The Godzilla Shinsei Series

The Godzilla Shinsei series spans from 1999 to 2004, and the movies in the series are the following:

• Godzilla 2000 Millenium (1999)
• Godzilla Vs. Megaguirus (2000)
• Godzilla Mothra and King Ghidora: Giant Monsters All-out Attack (2001)
• Godzilla Vs. MechaGodzilla (2002)
• Godzilla Tokyo SOS (2003)
• Godzilla Final Wars (2004)

After the Japanese public and Toho's dissatisfaction of the US version of Godzilla in 1998, Toho, the movie company that produces Godzilla movies, decided to make a new series of Godzilla movies. Unlike the Showa and Heisei series, the Shinsei series are independent and not related to one another except for Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla and its sequel, Godzilla Tokyo SOS. Despite having its patented roar, which sounds 75 percent like an elephant roar and 25 percent like two metal plates scraping, the look of Godzilla in the 1998 US version was altered to a smaller monster with more mobility. Godzilla also lost its famous nuclear breath blast and had to eat fish and even lay eggs like an animal. In the Japanese version, Godzilla produces its own nuclear energy like a generator, does not have to eat and has a formidable hide. It is more indestructible than the US version. The Shinsei Godzilla, compared to the look of its predecessors, basically has an angry jet-like face and longer, menacing spikes at the back. Its overall design is only different in Godzilla Mothra and King Ghidora: Giant Monsters All-out Attack. There, Godzilla has a bigger face and jaw and smaller spikes at the back like in the Heisei series. The Shinsei series also ushers in the use of Computer Graphic Imagery (CGI) to complement traditional suit-mation (“actor” in a kaiju suit) and scale model special effects Toho has expertly used in the past.

Criteria for a Great Kaiju Film

Below is my countdown of the Godzilla Shinsei series. This starts from my least favourite movie to what I think is the best movie in the series. After each movie is a picture of my DVD copy which I proudly completed from Hong Kong. I'm sure other fans will have their own ranking and preferences in the series. For my own, I selected six criteria as the basis to describe my ranking of the six movies in the series. They are in no particular order of importance, and they are the following:

1. Level of Destruction

   This may sound dark, but this shows the painstaking special effects put into the movie. This involves the explosions, destruction of the scale model city or vehicles, kaiju defeat and others.

2. Use of Special Effects

   This may not involve any destruction at all, but the use of special effects to enhance the movie. This involves flight or swimming sequences of vehicles or kaijus, use of CGI and suit-mation, realistic scale model of a city or big vehicle and others.

3. The Story

   Yes, there is still a story in Godzilla movies. This for me actually makes or breaks the film. The story is what the film-maker or director overlooks in many of my least favourite Godzilla movies. The trick here is to keep audiences interested until the climax of the movie. Some Godzilla movies prove to be dragging at the early scenes when kaijus are absent and when the human characters dominate that part of the story. The story has to be at the right pace and enthralling to keep the audiences intact in the ride to the climax.

4. Entertaining Fight Scenes

   Like martial arts films, kaiju movies have to have the coolest fight scenes. They may be between two or more kaijus or Godzilla versus the army, aliens or special weapons. The poses, the execution, the right length of the fight, second wind and the death-blow are all what fans of this movie genre crave for.

5. Memorable Scenes

   Like rain-drenched Rick waiting for Ilsa in the Paris train station in Casablanca or Keating's students standing on their chairs one by one to salute their mentor in the Dead Poets Society, kaiju movies, though obviously not at that higher standard, also have their memorable scenes. It's what ties the audience to remember a specific Godzilla movie among many Godzilla movies. It's what brings fans together in lively discussion about the kaiju film genre.

6. Substance and Meaning

   It's not all about action and destruction. There's a point to the entire melee in Godzilla movies. Remember that the first Godzilla movie in 1954 was a warning against the use and effects of nuclear weapons and energy. That message has since grown in Godzilla movies to the importance of being environment-friendly, conscious of saving energy and respectful of life.

These are criteria I used to gauge the impact of the movies to me. These are not meant to be strictly followed such as counting the number of buildings or tanks destroyed to measure Level of Destruction, for example. These are movies about a giant mutated monster after all and not like Citizen Kane or the Godfather Parts 1 and 2. The countdown is for the spirit of enjoyment and meant to celebrate Godzilla, the world's most popular kaiju. So fans and interested readers, let the countdown begin! (sound of Godzilla's roar!!!)

Number 6: Godzilla Final Wars

Released in 2004, Godzilla Final Wars (GFW) marks the 50th anniversary of the world's most famous kaiju. Having that honor, Toho employed rising director Ryuhei Kitamura of Azumi fame to the helm, included 15 kaijus and invading aliens into the film and utilized CGI to a whole new level. After being buried in ice for years in a battle with a military flying warship, Godzilla is awoken by the remaining fighting survivors of the human race from an alien invasion. Here, Godzilla battles all of the invading aliens' 11 kaijus and mother ship. Aside from the group of survivors that includes the movie's lead superhuman character, Godzilla's only kaiju ally is Mothra (kaiju moth) who takes on the cyborg kaiju Gigan in the climax of the film. GFW has the spectacle and less on the story and substance. Memorable fight scenes include Godzilla against the US version Godzilla or Zilla and the band of superhumans against Eborah (kaiju crab). Toho's other popular kaijus are also in the movie such as Rodan (the giant pterodactyl) and King Ghidora (giant three-headed dragon) and classic kaijus such as Manda (giant serpent) and Anguirus (armoured rolling kaiju). The last movie I saw apart from GFW with a lot of kaiju's was the classic 1968 Destroy All Monsters. I saw that in a movie theatre in the 1970s.

Score Card

Total: 15 Points; 50% rating

Number 5: Godzilla Mothra and King Ghidora: Giant Monsters All-out Attack

Godzilla Mothra and King Ghidora: Giant Monsters All-out Attack (GMA) was the third of the Shinsei series and first in the series to include other popular Toho kaijus. Godzilla returns to wreak havoc on Japan only to face three guardians, namely Baragon (the underground digging kaiju), Mothra and King Ghidora in that order. Godzilla also has to face the military as usual and was defeated by it, in a rare occasion. I like the admiral's strategy of his mini-sub being swallowed by Godzilla. Only in the inside can he effectively use his drill torpedo rather than on Godzilla's tough hide on the outside. After a sputtering and lengthy start featuring the admiral and his daughter's relationship, the cast of reporters and a mysterious old man, the action sequences, special effects and climax were revitalizing. Ghidora's transformation to the gold-coloured King Ghidora was excellent. It had to be, I guess, because this is a rare movie where he is the protector, a role reversed from his usual appearances in other Godzilla movies. GMA made the most money in the Shinsei series, and I think it's because audiences were treated to seeing the popular Mothra and King Ghidora again after Toho's Mothra series from 1996 to 1998.

