Pixel Scroll 12/14 The Trixels Scroll

(1) SURREAL CEREAL. “When I just saw this, I did suddenly wonder, ‘Is nothing sacred?’” says James H. Burns.

Trix Pic-12142015-001 COMP

(2) RED LIGHT AT MORNING. Bob Byrne’s “The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: ‘Rudolph’s Performance Review’”  at Black Gate continues his tradition of holiday humor.

You’d think the reindeer with the shiny red nose would have knocked his annual review out of the park after that foggy Christmas Eve, eh? Well, that Santa is one tough reviewer. Read on, and I wish you a safe, happy and blessed Merry Christmas….

(3) DON’T LINK. Jenneral Geek’s theory about Doctor Who’s most popular episode suggests “’Blink’ Might be Even More Timey-Wimey Than You Think”.

Now, you may also remember a flirtatious babe from the same episode named Billy Shipton. Billy is a detective investigating the disappearance of people in relation to Wester Drumlins. This is what brings us to the lovely meet-cute in which Billy Shipton and Sally Sparrow flirt in front of a dusty blue police box. Billy gets Sally’s number and when he asks for her full name she retorts, “Sally Shipton” without thinking, followed by her instant mortification and departure. Cut scene and fast forward – Billy gets Weeping Angel’d back to 1969 where he receives instructions from the Doctor not to contact Sally Sparrow until after their original encounter. Billy lives his life back to 2007 and calls Sally. They re-meet minutes later for Sally and 38 years later for Billy in his hospital room. An elderly Billy tells Sally Sparrow information that is relevant to the plot, BUT he also tells her that he married a woman coincidentally named Sally from the 70’s. He even shows a picture of his dearly beloved, Sally Shipton.

I know this is timey-wimey enough as is, but what if there is more? At this point of the episode I had to press pause because my mind was going through the time vortex. Hey, how cool would it be if Billy Shipton actually married Kathy Wainwright’s daughter? So, I couldn’t resist whipping out my handy dandy calculator and pretending like I don’t blow at math.

(4) RETROSPECTIVE. TCM Remembers 2015 honors actors, actresses and filmmakers who passed away this year, among them Leonard Nimoy, Christopher Lee, Rod Taylor and Wes Craven.

(5) BSFA AWARDS. Nominations are open for the British Science Fiction Association Awards through December 31.

Who can nominate?

You may nominate a work if YOU:

  • Are a member of the BSFA

AND

  • Send or give your nominations to the Awards Administrator to arrive by the 31st December of each year.

See here for further details.

(6) SEE ME. Now I’m surprised John Scalzi didn’t drop in this morning to support Buckaroo Banzai in Hampus’ next set of brackets.

But John, do you mean Perfect like Perfect Tommy, or like Roger Daltrey’s Tommy?

(7) ACKERMANSION II. There’s a petition at change.org calling on the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission to “Declare Forrest Ackerman’s house a historic monument!”  The Commission considered an application at its December 3 meeting – I don’t know what they decided.

Forrest Ackerman is considered “the father of science fiction.” He was a magazine editor, science fiction writer and literary agent who represented Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, J.P. Lovecraft and L. Ron Hubbard, among many others. His magazine, Famous Monsters of Filmland, was an inspiration to writers and filmmakers like Stephen Spielberg, Peter Jackson, Stephen King, J.J. Abrams and Guillermo del Toro. Ackerman housed his extensive collection of sci-fi memorabilia in a private museum at 4513 Russell Ave. in Los Angeles and this home was dubbed the “Acker-Mini-Mansion.” The Smithsonian described Ackerman’s home as “one of the 10 best private museums in the country” open to visitors every Saturday since 1951 until Ackerman’s death in 2008.  Please support designating Ackerman’s house a historic monument to prevent its demolition by developers who want to “put up a parking lot.”

I’m guessing “put up a parking lot” is a reference to Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi” rather than an immediate plan for the property.

(8) THE VOICE. Last summer Natalie Luhrs raised $5,125 from folks who wanted her to livetweet her experience reading a Theodore Beale novel, and unlock another major incentive. And now that incentive has arrived — “Bad Life Decisions: Mary Robinette Kowal Reads Theodore Beale. Sexily” — at Pretty Terrible.

As promised at the conclusion of the fundraiser, here is Mary Robinette Kowal reading snippets from Theodore Beale’s Eternal Warriors™: War In Heaven in a very, very sexy voice.

(9) OKORAFOR. Nnedi Okorafor has been named the winner of Brittle Paper’s African Literary Person of the Year Award.

Brittle Paper is a blog written by Duke Ph.D. student Ainehi Edoro.

The 2015 African literary person of the year goes to Nnedi Okorafor for the many ways in which Africa inspires innovation in her approach to storytelling.

The way she writes about Africa is refreshingly different. Take for example her 2014 novel titled Lagoon. The novel follows the near-apocalyptic chaos that takes over Lagos when aliens land on its shores. In the novel, she pushes us to imagine a futuristic but recognizable Lagos swarming with aliens and creatures. The novel is a mashup of cultural iconographies that range from alien spaceships and viral youtube videos to Igbo ancestral masquerades and folkloric archetypes to Karl Marx and Danfo buses. She tells a story about Lagos by situating the city, its fears and anxieties, its history and its landscape within a global network of literary traditions and philosophical concerns. A novel such as Lagoon brings to the conclusion that African life is so complex, so rich that to adequately give an account of it we have to draw inspiration from everywhere—from Nollywood but also from Star Wars, from Esu but also from American rappers, from Pentecostal churches but also from underground LGBT communities.

(10) Today In History

Through physical experiments, Planck demonstrated that energy, in certain situations, can exhibit characteristics of physical matter. According to theories of classical physics, energy is solely a continuous wave-like phenomenon, independent of the characteristics of physical matter. Planck’s theory held that radiant energy is made up of particle-like components, known as “quantum.” The theory helped to resolve previously unexplained natural phenomena such as the behavior of heat in solids and the nature of light absorption on an atomic level. In 1918, Planck was rewarded the Nobel Prize in physics for his work on blackbody radiation.

(11) TOY AUCTION. An auction of over 600 Star Wars collectible toys on December 11 brought in more than $500,000.

The higher-end items in Nigo’s collection were either rare or still in the original packaging, making them desirable collectors’ items.

A rare Luke Skywalker figure — one of only 20 confirmed — was expected to sell for $12,000 to $18,000. It sold for $25,000.

The highest-selling lot, a seven-figure multi-pack sold exclusively in Canada in 1980, garnered $32,500 at the auction.

Among the items were two sets of “Star Wars” coins which were estimated to sell for between $25,000 and $35,000. They sold for $27,500.

(12) LITTLE TEENY EYES. Supervike is creating Monster Hunter International miniatures.

I paint and model little toy soldiers, and since there really aren’t any commercially available that represent the world of MHI, I’m trying to convert and paint existing miniatures to fit and represent the characters.

The scale of these miniatures is about 28mm.  That just means the ‘average’ man of 6ft tall or so, is represented as 28mm tall.  So, that’s a bit over an inch tall for us that never could figure out the metric system (thanks Jimmy Carter).

Some are fascinating, like the set in “It’s beginning to look a lot like Fishmen”.

Deep ones, those aquatic Lovecraftian fishmen, are only briefly mentioned in Monster Hunter International.  They serve as the badguys in a mission previously mentioned with a SEaL team and a cruise ship.

Turns out that the Deep Ones aren’t just interested in mindlessly attacking humans, they also prefer to lay their eggs inside a human host.  I’m assuming the outcome (other than the obvious madness) would be something like these guys.   These are Deep One Hybrids, the spawns of such an unholy union.

(13) PATENT FENDING. The Washington Post’s Larry Downs names “The 4 worst patents of 2015” after this introduction:

This was another depressing year for patent law, which long ago lost sight of its constitutional moorings as a balanced and limited source of incentives for innovators. Though Congress, the courts and the Patent and Trademark Office each tried in their own way to rein in a system widely-regarded as out of control, in the end nobody made much progress.

On just one day in November, for example, over 200 new patent lawsuits were filed, as plaintiffs rushed to beat a change in federal procedure that could require more specific claims. Most were from companies that buy up patents of dubious quality and use them to extract nuisance settlements from actual innovators….

To give just a sense of just how out of touch the law has become, I asked Daniel Nazer, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, to highlight the worst patents he’s come across this year. Nazer, who holds the Mark Cuban Chair to Eliminate Stupid Patents (yes, really), had little trouble coming up with these four, culled from a monthly “Stupid Patent of the Month” post he writes for the EFF site.  (The complete list is available here.)  Each one highlights a different crisis in our badly-misaligned patent system…

(14) VASICEK. Joe Vasicek’s latest proposition is “Disagreement is not offensive”, at One Thousand And One Parsecs.

If you take offense whenever people disagree with you, chances are that you’ll never be able to cut it as a writer. In order to write well, you have to be able to see things from inside the heads of people who aren’t like you and probably don’t agree with you.

This is why I support Sad Puppies: because the SJW types in Science Fiction are usually the first to cry offense over anything that doesn’t fit into their narrow worldviews. This naturally makes them as vehemently opposed to intellectual diversity as they (falsely) claim that the Puppies are to racial, sexual, and cultural diversity. When you look at the books and stories that these people uphold as shining examples of the genre, their rigidly ideological worldview is as plain as the emperor’s new clothes.

Disagreement is not “offensive.” In fact, it’s a sign of respect. If your opponent thought that your opinion or argument wasn’t worth engaging with, then they simply would have ignored you. By saying “I don’t agree,” they are acknowledging your position in an intellectually honest way. When you willfully misrepresent your opponent’s views, or bully them into silence, it is a sign of disrespect that warrants taking offense. And who is most guilty of that? I’ll give you two chances, and the first one doesn’t count.

(15) THE MAX. Blunt is one way of describing Max Booth III’s “Sad Puppies and The Goosebumps Rap: The Best and Worst Things to Happen to Literature in 2015” at Lit Reactor.

Sad Puppies

The KKK Sad Puppies are a group of white supremacists science fiction writers set on fixing the Hugo Awards. They are very pathetic nerds who won’t be satisfied as long as people other than straight white males are represented in science fiction. Keep the genre pure, they say. Heil Hitler, they probably also say. Our penises are tiny and we need to make others feel miserable to satisfy ourselves, they almost definitely say. So, in 2015, they managed to get Puppy nominees in almost every category. Because of this clusterfuck, many categories were given “No Awards”.

World Fantasy Award

Hey, speaking of racists. This year also saw a very nice and welcome change: Lovecraft was removed as the model for the World Fantasy Award. Many non-terrible people celebrated this victory, and many other terrible people whined about it. Especially ST Joshi, whose recent blog posts are both hilarious and sad. It’s still unknown what will take Lovecraft’s place as the trophy model. I’ve already suggested myself, but have yet to hear back. I’ve also heard many people suggest a dragon, but dragons as we all know, are lame. Honestly, a giant dong might be the way to go.

(16) ONE STAR (WARS) RATING. Milo Yiannopolous argues ”Star Wars Is Garbage” at Breitbart.com.

With Star Wars, liberal Hollywood got it all wrong. They get everything wrong, of course, but this movie franchise really takes the biscuit. They turned the heroes into villains, and the villains into shining beacons of virtue. With a new film on the horizon, I feel duty-bound to warn you about the desperate shortcomings of this particular entertainment phenomenon.

If we’re honest with ourselves, the real wretched hive of scum and villainy is Skywalker Ranch, where George Lucas and his band of morally dissolute bastards created the Star Wars universe, a blight on western civilisation and culture.

This magisterial bit of trolling includes lines such as —

Jabba the Hutt was actually pretty progressive.

And –

Oh, and by the way, Darth Vader’s daughter was installed as the leader of the galaxy after he killed the rightful and democratically elected leader, Emperor Palpatine. I’m just saying.

(17) USE THE SOURCE. A “Google Chrome extension replaces all mentions of Donald Trump with Voldemort” reports the Telegraph. 

The Trump2Voldemort extension for the web browser replaces any text referring to the Republican candidate with ‘He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named’ or ‘Tom Riddle’

The source is here:

https://twitter.com/Sarah_X_Chen/status/675030881447358464

(18) ULTIMATE TIME SAVER. Michael McNulty’s YouTube video plays Star Wars I-VI simultaneously in six side-by-side windows!

[Thanks to John King Tarpinian, Jerry Pournelle, and Brian Z. for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day James H. Burns.]


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187 thoughts on “Pixel Scroll 12/14 The Trixels Scroll

  1. @Lenora Rose: THAT IS SUCH AN AMAZING DRAGON!

    I may need to buy housemate some of this temporary soap paint, of which I’ve never heard, because she is great at doing that sort of thing.

    And we have WINDOWS.

  2. Thanks all! Daylight shows up some flaws but I am basically happy with it, for a two day job on a small window.

    It’s a mix of tempera and a small amount of dish soap, the latter to make it slightly smoother and make sure it can be washed off with a basic wet cloth. I suspect you can buy it premixed with intent (And possibly slightly higher quality than home-made), but my friend is an elementary school art teacher, so tempera is something she has naturally in large quantities.

  3. @Lenora: The thing! It is beautiful! Come to my house and do a thing on my kitchen window, which looks straight into the neighbor’s. You will have cat supervision.

  4. @Cat I actually think the puppies were worse (but as an anti-slate person, I acknowledge there is undoubtedly some bias there), but I think there were some major missteps on the anti-slate side where people where inappropriately labeling the puppies (e.g., racists, fascists & nazis). I think if there had been a better job of characterizing the puppy slates for what they were, like the rabid puppy slate being blatant self-promotion by VD, and the sad puppy slate being somewhat less blatant promotion of BT’s buddies (like, everyone with a blog at Mad Genius Club), and why slates are just bad in general, and keep the denigration of specific people or the puppies in general to a minimum, this would have given the puppies less ammunition for their own denigrations. My impression, though, is that the puppies were prepared to ramp up the rhetoric before they posted the slate.

  5. Bruce: I think there were some major missteps on the anti-slate side where people where inappropriately labeling the puppies (e.g., racists, fascists & nazis).

    I disagree. Pretty much all of the major Puppy leaders, both Sad and Rabid, have said racist and sexist things. Several have said blatantly misogynist and homophobic things. Some have espoused the same sort of approaches as those espoused by Nazis and fascists. People who pointed this out are not at fault for doing so.

