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From: Arthur Lipscomb <arthur@alum.calberkeley.org>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
Subject: Re: What Did You Watch? 2025-04-12 (Saturday)
Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2025 21:58:05 -0700
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On 4/13/2025 8:44 PM, anim8rfsk wrote:
> Arthur Lipscomb <arthur@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:
>> On 4/13/2025 9:30 AM, Ian J. Ball wrote:
>>> On 4/13/25 1:30 AM, Ubiquitous wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> What did you watch?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> What did you watch?
>>>
>>>
>>
>> I watched:
>>
>>
>> 30 Days of Night (blu-ray) 2007 movie based on a comic book about a
>> small isolated town in Alaska that is overrun by vampires during a
>> month-long period when the sun doesn't rise.  This holds up very well.
>>
> 
> We were talking about this a couple days ago on the Facebook. Somebody
> pointed out that even though they don’t see the sun, they would still see
> the moon. Which means we need vampires versus werewolves at the North Pole!
> 
> 
>>
>> 30 Days of Night: Dark Days (blu-ray) 2010 sequel which picks up where
>> the first movie ends with a survivor tracking down vampires to get her
>> vengeance on.  This is a pretty solid revenge flick with a vampire twist.
>>
> 
> I was disappointed in this, but I think it’s mostly because I liked the
> first movie so much.
> 

You have to rate it on the direct to video scale.

>>
>> Vampires (4K disc) 1998 movie directed by John Carpenter and starring
>> James Woods as the leader of a team of vampire hunters who work for the
>> Church.  Mostly background noise.  I remember back in 98 watching
>> trailers for this and "Blade" and thinking this would be *the* vampire
>> movie and "Blade" would be meh.  And it turned out to be the exact opposite.
>>
> 
> Considering all it has going for it, this movie has no right to be as
> non-entertaining as it is.
> 

+1

I was going to make a comment about liking the sequel, then I realized I 
was thinking of Dracula II: Ascension.  Or at least this scene: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-9eDJ4maak


> 
>> Lifeforce (4K disc) - 1985 movie directed by Tobe Hooper.  So let me get
>> this straight, the space shuttle is on a mission to study Halley's Comet
>> when they come across an alien spaceship.  They dock and board the
>> spaceship, where they find multiple batlike aliens and three aliens that
>> appear to be human.  They then bring the aliens back on the ship.  They
>> wrap one is a fishing net because quarantine, I guess.  Anyway, safely
>> wrapped up in the net they bring them back on board the spaceship and
>> who would have guessed it, but it turns out the aliens they found in
>> space weren't safe after all.  The aliens are brought back to Earth, and
>> I'm sure there's no need to quarantine them or anything because what
>> could go wrong?  Once again one thing leads to another and now there are
>> space vampires in Britain sucking the life force out of everyone.
>>
>> I guess I should also mention the alien spaceship that parked itself
>> over London and was collecting the lifeforce of the population, but no
>> one seemed to notice or care other than mentioning it was happening.
>> Maybe it's just me, but if I see space vampires sucking the life out of
>> people causing a blue light to stream into space where a spaceship is
>> conveniently parked in orbit collecting the light, I might just think
>> there could be a connection between the two events.  But that's just me.
>>   Did it not occur to *anyone* to blow the thing out of orbit?   I guess
>> not.  Anyway, I'll just end with this has to be the most British vampire
>> movie ever made that doesn't star Christopher Lee.
>>
> 
> Ahem. Two words: Captain Kronos, vampire hunter.
> 
> Random thoughts about LIFEFORCE
> 
> I love this movie. It grossed less than half its budget worldwide. :-(
> 
> I assume your disk was Cinemascope wide screen. Almost every print of this
> that shows up on TV has been center cut to 1.85.
> 

The new 4K is 2.35:1.  I didn't realize until I put the disc in to 
watch, but the 4K version is the theatrical cut only with no extras. 
The set also includes a blu-ray of the director's cut with two different 
commentary options.  I don't remember being so annoyed by the movie, so 
I'm guessing there's stuff in the director's cut that makes it less 
annoying.

> Wonderful score which I attribute to Henry Mancini.
> 
> Patrick Stewart’s best movie although some will make the case for
> Excalibur.
> 

Long before TNG, I recognized Steward from this and Dune.  I'm far less 
familiar with his work in Excalibur.


> We were horrified a few years ago to learn that the naked vampires in
> stasis in the ship are actually beautifully made models about half scale.
> Not people at all.  I think a lot of yutes may have unknowingly been
> jumpstarted into puberty by puppets.
> 
> Despite the wildly advanced shuttle technology, this 1985 movie must take
> place in 1986 if they’re visiting Halley’s Comet. Either that or it’s in
> 2061 or something. Anyway, assuming the mid 1980s I don’t think we’d have a
> way to blow a spaceship out of orbit. I’m not sure we would now unless Elon
> Musk has something up his sleeve.  And yes, I am using orbit wrong. Too
> many years of watching Star Trek. “Hovering over London“ would be more
> correct.
> 
> 
> 
>> Doctor Who (Disney+) - "The Robot Revolution" - The new season kicks off
>> with the doctor picking up a new companion.  The Doctor has to save a
>> nurse from robots that have kidnapped her so she can be their new Queen,
>> but there is a Timey-wimey twist.  I picked up on some "Superman 3" and
>> "Timecop" references that probably went over most younger viewers heads.
>>   But as someone who was scarred for life by a certain scene in Superman
>> 3, I couldn't help but notice.  Overall, it was an OK start.  I like the
>> dynamic with the new companion who does *not* want to be a companion.  I
>> liked that she immediately picked up on the Doctor is dangerous and
>> traveling with him can get her killed.  She has no interest in being his
>> next victim, I mean companion, and just wants to go home.  I don't
>> recall a companion like that since maybe Tegan.  If I recall correctly
>> she also started out similarly saying to take her home because she
>> didn't want any of his nonsense.
> 
> I didn’t notice the references you mentioned, 

I assure you, Superman 3 traumatized an entire generation of children.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuSsSwg9MXs

This is the timecop reference:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D01mdGW9-Zg


but I was too busy thinking
> “what the hell this is demon seed“
> 
> I am on record as saying that this episode absolutely did not suck.
> 
> I had to read the whole thing though I couldn’t understand anything anyone
> said.
> 
> And I didn’t catch what the old woman said when she broke the fourth wall
> and talked to the audience.
> 
> 

I missed that!!!  I have to track that down!  When in the episode did 
that happen?