ALL-TIME CLASSIC MOVIE FAVOURITES – BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS (1980)

 

“Battle Beyond the Stars” is a Sci-Fi Action Adventure, Screenplay Written by John Sayles from a story by John Sayles and Anne Dyer, Directed by Jimmy T. Murakami and Roger Corman.

 

In a “Magnificent Seven” style outer space tale, a young farmer called Shad (Richard Thomas) sets off to recruit mercenaries to defend his peaceful farming world, Akir, which is under threat of invasion by the evil tyrant Sador (John Saxon) ruler of the sinister Malmori Empire and his armada of aggressors.

Against the odds Shad assembles a diverse band of unlikely heroes, a spacegoing truck driver from Earth called Cowboy (George Peppard), Gelt (Robert Vaughn) a wealthy assassin looking for a place to hide, St. Exmin (Sybil Danning) a Valkyrie warrior looking to prove herself in battle, Cayman of the Lambda Zone (Morgan Woodward),

the Nestors (Earl Boen and John Gowans) the Kelvin (Lawrence Steven Meyers and Lara Cody) and Nanelia (Darlanne Fluegel).

 

Also featuring in this likeable Sci-Fi tale are veteran Sam Jaffe as Dr. Hephaestus, Marta Kristen as Lux and Lynn Carlin as the voice of Nell.

The Tornado Sojourns (3) – Chapter 15 – End Game

 

Supreme Commander Emad Salmin and Captain Kolan Nulak were greeted on the ramp of the Tornado by Bagg and Merri and then were given the news that Duff had regained consciousness.

“That’s great news” Salmin said with relief but he was still shocked when they walked into the sickbay.

His wife Chani was sitting next to the bed and she stood up and kissed Bagg

“I’ll leave you to it, not too long though, he’s not out of the woods yet” she said then she smiled at the two high ranking Legionnaire’s.

After she’d gone Salmin sat in the chair she had vacated, and Nulak pulled up another one, while Merri and Bagg stood at the end of the bed.

“What have you been doing to yourself?” Salmin asked trying to put up a front, but Duff could see through it.

He couldn’t speak very clearly but he could be understood, and he told the story of what he had been doing and that the taxi had dropped him at the gate and he was enjoying the walk.

“Did you have a lot to drink?” Nulak asked.

“No more than usual, but no less than usual either” Duff replied.

“So I was feeling no pain, until they started hitting me”

He tried to laugh but grimaced instead.

“Did they say anything?” Salmin asked

“No, only when they first stopped me, one of them said, “In a hurry are we?” and I replied “I am as it happens” then he added

“Well that’s a real shame”, and then they started laying into me”

“What sort of age?” asked Nulak

“Late-twenties maybe a little older” he said and grimaced again.

“We’ll let you rest now” Bagg said and led the Legionnaire Officers towards the door but before they reached it Duff spoke again.

“I recognized one of the men”

Salmin and Nulak turned sharply, and then he added.

“But I can’t remember where”

And the two Legion Officers were visibly deflated by his confession.

“But it will come to me” Duff said and closed his eyes

 

Once outside Captain Nulak said

“They gave him a good going over”

And Supreme Commander Salmin nodded in response.

“But it could have just been a random act of violence”

“Is that what you think?” Salmin countered

“No, but we don’t have any evidence” Nulak pointed out and noticed that Bagg and Merri had joined them

“Do you think they left him for dead?” he asked and Salmin replied

“Yes I do”

“And do you think they might try again?” Bagg asked and both men nodded then Merri and Bagg looked at each other and said in unison

“Montrose” And the Legion officers looked bemused.

 

Bagg, Merri and the two officers made their way to the mess room and sat across the table from Chani, who took one look at them and said.

“They tried to kill him didn’t they?”

“We think so” Merri said

“And it might be a good idea if you Duff and the children didn’t go home for a while”

“Where should we go?” she asked pleadingly

“There is a peaceful agrarian settlement on Eirkos called Montrose where my brother and his family live, you will be safe there and they will make you welcome” Bagg said

“I will station a Legion Aeronautica squadron at Cranack and two plain clothed Legionnaire’s will be in Montrose at all times” The Supreme Commander assured her and Chani went thoughtful and a few minutes later Bagg took hold of her hand

“Don’t worry, Duff’s as tough as old boots and the Legion, the Prefecture and the Tornado family will get the people responsible for hurting him” Bagg said “But for now speak to Duff Chani”

“Thank you Bagg” she said, kissed him and left the mess.

