Retro review: Siskel & Ebert discuss 1996 Sci-Fi spoof Mars Attacks!

Film critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert review Mars Attacks! (1996), director Tim Burton's science fiction spoof based on the 1962 Topps trading cards. Starring Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Annette Bening, Pierce Brosnan, Danny DeVito, Martin Short, Sarah Jessica Parker, Rod Steiger, Tom Jones, Natalie Portman, Jim Brown, Sylvia Sidney and Pam Grier.


One thumb up and one thumb down!

Trailer: 1968 film Mission Mars, starring Darren McGavin

Trailer for Mission Mars, a 1968 science fiction-horror film that revolves around three American astronauts who land on Mars and discover the frozen body of a Russian cosmonaut... and a man-eating sphere! Starring Darren McGavin as Colonel Mike Blaiswick.


The men stake their lives on the unknown…Their women gamble their love on their return!

Trailer: 1964 film Robinson Crusoe on Mars, featuring Adam West

Trailer for Robinson Crusoe on Mars, a 1964 Techniscope science fiction film that retells the classic 18th-century novel penned by Daniel Defoe, starring Paul Mantee, Victor Lundin, Adam West and Mona the monkey.

Short student film to be based on Ursula K. Le Guin’s 1973 story “The Field of Vision”

This is Local London reports that two film students at the National Film and Television School in Beaconsfield, England, have received permission from science fiction author and SFWA Grand Master Ursula K. Le Guin for the rights to make a film based on one of her short stories, “The Field of Vision” (1973). The 20-minute film, also entitled The Field of Vision, has a budget of about £12,000 and will premiere in February 2011. The film’s plot revolves around “a group of astronauts embarking on a mission to Mars, which then goes wrong and some are left psychologically affected.”

According to another source, Le Guin’s story, which was originally published in the October 1973 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction magazine, has a slightly different plot: “After a visit in the mysterious 600 million year old City on Mars, the astronauts experience some strange effects. One of them sees things, and another hears things. After a long struggle, they learn to interpret -- to make sense -- of their sounds and visions. They see the world as it really is, and see God in everything.”

WSJ on author Rick Moody and his new novel The Four Fingers of Death

The Wall Street Journal has devoted more than a few pixels to award-winning author Rick Moody and his new novel, The Four Fingers of Death (Hachette, July 2010), which “features a hard-luck writer in 2025, whose novelization of a remake of the 1963 horror cult classic, The Crawling Hand, spins a satirical tale of a returning Mars expedition.” First, there is an interesting interview in which Moody states that legendary SF writer Robert Heinlein “is not line-by-line a great writer.” Here’s the relevant excerpt:

WSJ: What do you make of those who see the work of Kurt Vonnegut Jr. and other science-fiction writers as genre fiction and not literary?

Rick Moody: I think he's unfairly shunted into a commercial spot in the food chain by literary writers. I think his books are really beautiful. They're simple, and they're simply told but they're also strange and emotionally complex and much worthy of attention. The genre stuff, which I did read, is challenging if you're really into literary writing. I think Robert Heinlein is not line-by-line a great writer. But I feel great affection for the way in which those books were important to younger people back in the '70s when I read them.

Next, there is the lengthy introduction to Moody’s new novel, The Four Fingers of Death. The opening lines:

People often ask me where I get my ideas. Or on one occasion back in 2024 I was asked. This was at a reading in an old-fashioned used-media outlet right here in town, the store called Arachnids, Inc. The audience consisted of five intrepid and stalwart folks, four out of the five no doubt intent on surfing aimlessly at consoles. Or perhaps they intended to leave the store when instead they were herded into a cluster of uncomfortable petrochemical multi-use furniture modules by Noel Stroop, the hard-drinking owner-operator of the shop in question. I'd been pestering Noel about a reading for some time, months, despite the fact that Arachnids was not celebrated for its calendar of arts related programming...

Finally, there is a short piece in which Moody discusses his favorite classic horror films.

The Four Fingers of Death crawls onto bookstores shelves July 28th.

2005 Japanese anime film: Negadon: The Monster from Mars

Here’s a cool tokusatsu-style 25-minute CG-animated anime film from Japan titled Negadon: The Monster from Mars (2005). According to Wikipedia, the storyline is set in the year 2025 and revolves around a rock formation that is found buried beneath the surface of Mars during a terraforming project. When the seemingly-harmless object is brought back to Earth, it grows into a colossal crustacean life form, Negadon, and promptly attacks Tokyo.

Lowell Observatory in Arizona hosts Mars Mania Film Festival

Lowell Observatory, a private, non-profit astronomical research institution founded in 1894 by Percival Lowell and located in Flagstaff, Arizona, kicked off its summer Mars Mania Film Festival last week with Invaders from Mars (1953). Other titles that will be shown throughout the summer include Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964), the original War of the Worlds (1953), Mars Attacks! (1996) and Plan Nine from Outer Space (1959). Tickets and identification are required.

