There are a couple of things happening this weekend that you may want to know about…courtesy of the Alamo Drafthouse Westlakes and the Overtime Theater.
Saturday (March 20) head over to the Drafthouse (Westlakes) at 12:30 PM for a special presentation of the movie Weird Science hosted by Austin’s Pancake Theatre. Yes, that Weird Science. Take a trip back to 1985 with this John Hughes classic where nerds Gary (Anthony Michael Hall) and Wyatt (Ilan Mitchell-Smith) use their computers to create their dream girl (Kelly LeBrock). But what makes this showing special is the Pancake Theatre treatment. Think of it like a live Myster Science Theater 3000 experience. See below for an example of the Pancake in action and check here for an interview with the troupe.
Another fine choice is Sunday’s 3:00 PM matinee showing of The Ides of Texas at the Overtime Theater. This is a series of short plays…very short. If you hate one, the next one will be along quickly enough. But there won’t be much to hate. The Overtime got more than 40 submissions and picked the 12 best for this showcase.
While many of the plays are not genre-related there is a little bit for us. Check out this very favorable review in the San Antonio Current:
Playwright and director Edward Wise’s “Variations …” are clever, comedic, multimedia vignettes; quite frankly, I couldn’t get enough. Number 3, subtitled “The Problem With Conservatives,” commences the stage smorgasbord with projected video of a couple listening to right-wing talk radio in the car. The mustachioed husband is too busy singing the praises of Ann Coulter (“She thinks what I am unable to think!”) to notice that he is about to collide with a wild creature.
The couple exit the car and the video, to inspect the victim — Billy Muñoz, in full furry costume — lying prostrate on stage. Absurdity ensues: It’s a ruse, the beast is packing heat. “Eyes over here, woodland creature with a gun,” is not a line I will soon forget.
Things take a grave turn with “Jumping the Bridge,” written by C. Allen Wigginton and directed by Chris Champlin. A still of the Brooklyn Bridge sets the scene; a weeping man in a black coat ambles onto the bare black set. Any idiot knows what’s about to go down. But the appearance of a charcoal suit-wearing visitor — angel or demon? — throws in a sentimental kink.
“Dan the Man,” written by Marshall Naylor and co-directed by Amanda Bianchi and Edward Wise, is one part comedy, one part drama, and all science-fiction fable. The ghostly figure that materializes on stage left is really another scary-movie creeper: A zombie, covered with a white sheet. Dan (Muñoz) — reanimated, nearly nude, stiff — is not the surprise his Dr. Frankenstein’s girlfriend had hoped to encounter. Seized and taken to the shadowy laboratory in the dead of night by her scientist lover (Robert Jerdee), the periwinkle-pajama-clad woman (Liz Vermeulen) realizes she’s in fact dating the undead (emotionally, anyway).
This looks like a good one. The Ides of Texas runs through March 27th.
We have all had one of those jobs that you can only escape through a little daydreaming. Dream Job presents a nice little fantasia vignette of that daydream. The short stars John Lugo, Kendra Curry and Matt Johns.
Four Pyr covers featuring cover art by San Antonio's John Picacio.
The science fiction/fantasy literary publisher Pyr (an imprint of Prometheus Books) is celebrating their fifth anniversary this year in style. They are sponsoring a contest that incorporates things they hold dear: creative and powerful writing, a passion for reading genre fiction, and this year’s special number, five.
For their Pyr and Dragons Adventure 5th Anniversary Contest, Pyr invites readers and fans to submit a short essay on the theme: Five reasons why science fiction and fantasy is important to you.
Eligibility requirements follow. Any essay submissions that do not meet these guidelines will be disqualified:
Entrants must reside in the Continental United States and be at least 21 years of age.
Essays must be no longer than 1500 words.
Essays must be emailed to publicity@prometheusbooks.com as a Word document attachment, with the subject line “Pyr and Dragons Adventure Essay Submission.”
The body of the submission email must clearly identify the entrant’s full name, address (within the Continental United States), phone number and email address.
All submissions must be received between April 1, 2010 and June 1, 2010.
