Nemesis Week: Nemesis III: Prey Harder

Welcome back readers young and mature, although if you are mature why are you reading this blog? We journey on now to the further adventures of Alex (Sue Price of Nemesis II: Nebula, Nemesis III: Time Lapse, Nemesis IV: Death Angel) that wacky DNA mutant or genetically engineered specimen worthy of Khan's notice. Will she leave 1980 to save those in the future? How will she even get to the future? This is Nemesis III: Time Lapse a.k.a. Cyborg Terminator 3, Nemesis 3 and Nemesis III: Prey Harder.

Jiggly borgs of the future!!!

Ah yeah baybee! Alternative titles. Well I have had those since Andy Warhol's films.

Now people have grumbled of the stock footage of Nemesis II being used to recount how Alex (Sue Price) came to be in 1980, grow up to be a bad ass warrior and in general have a stick up their butt about this and that. You will find many a film reusing footage both A and B movie alike so button it more maybe you feel Richard Donner should be crucified for Superman II's use of previous footage. Whatever. It is not my concern.

Moving on we catch up with Alex as her last escapades dealing with Nebula the armored cyborg hunter and how she defeated it. Because of the alternative titles my copy is Prey Harder. A brief exposition establishes Nebula's failure to capture Alex so a newer model is being sent to capture her because her DNA may be the key to ending the human uprising. Cut to the future with cityscape and a droid reviewing the data and gen 2 computer generations under its awesome helm is...Farnsworth? Yup another recreation android Farnsworth 2.0 (Tim Thomerson of Fade to Black, Trancers, Near Dark, Air America, Dollman, Trancers II, Trancers III, Nemesis, Brain Smasher... A Love Story and Spitfire) is back for this one and I guessing since they already had him in production, they just knocked out a new model. Hey it worked for Arnold, so hush.

That Ab Rocker will take it right out of you.

Injured and battered from Nebula, Alex is re-cooperating from her wounds and starts having memories of the past movie when she awakens, a little scarred but none of them left threatening which is wild considering the punishment she took from the cyborg killing machine. A lesser being would be dead ten times over. Maybe her necklace that was encoded with the information Jor-El I mean her mother left her will finally give her the what what. Hey I am hopeful.

With her village and people wiped out, Alex journeys to find answers, food and shelter in East Africa. Loaded with a handful of pistols, augmented strength, reflexes and a will to survive she encounters Farnsworth purely by accident as he will aid her from her wounds but for some reason she does not see his true form and only the pleasant man claiming to be a missionary as he sees her wounds hardly matter even being shot in the head she only is slightly amnesiac. She is having flashes of a combat she had but cannot recall with who.

Farnsworth 2 is scanning her mind and body without her really understanding why. He starts questioning her family, sisters, mother and if she has any family. Now to any sane person Farnsworth sounds like a complete creeper but Alex has never been beyond her village.

Memories traveling with two men in a jeep and seeing a similar time capsule in the air she and the men go investigate but the Wotans attack them and only Alex survived and true to fashion she strips the bodies of needed supplies and weapons. Her McGuffin necklace leads her to Ramie (Ursula Sarcev of Nemesis 3: Time Lapse) claiming to be her sister. Flashes to being attacked again and again. Realizing how powerful Alex is, Farnsworth communicates to the future for backup if they are going to secure Alex. Her necklace joins her with her sisters to they may procreate and build a league of super beings to overthrow their cyborg masters. We will call that Plan B... For boning.

Jack Trancer is not a happy bunny.

During the height of the Civil War in Africa several of the Wotans have been replaced with cyborgs hell bent to kill Alex when she meets up with Edsion (Norbert Weisser of Midnight Express, The Thing, Schindler's List, Hocus Pocus, Heatseeker, Omega Doom, Blast, Crazy Six, Brimston and Sorcerers), a merc for hire that saw all his rebel employers vaporized who gets abandoned by Alex as he is visited by Lock (Sharon Bruneau of Nemesis 2: Nebula, Tornado Run, Nemesis 3: Time Lapse, Erotic Confessions, Erotic Confessions: Volume 11, R.S.V. P. And Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding) and Ditko (Ms. Olympia Debbie Muggli of Joe Weider's Ms. Olympia XIII, Martin, Nemesis 2: Nebula and Nemesis 3: Time Lapse) two platinum blonde gun nuts tracking Alex.

