Axiom's Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy

By John J. Joex

For those who have not been following our weekly column this Summer (and shame on you, but there’s always time to catch up), we define an Anti-Blockbuster as a film that bucked the Hollywood bloated-budget, cookie cutter blockbuster trend and still managed to deliver a superior viewing experience. They may have had a respectable budget or a modest or even non-existent budget and they may have done well in the box office or flew under the radar and perhaps eventually found an audience in the video market. But the main factor is that they diverged from the typical, formulaic output we see all too often from Hollywood and they showed the potential of film-making when the creative team pushes the boundaries and tries something new and original. Beginning next week with our new column Blockbuster Overload, we will take the opposite approach and start looking at the blockbusters that ultimately collapsed under the weight of their production excesses. But before that, I will list off what I believe were the Top 10 Anti-Blockbusters that we covered over the Summer months. You can see my comments on each below and you can click through to read our full reviews of the films as well. And we will still be adding more to our Anti-Blockbuster reviews over the coming months, so be sure to check back on a regular basis. And also, go to this link to see all of the movies we reviewed in this column over the last few months.

1. The Man from Earth – Written by the late Jerome Bixby (a respected Science Fiction author who also penned several classic Star Trek and Twilight Zone episodes), this movie has no special effects, no action scenes, no aliens, basically nothing you would expect from a Science Fiction film. Just a group of people sitting around talking. But it delivered a film that I would easily put on a Top 20 (maybe even Top 10) list of the all-time greatest Science Fiction films.
2. Primer – This film could likely find its way onto the same Top 20 list right alongside The Man from Earth. Produced on almost no budget and written and directed by a mathematician and former engineer, it gives us one the best (if not the best) Science Fiction films to deal with time travel. It’s a pretty intense movie and demands multiple viewings, but it’s worth the commitment.
3. Moon – This throwback to slow, intelligent Science Fiction films like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Silent Running, and The Andromeda Strain (all of which we have covered on our Must-Watch List) may not have filled many seats in theaters last Summer, but it quickly gained a reputation as an instant classic in the genre.
4. Pan’s Labyrinth – Guillermo del Toro had a decent budget to bring his dark fantasy to life, but he still did it at one third to one quarter of what it would have cost him in Hollywood. And if he had done it through that machine, he would have never had the freedom to tell the story the way he wanted and would probably been forced to tack on a more upbeat, less ambiguous ending.
5. Cube – This Science Fiction/Horror tale from Vincenzo Natali (Splice) delivered an engaging, claustrophobic, paranoid thriller following a group of people trying to escape from a bizarre prison they don’t understand.
6. They Live – Speaking of paranoia, this John Carpenter classic has it oozing from the seams. It gave us an 80’s version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, not because it followed the same plot but because it delved into the Id of that decade like the 50’s classic did with its era.
7. Beowulf and Grendel – You don’t have to have a bloated Hollywood budget and high-tech motion-capture animation (as we saw in the 2007 Robert Zemeckis directed Beowulf) to adapt this classic epic. Canadian director Sturla Gunnarsson along with Gerard Butler in the lead role turn this Old English saga on its head and use it as a parable for our own times.
8. Night of the Living Dead – I consider this actually a proto-Anti-Blockbuster as it came out prior to the Blockbuster era that began a few years later with Jaws and Star Wars. But with only a tiny budget, George A. Romero delivered a seminal horror film that spawned a whole sub-genre of zombie-pocalypse movies, books, comics, games, etc.
9. The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension – How much further from the Hollywood formula can you get than this genre-bending cult classic. It may take you a few viewings to catch everything, but you will enjoy it that much more each time around.
10. Ink – This trippy Science Fiction/Fantasy indie film almost defies description but I would tell you to expect to see something along the lines of Terry Gilliam doing a Disney film while partaking in large quantities of hallucinogenic substances. It’s a love it or hate it affair, but I truly loved it and give it a high recommendation for those who appreciate an off-the-wall movie experience.

Buy The Anti-Blockbusters on DVD from Amazon.com:

Our ongoing series reviewing audio adaptations of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror works. Note that these reviews may contain spoilers.

By John J. Joex

Book Rating: 3 ½ out of 5 Stars

Audio Book Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars

Back when I was in Junior High (more commonly known as Middle School these days), there was a period when the Logan’s Run novel became all the rage among the boys. Partly because the movie was due out shortly in the theaters, partly it was a cool science fiction book that you could argue had some “social relevance”, and partly because it had sex in it. Well, what do you expect from boys? I personally became a Logan fanatic, reading the book, watching the movie, reading the sequel novels (Logan’s World and Logan’s Search), buying the comic book, and watching the TV series (Logan was a hot property for a short time before Star Wars). So I still have a soft spot for the original book, and when I heard about the upcoming new movie adaptation, I decided to seek out the 1967 novel as an audio book (it’s available through Audible.com) and give it a listen.

