70's Flicks ~ Remember?...

[Pumpkin_Man]

I would have paid to be an extra in a horror movie when I was a kid. My parents, on the other hand, probably would have put the 'kabash' on it, though.

As for classic 70s horror tv shows, how about

"The 6th Sense"
"Circle of Fear"
"Ghost Story"
"Screaming Yellow Theatre" (A horror hosted movie show)
"Creature Features" (Another horror hosted movie show)
"Night Gallery"
"Logans Run" (Sci Fi end of the world tv show based on movie of same name)
"The Star Lost" (Sci Fi)
"Planet of the Apes" (the tv series)

Mike

[Kolchak]

Ah Yes!!

Logan's Run. The motion picture!

Farrah Fawcett and the Oh so beautiful Jenny Agutter.

Not many people know this, but Jenny Agutter was madly in love with me. Unfortunately for me she didn't know it either.

[Pumpkin_Man]

I didn't get to see the motion picture when it was out in theatres. I was remembering a rather short-lived tv show based on the "Logans Run" story line. It was a great sci fi show, but it only lasted through the Fall of 1977.

"The Star Lost" was another all time favorite of mine, but unfortunately that show didn't even last an entire season. It aired between October of 73 and January of 74 and was cancelled. For those of you who don't remember it, the show was based in the future. The Earth was destroyed, so humanity was on this large space craft called the Ark, and the Ark was devided into seperate "biospheres," which were domes where various groups of people lived. The biosphere where the main characters were from was called Syphrus Corners. The Ark was on a collission course with a star, and it was the mission of Deven, Rachel and others to make the necessary correction so all humanity wouldn't be destroyed when the Ark crashed into the star.

Mike

[Kolchak]

I remember the TV shows of Logan's Run and Planet of the Apes. They really didn't translate well onto the small screen.

I never could figure out that why on the Planet of the Apes TV show, the two main characters wore long sleeve shirts AND a vest?

The vests served no practical purpose, in that they had no pockets. What were they wearing them for? Fashion?

If it was cold, you would wear the vest on the inside of the garment for layering.

Other than that, wearing the vest would have been a bigger hassle than help. It would get caught on branches and bushes while they would be trying to escape the apes.

These guys being astronauts and prior military would have known that.

Yea, I know, we read too much into things, but a soldier looks at a TV show like that with a different eye than most viewers. LOL!

[Kolchak]

I don't remember Star Lost, but I think it was a spin off of a movie that had Bruce Dern in it. It was about the earth not being able to sustain life and they had built these huge biospheres that were up in orbit. Kind of a sad movie really.

[Pumpkin_Man]

I actualy liked both "Logan's Run" and "Planet of the Apes," but both tv shows didn't do too well. As for "The Starlost," I never saw the movie, but I loved the very short lived tv show. The tv show was a very low budget Canadian made series that was actualy shot on video tape instead of film, much like the original "Dark Shadows" tv show was. Thoush the SPFX and cinematography was a bit on the cheesy side, it was a great story.

Mike

[Kolchak]

Okay, I found it. It was called Silent Running, and it came out in 1972. Bruce Dern and others are taking care of what's left of earths animal and plant life somewhere in the not too distant future.

They had little robots in it that I'm certain I saw being used again in the first Star Wars. Just like in Star Wars, these were midgets the had put into the robot suits and they walked with legs and not rollers.

The movie is sad because at the end all the biodomes are destroyed and Bruce Derns character saves the last one by putting one of the robots in it a blasting it out into space. Of course Dern dies at the end and we see the biodome with its lone little robot watering the plants as birds and rabbits fly and hop around.

Typical early 70s stuff, but more rare in that Dern was a good guy. 99% of his movies I'd seen him in, had him as a badguy.

[Pumpkin_Man]

Kolchak, you are confusing "The Starlost" with an entirely different story. "Silent Running" takes place in the not so distant future, and the domes in the skies are an attempt to save the forrests. Orders are given to nuclear bomb the forests, but one of the astronauts on board kills off all his comrads to save the one forrest that was not vaporized by a nuke bomb.

"The Starlost" was a story about a star ship called the Ark. It takes place in the distant future. Earth was completely destroyed, and the Ark is on a collision course with a star, and it is up to Deven and his friends, from the biosphere of Cyprus Corners, to stear the huge star ship back on course so humanity is not totaly destroyed. Many of the inhabitants of the Ark have no clue that they are even on a space ship. Cyprus Corners was home to an Amish like people who live a very simple life of farming. Deven and his friends are accused, convicted, and sentenced to death for herasey, because they try to tell their people the truth about the Ark, and they narrowly escape Cyprus Corners. The show is a continuing story of their adventures as they try to locate the bridge of the ship, fix the computer, and use the secondary bridge to correct the ship's course.

Mike

[Kolchak]

Okay. Let me ask you a question, since you saw both movies and I only saw the one with Bruce Dern.

Are either of these shows talking about the future and how man must make correct choices in order to survive?

Did both of these shows that man makes poor choices and those choices have consequences that can be dire to all?

Did both of these shows portray a humanity that under extreme measures they must then find survival in outer space?

