Boy, this is the latest I have ever finished Blogtober. Fortunately I picked a pretty memorable movie for the last entry–and one I don’t have much to say about! But what I do have to say is mostly positive. Brian Duffield’s saucer invasion thriller is a lot of fun, even if it never fully develops its thesis. Kaitlyn Dever plays a young woman who has been mysteriously ostracized from her rural community, and so she lives out a fantasy of rustic contentment on the outskirts of town. Her peaceful solitude is marred by her nagging grief over a past catastrophe that is never fully articulated, because NO ONE WILL SAVE YOU commits to the gimmick of dialog-free storytelling. This might be sort of annoying–and it definitely doesn’t do the left-field ending any favors–but this movie is less about story than spectacle, and sometimes that is just fine.
The polymorphic gray aliens that descend on the heroine’s home look great, and the action is legitimately scary and exciting. Actually, I put this movie on one night during a bout of insomnia, thinking it would be a breezy timekiller, and then I found the initial invasion scene so scary I wondered if I’d made a big mistake! But the thing that impressed me more than anything else in NO ONE WILL SAVE YOU is the set design (by Jaime Salazar if I’m not mistaken). I’d hazard to guess that most people think about set design more in terms of appearance than functionality, but the handsome, naturalistic farmhouse in which most of the movie unspools furnishes seemingly endless opportunities for wonderfully surprising chases and fight scenes. Every nook and cranny of the place becomes a hiding place, a shortcut, a booby trap; each cute, collectible tchotchke becomes a crucial tool or a brutal weapon. While I was watching this movie, I became intensely aware that it takes a special kind of genius to figure out the right architecture to enable the fast-paced, complicated action that makes up most of NO ONE WILL SAVE YOU. I enjoyed this aspect of the film so much that I didn’t wind up worrying about the hokey silent movie gimmick, or the fact that the underlying trauma-drama was only half-baked, or that the gonzo ending didn’t quite make any sense. Sometimes when you insist on perfection, you deprive yourself of some pleasure that is abundantly available between the flaws–and I think that’s a pretty good message to leave you with at the conclusion of this speed run season for Blogtober. Thanks for sticking with it! See you in 2024 (or as soon as I have another urgent judgment to hand down).
First, this TV show I’m about to write about is online! And free! (With ads, in the US.) It’s worth hopping in just to poke around in this weird and very Canadian science fiction anthology show from the 90s.
That said, I finished watching The Outer Limits (1995) and I’m really torn on how to proceed. I’m glad I watched it after all these years of vague memories from its syndication run, and there are some stand-out episodes which I will write about here, but I also want to… do more. And this is after spending the past month ‘n a half editing the poorly maintained wiki for it because I needed this information to be properly sorted and laid out. I mean, at the very least, there ought to be an online collection of all of the Control Voice’s narration. It’s like a book of Psalms or Proverbs when it’s all put together. I think a podcast would be neat, but I gotta figure out that workload.
For now, let me jot down the episodes that stood out to me. I grouped my recommendations into broad categories of episodes but there’s a lot of overlap in themes and settings:
Space!: If it’s an episode beyond Earth, out in space somewhere, I’m in. I don’t care about the individual quality of a given space episode, I’ll watch it again, even if it’s really just a bottle show on a small spaceship set or an “alien” planet that looks a lot like British Columbia.
Quality of Mercy Season 1, Episode 13 A fighter pilot is taken prisoner during an intergalactic war.
The Voyage Home Season 1, Episode 15 An alien from Mars hitches a ride aboard a returning space capsule.
The Light Brigade Season 2, Episode 18 Five astronauts attempt to save humanity from destruction.
Tempests Season 3, Episode 9 While bringing medicine to his plague-infested colony, an astronaut enters alternate realities after his ship crashes.
Relativity Theory Season 4, Episode 6 A biologist discovers a race of aliens but loses control of her ship to a mutinous crew.
