SCI-FI SEPTEMBER!

SCI-FI SEPTEMBER!
Kelly is livid (but definitely not furious), and Vanessa is livid that we started sci-fi September with only two weeks left in the month! Also discussed: Talk to Me, The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster, The Afterparty.

Transcript

Unknown: 0:03

Oh, I'm sorry, did I break your concentration somewhere between science and superstition such sites to show you strange aeons. Welcome to strange aeons radio. That's Eric over there. Hello. That is Vanessa over there. Hello. I'm Kelly. Hey, guys, if you go on to the strange aeons radio talk page on Facebook, which Eric put up and we all interact with. Eric spoke about a movie and I said, Hey, be honest with me. Am I gonna like this? And Eric got really snarky and said, you'll probably be furious. Furiously Happy. He just said furious, and I realized that he was making a joke that I have an angry guy. So I did watch the movie, and I did not like it. But Eric, I'm not furious. livid. Oh my god, I'm absolutely livid over this movie that you had nice things to say about. I feel like I scribes you even better grumpy and angry. At the same time. I believe I use the word decent to describe it. And if you don't like the first 20 minutes, you're not going to like the whole movie. But I did like the first day. I like the first 10 minutes. So yeah, I don't know if I'd call decent. And then I also if you read through the thread, I said, You should pass. No, but once you say that I take it as a challenge. That's right. And every time I'm like, I'm gonna love this. I just love it so much about how to manipulate this is very easy to manipulate. And Jason, you know, made it more intriguing with pointing out who directed it right, right. We're not going to mention the movie, but if you want to know what we're talking about, you have to go to strange aeons radio toe. Okay, so this isn't the movie you're going to talk about? No, no, because I'm I'm furious at you. Vanessa. You mentioned a movie that I watched Okay. called Talk to me. Yeah. And I think you said that it was pretty good. Yeah, I thought it was fucking amazing. absolutely terrifying. It scared me. It is scary. It's scary. I had I you know, I watched it. It's available to rent now. I watched it in the darkness of my room. And I was like, I should turn lights on this movie is fucking terrifying. You know what I thought no movie theater full. It was it was like a previous screening. And I think that helped. Because it is such a plays on this fear of loneliness. Yes. And I think if I had been alone, it would have been so much worse. It is at its core, basically just a mix of Flatliners and it follows Yeah, but it is so creepy and scary. And I was just like, holy cow. what a what a movie. Did you have the experience? So the first maybe 10 minutes of this movie? I was watching it I was like Oh no, it's gonna be the one that was a real bad real bad Australian horror movies. Real? Oh no. And then once it got into it, I was like, oh, okay, this movie is actually gonna be it as you said incredible really good. But like it I had a moment where I was like, Oh no, these it's like the teenagers and their banter and their drunk kids um, you know I I went into it with you saying it was pretty good. So I guess I didn't have that fear. And it's gotten some pretty crazy good reviews. So I I just went in knowing that I was going to be in for a treat. I thought I would get a good scary movie. I did not realize I would be scared. Yeah, it sticks with it. Like I still have moments of that film sticking with me. Yeah. Oh, good stuff. Oh, yeah, they will the rent talk to me watching this very soon. Already. They've got a sequel coming out or they've got a prequel I guess that they've already shot. I've said the call to look who's talking to me, you know, but I ironically, you say that they did the stupidest thing ever. The sequel is talk number to me. To me, like oh, no, I mean, look, if that branch is just so low, it smacks you in the face. You might as well go home with that right? Well, you know, I've I haven't seen as much as I normally would like to from week to week, but I did finish finish up the after party season to me too. Oh, did you really what do you think was fun? First season was better, but I thought this was good. Yeah, I think the first season had some, like fun really delightful twists and turns with with some of the genres they picked in this overarching story of the first one that was better. Some of the individual episodes in season two were more fully realized. Yeah, fun. But so overall, both good seasons I thought I really enjoyed when they went for it with the Wes Anderson episode was good. I was like that. Yes, they like got it. They like Got it. Got it. I was like, I'm watching a Wes Anderson. Production right now. The soap opera one felt like a little bit of a miss to me. Like it just didn't read. It went real heavy. I mean, real over the top like, yeah, it's just read in the right way. I think they could have had more fun with it. And the Alfred Hitchcock one, I couldn't quite tell if they, like, needed Hitchcock. Because it felt like they were when they did the titles. I kind of thought I think this is going to be Hitchcock. But then it almost felt more likely we're making fun of other people's suspense movies from that time because it took me a while to figure out it was Hitchcock, for sure. Until we saw the guy who looks like Hitchcock. I was like, okay, yeah, I know exactly what this is now, but like it almost didn't read quite correctly. And have you seen any of the after party? Still haven't watched it? Okay, so for any of you who haven't watched it, you know, it's it's each season is a murder mystery. At some event or another season one is at a high school reunion after party and this one is that a wedding after party. And each episode is kind of