The Avengers (Season 5, Episode 10: Never Never Say Die): under-cooked plot fails its cast and ideas
Robert Day, “The Avengers (Season 5, Episode 10: Never, Never Say Die)” (1967) Now this is the episode that should have been the Return of the…
Science Fiction Films
The Wild Wild West (Season 4, Episode 4: The Night of the Sedgewick Curse): clever and intelligent combination of horror and science fiction
Marvin Chomsky, “The Wild Wild West (Season 4, Episode 4: The Night of the Sedgewick Curse)” (1968) I don’t recall this series from my childhood yet…
The Avengers (Season 5, Episode 17: The Return of the Cybernauts): mind control is the dominant theme
Robert Day, “The Avengers (Season 5, Episode 17: The Return of the Cybernauts)” (1967) One of the more openly science fiction episodes in this season of…
The Avengers (Season 5, Episode 3: Escape in Time): the past really is a different country from which there’s no escape
John Krish, “The Avengers (Season 5, Episode 3: Escape in Time)” (1967) A particularly memorable episode, “Escape in Time” is premised on the theme of time…
The Avengers (Season 5, Episode 1: From Venus with Love): investigating the life and death-giving capabilities of futuristic technologies
Robert Day, “The Avengers (Season 5, Episode 1: From Venus with Love)” (1967) This season of the famous British TV show features several episodes with science…
German and German-language Films
The Tunnel (dir. Kurt Bernhardt): sacrifice, sabotage and suffering combined with heroism and hope
Kurt Bernhardt, “The Tunnel / Der Tunnel” (1933) Based on the eponymous 1913 novel by Bernard Kellerman and itself a second adaptation of the novel –…
German and German-language Films
Algol, Tragedy of Power: modern Faustian morality tale of individual and social corruption with a conservative message
Hans Werckmeister, “Algol, Tragedy of Power / Algol, Tragödie der Macht” (1920) A wonderful science fiction movie from the era of German Expressionist classics like “The…
The Transatlantic Tunnel (dir. Maurice Elvey): film of ambition and sacrifice let down by plot, acting and narrow vision
Maurice Elvey, “The Transatlantic Tunnel” (1935) A visually handsome if very flawed science fiction film, “The Transatlantic Tunnel” is one of three films made in the…
The Temptation of B: low-key sci-fi relying entirely on dialogue and character
Arkadi Sirenko, “The Temptation of B / Iskushenie B” (1990) A curious film, one of the last made in the Soviet Union before its downfall in…
Gibel’ Sensatsii / Loss of Feeling: good-looking film about robots and workers versus capitalists
Aleksandr Andriyevsky, “Gibel’ Sensatsii / Loss of Feeling” (1935) A very handsome-looking film made in 1935, “Gibel’ Sensatsii” is sometimes also known as “The Robots of…