Submitted by: Pickford Film Center, written by Steve Meyers
The Pickford Film Center, among other things, is about keeping film culture alive and on the big screen, whether the chosen film is modern arthouse or cultural touchstone or, as sometimes happens, just plain weird and out there. “We bring the ‘out there’ IN HERE” is a slogan I mean to send in soon. Bringing the community authentically strange, offbeat films is a part of our mission that the Pickford team thrives on and part of our canvas is the monthly Rocket Sci-Fi series (the third Saturday of every month and only $3, most of the time it’s okay to bring the kids, watch those ratings). Rocket Sci-Fi covers science fiction films both classic and modern.
Every six months Rocket Sci-Fi orbits through a selected film series of science fiction favorites. The second half of 2019 brings us to Robots, an overdue testament to our mechanical friends (and sometime foes). Our local s-f fans have been asking for this one for a while; and while we stopped short of renaming the series Robo Sci Fi, we were happy to oblige.
Robots are, according to tech experts, futurists and my favorite sci fi writers, eventually going to be as normalized as cell phones, and present in every household. While that glistening chrome future is still a little way off, these movies will help you recall our robot origins, starting in the 1950s when robot pals were just a dream for every science fiction loving kid.
Our first two films, GOG (1954) and Tobor the Great (also 1954) were fan favorites upon release and for many the first exposure to robo-centric adventure. Things do not always go smoothly (suspense!) and there may be mechanical meltdowns (action!), but any solid classic robot line up begins with GOG and Tobor.GOG shows on July 20th, Tobor shows August 17th.
Just as Elvis Presley was (and is) the King of Rock & Roll in the 50s and beyond, so there is a King of the Robots starting in 1956 and that would be Robby the Robot, immortalized in the classic Forbidden Planet (which was shown for Rocket just last year). Robby did get his own Rob-centric sequel The Invisible Boy (1957) and we will be pleased to show that for Rocket Sci Fi for the very first time, on September 21st.
Moving on from the 1950s to the 1980s, we were able to fit one of the modern classics of science fiction cinema into our playbill and that would be Blade Runner (1982); generally misunderstood upon its release but cherished now, watch Harrison Ford go into private eye mode and chase after androids so advanced they got a new name…Replicants. A great movie and a lot of fun, and did you realize Blade Runner takes place in the year 2019? The future is now, courtesy of Philip K. Dick and Ridley Scott, and shows on October 19th.
We close out with a famous Michael Crichton film and its sequel, these are Westworld (1973) and Futureworld (1976), where robots have had enough of those dang humans and overrun the theme park. They may have learned this from the dinosaurs (or vice versa) but either way it is dang entertaining, a good vehicle for a glowering Yul Brynner, and both films are forerunners to a TV series that is a modern sci-fi favorite. Westworld shows on November 16th and Futureworld will show on December 21st.
That is our Robots roll call, join us for grinding gears and cosmic calculations! In response to any Terminator fans hoping for the original Arnold, we’ll do it someday, we had to save something for that eventual 1980s retrospective of Rocket Sci Fi. We will do our best to keep the fun coming; have a great summer and see you at the movies.