structured around this, you know, genre. So we season one he had like a Fast and the Furious style and season two, you know, see when they went through a lot of the main ones like a musical and you know, that animation and all that kind of stuff. And this one, it's they're they're reaching a little bit further, but I did really like the actors they got in season two is there's some really fun people they threw in the mix. And the three people that transferred to the new one. Really, that bleed guy is just fantastic and so good. And he was in wolf's not wolves among us. Wolf, something, something wolves played a werewolf movie that we all liked. There. Right? What is this on? This is on apple plus. Okay. TV or what Apple whatever the heck they're calling it? Well, let me pull us back down into the depths of crappy movies. Okay, I'm ready. Someone that gives. Andy Mulligan might watch and go poorly did this filmmaker from the 80s, who basically did short films, I think most of his stuff like 1520 minutes or less. And they're on YouTube. So dance, expelled like dancing, dance, the car break went by when the Think or anything like that. But the somebody I'm sure didn't have a name that would introduce me to this on the 100 days. I was like, well, let's go check this out. And spectacularly awful. Oh, wow. Yeah, probably 12 or 15 minutes. So it's it doesn't sometimes you watch those bad movies and they're great for about an hour then. Okay. Leaving me but So yeah, if you're looking for some real shit, Michael, I'm looking at you. Gonna throw one back at you. Michael Bronzo. Go watch some winvic movies on YouTube. See what you think. My god? This is a short film then. Yeah, all this stuff? For sure. I think there's like four or five of them on YouTube. Yeah. Does this count towards your 100 movies? I did. I made a count. Already gaming the system. It's 15 minutes, he will not get back. First time he's decided to actually follow it all the way through and he pulls this kind of shit. Right? One time. I'm okay with that. All right. Well, my discovery of excellent movies continues. I feel like I've been very, very lucky for the last couple of weeks. And I rented the angry black girl and her monster. I was wondering how that was also on my list. It's also very good. It is a pretty blatant Frankenstein story. And it's got it's got an urban setting. It's got a lot of gore. It's got the police being horrible to black people. And then gangs and drugs and a Frankenstein monster. So this isn't going to be is it like a hard R? To think or just from the premise? I was like, oh, it's gonna be kind of like a cutesy like children's. It is not a cutesy children's thing. No, it is. It's a legit horror flick. I've had a retelling of Frankenstein in an urban setting. Wow. Yeah, really good female director, the lead actress. I think she's got an issue that that goes against her in that she looks very young. But she's playing like a college student. And she's brilliant. She's, you know, brace a crate of Frankenstein. So she she comes up. She's got this theory that death is a disease and it can be cured. And then she spends the rest of the movie proving that and it's pretty dang good. I liked it. Well, what did you catch that on? It is a rental. But it's a rental on everything. So I think it's 699 Prime, YouTube and Amazon. I love when the price just from like 20 bucks or whatever to seven. Yeah, like Yes. I only took a week. I just tell Amazon to give me this one item. One week later than expected. It will be 590 and I'm speaking of gaming the system. So I I saw a film that I hadn't seen since theaters. I don't believe I've talked to you guys about it. I watched White House Down again. Oh, the action film Roland Emmerich? Which one? Is that? The Gerard Butler one or at the same same year? Like I think a couple months are away from each other. It's Channing Tatum. Yeah. And oh my gosh, I'm forgetting the other star who plays the president in it. Jamie Foxx. Yeah, I think so. I think it's Jamie. I think so to Fox. Yeah, it really I remember the time watching it and being like, this movie is dumb. But you know, it's fun enough, but it's nowhere near as good as the typical Roland Emmerich stuff that I love rewatching it. It's fucking awesome. It's so goddamn good. I'm not sure you're right about that. No, no, I am. It's just the the Roland Emmerich glaze over the glasses is good and strong. Look, it's I mean, like, it's so much better than I don't know, Moon. Okay, yeah, it's better. I think even better than midway, which, you know, I thought was, a lot of people gave it shit and it it doesn't deserve. Yeah, I think this is a stronger film than that. The thing that I missed the first time around, because I didn't enjoy Channing Tatum when I watched this because he was just some hunk that everybody was drooling over and I was like, well, that's gross, because muscles are gross. You're gross, and you can't act and blah, blah, blah. And regardless of his acting ability, which I think is actually Okay, in this. his physicality is insane, because he's a big dude. But he's running around and scrambling through this whole film, across like floors and up elevator shafts and he looks like a cat. He looks like he weighs nothing. And the way he moves is so unique that obviously this guy's a dancer. It's just so cool to watch him sort of perform on this next level. I mean, if he makes most action stars look like lazy mofos who sit on their couch with potato chips like nobody nobody has this guy's moves up next strange aeons radio Magic Mike. is a little bit of a dark movie, but that's okay. Well, yeah, it's Steven Soderbergh. So good. Yeah. It's nice to see you like falling in love in real time. I mean, of course, I cannot stop. Like, I need the world to know that the most patriotic American patriotic filmmaker our country has possibly ever seen. is German. There's something so beautiful about that. He gets. I mean, if you want to see a giant American flag waving in a movie, this German man will do it for you. That is true. Yeah, I don't remember I remember liking the other one more for our butler one. I'm glad if that's cool. Like that's a watch. It's so like, whatever isn't this action movie is fine, too. Right. But and then there's two more that get progressively worse and worse. Yeah, very solid bet. Yes. That was the my birthday treat to myself was too good. Glad it went well, because Ghana could have gone the other way. It's like God, I thought this was an all good. Oh. Kinda like the movie I watched. Oh, no, no, wait for this one. This is returning to the mic brazo list of like 12 movies I think he sent me now. But this one joins the epic bad movie hall of fame. Awesome. Night of the demon Hopefully, have you seen this one? The Sasquatch movie I have it is from like 1980 or something like that. It is awful. Awesome. And it's awfulness because it is really Siculus. It's so over the top. The Gore is excessive and at the same time awful write. Very, very strange, like orange tinted blood through a large portion of it. With the, you know the epic famous scene of pulling off a part of a motorcyclist being on the side of the road. He can fill in the blanket what gets turned off? Although Severan did immortalize it in a sticker. Oh my god. It Up. I enjoyed the hell out it is so so much fun to watch. Wow, it's got this ridiculous guy who spends the whole movie pontificating on all his ideas and he spews all the concepts and the ideas of well this one time in the story that happened I heard about and he tells the story of the motorcyclists and tells another story of some other people like to Girl Scouts that get killed by Oh my god. Two Girl Scouts that I'm pretty sure where 25 But and it's it's Well remind me it's a Pacific Northwest horror, right? Isn't it safe in Washington or Oregon? I fought it. Yeah, I think it's definitely Northwest. I wasn't sure if it was Canada but I don't remember but it's definitely northwestwards Yeah wow you have a I sense a new so bad it's good to be yeah episode coming up soon. That's definitely a little worried after this one of the other ones he's sent because it's going to be hard to keep up with this man. This is top shelf shitty movie. Yeah Bronzo he's like he's got these all filed away somewhere as weapons Yeah. to hand out to people try this one. Okay sent one to me the other day I was like, Oh yeah, I talked about that one. I looked it up like episode 50 Something like yeah, oh, yeah, I know this one. Right the lady who did a blood diner I forgot the name of the film, but I know based on the being Yeah. Oh, yeah. I think I spoke about the being one of our episodes. Oh, okay. Well, why don't we take a little break. And then when we come back we're digging into sci fi September when a galaxy far far away the Star Wars saga began and tener continues the excitement it's the three fields that you can take apart and other action figures each sold separately. Sneak Attack I'm all in peace. That the PPO on solo see Threepio with backpack and other action figures. He goes separately from kendo Star Wars Return to the Jedi collection. And we're back. Hey, Eric, why don't you tell us about sci fi September. That's what it is. By September 1. There's only two weeks left. So it's gonna be a short sci fi September, but we'll get at least two fun episodes of sci fi movies of us just picking anything that falls into the Sci Fi genre. I love this idea. So much. We should do it every September. We should do it every September. Sidenote on Sci Fi things I had dinner with a family last night my nephew comes and goes I like Star Trek ever watching Star Trek Next Generation it's so good. Oh, I appreciate that. My heart just grew through time but how old is he 21 He's a child that's great. He's experimenting with things and well yeah, Eric I'm gonna put 10 minutes on the buzzer if you want to start us off good to go all right, I'm talking about a 2022 film called Rubicon I was young astronauts were like when you country's existence you will begin to ground control, ground control do you read? Does anybody hear us? Anyone? You need to lay this focus toxic nobody can survive. The alga gas exchange works on can survive for so hard for a client that doesn't exist anymore they can't beat that Hello We don't have much oxygen left these people need if we could bring your lie down there we could save 300 lines flowing down have you out of your mind we do nothing we just watch them die if you can completely crazy in that lab who don't get to talk to me about crazy stuff either you come with us or you stay think they would give you the lie that was the other way around it's your job to keep us alive you know that this is right spelled with a K so the rotten tomatoes is fun 135 from critics 77 The crowd Wow. So interesting disparate gee this is directed by spirit. Magdalena laureates first feature film written by same lady first feature film also written by Jessica Lim first feature film based on a book by Elizabeth shimmied starring Julia Franz richer whose mermaids Don't cry. Whatever Wanda Jurassic Park is one day Jurassic Park wonder Colin Jurassic Park. Wow. And murder by the Lake George blagden who is in Troy a total war saga. Okay. And 30 episodes of Vikings. Mike ignore seven episodes of the new pope. Many Call of Duty voices over lots of the games, and tons of TV and video he's got like 150 some odd credits. So it starts with his opening statement. In 2056, the world environment has been deteriorated beyond a critical state. Only the rich can afford to live in air domes which filter that contaminated outside air. Big corporations, everyplace governments and states, conflicts over resources and territorial borders are resolved by the corporate armies. All attempts to refuse to find refuge in space have failed. One space station is left still searching for solutions. And that space station is Rubicon with a que anyways. Starts with a nice little kind of actually seen in space where the new people are coming on board the space station structure to it's not really clear at this point. But their AI instruments malfunction. So they have to take over. And they're like, Are you sure you can do this? It takes many smart calculations that AI usually does very easily. Of course, she does just fine no watching it. But when when she's coming in the guy inside there, notice that she's got a tattoo or something behind her here. It's like, oh, no, this is a soldier. So he's not so he really doesn't know why she's on board, even though she thought she did before send out a team to bring some information back down to the ground after there's a few seeds of introduction and people wandering around. And the AI goes out again. This time they lose the entire so presumably the shuttle shuttle falls and explodes and everybody on board dies. So that leaves just like three, there's three main characters left. There's, as soon as the crash shortly after the crash happens. They show a shot of swimming it's Earth, but and all the lights start going out. So all the power on earth has disappeared trying to figure out why they have discovered something very interesting for the preservation of life on Earth. There is a an algae that they're growing, that they can recycle very quickly recycle co2 to make it oxygen and clean it and it does it very efficiently, so efficiently that they everybody on the space station. This is how they breathe is with this algae now. One of the guys once everything disappears and they've lost they've lost contact with her. Nobody's talking to anybody. So one of the people gets completely despondent, tries to kill himself and a He stopped him from doing that. And then there's the big drama of why you can't kill yourself. Because for this algae to work, you need at least three people present. You need that breath of three people that can produce enough oxygen to keep at least three people alive. If there's only two of us, it won't work. So if you kill yourself, you'll kill us to know. Wow, what a contrived notion. Yeah, that sounds so. So he, he gets over that and then seemingly gets over it more because he starts sleeping with the soldier. So yeah, you find your ways of surviving on that. And it seems like a needlessly complicating story element. Yes. Okay. Sorry. Well, sorry if it does lead to something. Okay. Yeah, she's a soldier. So she's not supposed to get pregnant. So guess what happens? She doesn't get pregnant. Right. Exactly. Yes, exactly. No, for no pregnancy for you. But so the the assay, let's go with the rest of them over here, we start diving into talking about it. The planet is covered with a fog, they figure out that is killing everyone. As far as I know, it may have killed everybody on the planet. For a while during the movie. They're basically the three people trying to exist and have fun. They watch movies. It's like, well, if you can't access the internet, we've watched her entire catalog of films, I watch that again. And they also can make an alcohol out of the algae. So they make some alcohol and that goes, okay. It's, it's fine. This they're good. They're all really good actors. The performances in this are definitely solid. But then, one day, they get a call. What will it mean? What will happen after this? Let's see. Hello. From Earth from inside the space station. Station. Is it coming from outside the LT. Nice from the planet 300 people that have lived. So they need to figure out the rest of the story is basically the existential dread of do we can we save these people? With the algae will can we transport it survive and a variety of things like that are going on? So it's fine. Okay. Wow, some taglines before I get a little deeper into that. Take a deep breath. It is your last worth what is worth living for? What is worth dying for? Not sure if that was an actual tagline or just somebody on IMDb sticking something that seemed weird. It was shot in Austria, but the film is in English. So everybody's got these heavy Australian accents. No, it's a little unusual. The the acting or like I said, overall, the acting is good. Sometimes it shallows the gravity of the situation where it's like, you don't really seem like you care about this. Or if it's supposed to be your training, keeping you calm, you're not making that clear enough, you need to find that middle ground and let us know what's going on. The storyline needed some help and the timing, it's about two hours and 40 minutes long or something like that, with the third year the removal of an existential crisis or two. And cutting the film down would have made this pretty decent film in languishes, a lot of times it's still good, and it was kind of shooting for that. So Lara's kind of film. I mean, that's a high bar to mark as far as the talent of a director, but it doesn't quite get there. So I think if they trimmed it down a little bit, it would have helped a lot for a first time feature. Holy shit, a lot was done really well. So I hope she continues to do more movies. It is a little weird because I don't know if it's lost in translation, or it's a European version of saying the word but algae is pronounced as Al gay through the whole movie for a little while took me out what the hell are they talking about? And then I looked it up and go, Okay, got it now. This is but it is definitely a done in the vein of a 70s style smart sci fi that moves had kind of a slow pace and unfolds a little bit more with a little bit more pacing. I think what helped it but it's it's one of those real frustrating moves where you can see there's some real talent here, but it's just needs