MARTHA THOMASES: Space Oddity
Jerome Bixby’s Man From Earth is a profoundly unfashionable film. Written by Bixby before he died and directed by Richard Schenkman, it’s a science fiction movie with no aliens, no space ships, not even any explosions. It’s a thoughtful movie, intimate, with adult actors dealing with complex philosophical ideas.
When I was first reading science fiction, I liked the books with lots of talking and big ideas. I liked Isaac Asimov’s Foundation trilogy and the robot books, where scientists explained large concepts and the societies these concepts would inspire. I liked it so much that I could often overlook inane plots and cardboard characters. When the books were more literate, that was even better.
Jerome Bixby is a science fiction writer from the old school. He wrote episodes of Twilight Zone and Star Trek, including “Mirror, Mirror.” He wrote screenplays, including Fanatastic Voyage, which was based on his short story. Just before he died, he wrote the screenplay to The Man From Earth.
It’s a small film, produced on a shoestring budget of $200,000. The closest thing to a celebrity in the cast is William Katt, formerly the star of The Greatest American Hero. Also in the cast is Richard Riehle, a character actor you’ve seen in a zillion movies, Annika Peterson, Ellen Crawford, John Billingsley, Tony Todd, Alexis Thorpe and David Lee Smith as the central character, John Oldman.
There is only one set, a cabin in the woods, and the entire story takes place over the course of a single day. John Oldman is a university professor packing his belongings to leave for a new job. His friends, other professors and a student, have come with food and drink to wish him well. Over the course of the day, he tells them that, to the best of his knowledge, he’s 14,000 years old.
For the rest of the film, these highly educated, polite people argue with each other about whether or not such a thing is possible, or is Oldman pulling some kind of cerebral practical joke. They consider religion, anthropology, history, and the other fields in which they are expert. No one attacks Oldman for a DNA sample to run tests, no one pulls out an old photograph or other evidence. The devout Christian character feels threatened, but does not condemn Oldman to Hell, nor does she stone him. They talk from mid-afternoon until night, when the last few people at the party go out to look at the stars.
The most quotable things that have been said in public and overheard in private. Onward!
The Chicago Tribune‘s 
Geoffrey James made a feature-length animated film by reprogramming computer games. The result, the Star Trek film Borg War, with Patrick Stewart, Tim Russ and Brock Peters, will debut at the Official Star Trek Convention 2007 at the Las Vegas Hilton August 10.
I should warn you about these link-lists: Mondays tend to be longer than usual (since there’s a lot of content that goes up on the weekend, or early on Monday), and the beginning of the month tends to be longer than usual. Since we’re just past both of those things, this is going to be a really long one…
A few weeks back I was waxing enthusiastic about Sony Home Entertainment’s line of Columbia Classics Collectors Editions, especially The Guns of Navarone two-disc set. Well, it turns out that 20th Century Fox wasnt going to take that lying down, so they started peppering me with flicks young and old for the old ultra-violence (yes, that’s A Clockwork Orange reference, what of it?).
The Reno 911 squad is not through with you yet, however. There are three audio commentaries: an entertainingly informative one with director Garant and writers Lennon and Kenney-Silver, and then two more with the cast in character as the hapless Nevada cops they play on TV. It’s like watching three different takes of the same movie. The group then go on to make it clear that they probably could’ve actually made three different movies, or more, with the extended deleted/alternate scenes, which, as is their wont, last fifteen minutes or more, until the improv runs out or the cameraman drops from exhaustion.
The new Suicide Squad miniseries got announced this last weekend and noted by many, including here on ComicMix. The series was always a cross between Mission: Impossible and The Dirty Dozen and will be again. I’ve always tried to give it a “real world” feel, even going back to its origin. And sometimes the “real world” pulls a fast one. 