The rebels are not faring well with the cyborgs blowing away everything in sight tracking down Alex.

Can Alex reunite with her half sisters?? Will she have to wait a year for another time capsule?

Okay aside from the borg twins, this is not a bad continuation of the story. I was glad to see Tim Thomerson back and an explanation of new bot. The action is decent, the effects for the bots are...a wee bit simple with the digital overlay with glowing eyes, blurring of the characters and I really missed Nebula in action but again that full rubber body suit must have been sweltering.

And yes I will finally comment about Desert Eagles Mark VII wasn't made until 1990 and 9mm Berettas M9 wasn't made until 1985 being wildly used in 1980 before their inception leads me to believe even killing machines like their design. Still would have brought laz weapons myself.

Overall not a bad sequel to 2 and I look forward to seeing 4 tomorrow.

Rambo got nothing on Alex.

Summer Blockbusters of 1985: Back to the Future

Welcome girls and boys to the Summer Blockbusters of 1985! Today of course we need to start off big, bold and brassy. Naturally we need to discuss the top grossing film of the year bringing a Family Ties actor's name to households all over the world and raking in more than 383 million worldwide.

Written by Bob Gale (I Wanna Hold Your Hand, 1941, Used Cars, Back to the Future and Bordello of Blood) and Robert Zemeckis and directed by Zemeckis (Used Cars, Romancing the Stone, Death Becomes Her, Forrest Gump and Contact)comes the story of love, romance, fist fights and time travel.

Psst, Marty have a Coke instead.

This is Back to the Future.

Our story opens with a house with a Rube Goldberg machine to make toast, set off alarm, fire up coffee and prep canned dog food, as Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox of Class of 1984, Teen Wolf, Family Ties, The Hard Way, Greedy and The Frighteners) goes to hang out with his favorite mad scientist of the town, a pariah in the scientific community that is always building crazy inventions with a hit or miss ratio while Marty aspires to be a musician, impress his girl and get the truck of his dreams. Belitted at school for slacking off, our lad heads home for grub and be with his family. His dad, George (Crispin Glover of Friday the 13^th: The Final Chapter, Twister, The Doors, Charlie's Angels, Willard and Epic Movie) constantly bullied by his supervisor and his mom Loranne (Lea Thompson of Jaws: 3-D, SpaceCamp, Howard the Duck, Caroline in the City, For the People and Jane Doe: Vanishing Act) is an overweight alcoholic who constantly reminisces over how she met Marty's father.

Great Scott! My fly has been open all this time!

Thoroughly depressed with this lot, Marty thrashes his deck down to the shopping mall to meet up with his buddy "Doc" Doctor Emmit Brown (Christopher Lloyd of Taxi, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Clue, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Addams Family, Quicksilver Highway, Tremors: The Series and Piranha 3D) who has made a fully-functional time machine out of a DeLorean luxury sports car. Powered by plutonium nabbed from some Lybian terrorists, the flux capacitor can hurdle the car into whatever time period he wants it to go. Marty filming this on VHS sees the Lybians shoot Doc as Marty leaps into the car to escape but accidentally sets the car 30 years into the past.

Caught in the past and unintentionally interfering with his parents collective timelines, Marty must correct these errors to insure he and his siblings birth and their parents' marriage. Seeking out 1955 Doc Brown is the only way to send him back to the future. With no plutonium at the ready, there may be no way to alter the timeline and get back home.

Can Marty exact the timeline? Will Doc Brown avoid his future fate? Can his dog Einstein get a new squeaky toy?

A few bits of trivia on the film now.