needed somebody to maybe take a pass at the script. Overall, we're seeing if you really love sci fi movies that move at a slow pace They have Buffy the Rubicon comes from the Latin, or the ancient Rubicon in northeastern Italy, famously crossed by Julius Caesar in 49 BC which is the origin of the phrase crossing the Rubicon an idiom that means that once is passing a point of no return. So I've never heard that phrase. Rubicon Yeah, passing through the crowd now really? Wow. Like a bunch of TV show a TV show called Rubicon. I think it was in a movie or two dealing with that concept. That idea of the Rubicon. There's even a Jeep name of the Rubicon, which I never really understood. Totally, like, a no return. Like, gleaming the cube in my head, they will be forever linked. That's fine. I understand. Two hours and 40 minutes. Yeah, it was it was that disappointing. What's that on? What is that on a few things. I'm pretty sure I watched it on Amazon. Okay. And what What year was this? You say? 2022 2022. Okay. Well, no. Vanessa, you want to go next? I do. I do want to go next. So I love this topic. Not only because sci fi I mean, come on, it is the king of genres. But also, it gave me a chance to open up my arrow edition. The Last Starfighter. Alex Rogan lives in a small trailer park in the California mountains. He has a dream to go to college. I think I'm gonna hang out here. Once you shine your pickup. Forget it. Now I'm doing something with my life. Start a career really aren't leaving here, aren't you? Of course. I'm going to wait. We're both gonna want both of us, Alex. And most of all, to get out get kitchen. Welcome thing is when it comes. You got to grab it with both hands. Then one night, a mysterious stranger offers Alex an opportunity he never dreamed of. For you. I'm Centauri and you may know you must trust me implicitly. Nothing Alex Rogan has ever imagined. could prepare him for what he is about to experience. Why was Alex chosen? And will he ever return? Where are we going and trust me? You're gonna love it. Love it The Last Starfighter. These adventure in space is about to begin. Ah, very nice. 1984 which I had never watched. That's insane to me. Yeah. It should be watching Yeah, it was also insane to me. Rotten Tomatoes score. This film has 76% from critics and 70% from audience, a budget of 15 million and a box office of 29 million in North America only. This is directed by one Mr. Nick castle. Oh yeah. 13 credits to his name. I saw his name show up and I was like that's this shape. That's weird. Shape is during this. He has directed the boy who could fly Dennis the Menace major pain and Mr. Wrong. He rotates. Hook. He actually wrote August Rush and Escape from New York. And of course he acted. Not only is the shape and Halloween, but he also played the shape and all of David Gordon Green's Halloweens, and he plays alien and Darkstar. So fine, written by Jonathan R. Beutel, who has five credits whose name including Theodore Rex, Freddy's Nightmares, one episode and my science project. Yes, not really not a strong writer. Starring Lance guest 52 credits. Now this guy, it's strange because he has a lot of charisma. And it's like, Man, this guy obviously must have gone on to have a lavish career. Well, he did Halloween, two Jaws The Revenge the roommates, The Wizard of loneliness and a lot of TV walk on roles, including a couple of recurring ones and Knott's landing and life goes on. He apparently went into the theater after Last Starfighter, quote unquote, made no money. It was interesting because it was like in his very long winded IMDb profile. And I was like, There's a story here and I don't know what it is. I wish somebody had written it because I'm curious. He obviously has some grapes. Some sour grapes. Dan O'Hurley 137 credits to His name plays Greg 50s films and early TV walk on roles and then he was the old man and Robocop and six episodes of Twin Peaks. He played Andrew Packard. Also we would know him I would know him as Colonel Cochran and Halloween three season in the which he is a delight in this film. He's incredible. We also get Robert Preston 76 credits. He was in the Music Man How the West Was Won a lot of early 40s films a very recognizable face, and Katherine Mary Stewart 77 roles including 150 episodes of days of our lives, lives nightflyers Weekend at Bernie's, and Regina and night have a comment. So I actually saw her in an elevator a few times I kept like she was very recognizable. Now I know what the story follows Alex Rogan, who lives in the world's best trailer park. The community is this tight knit, it looks like summer camp is so fun, everyone's so happy. Living their best lives. Everything's like, it's not that it's nice, like high end, but it's clean and it's bright and Poppy. They all kind of greatly depend on him, though, for help with their electrical issues. And things like the power going out or their cable going wonky. He's the one they call and he's pretty young. So he's ready to escape and go to college, get out of here and ideally bring his girlfriend Maggie with him who it takes a while for the film for you to figure out she's this girlfriend. While you're like are you together, unite together and then they're really together. One day, however, he's asked to help out with some some trouble happening with some power stuff and the trailer park and his friends. I'll go off to the beach. And he hangs around all day long does all this stuff and then afterwards goes up to this arcade game near this sort of little mini marts at the top of this hill overlooking the trailer park. And he just dabbles away at the last Starfarer Yeah, last notes just called starfighter. Yeah, just called Starfighter again. So he's playing around, no big deal. And all of a sudden, somebody looks over his shoulder and like, Oh my God, you're about to beat the high score. He's