The Human Operators Season 5, Episode 7 A woman inspires an enslaved man to rebel.
Abaddon Season 6, Episode 14 A space salvage crew gets a deadly history lesson from a genocidal militia leader supposedly executed 150 years earlier.
Rule of Law Season 7, Episode 17 A judge tries to establish law and order on a remote alien mining colony.
Aliens be invading: Whether friend or foe, aliens show up on Earth often, which ya gotta do if you’re science fiction in the 90s.
Sandkings Season 1, Episode 1 A scientist searches for a way to continue his experiments when the top-secret government project he is working on is shut down.
The Deprogrammers Season 2, Episode 16 A rebel leader concocts a plan for freedom on a dark future Earth that has been conquered and programmed for slavery by aliens.
Bodies of Evidence Season 3, Episode 16 When the crew members of a space station die, the captain is accused of murder.
Feasibility Study Season 3, Episode 17 Aliens take a human community into space to see if they will make good slaves.
Promised Land Season 4, Episode 21 Human survivors terrorize a handful of aliens who remain on Earth after an interplanetary war.
The Grell Season 5, Episode 4 A government official and his family are shot down over slave territory.
Ripper Season 5, Episode 11 A doctor in Victorian London discovers Jack the Ripper is an alien.
Star Crossed Season 5, Episode 21 Cosmic “Casablanca” tale of a cynical cafe owner who encounters an old flame in a world dominated by alien invaders.
Something About Harry Season 6, Episode 18 A youth becomes suspicious of his mother’s new boarder when three townspeople suddenly disappear.
Think Like a Dinosaur Season 7, Episode 8 A space station technician lives with aliens to learn the secrets of long-distance space travel.
That good time body horror: Genetic modification, mutations, horrible surgeries, you know the deal.
The New Breed Season 1, Episode 16 A scientist’s experimental potion yields disastrous results when his close friend decides to test it upon himself.
Afterlife Season 2, Episode 15 A convicted murderer agrees to participate in a secret military experiment to avoid being executed.
Double Helix Season 3, Episode 12 A reckless scientist’s experiments initiate a close encounter.
Music of the Spheres Season 3, Episode 14 A music broadcast from distant planets turns young listeners on Earth into something alien.
The Joining Season 4, Episode 13 To survive in a hostile environment, a scientist combines his DNA with that from creatures from Venus.
Leave those brains alone: Often done as an exploration via virtual reality, but also mind control, this is about diving into people’s minds and messing with them.
The Sentence Season 2, Episode 22 A doctor invents a virtual reality device that allows convicts to mentally serve a life sentence in a few hours.
Hearts and Minds Season 4, Episode 3 Soldiers battle insectlike aliens trying to steal an energy source from Earth.
Nightmare Season 4, Episode 20 A voice interrogates aliens’ captives and probes their weaknesses.
Don’t make robots, dummy: People were broadly scared of robots in a way that’s very different from our current AI nightmares. There was also often an inversion of the theme, asking “who’s the real soulless automaton?”
I, Robot Season 1, Episode 18 A humanoid robot is accused of murdering its creator.
The Camp Season 3, Episode 7 A prisoner learns the truth about the alien invaders that have enslaved mankind for centuries.
The Hunt Season 4, Episode 2 After animal hunting is banned, sportsmen hunt androids which are no longer useful.
Simon Says Season 6, Episode 8 A man builds a robot to replace his deceased son.
Can’t the AI do it?: What if robots but they don’t have a body.
Bits of Love Season 3, Episode 1 The lone survivor of a devastating war meets again with a holographic lover.
Stream of Consciousness Season 3, Episode 5 A virus program threatens a computer-controlled society of the future.
The Haven Season 5, Episode 15 A high-tech building malfunctions disastrously, compelling its previously isolated inhabitants to work together to get free.
Don’t time travel either, dummy: Not all time travel episodes have a bad outcome, but they do all agree that you just shouldn’t do it even if you could go back and kill baby Hitler.
