Pam Webb

Sigh FiE

Science Fiction served as a mainstay of my reading through most of my college years. I stuck mainly to Ray Bradbury, tried a bit of Asimov, dabbled in other authors of that genre and then pounced on science fantasy such as Roger Zelazny.Yet, I can’t say I enjoyed SF as much in novel form as I did in film.

What I really fastened onto was cheesy low budget sci- fi films, you know, the Buck Rogers variety, where everyone is seriously acting as if bounding about in shiny costumes, waving plastic gadgets and battling fakey creatures is going to build their resume and cause the Academy to perk up for Oscar recommends. I left cheesy SF films behind, along with a penchant for snacking on Top Ramen, when I graduated from college. However, as we all know flashbacks are a part of  life.

The MEPA picked up a few movies at the library the other night and amidst the usual travel logs was (I kid you not) The Angry Red Planet. So bad it’s good. Cheese rating: 9/10–making it a major cheddar.

Micro-Precis:
The missing rocket to Mars returns minus a couple of crew members and the leader has a nasty green growth on his arm, but can the lovely traumatized Iris recall what really happened while on the angry red planet?

I can’t say I have totally graduated from my penchant for Sci Fi (I do not, however, ever eat Top Ramen anymore). I have, instead, developed a taste for the art of the science fiction film. A friend introduced me to Alien when it first came to the screen(I couldn’t have been the only who screamed at the baby alien’s untimely entrance at the breakfast table) and I decided scary Sci Fi is not for me. I have since gravitated to artsy Sci Fi, such as Gattaca, The Matrix, and  Inception.  Novel science fiction goes more towards dystopian like Hunger Games and Divergent. Nevertheless,I will always have a soft spot for Sci FiE films.  How many have you suffered through–feel free to tack on your nominees:

1.  All those terrible Godzilla films where the plastic dinosaur is rampaging Tokyo.

2. Those movies that have such bad titles you know that they reek of cheese.

3. Or have such laughable cover art, you check them out just because.

 

4. Unfortunate adaptations of favorite authors. Ray, did you know about this one?

5. Then again, some of them become cult hits, such as Gunsmoke’s James Arness as a monster and Steve McQueen saving the day.

     

Oh, there are so many truly terribly wonderfully really bad science fiction movies out there that cause one to Sigh (and say) FiE.

What are your loathsome favorites?

Related articles

• Angry Red Planet (merryfrolics.wordpress.com)
• “Classic” or “Modern”, SciFi is a Good Read (katerauner.wordpress.com)