like, Oh, snap, and the whole community, mostly old people gather around this arcade machine, and watch this guy play as he knocks it out of the park. He celebrates and but it's a little bit short lived because then he discovers that he did not get the loan he needed to go to college. So he's super upset, runs off to be alone and then is scooped up by a guy and a very space age car. That's not a DeLorean at all. Not even meant to look like when the guy says, Hey, I invented the game. I want you to hop in I got a surprise for you. It's like, okay, he gets in, the guy kidnaps him, it takes them to a faraway planet where there is a Gallic galactic war between Zando Zan and a mercenary fleet and this planet of people from something called I think it's race or rains or something, some planet. So he declines and says I do not want to join your star fights. I would like to go home now. But starfighters are like super elite. So they're kind of like, why would you turn this down? This is like an honor. And your your planets going to be in danger eventually and he's like, no, no, no, I'm gonna get back to her. So they go, the guy who kidnaps him goes to bring him back. But when he gets there, he discovers that there have been assassin sent to murder him because Sandow found out about him. So he needs to kind of kick it into gear and go ahead and help Lee starfighters and save maybe the planet maybe it's galaxy, maybe who knows what. But as they return, it turns out that all of the other guys are murdered. All the other star fighters are killed in a big bomb. So no, does that make him the left? does? It does make him the lesser fighter. Oh, my God. So him and his co pilot Greg, not Greg. Which it sounds like through most of the film. It's not I was like, why is sailing named Greg? No, it's Greg. Greg, Greg. Go and try to stop them with their very clever, really truncated action scene. Will Maggie figure out that Alex was swapped with a cloned robot who is super not into girls. Will Alex's little brother ever stop sucking at the game every time he grabs the controls not immediately lose? Oh, well, he managed to save the universe return to Earth and guilt Maggie to leaving the only home she's ever known to go hang out in a super weird alien community where she'll probably never be happy or fit in. Stay tuned. This was a really fun In film, I really enjoyed it. I just wished that I had seen it as a kid instead of as an adult. Yeah. I think that not having that nostalgia, it harms it. But it is so jam packed with things just happening throughout that even though it takes a long time to get the fights. I was like still really entertained. I love the beat story of this. Of his beta, which is like the guy who's taking over his body on Earth and trying to do all the stuff for him on earth and he just kind of sucks. But he's like, also trying to be like a decoy for all these assassins, like keep showing up and like try to murder him. Greg is great. He's super, super fun, great actor. The graphics I'm sure at the time were so advanced. They look really advanced for that moment. They are so bad. Yeah, for now. Well, here's something I find amusing a lot of times when you read Gen. Millennials and Gen Z are talking about the effects of that time like yeah, we also at the time thought they were kind of cheesy and weird. That's good. I was wondering I was like were people like blown away by like, the planet is just this big brown mass with like one station on it like one square White Station here like what they're The exceptions are on and of course Rasik Park was like, Oh my God. But yeah, this is definitely like, oh, maybe this might have been the way to go still. 100% 100% I will say it is made up for not to an extent with a set design. Because the sets of this the interior of the space station and the trailer park are so well lived in they look just really fun. The aliens are all insane and uniquely designed. None of them are wearing their special helmets, because their heads will in no way fit in there. And the music is a lot. The music is doing a lot of heavy lifting. It's very Spielbergian it's very like over the top. I'm like I know what emotions I'm supposed to feel. A little bit of trivia for you. I'm probably gonna run out of time, but it's Highline Alex Brogan was a small town boy with big time dreams. But in his wildest dreams, he never suspected that tonight he would become the Last Starfighter. I have more. I have a few more. Will we be doing this? Three episodes in a row now. Sorry, I'm rusty. Wil Wheaton had a speaking line for the film by a was cut. But you can see him in two scenes which I did not notice. The star car that Centauri drives is based on a DeLorean shocking. There's a weird tech machine thing in one scene on the Space Station. That is definitely a recurring prop in Star Trek Next Generation. It's like the weird tube thing with the lights in it. And all the visual effects were made from a Cray X MP computer and trying to think there's anything else thrilling in here to talk about but her No no, it's fine. There's there's nothing you have to worry about Atari actually one more thing. Atari made a game based off of this film for the 5200 super system, but it never got past prototype type phases. However, copies of it do survive. It did get rebranded and revamped into a different game called Solaris for them. So weird. Yeah. They didn't shockingly have the tech to really pull off the game that you're playing in the Yeah. i I'm glad you liked this movie. I love this movie. The effects were always kind of chintzy looking. Yeah. This is a movie that's been talked about being remade for the last decade or so. It sure has, you know, I found a lot of things talking about remaking it. But none have come to fruition. No and its primary kind of movie you want to see remade. Yeah, especially with good effects and a little a little more realistic storytelling. I think this would be a really, really fun movie. I get to actually see somebody like Disney taking this and doing a good. A pretty good job with it. Yeah, you could also go in much more serious direction, but I think this could be a really fun, fun film. I remembered it. I thought it was a bigger hit than that. 29 million sounded low to me. I mean, no, that's still a lot. Maybe four but I thought it was for some reason. I remembered it being bigger than that. But it must have really come out when it was like on HBO or something and people were watching it. 1000 times over. That might have been one. Yeah. And you know, 29 million on lovelies. 