 

It was thirty minutes later when the door opened and Chani reappeared and Bagg turned around to look at her and he asked “What’s the decision then?”

“It took some persuasion, but we would love to take you up on your offer” she said

“Excellent” Bagg said and smiled for the first time for two days

 

Once Duff and his family were settled in Montrose the Tornado returned to the business of shifting freight around the Eikon Cluster and the Legion Supreme Commander and the Captain pressurized and focused on the assault on Duff Tarver and squeezed every source, inside and outside of the law for any lead no matter how tenuous to find the perpetrators of the assault.

But after a few weeks had passed, they had made no progress in finding his attackers, even though they suspected the motive.

But then Bagg received a message from Montrose to say that Duff wanted to speak to him. 

 

The Tornado landed at Cranack and Merri drove Bagg to Montrose in the Stroller where he found Duff waiting to talk to him.

“Duff” He said as he approached his friend and surveyed his appearance, most of his bruises had faded and his cuts had healed but he still looked less than rosy.

“I know I look rough” Duff said before they embraced

“But I have good news, I’ve remembered where I’d seen one my attackers”

“Where?” Bagg asked

“In the Blue Horizon” he replied “He was a customer in the bar”

“Would you recognize him again?” Merri asked

“Of course” he replied “And so will you”

“What?” Bagg asked

“You both saw him too” Duff insisted “He was the one that barged into me as we were leaving, the one you wanted to fight with Merri”

“Are you sure?” Merri asked

“Absolutely no question” Duff said

“Well if he was in the Blue Horizon we’ll definitely be able to see what he looks like and anyone who he might have been with” Merri said.

The Blue Horizon was owned by Lak Shmi and he had once made the mistake of opening the door to illegal gambling and almost lost his livelihood due to the associated criminality and needed the Tornado and the Legion to rid the bar of the crooks.

As a result of coming so close to losing the bar he had become paranoid and had video recordings of every part of the Blue Horizon.

Merri smiled at Bagg and opened her comms

“Merri calling Tornado”

“Tornado receiving Captain” Lyris responded

“I need you to go to the Blue Horizon and speak to Lak Shmi” she said and explained what she needed him to get.

 

In the mess room of the Tornado, later that day, the crew were joined by Supreme Commander Emad Salmin, Captain Kolan Nulak and Duff Tarver.

 

“There he is” Duff said triumphantly “He’s the one that did the talking and that other one was with him”

“So can you identify them from these images?” Bagg asked the Legionnaire’s

“I can identify them now” the Captain said “Brack Madly and Denk Harpenden”

“You know them?” Merri asked

“Yes they were formerly under my command” Nulak said “They were court martialed for their part in protecting Neff Abery’s shameful dealings and awaiting trial for conspiracy, along with two other men, they clearly blamed you for their downfall”

“Well they will now be charged with attempted murder” Salmin said “and in a day of two you and your family will be able to return home”  

 

In the days that followed, Brack Madly and his fellow conspirators were arrested, along with those who had aided and abeted in the attempted murder, and remained in custody until their trial.

With those who wanted to do him harm safely locked up Duff Tarver and his wife Chani and their Children were free to return to their former life on Eikon Major.

But a strange thing happened during his protective custody in Montrose, he fell in love with the peace, tranquility and its people, as did Chani and their children blossomed before their eyes, he had finally found what he had been searching for all his life, even though he hadn’t know he was searching, so they never left, except to settle their affairs in Eikon Major’s Capital city, Rendon, and later to the Visitor Festival on Marikya, one of the moons of Eirkos.

 

Life aboard the Tornado returned to normal in the wake of the arrest of the conspirators and they continued to ply their trade around the Eikon Cluster while taking time out for the occasional adventure.

 

ALL-TIME CLASSIC MOVIE FAVOURITES – INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1978)

 

“Invasion of the Body Snatchers” is a Sci-Fi Horror, screenplay written by W.D. Richter from the novel by Jack Finney and Directed by Philip Kaufman.

 

When strange seeds drift to earth from space on the city of San Fransisco Matthew Bennell (Donald Sutherland) finds that several of his friends appear to be suffering some kind of paranoid delusion as they believe their friends or loved ones are doppelgangers.

 

The whole thing seems unlikely as the duplicates are able to answer detailed questions about their lives and then when their accusers questioned later, they themselves seem changed and laugh off their previous accusations with lame excuses.

