This being Thursday, it's time for another edition of Thursday Movie Picks, the blogathon run by Wandering Through the Shelves. This being the final Thursday of the month -- and indeed, the final Thursday and final day of the year -- it's time for another TV-themed edition. This month, that theme is space and aliens, which isn't necessarily all that difficult when you think about all the science fiction shows out there set in outer space. However, I wound up picking only one show that would normally be considered science fiction:
Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1993-1997). Superman did come from the planet Krypton, which makes him an alien, after all. I'd already used the George Reeves TV series, so I went with this one, starring Dean Cain as Superman and Teri Hatcher as Lois Lane.
ALF (1986-1990). A snarky alien fleeing his destroyed planet crash-lands in the San Fernando Valley, setting the stage for a culture-clash sitcom with all sorts of insult humor. Not my favorite, but it fits so I decided to use it.
Space: 1999 (1975-1977). An explosion of nuclear waste on the Moon hurtles the Moon out of Earth's orbit, sending it into space and stranding the people stationed on Moonbase Alpha, led by Martin Landau and his then-wife Barbara Bain in the fabulously dated faux-futuristic uniforms.
4 comments:
Alf freaked me out a little when I was a kid. For some reason that and Harry and the Hendersons just never sat well with me. No idea why.
Great choices! I'm kicking myself for not thinking of a single one of them.
I loved Lois & Clark. Dean Cain was very charming and he and Teri Hatcher (the second best Lois Lane after Margot Kidder) played extremely well off each other. It had a terrific supporting cast as well, I particularly enjoyed his parents. The stories were fun and actiony but it was the leads chemistry that made the show work. It just makes me sad now that Cain has devolved into such a Trumpian asshole.
Space 1999 was sort of clunky but Barbara Bain and Martin Landau added a great deal of class and professionalism to it making it better than it should have been.
I watched about 10 minutes of one episode of ALF and couldn't stomach it.
This was a tough one for me since I'm not much for weekly sci-fi but by going back to when I was a kid I managed to come up with three.
The Jetsons (1962-1963)-Meet George Jetson…his boy Elroy…daughter Judy….Jane, his wife….they’re the modern space age fam-i-ly. Fun animated series is a sort of futuristic spin on The Flintstones.
Lost in Space (1965-1968)-The five members of the Robinson family-Professor John Robinson (Guy Williams), wife Maureen (June Lockhart), and their three children: Judy (Marta Kristen); Penny (Angela Cartwright); and Will (Billy Mumy) set off on a mission to an Earth-like planet in another galaxy accompanied by U.S. Space Corps Major Donald West (Mark Goddard) as co-pilot. Once cryogenically frozen the controls of the ship are sabotaged by foreign agent Dr. Zachary Smith (Jonathan Harris) who becomes trapped on the ship and the next thing you know they are all “Lost in Space”!
Life on Mars (2008)-New York City police detective Sam Tyler (Jason O'Mara) is struck by a car in 2008 and regains consciousness in 1973. As he struggles to adapt to his new circumstances without tipping his hand he butts heads with Gene Hunt (Harvey Keitel) his chief of detectives and a determined policewoman Annie Norris (Gretchen Mol) who is fighting the inherent sexism of the era. As time passes Sam begins to suspect that not only may he be in another time but another dimension as well.
I only saw Lois and Clark a few times but Teri Hatcher bugged me, Alf was funny and my one friend loved Alf and I almost went with Space 1999 but had spoken about it before. ..great picks!
For some reason I thought I had used Space: 1999 before, but apparently not.
I actually thought about using Lost in Space too, created by Irwin Allen who would give us so many of those fun if not always good disaster movies of the 1970s.
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