#80SciFi #SFFilms

IMDB link:
Cyber Ninja / Mirai Ninja - 1988
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095643

I have only seen the American dub version. If it's significantly different from the original, I've missed that.

Sadly, there is no N. Am. release of the original. So you might have to do some poking around to find a copy in Japanese.

Also, I just found a remark that this was actually based on a game release, so I guess that explains a little.

#80sSciFi #SFFilms
Cyber Ninja / Mirai Ninja - 1988

I think I found a hidden gem. This was on a double-feature disk with a truly terrible Hong Kong martial arts movie.

And, truth be told, it is silly.

But it's got some great art design. I LOVE the Medieval-Japan-styled mechs with the cute little roofs. Baba Yaga would approve.

Otherwise, it's a somewhat anime-like Shinto-meets-Cyberpunk story with a bit of magic and a bit of tech, and a whole lot of tropes.

Fun movie!
[...]

Okay, I rewatched
"Per Aspera Ad Astra" a.k.a. "Через Тернии К Звездам" (1981), literally "Through Thorns to the Stars".

This was a really good film. Weird, to say the least, and yeah, I really suspect certain Doctor Who writers have seen it.

The story was very interesting, with themes around identity, self-determination, and environmentalism. But also fun vignettes.

#80sSciFi #SFFilms

On YT:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDOeQldHiIY

#50sSciFi #SFFilms straggler...
I missed this one when I was on the 50s on my SF movie watch:

"Kronos" (1957)

This was actually quite a bit better than I expected, although definitely a genre 50s SF.

The premise is pretty dumb: Kronos has come across hundreds of light-years in an powerful saucer capable of resisting nuclear weapons, but needs to steal our electricity? You'd think that wouldn't really be a problem for them.

Turns out to be uploaded on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUwEUStlwtA

#80sSciFi #SFFilms
"Aurora Encounter" 1986

Weird, sentimental, low-budget film about an alien tourist visiting a small Texas town c1900, in his beat-up stationwagon of a spaceship.

Without giving too many spoilers, it goes well until it doesn't.

This wasn't what I thought it was going to be. I think I must've had it mixed up with a different movie.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090675/

#80sSciFi #SFFilms
"Flight of the Navigator" (1986)

Curious mention of a "Pixar Galaxy" in the dialog, in the year Pixar was founded. But I don't find any acknowledged causal connection.

The effects company listed is "Omnibus" and the Wikipedia article on Pixar lists a different and pretty-plausible story for the origin of the name.

Curious, indeed. Makes me wonder if there was some unconscious or unacknowledged connection. Or maybe it was just a coincidence.

#80sSciFi #SFFilms
"Flight of the Navigator" (1986)

So this one is a Disney movie, and it does feel like it, although it's a big step up from "Escape to Witch Mountain" which I watched when I was on the 70s.

This is the first time I've seen this one, though I've seen the cover and stills before.

Of course, the spaceship is clearly an early CG effect, which is very cool. A lot of the standard tropes, but this was a fun movie.
[...]

#80sSciFi #SFFilms
"Howard the Duck" 1986
Long before "Iron Man", this Marvel character was brought to the big screen by George Lucas, not long after his success with the "Star Wars" trilogy, and with special effects learned from those movies.

The animatronic puppetry and Phil Tippett's stop motion work were really top notch for this pre-CG film.

Sadly, the comic timing and writing were not as impressive, and the world was not yet ready for anthropomorphic animals to be taken seriously.
[...]

#SFFilms #80sSciFi
Okay. REALLY almost done now, but "Deep Star Six" (1989).

The cover blurb says there's going to be aliens. But it lies.

There is, however, a lot of deep sea action, horror, explosions, and very dangerous wildlife.

So it counts as SF, more or less.

Some very good model effects work in this one, along with very convincing sets. Excellent mis-en-scene, overall.

The writing was... adequate, but very predictable.

Cast was actually pretty good, considering.

#80sSciFi #SFFilms
Still not quite done with the 80s!

Just watched "Space Mutiny" (1988).

Campy, very low budget. Computer graphics FX & titles are clearly PC/EGA or Amiga graphics.

And the space effects shots are literally just clips of FX shots from the Battlestar Galactica series. There is NO mention of this in the credits. I don't know how this escaped lawsuits, unless maybe because it was produced in South Africa.
[...]

Just (re)watched "Weird Science" (1985).

Oh man, that movie has not aged well. I mean, it was kind of cringy at the time, but now... ooh, I think we call that "problematic" nowadays...

Anyway, I should be getting pretty close to the end of my #80sSciFi #SFFilms watch. Clearly reaching the dregs, now.

The most shocking thing is apparently there was a TV Series in the mid-90s? I don't have the strength for that.

#80sSciFi #SFFilms
Threads (1984)

British entry into the "serious treatment of nuclear apocalypse" genre.

Pretty grim stuff. The nightmare aftermath of a global nuclear war, from the point of view of Sheffield in the UK.

I didn't see this one back in the day. I did see "The Day After", which was sort of the American version of this idea (not sure which was first).

This sort of thing was definitely preying on our minds back then.

Star Crystal (1985)
Very low budget, low production values, weak acting. Dialog writing mediocre.

The story is a pretty standard if oddly slow space monster horror plot, but takes a weird turn in the last 20 minutes that kind of makes it interesting. There was a seed of a good idea there, though the execution is lacking.

This is one of those movies I kept seeing on the shelf at the video rental, but never got around to before now.

#80sSciFi #SFFilms

#SFFilms #80sSciFi
Daughter's one-word review of "Heavy Metal" (1981): "Hilarious".

Well, she's not wrong... 😅

Also just watched "Gandahar"/"Light Years" (1987).

This animated film is a little hard to find. "Gandahar" is the original French title, and refers to the civilization in the story. The American English-dubbed release was called "Light Years", derived from the original tagline, and that's what we were watching.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandahar_(film)

#80sSciFi #SFFilms
Three films in the last couple of days, all from 1985:

"Morons from Outer Space"

Clever high-concept British low-budget film where the aliens are just these guys, you know?

"My Science Project"

Teen sci-fi with interesting characterization choices. Sidekick buddy who is not as funny as the director thinks he is (And honestly pretty homophobic. Guy has an issue there).

"Creature"

A.k.a. 'we have Alien at home' low-budget production bad enough to grade on a curve.

#SFFilms #80sSciFi #Explorers

Clearly inspired by the success of E.T. three years earlier. Modern audiences might recognize similarities to "Stranger Things", except this was contemporary.

A number of oddities. Drive-in movies were not really a thing in the 80s. More like nostalgia. And the drive-in kids are dressed VERY conservatively for 1985, they look anachronistic to me.

Significant roles by Robert Picardo, well before he played the "EMH" doctor from "Voyager"!

#SFFilms #80sSciFi
"Explorers" (1985)

SF kids' movie that kind of shifts gears a lot in tone (but I guess Joe Dante was known for that). Plays with the SF tropes, school-age kid tropes, and media tropes.

When I first saw this film, I thought I was really too old for it, but I would've loved it when I was about 10-12.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Explorers_(film)

#80sSciFi #SFFilms

My science-fiction film watching continues -- still in the 80s, with:

"Gremlins" (1984)

and

"Brother From Another Planet" (1984).

Haven't seen Gremlins since the late 80s. Squicked me then, squicks me now with its cringey/tropey mash-up of kid's movie, satire, and horror.

I have seen Brother on video store shelves for decades, but never watched it until now. It's a brilliant low-budget movie that uses acting and mime to overcome the F/X deficit.

Recently, I was able to watch the (Soviet) animated film "Mystery of the Third Planet" (1981) (weirdly, "3rd Planet" does NOT seem to be an oblique reference to Earth).

The plot is kind of thin -- basically just an excuse for an odyssey of the characters traversing lavishly-illustrated alien landscapes. But it is absolutely gorgeous, and beautifully animated. I liked it a lot!

#80sSciFi #SFFilms #Animation

Okay, the #SFFilms #80sSciFi watch goes on...

and I have now seen "Videodrome" (1983), directed by David Cronenberg, starring James Woods and Debbie Harry.

And, yeah, that was pretty much as weird as I thought it was going to be.