However, after discovering mysterious pods growing and witnessing an attempted “replacement” he realises that he and his friends, Elizabeth Driscoll (Brooke Adams), Jack Bellicec (Jeff Goldblum), Nancy Bellicec (Veronica Cartwright) and Dr. David Kibner (Leonard Nimoy) must escape or suffer the same fate as the invaders increase in number.

The only problem is they don’t know for sure who has already been snatched, so they don’t know who they can trust.

 

A credible remake of the 1956 original which gives cameo to Kevin McCarthy and Don Siegel, but if that’s not enough of a reason to watch it then its worth watching just for the scene with Brooke Adams and her eyeball trick.

The Tornado Sojourns (3) – Chapter 14 – Healer

 

Sciberran Healer Terrell Vorton had spent five years working his way from moon to moon, planet to planet and system to system, on ships of every shape and size, in search of something, though he didn’t know what that something was, he just knew that it was not on his home planet of Sciberras in the Hennis system.

He was a small stout man standing 5 foot 5, and was quite striking in appearance with chalk white skin, short hair of midnight blue and hypnotic violet eyes.

He was a quiet studious man who apart from medicine, loved science, and had a fascination for off world travel, although it would have remained just that had it not been for the untimely deaths of his wife and child.

Their loss had been particularly acute because he was helpless to cure them despite his high regard as a Healer.  

On his world, Healers started their training at the age of 5, but it wasn’t for everyone, but those like Terrell who reached adulthood and remained in training were destined for a lifetime in medicine, but for him he was destined to be the cream of the crop.

But with the premature deaths of his wife and child he came to doubt his ability and that prompted him to leave his home world and try and regain belief in himself and since leaving Sciberras he had learned a lot about the anatomy of other species, who he hadn’t come in contact with before, because Sciberras was quite an insular world, but travelling off world had opened his eyes and he was left hungry for more.

But when he reached the moon Alwi and saw the beautiful Vann telepath, Shiyne, he knew that the next leg of his sojourn was to go wherever she went so he joined the crew of the Tornado and very quickly won the heart of the beautiful little cerise coloured Navigator.

 

He was just finishing up in the sick bay where he had been stitching a cut on Lyris Skeets hand, sustained in a fight with and ex Legionnaire, and looking forward to spending some quality time with Shiyne when there was a commotion outside so he opened the door and found a dripping wet Pulsat Rad carrying a bloodied body in his arms.

He couldn’t see who it was or the full extent of their injuries, but he calculated they must have been severe to get the Prinsloovian to go out in the rain.

“Bring him in Pulsat” Terrel instructed so he carried the casualty into sickbay and laid him on the nearest bed.

“Thank you Pulsat” he said “Have you told the Captain?”

“Now I get” he replied and then as he got a better look at the casualties face he added

“And fetch Bagg as well”

“I get, I get” Pulsat said and rushed off leaving Terrel to continue his examination.

 

Visitor Parham, not for the first time in his life, found himself standing outside of sickbay or equivalent awaiting news.

They were due to depart that morning but Merri had delayed it for twenty four hours, and it was still raining hard outside and was showing no sign of stopping.

 

As he waited he wasn’t wearing his more formal Visitor attire of a full length pale blue robe tied at the waist with a royal blue cord, beneath a full length dark blue leather jerkin, or carrying a simple roughhewn staff decorated with a carved cruciform relief a few inches from the top, instead he wore a simple oatmeal coloured robe tied at the waist with a simple cord, because he wasn’t, first and foremost there as a Visitor but as a friend, Bagg.

 

At some point, he wasn’t sure when, he was joined by the Captain. 

“How’s he doing?” Merri asked “Has he regained consciousness?”

“Not fully”

“Has he said anything at all?” Merri asked

“No” Bagg replied, and Merri thought for a second and asked.

“Is anyone with him?”

“Just Terrel, he’s changing his dressings” Bagg replied just as Malena walked towards them, she had driven into the city to collect Duff’s wife and family.

“Chani is in the mess, Pulsat and Vanzyl are entertaining the children” Malena said

“Thank you” Bagg replied and walked passed her and headed for the mess and as soon as Chani saw him she leapt up to greet him and then broke down in his arms.

 

Bagg found the time dragged very slowly, even baking couldn’t hold his attention and after burning the second batch of scones he gave up, so he walked to the nearest Visitor Church and prayed, there really wasn’t anything he could do aboard the Tornado for the time being, so he would return later that day unless there was a change.

