This has been a terrible year for me.  I really feel like this was a throw away disaster of a year personally and from a media standpoint as well.  I can’t think of a single sci-fi flick, horror movie, or TV show that was a whiz-bang world mover for me.  In lieu of this I thought I would close out the year here on the site with a post about some sci-fi series that tug at my heart any time I even just so much as hear mention of them. Here goes. This is my list of favorite Science Fiction TV series of all time.

The Twilight Zone

Not only one of the greatest sci-fi shows ever, it’s one of the best shows of all time. Rod Serling hosted the show from 1959 to 1964. Each week, he featured a usually creepy, sometime witty, show that ranged from alien invaders to time travel. This show is in many ways the show that launched a thousand ships, or rather careers, actors, writers and special effects artists.

Dr. Who

No sci-fi show list is complete without Dr. Who. The series started in 1963 and featured several men as the doctor – a time traveling, eccentric alien – and his comrades. Sure, many of the monsters were terribly cheesy, but it is a classic nonetheless. The show was canceled in 1989, made a brief return in a TV movie in 1996 and then was fully resurrected and came back into production in 2003. It continues today

Lost in space

“Danger Will Robinson, danger!” For three years and countless reruns after, we watched the Robinson family survive against scary and hilarious beings that threatened their existence. The family, as the title implies, was hopelessly lost in space because of a sabotage effort gone awry thanks to Dr. Zachary Smith. The program aired from 1965 to 1968.

Star Trek

The original Star Trek, which aired just three seasons from 1966-69, fell from the number 1 spot on the list to number 2. Yes, perhaps it didn’t feature the best acting, or most compelling story plots, but it was a show that set the standard for future space epics since. The show is also more popular today than it was when it first ran. The show went on to inspire several movies, several spinoffs, and hordes of fans.

BattleStar Galactica

The 1978 series ‘”Battlestar Galactica” is a fantastic story of 12 colonies destroyed by a race of mechanized beings called Cylons, who are bent on destroying civilization. Commander Adama, played by the late Lorne Green, leads a rag-tag fugitive fleet across the galaxy in search of the lost 13th tribe, who settled on a planet called Earth. The great cast included Dirk Benedict as Starbuck and Richard Hatch as Apollo.

Buck Rogers

A 20th century astronaut, Buck Rogers (played by Gil Gerard), is on a space mission when his shuttle runs into a cosmic anomaly. Buck’s frozen in suspended animation until he’s revived 500 years later. From 1979 to 1981, we watched as Buck helped solve future Earth’s dilemmas. And, of course, we couldn’t leave out the lovely Erin Gray as Colonel Wilma Deering. The show also taught us that spandex is in ample supply in the 25th century.

The Six Million Dollar Man

Those famous words, “We can rebuild him, we have the technology,” explain how astronaut Steve Austin (Lee Majors) becomes the “The Six Million Dollar Man.” Austin is mutilated after a crash and a secret government agency replaces his now departed parts with super powerful mechanical limbs. Austin uses his new superhuman like powers to solve crimes and catch bad guys. Look for the classic episode when he battled Sasquatch, or Big Foot. The series began in 1973 and resulted in a spinoff series called the “Bionic Woman.”

(The original) V

This miniseries was nearly 20 years ahead of “Independence Day.” In 1983, sci-fi loving Americans were glued to their sets to watch the Visitors in the miniseries “V.” It followed the classic aliens plot — aliens come to Earth to help humanity, but actually want to steal the planet’s natural resources. A regular show followed this miniseries, but never quite lived up to the original.

Alien Nation

Alien slaves, bred to be super intelligent and strong, crash on Earth. These “Newcomers” are assimilated into society. The show focused on one of them, George Francisco, who becomes a police detective partnered with a human cop, Matthew Sikes. They fight crime, learn to respect each other’s cultures, and fight the new bigotry between humans and aliens.

Star Trek: The Next Generation

This series is on many people’s list as the best sci-fi show of all time. It nearly made our number one spot, too. The show featured a great cast that evolved throughout its seven seasons, from 1987 through 1994.

So there you have it.  My picks for the greatest Sci-Fi TV shows ever.  Am I close?  Let me know.

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One of my favorite Halloween traditions is to watch scary movies.  Some of the most fantastic, awe inspiring and terrifying of these are the classic monster movies.  Werewolves have captivated man’s imagination since the earliest of times.  They incorporate many of the phobias and fears of a frail human race, unwanted, often horrific physical transformation, the loss of control over ourselves, the desire to hurt  or even kill others.  The list goes on and on.  I love werewolf mythos, especially where it intersects with film.

I decided that a great way explore one of my favorite literary beasts in movies would be to compose a list showing where I think the milestones exist in film history as it applies to depicting such a fiendish creature.

In 1935 the first film to feature bipedal anthropomorphic werewolf was made with simple yet effective makeup on actor Henry Hull.  This is,for me, the first true werewolf in a movie.

In 1941 the silver screen was graced by Lon Chaney Jr’s masterful makeup work in black and white.  The complexity of the makeup and appliances in this film were a marked leap forward from earlier movies.

