BlackGeekdom Science-Fiction from a Different Perspective

There were some really bad sci-fi movies this year.  I chose to spotlight two that, well, I thought I liked when I was a kid.  But I realize now that they are terrible.  First, there was the movie The Wraith starring Charlie Sheen.  Is it horror?  Maybe, maybe not.  Is it sci-fi?  Maybe, maybe not.  Is it bad?  Definitely.  Unless you were just into Charlie Sheen, I doubt if you you’d make it 10 minutes into this movie before finding something more pressing to do like pulling out your toenails, or going to the dentist to get those cavities filled. 

Second. Superman IV:  The Quest for Peace.  A good idea that went bad.  Nuclear Man….No, seriously, Nuclear Man.  The death of a franchise. If you haven’t seen it, don’t.  If you have seen it, you have my sympathy.

Posted under Movies

Spaceballs is considered a comedy classic.  I say it’s more of a cult classic, but it is also a sci-fi movie.  It was funny when I saw it as a kid, and as an adult, I still think it has some funny parts.  The scene where the black guys are coming the desert with a pick is just classic.

To me, The Running Man is one of Arnold’s great movies.  Okay, the movie might seem hookie to you, but where else would you find Yaphet Kotto, Maria Conchita Alonso, Richard Dawson, Jim Brown, Jesse Ventura, Mick Fleetwood and Dweezil Zappa all in a science fiction movie based on a book written by Steven King?

Posted under Articles, Movies

Let get this started with the most popular cartoon to debut this year, TMNT to the uninformed that’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.   The cartoon was based on the popular comic book series.    The cartoon was the most popular animated shows of all-time.   It started a pop culture phenomenon that included toys, breakfast cereal, etc.   The  show ran for 10 years, 3 in syndication and 7 years on CBS and aired over 193 episodes.   The show chronicled the adventures of four turtles who fell into the sewers and are befriended by Hamato Yoshi, a Japanese man who fled from New York and had nowhere to live but in the sewers. He was framed by his enemy, Oroku Saki, in a plot to kill the sensei. One day he sees a strange green glow which transforms the four turtles into human-like creatures. Hamato (now Master Splinter) changes into a giant rat from the green glow and teaches the turtles the skills of the ninja as they team up with Channel 6 news reporter April O’Neil to battle against Yoshi’s archenemy Shredder and Krang, an alien warlord from Dimension X. 

TMNT

  Read More…

Posted under Animation

Friday the 13th: The series was a first run syndicated show that made its debut on Oct 3, 1987. The show lasted 3 seasons and aired 72 episodes. The show had no connection to the film franchise other than the name.

This series revolved initially around the adventures of two cousins, Ryan Dallion and Micki Foster, who inherited an antique shop, “Curious Goods,” from their Uncle Vendredi. We find out in the first episode that Vendredi made a pact with the Devil, to sell cursed antiques. He recanted at the last minute and tried to recover the antiques, but was claimed by Hell. The cousins, aided by Vendredi’s partner Jack Marshak, used the store’s manifest to track down the cursed antiques, each of which fell into the hands of someone who inevitably used them for evil.

Read More…

Posted under Uncategorized

So lets get it started with a little show called Star Trek: The Next Generation that made its debut on  September 28, 1987  with a two hour pilot called “Encounter at Far-Point” (which drew 27 million viewers).    The show ran for 7 seasons and aired 178 episodes.  Set in the 24th century and decades after the adventures of the original crew of the starship Enterprise, this new series is the long-awaited successor to the original “Star Trek”(1966). Under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, the all new Enterprise NCC 1701-D travels out to distant planets to seek out new life and to boldly go where no one has gone before. 

ST:TNG was significant for several reasons,  it made first-run syndication a viable option for genre shows and it gave new life to a 20 year old franchise.   Check out the promo trailer.  

Read More…

Posted under Television

Beginning this week, Blackgeekdom will highlight one year for its scifi and comic releases.  This week we will highlight 1987.  The year sparked the beginning of one franchise, and the crash and burn of another.  There were some classic comic book releases, and some innovations in scifi on television.  Feel free to share your memories of this year, if you are old enough to have any, or maybe you just want to forget the year altogether. 

We will kick off today with a movie.  Now a cult classic, this Oscar winning movie ( no really, it had three nominations and one win) took law enforcement to the next level.  Robocop was marred by by not only two movies, but several failed attempts to be made into a successful video game franchise.  However, the movie stands alone as a vision of the future which isn’t that far fetched.  This is the original theatrical trailer.

Posted under Movies