As a kid the idea of discovering new planets and flying in my own little space- ship in a galaxy that stretched out to infinity excited me when playing make-believe. Now No Man's Sky brings this to reality with its procedurally generated space exploration game. There are many different modes but if you start on Create mode you are given all the tools to hop into your craft and head to the stars. There are millions of planets to explore and all are enticing, some with vibrant foliage, interesting strange alien creatures and stunning sunsets and landscapes. When initially released a year ago the game had a few issues as the planets were, more often than not, often brown rocks with a few plants strewn around however with the new free update the planets feel more alive. With the new photo mode you can take stunning pictures at any time and I below I have taken a few to show off the artistic side of the game. I will be using the game as a stimulus for writing when we compose a fantasy/ sci-fi setting for our writing.
May The Toys Be With You: A Star Wars Toy Exhibition
Star Wars is a phenomenon and a huge part of pop culture. It is not a work with which I am particularly nostalgic as I caught it later in my youth than most of my friends. I like the original movies just fine but it never became a formative or integral part of my childhood, I never played with the toys, had the annuals or role played as characters from that universe but I appreciate what it did for media as a whole.
Over 300 million Star Wars figures have been sold, but I wonder how many remain from the original Kenner Star Wars figure line from the late 70s/ early 80s? My guess is not that many as most children would have chewed on them and their parents most likely would have thrown them away after they lost a limb or two. Don't forget that this was a time before collectable toys and fandom were on the scale they are now- in fact Star Wars is often credited with starting the whole fandom and collectable toys market.
An interesting fact that may not be well known is that the toys made more money than the original trilogy of films ever did. Lucas was a smart guy and ahead of the curve when it came to merchandising.
Well if Star Wars toys tickle your nostalgia bone then you should head to the Torquay Museum where Stormtroopers, Darth Vader, Hans Solo and others characters have descended for 'May the Toys Be With You,' which showcases one of Britain’s finest Star Wars toy collection.
I went with my 2 year old daughter and enjoyed the museum as a whole. The Star Wars exhibition is contained to one room but it is packed with a large collection of some of the first Star Wars toys, posters and memorabilia produced. 'May the Toys Be With You' also gives visitors the chance to get up-close to stunning life-sized replicas of Darth Vader, R2D2 and a Stormtrooper. My daughter and I got a picture with Darth Vader and she was suitably scared... evil creatures who have destroyed whole planets will do that to her. There was a statue of Yoda and a Boba Fett helmet and chest armour but these were contained behind a glass case so I couldn't get a picture of my daughter with Yoda, which was a shame.
Contained within the room were lots of Kenner Star Wars figures and some were still in their boxes whilst others were loose and displayed in glass cases. The provenance displayed around the room discussed the origins of the action figures, the problems with forgeries and copies and a discussion on the collectors market.
There were a couple of highlights on show including a wonderful diorama set up of the planet Hoth and the snowy battle going on. This was lovingly created and looked spectacular.
As a gamer I was pleased to see an original full-sized Star Wars X-Wing Cockpit arcade video game by Atari. I never played on it but know that it is well regarded and loved by many.
As a whole the 'May The Toys Be With You' exhibition is a loving tribute to the Star Wars figures fandom, and whilst small is curated with much affection. If you are in Torquay and have even a passing interest in Star Wars you must go to see this.
The museum also has a few other permanent exhibitions on including Explorers and Ancient Egyptians, The Story Behind Britain's Oldest Fossil and the only permanent Agatha Christie exhibition. The last one was particularly interesting as it house Poirot's cane and art deco study as well as Miss Marple's fur coat ans suit. As a fan of the David Suchet Poirot series this was a bonus to seeing the Star Wars exhibition.
At £6.50 this museum is a no-brainer. That price includes entry for a whole year so in my opinion is well worth it. The Star Wars toys exhibition runs until 3rd September so of you want to go you better get your skates on, or take the Millenium Falcon and get there in 14 parsecs.
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets- Film Review
Luc Besson is an auteur; a visionary director who will put his hand to anything. More often than not it doesn't all work, but what he does produce is always interesting with the kernel of good ideas and so his work is always worth a watch. Harvey Weinstein called Besson a "has been" but I don't think that's true at all, rather Besson is a man with artistic ambition and seeks to realise but with varying results. So when the trailer for Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets dropped a few months ago my interest was piqued.
Adapted from Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mézières epic French sci-fi comic series, Valérian And Laureline, Besson seems like the logical fit, what with his penchance for visual flourishes and elaborate set pieces. The comics series has been credited with inspiring much of the sci-fi media but what of this adaptation of the original source material?
