A Century of Science Fiction 2000 Horror Movie Reviews

Aimed more at newcomers to science fiction than aficionados, A Century of Science Fiction nevertheless provides a thrilling survey of filmed SF, from the early silent days to the modern age of computer-generated spectacle. As the program's host, veteran horror actor Christopher Lee has been inserted optically into the screen à la Max Headroom, leading us through a variety of science fiction themes, usefully grouped into such categories as "Aliens" and "Robots & Computers." Along the way there are engaging interviews with the likes of Vincent Price on The Fly and Ray Bradbury on Fahrenheit 451. The film's real strength is the wealth of clips from little-seen features, such as Larry Cohen's God Told Me To, the silent 1916 version of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and Brian Donlevy in The Creeping Unknown. All of this goes a long way toward making up for the narration, which sometimes gets its facts wrong. For example, Alien does not owe its story to The Thing, as they would have us believe, but to It! The Terror from Beyond Space and its antecedent, A.E. Van Vogt's classic story, "The Black Destroyer." Likewise, Total Recall was adapted not from a Philip K. Dick novel, but from his acclaimed short story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale." Also, Christopher Lee's recitation is pitted with long Shatnerian pauses, making the words "Independence" and "Day" sound like they belong to entirely different sentences. More often than not, we're in Mystery Science Theater 3000 territory here. In other words, devotees of that show might find this disc to be a useful training ground, or home game, for honing their heckling skills. --Jim Gay