The Grand Prize Winner will embark on a ’Pyr and Dragons Adventure’ that includes:
* A round-trip flight to Atlanta, GA during Dragon*Con, one of the largest multi-media, popular culture conventions focusing on science fiction and fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music, and film in the US. Dragon*Con 2010 will be held September 3–6, 2010 (Labor Day weekend).
* Two nights hotel accommodation in Atlanta, GA, Sept. 3 and 4, 2010.
Star Wars: In Concert is a unique multimedia event featuring music from all six of John Williams’ epic Star Wars scores. San Antonio’s AT&T Center will host two performances on Saturday, June 5, 2010, at 2 pm and 7 pm. Tickets went on sale on Saturday, March 13 through Ticketmaster, by phone (800) 745-3000 and online at attcenter.com.
The production features a full symphony orchestra and choir, accompanied by specially edited footage from the films displayed on a three-story-tall, high-definition LED super-screen – one of the largest screens ever put on tour. The footage actually runs in sync with the live music to create a full multimedia, one-of-kind Star Wars experience.
Anthony Daniels, the actor who portrayed C-3P0 in the movies, narrates and provides introductions to each section of the two-hour performance. Check out the trailer below for a sampling.
We saw an article on the brilliant io9 site with the provocative title Don’t Remake These 21 Movies, Film These Books Instead!This piece really hit home for us at Missions Unknown. We love great SF movies almost as much as we love great SF literature. Almost. You really can’t help being embarrassed as a science fiction fan when obscene FX budgets are plowed into the latest feature length remake of a shoddy 22-minute Saturday morning toy commercial. We like seeing things blown up as much as the next punk from Texas, but we tend to think plot weighs more than fireworks. With that in mind, we asked some of San Antonio’s SF notables to weigh in with the movie remake they feel should be scrapped in favor of a more deserving adaptation of real SF/Fantasy literature.
Cancel the new Tron Legacy… Yeah, I’ll admit it, the idea of Academy Award winner Jeff Bridges drawling and duding his way through the almost-three-decades-too-late sequel to Tron, Disney’s stab at Cyberpunk Lite, does have its appeal. And — from its neon chopper chases to its art deco robo-dames — the movie does look pretty nifty. But do we really need to rehash that tired franchise any more than we need another fricken Transformers movie? (Hell, does it even qualify as a franchise? More like a mediocre regional chain like Carvel Ice Cream, come to think of it.) …and replace it with When Gravity Fails by George Alec Effinger. Look, if Hollywood’s going to throw money at ’80s cyberpunk, let’s go for the real deal: George Alec Effinger’s brilliant and underrated When Gravity Fails. Gravity was the first book of a trilogy that imagined a 21st Century future as gritty and grimy as anything Wm Gibson came up with, but then had the audacity to set it in the Middle East. To boot, a Middle East turned into a market of flesh, drugs and rock-n-roll that bears an uncanny similarity to Effinger’s beloved Big Easy. Wisecracking protag Marid Audran is a perfectly drawn street-smart fixer who’s regularly chewing on a wad of delicious trouble. On one page, he’s outwitting cyber-enhanced baddies, the next he’s working to stay on the good side of his stable of dope-fiend, hooker and transvestite informants. It’s exactly the kind of fun, smart and subversive stuff Hollywood avoids like the plague. But we can always dream, can’t we?
Instead of making films like Reign of Fire…
This one was a 2002 post-apocalyptic man v. dragon film, thick with plotholes, thin on common sense. It starred Christian Bale & Matthew McConaughey and plays best given half your attention so that you don’t realize how derivative it all is. Essentially, dragons return to ravage our contemporary times, and humankind doesn’t fare well. Enter post-apocalyptic scenario and feisty survivor protagonists fighting back from the edge of extinction. If you feel like you can connect the story dots from here, that’s because you can. The silver lining of this film: the dragons, or more specifically, the fabulous special effects and production work that make them terrifyingly real. It makes you wonder what could have happened if a richer screenplay had been attached, and that’s why I’d love for Hollywood to… …Film the Age of Misrule trilogy by Mark Chadbourn. The three books of this series, World’s End, Darkest Hour, and Always Forever, made their US debuts last year from Pyr. Chadbourn weaves an amazingly well-researched tapestry of the whole of Celtic myth as the ancient gods and monsters collide with our contemporary society in a spectacular collison made for the big screen. The characters are richly conceived, and the tales contain the kinds of formula elements that Hollywood scripts love (quests, high romance, aching tragedy, and big spectacle). The difference is Chadbourn’s narrative has a depth of historical research that few epics can match, and even fewer screenplays do. Even in distilled form, his story would make rich cinema. Possible dream team would be William Monahan (gifted research-loving screenwriter for Kingdom of Heaven and The Departed) and director Alfonso Cuaron (Children of Men). Guillermo Del Toro would go nuts with this kind of story material, but he’s busy with The Hobbit for the next several years. As much as I love Del Toro’s films, Cuaron’s films have an intimacy of character that might actually better complement this one, and possibly translate the humanity even better on screen.
