Author name: JM

Ol’ Jules Verne had no clue he was pioneering one of the most profitable niches in the film industry when he penned Journey to the Center of the Earth in 1849. He made his living as a magazine writer in France, where his novels were serialized, then published as novels for decades. He did it all with style, meticulously researching scientific journals and averaging a book a year: Journey, From the Earth to the Moon, 20K Leagues, Mysterious Island, all of which won him fame, money, women… the dude was a rock star.

There’s a wealth of PD scifi video from the 1950’s and 60’s. It’s entertainingly bad, but often so bad it’s cain’t-take-it-no-mo’ bad, which begs the question: who actually paid to watch this stuff in the first place? Or was that what drive-in’s were all about? Here’s a better-thanaverage clip from the 60’s title “Battle in Outer Space.”

The other day, I sat with Mike Paul Hughes, a genuine rocket scientist and researcher at Jet Propulsion Labs in Pasadena, to talk about Stephen Hawking and see where the discussion went from there. Hawking, a well-known atheist, based his beliefs on the simple scientific evidence that the universe is far older than the earth’s biblical age, and went on to discuss the logic of his findings. But within that track was another incredibly simple insight that for some reason I’d never considered. We children of the television and film culture are conditioned to accept

You wanna make the 7-month “hop” to Mars? We’ve determined ‘tis a far better thing to sleep through the trip than to look out the window. So let’s get practical. There you are, ready for the Long Dream (hope it’s a good one), looking fine in your futuristic metrosexual undies, trusting your space-mates to take good care. Now what?

Remember the movie “Passengers” from a year or two back? It’s a couple hundred years in the future and big space-liners are ferrying hundreds of humans to a new Eden-like planet that takes, I dunno, a hundred years in Earth time to get to, so everyone months their hibernation pods for a big sleep, so they can wake up relaxed and refreshed when they arrive. Nice concept. Meanwhile, back here in Earthbound labs,

My film review of First Man (2018). Spoiler: Neil Armstrong and the Moon face off, and the Moon doesn’t even get a single line. Let’s talk about it!

No, not red vs blue, think bigger! In 1898 HG Wells, one of the founding fathers of the Sci-Fi genre “gifted” us with some incredibly imaginative thinking about an alien invasion, bringing a whole new (ahem) alien concept into sharp focus and leaving us howling at whatever planet suited our fancy. It took the genius of Orson Wells to turn that story into a radio drama in 1939, when his troop of players, the Mercury Theater, performed a live version of it on the air. This time, it was far more realistic.

2018 marks the 50th anniversary of the movie “2001, a Space Odyssey” which still arguably stands as the most impactful and significant sci-fi movie of all time. Quite the distinction, eh? Yeah, I know what you’re thinking: Star Wars, Alien, ET, Avatar… Real quotes. George Lucas: “It’s the ultimate sci-fi movie. On a technical level, Star Wars can be compared, but personally, I think 2001 is far superior.” Steven Spielberg: