrew Probert for 1979's Star Trek:The Motion Picture and is a refit of the ship seen in the original Star Trek series, love the sequence were Scotty shows Kirk the ship in the Drydock, fabulous sequence and superb Jerry Goldsmith music.

Designed for Star Trek 3:The Search for Spock as a Romulan ship, this was meant to have been stolen by a group of renegade Klingon's lead by Commander Kruge. Later during a script rewrite it became a Klingon Ship.The ship was designed by ILM visual effects art directors Nilo Rodis and Dave Carson.
Designed by Ron Cobb for the film The Last Starfighter the Gunstar has been a favorite of mine for some time, and for a CG ship done in 1984 the look of it still holds up pretty well today. It has a similar feel to Babylon 5 Starfury in that the outer engines have attitude thrusters.

Another Ron Cobb design is the Scoutship Dark Star from the John Carpenter SF Comedy also called Dark Star funnily enough, this was said to have been designed initially on a napkin whilst they talked over ideas. The interior of this ship has a bit of a Tardis thing going on, as in the interior is certainly bigger than the exterior. I've always loved Talby's observation bubble on top of the ship.
Always one of the coolest sounding spaceships the Tie Fighter is probably my favorite of all the Star Wars fighter craft, I much prefer this to the Tie Interceptor that was introduced in Return of the Jedi, the Tie Bomber seen in The Empire Strikes Back was a neat design as was Vader's own Tie from Star Wars but this one has always seemed to have something special, plus the Tie Fighter pilots had cool helmets.


Ok that's ten ships, but just bubbling under as a fave of mine is Cowboy's ship from Battle Beyond the Stars with it's confederate flag and it's cargo section that it hauls, oh yeah and George Peppard as Cowboy. The front hull body above and below the cockpit windows are from the Tamiya model kit of the British Quad Gun Tractor The ship lands upright on it's four engines once it's droppedc the cargo section.

Happy Birthday to me !!!

40 Today !!!!!!! I feel old !

Today's Sci-Fi Food - Multi Coloured Blocks

Mmm!!! They look yummy!!!


From 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Happy Birthday - Rosario Dawson

28 Today

I send her a card every year, and her lawyers send me another restraining order !!

Harrison Ford didn't recognise Anthony Daniels...

Hollywood actor HARRISON FORD was left red faced after he confused one of his Star Wars co-stars at a restaurant for a waiter. Anthony Daniels, who played C-3PO in all six Star Wars films, approached Ford - who starred as Captain Han Solo in the blockbuster franchise - but he didn't know who Daniels was. Speaking at the launch of the Star Wars Exhibition in London, England last Friday (04May07), he says, "I was at a London restaurant a few years ago and I noticed Harrison Ford. I went over to speak to him - and he asked me what dish I recommended. I think he thought I was a waiter."

Cruise of the Gods (2002)

I missed Cruise of the Gods when it first aired on TV, but bought it on the recommendation of a few mates maybe 2 years back, they'd caught it and thought I'd like it. I picked up a copy cheap and found that it was fabulous fun.

Plot summary:
Andy ( Rob Brydon) is a struggling actor who has never quite reached the success of his first role as Romak in sci-fi series Children Of Castor. When he finds himself as a hotel porter he decides it time to go on that fan-club cruise he's been putting off for a while. Whilst there he meets Nick (Steve Coogan), his co-star from the TV series. Nick is now a Hollywood success staring in Sherlock Holmes...In Miami. This is the story of the cruise and the surprising events that happen along the way.

If you grew up like I did watching shows like The Tomorrow People, SF shows that made Doctor Who look big budget then you can see what sort of inspiration they used for The Children of Castor. The segments you see of the show are rather like those you see of the show in Galaxy Quest, and in some respects the whole thing of fans showing up dressed as characters and quoting the shows lines echoes those sequences from that film aswell, and the William Shatner 'Get a Life' skit on SNL - William Shatner on SNL
Rob Brydon's character of Andy van Allen is totally uninterested in taking part in the events that Jeff Monks (David Walliams) has set aside with the aid of Russell (Jeff Corden), who has what appears to be an unnatural obsession with Andy. There's a great line from Walliams about when they had John Pertwee on board years earlier for a Doctor Who convention and how he not only signed everyone's autographs but he took some drinking straws from the bar, placed some hanging out of each sleeve and threw in a Worzel Gummidge performance for free. The shows writer Hugh Bispham (Philip Jackson) has a few revelations for the fans as to the origins of the Children of Castor's character names. And Jenny (Helen Coker) doesn't so much have the hots for Andy van Allen but for Romak the character he played in the show. One of the more memorable characters even though he only ever spoke the same line twice in The Children of Castor opening credits is Graham (Niall Buggy) And a super, but sad moment when Andy finds a message left by Graham on his Camcorder.
During a beach Volleyball game, Andy van Allen goes out for a swim is picked up by Nick Lee (Steve Coogan) the other main star of The Children of Castor, the reaction and line spoken by David Walliams when Andy returns to the beach with Nick Lee is priceless.
I highly recommend Cruise of the Gods and can be picked up for £7.99 from www.play.com - Cruise Of The Gods

Sci-Fi Fashion victims - Baltar

What were they thinking of when they made that helmet for him !?