Werewolves pretty much copied Lon Chaney Jr’s makeup with ever so slight variations for years until the gory Hammer Horror film Curse of the were wolf came along.  The creature here evokes a more feral look and color adds depth and conveys feelings not seen before.

Movies stagnated again for a pretty long stretch of time until 1981 when a pair of films BURST onto the scene.  American Werewolf in London allowed a young makeup artist named Rick Baker to show us how the werewolf transforms in a way NEVER before seen on screen.  The creature in this film shows us the agony of  the transformation as well as facets of it none of us ever even considered before.  It is also the most animalistic of the film monsters to date.

Rob Bottin a student of baker showed his mentor and contemporary that two werewolves are better than one.  Bottin’s transformation scene concentrated on mostly the head and upper body but it proved to watchers how truly terrifying such a change could be when the cursed character truly embraces being such a beast.  This iteration of the werewolf while still quite manlike is the scariest wolf captured on film to date for me.

in 1987 a team of effects artists headed by the late Stan Winston gave us this gem called Monster Squad.  The werewolf here was a re-imagining of the classic wolfman using practical / mechanical effects.  While the creature was very manlike its mechanical facial expressions made it very realistic and eerie.

Ginger Snap, from 2000,  makes the list because it chose NOT to copy the Baker /Bottin style of creature.  No surreal transformation scenes here.  Instead you get a female werewolf with a strange mostly stretched skin look.  It is unusual and in many ways very alluring.  The advent of computer generated effects added greatly to the realistic movements of this creature.

Dogsoldiers burned up the silver screen in 2002 giving us a very scary werewolf which manlike in stance was quite feral and animalistic. This combination of a very wolf-like head and a very bipedal stance was frightening and intimidating enough for it to make my list.

Underworld in 2003 gave us our first FULLY computer generated screen werewolves.  The transformations were fast and fairly realistic.  The movements of these creatures and the fact that they used CG and practical effects VERY effectively makes this a clear advancement in werewolf effects.

Van Helsing was made in 2004.  This movie has ALL CG werewolves.  No practical effects to be had in the this flick.  While some are pretty realistic others are not so much.  This is not a great film but it shows up here for no other reason than its use of CG for all aspects of the wolves.  If you want my two cents they really have to get realistically moving hair right before they will ever be able to ditch practical effects entirely.

Honorable Mention : I left 2010′s remake of The Wolfman off the list intentionally.  Even though it won Rick Baker an Oscar award I think it really didn’t break new ground so it wasn’t really a step forward.  If anything its clever use of practical and CG effects had already been done although not with this sense of flair and style.

Thats its.  Hope you enjoyed my time line.  Happy Halloween!

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The story of Frankenstein has always been one of my favorites.  I love the romanticism and mysticism that surrounds it.  I also love science so it’s really a match made in heaven.  We all probably know the story of Frankenstein, which I won’t go onto here, but as usual I wanted to know more.

There is truly an actual Frankenstein’s Castle.  I am sure you are stunned to find out that there is indeed such a place.  The real castle is located in Germany and was originally a seat of politics and learning built by and maintained by the German Nobles and Lords of the 1200’s through the 1600’s. Connections between the novel bearing the Frankenstein name and this real local are hard to prove and are rather controversial.  One of its former residents bears some hard to overlook semblances to the well known story.  This is the fellow I want to focus on today.

Johann Konrad Dippel was a German Alchemist and Physician who was born at the actual Castle Frankenstein in Germany.  

The facts surrounding Dippel are sketchy due to age and record keeping of the day.  What is known is  that Dippel was both a prolific author, mostly on topics of Theology, and  a medical anatomist.  Records show he experimented quite frequently with dead animals, to which he was said to be an “avid dissector”.  He actually wrote a dissertation called Maladies and Remedies of the Life of the Flesh, in which he claimed to, have discovered both the Elixir of Life and the means to exorcize demons through potions he concocted from boiled animal bones and flesh.   Many of Dippel’s countrymen regarded him as a dark sorcerer and reasoned that he had a pact with the devil to exchange his soul for knowledge of the dark arts.  In any event there is only a tenuous possibility of any connection between Dippel and Mary Shelly who wrote the novel.

 Dippel’s stories and reputation may have traveled to Mary Shelly’s ears via her stepmother, who had a relationship with Jacob Grimm of Grimm’s Fairy tales fame.  It seems Grimm needed his tales translated and the translator chose was from the villages near the now famed Frankenstein’s castle. Rumors about Dippel included stories that he performed gruesome experiments with cadavers in which he attempted to transfer the soul of one cadaver into another. While experiments with cadavers and soul-transference were common among alchemists at the time, thus making it possible that Dippel pursued similar objectives, there is no direct evidence to link him to these specific acts. There is also no evidence to the rumor that he was driven out of town, when word of his activities reached the ears of the townspeople.

All in all I see lots of fun connections here and I thoroughly enjoyed finding out that there may have been a real person at the center of one of my favorite stories.  Happy Halloween!