    And let’s be honest: the Puppy vitriol came right out of the starting gate — before the slates were even posted, before there was any response from the people who opposed slating. The Puppies already considered the existence of fiction they didn’t like, and people who liked that fiction, as direct assaults on them and their chosen way of life. If you think they would have had any “less ammunition” if anti-slate people had responded differently, I think you are sadly fooling yourself.

  6. @Bruce: The crucial thing is that the Puppies started off claiming that they couldn’t be doing anything wrong, and stuck with it. John C. Wright was typical with his “Here are my terms: Halt the libels and lies and keep a civil tongue in your mouth, and there will be peace. I offer no concessions in return because I have none to offer.” Whereas most folks here, most of the time, like most folks at Making Light or Tor.com, most of the time, are willing enough to say something like “OK, wait, I want to back up. I made a mistake here. Let’s start again and I won’t repeat that.”

    One searches in vain for a Puppy leader saying “I’m sorry, I completely misunderstood your point, that’s fine now that I look at it again” or “Oh, okay, thank you for explaining, I don’t really agree but I see how you’d feel that way” or anything of the sort. They just don’t do that, when interacting with the rest of fandom. And when they don’t, there’s only so far anyone else can go to find a place for coexistence.

  7. I don’t deny that some, if not all of the puppy leaders and some of their adherents have said sexist and racist things. However, focus on the puppy leaders instead of why slates are bad in general, and why these self-promoting (or friend-promoting) slates are bad in particular, gave the puppies ammunition to say to their supporters and to people on the fringe that the “anti-slate people are villifying you”, then we’re fighting a battle on their terms, and it’s the wrong terms.

  8. Bruce: But claiming that the Hugo Awards for the past ten, twenty, or thirty years (it’s apparently a moving target) were the result of “affirmative action”, or in other words that the Hugo voters didn’t actually think what we voted for was award worthy, wasn’t vilification? They started out by calling us all liars, for Ghu’s sake! Can you understand why we felt a little upset?

    And then going on to directly lie in a comment thread about what a Hugo nominee was saying IN THAT THREAD? And dismissing the Ancillary books without having read them, which was apparently fine with them, but accusing Hugo voters of dismissing their works without reading them, which was NOT fine with them? And saying that slating works was technically legal, so we should all shut up about it, but then turning around and saying that No Awarding was wrong wrong wrongity wrong, even though it’s not only legal but traditional in the case of slating? Writing the cops to flat-out lie about David Gerrold, putting Gerrold and the whole convention at risk from nervous police?

    Oh, and of course, that being accused of racism and sexism and homophobia is so much worse than actually saying and writing racist, sexist, and homophobic things.

    Seriously. The Puppy leaders came out of the gate full of baseless insults. Is it so surprising that people should point out, with citations, their clay feet?

  9. Cally: When you allow the discussion to get diverted from their crappy, self-serving slates to the leaders feet of clay, it’s much easier for them to lie to their followers and say, “They’re not talking about us, they’re talking about you, the REAL science fiction fans”, and trigger their followers’ antipathy to being labeled as such. If the anti-slate folks had all remained on the topic of self-serving, crappy slates, and equating this to the precedent of the scientology nomination, they would have had a lot fewer people buy into their bullshit. Although, considering how many birthers and truthers and other consipiracy theorists there are out there, many puppy followers may actually believe in a seekrut SJW Hugo nomination cabal even without the puppy leaders whipping them into a frenzy.

  10. Bruce said: “When you allow the discussion to get diverted from their crappy, self-serving slates to the leaders feet of clay, it’s much easier for them to lie to their followers and say, “They’re not talking about us, they’re talking about you, the REAL science fiction fans”, and trigger their followers’ antipathy to being labeled as such. If the anti-slate folks had all remained on the topic of self-serving, crappy slates, and equating this to the precedent of the scientology nomination, they would have had a lot fewer people buy into their bullshit. ”

    1. I am talking about them I have read the comments at MHI. The followers are worse than the leaders.

    2. The have almost nobody buying into their Bullshit. They went after the Hugos because they saw a soft spot in the nomination process. When “I was robbed” Larry was chanllenged to go after the Good Choice Awards, he responds…”Duh …Hmm Uhhh… Your a social justice warrior and guns are good.”

    When EPH goes into effect that’s the end of the Pups. Nobody will care because the dumb dogs have nothing to care about.

  11. Bruce: If the anti-slate folks had all remained on the topic of self-serving, crappy slates, and equating this to the precedent of the scientology nomination, they would have had a lot fewer people buy into their bullshit.

    This is a nice thought. But I just don’t think it’s true. The vast majority of the Puppies were looking for an excuse to justify their ballot-rigging, for a way to tell themselves that they really were deserving and that this wasn’t cheating at all — to alleviate their consciences so that they could see themselves as the righteous party in this — and they had no problem coming up with, and jumping on board with, a lot of fake reasons, anyway. I saw that actually happen online with a several of the nominees, including one of the semiprozines.

  12. I also think that a lot of the puppy followers bought into the stick-it-to-the-SJW subtext. I just would have liked a consistent message that hadn been reported in places like the mainstream media (The Guardian, NPR, NYT, etc) and popular websites, labeling it for what it was, self-promoting crapola. I’m not sure any of them were willing to point out things like how many nominees were published by VD’s personal press, or that most, if not all of the fan writers wrote for the same blog site as BT.

  13. @Bruce: If you think that the “stick it to the SJWs” was subtext, I’m afraid of what you think actually constitutes text. Skywriting?

  14. The stick-it-to-the-SJWs wasn’t subtext, it was the headline recruiting feature.

  15. SCIENCE FICTION MOVIE BRACKET – FOURTH HEAT

    1. TAKING CHANCES IN THE SUNLIGHT
    The Time Machine (1960)
    Guardians of The Galaxy (2014)

    2. CONFORM, STAY ASLEEP, FREEDOM IS AN ILLUSION
    They Live (1988)
    Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)

    3. FIRST STAGE REMOVAL
    Soylent Green (1973)
    The War of The Worlds (1953)

    4. THERE ARE NO LACK OF PAINFUL THINGS IN THIS WORLD
    Summer Wars (2009)
    Escape From New York (1981)

    5. NIFTY COSTUMES
    The Fifth Element (1997)
    Tron (1982)

    6. ESCAPE IS POSSIBLE
    District 9 (2009)
    Pitch Black (2000)

    7. SPACE COWBOYS… AGAIN!
    Westworld (1973)
    The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

    8. HUNTED HUMANS
    Predator (1987)
    Planet of the Apes (1968)

    9. KNOWLEDGE IS DANGEROUS
    Time Bandits (1981)
    The Fly (1986)

    10. RUN, DON’T WALK
    The Blob (1958)
    Bladerunner (1982)

    11. TRAVEL OR HOMESTAY
    Delicatessen (1991)
    Mad Max: Road Warrior (1981)

    12. CHANGING THE WORLD TO FIT PEOPLE
    Dark City (1998)
    Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

    13. WHY CAN’T WE WORK OUT OUR DIFFERENCES? WHY CAN’T WE WORK THINGS OUT?
    Aliens (1986)
    Mars Attacks! (1996)

    14. I, WHILE LIVING, HAVE CONQUERED THE UNIVERSE
    V for Vendetta (2005)
    Start Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

    15. STRIVE FOR PERFECTION
    Stepford Wives (1975)
    Gattaca (1997)

    16. CREATURES AND THE CITY
    The City of Lost Children (1995)
    King Kong (1933)

  16. SCIENCE FICTION MOVIE BRACKET – FOURTH HEAT

    1. TAKING CHANCES IN THE SUNLIGHT
    Guardians of The Galaxy (2014)

    2. CONFORM, STAY ASLEEP, FREEDOM IS AN ILLUSION
    They Live (1988)

    3. FIRST STAGE REMOVAL
    Soylent Green (1973)

    That might have been the toughest one yet!