1515 That's not a hit me. Yeah, they've they spent at least 15 million on promoting it. So but yeah, I remember. This is one I've hesitated to rewatch. Now I remember loving it, but I have not I don't think I rewatched it since I maybe early 20s are gone. Oh no, no, but have you seen it recently? Yeah. I think it is a great kids believe it is a great hits maybe I think you'll enjoy it. It isn't boring like a lot of the problems with revisiting your childhood faves as they're boring or they're stupid or what? Like the acting is fun. There's some really fun silly moments throughout the day that aren't that aren't stupid. It's not a stupid movie. And I think that that really makes up for a lot so I also love the idea that the video game is a training thing for them to find starfighters yes the the use that go okay, this guy is clearly good enough to fly an actual star fighter. Yeah, one of those one of those weird little teen fantasies of the arcade era for sure. Okay, I'm gonna go Next I'm putting 10 minutes on the buzzer and I am talking about from 1974 phase four in the next few moments we will try to give you an impression of a new kind of film experience. If your curiosity is aroused you are ready for phase four sending by message what does it mean there is no message there's an intelligence there I wanted to know there's an intelligence I believe that moved really quickly into desert areas taking over the countryside first and laying siege to towns and cities. Plans strengths and weaknesses I don't think killers What do they want how do you find a force that knows what your next move will be? Before you think of it? could find no budget or box office information on this the Rotten Tomatoes critics have it at 53% and the audience has it a 55%. It was directed by Saul Bass who has seven credits all short films. This is his only feature, but he is mostly known for his amazing credit sequences for films such as The Man with the Golden arm North by Northwest and Psycho is written by Mayo Simon or mio Simon who has 14 credits including marooned Futureworld and 17 episodes of man from Atlantis which he created. And it is starring Nigel Davenport, who has 129 credits including peeping tom, which I believe you spoke about earlier. Yes, give me the mind of Mr. Soames chariots of fire, and Greystoke The Legend of Tarzan still my favorite Tarzan movie, also starring Michael Murphy, who has 114 credits, including mash the original movie, count Yaga vampire, Shakur and Batman Returns. And also starring Lin Frederick was 30 credits including vampire circus skit so void Voyage of the Damned and Prisoner of Zenda. You guys seen phase four? No, but I played it safe a couple years ago and I missed it and I always kicked myself After that, you are I don't think I have I after watching this, I would like to seen it on a big screen. Yeah, there's some, there's some crazy stuff in here. Okay, so the movie starts out with this super creepy bunch of scenes that kind of reminded me of Prince of Darkness. It's shot just gorgeous. Lots of macroscopic lenses on ants and ant hills and stuff mixed with outerspace photography, and sun's rising over planets and things like that, and really weird music, and it is just super eerie. After a mysterious cosmic event to scientists, let's go and Hubbs set up a lab in a sealed dome in Arizona, and they begin to study all of this ant activity that they've been noticing, which includes the ants going on nocturnal destructive missions, where they're wiping out entire farmsteads. Well, it seems that the ants are somehow undergoing rapid evolution, which is pretty crazy. But even crazier is the fact that all of these different species of ants, species would normally be antagonistic towards each other. They're now working together to build these strange towers with perfect geometric designs. The photography, and this is so amazing. It literally looks like these six or seven types of ants have each sent a delegate, and they are communicating with each other. They're there they like meet and sit in a circle, and their antennae start moving and their mandibles are moving. And I'm sure that none of this is actually happening in the same scene. But it's edited so beautifully together that it looks like they're having a meeting, you know, and you don't hear them make noises or anything like that. But, but the way it's shot is, you know, you'll see the antenna move on one and then it goes to a completely different type of ad. And it's antennas move and it's mandibles move. And it's like, okay, these guys are having a conversation and it is very creepy. Whoa. So let's go and Hubbs decide very quickly that whatever's going on with the ants, however fascinating it is, can only spell problems for the rest of the planet. They're seeing a big change already in the ecosystem. Because just because the ants aren't doing what they normally do, everything else is starting to fall apart around them like insects, the crops are being you know, not the the locusts and stuff are starting to attack those because they're not being eaten by ants and all of this stuff, because the ants have a plan. And they're just like, Okay, this is fascinating, but