Let’s talk about why Megalopolis is short-circuiting Hollywood Many years ago I was in a performance art collective. We held a monthly cabaret at a really dodgy pub with a heavy drinking criminal clientele. And we closed every cabaret with our house band Bangin & Blowin Nobody in the band could play their instrument, soContinue reading “Bangin and Blowin”
Author Archives: Damien Walter
Megalopolis is what you just watched
Megalopolis is what you just watched Megalopolis is a movie about a civilisation in decline made by a civilisation in decline watched by a civilisation so deep into its decline that it can no longer recognise a TikTok video of its own decline Megalopolis is a movie with the narrative structure of your TikTok feedContinue reading “Megalopolis is what you just watched”
50,000 Subscriber Question & Answer
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Zardoz and the humiliation of Sean Connery
Why do we love science fiction movies?
Sometimes it’s because they take us to strange new worlds.
Other times they just have the best effects, the biggest explosions, or the most guns.
But when science fiction movies become legendary it’s often because they tell us something deep, true and meaningful.
Then there are the science fiction movies that step up to bat for legendary status
take a big swing
and miss
and sometimes, as much as we love the hits, we love those misses
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Website – https://damiengwalter.com
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What was Sean Connery thinking?
What was Sean thinking? You can kind of see the logic. In retrospect Sean Connery was the first of a new kind of masculine icon. Bodybuilders turned actors (Connery placed 3rd in Mr Universe) who expressed an ever more exaggerated masculinity. So Sean Connery starring in Zardoz isn’t all that different from Jason Momoa starringContinue reading “What was Sean Connery thinking?”
In defence of Tolkien
There’s a long history of calling Lord of the Rings fascist. Michael Moorcock in Epic Pooh of course. But Tolkien’s book is on the list of things that leftists tend to kneejerk reject as fascist. No doubt somebody will post Tolkien’s letter rejecting a German publisher in the comments. Which is fair, Tolkien was noContinue reading “In defence of Tolkien”
An Addictive Grinder
Now, I’m not about to say I would never accept a sponsorship that made me a hypocrite. But so far the answer is no. One of the ironies of the fast growth of the Science Fiction channel, podcast and community is that I am now being sent sponsorship offers… …by the producers of the culturalContinue reading “An Addictive Grinder”
Extruded Fantasy Product
“Extruded Fantasy Product” Did Diana Wynne Jones invent this term? Wherever it began it captures the predicament we’re in. The idea of a fantasy “genre” is as ridiculous as an “imagination” genre. Fantasy is the capacity of the human imagination to dream stories that satisfy our desires. The world is big and brutal and weContinue reading “Extruded Fantasy Product”
Philip K Dick’s book of resistance in an empire of lies
“How does one fashion a book of resistance, a book of truth in an empire of falsehood, or a book of rectitude in an empire of vicious lies? How does one do that right in front of the enemy? How does one do that in a truly future technological state? Is it possible for freedomContinue reading “Philip K Dick’s book of resistance in an empire of lies”
50k Q & A
To make this interesting, I will prioritise the toughest questions. The “50k Q&A” is almost a youtube tradition now. As the Science Fiction channel is just a smidgeon away from 50,000 subscribers, this is your invite to ask questions. Questions can relate to any of the video essays or podcast commentaries, to any of ourContinue reading “50k Q & A”
The 1970s science fiction classic that actually deserves a reboot
Watch the FULL video version on the new Science Fiction (video) Spotify channel : https://open.spotify.com/show/7lMNsoZctViqbqv8atqpK2?si=9a474bb8a9d74147
Why was the 1970s a classic era for science fiction cinema? I’m guessing many 1970s scifi movies are forgotten, by anyone who wasn’t there to see them. Dark Star. Silent Running. Rollerball!
The 70s produced so much great scifi cinema it’s hard to list it all.
And even when it wasn’t great, it was still interesting. It’s like every scifi movie in that decade was a unique experiment, always different, always new. And then one movie came along that ended the golden decade for strange, cool scifi movies.
After Star Wars every science fiction movie was trying to be a scifi blockbuster.
And Hollywood’s search for the next big corporate entertainment franchise meant that everything would eventually get a reboot. Sometimes that worked. And sometimes it didn’t. And it didn’t work enough times that, I for one, live in dread of Hollywood rebooting another 70s science fiction classic. But.
There is one movie from that golden decade which, the more I think about it, actually does need a reboot.
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Watch the FULL video version on the new Science Fiction (video) Spotify channel : https://open.spotify.com/show/7lMNsoZctViqbqv8atqpK2?si=9a474bb8a9d74147
Become a member of the Science Fiction community to continue the discussion
Website – https://damiengwalter.com
YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/c/DamienWalter/membership
Patreon – https://www.patreon.com/DamienWalter
Subscribe to the Science Fiction podcast feed for long-form commentaries on these video essays
https://damiengwalter.com/podcast/
Join the Science Fiction community on Facebook
The 1970s science fiction classic that actually deserves a reboot
Why was the 1970s a classic era for science fiction cinema? I’m guessing many 1970s scifi movies are forgotten, by anyone who wasn’t there to see them. Dark Star. Silent Running. Rollerball! The 70s produced so much great scifi cinema it’s hard to list it all. And even when it wasn’t great, it was stillContinue reading “The 1970s science fiction classic that actually deserves a reboot”