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  I own the original TRON on DVD and watch it often.  As a boy it was one of those films that captured a time and a place and to get back there I just pop that DVD in and I am instantly transported to an arcade in the 80′s.  i love the actors and even though the story seems a bit weak its undoubtedly a groundbreaking film.

   I was very excited when i heard about a sequel to TRON and MEGA excited to hear that Jeff Bridges and Bruce Boxleitner BOTH would be back not as cameos but actually reprising their roles from the original.  I must say I was blown away.  This was more than I could have ever expected.  There are more nods and tipped hats to the old movie than I can detail here.  Things as simple as dusty old hand held led tomy games to 80′s music blaring from a jukebox in an old arcade.  Lots to love here if your paying close attention.

    The acting is very impressive. As already mentioned Bridges and Boxleitner are both quality actors but the newcomers Olivia Wilde and Garrett Hedlund do a wonderful job here as well.  I was drawn in from the moment it started till it was over.

    The effects were of course TOP notch.  The 3D was tremendous.  I have seen quite a few 3D movies lately and this one had the best so far.  Things shown in real perspective, items moving in and out of foreground and background, just really well done all around.

    The Chase scenes are AMAZING.  The light cycles are back with major improvements to their appearance as well as their capabilities.  The fluid dynamic of the camera work was truley awe inspiring.

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    The costumes were well done and believable, albeit, aside from some glowing strips of light here and there they were almost nothing like the old movie.  I did not miss the toga, greco-roman sash thing from the original at all.  THIS is what a program would wear in a digital world in MY imagination for sure.

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    There are two things I will never forget about this new movie and here they are in order of importance.  The technology used to make Bridges young again as the character CLU is STUNNING.  Benjamin Button has NOTHING on this.  It looks and acts and FEELS like the real deal.  I know its almost fully CGI and in a few fleeting moments of screen time it had a few creepy quirks, but its still AMAZING how real it was.  Words cannot do it justice.

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    Lastly, the soundtrack by Daft Punk was unbelievably perfect for this film.  It is simply spellbinding.  The 85 piece orchestra coupled with old school techno meets in the middle with superior results.

   My final thoughts today are..GO SEE THIS MOVIE.  If you love the 80′s and enjoyed the first film this is canon and a MUST SEE.  If you are not of that generation, disliked or have never seen the first film, SEE THIS ONE ANYWAY.
I left the theatre wishing I could see it again and sad that it was  over.  Being a  film buff this rarely happens to me.

Enjoy!

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    We are very lucky to live in an age where most parts in a modern computer can last well into the 5 year range.  With proper cooling and regular maintenance such as dusting components and keeping vents clean and clear they can last much, much longer.  With this in mind, you can see how one might forget the age of a PC altogether as long as it dutifully continues to perform its tasks.

   The same thing applies somewhat to software.  Windows Server 2003 which was released in, go figure, 2003, while aging quite gracefully is now over 7 years old.  I was speaking with another technical support professional that gleefully informed me that he was still in middle school when that operating system was released.  Needless to say it made me feel super old. 

    Recent advances in hard drive technology, removing most of the moving parts mean that computers will be lasting longer and longer before they breakdown.  This means that the operating systems we use on them will start lasting longer and longer.  I am astounded even today that Windows XP is still alive and kicking even as the wind down all the methods to buy it.  Every day I hear creative stories from my user base telling me how they manage to keep implementing XP on new PCs that they introduce into their networks.

   Wrapping this up, put that all into perspective as we move forward into the future the next time you think about how terrible it is that your PC is running slow or that some part has failed after many years of faithful service.  We are all really lucky.

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Well, this is going to be a silly post.  I was conversing with a good buddy of mine, Jamie, at the office today and we have come up with the greatest idea EVER!.  I just had to write about it because it will revolutionize the entire world ad we want all the credit.  Now, its based on some pretty wild theoretical quantum fundamentals that aren’t all working just yet, but hey you can patent an idea, right? 

    Imagine if you will, online shopping.  We all do it. Even when you pay the exhorbitant price to have an item delivered “next day” that is STILL too slow.  Am I right?  What if, when you ordered an item it simply materialized right next to your computer.  that is, assuming it was a small item.  What a world we would live in.

    So the idea is that every computer comes with one of these small teleporter pads that sits right next to your monitor.  You order something and once its approved >>ZZAP<< there it is! Sitting right next to you~!  We already have all the logistics worked out for larger items also.  Anything bigger than the home teleporter pad gets sent to a community teleporter kiosk.  Every community, small city, whatever, will have one.  You still order your item, but instead of having to drive to the UPS or fed ex hub to get it, instead of having to drive hours to the nearest store you just hop out the door and run down to the community Tele-Shop and input a code that was emailed to you after your online purchase and >>ZZIZZZLE<< there is your item in all its glory!!

    I know this is all wishful thinking.  Hell this may not even be an original idea but it made jamie and I laugh thinking about it and I thought I would share.  Cheers!

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