COMM. STATION
With Darren Maxwell
Crikeys, did anyone who saw the last issue of Frontier
realise that Australia was responsible for so many sci-fi
TV shows? Man there was heaps of ’em! I must admit I was
pretty impressed by the enormity of the list,however it
probably won’t read well that I myself haven’t seen
any of the shows mentioned.
It’s funny how sci-fi actors can turn up
in the most amazing places. In the film Three Fugitives,
which was on TV way back in November last year, there’s
a sequence in a policeman’s office featuring three guys.
They were none other than James Earl Jones (the voice for
Darth Vader in all three Star Wars movies), Captain
John Harriman (the incompetent captain of the Enterprise B
in Star Trek Generations) and Kenneth McMillian
(the evil Baron Harkonnen in Dune).
Speaking of last November, wasn’t it sad
to see Space: Above and Beyond get the boot when the
series finished up. I know a few people who were quite drawn
into it, and now whenever the show is mentioned they burst
into tears with the memory of their beloved show biting the
dust (all right I’m exaggerating ... slightly). I bet
that a new fan club will spring up soon comprising a small
group of fan dudes dedicated to keeping the memory of SAAB
alive for all eternity! So what do I think? As far as SAAB
is concerned, I’d rather pay more attention to the
car.
Say, when is Alien 4 coming out?
It’s been a month of Sundays since we’ve heard
anything and we still haven’t seen a slither of acid!
But if you’re an alien fan don’t despair too much, The
Alien Trilogy has been released as a PC computer game and
is quite good apparently.
I bet all you Babylon 5 fans will be
glad when the cricket season’s over. There’s
nothing worse than trying to tune into the latest instalment
of this wonderful show only to find it’s been upstaged
(again) by the sound of leather on willow.
Did anyone note that towards the end of last
year there was a host of sci-fi shows kicking around on the
tube? Besides the obvious Trek and B5, did
anyone watch The Sentinel, Space Precinct, Earth
Star Voyager or MANTIS? I watched a few eps of MANTIS
and found it to be generally OK, however I could see the
age-old problem of “the good guys with their whizz-bang
technology needing adversaries who have access to similar
technology just to make the show worth watching”
creeping in again. It’s a problem that’s affected a
lot of shows and it wouldn’t surprise me if MANTIS
gets the old heave-ho at the end of its first season,
following the same path as The Flash, Beauty and
the Beast, Forever Knight, The Incredible Hulk (going
back a few years I know), Werewolf and all those other
“one hit wonder” shows where the good guys turned
out to be a little too good.
After my brief discussion of MANTIS,
have you seen Space Precinct, another “latest and
greatest” sci-fi product? I believe it’s been
receiving some pretty poor reviews, and after watching the
show myself, I can see where most of them would have come
from. On the other side of the coin, sometimes a show
shouldn’t have to totally explain itself to become
acceptable to the sci-fi viewing public. Sure the show looks
a lot like Alien Nation, only with more diverse
aliens, but it shouldn’t be criticised too heavily if it
decides not to explain where all these beings come from, nor
why they act so human. However all things considered, Space
Precinct didn’t do much for me, but I bet the kids
would get a kick out of it.
Talk about fly-by-night sci-fi flicks! When
the last issue of Frontier was being put together, I
said to the editors “how about putting in a pikkie or
two from The Island of Dr Moreau?” which was due
out soon or so I thought. “Too late,” they said.
It’d already come and gone. Now I ask you, did anybody
know about this besides me?
Another movie which has departed the screens
is Star Trek: First Contact (at least this film
didn’t go out unnoticed), however its premiere will live
on a lot longer for many Melbourne fans. They decided to
attend the premiere of the film last November wearing Star
Trek costumes, which has become a time honoured tradition
over the past decade and a half. Both the main Melbourne
clubs, Enterpriseand Austrek, had hordes of
members turn up for the event, which was a great way to see
the movie - with people cheering, clapping and understanding
all the jokes.
Remember Independence Day? Well a
couple of months back I walked into a Toys ‘R’ Us
store and found they had a huge display of excess ID4 toys
that looked like they weren’t going anywhere at all. Pretty
sad to see really.Chances are they’re going to come down
in price in a big way soon, if they haven’t already.
What a dismal way for merchandising of “the film of the
Century” to fall.
If you’re in Sydney at any time, I urge
you to have a look at the special effects documentary showing
at the IMAX cinema in Darling Harbour (IMAX uses a screen
which is eight stories high - it’sBIG man!). The doco
shows a lot of groovy behind the scenes footage from Star
Wars Special Edition, Independence Day and Jumanji,
all on the mega-mega-screen. It’s well worth
having a look at.
Have you noticed that society is going through
a bit of an alien binge at the moment? (The X Files and
Independence Day have a lot to answer for!) Just pop
your nose into any “Guess What” store and
you’ll see alien clocks, jocks, socks and frocks all
featuring the now familiar green earless noggin’.
However the UFOs themselves have also been making a few
appearances: A car ad on TV features a UFO capturing
livestock in the country, however when it locks onto this
particular car, the car drags it along with the ship unable
to let go; A simple screen saver for a computer I saw
recently features a tiny sheep which walks around your screen
doing all sorts of funny things. If you wait long enough, a
UFO comes along at the top of the screen, locks onto the
sheep with the tractor beam and sucks it up; Another car
(4x4) ad on the back of a magazine features a flying saucer
which has landed in a desert, the foot prints in the sand
suggest the being has got out of the ship, walked over
to the car, got in and driven off. On the ship is a “for
sale” sign.
In case you haven’t heard by now, this
year marks the 20th Anniversary of the release of Star
Wars and the year the eagerly awaited Star Wars
Special Editions come out. Not surprisingly, Star
Walking Inc., the only Star Wars club in this
country, isn’t taking it lying down. It has social
gatherings planned for Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, not to
mention its mega-huge convention to be held in June (Force
II). In fact one of its Melbournemeetings is to be held
on a Sunday. Why? Well May 25 falls on a Sunday this year,
and that’s 20 years to the day when Star Wars was
released to the world. So if you’re a Star Wars fan,
get ready for a busy year.
However, news for Star Wars fans has
not been all positive of late. Last year saw the release of Shadows
of the Empire, which came out in the form of a book, a
comic and a swag of toys. In fact it came out in almost every
format that it was supposed to except ... the game. Yes the
64 bit Nintendo game - that was supposed to be the pivotal
point around which all of this merchandise was to revolve -
didn’t appear. Originally it was supposed to come out in
March ’96 sometime, then it was pushed way down to
November ’96. Now in February ’97, it’s
finally about to hit the market and about time too, since the
real Shadows of the Empire has been just that, a black
shape with no substance.
A few issues back I was asking people to keep
their eyes open for any sci-fi related car registration
plates; well this one was a beauty. In Sydney there is a guy
cruising around in a gleaming white Commodore with the plates
SLAVE 1 (which is Boba Fett’s ship from the Star Wars
movies). However not willing to stop there, he has a
wonderful picture of Boba Fett on the car’s bonnet, and
said there were more enhancements to come.
Until next time, stay galactic.