    4. THERE ARE NO LACK OF PAINFUL THINGS IN THIS WORLD
    Escape From New York (1981)

    5. NIFTY COSTUMES
    Tron (1982)

    6. ESCAPE IS POSSIBLE
    District 9 (2009)

    7. SPACE COWBOYS… AGAIN!
    The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

    8. HUNTED HUMANS
    Predator (1987)

    9. KNOWLEDGE IS DANGEROUS
    The Fly (1986)

    10. RUN, DON’T WALK
    Bladerunner (1982)

    11. TRAVEL OR HOMESTAY
    Delicatessen (1991)

    12. CHANGING THE WORLD TO FIT PEOPLE
    Dark City (1998)

    No, wait, this was the toughest one yet!

    13. WHY CAN’T WE WORK OUT OUR DIFFERENCES? WHY CAN’T WE WORK THINGS OUT?
    Aliens (1986)

    14. I, WHILE LIVING, HAVE CONQUERED THE UNIVERSE
    Start Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

    15. STRIVE FOR PERFECTION
    Gattaca (1997)

    No, wait etc!

    16. CREATURES AND THE CITY
    The City of Lost Children (1995)

  17. 1. TAKING CHANCES IN THE SUNLIGHT
    Guardians of The Galaxy (2014)

    2. CONFORM, STAY ASLEEP, FREEDOM IS AN ILLUSION
    They Live (1988)

    3. FIRST STAGE REMOVAL
    The War of The Worlds (1953)

    4. THERE ARE NO LACK OF PAINFUL THINGS IN THIS WORLD
    Escape From New York (1981)

    5. NIFTY COSTUMES
    The Fifth Element (1997)

    6. ESCAPE IS POSSIBLE
    District 9 (2009)

    7. SPACE COWBOYS… AGAIN!
    The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

    8. HUNTED HUMANS
    Planet of the Apes (1968)

    9. KNOWLEDGE IS DANGEROUS
    Time Bandits (1981)

    10. RUN, DON’T WALK
    Bladerunner (1982)

    11. TRAVEL OR HOMESTAY
    Mad Max: Road Warrior (1981)

    12. CHANGING THE WORLD TO FIT PEOPLE
    Dark City (1998)

    13. WHY CAN’T WE WORK OUT OUR DIFFERENCES? WHY CAN’T WE WORK THINGS OUT?
    Aliens (1986)

    14. I, WHILE LIVING, HAVE CONQUERED THE UNIVERSE
    Start Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

    15. STRIVE FOR PERFECTION
    Gattaca (1997)

    16. CREATURES AND THE CITY
    The City of Lost Children (1995)

  18. 3. Soylent Green (1973)
    4. Escape From New York (1981)
    5. Tron (1982)
    6. District 9 (2009)
    7. The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
    8. Planet of the Apes (1968)
    9. The Fly (1986)
    10. Bladerunner (1982)
    12. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
    14. V for Vendetta (2005)
    15. Gattaca (1997)
    16. King Kong (1933)

  19. SCIENCE FICTION MOVIE BRACKET – FOURTH HEAT

    1. TAKING CHANCES IN THE SUNLIGHT
    The Time Machine (1960)
    Guardians of The Galaxy (2014)

    Guardians was ok, but I didn’t love it. Time machine was a better story.

    2. CONFORM, STAY ASLEEP, FREEDOM IS AN ILLUSION
    They Live (1988)
    Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)

    Abstain

    3. FIRST STAGE REMOVAL
    Soylent Green (1973)
    The War of The Worlds (1953)

    Tough decision. War wins by a whisker, at least in this moment.

    4. THERE ARE NO LACK OF PAINFUL THINGS IN THIS WORLD
    Summer Wars (2009)
    Escape From New York (1981)

    5. NIFTY COSTUMES
    The Fifth Element (1997)
    Tron (1982)

    6. ESCAPE IS POSSIBLE
    District 9 (2009)
    Pitch Black (2000)

    Abstain

    7. SPACE COWBOYS… AGAIN!
    Westworld (1973)
    The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

    8. HUNTED HUMANS
    Predator (1987)
    Planet of the Apes (1968)

    9. KNOWLEDGE IS DANGEROUS
    Time Bandits (1981)
    The Fly (1986)

    10. RUN, DON’T WALK
    The Blob (1958)
    Bladerunner (1982)

    Well, phooey! I made such a deal about this movie and it goes up against this in the first round? I’m voting for it anyway! Take that, you mean, vicious dice.

    11. TRAVEL OR HOMESTAY
    Delicatessen (1991)
    Mad Max: Road Warrior (1981)

    12. CHANGING THE WORLD TO FIT PEOPLE
    Dark City (1998)
    Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

    13. WHY CAN’T WE WORK OUT OUR DIFFERENCES? WHY CAN’T WE WORK THINGS OUT?
    Aliens (1986)
    Mars Attacks! (1996)

    This sad, I love Mars…, but it can’t beat Ripley.

    14. I, WHILE LIVING, HAVE CONQUERED THE UNIVERSE
    V for Vendetta (2005)
    Start Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

    Abstain

    15. STRIVE FOR PERFECTION
    Stepford Wives (1975)
    Gattaca (1997)

    16. CREATURES AND THE CITY
    The City of Lost Children (1995)
    King Kong (1933)

  20. More movies I haven’t seen in this one …

    1. TAKING CHANCES IN THE SUNLIGHT
    Pass

    2. CONFORM, STAY ASLEEP, FREEDOM IS AN ILLUSION
    Pass

    3. FIRST STAGE REMOVAL
    Pass

    4. THERE ARE NO LACK OF PAINFUL THINGS IN THIS WORLD
    Pass

    5. NIFTY COSTUMES
    Tron (1982)

    Count me among the few who hate The Fifth Element.

    6. ESCAPE IS POSSIBLE
    Pass

    7. SPACE COWBOYS… AGAIN!
    The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

    If this one wins the whole thing instead of Star Wars, it would be … still wrong but I would complain about it less. 🙂

    8. HUNTED HUMANS
    Planet of the Apes (1968)

    9. KNOWLEDGE IS DANGEROUS
    Time Bandits (1981)

    I’m … not sure why this is science fiction, though.

    10. RUN, DON’T WALK
    Bladerunner (1982)

    11. TRAVEL OR HOMESTAY
    Delicatessen (1991)

    12. CHANGING THE WORLD TO FIT PEOPLE
    Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

    13. WHY CAN’T WE WORK OUT OUR DIFFERENCES? WHY CAN’T WE WORK THINGS OUT?
    Aliens (1986)

    This one is quite an uneven contest.

    14. I, WHILE LIVING, HAVE CONQUERED THE UNIVERSE
    Start Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

    Wasn’t a fan of the movie version of V for Vendetta, either.