From Battlestar Galactica - The Living Legend

Today's Sci-Fi Food - Rat Burger

Lenina Huxley: [Spartan encounters a burger grill in the underground world] Just don't ask them where the meat comes from.
John Spartan: Huxley, what's that supposed to mean?
Lenina Huxley: Do you see any cows around here, detective?
John Spartan: Que es este carne? [What is this meat?]
Hamburger Stand Scrap: Este carne es de rata. [This meat is from rats]
John Spartan: Rat? This is a rat burger? [vendor nods]
John Spartan: Not bad! Matter of fact this is the best burger I've had in years!
Hamburger Stand Scrap: Gracias, Senor.
John Spartan: Prego. See ya later.


From Demolition Man (1993)

Sacha Baron Cohen to play Mercury?

Above - Cohen as Borat

Sacha Baron Cohen is reportedly in talks to play Freddie Mercury in a film about the late Queen singer's life.

The Borat star is said to have replaced Johnny Depp as the frontrunner for the role.

Mercury earned a reputation as one of rock's most charismatic live performers before dying in 1991 of an AIDS-related illness.

An insider told The Mirror: "Filmmakers are working flat out to get the best possible script. Sacha loves the idea he can get away with playing Freddie after modelling Borat's look on him."

Star Wars - Remastered DVD's

I'd put off buying Star Wars on DVD when it first came out because it was the 1997 'Special Edition', the second time it was released it was a newer and so called improved 'Special Edition', making changes to sequences that were changed back in 1997, such as Jabba and the problem of did Greedo shoot first or at the same time as Han that the new version shows, or maybe it was a rogue Jawa who shot, I'm sure it used to be Han. Anyway the third time the DVD was released we were kindly given a bonus disc with a great extra, the original version of the films without all the digital tinkering, so I was not 100% happy with the way they'd released the classic versions but bought this version anyway.
I'd read on a few forums people complaining about the picture quality and other problems on the new 'Special Editions', anyway the other evening after reading another complaint online I decided to got through my set and check.

The first things I did notice were problems with the colours in some sequences the red on the Blockade Runner exterior is a lot brighter but this is one of the shots that doesn't go too overboard with colour, others do, the scene were the Imperial Stromtroopers blast open the door of the Rebel Blockade Runner before boarding shows just how bright the colours get in some scenes compared to the original print, see pics above. The other end of this is during the escape from the Death Star when one of the Tie Fighters explodes the colour is so washed out it's almost Black and White compared to the original version. One of the most puzzling shots is the hideous blue glow that now fringes the edge of the Death Star explosion, this wasn't in the original version, and from what I gather not on the DVD release of the 1997 'Special Edition', but has somehow appeared now ?! It looks pretty naff, so much for a remastered copy.

Other colour problems show up in the scene when Luke is training aboard the Millenium Falcon, the colour of the Lightsaber changes from Blue to Green between scenes, an obvious problem, how come this wasn't picked up on whilst the scene was being done, it's very obvious as these stills show.
Another overly bright shot colour wise is the Hologram of Leia that R2-D2 projects in Luke's Garage, it really is very garish compared to the original.

A problem that was meant to be fixed for the 1997 version was that of the visible cover mattes from the old optical compositing, well in quite a few scenes these are still just as visible as ever.
This is one of those problems that does differ between TV's and PC monitors though depending on how you have your brighness, some people say they can't see them, others say they can see the box surrounding the ship, which is known as the 'cover matte', but they are still there if you have your monitor on the correct settings so the technical bods say on the DVD forums, I can see them on my monitor and DVD.

The problem that shows up in the newly remastered version of both The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi is that of the lighsabers again, the white core surrounded by coloured glow has been replaced in many shots by a more coloured lightsaber which isn't as pleasing as the original effects shot, also that weird rotoscoped shadow to the side of the Emperors hood still appears in all version of the DVD.
It often makes me wonder just what sort of quality control George Lucas has over these DVD releases, and especially when the latest version has added errors that weren't there in the first place.
The Robert Wise supervised restoration of Star Trek: The Motion Picture proved that new stuff could be added, and that it could be blended into the film without sticking out like a sore thumb.It seems almost like Lucas hands these films over to ILM and the Restoration Team and lets them piss about merrily doing what they please no matter how ill fitting some of their work is.