Are not both of these shows a morality play?


Both of these shows are comments on morality, technology, ignorance and arrogance. Man thinks he knows everything and decides to push forward without thinking of the consequences for him and his fellow man.

When he is smacked in the face with the reality and finality of his actions, he then tries to fall back on technology. What man does not realize is that his arrogance and ignorance is what caused the problems in the first place.

When he thinks he can leave these behind as he moves off the planet he has either partially or totally destroyed, he realizes oftentimes much too late, that no matter where he goes, the problems will be there, because the problem AND the answer lie within man and not within technology.

THAT is what I was referring too.

[Pumpkin_Man]

Kolchak, I suppose the answer to your questions are "yes," but my point is that "Silent Running," was a whole different scenario, with a whole different story line. "Silent Running" was about how we made poor choices by deforesting the Earth, and the attempt made to bring back the forests, and the equaly poor choice that was made by the powers that be, to atom bomb all the domed forrests which orbited the earth.

"The Starlost," scenario, was a totaly different scenario. In "The Starlost," something destroyed the earth. I don't remember if it was a man-made disaster such as a nuclear war or some other type of a catlclism, but the Earth was destroyed, to in order to save humanity, we had to build a huge star ship with countless domed communities called 'biospheres.' Through some sort of an accident, the Ark, as that star ship was called, was thrown several hundred years into the future. Badly damaged, and with their guidance computer on the fritz, the Ark is on a collision course with a star. Additionaly, many of the survivors aboard the Ark don't even know that they're on board a space ship. they think they're on a planet, and have no clue as to the impending disaster that is about to occur. Through some quirk, Deven, Rachel and several of their friends find out that they are on board a ship, and that the ship is off course, and the entire show is a continuing 'soap opera' type of a story about how Deven and his cohorts try to save the Ark and humanity by stearing the ship back onto corus.

You and I were probably refering to two different things. You were discussing the morality play issue. I was discussing the story line. There were a lot of morality scenarios in "The Star Lost," as there was in "Silent Running." Also, in "Silent Running," mankind still resides on Earth. The domed greenhouses in outer space orbit the Earth so to replant the forrests and repair all the damage done to the Earth through mankinds arrogance and ignorance. In "The Star Lost," the elders of Cyprus Corners accuse Deven of 'herisay,' and are both too ignorant and arrogant to listen to him, as he is trying to save their lives and prevent the total destruction of humanity.

Mike

[Kolchak]

That's cool Bro, but I think most would agree if the world went Tango-Uniform because of nuclear war/weapons, that would qualify as having been mans fault due to poor choices made. Especially if who was left had to leave the planet!

[Andybev01]

Space:1999

But only season one. They lost it when they brought in the woman who could turn into a hawk.

What the hell was that all about?

[Pumpkin_Man]

Kolchak, the story is not totaly clear as to how the Earth was destroyed. It only states that it was destroyed, and the inhabitants of the Ark are in danger. It's a great show. It has some cheesy spfx, and was produced on a rather low budget, but it's a great continuing story. Netflix has the discs if you would like to check it out.

Andybev, I am totaly with you. "Space 1999" was great in the first season, but that hawk woman was really hokey, and had no place, IMHO, in a Science Fiction story. That was more along the line of Science Fantasy.

Mike

[ScarecrowJack]

OMG, I used to love Logan's Run, both the TV series and the movie. I used to have a Sandman uniform but lost it in a move.

I was too young in the 70's to really follow horror. The first horror movie I saw in the theaters was The Dead Zone. I had read the novel and wanted to see the movie. I was about 14 when it came out. My older brother took me to see it as I was too young to get in. I really enjoyed it and absolutely loved Christopher Walken. After that, I tried to watch more of his movies. Of course, since the first one I saw was The Dead Zone, I thought of him as the hero. Imagine my surprise as I watched his other movies. LOL.

I even caught a few episodes of the TV series. I thought it was cool that Anthony Michael Hall slicked his hair back in the first season.

[jadewik]

I feel a little out of my league... I wasn't alive in the 1970's, so my first horror film memories are from the 1980's. I also have a couple movies my dad told me about, which "scared" him back when he was a child.

... but if I can squeak a few 1980's films in there...

"The Watcher in the Woods" (1980) - Disney film-- back when Disney used to do more adult films. This is one of the only movies that still kinda scares me-- just the theatrical version, though. This is probably the closest to the 1970's I can get-- the costumes in the films are VERY 1970's! LOL. I can kinda understand a remake just to make it more modern...

"Creepshow" (1982) - George Romero and Stephen King... who could resist this classic telling of 5 spooky tales of terror?

"Lady in White" (1988) - Just a really neat film that left an impression on me as a child. It's a cool ghost story tied to a murder and one family's dark secret.

"The Blob" (1988- Remake) - Just another of those "classic" horror films.

Some my dad talked about:

"Angry Red Planet" (1959)- Can't remember why this was spooky, but my dad told me he snuck out of bed to watch it and it scared him half to death.

"The Crawling Hand" (1963) - Looks like it was a Mystery Science Theater mock at one time!