Score Card

Total: 16 Points; 53% rating

Number 4: Godzilla 2000 Millennium

The first in the Shinsei series introduced Godzilla's new look and revitalized the franchise by pitting Godzilla against an adversary looking much like the mother ship and alien of Independence Day, the most popular movie made by the same producers of the 1998 US version of Godzilla. What I like about Godzilla 2000 Millennium (GM) is the conflict between the two lead characters. One is the scientist Shinoda, leader of the Godzilla Prediction Network (GPN), a small but self-sufficient group with the aim of studying Godzilla for the main purpose of making effective preventive measures against the kaiju. The other is Katagiri, the brilliant and determined head of the government's Crisis Control Intelligence (CCI) who commands scientists and the military with the aim of destroying Godzilla. This conflict of “to study” against “to destroy” is a welcome element in the storyline and complements the usual spectacle of Godzilla appearing, wreaking havoc on Japan and facing off with the military and another kaiju.

Score Card

Total: 18 Points; 60% rating

Number 3: Godzilla Vs. Megaguirus

After Orga in GM, Toho created another new and interesting kaiju to do battle with Godzilla. This time, it was Megaguirus, a wasp-like kaiju with claws in Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (GXM). Being a victim myself of an attack by wild bees in the mountains, I thought it was about time a kaiju insect was matched pound for pound against Godzilla in a fierce and lengthy battle when I saw GXM. Insects, after all, are very menacing, coordinated, territorial and deadly. Turn a wasp into a kaiju with claws and that will give Godzilla one of his most difficult battles to win. This is also probably the first Godzilla movie wherein the lead character rides Godzilla in the scene where the heroine fires a tracer on Godzilla's back while he swims in the sea. I love that sequence. Aside from this, another notable special effect used in GXM is the meganula swarm that hatched from the Tokyo sewers. The scene wherein the audience first sees the swarm in the side of the building to the attack on Godzilla on Ogasawara Island is pleasing eye-candy. I'm sure traditional special effects were used there, but they were still effective. GXM also features special weapons such as the Griffin, the G-Graspers' attack plane and the black-hole gun or Dimension Tide as named by it by Kudo, the young scientist employed by the G-Graspers. GXM revolves around the beautiful lead heroine of the film who, after losing her commander in the opening gambit, dedicates her life in eliminating Godzilla. It's beauty against the beast.

Score Card

Total: 21 Points; 70% rating

Number 2: Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla

Take a beautiful dedicated soldier as your lead heroine. Make her a loner, scorned and guilt-ridden with career demoted from pilot to librarian. Bottle up all her angst and thirst for revenge against a kaiju and channel them to wield a robot version of Godzilla, complete with a jet pack and a variety of high-tech weaponry. Surround her with an interesting cast such as a responsible prime minister, bad-ass commander, lovable girl confidante and bumbling but brilliant scientist suitor. Take all those elements, and you have the magic of Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla (GXK). After introducing new and old kaijus into the first three movies in the Shinsei series, Toho resurrects the Mechagodzilla character into a new and probably its most visually stunning form yet. Unlike in the Heisei series wherein it never runs out of power, Mechagodzilla or Kiryu has a realistic limited energy level, especially when it fires its ultimate weapon, the absolute-zero gun from its chest. This is a hidden lesson on the value of energy in the film. Kiryu is also a cyborg having the skeleton of the original 1954 Godzilla and body of a robot. Kiryu's weaponry brings the fight scenes to a higher level, and there are a lot of cool anime and martial arts-inspired poses and action choreography such as the scene wherein Kiryu knocks Godzilla to the ground before he burns a hospital with his nuclear breath blast and the brief slow motion crash scene of one of the Herons. The leads of GM and GXM also had cameos in GXK. The lead character carries the film well from the tragedy in the opening gambit to her redemption, triumphantly standing on Kiryu's right shoulder at the end of the film. It's beauty against beast taken to a higher level. GXK is the second biggest grosser in the Shinsei series, and it would have been my number one if not for...

Score Card

Total: 28 Points; 93% rating

Number 1: Godzilla: Tokyo SOS

Godzilla: Tokyo SOS (SOS) takes what GXK was driving at and elevates the message of Godzilla movies. A lot of fans may disagree here and even mention that this is the second lowest grosser in the Shinsei series. However, the elements, special effects, story and message are all superb. SOS has appealing elements, namely an underdog turned hero, sacrifice, great cast and that rising urgency to avoid destruction. SOS has a new lead character, Kiryu's mechanic Chujo. Though not an ace pilot or commander in the base, he rises to the occasion by fixing Kiryu when it was damaged in the battle-zone. He is also willing to sacrifice himself just to complete the mission of stopping Godzilla. Mothra likewise commits a sacrifice in SOS briefly guiding her twin pupa offspring in their baptismal in battle. The movie continues the great special effects staged in GXK with fight scenes full of contact and weaponry. I especially like the use of a basic weapon such as the drill-hand giving the final blow to Godzilla rather than a high-tech, energy-hungry weapon such as the absolute-zero gun which was non-functional in SOS. The story also has the right length of scenes from the exciting opening gambit introducing the status of the three main kaijus and the pursuit of two F-15s of Mothra at mach speed.

But what really sets SOS apart from the other movies is how it presented its message about life. Since GXK, Godzilla has always been compelled to face Kiryu. In GXK, man has desecrated the bones of the original 1954 Godzilla by using them as the source of Kiryu's fast-acting DNA computer. Mothra's involvement in SOS stemmed from this as its fairies warned the lead characters that the bones should be returned to the sea. This is what probably Godzilla wants to do, to return the bones of the first of his own kind back to the sea. As it turns out, Kiryu was the one returning his “brother” back to the sea when it sprung to a life of its own after Godzilla's defeat. This indication of life was sensed by Kiryu's original pilot in GXK. Having life, Kiryu even communicates with Chujo in my most favourite scene. Carrying Godzilla back to sea in flight, Kiryu tilts 360 degrees helping Chujo out of the access station he was stuck in inside the hull. Before falling out to sea to be rescued by a Heron, Chujo hangs on wondering why Kiryu turned and saw a monitor in Kiryu's body flashing “Sayonara” to him. Chujo has diligently maintained Kiryu in the base not knowing that the machine was indeed alive. We can always extract substance, whatever amount of it, in kaiju movies, and it doesn't take much effort to do that amidst the action in SOS. From warning about the negative effects of nuclear energy in 1954, the message has now grown to respect for life in SOS.

Score Card

Total: 29 Points; 97% rating

Another 50 Years of Godzilla

This ends our countdown to the best movie in the Godzilla Shinsei series. Like Bond, Godzilla will be back with a new series, one that will highlight its 60-year anniversary. Till then, we can always enjoy the first three series spanning 50 years of kaiju showdowns and special effects development. “Life is lived as long as nature allows it to”, says the grandfather in SOS, and I think Godzilla will be in the big screens for another 50 years. Sayonara readers. (Sound of Godzilla's roar!!!)

1. Time Bandits (1981)

   
   
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   Written by Terry Gilliam and Michael Palin (former Monty Python member) Time Bandits is perhaps the most surreal and well casted "campy" science fiction movie of them all. Starring such actors as Sean Connery, John Cleese, Shelly Duvall, and Ian Holm this movie is not lacking in any aspect except for seriousness. In fact I generally laugh all the way through this movie. Its pokes at various historical figures as well as the portrayal of a 'common' Western family make for a fun ride through and through. (And to think when I was younger it scared me batless! I wouldn't watch this movie for the world. And now? I laugh.)
   
   A young boy is dragged into the interspatial adventure with some dwarves who have made off with a map of time portals. This map allows them to navigate time through a series of doors that open at particular times. In pursuit of the map is the Evil One and the Supreme Being. Through the wall of a room and into time they go.
   
