COMM. STATION

With Darren Maxwell

Crikeys, did anyone who saw the last issue of Frontier realise that Australia was responsible for so many sci-fi TV shows? Man there was heaps of ’em! I must admit I was pretty impressed by the enormity of the list, however it probably won’t read well that I myself haven’t seen any of the shows mentioned.

It’s funny how sci-fi actors can turn up in the most amazing places. In the film Three Fugitives, which was on TV way back in November last year, there’s a sequence in a policeman’s office featuring three guys. They were none other than James Earl Jones (the voice for Darth Vader in all three Star Wars movies), Captain John Harriman (the incompetent captain of the Enterprise B in Star Trek Generations) and Kenneth McMillian (the evil Baron Harkonnen in Dune).

Speaking of last November, wasn’t it sad to see Space: Above and Beyond get the boot when the series finished up. I know a few people who were quite drawn into it, and now whenever the show is mentioned they burst into tears with the memory of their beloved show biting the dust (all right I’m exaggerating ... slightly). I bet that a new fan club will spring up soon comprising a small group of fan dudes dedicated to keeping the memory of SAAB alive for all eternity! So what do I think? As far as SAAB is concerned, I’d rather pay more attention to the car.

Say, when is Alien 4 coming out? It’s been a month of Sundays since we’ve heard anything and we still haven’t seen a slither of acid! But if you’re an alien fan don’t despair too much, The Alien Trilogy has been released as a PC computer game and is quite good apparently.

I bet all you Babylon 5 fans will be glad when the cricket season’s over. There’s nothing worse than trying to tune into the latest instalment of this wonderful show only to find it’s been upstaged (again) by the sound of leather on willow.

Did anyone note that towards the end of last year there was a host of sci-fi shows kicking around on the tube? Besides the obvious Trek and B5, did anyone watch The Sentinel, Space Precinct, Earth Star Voyager or MANTIS? I watched a few eps of MANTIS and found it to be generally OK, however I could see the age-old problem of “the good guys with their whizz-bang technology needing adversaries who have access to similar technology just to make the show worth watching” creeping in again. It’s a problem that’s affected a lot of shows and it wouldn’t surprise me if MANTIS gets the old heave-ho at the end of its first season, following the same path as The Flash, Beauty and the Beast, Forever Knight, The Incredible Hulk (going back a few years I know), Werewolf and all those other “one hit wonder” shows where the good guys turned out to be a little too good.

After my brief discussion of MANTIS, have you seen Space Precinct, another “latest and greatest” sci-fi product? I believe it’s been receiving some pretty poor reviews, and after watching the show myself, I can see where most of them would have come from. On the other side of the coin, sometimes a show shouldn’t have to totally explain itself to become acceptable to the sci-fi viewing public. Sure the show looks a lot like Alien Nation, only with more diverse aliens, but it shouldn’t be criticised too heavily if it decides not to explain where all these beings come from, nor why they act so human. However all things considered, Space Precinct didn’t do much for me, but I bet the kids would get a kick out of it.

Talk about fly-by-night sci-fi flicks! When the last issue of Frontier was being put together, I said to the editors “how about putting in a pikkie or two from The Island of Dr Moreau?” which was due out soon or so I thought. “Too late,” they said. It’d already come and gone. Now I ask you, did anybody know about this besides me?

Another movie which has departed the screens is Star Trek: First Contact (at least this film didn’t go out unnoticed), however its premiere will live on a lot longer for many Melbourne fans. They decided to attend the premiere of the film last November wearing Star Trek costumes, which has become a time honoured tradition over the past decade and a half. Both the main Melbourne clubs, Enterprise and Austrek, had hordes of members turn up for the event, which was a great way to see the movie - with people cheering, clapping and understanding all the jokes.

Remember Independence Day? Well a couple of months back I walked into a Toys ‘R’ Us store and found they had a huge display of excess ID4 toys that looked like they weren’t going anywhere at all. Pretty sad to see really. Chances are they’re going to come down in price in a big way soon, if they haven’t already. What a dismal way for merchandising of “the film of the Century” to fall.

If you’re in Sydney at any time, I urge you to have a look at the special effects documentary showing at the IMAX cinema in Darling Harbour (IMAX uses a screen which is eight stories high - it’s BIG man!). The doco shows a lot of groovy behind the scenes footage from Star Wars Special Edition, Independence Day and Jumanji, all on the mega-mega-screen. It’s well worth having a look at.

Have you noticed that society is going through a bit of an alien binge at the moment? (The X Files and Independence Day have a lot to answer for!) Just pop your nose into any “Guess What” store and you’ll see alien clocks, jocks, socks and frocks all featuring the now familiar green earless noggin’. However the UFOs themselves have also been making a few appearances: A car ad on TV features a UFO capturing livestock in the country, however when it locks onto this particular car, the car drags it along with the ship unable to let go; A simple screen saver for a computer I saw recently features a tiny sheep which walks around your screen doing all sorts of funny things. If you wait long enough, a UFO comes along at the top of the screen, locks onto the sheep with the tractor beam and sucks it up; Another car (4x4) ad on the back of a magazine features a flying saucer which has landed in a desert, the foot prints in the sand suggest the being has got out of the ship, walked over to the car, got in and driven off. On the ship is a “for sale” sign.

In case you haven’t heard by now, this year marks the 20th Anniversary of the release of Star Wars and the year the eagerly awaited Star Wars Special Editions come out. Not surprisingly, Star Walking Inc., the only Star Wars club in this country, isn’t taking it lying down. It has social gatherings planned for Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, not to mention its mega-huge convention to be held in June (Force II). In fact one of its Melbourne meetings is to be held on a Sunday. Why? Well May 25 falls on a Sunday this year, and that’s 20 years to the day when Star Wars was released to the world. So if you’re a Star Wars fan, get ready for a busy year.

However, news for Star Wars fans has not been all positive of late. Last year saw the release of Shadows of the Empire, which came out in the form of a book, a comic and a swag of toys. In fact it came out in almost every format that it was supposed to except ... the game. Yes the 64 bit Nintendo game - that was supposed to be the pivotal point around which all of this merchandise was to revolve - didn’t appear. Originally it was supposed to come out in March ’96 sometime, then it was pushed way down to November ’96. Now in February ’97, it’s finally about to hit the market and about time too, since the real Shadows of the Empire has been just that, a black shape with no substance.

A few issues back I was asking people to keep their eyes open for any sci-fi related car registration plates; well this one was a beauty. In Sydney there is a guy cruising around in a gleaming white Commodore with the plates SLAVE 1 (which is Boba Fett’s ship from the Star Wars movies). However not willing to stop there, he has a wonderful picture of Boba Fett on the car’s bonnet, and said there were more enhancements to come.

Until next time, stay galactic.