DoG Ep 03: Geek Cinema of 1986

Note that the contact info given in the episode itself is no longer any good. If you want to find me, try Facebook, @writingdad on Twitter, or email: lance@lanceschonberg.com.

00:00 Episode ID

Days of Geek, Episode 3: Geek Cinema, 1986.

00:05 Music

“Split In Synapse”, courtesy of Kevin McCleod at incompetch.com.

00:13 Intro

I give out the standard contact info:

show@daysofgeek.com
@DaysOfGeek on Twitter
Facebook Page
com/3

And then I don’t quote Stephen Spielberg and George Lucas on their expressed feelings about the end of the blockbuster movie age, but I do paraphrase a little just before admit to thinking they’re wrong.

01:16 Main

The Wayback Machine is taking us to 1986, an excellent year in the Decade of Geek Cinema. The opening bit of the sequence is a collection of sound bites for a few movies most people will remember:

Star Trek IV – “They are not the hell your whales.”
Highlander – “There can be only one.”
Aliens – “I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.”
Short Circuit – “Number 5 Alive!”
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off – “You killed the car.”

Then I mention three movies a lot of people would rather forget:

Invaders from Mars – “They’re huge, ugly, slimy, giant Mr. Potato Heads!”
Star Crystal – “{insert quote via Youtube}”
Solarbabies – “Cut your breath, before you betray your putrid thinking!”

02:58 The movies.

I pick 5 movies from 1986 that might not have made everyone’s radar or that you might have missed at the time. They’re all good movies, from my POV, but for different reasons and all have something different to offer.

For each of the five movies, I:

Play the audio of the best trailer I could find on the Internet,
Give a brief synopsis, and
Provide some thoughts, opinions, and a recommendation.

You’ll probably guess that all of the recommendations are positive, but they’re all very different movies.

Five movies were almost too many, so I might pick only three for the next episode in this series. Yes, there will be more of this.

I then, very briefly, mention 5 movies that don’t fit into PG or less, but are worth checking out for an older audience.

The Golden Child (PG-13)
Peggy Sue Got Married (PG-13)
Jumpin Jack Flash (R)
Maximum Overdrive (R)
F/X (R)

None of those last three deserve an R rating and wouldn’t get one today.

27:09 “Promo” for Now Playing

Now Playing is a movie review and discussion podcast covering a lot of ground and often in “series” of movies that may be all in one franchise or not, but are all related somehow. Episodes range from 75 minutes up to 2 hours, so you’re getting a lot of discussion and detail. They also have bonus episodes for those who donate to help keep them running.

27:48 Media Consumption

The part of the show where I very briefly talk about the geeky media I’ve consumed since recording the last episode.

Movies

You can probably gather movies I’ve re-watched in preparation for this episode, but I watched them over the course of the summer, along with a number of others, rather than in the past week, refreshing myself on some key stuff for each one. I should probably think about scheduling the movies I’m planning for the next round of this series.

Books:

I started reading Snuff by Terry Pratchett. (Amazon.ca link.)

And Star Trek Titan #6: Synthesis. (Amazon.ca link.)

Television

The episode of Star Trek TOS we talk about a little farther down the page, “Where No Man Has Gone Before”.

XX:XX News

Removed a segment where I whined about wasting my time with a Surface RT. I wasn’t happy. It went back to the store. I’ll probably get a Nexus or iPad during Boxing Week sales after Christmas.

28:55 Star Trek TOS Re-Watch

Episode: “Where No Man Has Gone Before”

I play a TV teaser and offer a brief synopsis.

Best Line: “You’re a talented thief, Kelso. Everything you sent up seems to be fittin’ in place.

Overlooked Character/Actor: Lt. Lee Kelso, played by Paul Carr.

Scoring:

Casualities

(R/G/B): 0/2/1 (9 dead in the background)

Emotionless Vulcan Displays Emotion: 1

Recommendation: A great episode. It doesn’t, quite, make my top 10, but it’s a fun ride that doesn’t slow down until the credits roll.

36:47 Outro

In which I again offer contact info: