Archive for the ‘sci fi’ category

Snickers “Godzilla” Commercial…

July 16, 2014

 

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Godzilla, as we learn in a Snickers commercial, is an alright dude!  We are shown footage of the big guy in just slightly larger than human form, hanging at the beach, riding four wheelers, playing ping-pong, and making the scene at a party.- – What a party animal!

“Godzilla’s actually pretty cool!,” comments one male party-goer to his friend.  “Except when he’s hungry,” corrects the buddy.  Then the footage cuts to Godzilla in full rampage, hundreds of feet tall and blasting cars airborne with his breath.  Fortunately, someone in the crowd knows the remedy for this situation, and lobs Godzilla a Snickers bar. – – He eats the morsel, gets a blissful expression on his massive face, and then suddenly…Party Godzilla is back, water skiing and blending happily into human society again!  

You’re not yourself when you’re hungry, we are told. Studies have shown that hunger and anger can be linked. Maybe then the answer to unrest in the Middle East and elsewhere is simply to bombard the combatants with Snickers bars…heck, diplomacy doesn’t seem to be doing much, so make chocolate, not war!

Godzilla Resurrection!

April 28, 2014

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I have a confession to make; I’ve always loved Godzilla, ever since the days that he appeared in badly-dubbed Japanese movies and was obviously played by someone in a rubber suit!  Godzilla fans have endured a variety of outrages over the years, including a series of increasingly lame and outrageous adversaries (e.g., the “Smog Monster”), bad storylines, and even alteration of the character’s gender. The last major studio film treatment in 1998 portrayed Godzilla as an iguana-like creature, focused on a human love story, and was almost universally hated by fans.  It appeared that Godzilla might have fallen to bad treatment rather than an oxygen destroyer, but we who believe have maintained our faith.

The upcoming reboot of the Godzilla franchise by Gareth Edwards promises to take Godzilla back to his 1954 roots.  Co-produced by Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. under license from Toho, the new movie will be live action while Godzilla will be computer-generated.  Unlike the 1998 film, Godzilla will again fight several monsters rather than just the military.  The opponent monsters, referred to as “mutos,” will fly and be multi-limbed.  Godzilla himself will stand 350′ tall, the biggest incarnation ever.

The plot should delight conspiracy theorists.  It seems that Godzilla’s existence has been covered up by the U.S. government (like aliens, ‘ya know), and nuclear tests of the 1950’s were actually attempts to kill the creature.  Godzilla’s face is supposedly modeled on elements of features of bears, dogs, and eagles.  The big guy’s fighting style is based on that of bears and komodo dragons.  His roar is the original one pioneered by Toho, with improvements and enhancements.

Godzilla is conceived as “a terrifying force of nature,” and his kung fu should be the best.  He’ll be stomping his way into theaters this May, hopefully a monster for our times…

 

 

Rocket Raccoon Explodes Onto The Big Screen!

April 22, 2014

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Raccoons are kind of bad boys in the furry community; you might want to watch your wallet and your sister around one. While they are rascals, raccoons do seem to get the job done, and they’re good to have on your side, even if they don’t always take the high road.  For this reason, it’s only a slight stretch to see a raccoon as a kind of deviant action hero, and Rocket Raccoon fits that bill perfectly.

With his name supposedly inspired by the Beatles song Rocky Raccoon, Rocket Raccoon is for my money the most captivating character in the Guardians of the Galaxy team, a more obscure Marvel property certain to gain fans following release this August of the movie by the same name.

The Rocket Raccoon character debuted in 1976; his backstory is too complex and lengthy to go into here, but suffice it to say that he is an anthropomorphic bipedal raccoon who is an accomplished starship pilot, a master tactician, and an expert marksman who prefers really large guns!  He has anger management issues, and a touch of obsessive-compulsive disorder…but what raccoon doesn’t wash their paws often? Voiced in the movie by actor Bradley Cooper, the CGI Rocket is in part modeled after movements of a real-life raccoon called Oreo. Muscle for Rocket is provided by a tree-creature named Groot, voiced by none other than Vin Diesel.

One of a ragtag team of intergalactic aliens, Rocket Raccoon in Guardians of the Galaxy promises to be a breakout furry character…

 

 

Acura’s “Let the Race Begin” Horses…

March 19, 2014

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– – These are horses as one imagines they would be designed by Skynet in the dystopian world of the Terminator movies.  The spot begins with a crowd gathering for a horse race around a futuristic, surreal track. What’s really cool is that the four breathtaking horses competing are robotic, and as they enter the race they vie fiercely for position, complete with metallic sounds as they bang heads with one another in an almost gladiatorial event.  

From behind, however, enters a flesh-and-bone equine who assumes the leadership position, and then the horses morph into vehicles.  Acura, you see, is casting itself as the “dark horse” in the luxury-performance car market, a field in which it hopes to assume leadership.

I sadly know that I will never own a luxury-performance vehicle as my budget barely allows fox kibble.  I do know that I haven’t seen robotic animals this good since the group Swedish House Mafiia did their Greyhound video, and I hope that advertising delivers up more of these fantastic creatures…

“Aliens Cloned My Husband;” Alien Matrix; Betty and Barney Hill Abduction…

February 25, 2014

abductionThis is primarily a furry blog, but we’ll take a good alien tale as well if we can find one!  Alien stories dominated a recent hour of Monsters & Mysteries in America, presenting a vintage classic alien abduction story as well as newer, further-out variations.  Please note:  these accounts are not presented here as documented facts.

The Betty and Barney Hill story is kind of the gold standard of alien abduction tales.  It occurred way back in September of 1961 in New Hampshire, and was the first reported alien abduction that actually got publicity.  The Hills were both rather stable and ordinary people, with Betty being a social worker and Barney a postman; they were not interested in science fiction, UFO’s, or aliens beforehand.  Returning from a trip to Montreal and Niagra Falls, the couple were on Highway 3 when they observed a falling star that appeared to fall upward, and then come closer.  The Hills then lost consciousness of what transpired, gaining awareness miles away two hours later.  Although they could not account for what occurred during that lost time, some odd things had apparently happened to them that could not be accounted for.  Betty’s dress and its lining were torn, and coated in some pink substance.  Barney’s shoes were unaccountably scraped on the uppers, both of their watches had stopped, and there were circles on the trunk lid of their vehicle.  The couple kept their strange experience a secret for years, although Barney began experiencing symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress syndrome as well as insomnia, conditions which adversely affected his ability to perform on the job and which eventually led them to seek professional help.

Dr. Simon, a PTSD expert, employed hypnosis in separate sessions in February of 1964 with Barney and Betty which served to unlock and reveal their long-repressed memories of the abduction night and the missing two hours of time.  Those sessions revealed that on the night of the UFO sighting, Barney Hill had left his car which they stopped upon the UFO’s approach to observe it further, carrying with him binoculars and a handgun.  He could see beings inside the windows of the starcraft, their leader dressed in a black uniform.  Panicking, Barney then retreated to his car, and the couple attempted to flee in it but were stopped or disabled by the UFO, the couple paralyzed and rendered unconscious.  Barney had the sensation of floating, being drawn through the air into the craft, except for his shoes which were dragged, causing the scraping to their uppers.  

Inside the alien craft, Barney and Betty under hypnosis reported seeing creatures that we now think of as alien “grays” who had large, dark eyes and noses unlike the human.  Thorough physical examinations followed of the couples’ extremities and joints, with a long needle inserted into Betty’s navel, a procedure which brought her excruciating pain until the alien leader cast his hand over her eyes, an action which took away the pain.  Barney was likewise examined, and in addition apparently underwent semen extraction.  The couple later awoke in their car, 35 miles away from from where they had been.  A dog traveling with the couple had pushed himself as far under the front seat as possible.  The couple did not mention the event to outsiders for four years until the time of the hypnosis at which time those lost memories were recovered.

On cloning, a second reported encounter was presented from September of 1988 which occurred in New Mexico.  There a Gloria Hawber, a medical secretary, saw a glowing object originally thought to be a hot air balloon from which smaller lights emanated.  Alien beings about 3 to 3-1/2 feet high later materialized through her bedroom walls, and implanted a device in her head through her eyes.  Gloria’s husband, Fred, was not there at the time and was initially supportive of his wife but later manifested a different personality, becoming distant, cold, and abusive.   A few hours later, this changed individual began convulsing, and days later simply disappeared.  It was the contention of Gloria that her husband had been abducted and cloned, and that his changed self that she encountered was essentially a duplicate.  This belief was reinforced by later alien abductions suffered by Gloria, during one of which her actual husband appeared to her on a spacecraft.  The story was one exemplifying those of a growing number of abducted people who contend that aliens are making clones of individuals, and essentially replacing them with the duplicates.

Then in Wiggins, Mississippi the case of Richard and Mary Rogers was presented in which Richard at night following sleep was placed into a kind of military-style alien abduction in which he was cast into a virtual reality testing environment in order to groom him as a “super soldier”  for deployment in alien wars.  Supposedly interested in the human emotional make-up that they lack, human subjects were placed by aliens into a threatening and contentious environment in which weapons would appear in simulated fights against dangerous adversaries.  The alien intent was supposedly to see how humans would react in these situations. Interestingly enough, Richard would awake with real physical wounds and bruises from these experiences…

Fantastic?–Absolutely!   I love this stuff, but don’t bet the rent on the credibility of alien abduction stories…

S.H.I.E.L.D. Likely to Hold..

