15 September 2015

Birthdays
Matt Shively b. 1990 (Teen Wolf, Paranormal Activity 4)
Chloe Dykstra b. 1988 (The League of S.T.E.A.M., Chaotic Awesome, COPS: Skyrim, Drag Me to Hell, Wizards of Waverly Place, Spider-Man 2)
Chelsea Kane b. 1988 (Wizards of Waverly Pace)
Christian Cooke b. 1987 (Witches of East End, Dark Relics, Demons, Doctor Who)
Ben Woolf b. 1980 died 23 February 2015 (American Horror Story, Insidious)
Amy Davidson b. 1979 (NetherBeast Incorporated)
Dave Annable b. 1979 (666 Park Avenue, Spellbound)
Tom Hardy b. 1977 (Mad Max: Fury Road, The Dark Knight Rises, Inception, Sucker Punch, A for Andromeda, Minotaur)
Marisa Ramirez b. 1977 (Supernatural, Roswell)
Jonathan Liebesman b. 1976 (director, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles [2014], Wrath of the Titans, Battle Los Angeles, Darkness Falls)
Marcus Shirock b. 1975 (Hercules Reborn, Bermuda Tentacles, Android Cop, Angel, Charmed)
Josh Charles b. 1971 (Bird People, After.Life, Muppets from Space)
Danny Nucci b. 1968 (Arrow, Monster Heroes, Firestarter 2: Rekindled, Quantum Leap, The Twilight Zone [1986])
Kenneth Hite b. 1965 (writer, Lost in Lovecraft)
Steven R. Monroe b. 1964 (director, End of the World, Jabberwock, Mongolian Death Worm, Ice Twisters, Wyvern, Ogre, Sasquatch Mountain, It Waits)
Philip Paley b. 1963 (Land of the Lost)
Colin McFarlane b. 1961 (Olympus, Hounded, Torchwood, Hyperdrive, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight)
Oren Aviv b. 1961 (National Treasure, RocketMan)
Ed Solomon b. 1960 (writer, Venom, What Planet Are You From?, Men In Black, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure)
Wendie Jo Sperber b. 1958 died 29 November 2005 (Back to the Future)
Barry Shabaka Henley b. 1954 (Carrie [2013], Flash-Forward, Heroes, Fallen)
Brad Leland b. 1954 (The Leftovers, Hancock)
Sabina Franklin b. 1954 (The Worst Witch, Blakes 7)
Olver Stone b. 1946 (director, The Hand)
Tommy Lee Jones b. 1946 (Captain America, Men In Black, Small Soldiers, Batman Forever)
Shelby Leverington b. 1946 (The Island, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Twilight Zone [1985], Cloak & Dagger)
Roy Brocksmith b. 1945 died 16 December 2001 (Babylon 5, Kull the Conqueror, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Lois & Clark, Good & Evil, Eerie, Indiana, Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, Arachnophobia, Total Recall, Martians Go Home, Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Wizard, Wolfen)
John Reynolds b. 1941 died 16 October 1966 (actor/director, Manos: The Hands of Fate)
Norman Spinrad b. 1940 (writer, Star Trek, Bug Jack Barron, The Iron Dream)
Henry Darrow b. 1933 (NightMan, Babylon 5, Star Trek: Voyager, Time Trax, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Knight Rider, Beyond the Universe, The Incredible Hulk, The Bionic Woman, Wonder Woman, Halloween with the New Addams Family, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Invisible Man [1975 TV], Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Outer Limits)
Andree Melly b. 1932 (The Brides of Dracula)
Henry Silva b. 1928 (Cyborg – Il Guerriero d'Acciaio, Escape from the Bronx, Alligator, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Quark, The Sixth Sense [1972 TV], Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Outer Limits)
Jackie Cooper b. 1922 died 3 May 2011 (Superman, The Invisible Man [1975], The Astronaut, Twilight Zone)
Joseph Pevney b. 1911 died 18 May 2008 (director, The Incredible Hulk, Star Trek, The Munsters, Bewitched, Destination Space)
Fay Wray b. 1907 died 8 August 2004 (King Kong, The Vampire Bat, Doctor X)
Tom Conway b. 1904 died 22 April 1967 (The Atomic Submarine, Voodoo Woman, The She-Creature, Bride of the Gorilla, Cat People)
James Fenimore Cooper b. 1789 died 14 September 1851 (The Monikins)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot skewed old school, in 2013 with writer Norman Spinrad and in 2014 with the fabulous Fay Wray. If I wanted to push the blog into the 21st Century, the best choice would be Tom Hardy in the most recent Mad Max, but instead I went with Roy Brocksmith in his role from Star Trek: The Next Generation, and I blush to mention that he's one of those "Wait... He's Dead?" folks for me.