   I love this movie because of its off-the-wall humor and its somewhat surreal nature. I always laugh when I see Sean Connery (as Agamemnon) or Ian Holm (who plays Napolean) doing their scenes. We take them so seriously now and this offers a different side of their acting careers.

2. Back to the Future (1985)

   
   
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   I will actually address all three of the Back to the Future series here simply because they can be viewed as a single contiguous work (with bathroom and snack breaks of course). Robert Zemeckis, who directed the movies, is actually credited along side Bob Gale as a writer. The level ov involvement within the movies, that is the attention to detail and polish of the films makes them classic and able to be reviewed time and again.
   
   Basically if it's a conundrum that was hypothesized about with time travel it happens in these movies. The year is 1985 and Marty McFly witnesses the death of his friend and mentor Doc Brown at the beginning of the first movie. He takes the time machine that the doc invented and goes back in time to attempt to stop the death from happening. Unfortunately he winds up a tad bit farther back than he expect. 1955. He accidentally prevents his parents from meeting for the first time.
   
   The second movie concerns the future of McFly's family. His son is dated to be imprisoned for some crime and so Doc brings Marty forward in time to fix it. By accident someone manages to bring back an almanac from the future. The past begins to change and McFly and Doc Brown race to save not just Marty this time but the whole world.
   
   The third movie concerns the past. Doc Brown is accidentally taken into the past when the time machine is struck by lightning at the end of the second movie. Marty immediately receives a telegram from Doc Brown outlaying his where-abouts. In basic Doc is slated to die five days after he arrived. Marty approaches the 1955 version of Doc and they unearth the buried time machine and send Marty back.
   
   I love these movies. They are mind bending and extremely funny. I enjoy watching these quite often (when I have an available 6 hours to use). Of any of these movies in this review I would suggest these three the most. These are truly classic, a trilogy well done.

3. Galaxy Quest (1999)

   
   
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   In some ways I pity Tim Allen. The fact that he is stuck with Christmas movies and that he's been type-cast into that kind of role I find sad. It is movies like Galaxy Quest that I consider a highlight of his career. He plays Jason Nesmith who plays Captain Peter Quincy Taggart from a Star Trek rip off show that went off air in the 80's.
   
   Nesmith, and later his fellow actors, meet some aliens in distress at a Galaxy Quest convention. Nesmith takes it as an off acting job and winds up in deep interstellar space in the middle of a battle for the very survival of their species (the aliens, not Nesmith).
   
   Plenty of pot shots are taken at the old Star Trek series and movies and the characters are given depth that most lampoons simply do away with. This is guaranteed to please the hard core science fiction fan as well as the casual viewer. May you laugh. Lots.

4. The Last Starfighter (1984)

   
   
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   This movie is here because of its unintentional campiness. This is one of those movies that took itself entirely too seriously. Not only is it a poor ripoff of Star Wars but its also based on earth. It was one of the first movies to make extensive use of computer generated special effects. Because of this it looks like a video game (much like Tron).
   
   Basically a kid has too much time on his hands and he winds up getting a high score on an arcade game. The arcade game is actually a test for skill so that pilots can be found to fight against some generic bad guy who wields a generic bad-guy staff that goes KCHING when he pushes a button. Typical megalomaniac with a big head and delusions of grandeur. This typical bad-guy manages to make a deep strike on the fighter base that housed all of the Starfighters. And this kid is the only one left. Thus The Last Starfighter. Begin the epic journey.
   
   Because this movie is so campy it is hilarious fun just to watch without a thought towards what it stole from other movies or even why. There are quite a few classic moments as well. I watch this movie from time to time to remember and to laugh at how corny it is. Watch with a loved one or like minded friends. Yell commentary at the screen and throw stuff.

5. Lost in Space (1998)

   
   
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   Lost in Space was supposed to be serious. But it falls into the trap of taking itself seriously and turns into a campfest of fun. With the best bad-guy actor on staff (Gary Oldman of 5th Element fame) and an outstanding cast of good-guys this movie is campy but also well endowed when it comes to special effects.
   
   Earth has been polluted and the recycling technologies have come online too late. So the heads of state and military are building a warp gate to another habitable planet. Trouble is there's terrorists (Sedition by name) and they actually have to send the Robinson family plus change there to supervise the building of the other end of the gate. This entails years of cryogenic sleep and no real social life once they get there. But things don't happen so cleanly. And agent of Sedition sneaks on board and breaks some stuff and the ship begins to plummet into the sun. Someone gets the brilliant idea that because they can't get out of the sun's gravity well they should use the new and untested hyperdrive technology to go through the sun in a slingshot manuever. It works. And they're lost in space.
   
   This movie is campy but also a well done adaption of the show that aired on CBS for so many years. I watch this movie sometimes on the off chance I need a reminder of what original campy scifi looks like. This one is also good for a laugh.

6. Tron (1982)

   
   
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   And last but not least is Tron! One of the greatest science fiction films of all time! Not only is it visionary (in that nothing like it was produced before or after) but it also has charm and most importantly, camp.
   
   For those not familiar Tron is about a renegade computer watch-dog program called Tron. But this is a 'fight the power' kind of movie so Tron is the good guy. Well, one of them. The evil mainframe computer is at odds with almost all of the programmers that have spent any time coding programs that run on its hardware. One night one of the programmers, Flynn, is fiddling around one night with a matter rearranger that could teleport things like oranges and the mainframe zaps him with it and sucks him into the computer world.
   
   Tron was a revolution in computer graphics. When they rendered off the computer effects for certain elements they rendered in trillions upon trillions of colors and had to dumb the final ultra-high resolution images down into something that was usable on screen. This is one of my draws to this movie. The other of my draws to this movie is that it is an original concept in the science fiction universe that hasn't been attempted since. The story is solid as are the characters and there is plenty of room for laughter as well.

1. Serenity (2005)

   
   
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   Spawned from Firefly, a show that Fox killed early on, Serenity is probably considered the freshest science fiction film in the last ten years.
   
   Serenity is about Malcolm Reynolds and his crew who have given shelter to Simon and his sister River. River is a psychic and acquired sensitive information from a top Alliance official. The Alliance wants River back or dead. An agent of the Alliance is sent to hunt her down.
   
   When I saw the previews for this movie in theaters I immediately told my father we were going to see it when it came out. I did, at least. I have never been more pleased with a science fiction film and I think many people who have never even considered science fiction would enjoy it.

2. Zathura (2005)

   
   
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   Zathura was written by the same man that wrote Jumanji. The stories are eerily similar to the extent that they are both about bard games. From that point on there is no similarity. Zathura is action packed and has excellent graphics as well. A touching storyline caps it off for an extremely well made film.
   
   Two boys living with their recently divorced father do not get along at all. They fight and during (or after, its hard to tell) one of the fights the younger of the two brothers finds "Zathura." It appears to be an old science fiction game. And as soon as they begin to play the world around them plays along. First asteroids into the newly remodeled living room-it's downhill from there. Along the way the boys learn some valuable lessons (which, I might add, are not cliché) and learn to get along.
   
   Plenty of action ensues for you action buffs out there, too! I enjoy wholesome explosions and tensity from time to time as well as something that is clean on the language front; something my whole family can watch.

3. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)

   
   
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   Sky Captain was concieved of by Carry Konran in his home while he held down a job and a family. A friend of a friend knew a producer and when she saw one of the initial renders of one of the scenes she immediately agreed to see what could be done. It was downhill from there.
   
   Sky Captain is set in an alternative 1939 and follows the Sky Captain (Jude Law) and his former love Polly Perkins (Gwenyth Paltrow) as they pursue first a mysterious agent and then the agent's master Dr. Totenkopf.
   
   Campy, scifi done as an homage to truly classical science fiction Sky Captain is a pleasure to watch. The effects are excellent and the story even more so. Paltrow and Law both carry very well in their rolls and are supplemented by some exceptional secondary actors. I watch this movie just to whet my tongue as to what science fiction could have been.

4. Minority Report (2002)

   
   
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   Directed by Steven Spielberg Minority Report brings an unusual idea back from its resting place in pulp science fiction and breathes new life into it. The idea that there are a few gifted people who can see the future is not a new one. Spielberg takes the idea and brings us Minority Report, a world where crime has almost been completely eradicated in Washington D.C. because of three such people known as "precognitives."
   
   John Anderton (Tom Cruise) is a chief at the pre-crime department in D.C. He has been with the agency since its inception and is actively involved in almost all aspects of its operation. An agent from the Department of Justice has been sent to evaluate the system that revolves around the precognitives because the entire country is about to vote for expanding the program beyond Washington D.C. Things begin to unravel when Anderton is implicated in murder by the precognitives. This film is typical of Spielberg: quality, edge-of-your-seat action, some humor but most of all a realistic look at what could happen if one odd thing (precognitives) was dropped into the world that we know. I enjoy this movie immensley and I watch it often.

5. I, Robot (2004)

   
   
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   While the book by Isaac Asimov suggests one way human/robot interactions might play I, Robot as a movie takes it in a completely different direction. Directed by Alex Proyas I, Robot is set in 2035 and suffers from heavy product placement ealry in the film. Aside from that it is an excellent example of the world we know with an infusion of one thing that changes everything. Del Spooner is a detective with the Chicago police department. He does not like robots and acts according to this distrust. Spooner is called to the murder scene of a doctor who he knew from his past. The doctor had apparently broken open his window midway up the sky scraper and jumped. The only problem with this is that the glass is break resistant and shatter resistant. Spooner knows there is no possible way the man jumped by himself.
   
   I enjoy this movie as much or more than the others (with the exception of Serenity) and watch it again and again because of the shear poetic presence during a few scenes and because it reminds me that what defines us as humans is our ability to think and reason but most of all it is our emotion.

Stark's thinking about weaponry changed while in East Asia showing Stark Industries military equipment, he and the group were attacked, he was struck by exploding shrapnel and captured by a warlord name Wong Chu and forced to build weapons. He, and Ho Yinsen, a famed physicist, who was also captured worked to build an arc reactor that protected his heart and worked with a suit of armor that he built to escape.

Stark's creation of the arc reactor let him see that Stark Industries could do so much more than just build weapons. If the arc could save him from dying, it could be used in other ways to help people.

Stark built many suits. He used them to fight against people who bought the weapons originally sold by Obadiah Stane, CEO of Stark International. Stark did not want to see Stark Industries weapons in enemy hands. The people called him Ironman, and he let everyone know he was Ironman without hesitation.

Stark is constantly updating his suits with the new designs and weaponry he creates. He continued his fight to battle defending the earth.

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Geena Davis plays the girlfriend and the only bridge to sanely of the scientist who continues to transform from human to fly. She stays by her lover's side throughout the morphing of her genius boyfriend. Even though his transformation begins showing signs of violent behavior and teams of armed security teams have been sent to eliminate the problem before it gets even more dangerous, she sticks by his side.

The movie is a great science fiction testament to how sciences can quickly spinout of control and how humanity can be influenced by the smallest and sometime unknown bugs within the most well thought out scientific experiments.

The movie “The Fly” is worthy of (Renting: Yes - Buying: Yes)

As you read this, remember, this is just one man's opinion, albeit the opinion of an erudite, very knowledge film fan who's been writing about movies and movie-related topics on and off for decades. If you don't like my choices, feel free to compile your own Top Ten List. Hell, I think every film fan should have one. With that thought in mind, here are my top 10 films of all time. (Cue the triumphal trumpets off screen).

The Best Science Fiction Film of All Time:

2001: A Space Odyssey

Why? I've loved this film since childhood. I first saw it in 1968 and walked out the theater wondering what it all meant, yet I knew that I had seen greatness. Since it was first released, Stanley Kubrick's intellectual tour de force meditating on the nature of intelligence has had many competitors for the title of Best Science Fiction Film Ever, but no equals. The brilliance of the concept, which shows mankind evolving from apelike creatures to modern homo sapiens forced to do battle with an artificial intelligence of their own creation, coupled with the stunning visuals (courtesy of Douglass Trumbull, et al.), to say nothing to the trend-setting musical score and the technical advancements in film that it established, all make 2001 a recognized classic in the genre, and my pick as the Best Science Fiction Film of All Time.

Coming in at second place is Blade Runner, Ridley Scott's own rumination on the nature of what it means to be human is surrounded by what may be the best production design ever, amazing leaps in special effects techniques (courtesy of Douglas Trumbull, et al. yet again), and a superb score by Vangelis, make this my #2 Science Fiction Film. Coming in at #3 is Star Wars, George Lucas's bold reimagining of sci-fi swashbucklers like the Flash Gordon serials. This film broke new ground technically, was brilliantly directed, and gave new life to the space opera genre. Holding it back however, are cardboard characters, bad dialog, and several amateurish performances in lead roles. Still, this is a film that captivated millions and helped create a film empire for George Lucas.

My #4 pick is Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind, possibly the best film about alien encounters ever made. It, too, broke new ground technically, thanks to Douglas Trumbull's magnificent special effects and some truly original model designs. Its story of an everyman (Richard Dreyfuss) who longs to journey to the stars is a story that almost anyone can relate to. John Williams' score is also one of his very best. Spielberg's script is definitely among his finest work, and this film is absolutely one of his best films ever, far better than the saccharine and obvious E.T. or the cold, and rather boring A.I. My #5 pick is another one by Ridley Scott, the boldly designed and terrifying Alien. Really more of a horror film than straight sci-fi, Scott's grisly masterpiece definitely made waves when it was released in 1978, and has been influencing production design in both horror and science fiction films ever since.

My numbers 6-10 include: The Empire Strikes Back (probably the best film in the series), Robert Wise's intelligent and thought-provoking The Day the Earth Stood Still, the visionary Things to Come, Luc Besson's The Fifth Element (One of those rare films that never run out of ideas. Even the costumes are funny!), and Clockwork Orange, another meditation by Stanley Kubrick on what it is that makes us human and moreover, what makes us choose good or evil.

Now when it comes to horror films, many people think The Exorcist is the greatest film of all time, and while I agree that it does offer some genuine shocks and is well-made and well-acted, I think it's rather overrated, based on the shock effects it had at the time. It's certainly in my top 10, but not in the top slot.

