UFO TV Series

UFO TV series

Produced by Century 21 Productions and created by Gerry and Silvia Anderson, UFO is a British TV science fiction series. Gerry and Silvia had previously done some very successful work with marionette-based children’s programming. After completing Thunderbirds, Stingray and Doppelganger, they felt it was time to move into adult themes and live-action.

As their first venture into live-action, UFO confounded TV executives who thought that the team that brought children’s programming was now taking the same themes into live-action; the UFO series was anything but geared toward children with its themes of divorce, drug use and adultery. Of the cast members, most were new to the studio. Ed Bishop had previously worked on another of the Andersons’ projects as a voice-over actor.

First airing in 1970 in the UK, it was soon syndicated in the United States over the following two years. There were 26 episodes in all, including the pilot episode and the entire series was filmed over one year’s time; this includes the five month break in production due to the closing of MGM-British Studios where the show was filmed initially.

A quick premise of the story line begins in the “futuristic” year of 1980. This is when a secret military organization, Supreme Headquarters Alien Defense Organization, or SHADO, becomes operational. The purpose of SHADO is to defend Earth from Alien’s who are harvesting body parts to extend their lifespan.
The main headquarters of SHADO is well hidden beneath a film studio situated near London, England. There is also the SHADO Moonbase and a submarine fleet (Skydiver). An Earth orbiting satellite, Space Intruder Detector (SID), initially detect any UFOs. UFOs that land on Earth are tracked and dealt with by ground Mobiles.

Episodes of the show typically center on SHADO’s attempts at thwarting the Alien threats and the numerous strategies the Aliens use to disable SHADO or kill the commander. There are some recurring themes which include maintaining SHADO’s security, the effect of secrecy on the personal lives of the SHADO operatives and the problem with keeping SHADO funded properly.

As the final episodes were being filmed and finished, UFO began to air in England. Local stations were befuddled about how to place this new show into their schedules. They were expecting yet another children’s program, but what they got instead was something with a huge amount of adult content and themes. As a result of this, local stations showed it to late night, moved it around into various time slots or didn’t show it at all. As expected the ratings plummeted to almost none.

Gerry Anderson and the team working on the project began pre-production on a series sequel which would take place in 1999. In this sequel series, the Aliens battle with Earth would have escalated and the SHADO Headquarters would move to a larger Moonbase. All of the models, costumes and sets were prepared for production, but when the ratings began to fall the series was cancelled. Gerry pitched his idea for using the pre-production work in a brand new series which became SPACE: 1999.

Alien Chestburster

alien chestburster The Alien Quadrilogy, 4 films that were made over a span of 18 years, horrified and delighted millions of movie-goers. In the lore of the films, the Aliens are life-forms with a defined system of hierarchy and are ruled by a queen. The life-cycle of an Alien is comprised of several different stages: the Egg, the Facehugger, the Chestburster and the adult Alien. One interesting thing about the Alien is that it will take on some of the hosts attributes such as quadrupedalism or the possession of mandibles.

The Chestburster is the result of the gestation from the embryonic stage of Alien development; this is the Alien baby. After the Facehugger has impregnated its host with the embryo by implanting its eggs in the host’s bronchial tubes, it will then hatches and burrow to find the aorta where it will begin to feed on white blood cells and absorbed nutrients. A few hours after that, it detaches from the aorta and swims around inside the body of the host. The swimming alien baby causes only mild discomfort until it finds the sternum and starts to chew. The chewing causes a lot of pain and blood loss and the victim will be in shock. The process can take considerably longer in the case of a queen birth. When it has finished chewing its way through the sternum, it will burst violently from the host’s chest cavity, killing him in the process, hence the name Chestburster.

As it is young, the Chestburster’s carapace has yet to harden; its hide is dull, gray and fleshy. The host determines much about the resulting Alien creature that is born. From the regular human host, you get the typical Xenomorph Drone with a black carapace. A Xenomorph Runner is produced when the host is any quadruped, it has a red carapace and will itself be a quadruped. The PredAlien results from a predator host.

The PredAlien is perhaps the most vicious as it will implant the Chestburster embryos straight into the host and usually the host is a pregnant woman. Several Chestbursters will feed on the unborn baby and then burst forth from the host’s abdomen, killing her in the process.

Because this was the most gruesome part of the Alien life-cycle it has generated quite a following of its own. It has been referred to in numerous television shows, books, magazines, and movies. It has become part of mainstream pop culture, even more so than the Alien movies themselves. One such referencing, which is rather comedic, is in the BBC Comedy Series Coupling (May 2000 - June 2004.) In one episode, a main character is pregnant and the father of the child refers to the impending birth as the “John Hurt moment.” And the scene is also referenced in the 1999 Film Dogma.

Not only has it been referenced, but there are a number of products that have been based on the Alien Chestburster. There are figurines, action figures, T-shirts, Lego pieces, and of course costumes! If you want a cute, friendly Facehugger or Chestburster there are plush toys.

Reptilian Movie

In the mid-1960s, inspired by the success of the Heisei era Godzilla and Gamera films in Japan, and Roland Emmerich's Godzilla remake, director Shim Hyung-rae envisioned his own monster film. The reptilian movie was titled Yonggari in South Korea, internationally Yonggary, and in the US Reptilian. A remake in name only of Yonggary (1967), Shim's film uses conventional computer-generated imagery effects, and an American cast to appeal to international markets.

Yongary is a popular reptilian movie. While Yongary, Monster from the Deep only popped up sporadically on local sci-fi TV matinees throughout the '70s, the Koreans have always had a soft spot for their homegrown creature. Yonggary was totally computer animated. The plot of his movie would feature invading aliens in a giant mothership and all of the characters would be played by Anglos.

