Sci-Fi Archives - Page 2 of 3 - Chris Ullrich dot net
Browsing Tag

Sci-Fi

Even An Alien Needs a Day Off Sometimes

Posted on June 5, 2013

alien-day-off-1

Even though you’re an Alien from, you know, Alien you can’t spend all your time ripping arms off, crushing skulls with your explosively protruding jaw or impaling people with your barbed tail.

Sometimes, you just need to take a break. And heck, what better place to take that break than a nice park?

He likes the rides. How sweet.

While we’re on the subject of Alien, I want to mention how much I love this lamp. I love it for many reasons, one of which is it makes me laugh.

alien-lamp-1

I will admit that it’s probably funnier if you’ve actually seen James Cameron’s movie Aliens. But if you haven’t, it’s still a cool lamp.

Although, you really should see Aliens too.

(h/t to Fashionably Geek for the Alien vacation photo)

How to Teach Your Unborn Child About ‘Star Trek’

Posted on March 26, 2013

star-trek-enterprise

Geeks/nerds out there expecting a child in the near future, this video is for you: How to Teach Your Unborn Child About Star Trek. That’s right, it’s never too early to start teaching your child the important fundamentals.

Well, you might want to wait until they actually have ears and can hear (about 20 weeks or so). But then, get to it.

If I ever have children (hey, you never know), in addition to Star Trek, I will also be teaching them about Star Wars during the all-important internal gestation period. This will, of course, inevitably lead to many enjoyable Star Trek vs. Star Wars debates.

That does sound like fun. I may have to work on that.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPt9vVYd-oE?rel=0]

(h/t to Dr. Tom Mahoney for the link)

Trailer Tuesday – A New One for ‘Pacific Rim’

Posted on January 8, 2013

PACIFIC RIM

It’s CES time in Las Vegas and yes, I’m very glad not to be there. I’ve been several times and each time I vowed it would be the last.

This year I was able to keep that promise. Although, strangely enough, I’m kinda sorry I wasn’t there to at least see this new trailer for Guillermo Del Toro’s Pacific Rim.

Oh well, at least we always have the power of the Interwebs. That is, until the trailer gets taken down. . .

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FA_TQqENzQ?rel=0&w=525&h=295]

Back to Work

Posted on December 30, 2012

starship-troopers-1

Looks like I’ll be starting a new project next week to kick off 2013. I can’t say too much about it except that it’s a movie, it’s written/directed by a good friend and I’m looking forward to working with him again and to helping out in any way I can.

Other than that, mum’s the word. That said, expect some updates over the next few weeks/months as we gear up to do this thing and actually, well, do it.

Also, that pic above, from Starship Troopers of course, is actually a clue to the identity of the mystery friend. Although, in truth, probably not a great one. Still, if you know much about me, you might be able to figure it out.

Okay, enough of that. Now the real work begins.

The Live-Action ‘Star Blazers’ Movie Is In the Wild(Star)

Posted on December 20, 2012

star-blazers-1

When I was a kid, I used to watch an animated TV show called Star Blazers in the morning before going to school. It was a great show and I really enjoyed it. Well, it was great to me at the time anyway.

Later, I learned it was actually called Space Cruiser Yamato in Japan (the Star Blazers title attached to it in the States to capitalize on the popularity of Star Wars no doubt) and in the years since I first watched, it has become quite popular in Japan and spawned several animated movies and seasons of TV.

More recently, they made a live-action version of the series. I posted a trailer for it awhile back. It was released last year in Japan and has now found its way online.

It’s also available on DVD and Blu-ray, if you can find it. I managed to order a copy from Amazon. We’ll see if it actually arrives.

Until then, there’s always YouTube (or the eventual American remake supposedly being written by Chris McQuarrie).

Enjoy. I did.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iissssJnq4M?rel=0]

One More Trailer for Today: Guillermo Del Toro’s ‘Pacific Rim’

Posted on December 12, 2012

pacific-rim-1

If you ask people like my friend Rick Marshall, an extremely knowledgeable real geek if there ever was one, this is going to be the best movie of 2013. I’m talking, of course, about Guillermo Del Toro’s Pacific Rim.

Some points in the movie’s favor: It features giant robots fighting giant monsters. Do I need to go on? Okay, it’s also co-written and directed by Guillermo Del Toro, a guy who’s movies I’ve liked almost all of. YMMV.

Plus, it has a cool cast including two, count ’em, two guys from Sons of Anarchy (Charlie Hunnam and Ron Perlman), the under-appreciated Idris Elba and Charlie Day from It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia. Is that a cast, or what?

All of this leads me to the trailer which, at first glance, is pretty damn cool. Is it going to be the best movie of 2013? Maybe.

Did I mention the giant robots fighting the giant monsters?

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vKz7WnU83E?rel=0&w=500&h=281]

One of My Favorite 70s Conspiracy Movies

Posted on January 6, 2012

I’m a big fan of movies. Some of you might already know that. I have a particular fondness for movies from the 70s and in particular, conspiracy/thrillers.

One of my favorites is the Peter Hyams sci-fi conspiracy thriller Capricorn One. It stars James Brolin, Elliott Gould, Sam Waterston, Hal Holbrook, Brenda Vaccaro and O.J. Simpson. In case you’re not familiar (and we could get into a bit of spoiler territory here), it concerns a group of NASA scientists who, along with some astronauts, fake a mission to and landing on Mars.

The astronauts go along with it until something goes wrong with the spacecraft sent up as part of the fake missions and the entire world ends up thinking they’re dead. So, in order for the conspiracy to keep going they have to be dead. . . for real.

Knowing this, they escape and try to survive long enough to let people know they’re alive and it was all a big hoax. It’s a fun movie and well worth watching. Give it a try.

For fun I’ve included the trailer for the film below. It’s fun to watch trailers made before MTV and before people’s attention spans dropped off to nothing. The editing style is so very different.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhLHAKoK35w?rel=0]