 

The next morning, Supreme Commander Emad Salmin was feeling very pleased with himself following the successful capture of 90 percent of their target suspects after the earth shattering revelations, more than double of any other system, but it did help that he knew the shock wave was coming, as a result he was to be decorated and get another pip on his shoulder.

But his good humour was soon dispelled when he received a message from the Tornado to tell him that Duff Tarver had been severely beaten and was still unconscious.

His first reaction was to summon Captain Kolan Nulak and relay the news of the attack to him.

“What’s happened sir?”

“Duff Tarver, has been attacked” Salmin answered and “He’s been unconscious since it happened, have my Cutter readied, we’re going to Eikon Major, immediately”

“Immediately?” Nulak queried   

“Yes I blame myself, I should have foreseen this, and assigned him some protection, but I didn’t so I want to get there as soon as possible just in case”

“It’s that serious?” Nulak asked

“I’m afraid so” he replied

 

The “Cutter” as Salmin described it was actually a sleeker variant of a Blaze Command Ship, with a small crew of handpicked men, who had all served for Salmin before.  

On the journey Nulak asked.

“Was it a robbery?”

“No, nothing was taken”

“Were they interrupted?”

“No, they had plenty of time to strip his body of everything, the taxi dropped him at the Space Port gate and he was found forty-five minutes later” Salmin replied

“So he was beaten up for no reason?” Nulak asked in disbelief

“That’s what I intend to find out” Salmin said as the Cutter set down on the Apron next to the Tornado.

 

 

ALL-TIME CLASSIC MOVIE FAVOURITES – JOHN CARTER (2012)

 

“John Carter” is a Sci-Fi, action adventure, screenplay written by Andrew Stanton, Mark Andrews and Michael Chabon, based on the story “A Princess of Mars” by Edgar Rice Burroughs and Directed by Andrew Stanton.

 

Despite trying to live a normal life in 1868, Civil War veteran John Carter (Taylor Kitsch) is a fleeing both Indian fighters and the Army and is forced to take refuge when the shooting starts.

Inside the cave a figure suddenly materializes and tries to kill him but John turns the tables on him and as he lies dying on the ground he notices a glowing medallion in his hand and when Carter touches it and repeats the dying figures muttered last word, Barsoom, he finds himself transported to Mars and encounters many strange, often hostile creatures and a Princess in desperate need of a saviour.

 

Lynn Collins plays the princess, and the star-studded supporting cast includes Samantha Morton, Willem Dafoe, Thomas Haden Church, Mark Strong, Ciarán Hinds, Dominic West, James Purefoy and Bryan Cranston, to name but a few.

The Tornado Sojourns (3) – Chapter 13 – Reprisal

 

Duff Tarver was primarily a raconteur, his office was a bar or tavern and his audience were his fellow patrons.

But he didn’t merely tell stories he also collected them from his loose tongued admirers, and he always got stories of worth.

He was a freelance journalist who sold his work to whichever media outlet fitted the bill and he distributed his copy across the known systems of Legion space, and he made a steady living, not enough to move up in the world, but he did ok.

He was a heavy drinking, down to earth man in his early fifties with a long-suffering wife, Chani, who managed to bring up their three children virtually single handed.

With Duff the phrase, “what you see is what you get”, fitted him like a glove.

He was a popular man, despite all his faults, as it was very difficult not to like him, even if he could drive you to despair.

Due to his heavy drinking he often needed assistance to get home but because people liked him so much he was never short of a chauffeur.

Most literary types have a favorite quote, from one of the classic novels or from a Shakespearian play but his favorite was

“If I ever read about the dangers of drinking then I’ll give up reading”
Apart from being popular and sociable he was also a more intelligent man than he would have people believe because he found that if people thought him an idiot they were more likely to open up than if they thought they were dealing with somebody who was more switched on.

 

Duff had already written his exposé of events in the Eikon Cluster prior to the system wide distribution of the data regarding the widespread corruption and criminality within the Legion, so he was the first to get anything publishable to the media outlets, and was used far and wide so in the aftermath of the revelations Duff was in great demand.

On one particular evening, he had been celebrating with friends and other members of his profession, and had been for several hours, and was a little drunk.

He would have stayed later but he had arranged with his friend Visitor Parham, better known as Bagg, to get a lift from Eikon Major to Linden for the next celebratory evening, so as he was later than planned, he got a taxi to the space port.

