Nexus 6 (6-7-12)

It’s that time again. These are my Nexus 6 choices for this week: genre related stuff I’ve been reading on the old interweb. Last week it was the trailer for Dredd that seemed to be causing the most controversy. This time we have:



1. Top 75 Spaceships From Movies and Television

I love lists. The longer the better. Here ‘Den of Geek’ supplies 75 spaceships from famous TV programmes and films and rank orders them for us. Take some time to peruse the glorious designs and see if you agree with their order. The list can be found here.




2. George Lucas Isn’t The Only One Who Struggles With Dialogue

I came across this the other day. It is an interview with Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford on ‘The Today Show’ from 1980, dealing with the imminent release of The Empire Strikes Back. I love The Empire Strikes Back and for many fans it is the best of all the Star Wars films. It comes as a little bit a surprise, therefore, that two actors so intimately involved with the project and spent months shooting the film should be so ineloquent when describing it. At first the pair can hardly get the words together to talk about it at all. Then – like reluctant students in a class room – the two of them proceed to describe the project very badly and with a lack of cultural nuance that is likely to annoy many Star Wars fans. You also have to remember that Star Wars was already a colossal cultural phenomenon by then, so there’s really no excusing the casual approach taken by the pair to the project that made them so famous. Press Play and see for yourself.




3. Warhammer Leading The Way

One of the many great things about Warhammer and Warhammer 40k is the immersive nature of their settings. It has something to do with verisimilitude: the games designers, artists and authors have a good understanding, not only of the genre but also their history. They produce material that has a keen sense of the possible about it – which is especially useful when dealing with the largely impossible. It’s therefore nice to see the acknowledged influence of Warhammer on other publishing enterprises, like this one from Gollancz. Check it out here.



4. Aliens Are Stupid

Let’s face it: aliens are stupid. They think they’re all that when they have helpless humans strapped to tables, but when they try their hand at any other kind of invading they come seriously unstuck. Cracked introduces us to ‘6 Giant Blind Spots In Every Movie Alien’s Invasion Strategy’. Tru dat. Check it out here.



5. ‘Mermaids Don’t Exist’: US Government

An interesting news item from the BBC here, putting our minds at rest that the seas are not stalked by aquatic mythological creatures. Perhaps the US Government would like to also give us some reassurance on Bigfoot, dragons and unicorns. File under The X-Files: Federal Bureau of Investigation – Basement Division.



6. ‘I Have The Power… point’


6 comments:

The Independent Characters said...

Heck they were probably way to concerned with "spilling the beans" as this hadn't come out yet and no one knew the Luke/Vader relationship yet.

Also - marketing has gotten a lot more savy over the years :P

SQ said...

To be fair, considering it was such a phenomenon by the time of that interview and considering the host was close to useless as well (her leading question was a bit vague and poorly spoken) i'm not suprised they seemed a bit stumped to be begin with. Or maybe they were just a bit bored by it all. I'll forgive them anyway, being involved in these movies forgives them of just about anything.

Blitzspear said...

I saw a filming model of starbug last weekend pics on my blog btw. Can't belive the Aliens drop ship got number one, there nice ive two in my attic but the top spot nahh not in my top ten for sure.

ROB SANDERS said...

Hi Blitzspear-
Love your pictures from the SmallSpace show. For others: http://blitzspearslab.blogspot.co.uk/ I know what you mean about the Aliens dropship. Love it but wouldn't be in my Top Ten either.

ROB SANDERS said...

Good points, SQ. The interviewer did suck. That said, Mark Hamill (top billing, after all) just looked at Harrison for answers and Harrison looked slightly put out that he was having to answer at all. Perhaps you've hit the nail of the head. We - the fans - feel a great deal more strongly about the material than the actors who directly benefitted from it.

ROB SANDERS said...

Hi The Independent Characters! Yeah, I forgot about the Luke/Vader relationship. That said, I don't think there was much of a chance of that interviewer getting that information out of them. They would have had to start babbling before anything like that came out - and the two of them looked like they expected to go the entire interview without saying anything. : )