2. An unspottable Canadian. Fay Wray is from the Great White North. I had no idea.

3. MST3K. This one's pretty easy, John Reynolds, who died only a little after filming was complete, directed Manos: The Hands of Fate and also played Torgo.

4. Nice same birthday pair. I always like it when two people who are both well known were born on the exact same day, and Oliver Stone and Tommy Lee Jones certainly qualify. 

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

Predictor: Robert A. Heinlein in his novel The Door Into Summer

Prediction: "IMPORTANT NOTICE! This service automaton DOES NOT understand human speech. It has no understanding at all, being a machine. But for your convenience it has been designed to respond to a list of spoken orders."

Reality: Our pal Bob takes a dim view of The Singularity here, and by 2000 he was still right, machines have no true understanding. It's quite popular in sci-fi now and there are those predicting the reality just around the corner, but as an old school programmer I remain very skeptical.

Never to be Forgotten: Steve Bickel 1951-2015

Film executive Steve Bickel was found dead this week after collapsing on a hiking trip in Portugal. He is mentioned here because he produced the 1980 time travel fantasy Somewhere in Time, starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour.

Best wishes to the family and friends of Steve Bickel, from a fan of the movie. He is never to be forgotten.
 
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Another visit from our pal George Sutherland and his book Twentieth Century Inventions.
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

4 August 2014

 

Birthdays
Lucinda Dryzek b. 1991 (Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Doctor Who)
Meghan Markle b. 1981 (Fringe, Knight Rider [2009])
Abigail Spencer b. 1981 (Oz the Great and Powerful, Cowboys & Aliens)
David Lewis b. 1976 (Man of Steel, Supernatural, Fringe, Seeds of Destruction, Stonehenge Apocalypse, Zombie Punch, Wyvern, The Day the Earth Stood Still [2008], Smallville, Ba’al, Beyond Loch Ness, Eureka, The Butterfly Effect 2, Kyle XY, Alien Incursion, Stargate SG-1, Alienated, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Dead Like Me, Halloween: Resurrection, Level 9, Lake Placid, Lexx, The New Addams Family, The X-Files)
Andy Hallett b. 1975 died 29 March 2009 (Angel, Buffy)
Michael DeLuise b. 1969 (Bloodsuckers, Lost, Stargate SG-1, 3rd Rock from the Sun, SeaQuest 2032, Tales from the Crypt, Encino Man, Amazing Stories)
Daniel Dae Kim b. 1968 (Insurgent, Lost, The Andromeda Strain, Spider-Man 2, Star Trek: Enterprise, Hulk, Momentum, Angel, Charmed, Crusade, Brave New World [TV movie], NightMan)
James Tupper b. 1965 (Resurrection, Toxic Skies)
Sebastian Roche b. 1964 (The Originals, Pegasus vs. Chimera, Grimm, The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural, Fringe, Vamped Out, Beowulf, Charmed, Odyssey 5)
Lauren Tom b. 1961 (Supernatural, Threshold, Quantum Leap)
Bernard Rose b. 1960 (director, Candyman)
Billy Bob Thornton b. 1955 (The Astronaut Farmer, Armageddon, Chopper Chicks in Zombietown)
Donald Gibb b. 1954 (Hancock, Black Scorpion, Homeboys in Outer Space, Breakfast of Aliens, The X-Files, Harry and the Hendersons [TV], Quantum Leap, They Came from Outer Space, Transylvania 6-5000, Otherworld, Knight Rider, Conan the Barbarian)
Sara Botsford b. 1951 (Matty Hanson and the Invisibility Ray, Three Moons Over Milford, The Fog, Tremors 4: The Legend Begins, Total Recall 2070, Sliders)
Richard Belzer b. 1944 (3rd Rock from the Sun, Species II, The X-Files, The Invaders, Not of This Earth, The Puppet Masters, Lois & Clark, The Flash)
Don S. Davis b. 1942 died 29 June 2008 (Stargate, Flash Gordon, Supernatural, Beyond Loch Ness, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Andromeda, Atomic Train, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show, Poltergeist: The Legacy, The X-Files, M.A.N.T.I.S., Highlander [TV], Needful Things, Hook, Omen IV: The Awakening)
Martin Jarvis b. 1941 (Neander-Jin: he Return of the Neanderthal Man, Stargate: Atlantis, Space Island One, Space: Above and Beyond, Doctor Who, Taste the Blood of Dracula)
Tom Hennesy b. 1923 died 23 May 2011 (Revenge of the Creature)
Wesley Addy b. 1913 died 31 December 1996 (The Invaders, The Outer Limits)