    15. STRIVE FOR PERFECTION
    Pass

    16. CREATURES AND THE CITY
    The City of Lost Children (1995)

  21. Kyra:

    “Time Bandits (1981)

    I’m … not sure why this is science fiction, though.”

    Me neither, but the nominators nominated…

  22. SCIENCE FICTION MOVIE BRACKET – FOURTH HEAT

    1. TAKING CHANCES IN THE SUNLIGHT
    The Time Machine (1960)
    Guardians of The Galaxy (2014)

    2. CONFORM, STAY ASLEEP, FREEDOM IS AN ILLUSION
    They Live (1988)
    Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)
    Abstain

    3. FIRST STAGE REMOVAL
    Soylent Green (1973)
    The War of The Worlds (1953)

    4. THERE ARE NO LACK OF PAINFUL THINGS IN THIS WORLD
    Summer Wars (2009)
    Escape From New York (1981)
    Abstain

    5. NIFTY COSTUMES
    The Fifth Element (1997)
    Tron (1982)

    6. ESCAPE IS POSSIBLE
    District 9 (2009)
    Pitch Black (2000)

    7. SPACE COWBOYS… AGAIN!
    Westworld (1973)
    The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

    8. HUNTED HUMANS
    Predator (1987)
    Planet of the Apes (1968)

    9. KNOWLEDGE IS DANGEROUS
    Time Bandits (1981)
    The Fly (1986)

    10. RUN, DON’T WALK
    The Blob (1958)
    Bladerunner (1982)

    11. TRAVEL OR HOMESTAY
    Delicatessen (1991)
    Mad Max: Road Warrior (1981)
    Abstain

    12. CHANGING THE WORLD TO FIT PEOPLE
    Dark City (1998)
    Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

    13. WHY CAN’T WE WORK OUT OUR DIFFERENCES? WHY CAN’T WE WORK THINGS OUT?
    Aliens (1986)
    Mars Attacks! (1996)

    14. I, WHILE LIVING, HAVE CONQUERED THE UNIVERSE
    V for Vendetta (2005)
    Start Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

    15. STRIVE FOR PERFECTION
    Stepford Wives (1975)
    Gattaca (1997)

    16. CREATURES AND THE CITY
    The City of Lost Children (1995)
    King Kong (1933)

  23. SCIENCE FICTION MOVIE BRACKET – FOURTH HEAT

    1. TAKING CHANCES IN THE SUNLIGHT
    Guardians of The Galaxy (2014)

    2. CONFORM, STAY ASLEEP, FREEDOM IS AN ILLUSION
    pass

    3. FIRST STAGE REMOVAL
    pass

    4. THERE ARE NO LACK OF PAINFUL THINGS IN THIS WORLD
    pass

    5. NIFTY COSTUMES
    Tron (1982)

    6. ESCAPE IS POSSIBLE
    District 9 (2009)

    7. SPACE COWBOYS… AGAIN!
    The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

    8. HUNTED HUMANS
    Planet of the Apes (1968)

    9. KNOWLEDGE IS DANGEROUS
    Time Bandits (1981)

    10. RUN, DON’T WALK
    pass

    11. TRAVEL OR HOMESTAY
    Mad Max: Road Warrior (1981)

    12. CHANGING THE WORLD TO FIT PEOPLE
    Dark City (1998)

    13. WHY CAN’T WE WORK OUT OUR DIFFERENCES? WHY CAN’T WE WORK THINGS OUT?
    Aliens (1986)

    14. I, WHILE LIVING, HAVE CONQUERED THE UNIVERSE
    pass

    15. STRIVE FOR PERFECTION
    Gattaca (1997)

    16. CREATURES AND THE CITY
    pass

  24. At least for this heat I’ve seen both of a few of the pairsSCIENCE FICTION MOVIE BRACKET – FOURTH HEAT

    1. TAKING CHANCES IN THE SUNLIGHT
    Guardians of The Galaxy (2014)

    5. NIFTY COSTUMES
    Tron (1982)

    12. CHANGING THE WORLD TO FIT PEOPLE
    Dark City (1998)

    14. I, WHILE LIVING, HAVE CONQUERED THE UNIVERSE
    V for Vendetta (2005)

  25. SCIENCE FICTION MOVIE BRACKET – FOURTH HEAT

    5. Tron (1982)
    7. The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
    8. Planet of the Apes (1968)
    9. Time Bandits (1981)
    10. Bladerunner (1982)
    12. Dark City (1998)
    15. Gattaca (1997)

    I’m surprised how many movies in this bracket I have seen and am indifferent towards, but I am nonplussed that Soderbergh’s Solaris beat Tarkovsky’s Stalker. It is like House Harkonnen beating out Dune for best Dune novel. I like Soderbergh (Schizopolis is one of my favorite films) and prefer Anderson and Brian Herbert’s novels to Frank Herbert’s later Dune novels, so I am not implying they are not good. I would have voted for Solaris over many other movies in the brackets.

    And I know tastes vary, but Stalker is transcendent art not to be missed. So I must conclude not enough of you have seen it or were reading File 770 while watching it. Stalker will survive this blow to its Ego, but anyone who hasn’t seen Stalker is missing out on one of the simply-had experiences that justify the existence of the human race. Picard could have just screened the film for Q in the ST:TNG series finale and avoided the whole Slaughterhouse V thing.

    Can a forehead cloth be applied in this situation or are they strictly rationed for decision related stress?

  26. Huh. This round might be a tiny bit less painful.

    SCIENCE FICTION MOVIE BRACKET – THIRD HEAT

    1. TAKING CHANCES IN THE SUNLIGHT
    The Time Machine (1960)
    Guardians of The Galaxy (2014)

    2. CONFORM, STAY ASLEEP, FREEDOM IS AN ILLUSION
    They Live (1988)
    Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)

    3. FIRST STAGE REMOVAL
    Soylent Green (1973)
    The War of The Worlds (1953)

    4. THERE ARE NO LACK OF PAINFUL THINGS IN THIS WORLD
    Summer Wars (2009)
    Escape From New York (1981)

    5. NIFTY COSTUMES
    The Fifth Element (1997)
    Tron (1982)
    Abstain.

    6. ESCAPE IS POSSIBLE
    District 9 (2009)
    Pitch Black (2000)

    7. SPACE COWBOYS… AGAIN!
    Westworld (1973)
    The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
    I wonder if this one will be another shutout?

    8. HUNTED HUMANS
    Predator (1987)
    Planet of the Apes (1968)

    9. KNOWLEDGE IS DANGEROUS
    Time Bandits (1981)
    The Fly (1986)
    Yes, I know the remake is gory. It’s still better, and a lot more tragic, to me, than “Help meeeee!”

    10. RUN, DON’T WALK
    The Blob (1958)
    Bladerunner (1982)

    11. TRAVEL OR HOMESTAY
    Delicatessen (1991)
    Mad Max: Road Warrior (1981)

    12. CHANGING THE WORLD TO FIT PEOPLE
    Dark City (1998)
    Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
    Mainly because of Leonard Nimoy.

    13. WHY CAN’T WE WORK OUT OUR DIFFERENCES? WHY CAN’T WE WORK THINGS OUT?
    Aliens (1986)
    Mars Attacks! (1996)

    14. I, WHILE LIVING, HAVE CONQUERED THE UNIVERSE
    V for Vendetta (2005)
    Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
    This Star Trek isn’t my favorite. The fact that they had time traveled to our 1986 and were parading around San Francisco without being immediately recognized (and followed, and asked for autographs) kind of…ruined my suspension of disbelief, shall we say.