Best Horror Film of All Time

Bride of Frankenstein

James Whale's immortal Bride of Frankenstein is one of those rare sequels that are actually better than the original. This film has it all, incredible production design, good performances, especially by Karloff, Ernest Thesiger and Elsa Lancaster, superb mood and atmosphere, and a macarbrely witty script that still manages to shock and offend after all these years. It's a classic that has stood the test of time and will still be scaring the pants off people 100 years from now. For my second through tenth-best horror films, I've selected, The Omen (the original, not the remake), Robert Wise's restrained, intelligent and genuinely frightening The Haunting, Clive Barker's Hellraiser, the original Frankenstein, Karl Freund's Mad Love with Peter Lorre (You just can't get away from this guy, it seems). These are all horror films worthy of note, as is the first Exorcist, Hitchcock's Psycho, and George Romero's Dawn of the Dead, (Not only one of the best horror films, but also a savage satire of America's consumerist culture.).

Best Musical of All Time

Singin' in the Rain

Jumping from films designed to give you the shivers, let's look at the best musicals of all time. My pick should be an obvious choice to anyone: Gene Kelly's classic, Singin' In the Rain. What's not to like? It's got great songs, Gene's Kelly's signature dance number (in the rain, "natch), a terrific story, gorgeous color cinematography, Donald O"Conner's hilarious “Make "Em Laugh” dance number, plus Jean Hagen"s Lena Lamont is one of the funniest, and least talented villains in screen history. This is a film that just gets better every time you see it, and is worthy of the top slot in the musical category.

Rounding out the top ten, I chose: Cabaret, The Commitments (hilarious, moving, with a great ensemble cast of unknowns), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (Possibly the best dance sequences of all time, plus great cinematography), Oklahoma, On the Town (The first musical filmed outdoors on location), The Wizard of Oz, Chicago, West Side Story (Another triumph by Robert Wise), Meet Me in St. Louis (old-fashioned yes, but moving, and with terrific songs), and The Gay Divorcee (Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing. "Nuff said).

Best Western of All Time

The Great Train Robbery

The western has been one of the most important genres since the beginning of films, when Edwin S. Porter made The Great Train Robbery in 1903 (Shot in the wilds of New Jersey, no less!). And although the genre has fallen out of favor with producers and audiences in recent decades, the classic westerns are among the best films of all time. But towering over them, in my opinion, is one classic film: The Wild Bunch. This film is Peckinpah"s masterpiece, a moody, violent film with surprising moments of poetry and eloquence amid the shocking carnage. It's an example of world-class film-making, where the script, direction, acting, music, cinematography and editing all combine to produce a staggering impact that, despite many, many imitations and ripoffs, still leaves viewers breathless at the cathartic ending.

My runner up is John Ford's classic, The Searchers, a sprawling epic about loyalty, family, and the corrosive effects of vengeance. It features superb location photography, an excellent script, and the great John Wayne at the top of his game, backed up by a wonderful cast, including Jeffery Hunter, a very young Natalie Wood, Ward Bond, Ken Curtis, and the rest of John Ford's ever-reliable stock company. My third choice is another film from Peckinpah, Ride the High Country, which not only deserves to be ranked among the best Westerns of all time, but among the best films of all time. It's Peckinpah's other masterpiece in the genre, less violent than The Wild Bunch, but imbued with a quiet poetry all its own as it tells the story of two over-the-hill gunmen, Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea and their attempts to hang on to their dignity in a quickly-changing western landscape.

This is Class-A filmmaking all the way, with superb Lucien Ballard cinematography, a script that bristles with trenchant dialog, and an unbeatable cast of Western regulars, including Warren Oates, R.G. Armstrong, L.Q. Jones, James Drury, and Edgar Buchanan, superb as a drunken judge. My other choices for the top ten Westerns of all time include: John Sturges' The Magnificent Seven, Clint Eastwood's best film as a director, Unforgiven, Sergio Leone's epic and unforgettable Once Upon a Time in the West, John Ford's Stagecoach, High Noon, Blood on the Moon (Another classic from Robert Wise), and the TV miniseries, Lonesome Dove.

Best War Movie of All Time

Apocalypse Now

Depending on the world's political landscape, the popularity of war movies waxes and wanes, yet Patton, one of the very best war movies of all time, was made during the Vietnam era, which proved to be tremendously popular with both audiences and critics. And although Patton is a true classic, worthy of a place in my list, my choice for this honor goes to Francis Ford Coppola's beautiful, horrifying magnum opus, Apocalypse Now. Although it's not a perfect film, it comes close to capturing what Coppola referred to as, “the sensuousness of war.” More of a total sensory experience than a tightly structured narrative, it still commands the viewer's attention with its parade of gorgeous visuals, funny and grotesque characters, and a string of brilliant performances, including Martin Sheen's, Marlon Brando's, Dennis Hopper's, and the always-underrated Frederick Forrest.

Aside from Apocalypse Now, there are so many great war movies out there that it's almost impossible to narrow my list down to another nine contenders, but here goes. Among the greatest war films of all time, there's Patton, of course. Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan is a shattering epic with some of the most realistic combat sequences ever filmed, Kubrick's Paths of Glory is one of the most powerful anti-war films of all time, boasting superb performances, an intelligent script, and stunning war sequences that leave one in no doubt that war is, in fact, hell.

Rounding out my list of the top 10 war movies, I vote for Kubrick's funny and harrowing Full Metal Jacket and Das Boot, the ultimate film about submarine warfare, with no glamour, but plenty of tension, terror, and death to spare. Platoon remains Oliver Stone's best film, and one of the best Vietnam films, ever. And of course, no list of best war films would be complete without including the truly epic scope of The Longest Day, and Edward Zwick's epic and heartbreaking Glory.

Picking the Best Film Noir is nearly as impossible as selecting the best war movie, but let me slip my rod into my shoulder holster, don my trench coat and fedora, and I'll make a stab at it. For best film noir thrills, suspense, and world-class movie making, I nominate, M, Fritz Lang's classic about the last doomed hours of a child molester who's marked for death by Berlin's underworld. Peter Lorre's performance here is one of the great film performances ever, and brought Lorre (and Lang) international acclaim. Filling out my lineup of the best Film Noirs, I must absolutely include The Maltese Falcon, certainly among the finest hours for director John Huston and stars Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre (what, again?!) and the immortal Elisha Cook, Jr., one of the twitchiest, most dangerous gunsels ever.

By the way, although it's often been misused, the term gunsel is old-fashioned slang for a homosexual; it does not mean a gunman or gangster. Okay? Now get it straight. Anyway, I must also doff my fedora in the direction of Orson Welles' Touch of Evil, John Huston's The Asphalt Jungle (Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, and Sam Jaffe, at or near their peaks), the outrageous and trend-setting Kiss Me Deadly (the best Mickey Spillane adaptation of all time, and a career highlight for the talented Ralph Meeker). Also worthy of note in my ten best film noir lineup are Roman Polanski's Chinatown, a rare color noir, with great acting by Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, and John Huston (a superb character actor when the mood struck him), and a brilliantly twisty script by Robert Towne that every aspiring screenwriter should be forced to read (at gunpoint, if necessary), The Big Heat, Fritz Lang's sadistic masterpiece of mob violence and equally tough police retribution, starred Glen Ford, Lee Marvin (pass the coffee, Lee!), and Gloria Grahame (another one of the greatest film noir dames).

