SFX 222 What Do You Think?

[Dave Bradley]

Hi folks

Thanks for the feedback as always. I'm very pleased you're enjoying the issue.

Originally Posted by saint mark

But SFX the last page on The Shadow was poor, such a great character on one page only... A missed opportunity.

Please don't miss the point of the back page. The "total recall" slot at the end of the magazine is always intended to be a short but personal recollection. Nick's column shouting out to The Shadow was a fun burst of nostalgia; at some point we may do a whole feature on the character - we haven't missed an opportunity to do that.

Originally Posted by Mr.Lavigne

Not sure about Mr.Bradley's attempt to explain why Men In Black 3 is more exciting than Prometheus or TASM (urgh), in his intro though!

I wasn't trying to claim MiB3 is a bigger deal than Prometheus - in fact I wrote that Prometheus is arguably the most important sci-fi release this summer; in my intro I simply noted how (surprisingly) excited people seemed to be about MiB3 in my local cinema.

Cheers folks. Keep the thoughts coming.

Dave

[Tiny]

Originally Posted by hammard

Highlight: Dave Golder's comparison of special effects on Fringe to Once Upon a Time and Grimm. Very amusing.

I lol'ed as it was something I noticed whilst watching Once Upon a Time too, the green screening for the virtual sets is incredibly dated looking, very similar to ITV 80's kids show Knightmare.

Originally Posted by silvius

Another great issue. The thing is though, I 've become morbidly sensitive about spoilers so I can't read the Prometheus article yet, nor the Avengers review.

I do that sometimes and say things like, "Well, I'll just read it later then... " But, you never do.

Originally Posted by silvius

Also, fabulous to see Katee Sackhoff on page 17 - what magnificent teeth she has!

I actually didn't recognize her with that smile. When Kara smiled on Battlestar, it was usually ironic, or sardonic, so it was odd, but nice to see Starbuck with a carefree smile for a change.

Good issue I thought, the War of the Worlds article was interesting, always liked those "what if?" questions. I actually like the George Pal version too, so would I have felt the same about the others? Hmm...

[Rompa1978]

Got it in plenty of time, as per usual a cracking read. Like the other forum posters, I loved the article about the War of the Worlds film that never were. Imagine if there was a Ray Harryhausen version of that book, something that we would have all grown up on, brilliant.

I skip the Spoiler zone, seeing as I’m a season behind on Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead. I’m catching up mind.

The only gripe I had, was the Ask the SFXperts, I can not believe someone couldn’t work out and Google Congo!?! Bloody hell, that film was always on BBC 1 a few years ago. I love it when the SFXperts answers a really hard enquiry, and I think, “I’ve never heard of that film./TV series/Book, I’ll look that up.” But Congo? REALLY? They could remember that?

Did the SFXperts want an easy one to answer?

[Ian Berriman]

We answer the questions we're sent which we can answer, really. We occasionally discount ones that are incredibly obvious, but I'm not sure if Congo is as well-known as you think - I've never seen it.

It's also a 17-year-old film, so maybe there's an 18 year-old reader somewhere who's learned something. Just because we're all ancient gits doesn't mean that everything in the mag should be aimed at our age demographic.

[Rompa1978]

Originally Posted by Ian Berriman

We answer the questions we're sent which we can answer, really. We occasionally discount ones that are incredibly obvious, but I'm not sure if Congo is as well-known as you think - I've never seen it.

It's also a 17-year-old film, so maybe there's an 18 year-old reader somewhere who's learned something. Just because we're all ancient gits doesn't mean that everything in the mag should be aimed at our age demographic.

You've NEVER seen it? Seen The Andromeda Strain? Seen Westworld? Seen Jurassic Park? It came out after them. 1995. Okay it wasn't a great film. Not all SCI FI is, I would have expected someone who writes/works for a SCI FI magazine to have seen it.

Also, in general I expect someone who is a fan of science fiction and who buys the magazine to have seen a few Science Fiction films that are at least 17 years old; or to be able to use google.

By the way, I resent being called an ancient git. Star Wars came out the year before I was born, as did a few other sci fi/horrors that I watched through out my youth, such as Planet of the Apes, Soylet Green, Omega Man, Godzilla and crap like Digby.

Congo, 1995, by the team that did Jurassic Park, is not a hard film to 'find'

[Dave Bradley]

Come now Rompa1978, it's obvious with this "ancient gits" quip that Ian was talking about us on the SFXperts team, not you!

And I don't think you really expect a journalist who also has to know TV, books, comics, games, collectibles and so on to have seen every single film ever. 1995's Congo (average rating on Rotten Tomatoes: 3.6 out of 10) last had a DVD release in 2000 as far as I can tell. I think it's entirely possible for a sci-fi fan or even magazine expert to have overlooked it. The very nature of the SFXperts page is that some things seem more obscure than others, it just depends on your personal experience - why not come over to our SFXperts page and see if you can answer any other questions?

[Ian Berriman]

Originally Posted by Rompa1978

I would have expected someone who writes/works for a SCI FI magazine to have seen [Congo].

You might need to lower your expectations. Fortunately, "Have you seen Congo?" wasn't one of the questions at my job interview. Blame Dave Golder for that oversight.

By the way, I resent being called an ancient git.

I wasn't, I was calling the SFX editorial team ancient gits. Apologies to Jordan and Rob, who are young whipper-snappers!

[Rompa1978]

Okay, okay gents. I’ve had a weekend to calm down, and I’d like to apologise. I’d like to apologise misreading and acting like a tool. So sorry Ian and Dave. Though I “hope” you can see my point to some degree, as in, where I did make a point and not where I ranted?

If you google, “attacking white apes” Congo is the 6th one down. They could find it easily. Really.

Good that you guys did answer it. I will shut the f*ck up about it now.

Maybe I couldn’t believe it, because in general I NEVER get the SFXperts queries, and I mean never. So I have always felt that these questions should have the biggest genre fans scratching their heads, fans like me and my mates. Age being no barrier to ones knowledge. So maybe because I knew it straight away, I thought it was piss easy.

Once again, sorry.

In regards to the new SFXperts questions, I again can’t get any, but one of them.. Well it might be what I think it is…

[Khuratokh]

I too was baffled by the "Congo" question. I've seen the film 2 or 3 times now on the telly, and I... uhm... kinda like it. Didn't think the apes were "laugably fake" at all.


On the 222 issue; I felt SFX missed a trick by not including Pilot from Farscape. A truly alien creation that you forgot was a puppet.
Dangerous: "Violence is less than an option" But note the instances when he does choose that option.
Weird: Resembling a cross between an accountant and a multi-limbed crustacean, Pilot is fused to the ship, (a living ship,) Moya. Apparently his lower limbs extend throughout the ship.
And he's one of the leading characters. Not a bad job for someone who doesn't get out much.

[scorpy]

slightly confused , i must have travelled to one of Fringes other universes. You were nice to Babylon 5.
SFX wrote a nice piece about B5, yes I had to repeat it because I'm in shock :P
Was good though.