When a well-prepared interviewer meets an articulate expert sometimes the result is pure gold, as it is with “STILL WATCHING: An Interview with Science Fiction Historian Bill Warren” by Stuart Galbraith IV. It’s filled with the kind of discerning historical and critical observations that make Bill Warren’s Keep Watching The Skies: The 21^st Century Edition so worthwhile.

For example, Bill analyzes why there a legion of new fans for the cheap SF movies of the 1950s:

One reason seems to be that movies of today are largely fueled by knowing irony, sarcasm, a kind of bitter attitude that comes from too many experiences with those who let you down. But the movies of the 1950s are eternally optimistic, even Rocketship X-M and The Lost Missile, in which the heroes die at the end. There’s not a trace of irony in these films, and that’s probably refreshing for latter-day generations of movie watchers.

The interview is also filled with appealing examples of Bill’s candor and self-effacing humor:

I found that my taste as a kid was pretty reliable, even if more enthusiastic than myself as an adult. I no longer think that It Came from Beneath the Sea and Creature with the Atom Brain are the two best movies ever made, though I still like both of them. And those I didn’t like then, I still don’t like.