I also nominated the lesser-known The Narrow Margin, a real nail-biter set aboard a train, with first-rate work by Charles McGraw and Marie Windsor (another of the all-time great film noir dames. See below for The Killing). Rounding out my top ten noirs is Kubrick's The Killing. Great story, ingenious editing, and an incredible noir cast that includes Sterling Hayden, Elisha Cook, Jr., Joe Sawyer, Marie Windsor, Timothy Carey, Ted DeCorsia, Vince Edwards and Joseph Turkel. My final top ten film noir is John Boorman's visionary Point Blank, one of the most influential and imitated films of the 60s, with great editing, icy cool cinematography, and a lead role tailor-made for the great Lee Marvin.

Best Fantasy Film

King Kong

Well, let's leave the seedy urban underbelly of the film noir universe for the world of Fantasy to name the Best Fantasy Film of All Time. Leading the pack is the immortal King Kong, the 1933 version, of course, though I really liked Peter Jackson's sumptuously mounted (albeit much too long) remake. Kong has it all: a terrific story, a beautiful heroine, a tall dark and scary leading man, and, once they get to Kong Island, almost non-stop action, with some of the most innovative special effects ever filmed. Even in the days of breathtakingly beautiful CGI, these old-school effects still have the power to thrill and astonish. Oh, and did I fail to mention Max Steiner's classic score for this masterpiece? One of the best films ever made, King Kong will live forever in minds of anyone who's ever seen it.

Next up on my list of best fantasy films is The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Although each of them is superb, taken in toto, Peter Jackson's three films rank as one of the greatest achievements ever in fantasy film and a unique and powerful piece of filmmaking. Not only are these films excellent realizations of J.R.R. Tolkien's detailed vision of a completely imagined fantasy universe, they're all technically innovative, boast great acting, art direction, editing and music. This series is a winner from the first moments of The Fellowship of the Ring down to the closing credits of The Return of the King. Done on a lesser scale, but still powerful, Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life has been making audiences laugh, cry and applaud for decades. It's so popular it's become a holiday perennial, with annual showings on TV at Christmas. Ridley Scott's Legend lost money when it was first released, but over the years, it's been acknowledged as a classic in the genre, less for its thin story and Tom Cruise's wooden acting than for its grand production design, Tim Curry's delicious performance as the demon Darkness, and the incredible atmosphere it creates.

Legend literally transports you to a fantasy world, and it's one of the most fully realized fantasy worlds ever put on screen. This is a film whose reputation, like Blade Runner's will only grow in the future. The Princess Bride may be the wittiest, best-written film on this list. This original, funny and engaging film, based on William Goldman's novel of the same name, proved that you could make a fantasy film for all ages. It's one of those films that never run out of ideas or witty banter. It is a delight.

The other films on my list of Top 10 Fantasy Films include two by Disney: Pinocchio and Fantasia, two of the most beautiful animated films ever made. Nightmare Before Christmas has finally attained classic status, and why not? It's got great songs, a truly innovative production design, and an original story that's sure to please audiences of all ages, though it might be a bit too intense for the smallest of small fry. Interestingly enough, Nightmare is still a merchandising powerhouse, spawning new products almost every week, and even inspiring certain demented fans (like AFI's Davey Havok) to have Jack and the other characters tattooed on their bodies. What a world! What a world! However, no list of the best fantasy films of all time would be complete without including Beauty and the Beast. No not the Disney musical, but Jean Cocteau's mesmerizing, dreamlike realization of this ancient fairy tale. It remains a treasure of world cinema, a film that every lover of fantasy must see at least once in his or her lifetime.

My final entry in this list is another classic, Douglas Fairbanks' silent version of The Thief of Baghdad. See it once and you'll understand why, especially if you can see it with the original tinting sequences restored and with a live orchestra playing the soundtrack. Now that's moviemaking!

Best Comedy of All Time

The General

Finally, what's life without a few good laughs? I mean laughter is the best medicine for what ails you, so let's take a quick look at THE BEST COMEDY OF ALL TIME. Rather than choose one of the modern classics, I vote for Buster Keaton's immortal tour de force, The General, surely one of the funniest, and best-directed comedies ever. With this action-packed Civil War comedy, Keaton showed himself to be a consummate filmmaker. The script, editing, and gags are all incredibly good. Keaton gives one of his best performances as a trouble-plagued engineer determined to get his train back from those villainous Yankees. Next in line is yet another film by the great Stanley Kubrick, Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.

Like other films listed in my top 10, this is one of those films where everything clicks, from the script to the cinematography and production design to the casting, even the timing of when it was released. It's one of the funniest films of all time about a very unfunny subject: nuclear warfare, and yet it's hilarious thanks to the dead-on script by Stanley Kubrick and Terry Southern, that is acted to a tee by Peter Sellers (in triple roles), Sterling Hayden, George C. Scott (superb in a rare comedy role), Keenan Wynn, Peter Bull, Slim Pickens (his best role ever!), and James Earl Jones in his film debut. Among the also-rans in my TOP TEN COMEDIES are: Duck Soup (It's the Marx Brothers in their absolute funniest film. Any questions?), Stanley Kramer's elephantine, but sidesplittingly funny It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World. (A note to my readers: Any time I'm in a really bad mood, all I have to do is watch the scene where Jonathan Winters demolishes the gas station single-handedly and my bad mood evaporates).

Norman Jewison's The Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming is too long, but it's also a real hoot, probably the second-best Cold War comedy of the 60s, and it's got Jonathan Winters, to boot, as well as Carl Reiner in his funniest film role, and Alan Arkin's excellent debut. I also really like Monty Python's Life of Brian, though many religious people think this film is highly offensive. Fuck "em if they can"t take a joke, I say. Brian is not only the funniest Monty Python film; it also has some very perceptive things to say about human gullibility and the silliness of organized religion. (You've got to work it out for yourselves, people!) It's almost an understatement to call Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot a masterpiece, but like many of the other films on this list, it's nearly perfect in every frame, and certainly ranks among the career highlights of Tony Curtis and Marilyn Monroe. My final comedies are the madcap Nothing Sacred and Harold Lloyd's eyepopping and hilarious Safety Last!

Best Drama

Gone With The Wind

I've got to wrap this up, so let's bounce on over to the last two categories. For the Best Drama of All Time: I vote for Gone With the Wind. It's got scope, it's got sweep, it's got Rhett and Scarlett, and was directed by Victor Fleming the same year he directed The Wizard of Oz. (Man, what a year, he had!) Citizen Kane deserves to be listed here for reasons that should be obvious to anyone who's ever seen it. My other runners up for Best Drama are: A Streetcar Named Desire (Tennessee Williams and Marlon Brando, need I say more?), Coppola's The Godfather I & II, and The Conversation (A brilliant and underrated film about paranoia and spying, with a superb performance by Gene Hackman), Spielberg's epic of the Holocaust, Schindler's List, Michael Curtiz's fabled Casablanca, 12 Angry Men, Otto Preminger's Anatomy of a Murder (his best film), and finally, To Kill a Mockingbird, a beautiful classic with a gentle soul and a wonderful message of tolerance and the hateful effects of racism.