He was dropped at the main gate and proceeded on foot to the apron where the Tornado was parked.

Duff had been walking for a little over ten minutes when it started to rain, but he didn’t mind as he was only a few minutes away, but when his destination was in sight four men blocked his path, but only one of the men spoke.

“In a hurry are we?”

“I am as it happens” Duff replied

“Well that’s a real shame” the man said menacingly.

 

Pulsat Rad and Vanzyl were the engineers on the Tornado, Pulsat was born on Prinsloo in the Rexenor system, a dry desert world, rich in minerals and ore, which he hadn’t seen for more than 20 years.

He was one of the lucky ones as his parents were able to arrange for him to get away from his home world before the Mehreen Empire conquered the planet and enslaved the Prinsloovian’s putting them under the yoke in order to rape their own planet of all that was precious.

He had never returned and had no idea of what fate may have befallen his parents, he had met several of his own kind over the years, but none of them could enlighten him, as they were in the same boat as he was.

He was heavy set and had a rough bony skull which raised up like a crown which receded to give way to a Mahogany scaled brow, cheekbones and jawline which framed an ivory coloured face, and he had yellow eyes and his entire countenance betrayed his reptilian ancestry.

He was incredibly strong and found no difficulty in finding work among the many mining operations he came across as he worked his way steadily, from world to world and moon to moon, moving inexorably away from the Mehreen, it was on one of those worlds, Kordesh, that he met his friend Vanzyl.

 

Vanzyl was from Kessleria, the third planet in the Omeghard system, he was of slender stature and like Pulsat he owed his origins to reptilian DNA, but his kind evolved from fish and possessed a scaly countenance and silver scaled skin, a sleek form, large opaque eyes, pursed lips, and gills.

He also left his home world because of the Mehreen but in Kessleria’s case they wanted the water, and in taking it they essentially brought genocide to the peaceful Kesslerian’s.

Vanzyl was more fortunate than Pulsat as he escaped from his home world with a large group of friends who supported and comforted each other, but over the years following their exodus, as they endured harsher and harsher conditions his friends perished one by one until he was finally left alone.

Subsequently his loneliness was keenly felt because his solitude was so extreme, and that was because he could only communicate in clicks, whirls and whistles which none but his own kind could understand, until that is, Pulsat Rad arrived on Kordesh.

 

As it was pouring with rain, Vanzyl, as he was from a watery world rushed down the ramp and stood outside getting wet, while Pulsat who was from an arid planet was inside staying dry.

Vanzyl walked up and down the apron and relished the falling rain while Pulsat looked out shaking his head.

But all of a sudden he stopped and began to emanate clicks and whirls

“No I dry” Pulsat Rad responded but the clicking and whirling became continued.

“No, I stay hear” Pulsat replied “I not come outside”

Pulsat’s response was met with loud agitated emanations, the like of which he had never heard before, so much against his better judgement he proceeded down the ramp muttering and snorting as he went.

“I wet, I wet” Pulsat said when he reached his friend and then Vanzyl made a long whistling noise followed by a succession of clicks and Pulsat looked down to see Duff Tarver’s battered body and Vanzyl let out a number of low whirls

“I not know” Pulsat replied to his Kesslerian friend who was uttering another string of whirls whistles and clicks.

“I do it, I do it” Pulsat said as he picked up the bloodied body.

“We show Captain” Pulsat said “We show Terrel”

 

ALL-TIME CLASSIC MOVIE FAVOURITES – BLUE THUNDER (1983)

 

“Blue Thunder” is an action, crime, drama, written by Dan O'Bannon and Don Jakoby and Directed by John Badham.

 

Los Angeles Police pilot Frank Murphy (Roy Scheider) is chosen by Capt. Jack Braddock (Warren Oates) as test pilot for an experimental police helicopter, Blue Thunder, a specially modified, heavily armed helicopter designed to counter street insurgencies.

Unfortunately, his trainer for the trials is Col. F.E. Cochrane (Malcolm McDowell) with whom he has issues dating back to their time in Vietnam which adds to the tension.

But when Frank and his Observer, Officer Richard Lymangood (Daniel Stern) prepare to put the aircraft through its paces they discover the sinister implications of the new aircraft and the top-level conspiracy behind it, and with that knowledge comes danger.

 

A great movie of its time, although the technology dates it, but it is still very watchable and among a very accomplished cast Candy Clark stands out above the rest as Frank’s love interest, Kate.