A man’s life disintegrates as he inexplicably moves from one world to another.
In Another Life Season 4, Episode 4 A suicidal man is transported to another dimension to kill a homicidal alter ego.
Tribunal Season 5, Episode 12 A concentration camp survivor relies on a time traveler to bring a Nazi war criminal to justice.
Doom: Why focus on one’s own mortality when the extinction of the species is on the table?
Inconstant Moon Season 2, Episode 12 A lonely physics professor discovers the sun is burning out and uses the Earth’s final hours to make up for lost time.
Dark Rain Season 3, Episode 6 Two parents try to prevent a government agency from using their healthy newborn in a plan to repopulate mankind.
Deadman’s Switch Season 3, Episode 13 A soldier inhabits a bunker with doomsday devices as aliens land on Earth.
The Vaccine Season 4, Episode 11 A dozen survivors of a fatal plague must decide who will get the only three vaccinations available.
Lithia Season 4, Episode 17 A man held in suspended animation reawakens on a planet inhabited only by women.
Phobos Rising Season 4, Episode 24 Soldiers on Mars fear an explosion on Earth marks the end of a long truce between opposing alliances.
Summit Season 5, Episode 13 Negotiators for Earth and Gregocia, a planet inhabited by a genetically engineered race, try to build trust after a summit goes wrong.
Stasis Season 6, Episode 9 Two lovers living in an oppressive future society try to connect even though they’ve only seen each other as holograms.
I’m not paranoid, just saying: A lot of this show is a response to the popularity of The X-Files, and many episodes directly deal with fear of… well, all of it. *waves arms around*
To Tell the Truth Season 4, Episode 14 No one believes a discredited scientist when he claims that the world must be evacuated.
Alien Radio Season 5, Episode 1 A radio host pooh-poohs callers’ UFO encounters until one caller kills himself.
Manifest Destiny Season 6, Episode 4 A rescue crew starts going suicidally insane after boarding a derelict interplanetary battleship.
Down to Earth Season 6, Episode 10 A mysterious stranger who claims to have a piece of an alien spaceship causes paranoia and chaos at a UFO convention.
Decompression Season 6, Episode 13 A mysterious woman visits a presidential candidate on his plane, saying she has come from the future to save his life.
Zig Zag Season 6, Episode 19 A cybercolumnist leads a daring attack against supercomputers that have taken control of society.
Nest Season 6, Episode 20 A pair of old buddies must overcome their haunted past while battling a strange infestation at an Arctic research station.
When the humans in a sci-fi story fail to rise above their arrogance and fear, that’s the jam.
Watching BSG before DS9 and seeing the origins of all the religious warfare and quandaries over a higher power while traversing a path of destined annihilation and rebirth sure was an experience to have.
Nerding out over the various generations of Star Trek media in the rec room. Was watching an episode on DVD and realized how much I prefer the pre-digital, pre-remastered, original broadcasts. Frankly, the Selectavision release looks the best. Also: the cartridge art!
We’ll be better audiences of fantasy and science fiction when we stop thinking of non-human people as “races” and “factions.”
How then am I so different from the first men through this way? – Stan Rogers, Northwest Passage
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) The Thing (1982) Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) Interstellar (2014) Jurassic Park (1993) Star Wars: A New Hope (1977) On the Beach (1959) Blade Runner (1982) Alien (1979)
These are pretty much what I was thinking of when creating my blog. I’ve always considered my blog a late-night show, an after-hours thing. A place with a buzzing neon sign.
An addition to this motley crew. More than one of these episodes kinda fucked me up. 😨
These are pretty much what I was thinking of when creating my blog. I’ve always considered my blog a late-night show, an after-hours thing. A place with a buzzing neon sign.
An addition to this motley crew. More than one of these episodes kinda fucked me up. 😨
What do they know about a place and time when a boy is very small and very alone, and the night is as big as the town, and the darkness is the whole world?