    15. STRIVE FOR PERFECTION
    Stepford Wives (1975)
    Gattaca (1997)
    This is very underrated. One of the best pure SF movies of the past few decades.

    16. CREATURES AND THE CITY
    The City of Lost Children (1995)
    King Kong (1933)

  27. Argh.

    1. TAKING CHANCES IN THE SUNLIGHT
    The Time Machine (1960)

    2. CONFORM, STAY ASLEEP, FREEDOM IS AN ILLUSION
    They Live (1988)

    3. FIRST STAGE REMOVAL
    The War of The Worlds (1953)

    “Soylent Green” was such a dumbing-down of Harry Harrison’s “Make Room! Make Room!”

    4. THERE ARE NO LACK OF PAINFUL THINGS IN THIS WORLD
    Escape From New York (1981)

    5. NIFTY COSTUMES
    Tron (1982)

    “Boron?” as the MST3K guys said.

    6. ESCAPE IS POSSIBLE
    abstain

    7. SPACE COWBOYS… AGAIN!
    The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

    8. HUNTED HUMANS
    Planet of the Apes (1968)

    9. KNOWLEDGE IS DANGEROUS
    The Fly (1986)

    10. RUN, DON’T WALK
    Bladerunner (1982)

    11. TRAVEL OR HOMESTAY
    Delicatessen (1991)

    12. CHANGING THE WORLD TO FIT PEOPLE
    Dark City (1998)

    13. WHY CAN’T WE WORK OUT OUR DIFFERENCES? WHY CAN’T WE WORK THINGS OUT?
    Aliens (1986)

    14. I, WHILE LIVING, HAVE CONQUERED THE UNIVERSE
    Start Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

    Hated, hated, hated what Hollywood did to Alan Moore’s story.

    15. STRIVE FOR PERFECTION
    Gattaca (1997)

    16. CREATURES AND THE CITY
    King Kong (1933)

  28. 1. TAKING CHANCES IN THE SUNLIGHT
    The Time Machine (1960)
    I don’t know if it is because I have been called a Morlock so often this year by JCW…

    2. CONFORM, STAY ASLEEP, FREEDOM IS AN ILLUSION
    They Live (1988)

    3. FIRST STAGE REMOVAL
    Soylent Green (1973)

    4. THERE ARE NO LACK OF PAINFUL THINGS IN THIS WORLD
    Summer Wars (2009)
    I watch and rewatch the ending to Summer Wars. Plus the “baddest” Grannie ever!

    5. NIFTY COSTUMES
    Tron (1982)

    6. ESCAPE IS POSSIBLE
    Pitch Black (2000)

    7. SPACE COWBOYS… AGAIN!
    The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

    8. HUNTED HUMANS
    Planet of the Apes (1968)

    9. KNOWLEDGE IS DANGEROUS
    The Fly (1986)

    10. RUN, DON’T WALK
    Bladerunner (1982)

    11. TRAVEL OR HOMESTAY
    Mad Max: Road Warrior (1981)
    Oh No!well, I’m voting for City of Lost Children further down

    12. CHANGING THE WORLD TO FIT PEOPLE
    Dark City (1998)

    13. WHY CAN’T WE WORK OUT OUR DIFFERENCES? WHY CAN’T WE WORK THINGS OUT?
    Aliens (1986)

    14. I, WHILE LIVING, HAVE CONQUERED THE UNIVERSE
    Start Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

    15. STRIVE FOR PERFECTION
    Gattaca (1997)

    16. CREATURES AND THE CITY
    The City of Lost Children (1995)

  29. 1. TAKING CHANCES IN THE SUNLIGHT
    Guardians of The Galaxy (2014)

    4. THERE ARE NO LACK OF PAINFUL THINGS IN THIS WORLD
    Escape From New York (1981)

    6. ESCAPE IS POSSIBLE
    District 9 (2009)

    7. SPACE COWBOYS… AGAIN!
    The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

    10. RUN, DON’T WALK
    Bladerunner (1982)

    11. TRAVEL OR HOMESTAY
    Mad Max: Road Warrior (1981)

    14. I, WHILE LIVING, HAVE CONQUERED THE UNIVERSE
    V for Vendetta (2005)

  30. 1. TAKING CHANCES IN THE SUNLIGHT
    The Time Machine (1960)
    Guardians of The Galaxy (2014)

    Oh, no fair! How do I compare these??? Guardians, I guess.

    2. CONFORM, STAY ASLEEP, FREEDOM IS AN ILLUSION
    They Live (1988)
    Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)

    Abstain, haven’t seen They Live

    3. FIRST STAGE REMOVAL
    Soylent Green (1973)
    The War of The Worlds (1953)

    Abstain, haven’t seen that particular War of the Worlds

    4. THERE ARE NO LACK OF PAINFUL THINGS IN THIS WORLD
    Summer Wars (2009)
    Escape From New York (1981)

    Abstain; haven’t seen Summer Wars

    5. NIFTY COSTUMES
    The Fifth Element (1997)
    Tron (1982)

    Um. I’m going with the one I quote more. “Mooolteee-pass!”

    6. ESCAPE IS POSSIBLE
    District 9 (2009)
    Pitch Black (2000)

    Abstain; haven’t seen Pitch Black

    7. SPACE COWBOYS… AGAIN!
    Westworld (1973)
    The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

    No contest.

    8. HUNTED HUMANS
    Predator (1987)
    Planet of the Apes (1968)

    Abstain; never saw any Ape movie

    9. KNOWLEDGE IS DANGEROUS
    Time Bandits (1981)
    The Fly (1986)

    Abstain (but I hope Time Bandits makes it through!) ; never saw The Fly (in any version)
    10. RUN, DON’T WALK
    The Blob (1958)
    Bladerunner (1982)

    11. TRAVEL OR HOMESTAY
    Delicatessen (1991)
    Mad Max: Road Warrior (1981)

    Abstain; never heard of Delicatessen

    12. CHANGING THE WORLD TO FIT PEOPLE
    Dark City (1998)
    Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

    Abstain; never saw Dark City

    13. WHY CAN’T WE WORK OUT OUR DIFFERENCES? WHY CAN’T WE WORK THINGS OUT?
    Aliens (1986)
    Mars Attacks! (1996)

    Aliens. My friends loved Mars Attacks; I think it missed “campy fun” and went straight for “stupid”. (Granted, there’s a fine line there.)

    14. I, WHILE LIVING, HAVE CONQUERED THE UNIVERSE
    V for Vendetta (2005)
    Start Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

    V for Vendetta

    15. STRIVE FOR PERFECTION
    Stepford Wives (1975)
    Gattaca (1997)

    Abstain; never saw Stepford Wives.

    16. CREATURES AND THE CITY
    The City of Lost Children (1995)
    King Kong (1933)

    Abstain; never saw City of Lost Children

  31. Oh, somehow skipped this one and missed the edit window:

    10. RUN, DON’T WALK
    The Blob (1958)
    Bladerunner (1982)

    Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.