I’d still say it is a pretty cool novel and a fun read, but it has not held up as well over the years. It takes place in the 22nd century after the “Little War” resulted in the ever-increasing population of young people taking control of the world governments and creating a dystopian society in which people are terminated at age twenty one in order to control the global population. The people live in a hedonistic society where they can pretty much do as they please, but those who decide to escape their ultimate fate and become runners are hunted down and terminated by the Deep Sleep agents known as Sandmen. Logan 3 (people have numbers instead of last names) is one of these Sandmen and on his “Last Day” he decides to make himself a legend by hunting down and destroying the underground railroad that helps runners to escape to a place known as Sanctuary where they can live beyond the age of twenty one. He hooks up with a girl named Jessica 6 who is part of this network helping runners and convinces her that he wants to run too. They then begin a flight that takes them to all parts of the world as Logan seeks his place infamy.

I have a particular love of both dystopian and post-apocalyptic stories, so obviously Logan’s Run appeals to me. But this one is more like a pulp-style dystopian story with some adult themes (read: sex) thrown in as well, so don’t look too deeply here for any enlightening grand statements. Written as a reaction to the youth boom of the 60’s (which seems to be going the other way of late), its prediction of young people taking control of society seems like somewhat of a quaint concept nowadays (though if Facebook could link into the world governments, who knows . . . ). In some ways, it treads the same territory as Brave New World, exploring a culture based on instant gratification of personal pleasures in order to keep the population docile. But that is really the window-dressing to what is essentially an adventure novel with a love story of sorts tacked on. I say tacked on because at the end of the book when Logan changes his mind about destroying Sanctuary in part because of his love for Jessica, you feel like the book made that leap without really developing the relationship (which they had for less than twenty four hours). What really makes this book come alive, though, is the world that authors William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson bring to life with its myriad colorful characters and intriguing futuristic extensions of present day concepts (the “New You” shop, heat-seeking handguns, the worldwide network of trams, etc.). The authors also have a masterful grasp of the English language and write at a breathless pace that keeps you turning the pages (or leaving the audio running).

For those who have only experienced Logan’s Run from the 1976 movie starring Michael York and Jenny Agutter, that version differed widely from the original book. The novel did not have the domed cities or Carousel or people living to the age of thirty. In fact, the movie (which Nolan wrote the original script for) shares little more than a distant relationship to its source material. I would recommend the book to all Science Fiction fans even though I would say it falls just short of being a true classic of the genre. Still, it’s great fun as was the follow-up novel Logan’s World (Logan’s Search not so much).

To find an audio book version, I had to do some digging but eventually turned it up at Audible.com. They are the only ones that have it available and actually that’s what convinced me to go ahead and sign up for their service (you can buy it for only $11 without signing up for the service, though). Co-author William F. Nolan narrates the book which at first blush might seem like a great choice, but I have found that authors are not always the best voice talents for their works. And it definitely doesn’t help that Nolan has a bit of a lisp that provides an additional distraction while listening. My advice to authors is to keep writing and let the professionals do the narrating. This audio version also follows the annoying trend of Audible.com books of being all in one big file instead of broken into smaller, more maneuverable chunks. But then it is a quick listen at under two and a half hours (the book was pretty short to begin with), so these are really just nitpicks and it is still an enjoyable book and well worth seeking out for Science Fiction fans.  Consider it a guilty pleasure.

Find out about more sources for Audio Books at this link

Our ongoing column giving the spotlight to movies that bucked the Hollywood Blockbuster trend and still managed to deliver a superior viewing experience. Note that these reviews may contain spoilers.

By John J. Joex

Rating: 4 ½ out of 5 Stars

Coming out in 1984 at a time when big budget, sfx-laden films were becoming more common at the Box Office, this film left a lot of people walking out of the theaters with their heads spinning and saying wtf! The movie starts out with Buckaroo Banzai (Peter Weller) performing a surgical procedure after which he is rushed away to test out a new jet-propelled car which he has equipped with an oscillation overthruster and which he drives through a mountain and into another dimension. When he emerges on the other side, he finds a strange alien organism attached to the pod; proof that he travelled to the 8th Dimension. The mentally unstable Dr. Emilio Lizardo (John Lithgow) sees a report of Buckaroo’s successful experiment on the news which prompts him to escape from the institution where he is imprisoned so that he can steal the overthruster. Lizardo had previously done similar experiments through which he was possessed by Lord John Whorfin, an evil Red Lectroid from the 8th Dimension. The escaped Lizardo/Whorfin heads to Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems in Grovers Mill, New Jersey (yes, the link to Orson Wells’ radio broadcast is intentional) where fellow Red Lectroids John Yaya, John Smallberries, and John Bigbooté (yes, the recurring Johns are intentional) head up a group of renegades planning to return to the 8th Dimension and conquer Planet 10 once they acquire the overthruster. Meanwhile, a Black Lectroid spaceship commanded by the female John Emdall (yes, another John and this time a woman) orbits the Earth monitoring the situation. Emdall sends a message to Buckaroo and demands that he stop John Whorfin otherwise she will trick the United States and Russia into launching nuclear strikes on one another. With no other choice, Buckaroo calls into action his rock band/super adventurers the Hong Kong Cavaliers along with his civilian backup the Blue Blaze Irregulars and jumps into the crisis with guns blaring.