Due to Pepsi's sponsorship, various scenes showcase Pepsi products and memorabilia throughout the movie. Huey Lewis of Huey Lewis and the News, the main performer of the soundtrack is in a bit part as one of the judges for Marty's band on whether or not they can play for the high school dance.

Eric Stolz was originally slated to play Marty McFly but the fight sequence between him and Thomas Wilson (Biff) damn near broke his collarbone. Wilson set to beat the monkey crap out of Stolz was too late as Zemeckis had fired Eric a half hour before.

The inspiration for the movie is largely credited to writer Bob Gale looking through his dad's high school yearbook and wondering if they would have been friends as teenagers. The White House press had a field day of approval over the script mocking the President when Reagan's actual reaction of past Doc Brown finding in preposterous that an actor would be President tickled him and gave him a good hearty laugh. "Whew," said the producers.

You damn kids and your Huey Lewis and the News... Bah!!

Sci-Fi Gems Week: Time After Time

Ah the 1970s... They brought many things. Muscle cars, disco, cocaine freaks and more shenanigans than this particular blog is will be violate his PG-13 rating at. At the same time we got eye-popping effects of Star Wars, bizarre lands like West World and big budget-bloated blockbuster potential like Damnation Alley (WHICH WAS NOTHING LIKE THE NOVEL!!!). Every so often like most decades a film comes along that is heard by a few and word is spread to their friends and so on. Imagine a monster as horrific as Jack the Ripper hiding in a time-line as 1979, a larger bustling metropolitan era which so many willing victims and only his once time friend Herbert George Wells can stop him. This is Time After Time.

My word, women are more abrasive.

Writer/director/producer Nicolas Meyers (Invasion of the Bee Girls, The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, Time After Time, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and Voices) brings us the concept of H.G. Wells (Malcolm McDowell of A Clockwork Orange, Voyage of the Damned, Cat People, Wing Commander III: Eye of the Tiger, Tank Girl, Halloween and Halloween 2) a brilliant writer showing that he is also a brilliant inventor creates a vehicle that can transverse through time itself forward or backward in time and gave a detailed explanation to his chosen friends and while they remain skeptical, they are intrigued.

As everyone makes their way back to the drawing room, a knock at the door has several police constables arriving at the house in search of Jack the Ripper. With a satchel of John Leslie Stevenson, a friend of Herbert's and talented surgeon filled with blood-stained gloves everyone is convinced that Stevenson (David Warner of The Wars of the Roses, Straw Dogs, The Omen, Time Bandits, Tron, The Company of Wolves, Waxwork, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country and In the Mouth of Madness) is in fact the Ripper when Wells has the awful thought, rushes to his basement to find his time machine is gone, as is Stevenson.

Mind if I cut in?

Having escaped into the future, Stevenson explores this fascinating new world of America in the form of San Francisco, makes a few exchanges of currency (yet no one asks questions on his pounds being roughly 86 years old) and proceeds to the nightlife of disco nightclubs with potential victims galore. Oh the possibilities. Because Stevenson did not have the “non-return” key on his person, the machine automatically returned to 1893, allowing Wells to go trailing after Stevenson's last known co-ordinates.

Wells is stunned as he leaves the machine at a display in the San Francisco museum to find not the enlightened utopia but cars, planes overhead and a substantial history of wars, crime and bloodshed the likes he could not have imagined. Deducing Stevenson would require coin of the realm, Wells asks about for banks offering such exchanges and makes his way to the Chartered Bank of London, meeting the lovely Amy Robbins (Mary Steenburgen of Melvin and Howard, Ragtime, End of the Line, Parenthood, Back to the Future Part III, The Butcher's Wife and Nixon), a liberal gal that takes a bit of a shine to Wells in spite of him being proper and quite stiff.

Wells finds Stevenson and demands his return to 1893 to accept justice. The two struggle when they are interrupted by some random passersby and Stevenson bolts only to be hit by a car. Is that the end of Jack the Ripper? Could he have survived this automobile accident? What will Wells do if he encounters him again?

A few fun facts now if you don't mind and if you do, well shush I am writing them up anyway.