The story is action sci-fi 101; In the 28th century, special operatives Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Laureline (Cara Delevingne) work together to maintain order throughout the human territories. Under assignment from the minister of defense, the duo embarks on a mission to Alpha, an ever-expanding metropolis where diverse species gather to share knowledge and culture. When a dark force threatens the peaceful city, Valerian and Laureline must race against time to identify the menace that also jeopardizes the future of the universe.
From the off the film is a sumptuous visual feast filled with neons and stunning detail. The beginning 10 minutes of the film is scored with David Bowie's Space Oddity and shows the space race to the expansion of Alpha, with the humans meeting the various alien races over time. It is an assured and beautiful start to the film. The world building is immaculate, which you would expect from the director of The Fifth Element, another cult sci-fi film. However once the story starts it falls woefully short of matching the brilliance of the visuals.
I've never read the bande-desinee source material but in this film Valerian is supposed to be a bit of a handsome womanising rogue, however DaHaan, who is a fine actor and does well playing the moody outsider, is woefully miscast. He doesn't have the presence of a young cocky Hans Solo type. The supposedly flirty dialogue between his character and Laureline comes across as wooden and poorly scripted. As a man who's supposed to have bedded tonnes of women his banter seems more like that of a horny teen desperately seeking a date for the prom. Delevingne does well with the role she is given and actually shows some range and the potential to be good actress but the dialogue doesn't do either actor any favours. At times the chemistry between the two protagonists feels forced, like students who had been forced to do a project together by a teacher, rather than a long-time partnership spoken about at the beginning of the story. There were some witty one liners but these were few and far between and the flirting is cringe-worthy and embarrassing at times.
However there are some highlights including an amazing star turn from Rihanna as the shape-shifting cabaret artist/lady of the night, Bubbles. In her stunning cabaret inspired performance she shape shifts into different costumes at stunning speed and pole dances with style. The mind reading jellyfish scene with Delevingne is funny and the creature designs are incentive and quirky, especially the 3 duck-like creatures which look oddly like Howard the Duck from the terrible 80's film, but grubbier.
The visuals could only have been done now but the story, which has inspired countless sci-fi films including Star Wars, Star Trek, Avatar and Guardians of the Galaxy, feels old and in need of updating and refreshing. As a new film this feels strangely out of time. I'm sure when the comics were created it all felt very exciting, like Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers but now these are old hat and so offer nothing new for todays plugged in audience.
So overall, the film is worth seeing but not for the story or actors but rather for the visuals and special effects.
Into the Unknown Exhibition Shines Bright at the Barbican
Into the Unknown is a large exhibition set in the Barbican which explores the world of science fiction. The genre was initially niche but over the years has grown in popularity to frequently become pop culture touchstones. Novels, comics, cinema and music have touched upon the human desire to explore new worlds and this exhibition is a great one that looks at the evolution of the genre.
This sculpture at the Barbican reminds me of the monolith that features on the cover of video game No Man's Sky.
The 18th and 19th centuries saw mankind exploring new lands and making exciting new discoveries, this opened up a literal whole new world of imagination. The late 19th and 20th centuries saw mankind make giant strides in science and technology, which led people to look to the stars and desire to explore the planets and dark void of space in the hope of finding new worlds and peoples. This exhibition looks at all of that and is very generously organised with over 800 exhibits on show. The show is broken into a few distinct parts; Extraordinary Voyages, Space Odysseys, Brave New Worlds and Final Frontiers.
Extraordinary Voyages
The 18th and 19th century saw a boom in science and the age of enlightenment took over from the centuries of superstition and witchcraft. At the forefront of this was the literary giant Jules Verne and his work is well represented here. There is a page from a manuscript on show and many models of his illustrations. The designs are beautiful and intricate and practical as Verne worked with esteemed scientists of the time to create plausible machines. Vernians are well catered for here. Another personal favourite of mine, model maker Ray Harryhausen, has a large presence. In creating believable lifelike models of fantastical creatures and dinosaurs (at least at the time they were created) Harryhausen inspired generations of directors, special effect creators and youngsters, including me. A lot of his models are on show and considering some are over 60 years old, are in remarkably good condition. The maquettes of some of these legendary creature designs are on show and ask the visitor to recall the films they once starred in. The original sketches and story boards of classics such as The Lost World, The Valley of Gwanji and the original Mighty Joe Young show the artistry of such luminaries as Harryhausen and his mentor Willis O'Brien.
These Ray Harryhausen models were amazingly detailed up close.