If that synopsis left your head spinning, then know that I really only scraped the surface of the experience that is Buckaroo Banzai. This movie delivered a cross-genre satire that poked fun at its comic book/science fiction origins while also relishing in the excesses of both and finishing off with plenty of wit and hip posturing. Eschewing the more broad Airplane-style spoofs and maneuvering past the low-brow humor of Spaceballs, the movie walked that fine line between comedy and drama with plenty of winks to the well-versed sci fi fans sitting in the audience. It starts out by setting a breathless pace as it throws the viewer into the middle of the action and it never takes a break to let the audience catch up. And that’s part of its charm, even if it likely put off many viewers on its first go around. This gets the viewers immediately involved in the action, even if they do not necessarily understand everything passing by on the screen as it proceeds at light speed. The movie takes several passes to fully get your arms around it and each new viewing turns up yet another nugget that the screenwriters stashed away somewhere for the tenacious, curious fan to unveil later.

Buckaroo Banzai also managed to deliver a spirit of fun, adventure, and whim that the Hollywood machine had already started to squash in favor of cookie-cutter Blockbusters. Like a breath of fresh air, it departed from the more structured, formulaic cinematic output and verged on the anarchic. But it never got too brainy or geeky, either. It was not the type of movie that only the nerdiest of sci fi fans could get into, just anyone who appreciates a good amount of wit and angular story-telling. It also had a sense of hipness about it with its attractive, ultra-cool cast (was Buckaroo perhaps the first cool geek?) and its stylized look (that distinguished itself just enough from the fashion of the 80’s to create a timeless chic). In many ways, Buckaroo Banzai was a superhero movie with its action-star, renaissance man hero, and it also included some throwback references to earlier adventure serials as well as 50’s sci fi. And Peter Weller along with his supporting cast made this look cool and effortless. And that cast includes a who’s who of names that have since established themselves in movies and television such as John Lithgow, Christopher Lloyd, Jeff Goldblum, and Clancy Brown.

Buckaroo Banzai was not a low-budget film with production costs coming in at $12 million. But it did veer to the lower side compared to other genre films that came out the same year like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom ($28 million budget) and Ghostbusters ($30 million budget) and it had a slightly lower price tag than 1984’s Star Trek III: The Search for Spock ($16 million budget). But I count Buckaroo Banzai as an Anti-Blockbuster because of the way it thumbed its nose at Hollywood and delivered a completely unique film that defies easy categorization and that marketers found nearly impossible to promote (and thus they just chose not to). This resulted in a disastrous Box Office run (making back less than one fourth of its budget) when it was first released. The movie quickly caught on in the home video market, though, and has since become a cult hit. Unfortunately, the promised sequel (teased just prior to the ending credits as Buckaroo Banzai Against the World Crime League) never surfaced because of the poor Box Office reception of this film. But the original creators did eventually carry on the story of Buckaroo in comics through several excellent mini-series put out by Blue Water Productions.

Buy the Buckaroo Banzai Movie, Book, and Graphic Novels from Amazon.com:

Our ongoing series reviewing audio adaptations of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror works.

By John J. Joex

Book Rating: 4 ½ out of 5 Stars

Audio Book Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

I got my start in Science Fiction and Fantasy literature with the classics. Among the first books I recall reading (not including juvenile fiction) were those written by the early masters like Jules Verne, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and H.G. Wells. And while I don’t recall if The Time Machine was my first Wells novel (I seem to remember reading The Island of Doctor Moreau before that), I definitely got around to it sooner rather than later. And while War of the Worlds still stands as my favorite Wells novel (and one of my all-time favorites among all authors), The Time Machine probably comes in as a close second.

For the unfortunate few unfamiliar with the book, it follows an inventor from the late 19th century who creates a time machine and uses it to travel far into the future to the year 802,701. There he meets up with childlike humans known as the Eloi who live a life of leisure but who seem to have lost any capacity for personal attachment or any spirit of engagement. At first he thinks this peaceful, content society may have resulted in the human race conquering its environment and therefore no longer needing to concern themselves with things that may cause anguish, distress, or a threat to their persons. But then he discovers that a subterranean race of devolved humans known as the Morlocks lives in the tunnels beneath the ground and he surmises a much more sinister explanation for the state of affairs of the human race.