Yonggary opened in Seoul in the summer of 1999 to rave reviews in the local press and record-breaking ticket sales. In the movie the reptilian Yonggary proving himself a hero after all, joins in the defense of Earth. The aliens add further evidence to the illogic of their plan by sending their own monster Cykor in to fight Yonggary. Though the special effects are inferior to those in most Hollywood productions, they are still fun to watch, and are even darned impressive in some shots.

The DVD presents a trouble-free transfer, and comes with a few minor extras, the most valuable of which is the “production notes” section, which is upfront about the film's origins without putting it in a bad light. The only thing the package lacks is the original Korean trailer, which would have been nice to have - and perhaps even the original credits, that had a catchy Yonggary pop song over them.

The film was re-released in 2001, with improved special effects and additional scenes. The re-release did not do well in the box office, possibly due to poor promotion. This version of the film was first shown at a Japanese film Festival in 2000, being re-titled ARMAGGEDON BEAST: YONGARI, before its 2001 showing at the film's native country South Korea. Overall, when it was widespread released on Jan. 20 2001, it only reached at highest, number 10 at the box office. Unlike the first version of the film, this 2001 Upgrade edition had barely any publicity. Among the scenes that were added to the “2001 Upgrade”, the beginning scene with a team of archeologists entering the cave was an addition.

Ben Ten Alien Force

Ben Ten alien force

Ben 10 Alien Force is an American animated television series which is created by Glen Murakami and Dwayne McDuffie and produced by Cartoon Network Studios. It is a sequel to Ben 10. Set five years after the original series, the storyline has matured with the characters and has a darker tone. The series was originally produced under the working title of Ben 10: Hero Generation. It will be followed by Ben 10: Evolutions.

Five years after the events of the original series, 15-year old Ben Tennyson has returned to a normal, everyday life. His adventures done, Ben has taken off the Omnitrix and has grown from a young boy into a confident teenager. However, a new menace is fast approaching Earth. A race of fanatic aliens, the Highbred, has secretly arrived on Earth with the intention of destroying humanity. Max, Ben's grandfather and an ex-member of the planet-defending Plumbers, has already set out to try and stop them, but has not been heard from since. Ben has no choice but to once again use the Omnitrix in order to fight back. The Omnitrix has recalibrated to Ben's teenage body, resulting in a new form, functions, and aliens to transform into.

Ben is not alone, either. His cousin Gwen is once again tagging along and her natural abilities have significantly grown over the years. Also joining Ben is his former rival Kevin Levin who has served his time in the Null Void and is trying to reform (though he still partakes in less-than-legal activities). Over the course of the series, Ben, Gwen, and Kevin fight off the Highbreed, do battle with both old and new enemies, deal with teenage hormones, and even make new friends with child Plumbers, some of which bear DNA and alien hero forms identical to Ben's old Omnitrix aliens.

Cartoon Network announced a live-action film based on the series. Monkey Bar Games and D3 Publisher made a game of the show. It is for PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS and PSP. Playable characters in the game include Ben, Gwen, and Kevin. All versions of the game allow Ben to become Swampfire, and Humongousaur; the DS version includes Chromastone, Echo, and Goop, while the console versions include Big Chill, Spider monkey, and Jet ray.
At Cartoon Network Upfront 2009, it was announced that another series called Ben 10: Evolutions would premiere right after the end of Alien Force in 2010. The all-new animated series follows 16-year-old Ben Tennyson as his secret identity has been revealed to the world and now he is an international mega-star super hero, loved by kids all over the world.

ET The Extra Terrestrial

Loved alien now 25 years old

For a generation the prase "E.T. phone home" has been a funny and well known sentence.
Next week E.T.'s 25 years birthday is celebrated in Hollywood.
Steven Spielberg released his film about the funny little alien E.T. at the film festival in Cannes, May 1982.
Some days later - on June 11th - it had it's opening night in the US and it immediately became a mega hit. Which it has been ever since.

Fhe movie has later been published on dvds and been showed in TV several times. Spielberg and his staff have never been slow to exploit those extra income potentials and the film put new standards at the beginning of the 1980s, as to merchandise.

The film has appeared in three versions - the most impressing and radical one of these are the 20 year version, which premiered five years ago. A DVD version contains both the revised and the original version.
Spielberg changed some of the scenes with the help of digital technology, but was later criticised for political correctness because of the changes. Spielbergdefended himself with that he since the first recordings had become like a father to the film and now thought that the pistols in the police officers' hands were just rather too threatening (in the new version those police officers carried torches).

The Film originates from Spielberg's own childhood where he created a character while his parent's were getting a divorce.
The film describes family affairs and typical American suburban-environments, which are very analogous with the circumstances and the surroundings from the instructor's own childhood.

already in the film's first months Spielberg and Melissa Mathison were busy writing the manuscript to an "E.T. 2".
In that film the three children were abducted by evil aliens and had to seek after E.T.s' help.
But the first movie enjoyed so much success and Spielberg was so satisfied with it that he decided to drop all plans for a continuation. He simply could not live up to all the expectations.

25 years later

November 29th, 2007 together with all of the actors, photographers, technicians and second crew Spielberg will be celebrating the film's 25 years' jubilee. The set will be a special gala performance in The Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Los Angeles. A celebration, which is arranged by Academy of Motion Picture and Sciences - the same organization, who stands behind the distribution of Oscars, which will take place on February 24th next year - for the 80. time.