Instead of remaking Flash Gordon…
Besides a winning cast, ultra-fun set design and more spandex than you can shake a linebacker at, Flash Gordon had the KILLER soundtrack. It marked the moment Queen stopped putting “no synthesizers” on the back of their albums, went positively Moog-crazy, and never looked back. There’s talk of Columbia taking a shot at a remake. They might as well try to re-make A Hard Days Night. …Film Time of the Hawklords instead
If it’s sci-fi fun with a synth-rockin’ soundtrack we’re after, how about a movie version of Moorcock/Butterworth’s Time of The Hawklords? British space rock gods, Hawkwind are the stars of the book, and they’re about as close as you’ll get to a real-life Spinal Tap. It shouldn’t be that hard to toss a movie version together: Get Hawkiwind to do the original soundtrack, and employ a flavor-of-the-day film fox to play the cosmic go-go dancer,Stacia. For added star power, get ex-Hawkwind member Lemmy (from Motorhead) to play…..HIMSELF!
Could Missions Unknown be the best blog in San Antonio? It’s up to you. Head over to the San Antonio Current’s web site or pick up the dead tree edition and vote for Missions Unknown under the category of “Best Blogger”. Ballots must be submitted by midnight on March 30.
Every Monday, the Alamo Drafthouse Westlakes features a free anime screening. Tonight you can see Slayers Revolution, a Dungeons and Dragons-themed adventure/farce. The Slayers is a popular series that started as a series of 52 light novels, then moved into manga, five televised anime series, movies, radio dramas, console games and role-playing games. The story follows the adventures of the young sorceress Lina Inverse and her companions. Slayers Revolution is the fourth anime series and premiered in Japan in July 2008.
Fortunately, the Drafthouse saves you the airfare and time travel jet lag with this free showing Monday March 15th at 7:30 PM. Check out the trailer…
Good People is a 2009 short film from The Darkness, a San Antonio-based special FX and production company. They specialize in a variety of products from Custom Masks and Props, Special FX and FX Makeup, Haunted House Consulting, Video Production, and Post Production & Editing. They provide Hollywood quality work and products at reasonable and affordable rates.
Check after the jump and you can see more example of The Darkness at work.
The first episode of Adventure Time, the new show produced by San Antonio’s own Pendleton Ward, is being sneaked peaked tonight at 7:30 PM on Cartoon Network.
This month’s Doctor Who Appreciation Night screening features the 9th Doctor, Christopher Eccleston. The featured episodes will be Boom Town and The Long Game. This free event is Wednesday March 17th at 7:30 PM at the Alamo Drafthouse Westlakes (1255 SW Loop 410, 210.677.8500). The showing is put on by Doctor Who Fans Unite.
In Boom Town the Doctor (Eccleston) encounters an enemy he thought long since dead. A plan to build a nuclear power station in Cardiff disguises an alien plot to rip the world apart. Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) is featured in this episode!
In The Long Game the Doctor and Rose (Billie Piper) find themselves in the future on Satellite 5. Satellite 5 broadcasts to the Earth Empire, but anyone promoted to Floor 500 is never seen again, and the Doctor suspects mankind is being manipulated. Simon Pegg guest stars!
Doctor Who Fans Unite will have End of Time and Vote Saxon shirts for sale. They also have a limited quantity of Bad Wolf, Empty Child and Angels have the phone booth shirts. More limited edition Doctor Who artwork will be for sale as well.
These events are lots of fun, with a great atmosphere at the Drafthouse and a fun group of people attending. Come on out for food, drinks and an all around good time.
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