The novel acted as a social satire and comment on an English society that Wells felt had become increasingly stratified as the wealthy grew further apart from the downtrodden working class (certainly no similarities to modern day society . . . ). Then he added the vicious twist in which the elite humans grew to such a state of laziness and dependence on those who worked for them that the tide turned in a matter of speaking (read the book for the full, grisly explanation). The time traveler (who is never given a name in the book) deduces this through a series of observations of the people of this advanced age and he asserts several hypotheses at various points during his stay in this future age that ultimately lead to his final conclusion.

If you have never read the book but have seen George Pal’s excellent big screen adaptation from 1960 staring Rod Taylor, the movie follows pretty closely to the spirit of the story, though with less emphasis on the social satire and with a few revisions to help it play better to theater-goers. But the movie does unfortunately lack the ending passage from the book. This comes after the time traveler barely escapes from the time period of the Morlocks and the Eloi and he goes even further into the future to watch as the Earth dies. Wells’ description of the waning Earth in its last days was both eerie and desolate and gives me the chills every time I read it (I’ve revisited this novel at least four times now). It definitely provides an engaging, contemplative epilogue to the larger book.

I downloaded the audio book version of The Time Machine on MP3 from eMusic.com, and it does a good job of bringing Wells’ words to life. Scott Brick narrates and his proper British voice fits quite will with a book written by a 19th century author from England (there is also a version of the book available from Blackstone audio narrated by Bernard Mayes). This one is a relatively quick listen at under four hours because the original novel was fairly brief as well. But it is definitely worth your time to take the journey into the future with one of the earliest and all-time great authors of Science Fiction.

Our ongoing series reviewing the greatest Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror movies. Note that these reviews may contain spoilers.

Directed By: Roy Ward Baker
Produced By: Anthony Nelson Keys
Written By: Nigel Kneale
Starring: Andrew Keir, James Donald, Barbara Shelley
Original Release: 1967

Reviewed By: John J. Joex

Rating: 4 ½ out of 5 Stars

Synopsis: Based on the six-part BBC television serial from the 50’s by the same name, this movie follows Professor Quatermass of the British Experimental Rocket Group who investigates a strange missile-like object found deep beneath London by a construction crew. At first the professor and his colleagues theorize that this might be an experimental, undetonated German weapon from World War 2, but fossilized remains of primates are found very close to it and Quatermass ultimately surmises that it may have alien origins. Continued investigation of the object unleashes dormant forces that take control of those nearby, sending them on violent rampages. When Quartermass discovers the carcasses of horned, insect-like creatures inside the missile, he theorizes that these may have been beings that came to Earth from a dying Mars millions of years ago and that they must have implanted memories of their civilization (including a final racial purge) in the minds of the early primates that provide the origins for much of the superstition surrounding devils and demons in human culture. And as the latent force in the spaceship becomes more powerful, it begins to affect all of the inhabitants of London as they begin to reenact the slaughter of the racial purge from the dying days of Mars.

Review/Comments: This was the third movie (all from Hammer Films) to bring the Quatermass character to the big screen and it adapted the third of the BBC serials. The story it was based on was also by far the best of both the television series and the movies (though the other two are still quite good). Quatermass and the Pit (more commonly known as 5 Million Years to Earth in the States) mixes supernatural elements with science fiction and does it by presenting a plausible scientific explanation for the paranormal events it observes as well as for the latent superstitions that recur across many cultures. But it doesn’t go that route by giving a talky psycho-anthropological dissertation, it does it by delivering a film that stirs up the very fears it speculates upon. It should come as no surprise to those familiar with the output from Hammer, but this one delivers a truly scary film that that still stirs up chills when viewed today. And even though it runs half as long as the television serial it that it was based on, it stays true to its source (with series creator Nigel Kneale penning the script) and perhaps even improves upon that by delivering a tighter, more focused story than the somewhat slow-paced (though never boring) television version.

The only real knock on this film is that it has not aged well from a technical standpoint. The special effects showing the flashbacks to the aliens on Mars are crude at best and laughable at worst. Modern-day audiences may have some difficulty sitting through those scenes without roaring aloud. But then other scenes, especially when the invisible force starts to sweep through the city and make the ground tremble, still hit the mark and help make this into a chilling and at times unsettling film. Part of me would like to see this one remade with a budget that could more adequately bring to life its ambitious script, but then I fear that the Hollywood machine would quickly lose touch with the primal terror that this film evoked and bury its genre-bending, penetrating story beneath CGI smoke and mirrors.

Those who have never seen this film should definitely give it a look, just understand going in that visually it falls short at times. But the overall story is strong enough and the dedication of the cast and crew is quite apparent throughout the film. This is an old-style Science Fiction film that manages to stir up our emotions while also making us think. Something that has become all too rare in a time that we now have the technical prowess to create films that deliver on this promise.