Space Odysseys
The space race of the 1950s and 60s was more than just a triumph of engineering, it was a time of great optimism about humanity and its future after the devastating Second World War had shaken the whole of the planet to its core. Visual artists and authors, often collaborating with scientists and engineers, were able to stir up public fervour in depicting a plausible vision of humanity amongst the stars. The next section of the exhibition has stunning original Russian art on show and the thing that stands out is the sheer hope. Images show the realised dream of humanity reaching the stars and living on other worlds. Another real highlight here for the film aficionado is the script, as written by Arthur C. Clarke, of Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyssey. The exhibition then shows the way science fiction has inspired TV shows and cinemas. There was lots on show but Darth Vader's helmet and John Hurt's suit from Alien are early boons. As a fan of H.R. Giger the Alien head design as well as his Jadorowski's Dune inspired chair were both excellent, the bio-mechanical horror that Giger created are wonderful to see up close. As a huge fan of Irwin Allen's work (it used to show on Channel 4 on Sunday afternoons in the 80s) seeing the Spindrift spaceship from Land of the Giants brought back waves of nostalgia.
Brave New Worlds
The last section of this part of the exhibition was looking at the world of sci-fi in the modern age. It featured models of original classic robots such as Robbie from Forbidden Planet and Twinkl from Buck Rogers but also a more modern exhibit in Ex Machina. There were video montages of classic sci-fi scenes including one of my personal favourites, the opening of Fritz Lang's Metropolis. Stunning images of utopian and dystopian worlds painted on canvas and printed from computer software were on show too and presented plausible imagery of what the future may hold for us.
As a whole the first section of Into the Unknown was an impressive your through the birth and evolution of sci-fi.
The next part of the exhibition was the film In The Future They Ate From The Finest Porcelain by Larissa Sansour. I didn't watch the film as I didn't have the time due to prior commitments so I can't comment but I hear from others that it was well worth the 29 minute run-time.
The final part of the exhibition was an art installation down in the basement space, it is called In The Light Of the Machine by Conrad Shawcross. You enter a dark space and once your eyes adjust you make out large panels of metal with holes in, all placed in concentric circles, almost like a neolithic stone circles similar to stonehenge. In the middle is a light and this enters the holes and projects onto the black walls, giving off an eerie light. You can hear a machine working away at its centre and through the holes of the machine and the gaps between the large metal plates you can see a seeming sentient machine holding out a light at the end of a rod. The effect is oddly unsettling yet calming, the rhythmic thrum of the machine soothes yet unnerves as the light rays dance on the walls. The whole piece is well worth a visit and stays with you long after.
I left the exhibition and reflected on what I had seen and experienced. As a whole i believe that the exhibition was well curated and thoroughly engaging. The whole of the Barbican has been utilised for this exhibition, with experimental videos, computer games and sculpture littering the building. Anyone with a spare couple of hours should see this as it is a well curated experience.
Children of the Dogstar- Cult TV Review
Children of the Dog Star is a children's science fiction television program which was produced in New Zealand in 1984. It consists of six episodes of thirty minutes each and was released on DVD in 2009. I first heard about the series whilst carrying out research for Children of the Stones, intrigued by the blurb I thought I’d give it a whirl and this is my review.
The story involved a keen young astronomer called Gretchen, who goes to stay at her uncle's farm for the holidays. Gretchen befriends Ronny, a Māori boy with a troubled city past, and Bevis the birdwatching son of a hated developer who wants to buy a local swamp and drain it for property development. However, Ronny's uncle is the guardian of a traditional Māori tapu (taboo/curse) upon the swamp and he says that the swamp must not be touched as something sleeps there that must not be awakened. Something unnatural.
Taking much of its inspiration from Robert K.G Temple's 1976 book, 'The Sirius Mystery', which sparked of a period of intense debate over how the Dogon could possibly have known the brightest star in the heavens had a small white dwarf orbiting it without modern astronomical equipment, the children's series outs its own spin on it in an interesting way and asks its viewers whether we could we have been visited by aliens in the past.
The rural New Zealand backdrop is a beautiful backdrop to the whole story and the intelligently-written story is wonderfully performed by the child actors. The special effects of their time and so have not aged well but are still passable. The theme tune and incidental music is fitting and never overused.
The mix of Dogon mythology, Maori culture, and modern sci-fi storytelling, all come together to produce an enjoyable series. Its a shame that the DVD is so vanilla with no extras whatsoever but as a whole the package is worth it and will hopefully entertain a whole new generation of children and adults alike.
LINK- Dead of Night: Cult TV Review
LINK- Children of the Stones: Cult TV Series Review
LINK- The Stone Tapes: Cult TV Review