This is Corey Feldman's film feature debut as a bit part of a child in the museum. All three of H.G. Wells' children were still alive at the time of this film's release. Malcolm McDowell fell for Mary Steenburgen during the filming of this movie and the two married for ten years and have two children, Charles Malcolm and Lilly Amanda. Nicolas Meyer originally wanted Edward Fox (The Day of the Jackal, Gandhi, Never Say Never Again and The Bounty) as the Ripper. At one point, Mick Jagger expressed interest in playing this heartless criminal but Meyer couldn't quite see Jagger pulling off the sophisticated surgeon. Sorry Mick, you can't always get what you want.

Advancements in dental hygiene fascinate everyone!

Post Apocalypse Week: The Terminator

Welcome back you survivors of the psychic wars to Day 5 of Post Apocalypse Week.  We've had a slippery slope of outbreaks, nuclear wars, landscapes gone to madness and zombie incursions.   Why not round this week out with a war against the machines?  So bring out your Talkie Toasters, grab your digital watches and your MP3 players to the slag pit.  This is The Terminator.

Bad boys indeed.

Kyle Reese: Listen, and understand. That terminator is out there. It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever until you are spoiled.


In the far away year of 2029, A.I. machines search and destroy the remnants of humanity.  A supercomputer known only as Skynet is a self-aware and sentient machine that was designed to detour World War III actually initiates the nuclear holocaust feeling the planet is imperfect with these beings roaming about it.  One man, John Connor leads the pockets of humanity against the machines and has overthrown them but not before Skynet sends a cybernetic organism coated in artificial skin to find and kill John's mother before his birth.  The Resistance sends one of their own , Kyle Reese (Michael Behn of Aliens, The Abyss, Navy Seals, The Rock, Insatiable and Kickback) to 1984 to protect John's mother Sarah (Linda Hamilton of Beauty and the Beast, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Separate Lives, Dante's Peak, A Girl Thing and Smile) with no back-up or future based weapons but only what he can find here and now.   The machine (Arnold Shwarzenegger of Conan the Barbarian, Predator, Raw Deal, Red Heat, Total Recall, True Lies and Eraser) systematically goes through the local phone book and proceeds to wipe out Sarah Connors until he has removed them all.  The machine stands at 6'2 and almost 220 lbs in the chest alone and you would think stood out but it actually knew a little subterfuge.  

I'M GETTING RING DINGS AND THAT IS FINAL!!!

Kyle saves Sarah from a night club onslaught as the Terminator is not fussy about civilian casualties in the least.  They go on the run and Kyle tells Sarah of the future to come and the hope to stop the machines from their terrible mission alongside his commanding officer.  He views Sarah as this warrior legend that gave her son the means, tools and skills to fight back and to not go into the gentle good night.

I had just a few observations of the film at this time.   One of the biggest sponsors of this movie was Gargoyles as they were the shades Schwarzenegger wore and their sales that year and the next 3 went through the roof thanks to the popularity of the film.

Michael Biehn almost did not get the roles for Reese as in his first audition he spoke in a Southern accent due to working on a stage production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and the producers didn't want Reese region based.  His agent cleared it up for the producers, rescheduled him another audition which was a slam dunk for him.   Tom Selleck, Kevin Kline, Michael Douglas and Mel Gibson were all considered for the role of the Terminator but they all declined.  Kicking yourselves a bit there, fellas?

Amway is back, honey! Bolt the door!

Doctor's Regeneration Week: Spearhead in Space

Welcome to the later day of the Doctor’s Regeneration Week and this time around I thought we would take a look at that Jon Pertwee fellow for the time being. The Timelords are merciful as much as they can be cruel and now and then they must administer justice.  So grab your sonic screwdriver, prep flight and dimension coordinates for the journey.  This is Dr. Who: Spearhead in Space.

 

Yes it is an improvement.

Lethbridge-Stewart: In the last decade, we’ve been sending probes deeper and deeper into spoiler.  We’ve drawn attention to ourselves, Miss Shaw.