Unfortunately, this one is currently unavailable on DVD, though interestingly enough the original Quatermass and the Pit serial from the 50′s (which never aired in the United States) is now available.  Also, the second serial, Quatermass 2, is available on DVD.  Only two episodes survive from the original serial, The Quatermass Experiment, so that has not been released in the States (though a PAL format DVD collects those two episodes with the other two serials).  The first serial was remade in Britain in 2005 from the original script with a pre-Doctor Who David Tennant making an appearance, but that version has not received a DVD release here either.  The final serial from 1979, titled simply Quatermass, is also available on DVD which includes the four-part serial and the shortened theatrical version.

Buy the Quatermass Serials on DVD from Amazon.com:

Our ongoing column giving the spotlight to movies that bucked the Hollywood Blockbuster trend and still managed to deliver a superior viewing experience. Note that these reviews may contain spoilers.

By John J. Joex

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

Cube is a quirky little sci fi/horror film that writer/director Vincenzo Natali (Splice) delivered to us back in 1997 as his feature-length directorial debut. It focuses on a group of people who find themselves trapped in a strange prison that consists of multiple, inter-linked cube-shaped rooms. They discover that some of the rooms have traps (like a razor-thin wire grate that will slice the unsuspecting wanderer into cubes) while others offer safe passage. None of the abductees know each other and none know how they arrived in this bizarre maze, though ultimately they determine that each serves a purpose in this maniacal exercise controlled by hidden forces. They decide that they must work together to succeed in escaping from their unjust incarceration and they start to find clues that help them determine whether a room is safe or trapped. The math genius Leaven determines that this appears to key off the serial numbers at the doors between rooms and whether one of these numbers is prime. Later, after barely escaping death in a seemingly safe room, they determine that answer lies in prime factorization of these numbers. This task at first seems impossible, but the autistic Kazan who has joined the party is a savant and has the ability to calculate the factors in his head. Leaven also determines that the numbers act as Cartesian coordinates which indicate where each room is within the overall structure and that these rooms move throughout the larger cube and eventually each will move to a location outside of it and act as a bridge to exit the prison. But because of their personality conflicts and mutual mistrust, the group begins to crumble from within before they can achieve their goal of escape.

Canadian director Natali managed to pull together this film, which he claims was inspired by the episode from the original Twilight Zone television series “Five Characters in Search of an Exit”, for about half a million dollars. And he made the most with his money by creating a creepy, claustrophobic, paranoia-drenched film following a small group of frantic people trying to understand their seemingly unmerited predicament. And he managed to maneuver past the expected pitfall of trying to make these people symbolic or representative of society in general. Instead, he created very real, believable characters, and each with apparently some function in this demented “game”. He did add one element, though, and that was a sense of guilt that each person felt for something they had done in the past (with the exception, we assume, of Kazan). This leads each of them to initially wonder, either overtly or subconsciously, if their past sins somehow lead to their imprisonment. This emphasizes that each of these people are not perfect, thus making them more human, and as we see their more sordid nature reveal itself as the film progress, the viewer almost wonders if they deserve their fate. But not to the point that we stop routing for them. We always want to see the abductees escape from this prison, even if our feelings shift from early in the film to later on which ones truly deserve to go free.

Natali sets up a Kafkaesque, Orwellian setting that immediately draws in the viewer and establishes a mood of tension and trepidation that carries the film to its bittersweet conclusion. And this is truly a Horror film, though with Science Fiction trappings, because of the threat from the traps throughout the maze as well as that unknown presence that must be controlling things from afar (the Saw film series would later follow a similar pattern, though with a much more exploitative bent emphasizing torture and gore).  And the fact that Cube never answers the questions of why this prison exists or why these people were brought here (though some hints seep through) gives the film that added dimension of despondency. Had this movie come out of the Hollywood machine, it would have never been allowed to go forward with its ambiguous conclusion. But since Natali did this as an indie, he had the creative control to follow that path, making this a much stronger film. And while the film plays out as a B-Movie and the actors sometimes fall short of the emotional range required of them, it still manages to stand out as a first rate B-Movie along the lines of other successful films in this milieu such as The Invasion of the Body Snatchers and They Live.

Cube had only a limited release in the theaters Stateside, but it quickly caught on as a cult film and had a successful run when it hit the home video market. It has even spawned two follow-up films, the sequel Cube 2: Hypercube which delivered a better than expected continuation of the formula, and the prequel Cube Zero, which delves into the backstory of the Cube. But the original film is the one that captured the imaginations of Science Fiction and Horror fans alike and gave us a must-see, genre-crossing psychological thriller.

Buy Cube and Other Anti-Blockbusters on DVD from Amazon.com:

Our ongoing series reviewing audio adaptations of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror works.