September 26, 2013

shield– – It’s a smart, slick, and stylish show that parallels the Marvel cinematic universe with elements of the Men In Black movies and echoes of The X-Files thrown in for good measure; I’m speaking of the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. series which debuted on the ABC network on September 24th. Television has had shows somewhat similar to this before, but the small screen has been devoid of them for some time, so it’s good to see this new and promising entry, especially one with such a rich heritage and ambitious aspirations.

Although set in the Marvel universe after the events of The Avengers movie, Agents is intended to be a stand-alone series, and can be understood and appreciated without having to have seen the blockbuster Avengers movie. Agents is not a superhero series, but rather more of a secret-agent series, and the players while devoid of powers are elite Level 7 agents with uniquely specialized training and capabilities. In each episode, they must coordinate their efforts to investigate bizarre phenomena and fledgling emergent superheroes, one of which is revealed in the pilot. The agents have wonderful, cutting-edge technology toys.   It’s in the action/adventure genre, with science fiction and even comedy-drama elements.

I may be wrong, but I think that this series will fly, just like the vintage Corvette memorably did at the end of the series premiere...gotta get me one of those!

Shatner vs. The Gorn, Redux!

April 2, 2013

gorn-shatner– – Back when special effects were a lot less special in the 1960’s, we were treated to an episode of Star Trek (The Original Series) called Arena where a young William Shatner’s James T. Kirk fought a powerful but ponderous and slow-moving reptilian creature called a Gorn.- –Well, 46 years after their original encounter, Shatner is again rematched with his scaly rival in a commercial for a Star Trek video game debuting this month.  The duo is comfortably seated on a sofa in a cozy living room, each one armed with a video controller and engaged in virtual on-screen combat!

Things get a little heated, and the two arise to their feet to engage in hand-to-hand combat, complete with sofa cushions being thrown, and the legendary Starfleet captain dodging clumsy swings by the reptilian!   When the combatants clinch, Shatner breaks the reptile’s hold by smacking his palms over its ear orifices.  As the Gorn moans in pain, Shatner accuses it of overacting, and out of breath admonishes it that, “We’re both too old for this kind of thing!”- -Wonderful stuff!

The Gorn depicted is true to the original creature, complete with bulky costume and compound eyes.  A computer-generated Gorn as later seen  in an episode of Star Trek: Enterprise was considerably more agile, and moved quickly.  This flashback, however, reminds us of what may be Gorn, but not forgotten…

Absolut Greyhounds…

February 11, 2013

greyhounds – – If Skynet designed greyhounds, they would probably look something like these beauties; starkly striking robotic greyhound creatures who are racing for their lives in a Mad Max styled desert wasteland.  Both a music video and a commercial, the video features the music of electronic dance trio Swedish House Mafia, who appropriately perform their track, Greyhound, while electronically transformed in the video to robotic dogs who chase a floating orb.  Bizarrely costumed guests watch the greyhounds go through their paces while drinking Absolut cocktails served by a  waiter in a mask with animal styling.

It’s kind of a desert masquerade ball that is surreal and futuristic, with stunning detailed visual imagery and intense electro-house music.  Some have objected to the commercial, however, for its depiction of greyhound racing, an activity often described as animal cruelty…

The Island of Unconventionally Proportioned Animals…

February 25, 2012

– – If you’re up to seeing Michael Caine riding a giant wasp in a movie that includes  former wrestler Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as well as wildlife such as really small elephants, you just might like to view the sequel to 2008’s Journey to the Centre of the Earth 3D, awkwardly called,  Journey 2:  The Mysterious Island.  

Advance reviews of the movie appear marvelous in their negativity, with professional film critics noting day-glo vegetation, giant rocks clearly made of styrofoam, and terming the flick, “…everything a twelve-year-old boy could want.”  Jules Verne is probably spinning in his grave over this one…

The Bark Side…

February 1, 2012

  – – Turn to the Bark Side…you know it is your destiny! 

A teaser for a Volkswagen Super Bowl ad, the new commercial features a number of assorted dogs barking to Darth Vader’s distinctive “Imperial March” theme from Star Wars.  The dogs play different Star Wars characters; there’s even an Ewok and a Wookie dog, and at the end a greyhound or whippet clad as an AT-AT parades across the stage!  Is it Paw Wars?–Or are these not the dogs that you’re looking for?

Apparently none of this teaser will appear in the actual upcoming Super Bowl commercial,  which is to herald the arrival of the redesigned VW Beetle…