Towards the end of his trial with the Timelords, War Lord protested his guilt of his war games and noted that the Doctor interfered in the progression of their life, with a further accusation of the Doctor assisting me directly.   The Doctor (Patrick Troughton of Doctor Who, The Two of Us, Yesterday’s Dreams and Knights of God) denies everything and claims to never break the sacred oath of non-interference to other planets and different races.  Directly after the War Lord’s trial, the Doctor finds himself on the hot plate of justice and boy howdy it burns.  The Timelords choose to strip him of the knowledge of traveling through time and space and regenerate him into a form that is blissfully unaware of the full use of the TARDIS.  

Kryten??

The Doctor (Jon Pertwee of Will Any Gentleman…?, Jackanory, Doctor Who, The House That Dripped Blood and The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Attack of the Hawkmen) falls in and out of consciousness in a local hospital in Oxley Woods at the same time UNIT is investigating a shower of bizarre meteorites.   They would not of even bother until a few people went missing in the area of Oxley Woods when the hospital reports a strange tall man that has no ID, has two hearts and does not seems to be human.

Brigadier Sewart (Nicholas Courtney of All Creatures Great and Small, To Catch a King, Doctor Who, Then Churchill Said to Me and The Sarah Jane Adventures) recruits Dr. Liz Shaw (Caroline John of Doctor Who, The Woman in Black, P.R.O.B.E.: The Devil of Winterborne, Love Actually and Doctors) to observe the meteorites and the Doctor is abducted by three plastic men with a shoot out with UNIT soldiers.  After that, the Doctor manages to acquire some clothes, some of his memories and gets hold of a buggy car to visit UNIT HQ to facilitate in the investigation knowing full well that UNIT is ill-prepared to the situation.

The Doctor explains to Dr. Shaw and the Brigadier that the meteorites are actually a living plastic known as the Nestine consciousness and how they plan to take out the planet for its toxics and chemicals.  The Brigadier is cautious to trust this man and realizes that he is indeed the Doctor regardless how much he has changed.  Organizing UNIT to do intelligence gathering on the local plastic companies to find out where the Nestine is held up at and stopping this impending invasion.

Blimey, England again??! *kicks TARDIS*

Even Number Star Trek Movie Week: Star Trek: First Contact

Back again boys and girls to round out our Even Number Star Trek Week and I had a few issues with this particular movie but all will be explained momentarily.  Moving beyond the original cast this film would be the second of the Next Generation crowd so prepare yourselves for absolutely no racial slurs about green blooded hobgoblins and such.  So strap yourselves in, prep that Steppenwolf CD and blast past the moon.  This is Star Trek: First Contact.

Yes Data, the movies revolve around us...what's your point?

Cmdr. Riker: We finished our first sensor sweep of the neutral zone.

Captain Picard: Oh, fascinating. Twenty particles of spoiler dust per cubic meter, 52 ultraviolet radiation spikes, and a class-2 comet. Well, this is certainly worthy of our attention.

Jean Luc Picard (Sir Patrick Stewart of Dune, Excalibur, Gunmen, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Conspiracy Theory and X-Men) awakes from a nightmare that makes him relive his assimilation into the Borg six years prior. Starfleet contacts him priority channel letting him know that a Borg attack is incurring along the borders and their destination will allow them to reach Earth in record time.  And rather than have the flag ship of the Federation there at the ready, Starfleet orders Enterprise to the Neutral Zone along the Romulan region of space in the unlikely event they may join the Borg in this attack. 

Resistance is futile. Every orifices will be probed!

The communications chatter points out the Federation is losing so Picard and the Enterprise crew disobeys orders and joins in the fight.  In the nick of time the Enterprise is able to save the crew of USS Defiant commanded by Lt. Cmdr. Worf (Michael Dorn of CHiPs, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Gargoyles, Fallout 2, Cow and Chicken and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) and he takes up his former place at tactical.  The fleet under the command of Picard fends off the Borg but not before they open a time portal (plot device) and the Enterprise follows after them.  The Borg have changed the past before Starfleet could be created and the valiant crew has to put things right.