I would have chosen a different line-up: Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars (1938), the original The War of the Worlds (1953), The Day Mars Invaded Earth (1963), Capricorn One (1978) and Red Planet (2000).

Screened at 2010 Cannes Film Festival, Master Race from Mars seeks a distributor

The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin of Los Angeles County, California, reports that Master Race from Mars, a low-budget film shot several years ago by longtime filmmakers Colin and Kathy Krantz Stewart, was screened at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival in France. Master Race from Mars is a science-fiction dramedy set in the late 1880s about four persecuted nomadic Martian women who flee the Red Planet and land in Philadelphia. The Krantzs are currently seeking a distributor for their film, but, surprisingly, there is no clip of it on YouTube.

Rocket Summer: Introducing The Martian Chronicles: The Complete Edition

Welcome to Rocket Summer, where I’ll be blogging throughout the next couple of months about the new, long-awaited, already-sold-out, signed, limited, 750-page, expanded edition of the Ray Bradbury magnum opus, The Martian Chronicles: The Complete Edition (2009, Subterranean Press & PS Publishing). This beautiful volume, dedicated “From all who worked on this special edition to the Wizard of Mars himself, Ray Bradbury” and which I will be giving away at the end of the summer, is divided into several parts:

SyFy Channel to air 2009 film Princess of Mars starring Traci Lords

The SyFy Channel on television will air The Asylum’s low-budget, direct-to-DVD, Edgar Rice Burroughs-inspired science fiction film Princess of Mars (2009), starring actress and former porn star Traci Lords as princess Dejah Thoris, and Antonio Sabàto Jr. as Confederate Civil War veteran soldier John Carter, on Saturday evening, June 5th, at 9 p.m. EST. Finally, some decent programming!

[via JCOM Reader]

Dynamite to publish Total Recall comic books

Dynamite Entertainment announced that later this year it will publish a series of comic books adapted from the classic Mars film Total Recall (1990), which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sharon Stone, Rachel Ticotin, Michael Ironside and Ronny Cox. The film is based on the Philip K. Dick short story “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale" (1966).

In related news, the entertainment website Sci Fi Wire lists “10 reasons we still love Total Recall 20 years later.”

Let him who hath understanding reckon the number of the beast...

I’ve never read Robert A. Heinlein’s 1980 science fiction novel The Number of the Beast, but I am quite familiar with British heavy metal band Iron Maiden’s classic song “The Number of the Beast,” which was released in 1982. Here is the official Maiden video for "the Beast," complete with a clip from the SF film The Angry Red Planet (1959).



Anyone see a link to the Heinlein novel?

SETI scientist on shortlist for Rob Zombie remake of 1968 film Mars Needs Women

Here’s my shortlist for musician, troll and horror film fan Rob Zombie’s unconfirmed remake of the 1968 Hollywood movie flop Mars Needs Women, which starred a dapper Tommy Kirk as a desperate Martian and a sexy Yvonne Craig as Dr. Marjorie Bolen, an expert on extra-terrestrial reproduction:

Dr. Marjorie Bolen:

• Dr. Janice Bishop, chemist and planetary scientist, Principal Investigator for SETI Institute, expert on spectral behavior of organic Martian materials

• Rebecca K. Rowe, speculative fiction author and freelance writer, member of Mars Society and National Space Society


Artist abducted by Martians:

• Any one of the Guerrilla Girls


Homecoming queen abducted by Martians:

• Sheri Moon Zombie, Rob Zombie's wife

• Moon Unit Zappa, Frank Zappa's daughter


Airline stewardess abducted by Martians:

• Former astronaut Lisa Nowak

• Former U.S. Air Force officer Colleen Shipman


Stripper abducted by Martians:

• Patricia Kelly Elizabeth Podkayne Strickland-Garcia-Redmond

• Carmen Dula

10 fabulous Mars film posters from the 1950s

I’ve compiled a gallery on Flickr of ten Mars science fiction & horror film posters, all from the 1950s. When you view each poster, select the "All Sizes" option so you can really enjoy the details of these beautiful works of art. Veritably fabulous! Red Planet Mars (1952), starring the late Peter Graves is my favorite.

Off-Broadway: Total Recall: The Musical

Here’s a hilarious three-minute clip of Arnold Schwarzenegger performing "The Mountains of Mars" from Total Recall: The Musical, an off-Broadway production based on the 1990 film.



Music and Lyrics by Jon Kaplan and Al Kaplan.

The Martian Agent, a 1996 screenplay written by Michael Chabon

Thanks to a recent post on the Barsoomian blog JCOMReader about three discarded screenplays (1990, 1991, 2005) from failed attempts to film an A Princess of Mars movie based upon the novels of pulp author Edgar Rice Burroughs, I stumbled across the dormant script to The Martian Agent (Revised Draft, December 18, 1996; 130 p., 5.8 MB), written by Hugo Award-winning science fiction author Michael Chabon. Here are the opening lines:

FADE IN:

STARRY SKY

Amid a million million diamonds, one dark ruby.

EXT. LOUISIANA HIGHWAY (1876) – Night

Starlight, swamp fire in the branches of the trees. CRICKETS and FROGS. The highway bends like a river. Galloping HOOVES in the distance, a maddened horse.

TITLE: BAYOU MOUFFETTE, BRITISH LOUISIANA, 1876

A pair of exhausted black horses careen past, dragging a rocking black coach. A trunk strapped to the top shakes loose, falls off. Bursts open. The horses’ thunder fades.

In the trunk, a framed chromo: a cavalryman with long yellow hair. The caption reads, in florid type, “GENERAL CUSTER” ....

If I recall, Chabon, who recently signed on as a screenwriter for the long-awaited Disney/Pixar film John Carter of Mars (2012), based the script on his short story “The Martian Agent: a Planetary Romance,” which was originally published in McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales (Issue #10, 1993).

Rob Zombie should remake 1968 Yvonne Craig film Mars Needs Women

With his curriculum vitae full of horrible movie remakes, perhaps musician, troll and horror film fan Rob Zombie should remake the 1968 Hollywood flop Mars Needs Women, which starred a dapper Tommy Kirk as a desperate Martian and a sexy Yvonne Craig as Dr. Marjorie Bolen, an expert on extra-terrestrial reproduction. Considering that SF&F writer James D. MacDonald is looking for a new cat to wax, perhaps he and Stacia Kane, Barbara Bauer, Debra Doyle can play the lead roles. After listening to Doyle's “Sex and Outer Space” lecture, the audience can attend MacDonald's “Be a Sex-Writing Strumpet” workshop!

Creepy 1924 animated Soviet propaganda film vanquishes all the capitalists on Mars

I just watched Interplanetary Revolution (1924), a creepy 8-minute animated Soviet propaganda film replete with evil capitalists and dancing swastikas. A tale starring Comrade Cominternov, the Red Army Warrior, who vanquishes all of the capitalists on Mars, Interplanetary Revolution is "an event very likely to happen in 1929."


Check it out!

Breaking bad: Interview with John Carter of Mars actor Bryan Cranston

The entertainment website Collider.com has a recent interview with actor Bryan Cranston, who plays the role of a U.S. Civil War Union colonel in the upcoming, long-awaited Disney/Pixar film John Carter of Mars (2012), starring actor Taylor Kitsch as John Carter, actress Lynn Collins as Dejah Thoris, actor Willem Dafoe as Tars Tarkas, and actor Daryl Sabara as a young Edgar Rice Burroughs. Here is a relevant excerpt from the interview:

Question: Can you talk about who you play in the film and are you excited to be in this huge movie?

Bryan Cranston: Very excited. I liked the script first and foremost. That’s why I went in to meet with Andrew. And then his infectious enthusiasm for the movie and for characters and it just... I caught his bug. And I said, yes, so I’ll be a part of it. I’ll do whatever you want me to do. And so I play, during the Civil War America time... this story takes place part-time Civil War America and Mars, which has no time. So my character is a Northern Colonel who is dogging John Carter to be a part of the government. We need his help. He’s an excellent tracker and marksman and that sort of thing. And in the Arizona Territories, the Apaches are running wild, so I need his help and he won’t do it. He doesn’t want to have anything to do with anything. His family was obliterated during the War. It was horrible and he wants to be a part of no man’s government. So I keep after him and keep after him and track him down and have a conversation with him and have to use some physical force on him and he keeps breaking out and I keep tracking him down. And finally we end up in a cave and in this cave are some magical things that happen. And that transports him and it’s really quite fascinating and I look forward to it.

Apparently, the music for the film will be scored by Oscar Award-winning composer Michael Giacchino.

War of the Worlds mock documentary predicted to strike in October 2010

SpaceDaily.com reports that a new live-action faux documentary film based on H.G. Wells' seminal 1898 science fiction novel, The War of the Worlds, is in post production and is scheduled to be released on DVD in October 2010. Titled War of the Worlds: The True Story, the film is a Pendragon Pictures production directed by Timothy Hines and stars 82-year-old stage and television actor Floyd Reichman as an aging journalist. Here’s the premise:

In 1965 a film crew captured the memories of the last living survivor of the war between Earth and Mars that took place at the turn of the 20th Century. The footage was discovered in a basement vault of a condemned house in 2006. Also found in the vault was previously unknown footage of the actual Martian invaders and their war machines. This is the motion picture presentation of that eyewitness account.

It’s worth noting that Hines and Pendragon Pictures made a previous movie version of War of the Worlds in 2005. It sold 650,000 copies on DVD and grossed $7 million dollars, but Hines confesses that it was deeply-flawed and he looks forward to the remake.

Meanwhile, check out War of the Worlds Invasion, a comprehensive website maintained by John Gosling, a British writer and author of Waging The War of the Worlds: A History of the 1938 Radio Broadcast and Resulting Panic, Including the Original Script (McFarland, 2009).