Daniel Dae Kim isn't the only choice for the Picture Slot, but he is certainly a good one. He has a lot of roles in genre, including his best known role on Lost. Other options were Billy Bob Thornton, the only guy I'd call a movie star here, Don S. Davis, best known as General Hammond on multiple versions of the Stargate franchise, Donald Gibb, the big guy best known as Ogre in Revenge of the Nerds, and Andy Hallett, Lorne on Angel and last year's Picture Slot choice.

The big surprise today: Richard Belzer is 70. I don't know why some actors and celebrities get locked in a certain era for me, but Belzer is one of them. It seems so strange he is that old. I was also surprised at how many genre roles he has.

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

Predictor: Terminator 2, released 1991


Prediction: On 4 August 1997, Skynet is launched.

Reality: The idea that machines will take over is not new. One of the earliest sci-fi plays Rossum's Universal Robots (also known as R.U.R.) is about people becoming obsolete, and there are two famous films about computers and nuclear annihilation, Colossus the Forbin Project and WarGames. That said, the Terminator films are better known by far than any of the other films predicting The Singularity as an apocalypse. I made the decision early on as to what franchises would get labels of their own and the decisions were completely arbitrary. If I had to do it over again, I would probably give labels to both the Terminator and Alien franchises.

As for reality, drones are real now, but they are still run by people, not autonomous machines.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Another interruption in the regular schedule, this time for an exact date from Philip K. Dick.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

1 December 2013

 Birthdays
Zoe Kravitz b. 1988 (X-Men: First Class, After Earth)
Dean O’Gorman b. 1976 (Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Xena, The Legend of the Seeker, The Hobbit)
Nestor Carbonell b. 1967 (The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, Lost, The Tick)
Andrew Adamson b. 1966 (director, Shrek, Shrek II, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe)
Jo Walton b. 1964 (won 2012 Hugo and Nebula for Among Others)
Jeremy Northam b. 1961 (The Invasion, Mimic, The Net)
Treat Williams b. 1951 (Eve of Destruction, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Deep Rising, The Empire Strikes Back)
Richard Pryor b. 1940 died 10 December 2005 (Superman III)
Woody Allen b. 1935 (director, Sleeper)
Malachi Throne b. 1928 died 13 March 2013 (Babylon 5, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek, The Six Million Dollar Man, Land of the Giants, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Time Tunnel, Lost in Space, Batman, The Outer Limits)

Nice mix of actors, writers and directors on the list today. I feel a little bad adding Richard Pryor, remembering such a huge talent for such a terrible movie. I don't feel bad adding Woody Allen, because Sleeper is a great parody of science fiction.

The Picture Slot goes to Malachi Throne, a very busy character actor who died earlier this year before I decided to start the Never to be Forgotten thread. He's one of the handful of actors that was on the original Star Trek and on the later show. He was also on Babylon 5. But his 1960s sci-fi resume is even more impressive, as he was on every big budget sci-fi show in the 1960s except Twilight Zone, which means Batman, The Outer Limits, all Four Irwin Allen shows and as previously mentioned Star Trek.

Besides my wishes for many happy returns to all the living on the list, I send out my best wishes to the family and friends of Malachi Throne, from a fan. He is never to be forgotten.

Prediction: At 0150 GMT on December 1, 1975, every telephone in the world began to ring.

Predictor: Arthur C. Clarke in the short story Dial ‘F’ for Frankenstein, 1965

Reality: The story is about an interconnected system of telephones taking over the world by causing a worldwide financial panic. He's not the only writer afraid of machines taking over back in the 1960s. The novel Colossus was written in 1966 by Dennis Feltham Jones and is the basis for the 1970 film Colossus: The Forbin Project. ACC overstates how quickly computers will become as powerful as they are today and as a writer of fiction, he needs to have a protagonist and the soon to be omnipotent machines are as good a choice as any. The story didn't become true and has not become true to this day, so the only points I can give Old Art because he saw that computers were going to change significantly, a real world trend that many science fiction writers did not touch on, or if so they tended to gloss over.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

A prediction from earlier this year can now be tested. Was it right or wrong?

You'll know if you join us then... IN THE FUTURE!