Meeting the very creator of the Warp travel Dr. Cochcran (James Cromwell of L.A. Confidential, The Green Mile, Babe, Spider-Man 3, Six Feet Under and A Lonely Place for Dying) our trekkers need make sure the doctor is safe for his first contact with an alien species that will aid humanity unite and create the uptopia of Earth…but get portrayed in Enterprise as swaggering know-it-alls.

Gasp! It's Loctus of Bald!

I’ve just a few reasons I did not immediately love this film.  Picard in the films is almost a separate entity from his personality in the series.  More the space cowboy of Kirk’s standing and while that makes for better film experience it really detracts from the character.   No Wesley Crushers allowed to even make an appearance but hey apparently there was bile and hatred of the only teen in space that was never allowed to be human and screw up more often.  This was also Jonathan Frakes’ first film directorial debuted aside from episodes of the Next Generation and overall was a smash hit aside from some nitpicking on fans’ behalf.  All in all this is an enjoyable film.

Even Number Star Trek Movie Week: Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Welcome back Trekkers and I do apologize for yesterday’s lack of blog but do to a herniated disk I was kind of down yesterday.  Let’s play another rousing game of “RECAP”.  When last we left our heroes, Spock was rescued from the clutches of death, Klingons were being jackasses and Kirk battered up his ship yet again…So returning to Vulcan with Spock the crew spend 3 months there so Spock can be mentally sound again before they face their charges of mutiny, piracy and disobeying the Prime Directive.  Without further adieu, this is Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.

 

Damn Skype.  Is this working now?

Kirk: Spock, where the hell’s that spoiler you promised me?

Spock: One damn minute, Admiral.

After sacrificing the Enterprise that was almost scuttled and ready for decommission anyway, Kirk and crew manage to kill almost entire Klingon Bird of Prey agglomeration, nick it and take off to Vulcan all to save Spock and McCoy.  They must journey back to Starfleet headquarters in beautiful San Fran…CISCOOOOOOOOO…. um to face the charges they have committed and accept whatever punishment comes their way.   On the way there an alien probe proceeds to disrupt almost all technology on Earth firing some sort of audio modulation in the deepest of oceans.  To what purpose no one on Earth knows.

Sir, the Star Babies are attacking after 400 years!

Spock has a theory after researching the sounds for a bit coming to the conclusion that it is the exact same sound a Humpback whale makes; which species is now extinct in the 23^rd century due to whaling not being outlawed.   Spock begins to calculate a slingshot maneuver the Bird of Prey will have to take around the sun in order to travel back into a time line where these whales exist, snag a few and have them speak on behalf of the planet.  Easy peasy, right?

Our gallant crew land in San Francisco in barbaric time of 1986.  These savages still have fossil fuel based vehicles, carry firearms and even swear.  Soldiering through this Dark Age, Kirk and Spock find a pair of Humpback whales in the Sausalito Institute.   They join a tour group led by Dr. Gillian (Catherine Hicks of Peggy Sue Got Married, Child’s Play and 7^th Heaven) who is avid in the survival of the whales and is against whaling for the blubber and oils for perfume, skin cream and cologne.    Yes the evils of across the pond and Mary Kay is in full swing demanding the heads of these noble creatures.

I have a quick couple of notes for this movie.  This would be Leonard Nimoy’s second time at bat for directing film after the success of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock which netted Paramount a cool $76 million on a 17 million picture.  Not too shabby, eh?  Nimoy along with writers Harve Bennett (Mod Squad, The Invisible Man, Riding with Death and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan), Steve Meerson (Back to the Beach, Double Impact and Anna and the King), Nicholas Meyer (Time After Time, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Sommersby, Voices and Fall from the Sky) and Peter Krikes (Back to the Beach, Double Impact and Anna and the King) colluded together to flesh out this story and offer their collective tidbits to an entertaining film that the CGI generation would sneer at the blue screen effects and scale models.  To which I say, don’t like it, well no one is forcing you to watch it.

Read the Tek series, people. I worked hard on it!