By John J. Joex

Book Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

Audio Book Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

Larry Niven’s Ringworld (first published in 1970) is a seminal science fiction novel about the exploration of an alien-constructed world that circles around a distant star in our galaxy. The book starts off introducing us to the 200 year old human Louis Wu (whose life has been extended through advanced medicine and “boosterspice”) who gets recruited by an alien named Nessus; a two-headed creature known as a Pierson’s Puppeteer (one of several aliens from Niven’s “Known Space” universe). Nessus is looking for people to help him explore this Ringworld, though he is a bit coy about his intentions at first because of his race’s cowardly and manipulative nature. He also recruits a member of the feline warrior race known as the Kzin who has been assigned the title “Speaker-to-Animals” for his dealings with other races (he has not proven himself worthy yet to earn an actual name). A human female named Teela Brown rounds out the party and we later find that Nessus has included here because of her inherent luck (that’s already a spoiler and there’s a whole backstory behind it). As payment for their involvement in Nessus’ expedition, he promises them the plans to the warpship known as the Longshot which can travel well above the speed of light and traverse the distance between stars relatively quickly. This team heads out with Nessus guiding them and comes across the Ringworld which was built on the Dyson Sphere principal, though its architects only constructed a ring instead of a full sphere. After an initial investigation of this alien mega-structure, the travelers crash after an unfortunate encounter with one of its defense systems. Once on the Ringworld, they find it mostly deserted with signs that the civilization that once lived there has died out leaving only small remnants of their population scattered across the ring. The travelers then begin to explore this Ringworld to find out more about its mysteries and also to find some means of escape.

Ringworld is a hard Science Fiction novel, but it is also a whole lot of fun. Niven delivers some truly interesting characters and fleshes them out quite well as the story progresses and you can also feel the depth of the universe he has created (which he has delved into with stories prior to this one). He does tend to get overly technical at times as he explains the scientific principles of the concepts he explores. This may put off some readers/listeners, but if you just kind of coast through those sections it does not detract from the rest of the novel. Most interesting is the exploration of the Ringworld itself and the travelers’ attempts to determine what happened to its builders and to communicate and interact with the pockets of civilization that still remain. The book only touches on purpose of the Ringworld, though, and leaves more to be explored in subsequent stories. If you have never read Niven’s seminal novel (and I had never previously worked this one onto my reading list), you should definitely seek it out as a good example of hard Science Fiction that never succumbs to the weight of the lofty concepts it explores and that provides a pretty enjoyable read.

I purchased the audio book version of this through Audible.com and it definitely did justice to the novel. Read by audio book veteran Tom Parker, his narration is clean and fast-paced and he does an excellent job of distinguishing between the main characters with different voices. It is pretty lengthy at just over eleven hours, but Niven’s writing and Parker’s narration should carry you through the duration.  And this audio book is different from the majority of Audible.com books that I have encountered in that the recording is broken into small, manageable fragments of about ten minutes each as opposed to the larger files running as much as five hours. This makes it easier to maneuver through the sections of the book, especially if you switch over to playing music between listening to parts of the books (newer MP3 players may handle this better, but my four year old model does not have a way to fast-forward through lengthy recordings). At Audible.com, this book retails for $21, but you can get it for $15 by using one of your monthly credits (or for $7.49 or free if you sign up with one of their promotions, click on this link for more info).

Overall, Ringworld is an excellent, must-read Science Fiction book and the audio adaptation that I listened to did a superb job of bringing it to life. And this also acts as a good jumping on point if you want to start exploring Larry Niven’s “Known Space” universe, and I know that I am definitely hooked after listening to this book.

Buy the Audio Book from Audible.com, or

Buy The Ringworld Novels in Print from Amazon.com

To enjoy it, take it for what it is: an action film that is good, dumb (make that very dumb) fun, with a lot of familiar faces to boot.

By John J. Joex

Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars

Yeah, I know it’s not Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror or one of the other sub-genres we cover on this site, but we know our readers will almost certainly have an interest in this throwback action film that lists any of a number of genre-veterans in its cast like Sylvester Stalone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke , Bruce Willis, and even Arnold himself. Stalone is the mastermind (I use that term loosely) behind this movie as he directed and co-produced it in the style of some of the more successful action films that he and his co-stars have appeared in from the 80’s to today. There’s no sense going into too much detail on the film’s plot as it is pretty flimsy with plenty of gaping holes, but do you really expect much more in this type of movie? Suffice it to say that Stalone’s character Barney Ross (I’m sure there’s a joke in there somewhere that I am missing) leads a group of mercenaries hired to overthrow a dictator from a fictional South American country who has been propped by a rogue CIA agent (hammed up to perfection by Eric Roberts). Stalone’s character decides to turn down the job after an initial reconnaissance proves a failure, but ultimately decides to go back to save the girl that helped them escape (and who also happens to be the daughter of the dictator). And thus the carnage ensues.

