Thursday, December 11, 2014

11 December 2014

 Birthdays
Hailee Steinfeld b. 1996 (Ender’s Game)
Ashley Hinshaw b. 1988 (Agent Carter, True Blood, +1, Chronicle, Fringe)
Daniel Cerny b. 1981 (Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest)
Mos Def b. 1973 (The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy)
Harry Jay Knowles b. 1971 (My Sucky Teen Romance, Ghosts of Mars, Monkeybone, The Faculty)
Max Martini b. 1969 (Zombie Basement, Pacific Rim, Taken, Level 9, Mysterious Ways, The Hunger [1999 TV], Contact)
Gary Dourdan b. 1966 (Impostor, Seven Days, Alien: Resurrection, Lois & Clark)
Ben Browder b. 1962 (The Adventures of Robo Rex, Arrow, Doctor Who, Stargate: SG-1, Farscape, Martian Law)
Kimberly Scott b. 1961 (Wonderfalls, K-PAX, Batman & Robin, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Batman Forever, Flatliners, The Abyss)
Tom Shadyac b. 1958 (director, Dragonfly, Frankenstein: The College Years)
Isabella Hoffman b. 1958 (Alphas, Firefly, Atomic Dog, Beauty and the Beast [1988 TV])
Bess Armstrong b. 1953 (True Blood, Tales from the Crypt, Jaws 3-D, Jekyll and Hyde… Together Again)
Teri Garr b. 1947 (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Aliens for Breakfast, Adventures in Wonderland, Mom & Dad Save the World, Faerie Tale Theatre, Witches Brew, Dr. Franken, Once Upon a Brothers Grimm, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Young Frankenstein, The Girl with Something Extra, Star Trek, Batman)
Zenia Merton b. 1945 (Wizards vs. Aliens, The Sarah Jane Chronicles, Dinotopia, Space: 1999, Doctor Who)
Lynda Day George b. 1944 (The Amazing Captain Nemo, Day of the Animals, Wonder Woman, The Immortal, The Invaders, The Green Hornet)
Donna Mills b. 1940 (The Stepford Husbands, Alice in Wonderland [1985 TV], Look What’s Happened to Rosemary’s Baby, The Six Million Dollar Man)
Anne Heywood b. 1931 (What Waits Below, The Brain)
Dick Tufeld b. 1926 died 22 January 2012 (Lost in Space, The Time Tunnel, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea)
Vampira b. 1922 Died 19 January 2008 (The Magic Sword, Plan 9 from Outer Space, The Vampira Show)
Liz Smith b. 1921 (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, A Christmas Carol [2000 TV], A Christmas Carol [1999 TV], Alice in Wonderland [1999 TV], High Spirits, A Christmas Carol [1984 TV], The Monster Club)
Eddie Firestone b. 1920 died 1 March 2007 (Knight Rider, Galactica 1980, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Project U.F.O., The Invisible Man [1975 TV], Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Shazam!, I Dream of Jeannie)
Marie Windsor b. 1919 died 10 December 2000 (Tales from the Darkside, The Incredible Hulk, Salem’s Lot, Project U.F.O., Batman, The Day Mars Invaded Earth, Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy, Cat-Women of the Moon)
Jean Marais b. 1913 died 8 November 1998 (Beauty and the Beast [1946])
Val Guest b. 1911 died 10 May 2006 (Director, Space: 1999, When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth, The Day the Earth Caught Fire, Enemy from Space, The Quatermass Xperiment)
David McMahon b. 1910 died 27 January 1972 (The Deadly Mantis, It Conquered the World, The Creature Walks Among Us, The War of the Worlds, The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Thing from Another World, The Monster That Challenged the World)
Paul Wegener b. 1874 died 13 September 1948 (The Golem)

Notes on the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. Last year it was Dick Tufeld, the voice of the robot from Lost in Space. I usually ignore voice work, but for the stars of the field I make exceptions. This year, it's Ben Browder from Farscape, a show on the Sci-Fi Channel that was better than almost everything else that channel produced at the turn of this century. The interesting selection of good looking alien women might have something to do with my opinion, but Lexx had a good looking cast and wasn't as good as Farscape by a long shot. As for next year, I'll probably go way old school with a picture from a movie made before I was born, either Jean Marais in Beauty and the Beast or Paul Wegener from The Golem.

2. Fun facts to know and tell. British actress Liz Smith was in three different productions of A Christmas Carol. In the two best known, she is Scrooge's housekeeper and she plays opposite Patrick Stewart in 1999 and George C. Scott in 1984. The 2000 version is an updated take on the story that aired in Britain and never made it to the states.

David McMahon has 136 credits listed on imdb.com, so he should be an Oh That Guy, but I'm going to say he isn't. His face does not ring a bell for me, though I saw every one of the 1950s sci-fi flicks he was in. How to explain this? It should be noted that in all movies and TV shows listed for him, he was uncredited in over 90. He was a bit player and the bits were usually really small.

When researching on imdb.com, I clicked on the names of Donna Mills and Lynda Day George because I remembered them as attractive TV actresses. I was actually surprised how many genre roles they had. I was also surprised at how many genre roles Teri Garr had, though I knew without looking that she was in Young Frankenstein, Close Encounters and Star Trek. She also is in the running for the 2015 Picture Slot.

3. No Canadians to spot today. It's rare, but it happens.

Many happy return to all the living on the list and to the dead, thanks for all the memories.

Movie released
Star Trek: Insurrection released 1998
Predictor: Lee de Forest in the New York Times, 25 February 1957

Prediction: “[Man will never reach the moon] regardless of all future scientific advances”.

Reality: Wait... what?

This is the last dance for our Thurdsay regular since last February, Dr. Lee de Forest. This prediction contradicts the very first prediction published under his name. What gives?

Notice the date. This prediction is from 1957 and all the rest are from 1960. Clearly, he had a change of mind about space exploration. In three years time, he went from way too pessimistic to somewhat too optimistic, since he thought we'd have a permanent moon base by 2000.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

In the Picture Slot, a fabulous babe from a fabulous movie, one of my favorite genre films of the past twenty years.


Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

No comments:

Post a Comment

Traveler! Have you news... FROM THE FUTURE?