Best Historical Epic

Lawrence of Arabia

I have no choice but to offer up David Lean's magnificent Lawrence of Arabia. This is another film that just gets better each time you see it, and I try to see it every few years because I like it so much. It may take liberties with historical fact, but in its artistry probably gives audiences a greater insight into the character of T.E. Lawrence than any mere documentary ever could. Superlative performances by Peter O'Toole in the lead role, with equally fine work by Anthony Quayle, Arthur Kennedy, Omar Sharif, Anthony Quinn, Jack Hawkins, and Alec Guiness. The cinematography by Freddie Young, rarely equaled and never surpassed, is one of the things that give this film its epic sweep and sense of scope. A tour de force by all concerned.

Next, I nominate Kubrick's Spartacus, one of the best directed and most intelligent of the cycle of epics from the 50s and 60s. Kirk Douglas is nearly perfect and heads a powerhouse cast that includes Lawrence Olivier, Charles McGraw, Jean Simmons, Charles Laughton, Peter Ustinov, Woody Strode, John Ireland and Herbert Lom. My other choices for runners-up for the best Historical Epic include: David Lean's Bridge on the River Kwai, and Dr. Zhivago, both are excellent. And, as much as it pains me to say anything nice about Mel Gibson, his Braveheart is one of the most stirring and exciting epic films ever made. Rounding out my list of Best Historical Epics, I choose Peter Weir's Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Franklin Schaffner's Papillion, Warren Beatty's ode to Commies, Reds, Richard Attenborough's breathtakingly good biography of Ghandi, and finally, two films from the great D.W. Griffith, Birth of A Nation and Intolerance, the latter of which boasts some of the best editing and acting in any silent film.

Well, folks, love "em or hate "em, those are my choices for the 10 Best Films of All Time. If you disagree with my choices, then I strongly encourage you to make your own list. It's one of the most fun aspects of being a film fan, picking favorites and then arguing your choices with other film lovers. See you at the movies, folks.

In spite of their differences, some still debate which franchise is best. Some pose the question "If you could only have one, would you choose Star Trek or Star Wars?". I personally would not want to live in a world where I am forced to make that choice. Monogamy in a relationship is fine, but in entertainment it's rather stupid. However, if I did have to make that choice there would be a clear winner without hesitation on my part. In looking at why these two science fiction franchises should not be compared in a "which is better" contest I will also attempt to rationalize my bias toward one of them.

Star Wars: From Old Religions and Spaghetti Westerns, A New Spirituality Emerges

George Lucas's Star Wars, although it attempts to portray its' universe in shades of gray, remains strongly black and white. At its' core it is a "good vs evil" morality play, which places it in the category of most films, protagonists and antagonists interacting for our entertainment and moral enhancement. Films in the Star Wars franchise have excellent visuals, effective plots, and good dialog. Still these films are basic fantasy.

What some may feel makes Star Wars films special, is the underlaying complex spiritual themes throughout the series. These spiritual themes are pretty much taken from various Eastern belief systems of the past, but, are run through the good vs evil filter of Judeo-Christian sensibilities. Similar to many Spaghetti Westerns, there were clear "good guys" and "bad guys" and within each was a tiny bit of opportunity for the other. "The Force" could be used for good or evil. There were clear "sides". However, just like many Spaghetti Westerns, this strong definition, to me, feels labored, and unrealistic. Although some people may find comfort in thinking the real world is cut and dry, that people are either good or evil, I do not believe it is that simple.

Star Wars is purely an archetypal tale that has been told over and over again in various mediums. These tales have their place and fulfill some intrinsic need in humans to be sure. For me, Star Wars is nothing more than entertainment, as I personally don't feel the need to adopt a spirituality of Taoism filtered through Judeo-Christian sensibilities. I hope most people only view Star Wars as entertainment as the world needs far less myopia in spirituality and the message of "The Force" to me seems like a breeding machine for spiritual myopia.

Star Trek: A Vision of A Possible Future. Beam Me Up Scottie!

If we look purely at individual story lines in Star Trek we will often find some archetypal references just like we do in Star Wars or any other work of fiction. However, Star Trek has offered us far more than the archetypal tales of most fiction. Gene Roddenberry, in creating Star Trek gave the world an evolving blueprint for a possible future. Roddenberry's vision in Star Trek was so pure that even those writers who have attempted to stray from it have not been able to do so effectively. Star Trek points to what Humanity can evolve into and what type of universe we can create. Star Trek is a vision of hope, a vision of self determination. The addition of "The Prime Directive" within the series, cements Star Trek as a force that promotes tolerance and diversity as long as people continue to be entertained and enlightened by its' visionary tales. Just imagine how great our world would be now if some explorers in the past would have had The Prime Directive to follow. Those that did follow that type of thinking on their own helped humanity advance and the ones who did not follow that type of thinking hindered us greatly.

Over the years Star Trek has communicated very complex concepts to a mass audience in entertaining ways. These concepts have ranged from social issues to quantum physics. Star Trek has inspired Scientists and Inventors the world over. Many new theories and products have came about as a direct result of their creator watching Star Trek when they were young. Star Trek has had a tremendous impact on the entire planet and the evolution of Humanity. Star Trek has most likely had more impact on the world than any other entertainment franchise. This impact on the world has been a positive one.

So, Which is Better?

The Star Trek Universe is one that I would love to live in. The Star Wars Universe when I really exam its' core spiritual themes leaves me more depressed than I feel after reading a Philip K. Dick novel. The question of which of these two franchises as entertainment is better is down to a matter of personal taste. The question of which of these two franchises has had more of a positive impact on the world is clear. Star Trek is the overall winner in my opinion because it has offered the world more than just entertainment or a morality lesson.

The only other entertainment franchises that have even come close to offering the world what Star Trek has would be The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits. Star Wars vs Star Trek aside, I would even go so far as the say that Star Trek is the best entertainment franchise of all time because of the positive impact it has made on the world, a statement I make based on my personal values. I could live in a world where The Star Wars films were not made. I would not want to live in a world where the Star Trek vision did not exist.
You may be thinking that Star Trek is my all time favorite show, but that title goes to The Beverly Hillbillies and Prospero's Books, is my favorite movie. In the end it's all just a matter of how ones' personal tastes and values balance.

Hollywood Panders to Gender Stereotype

While Hollywood pandered to the gender stereotypes of the time, it made it virtually impossible for women to occupy roles that did not challenge society's norms and beliefs. Society believed males to be masters of science and mathematics, society branded them providers and protectors, while women were branded images of domestic and supporting help to a man's dominance as head of the household.

Consequently, a male-dependent woman in need of rescue from impending doom was engendered on screen. Men were saviors to women from outer space monsters, men were sky captains and knowledgeable scientists, while many films at the time limited the roles of women in science fiction to helpless beings clad in scanty metal bikinis or torn, rugged garb to satiate the male appetite for sex goddesses on screen.

Women suffered through these roles early as 1931 with the launch of Frankenstein (possibly earlier) to The Forbidden Planet of 1956 and were excluded from occupying roles that extended the range and possibilities of the female existence.

The Feminist Movement and a Change in Depiction

It was not until the second wave feminist movement of the 1960's and the subsequent rise of feminist science fiction that women really challenged these stereotypes. Films such as The Bionic Woman (1976), The Stepford Wives (1975) and Born in Flames (1983) questioned and challenged old stereotypes of a feeble woman. Writers became influenced by the ideas of equal opportunity for men and women in society and this idea paved the way for a far more intelligent depiction of women in science fiction films without challenging society's norms to its core.