If you don’t like a machine gun paced story with plenty of knock-down, drag-out fights while explosions flare up all around, don’t bother with this one. But if an all-out action flick is what you are in the mood for, then this one delivers. And while it may never make its way to a Top 10 list of Action films, it will still be fondly received by fans of the genre, if for nothing else all of the familiar faces that pop up throughout the film. And while Stalone’s directing can falter at times because it’s too rushed, making it hard to follow the action, he gets the broad strokes right. The film does fall short on the wittiness and memorable lines you would expect from some of the better movies of its ilk, but still the characters do manage to get a few good quips in there.  And you almost get the hint that Stalone might have wanted to make this his Unforgiven (Clint Eastwood’s revisionist western) from the scene where Mickey Rourke’s character explains how he feels like he lost his soul when he could have saved a woman on a previous mission but did not. It does add a nice touch and succeeds in adding a dimension to all of the character’s of this mercenary team with one quick stroke. But it falls short of elevating this into an attempt at serious film-making (something which Stalone has desperately grasped for throughout his career). Take it as a nice bit of coloring added to a fairly guileless film and then return to reveling in the blazing firepower and the relentless action.

And there’s also the fun game of spotting your favorite action hero, possibly the biggest appeal the film holds. This includes Willis and Schwarzenegger who received a fair amount of attention in the advanced promotions, but who actually appear on screen for less than five minutes each (and in the same scene). And Schwarzenegger is unfortunately denied any really great lines, possibly an intentional snub from Stalone who has had a much more up and down career over the past forty years than his constant Box Office competitor. Others that Stalone approached to appear in the film include Jean-Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal, Weslet Snipes, Forest Whitaker, and Kurt Russell. Each of those were either unavailable or uninterested, but there’s always the upcoming sequel. This of course assumes that these actors don’t get carted away to the old folks home before that The Expendables 2 gets realized!  (Or if they do, perhaps they will meet up with Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy and bring them onboad as well.)

Our ongoing column giving the spotlight to movies that bucked the Hollywood Blockbuster trend and still managed to deliver a superior viewing experience. Note that these reviews may contain spoilers.

By John J. Joex

Rating: 4 ½ out of 5 Stars

Pi is an odd and at times obtuse indie film that came out back in 1998 from writer/director Darren Aronofsky. It zeroes in on a reclusive man named Max Cohen (Sean Gullette) who is a number theorist and may have discovered a numerical sequence with great predictive power and that perhaps even has mystical origins. As the film starts, Max informs us through the voice-over narration that he believes everything in the universe can be understood with numbers and that if you graph these numbers then patterns will begin to emerge. He has created his own super-computer (named Euclid) and he is trying to unlock patterns that would predict the Stock Market (not for financial gain, though, just to prove it can be done). His computer melts down in the process, though not before spitting out an odd 216 digit sequence of numbers. He consults his mentor and former professor who tells him he needs to take a break because he has become obsessed with this pursuit and it is affecting his health (Max suffers from seizures and extreme headaches). The professor becomes even more concerned when Max tells him about the number his computer generated as this hearkens back to some of his own early research. Two parties are pursuing Max throughout all of this as well. One is a sinister corporation who hopes to use his findings to control the Stock Market (and they actually crash the market when they use a portion of the number he discovered). The other is a Hasidic Jewish group who believes that a particular 216 digit number could be a code to God’s name and could be the key to the beginning of the Messianic Age. Max is not particularly interested in helping either of these groups, though, as he follows his obsession to understand the number which he believes could unlock the mysteries of the universe.

This film, which Aronofsky filmed adeptly in grainy black and white, provides an intense, intricate Speculative Fiction tale, with a psychological twist, that grabs the viewers and draws them into the story. With its number theory based premise, it could easily fly quickly above the heads of most audiences, but the film never dwells on the more intricate details of number theory that could easily weigh it down. Instead, it focuses more on the psychological aspects of a man on the brink of revelation who may not be able to cope with the epiphany it will bring. Like Adam toying with the forbidden fruit, Max has already nearly succumbed to the perils of his quest for knowledge and clearing the final hurdle could push him over the edge.

Pi, Aronofsky’s first film, was made on the tiny budget (by the Hollywood scale) of $60,000, but it never looks cheap or like a homemade project. The black and white photography (an unfortunately under-utilized art in this day of CGI-bloated films) along with the close angles from the hand-held camera lend to the cramped, claustrophobic feel of the movie and emphasize the sense of urgency that permeates throughout film. This masterfully helps bridge the gap between the intellectual subject matter and the more psychological undercurrents that keep the audience engaged in the action even if it may leave their heads spinning at times.

Some may argue that this one does not really count as a Science Fiction film, and that it is nothing more than a psychological thriller. But it definitely works on the Speculative Fiction level as Max tries to comprehend the vast implications of the theoretical numbers that he tries to decode in order to unlock hidden mysteries. In either case, this is definitely an excellent film and one in which genre fans will find both alluring and engaging.

