Episodes to Savour - Space 1999 - The Infernal Machine

In 1999, the moon is rocked by a series of explosions, is hurled out of orbit and goes through a 'black sun' to emerge in a distant part of the universe. The staff of Moonbase Alpha encounter many strange things as their wandering moon passes by new planets tha might provide them with a home.

SPACE:1999 is not a great show. The scientific illiteracy of the whole thing (it takes a week to fly past a planet and yet they'll find anohter one nearby soon, what speed are they travelling at?) makes much of it laughable and the introduction of some terrible monster suits in the second series really don't help.

First series episode The Infernal Machine, however, transcends all of that with a simple tale of two travellers who arrive on the moon. One is an old man who is dying. The other is the seemingly all-powerful sentient spaceship that he is companion to. The ship wants a bit of nuclear fuel and a new companion.

Now all-powerful beings with the emotions of children are ten-a-penny in TV science fiction, but this is lifted by a superb central performance from the redoubtable Leo McKern. As the dying companion he is full of weary humanity and as the giant machine he is al arrogance and, eventually, grief and loss. Barry Morse's character Victor is also given a rare chance to really shine.

All of the other good things about the show (costuming, set design, special effects, Eagle spaceships etc) are well up to snuff, but this is an episode about characters, about the need for companionship and about grief and loss.

End Of The Bloated Sci Fi Blockbuster?

Last year it was MOON and DISTRICT 9 and this year it's SKYLINE. There's also the upcoming MONSTERS to look forward to.

What links all these? Well they're all science fiction, they all cost peanuts and they all feature excellent special effects.

Whilst James Cameron can still command budgets that dwarf the national income of a small nation (mainly because his movies make more money than the national income of a medium sized nation), effects savvy independent movie makers have cottoned on to the idea that passable CGI effects can now be knocked up at a price that probably wouldn't pay for Cameron's limo driver. This means that shoddy special effects are no longer excusable even for the low budget film maker, but it also means that massive special effects are no longer the sole preserve of the studio blockbuster.

We'd like to think that this means studion blockbusters will have to get smarter in order to stay ahead of the game, but really what are the odds of that?

Even so, the low budget CGI special effect might mean that this becomes the genre of choice for independent film makers that previously would have turned to horror. Which is good news for anyone who likes their sci fi with brains (and we don't mean brains being eaten by aliens!).

Style Over Substance?

Just the other night I got the chance to see SCOTT PILGRIM vs THE WORLD and had a thoroughly good time thank you very much. It is very funny, nicely played, has lots of visual gags and tons of cinematic creativity.

What it doesn't do is make any sense. This is a film where the story isn't the thing. To keep dating the girl of his dreams Scott Pilgrim needs to defeat her seven evil exes. Why? Because it's a fun idea. This is not reality. This couldn't possibly happen. This isn't meant to be taken seriously. It's a fun ride rather than a true film.

Kids today spend more time on computer games than going to the pictures and they are now the mass entertainment market of choice. That SCOTT PILGRIM vs THE WORLD therefore does everything it can to look like a video game shouldn't come as a shock. Defeated enemies scatter coins like Sonic scatters rings, there are popup screens and scores and even an extra life that comes in handy towards the end. There are even magic doors.

OK, so films don't have to tell a 'real' story to be great and they don't have to make any sense either (anyone who's seen LAST YEAR IN MARIENBAD will attest to that), but is this a trend? AVATAR looked like a videogame and was certainly more interested in putting pretty pictures on the screen than having a plot or acting and stuff. TRANSFORMERS 2 had big robots hitting other big robots and...er...nothing else. SPEED RACER was nothing but flashy visuals. CLASH OF THE TITANS was an empty CGI-fuelled experience.

Fortunately, I don't think this trend is going to go damage cinema too much. There have always been films that look better than the content they are filled with. Right now, though, there are films that are as good in terms of plot and character as they are in visual quality. Think back to last year's MOON, which was all about plot and character. This year's biggest hit has been INCEPTION which has a startlingly good plot for such a huge blockbuster and the animated likes of TOY STORY 3 and HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON have shown that even a kids' movie can max out on plot and contain good characters. KICK ASS shows that a plot can still be good whilst being matched to a great visual sense.

So let's just sit back and enjoy the hybrid experience that is SCOTT PILGRIM vs THE WORLD (because it is a really good night out) and not worry about the future of science fiction in the cinema. There will always be the empty eye-candy, but the good plot and likeable character is making a comeback.

Moon
Inception [Blu-ray]
How to Train Your Dragon (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Dragon Double Pack) [Blu-ray]
Toy Story 3 [Blu-ray]