Ana Mulvoy-Ten b. 1992 (Teen Wolf, Myths)
Aneurin Barnard b. 1987 (The Adventurer: Curse of the Midas Box)
Matthew Boyle b. 1984 (Undead)
Elyes Gabel b. 1983 (Interstellar, World War Z, Game of Thrones)
Christina Cole b. 1982 (Jupiter Ascending, Rosemary’s Baby [2014]. Time Machine: Rise of the Morlocks, Doctor Who, Hex)
Stephen Amell b. 1981 (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2, Arrow, The Vampire Diaries, ReGenesis)
Jasen Fisher b. 1980 (Hook, The Witches)
Josie Moran b. 1978 (Van Helsing)
Matthew Davis b. 1978 (The Vampire Diaries, S. Darko, Wasting Away, BloodRayne)
Anthony Reynolds b. 1968 (Fantastic Four [2015], Iron Man 3, The Hunger Games)
Melissa Gilbert b. 1964 (Babylon 5, Faerie Tale Theatre)
Michael Gondry b. 1963 (director, The Green Hornet, The Science of Sleep, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind)
David Winning b. 1961 (director, Lost Girl, Todd and the Book of Pure Evil, Dinosapien, Andromeda, Stargate: Atlantis, Dinotopia, Earth: Final Conflict, NightMan, Merlin [TV], Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie)
Jeff Wincott b. 1956 (House of Fallen, Terminus, The Invasion, Mutant X, Relic Hunter, Battle Queen 2020, Earth: Final Conflict, Universal Soldier II and III, Future Fear)
Stephen Furst b. 1955 (Basilisk: The Serpent King, Babylon 5, The Day After)
Betsy Baker b. 1955 (Oz the Great and Powerful, 2084, The Evil Dead)
David Keith b. 1954 (Locusts: The 8th Plague, Path of Destruction, Daredevil, Epoch, Carrie [TV], Anthrax, The Indian in the Cupboard, Firestarter)
Mark Blankfield b. 1950 (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Crusade, NightMan, Dracula: Dead and Loving It, Eerie, Indiana, ALF, Frankenstein General Hospital, Faerie Tale Theatre, Jekyll and Hyde… Together Again, The Incredible Shrinking Woman)
Rockets Redglare b. 1949 died 28 May 2001 (Big)
Ron Miller b. 1947 (artist)
Abdul Salaam El Razzac b. 1944 (Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Star Trek: The Next Generation)
Jim Mitchum b. 1941 (Monster)
Peter Benchley b. 1940 died 11 February 2006 (writer, The Beast, Creature)
Moebius [Jean Henri Giraud] b. 1938 died 10 March 2012 (artist)
Thomas Pynchon b. 1937 (author, Gravity’s Rainbow, Vineland)
Salome Jens b. 1935 (Green Lantern, The Event, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Superboy, The Outer Limits, Terror from the Year 5000)
Robert Dix b. 1935 (Horror of the Blood Monsters, Blood of Dracula’s Castle, Frankenstein’s Daughter, Forbidden Planet)
Phyllida Law b. 1932 (The Sarah Jane Adventures, Mee-Shee: The Water Giant, The Time Machine [2002], The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns)
John Bennett b. 1928 died 11 April 2005 (Minority Report, The Infinite Worlds of H.G. Wells, Jason and the Argonauts [TV], Bridge of Dragons, The Fifth Element, Alien Nation: Millennium, Merlin of the Crystal Cave [TV], Blakes 7, 1990, Doctor Who)
Don Rickles b. 1926 (Innocent Blood, I Dream of Jeannie, The Munsters, The Addams Family, X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes, Twilight Zone, Pajama Party)
Angela Stevens b. 1925 (Creature with the Atom Brain)
John Archer b. 1915 died 3 December 1999 (Batman, Twilight Zone, Men Into Space, Destination Moon)
Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. The previous winner of the Picture Slot was Elyes Gabel from Game of Thrones. This year, it was a toss-up between some illustration by Moebius or a picture of Stephen Furst from Babylon 5. This is the scene where he tells Mr. Morden what he wants most. It pains me how much disrespect this series is shown. J. Michael Straczynski has a new show called Sense 8 on Netflix and in the trailer he is referred to as the writer of Changeling, a good enough film but not genre. He should still be remembered as the writer of Babylon 5.
2. Shades of nepotism. Jim Mitchum absolutely counts as nepotism. Phyllida Law counts a lot less. She had a career long before her daughter Emma Thompson became famous, but she does get roles in some of her daughter's starring vehicles.
3. Canadians spotted! Stephen Amell, star of Arrow, was born in Canada. So were director David Winning and actor Jeff Wincott
4. Surprises dead and alive. I still haven't quite processed that Moebius is dead and while he isn't even 90 yet, I have to stop for a second to remember whether Don Rickles is still around. (He is.) And then there's just the bad brain glitches. Before I clicked on Mark Blankfield's credit list to add him this year, I thought had died early, but that was just a brain fart on my part. He's alive, but he hasn't worked since 2003.
Many happy returns to all the living on the list and to the dead, thanks for all the memories.
Movie released
Star Trek (reboot) released, 2009
Prediction: I am inclined to believe, as are many others, that long before the year A.D. 2000, and very probably before 1950, a successful aeroplane will have soared and come home safe and sound. Directly that is accomplished the new invention will be most assuredly applied to war… It is difficult to see how such a contrivance could carry guns of any calibre unless they fired from the rear in the line of flight. The problem of recoil becomes a very difficult one in aerial tactics.
Reality: Wells definitely scores points here, though the problem of shooting guns forward was not the insurmountable difficulty he imagined. He also gets marked down a little for having trouble with the time line, since airplanes were just years away, not decades.
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!
Another visit from our Saturday regular Morris L. Ernst from his cheery but scolding book Utopia 1976.
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
Well, at least he didn't have a racist theory about airplanes.
ReplyDeleteThe timeline thing, though, is way off. It was ONE YEAR before Wilbur and Orville had their first powered flight.
The thing about recoil, too, exhibits a marked misunderstanding of physics, and the relative masses of a bullet (tiny) and an airplane(BIG). It's like saying we shouldn't jump up and down, because it will push the planet out of it's orbit.
There's a famous quote by one of the Wright Brothers after 1900 that it would be 50 years before man would fly, so Wells was not alone in his pessimism on this topic.
DeleteI remember reading that front mounted machine guns were ripping up the propellers on biplanes, but some Clever Trevor solved that problem in a weekend.
But what if all of us on just one side of the planet all jumped up and down at exactly the same time? Didn't think of that, did you?
Actually it has been established that ST was not a reboot because it did not replace the original story...
ReplyDelete