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Lately I find myself drawn to the aesthetic of science fiction movies and TV shows of the Space Age, where science promised us untold prosperity and progress and the black and white Twilight Zone morality plays of the 50s were giving way to vivid garish Color!TM Science fiction became dominated by a style of cool special effects features that may not have looked REAL, even at the time, but still looked stylish and evocative. Animation had Johnny Quest. Live action had Star Trek and several Irwin Allen shows of varying flavors of camp.  Across the Atlantic we had Doctor Who and Gerry Anderson producing half-a-dozen puppet shows involving people tooling around in toyetic vehicles (largely because marionettes look like dogshit trying to actually walk)  And acros the Pacific we had Eiji Tsuburaya making weird monsters for Ultraman and the Science Patrol to contend with.  On the SIlver Screen, we ran the gamut from Forbidden Planet to Barbarella, Planet of the Vampires to The WIld WIld Planet. A unifying trait of all these were a sleek futuristic swingin' set design, a soundtrack featuring saxophones and snare drums, teams of Serious Competent Professionals solving problems with science and money and probably guns of some sort as they battle aliens or sea-people or Yellow Peril Fu Manchu type supervillains, and a sense of counter-culture sexy hip-ness that's charming in hindsight. Plus, you know, a bucketload of racism and sexism like everything else made in this era, made even more ridiculous by contrast with its "enlightened" futurism. So discuss, give recommendations, or just binge-watch some of this retro crap on Shout Factory and be reminded of a more happenin' time
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Nov 24, 2020 01:17
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| # ? May 19, 2024 23:42 |
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I was always struck by how detailed the model environments were in the supermarionation stuff, really impressive, even the building that move out of the way for some rocket to shoot out of them. But MAN do those puppets look loving dumb
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Nov 24, 2020 14:19
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Since you mentioned Tsuburaya, I highly recommend the third Ultra series (after the X-files like Ultra Q and the titular Ultraman): Ultra 7! The Terrestrial Defense Force (TDF) is joined by a new member, Dan Moroboshi, who is secretly the alien warrior Ultra 7 to help them fight off alien invaders. This is an overly simplified introduction, but it turns out the series has a lot of really wild and sometimes creepy storylines that are beyond the 'monster of the week' formula. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5L1ta_QA50 I highly recommend watching episode 8- "The Targeted Town" as it is regarded as one of the best episodes in all of the Ultraman series' years of storytelling.
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Nov 24, 2020 18:46
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Sir DonkeyPunch posted:I was always struck by how detailed the model environments were in the supermarionation stuff, really impressive, even the building that move out of the way for some rocket to shoot out of them. But MAN do those puppets look loving dumb The puppets in the later shows looked significantly less goofy, but on the flipside they also ended up looking stilted and inexpressive, largely because they weren't as exaggerated. iirc Gerry Anderson repeatedly pushed for a transition to live action, but wasn't really successful until UFO. The modelwork is super nice yeah, and absolutely insanely sophisticated for British television from the 1960s, when normally stuff like that would look notoriously creaky. It's honestly so good that they started re-airing supermarionation series in the 90s when I was a kid; and I honestly didn't catch on that what I was watching was much older than I thought.
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Nov 28, 2020 20:24
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Yeah the live action transition could be wild- the model work for Space:1999 was amazing because they were goddamned big! I think the Eagle models were something like 44" long iirc.
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Nov 29, 2020 00:50
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Shows were people solve problems with science, teamwork, and being good own bones. It's a bit more recent, but this is why I loving love Science Ninja Team Gatchaman! I want to be a Science Ninja!
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Nov 29, 2020 09:35
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Bogus Adventure posted:Shows were people solve problems with science, teamwork, and being good own bones. It's a bit more recent, but this is why I loving love Science Ninja Team Gatchaman! I remember watching the Battle of the Planets version.
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Nov 29, 2020 22:18
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Octonauts is a great throwback to the whole '60s aesthetic. I feel bad watching it with my daughter because Tweak and Dashi are just so hyper-sexualized that it's just uncomfortable. I remember a show that looked like battle of the planets about a moon princess? I remember being really frustrated with it as a kid because I liked the show but the first one was like 30 minutes and told a story. Then the second one was 40 minutes and was just the 30 minutes + 10 new minutes. The next one was 30 minutes with a 20 minute recap of the first two and then 10 minutes of new content and then it just kinda stopped. Is that rining a bell with anyone? Blockbuster didn't have it but the local video store did.
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Dec 20, 2020 05:14
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VinylonUnderground posted:Octonauts is a great throwback to the whole '60s aesthetic. I feel bad watching it with my daughter because Tweak and Dashi are just so hyper-sexualized that it's just uncomfortable. Sailor Moon? Space Cruiser Yamato (Star Blazers)? Galaxy Express 999?
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Dec 21, 2020 16:12
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GATOS Y VATOS posted:Sailor Moon? Space Cruiser Yamato (Star Blazers)? Galaxy Express 999? None of those. I want to say one of the villains looked like a Zygon knock-off. The princess was trapped in a dome/bubble? Would probably have been renting it in 88-90, maybe as early as 86 maybe as late as 92.
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Dec 22, 2020 20:12
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