  32. CIENCE FICTION MOVIE BRACKET – FOURTH HEAT

    1. TAKING CHANCES IN THE SUNLIGHT
    The Time Machine (1960)

    2. CONFORM, STAY ASLEEP, FREEDOM IS AN ILLUSION
    Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)

    3. FIRST STAGE REMOVAL
    Soylent Green (1973)

    4. THERE ARE NO LACK OF PAINFUL THINGS IN THIS WORLD
    Escape From New York (1981)

    5. NIFTY COSTUMES
    The Fifth Element (1997)

    6. ESCAPE IS POSSIBLE
    District 9 (2009)

    7. SPACE COWBOYS… AGAIN!
    The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

    8. HUNTED HUMANS
    Planet of the Apes (1968)

    9. KNOWLEDGE IS DANGEROUS
    Time Bandits (1981)

    10. RUN, DON’T WALK
    Bladerunner (1982)

    11. TRAVEL OR HOMESTAY
    Mad Max: Road Warrior (1981)

    12. CHANGING THE WORLD TO FIT PEOPLE
    Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

    13. WHY CAN’T WE WORK OUT OUR DIFFERENCES? WHY CAN’T WE WORK THINGS OUT?
    Aliens (1986)

    14. I, WHILE LIVING, HAVE CONQUERED THE UNIVERSE
    Start Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

    15. STRIVE FOR PERFECTION
    Stepford Wives (1975)

    16. CREATURES AND THE CITY
    King Kong (1933)

  33. > “Me neither, but the nominators nominated…”

    Nominators gonna nominate, nate, nate
    I shake it off, I shake it off.

  34. SCIENCE FICTION MOVIE BRACKET – FOURTH HEAT

    1. TAKING CHANCES IN THE SUNLIGHT
    Guardians of The Galaxy (2014)
    Ow.

    2. CONFORM, STAY ASLEEP, FREEDOM IS AN ILLUSION
    Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)

    3. FIRST STAGE REMOVAL
    The War of The Worlds (1953)

    4. THERE ARE NO LACK OF PAINFUL THINGS IN THIS WORLD
    Escape From New York (1981)

    5. NIFTY COSTUMES
    The Fifth Element (1997)
    I guess.

    6. ESCAPE IS POSSIBLE
    Pitch Black (2000)

    7. SPACE COWBOYS… AGAIN!
    The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

    8. HUNTED HUMANS
    Planet of the Apes (1968)
    Going with the one where I didn’t have to keep my eyes closed for most of the movie.

    9. KNOWLEDGE IS DANGEROUS
    The Fly (1986)

    10. RUN, DON’T WALK
    Bladerunner (1982)

    16. CREATURES AND THE CITY
    King Kong (1933)

  35. SCIENCE FICTION MOVIE BRACKET – FOURTH HEAT

    1. TAKING CHANCES IN THE SUNLIGHT
    Guardians of The Galaxy (2014)

    2. CONFORM, STAY ASLEEP, FREEDOM IS AN ILLUSION
    They Live (1988)

    3. FIRST STAGE REMOVAL
    The War of The Worlds (1953)

    4. THERE ARE NO LACK OF PAINFUL THINGS IN THIS WORLD
    Summer Wars (2009)

    5. NIFTY COSTUMES
    The Fifth Element (1997)

    6. ESCAPE IS POSSIBLE
    Pitch Black (2000)

    7. SPACE COWBOYS… AGAIN!
    The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

    8. HUNTED HUMANS
    Predator (1987)

    9. KNOWLEDGE IS DANGEROUS
    Time Bandits (1981)

    10. RUN, DON’T WALK
    Bladerunner (1982)

    11. TRAVEL OR HOMESTAY
    Mad Max: Road Warrior (1981)

    12. CHANGING THE WORLD TO FIT PEOPLE
    Dark City (1998)

    13. WHY CAN’T WE WORK OUT OUR DIFFERENCES? WHY CAN’T WE WORK THINGS OUT?
    Aliens (1986)

    14. I, WHILE LIVING, HAVE CONQUERED THE UNIVERSE
    Start Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

    15. STRIVE FOR PERFECTION
    Gattaca (1997)

    16. CREATURES AND THE CITY
    The City of Lost Children (1995)

  36. 1. Guardians of the Galaxy.
    2. Pass
    3. Soylent Green. Spoiler: it’s people.
    4. Pass
    5. Fifth Element
    6. District 9
    7. Empire. Grumble.
    8. Planet of the Apes. I hate ever ape I see from chimpan-A to chimpanzee
    9. Time Bandits. Tough call.
    10. Bladerunner. McQueen vs Ford. Close one.
    11. Mad Max.
    12. Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Because I’m tired of voting against Jeff Goldblum. Also Dark City bit, big time.
    13. Mars Attacks. We should all live in teepees, because In many ways that’s better.
    14. Star Trek IV. Best of the original Trek movies.
    15. Gattaca.
    16. King Kong.

  37. SCIENCE FICTION MOVIE BRACKET – FOURTH HEAT

    1. TAKING CHANCES IN THE SUNLIGHT
    Guardians of The Galaxy (2014)

    The struggle of our heroes to legally adopt the Galaxy made for one of the edgier yet heartwarming films in many years.

    2. CONFORM, STAY ASLEEP, FREEDOM IS AN ILLUSION
    Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)

    Because the Singularity is real and you’ll all be jealous when I’m uploaded to a sexbot.

    3. FIRST STAGE REMOVAL
    Soylent Green (1973)

    I’m a sucker for movies about food.

    7. SPACE COWBOYS… AGAIN!
    The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

    When Khan tells Luke he’s his real father I gasped.

    8. HUNTED HUMANS
    Planet of the Apes (1968)

    One of the great instructional videos of all time, even better than Powers of 10.

    9. KNOWLEDGE IS DANGEROUS
    Time Bandits (1981)

    What can I say? I’m a sucker for raccoons.

    10. RUN, DON’T WALK
    Bladerunner (1982)

    No contest. Alan E. Nourse could write rings around any ten blogs, let alone THE Blog.

    11. TRAVEL OR HOMESTAY
    Mad Max: Road Warrior (1981)

    Love the scene where Max explains to his young protege which cables are worth packing in the laptop bag.

    12. CHANGING THE WORLD TO FIT PEOPLE
    Dark City (1998)

    Tied with The Matrix for best Philip K. Dick adaptation.

    13. WHY CAN’T WE WORK OUT OUR DIFFERENCES? WHY CAN’T WE WORK THINGS OUT?
    Mars Attacks! (1996)

    Sentimental vote because Mars is my favorite Norse god.

    14. I, WHILE LIVING, HAVE CONQUERED THE UNIVERSE
    Abstain

    Didn’t see Star Trek IV, might as well not have seen V for Vendetta.

    15. STRIVE FOR PERFECTION
    Gattaca (1997)

    If only for the scene where the monster, Gattaca, finally appears.

