On the set of
2001: A Space Odyssey with director
Stanley Kubrick. And to all the helpful folks who feel obligated to e-mail me, comment and tweet whenever I post something that didn't come out strictly in the calendar decade of the 1970s: yes,
2001 came out in 1968, but as I've stated numerous times, I consider the 70s era of sci-fi to basically begin in '68 (with
2001 and
Planet Of The Apes) and end in '83 (with
Return Of The Jedi). It's my blog. Deal with it.
Sorry... I'm grumpy tonight.
what about 2010 (1984) great 70's esk sci film.
ReplyDeleteTOTALLY WITH YOU, sir.. Keep up the GREAT work.
ReplyDeleteThe nay-sayers can, well.. 'suck it'.
As for the end, I remember being bored and disappointed during ROTJ. My only fav SW films will always be 'Star Wars' and 'Empire Strikes Back'.
Agree, 2001 is a must. I always considered the science-fiction '70s era to include the reruns of '60s television series and films too.
ReplyDeleteSGB
"2001 A Space Odyssey" is in a class by itself. Unlike films before or since it took the "Science" part of "Science Fiction" seriously Thus I do not personally think of it in terms of any particular era but that's OK. I can deal with it. It's always been clear what you mean by Space 1970.
ReplyDelete"Planet of the Apes"- yes I can certainly think of that as 1970's era. Heavy handed social commentary was a big part of the this era's SF.
"Return Of The Jedi" as a closeout for the era. I think that's about right. later SF doesn't just doesn't have the feel to it that the 70's did. .
One of these days - when I can get my thoughts organized and have the time - I'll have to write an essay about how I define the era and my reasons. It's a combination of aesthetics, content, influence and innovations in filmmaking technology (specifically special effects)...
DeleteI understand your view on 70s' science fiction span. It's like so much people considering the 80s starting somewhen of the late 70s to medium 90s.
ReplyDeleteI also see 2001 as being very different from the bulk of the sci-fi that would be released in the following decade. Visually it had some impact on sci-fi of the 70's. Of course the story is far different from the dystopian society type of adventures that would dominate much of 70's sci-fi before Star Wars.
ReplyDeleteThere are parts of Jedi that I enjoy, of the three films from that trilogy it's the one with the least amount of new or interesting ideas.
http://scifihorrorfantasy.wordpress.com/
Your start and end points are perfectly reasonable. Similar to the way Howard Hawks’ `The Thing from Another World' influenced and gave legitimacy to sci-fi films of the '50s, so `2001' and ‘Planet of the Apes’ opened the door for sci-fi films of the '70s.
ReplyDeleteAnd since the original 'Star Wars' trilogy was the defining sci-fi moment of that decade (possibly the defining pop culture moment of the decade), ‘ROTJ’ is the perfect cut-off point. It may not be anyone’s favorite, but we all stood in line to see it.
I’m sure the film studies snobs will dislike anyone mentioning ‘2001’ and ‘Star Wars’ in the same breath. But only snobs take snobs seriously.
This is a bit off topic but- The first requirement for a good movie is to tell a good story. Weak science or poor production values never stopped me from enjoying these shows. Like everyone else here that thoroughly enjoys Chris's blog I have a fondness for a lot of them. As for 2001 and Star wars I loved both- and I write as someone having a very heavy technical and scientific background.
DeleteBack to topic- the shows of this era had a certain feel to them that previous or later ones generally don't. I care what happened to the original Battlestar, or to Logan and Jessica in a way I do not for the Battlestar remake