In this episode of Good Bad Flicks I discuss the sci-fi flick Screamers. It’s a very entertaining movie based on the short story Second Variety by Philip K Dick. I’ve been wanting to do a show on this for a while and glad I finally got to it. Hope you enjoy.
Speaking of sci fi writers, I wonder if they’re ever going to do an adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation novels. the only ones they did were I,Robot and Bicentennial Man, so why not those. They already did a ton of Ray Bradbury and Frank Herbert.
I would love to see more of Asimov’s works turned into films. Right now there is a serious lack of quality Sci-fi, which confuses me to no end. With Avatar making a billion dollars you would think Hollywood would realize there is a massive market for sci-fi. Instead all we get is Emo kid book adaptations (Beastly, I am Number Four) instead of trying to tackle serious sci-fi like Asimov, Card, Heinlein, or my personal favorite author Philip Jose Farmer.
I understand it is risky (Bicentennial Man lost a lot of money) but that’s part of the business. If they don’t start taking some chances we are doomed to an endless supply remakes, poorly done adaptations, and farting robots.
A good place to start would be the Dayworld Trilogy. His World of Tiers books are also amazing. He is best known for his Riverworld series, which to be honest, changed my life. I never read much before that but those books were so amazing I had to hunt down everything I could from him and read them. This was back in the days before Amazon so I had to order them from a place called George’s Books that sadly is now out of business. I know I wouldn’t read nearly as much as I do if not for him.
The Riverworld series deserves to be right up there with The Lord of the Rings and The Earthsea Cycle as far as I’m concerned.
I still remember how excited I was walking out of the theater after seeing it the first time. Such a cool movie that should have a much bigger audience. The short story is freaky…it’s funny though I visioned the robots much differently in my head.
That’s hilarious with the Care Bear at the end. By the way I’m not proud to admit it but when I saw Screamers as a kid it creeped me the fuck out big time. Especially the little boy and the ending with the teddy bear moving around.
When I saw the title, I thought this was going to be about an older film I remember seeing advertised in the newspaper as a kid (probably early 80s). That “Screamers” had the tag line “They’re people…turned inside-out!” It also said, “Warning: you will actually see people turned inside-out.”
Never heard of the movie since then, but that ad alone freaked me out as a kid.
I vaguely recall it being talked about on Siskel and Ebert at the time, where IIRC they said 1) it had something to do with Atlantis, and 2) you never actually see anyone turned inside-out.
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Speaking of sci fi writers, I wonder if they’re ever going to do an adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation novels. the only ones they did were I,Robot and Bicentennial Man, so why not those. They already did a ton of Ray Bradbury and Frank Herbert.
I would love to see more of Asimov’s works turned into films. Right now there is a serious lack of quality Sci-fi, which confuses me to no end. With Avatar making a billion dollars you would think Hollywood would realize there is a massive market for sci-fi. Instead all we get is Emo kid book adaptations (Beastly, I am Number Four) instead of trying to tackle serious sci-fi like Asimov, Card, Heinlein, or my personal favorite author Philip Jose Farmer.
I understand it is risky (Bicentennial Man lost a lot of money) but that’s part of the business. If they don’t start taking some chances we are doomed to an endless supply remakes, poorly done adaptations, and farting robots.
Now that you mentioned it,from a fellow sci fi novel fan to another, which of Phillip Jose Farmers works would you recommend?
A good place to start would be the Dayworld Trilogy. His World of Tiers books are also amazing. He is best known for his Riverworld series, which to be honest, changed my life. I never read much before that but those books were so amazing I had to hunt down everything I could from him and read them. This was back in the days before Amazon so I had to order them from a place called George’s Books that sadly is now out of business. I know I wouldn’t read nearly as much as I do if not for him.
The Riverworld series deserves to be right up there with The Lord of the Rings and The Earthsea Cycle as far as I’m concerned.
This was such a fantastic movie that didn’t get nearly the love it should have. The original short story was pretty damn chilling, too.
I still remember how excited I was walking out of the theater after seeing it the first time. Such a cool movie that should have a much bigger audience. The short story is freaky…it’s funny though I visioned the robots much differently in my head.
That’s hilarious with the Care Bear at the end. By the way I’m not proud to admit it but when I saw Screamers as a kid it creeped me the fuck out big time. Especially the little boy and the ending with the teddy bear moving around.
Thanks! I had a little fun with this one.
When I saw the title, I thought this was going to be about an older film I remember seeing advertised in the newspaper as a kid (probably early 80s). That “Screamers” had the tag line “They’re people…turned inside-out!” It also said, “Warning: you will actually see people turned inside-out.”
Never heard of the movie since then, but that ad alone freaked me out as a kid.
I vaguely recall it being talked about on Siskel and Ebert at the time, where IIRC they said 1) it had something to do with Atlantis, and 2) you never actually see anyone turned inside-out.
Update: Found it! 1979 Italian movie; the advertised scene was apparently shot for a US trailer, but never in the actual film.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_of_the_Fishmen