we need to somehow stop them from doing this right. On top of that, the answers sending messages back and forth. And they end up in immunizing themselves against the chemical spray that lets go and Hubstaff Oh, wow. Yeah, a little ant shot is very pretty. They figured out that they're like communicating with each other. And on top of that, when the ants figure out that the humans have figured it out, they start coding their message Oh my God. And so at one point, it's just let's go on hubs. And this young woman Kendra that they have rescued from an a farm that had just been overrun by ants. And that basically trapped in this science stone while the ants are just now fucking with them. A few ants are able to get in, they end up sacrificing themselves to short out the scientists computers. And again, it's this amazing footage of ants, you know, like one ant crawling along a wire and then getting inside of a computer and doing these things that are probably not nefarious at all in real life. But if it's creepy as hell when edited together with write music and shots, Kendra has a moment where she wakes up and there is an ant like, right on her pillow staring at her and it's shot in this way that it looks like the aunt is, you know, talking to her almost and she's receiving some kind of message. But she becomes convinced that her being there has enraged the ants. So she leaves the lab to apparently sacrifice herself. Oh, meanwhile, let's go and hubs are going a little nutty as they are decoding the hemp messages and such and hubs ends up getting bitten and eventually buried by the ants. Yeah, finally, it's just less go left to try and save the world. Will he implement hubs plan which seemed to be just infiltrating the anti with can of high grade ant repellent to find the queen? Or will he descend deeper into the hive and find Kandra in a very, very creepy moment that hints at the idea that the ants have already taken over the entire world and humans are already being integrated into an all ant world. Oh, watch and find out. This is a movie that I saw way back in my teens and I didn't think much of it. But I was also stupid and I had that taster. Watching it this time. But it felt very much like it would fit in the Lovecraft Film Festival. It is cosmic horror. It is creepy. And many many thanks to my friend Jennifer for suggesting this flick for sci fi September The Day the Earth was turned into a cemetery Yeah, didn't like it. Rough when you can't scream anymore. Anyways, for phase four, okay. Yeah, I didn't I didn't love those. What I really was surprised that is the the opening credits sequence. The credits are not Saul Bass credits. Yeah, but it's okay. Because it's all of this very, very cool, close photography of ants moving through ant hills and stuff like that. It's so cool. A little bit of trivia. Linda Blair was considered for the role of Kendra. When she auditioned for the film. She impressed director Saul Bass and was asked back to several callbacks. She even went as far as doing a screen test for the part. The producers and director ultimately decided that she was too young. I like this. Plus, the film was also on a limited budget and could not afford her. Wow. So why, at what point do go, well, you're too young, but also we can't afford you. Hmm, interesting combination. Why wouldn't Why would you even talk to her if you can't afford Yeah. Where'd the original ending of phase four was a montage of surreal haunting images that imply the possibility of the ants conquering mankind and ruling the earth. It hints that phase four may be a kind of evolution wherein mankind is enslaved and the ants become their supreme rulers. Several of the eerie images allude to the art of Salvador Dali and Rene margreet Very shortly before release, Paramount cut much of the sequence but apparently this footage still exists and has since been shown during special screenings of phase four which probably happen oh man. Yeah, I will tell you the ending still is very very creepy and still hints that that mankind has already lost phase four was my movie I loved it. I went sounds incredible. Yeah, like a great home. I don't know if when is the word but it sounds awesome. You know what? sitting across from you and Eric I am a winner. Right? We're all winners. Do you guys I have to be the winner September we all win. Okay, fair enough. The buzzer definitely one Okay, so well we know that we're going into the next week of sci fi so right. Right now we're gonna start talking about three nines. Right? So instead of picking a sub genre we will take this time to say thanks everybody who's liking and sharing the post who's up there talking on the strange aeons radio talk page which has gotten a lot a lot of movement on it yeah, super fun for calling in and leaving us a message on the strange aeons radio hotline which is 253-237-4266 and for participating in the value for value model, which is if you get any value out of this turn around and give some value back. We love it. Anything else you guys want to add before we get out of here? I just can't wait for another week. Can we just do this the whole show sci fi thing is sci fi is in the genre if you can find whatever Yeah, no that works so I can always do so we're not exactly at first sci fi right now that's all All right. Well then how about we return in seven short days and we will talk some more sci fi see an exercise in transportation other considerations for strange aeons radio produced by Pan Am airline. When you think of traveling think of pan and you can't be experienced. Yes, the strange aeons radio stay at econolodge ever. It's an easy stop on the road. You know, strange aeons radio is recorded live in front of a studio audience. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a positive review on your favorite podcast app. Since people said it's so goddamn good.