  38. Not a lot I care about one way or the other, but I have to vote for these three:

    SCIENCE FICTION MOVIE BRACKET – FOURTH HEAT

    1. TAKING CHANCES IN THE SUNLIGHT
    Guardians of The Galaxy (2014)

    5. NIFTY COSTUMES
    The Fifth Element (1997)

    14. I, WHILE LIVING, HAVE CONQUERED THE UNIVERSE
    Start Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

  39. However much I love nifty costumes, I cannot vote for a piece of incoherent rubbish just because it has them.

  40. abstentions, and then

    5. NIFTY COSTUMES
    Tron (1982)

    going for the one that made the bigger impression at the time

    6. ESCAPE IS POSSIBLE
    District 9 (2009)

    7. SPACE COWBOYS… AGAIN!
    The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

    8. HUNTED HUMANS
    Planet of the Apes (1968)

    9. KNOWLEDGE IS DANGEROUS
    Time Bandits (1981)

    will probably lose, but its a great movie

    10. RUN, DON’T WALK
    Bladerunner (1982)

    11. TRAVEL OR HOMESTAY
    Delicatessen (1991)

    backing another loser

    13. WHY CAN’T WE WORK OUT OUR DIFFERENCES? WHY CAN’T WE WORK THINGS OUT?
    Aliens (1986)

    14. I, WHILE LIVING, HAVE CONQUERED THE UNIVERSE
    abstain

    15. STRIVE FOR PERFECTION
    Gattaca (1997)

    16. CREATURES AND THE CITY
    abstain

  41. 1. The Time Machine
    2-3. Abstain
    4. Summer Wars
    5. Tron
    6. District 9
    7. Abstain
    8. Planet of the Apes
    9. Time Bandits
    10-12. Abstain
    13. Mars Attacks!
    14. Star Trek IV
    15-16. Abstain

  42. from the pairs I have seen both of:

    1. TAKING CHANCES IN THE SUNLIGHT
    The Time Machine (1960)

    8. HUNTED HUMANS
    Planet of the Apes (1968)

    10. RUN, DON’T WALK
    Bladerunner (1982)

    14. I, WHILE LIVING, HAVE CONQUERED THE UNIVERSE
    Start Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

  43. SCIENCE FICTION MOVIE BRACKET – FOURTH HEAT

    1. TAKING CHANCES IN THE SUNLIGHT
    The Time Machine (1960)

    2. CONFORM, STAY ASLEEP, FREEDOM IS AN ILLUSION
    They Live (1988)

    3. FIRST STAGE REMOVAL
    Soylent Green (1973)

    4. THERE ARE NO LACK OF PAINFUL THINGS IN THIS WORLD
    Escape From New York (1981)

    5. NIFTY COSTUMES
    Tron (1982)

    6. ESCAPE IS POSSIBLE
    District 9 (2009)

    7. SPACE COWBOYS… AGAIN!
    The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

    8. HUNTED HUMANS
    Predator (1987)

    9. KNOWLEDGE IS DANGEROUS
    Time Bandits (1981)

    10. RUN, DON’T WALK
    Bladerunner (1982)

    11. TRAVEL OR HOMESTAY
    Mad Max: Road Warrior (1981)

    12. CHANGING THE WORLD TO FIT PEOPLE
    Dark City (1998)

    13. WHY CAN’T WE WORK OUT OUR DIFFERENCES? WHY CAN’T WE WORK THINGS OUT?
    Aliens (1986)

    14. I, WHILE LIVING, HAVE CONQUERED THE UNIVERSE
    Start Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

    16. CREATURES AND THE CITY
    The City of Lost Children (1995)

  44. 5. The Fifth Element (1997)
    6. Pitch Black (2000)
    7. The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
    9. Time Bandits (1981)
    11. Delicatessen (1991)
    12. Dark City (1998)
    13. Aliens (1986)
    14. V for Vendetta (2005)
    15. Gattaca (1997)
    16. The City of Lost Children (1995)

    The only one I feel particularly strongly about is #5. Tron glowed, yeah. But the Fifth Element had the mad, detail-obsessed genius of Jean Paul Gaultier in each and every shot, and it was brilliant.

  45. 1. TAKING CHANCES IN THE SUNLIGHT Guardians of The Galaxy (2014)
    2. CONFORM, STAY ASLEEP, FREEDOM IS AN ILLUSION They Live (1988)
    3. FIRST STAGE REMOVAL Abstain
    4. THERE ARE NO LACK OF PAINFUL THINGS IN THIS WORLD Escape From New York (1981)
    5. NIFTY COSTUMES Tron (1982)
    6. ESCAPE IS POSSIBLE District 9 (2009)
    7. SPACE COWBOYS… AGAIN! The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
    8. HUNTED HUMANS Planet of the Apes (1968)
    9. KNOWLEDGE IS DANGEROUS The Fly (1986)
    10. RUN, DON’T WALK Bladerunner (1982)
    11. TRAVEL OR HOMESTAY Abstain
    12. CHANGING THE WORLD TO FIT PEOPLE Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
    13. WHY CAN’T WE WORK OUT OUR DIFFERENCES? WHY CAN’T WE WORK THINGS OUT? Mars Attacks! (1996)
    14. I, WHILE LIVING, HAVE CONQUERED THE UNIVERSE V for Vendetta (2005)
    15. STRIVE FOR PERFECTION Stepford Wives (1975)
    16. CREATURES AND THE CITY King Kong (1933)

  46. 1. TAKING CHANCES IN THE SUNLIGHT
    The Time Machine (1960)

    2. CONFORM, STAY ASLEEP, FREEDOM IS AN ILLUSION
    Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)

    3. FIRST STAGE REMOVAL
    The War of The Worlds (1953)

    4. THERE ARE NO LACK OF PAINFUL THINGS IN THIS WORLD
    ABSTAIN

    5. NIFTY COSTUMES
    The Fifth Element (1997)

    6. ESCAPE IS POSSIBLE
    Pitch Black (2000)

    7. SPACE COWBOYS… AGAIN!
    The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

    8. HUNTED HUMANS
    Planet of the Apes (1968)

    9. KNOWLEDGE IS DANGEROUS
    The Fly (1986)

    10. RUN, DON’T WALK
    Bladerunner (1982)

    11. TRAVEL OR HOMESTAY
    Mad Max: Road Warrior (1981)

    12. CHANGING THE WORLD TO FIT PEOPLE
    Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

    13. WHY CAN’T WE WORK OUT OUR DIFFERENCES? WHY CAN’T WE WORK THINGS OUT?
    Aliens (1986)

    14. I, WHILE LIVING, HAVE CONQUERED THE UNIVERSE
    Start Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

    15. STRIVE FOR PERFECTION
    Stepford Wives (1975)

    16. CREATURES AND THE CITY
    abstain

  47. So many of these films are on my much neglected to-watch list!

    SCIENCE FICTION MOVIE BRACKET – FOURTH HEAT

    1. TAKING CHANCES IN THE SUNLIGHT
    The Time Machine (1960)

    5. NIFTY COSTUMES
    The Fifth Element (1997)

    6. ESCAPE IS POSSIBLE
    District 9 (2009)
    Pitch Black (2000)

    Ack. I want to vote for a Kyra-tie, please, where my vote goes to whichever of these two is losing the most.

    7. SPACE COWBOYS… AGAIN!
    The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

    8. HUNTED HUMANS
    Predator (1987)

    10. RUN, DON’T WALK
    Bladerunner (1982)

    13. WHY CAN’T WE WORK OUT OUR DIFFERENCES? WHY CAN’T WE WORK THINGS OUT?
    Aliens (1986)

    14. I, WHILE LIVING, HAVE CONQUERED THE UNIVERSE
    Start Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

    15. STRIVE FOR PERFECTION
    Gattaca (1997)

    @Jim Henley

    I laughed. 🙂

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