Buy Pi and Other Anti-Blockbusters on DVD from Amazon.com:

Our ongoing series reviewing audio adaptations of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror works.

By John J. Joex

Rating (for all three volumes): 5 out of 5 Stars (Highest Rating)

I know I encountered H.P. Lovecraft, master of horror fiction, early on when I began to devour Science Fiction and Fantasy books on a regular basis, but I never really followed his work closely, just read the odd short story here and there. A couple of years back, though, when I first started listening to audio books to make my commute more bearable, I rediscovered him all over again with the Audio Realms series The Dark Worlds of H.P. Lovecraft. I stumbled upon the first volume in the series (they have done six total so far) in my local library of all places and that set me on an amazing, alluring journey into the bizarre and macabre.

My library has volumes one, two, and five which I quickly, feverishly poured through. Following are the stories contained on each:

Volume 1:
The Dunwich Horror – A novella in which a strange, demonic child named Wilbur Whateley is born near the backwoods New England town of Dunwich and begins to grow at a rapid rate. As he reaches adulthood in appearance (though in truth only ten years old) he begins to search for the accursed tome the Necronomicon for his own evil purposes which eventually leads to an unfathomable beast descending upon Dunwich bringing unspeakable horror to the town. This is one of Lovecraft’s absolute best stories and provides a good introduction to the Cthulu mythos and also introduces words and concepts that would later seep into our culture such as the Necronomicon and the town of Arkham.
The Call Of Cthulhu – In this short story, a man goes seeking the truth of a cult that worships a being known as Cthulhu which leads him on a descent into horrors unimaginable and ultimately madness. This is another great story in the Cthulhu mythos and along with The Dunwich Horror (and Wayne June’s spot-on narration, more on that below) makes this the quintessential Lovecraft audio book.

Volume 2:
The Shadow Over Innsmouth – This novella echoes The Dunwich Horror a bit as a man journeys to a decrepit New England coastal town and finds a horror from the depths that the townspeople have hidden from the rest of the world. Another great Cthulhu mythos story.
Dagon – In this short story, a sailor stranded at sea encounters a strange land that seems to appear from the depths and that seems to act as a portal for nightmarish creatures who seek to dominate the planet. Though not considered part of the Cthulhu mythos proper, this story was the first that introduced elements of that mythology, primarily the sea god Dagon.

Volume 5:
The Lurking Fear – In this short story, a man goes to Tempest Mountain to investigate the “lurking fear” he has heard rumors about. He and two other men enter the dilapidated Martense Mansion there, but only he survives, though he is driven to madness by what he finds.
The Thing on the Doorstep – In this wonderfully disturbing tale, a man tells the story of how he killed his best friend but claims that he is not a murderer because an evil being had taken control of the man’s body.
Haunter of the Dark – The only Cthulhu mythos story on this volume, this one involves the nefarious Shining Trapezohedron and a cult that uses it to summon up the Old Ones.

The selection of stories these three volumes offers gives a good sampling of H.P. Lovecraft’s work as well as a well as an essential introduction into the Cthulhu mythos that would work their way into many of his stories. In the seven works represented here, Lovecraft demonstrates his mastery of the horror tale whether on the smaller more personal scale with stories like The Thing on the Doorstep or on the grand, cosmic scale with the Cthulhu stories, seeping with dread and a universal horror that could overcome us at any moment. It is with Cthulhu mythos that Lovecraft crosses genres and injects elements of Science Fiction and Fantasy into his Horror tales, thus giving his work broad appeal.

But not only do these audio books offer an excellent collection of Lovecraft’s work, they are brought to life by a voice perfectly fit to this material. Wayne June is a voice talent who has narrated other audio books as well as worked in advertising and radio, but I believe that reading the works of Lovecraft is his one true calling in life. His monotone, droning voice meshes perfectly with these direful tales of dread and terror, lending itself audibly to the bleakness and chilling atmosphere that Lovecraft invokes with his words. June sounds much like a wizened old sage reciting past lore while intent on conveying the horror implicit in the tales. I don’t know if they could have found a better voice talent to bring these stories to life, but June’s voice take these from simple audio recordings to exceptional performances in the Horror genre.

As mentioned above, Audio Realms has produced six total volumes of Lovecraft’s works so far. I started with the three above because they were available in my local library, and I have since purchased volume three and plan on acquiring four and six as well. You can buy them through Amazon.com, or you can go directly to the Audio Realms website (and actually get them cheaper). There, they offer these as CD audio books for around $20 per volume, or as MP3 CDs or MP3 downloads for around $10. And they are definitely a bargain at that price and right now you can download the MP3 recording of The Statement of Randolph Carter for free to their Lovecraft adaptations. If you have never read the works of H.P. Lovecraft before, then here is the place to get started. And if you have, you will still want to check out these incomparable audio editions that bring to life the works of the master the way they were meant to be heard.

Read about sources for more Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror audio books at this link