Thompson's Cat

Planet Stories, September 1952

"Thompson's Cat" by Robert Moore Williams

"The weird, invisible insect depopulated an entire planet. Now it was felling Thompson's crew as his ship hurtled toward the sun ... certain death for all, including the disease carrier. Forgotten in the panic was Buster, Thompson's wise cat."

Galaxy Science Fiction April, 1958

"Garth and the Visitor" by Joseph Wesley

"If you could ask them, you might be greatly surprised—some tabus very urgently want to be broken!"

Evil Out of Onzar

Planet Stories, September 1952

Evil Out of Onzar by Mark Ganes

"The orphan system of Onzar was fuming under its leader's driving, paranoid megalomania. For there was a prize. A vast, grand prize within a parsec of this ambitious domain—the major warp-lines of space crossing the Galaxy between the Allied Worlds and the Darzent Empire. Skyward, hungry legions!"

Big Pill

Planet Stories, September 1952

"Big Pill" by Raymond Z. Gallun

"Child, it was, of the now ancient H-bomb. New. Untested. Would its terrible power sweep the stark Saturnian moon of Titan from space ... or miraculously create a flourishing paradise-colony?"

If: Worlds of Science Fiction, February 1958

"Contamination Crew" by Alan E. Nourse

"Orders were orders! The creature had to be killed. But just how does one destroy the indestructible?"

Felony

Galaxy Science Fiction, July 1954

"Felony" by James Causey

"Vogel started with crossword puzzles ... and worked his way up to Man's greatest enigma!"

Harlan Ellison on Star Trek

Here's the irascible Harlan Ellison appearing with Star Trek alumni James Doohan, DeForest Kelley, and Walter Koenig on Tom Snyder's The Tomorrow Show back in 1976.





An interesting discussion, and I think the convention organizer makes a really good point when he remarks that every episode of Star Trek involved some kind of violence despite its claims to be avoiding that kind of thing. As for Ellison, he makes some trenchant observations, but he's also unrelentingly negative. And given his later much publicized involvement in the Star Trek-ish Babylon 5 his snarky remarks ring a bit hollow. It's left to Koenig to interject some common sense and observe that while Star Trek may not be first rate sf it nevertheless exposes a wider audience to the genre.

Clash of the Titans (2010)

 I saw Clash of the Titans (2010) last night, and it was OK, but nothing great. When I sat down to blog about it this long-winded and overly serious review came out. The movie hardly deserves this much comment, but I'll post it anyway.

Clash of the Titans (2010) is a mediocre action movie remake of the Ray Harryhausen original Clash of the Titans (1981). While reasonably entertaining to watch it emphasizes slick SFX and 3D visual gimmicks at the expense of plot and characterization. It is loosely based on the myth of Perseus in the same way that the Beeb's TV show Merlin is loosely based on Arthurian Legend, which is to say almost not at all. There are some minor spoilers below, but this is not a movie to be watched for the story.

In many ways the experience of this film is summed up in the opening narration. It begins with words to the effect that the greatest myths are not those told by man but the ones written in the stars. You might expect that to be a reference to the constellations of Andromeda and Perseus, but you'd be wrong. The next thing we see on screen are not these asterisms, but colorful, nebulous clouds of stars. In the same way this film is made up of colorful, SFX heavy action scenes amidst a blurry story and vague characters.

One of the strange things about this movie is that it doesn't just take mythical figures and put them fictional situations the way they did in those old Steve Reeves pepla films. No, this movie sets itself the task of rewriting all of Greek myth, and doing it along explicitly Christian lines. While all of the Olympian gods make an appearance, they are only mute set pieces to the central struggle between Zeus/Jehovah and Hades/Satan (as in Disney's Hercules (1997)), and the clash of Perseus, the son of Zeus/Jehovah, with the monstrous Kraken, the son of Hades/Satan, in what amounts to an odd rehashing of the Christ vs. Anti-Christ tale. It's a bizarre twist to put on classical mythology and I'm not sure what if any point the filmmakers are trying to make. Most likely it was just a failure of imagination on their part.

As an action movie the film is workmanlike in it's deployment of the requisite scenes of monsters and sword fights. The costume and set design are very well done and help give the proceedings the proper atmosphere. The portrayal of Medusa is a highpoint (and interestingly her origin story is the only one that is faithful to the original myth), though she has the same lamia like body she did in the first film (and her sisters are again nowhere to be seen). The various other monsters are also well done, although the Stygian Witches, while creepy looking, feature in a dud scene. The biggest disappointment is the Kraken, which though impressive looking is given far too little screen time. It is released, thrashes the city for a couple minutes, then Perseus wastes it. It's all very anti-climactic.

For the most part the movie relies too much on the 3D gimmick of having something cominrightatcha! A giant scorpion bursts through some ruins and is cominrightatcha! One character tosses a spear to another and it's cominrightatcha! Someone tosses a gold coin and it's cominrightatcha! This wouldn't be so bad if it were in addition to strong characters and plotting, like that old movie It Came from Outer Space (1953). But Perseus (in addition to an anachronistic buzz cut) comes across as surly and petulant while the ragtag band of soldiers accompanying him are forgettable stock characters. Only Io (who is not the Io of legend but a sort of feminine Wandering Jew) has any personality.

As for the storyline, it is a peculiar tale of mortals revolting against the Gods. This opposition to the Gods is emphasized again and again, and Perseus even refuses to use a magic sword because he wants to succeed "as a man." That is until the climax of the film when he suddenly does an abrupt volte face and uses both the sword and the power of Zeus to banish Hades. This is followed by him having a cordial conversation with Zeus, all of which completely undercuts the films previous strident denunciation of Gods. The result is an incoherent mess that makes no sense except as an excuse for sword fights and monster hunting.

And another weird twist is that in the end Persus declines to marry Andromeda because he doesn't want to be a king. This is an extension of the movie's incoherent attempt at anti-authoritarianism, but it means that Hercules, the great-grandson of Persus and Andromeda, will never be born. This film is really, really determined to rewrite the whole mythology.

All told, Clash of the Titans is only slightly better than routine SeeFee channel fare like Minotaur, Cyclops, or Odysseus and the Isle of the Mists. It's a moderately entertaining but very shallow film that amounts to little more than a string of attention-getting SFX scenes.

Astounding Stories, June, 1931

Astounding Stories, June, 1931

"The Man From 2071" By Sewell Peaslee Wright

"Out of the Flow of Time There Appears to Commander John Hanson a Man of Mystery from the Forgotten Past."


Manape the Mighty By Arthur J. Burks

"High in Jungle Treetops Swings Young Bentley—His Human Brain Imprisoned in a Mighty Ape." (A Complete Novelette.)


Holocaust By Charles Willard Diffin

"The Extraordinary Story of "Paul," Who for Thirty Days Was Dictator of the World."


"The Earthman's Burden" By R. F. Starzl

"There is Foul Play on Mercury—until Danny Olear of the Interplanetary Flying Police Gets After His Man."


The Exile of Time By Ray Cummings

"Larry and George from 1935, Mary from 1777—All Are Caught up in the Treacherous Tugh's Revolt of the Robots in the Time World of 2930." (Part Three of a Four-Part Novel.)