By late 20th century, however, women's role in science fiction cinema had drastically changed for the better. The feminist movement had ended, women established themselves as world leaders, scientists, providers, protectors and moved forward in establishing a more serious female presence in the world and on the silver screen.

To this end, women in science fiction films are now portrayed as scientists, warriors and even villains! Science fiction films such as Terminator III, The Cave, I, Robot, Serenity, the Alien franchise and The Matrix franchise, show a diverse possibility of female roles; a far cry from the first images of female gender presented on screen.

Watching the movie, you can get lost in how dog is man’s best friend. Robert spends a lot of time with his dog, and tries to make him eat his vegetables. He gives the dog a bath and makes him exercise. Everywhere Neville went, the dog was sure to go. But in the end, his dog got in a fight with some other monstrous dogs of the zombies along with his master. The dog was hurt badly from poisonous bites. Robert tried to save the dog holding him like a baby. It is sad to say that he lost his best friend.

One night, Robert gets attacked by the angry zombies again in his vehicle. This time he is attacked alone without his dog. Just as one zombie was about to get the best of him, some light appeared, and he was saved by another survivor named Anna. Anna was like an angel who had a little boy. Robert made friends with them.

In the end, the zombies attacked Robert’s home again. Anna and her son were with him. To get rid of some of them, Robert turned some bright lights on which they could not stand. He blew some of them up, but they just kept on coming. Robert, Anna, and the boy went down into the basement where Robert had just found a cure. The zombies found him, and he quickly closed the lab glass door to shut them out so that they could not reach them. Robert tried to talk to the zombies and tell them that he could cure them. He tried to show them the young girl that was a zombie tied down on his laboratory bed being cured. They would not listen to Robert. They kept on trying to bust into the glass door slowly breaking it. Anna and her son got away, while Robert chose to stay in the lab and risk his life.

Did Robert Die? Go see the movie. I think it is an excellent movie that deserves 10 stars.

I've always had a curiosity about the world of fantasy and I was always deeply immersed in watching TV shows and movies about the undead as well as the upbeat side of the world of the superhero.

But for some strange reason I never understood, even though I had over 1,500 comic books, I never built up a single superhero model, even though they existed, and I only built up models of monsters, like Frankenstein, Dracula and the Wolfman. This cycle was only broken a short time ago, when I bought a model of Captain America, a famous Marvel Comics© superhero.

One of my favorite monster magazines was Famous Monsters of Filmland. Famous Monsters featured reviews and commentary on many monster movies and I drooled over the magazine every time I could find an issue of the magazine, as distribution where I grew up in Long Island, NY was very sporadic. It was a very slick publication and had really great photographs and lucid reviews.

Famous Monsters introduced me to the world behind the production of the movies too. How creative teams worked on the movies, and who did the special effects makeup - like Jack Pierce (Frankenstein) and the Westmore family (The Creature from the Black Lagoon by Bud and Star Trek, The Munsters and Star Trek by Mike) and similar topics were explored in the pieces in the magazine.

The magazines I read and the movies I watched motivated me to stage a Frankenstein play when I was very young boy, between 6 to 8 years old, while I was living in Canarsie, Brooklyn, NY and that was over 40 years ago. I wanted to play the monster but they made me the good doctor and I was murdered. It sort of is the story of my life.

At this point in time I bought Collosus Rex who was one of the Colorforms© aliens. He was muscular outer space man from the planet Jupiter and this presaged my becoming a weightlifter later on. In addition to this, I also bought the Scorpio action figure from the Major Matt Mason © astronaut series.

Since then I have delved into horror and science fiction books, magazines and movies with a passion for understanding what makes a quality media piece in that genre. Generally speaking, I think that the older movies and shows were better than the recent offerings.

I know a number of independent movie producers like Warren Disbrow and Brian Coposky. I actually hired them to do molds and make masks for me as well as hiring Mark Alfrey as mentioned later on in this piece.

To be sure, Famous Monsters was not the only horror magazine I ever read. I also read The Monster Times and saw issues of Monster World, and I remember picking a magazine off a street one day when I was a little boy that featured Hammer Films© versions of Dracula and The Daughter of Dracula. I was horrified by the overt portrayal of blood sucking demons, killing weak human beings in their quest for a perverted form of eternal life.

I had a love/hate relationship with these magazines. I was both repulsed by and attracted to these movies and shows. I couldn't understand my feelings towards this genre of literature and media. I had friends who were also involved with these movies and we all shared a common interest in understanding what made our attraction to these magazines tick, so to speak in the common vernacular.

Psychologists and psychiatrists claim that people who engage in watching these movies are usually children who are trying to work out the issue of their mortality. Watching shows in this genre help children to cope with the idea that one day they will pass on and there's a heavy concentration on the idea that death is not final. In that regard, these shows have a sort of cult, religious type of orientation.

For example, psychologists claim that the radioactive, fire-breathing dragon, a mutant tyrannosaurus, stegosaurus hybrid, Godzilla, is actually a psychological attempt by the Japanese to deal with the after effects of the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The carnage those bombs produced became incarnate flesh and blood in a nigh invincible entity, an engine of devastation that was eventually killed by a weapon called the oxygen destroyer. Needless to say, the A-bombs did their damage to Japan and were not stopped by that country.

Godzilla never really died because based on the second series, there was a second Godzilla (aka, Gigantis the Fire Monster) who had a run in over 20 movies after the first Godzilla was killed. And I make rubber masks for a hobby and Godzilla is one of my favorite topics to sculpt. I made him for my nephew years ago.

The monsters fascinated me because, just like superheroes, they were physically superior and stronger than normal mortals. In fact, in one Godzilla comic book produced by Marvel Comics©, the Norse God of Thunder, Thor fought the monster Godzilla and prevailed calling upon his Godly might. Thor prevented Godzilla from knocking over a skyscraper with only one hand.

As per the monsters, Dracula supposedly had the strength of 10 men according to one review I read in Famous Monsters years ago and similarly Frankenstein had double that strength and Frankenstein fought the Wolfman in Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman.

I always enjoyed watching the monsters fight each other more than just watching humans fight them. Humans can't battle monsters and demons using physical strength. The humans have to call upon spiritual might to battle the monsters or at least good detective work and good weapons coupled with a lot of resolve to survive. The Dracula

and Terminator movies portray the latter very well.

Of all the monsters, the one I identified with the most was the Wolfman, played by Lon Chaney Jr., and it was a Universal Studios©, from Hollywood, CA movie. The very first mask I ever made was a werewolf mask. The Wolfman movie featured a cursed man, named Larry Talbot, who killed a werewolf. The werewolf Larry Talbot fought bit him and infected him with the werewolf curse.

There was a poem in the Wolfman movie that went like this:

Even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers by night,

Can become a wolf when the wolf bane blooms and the autumn moon is bright.

My own life wasn't easy even as a child. I was in conflict with many of my classmates over certain religious differences and I was one of the weakest children in the grade because my family stressed scholarship and not physical prowess.

One of my early fantasies was that I owned Godzilla as pet and he defended me against my bullies. There is actually a movie called Godzilla's Revenge wherein a little boy named Ichiro befriends the Son of Godzilla, aka Minya, Tadzilla or Minira. It's too bad I'm not Japanese because my fantasy actually predated that movie or was invented around the time of that movie.

Eventually, when I was 10, I took up weight lifting and in a few years I became one of the strongest children in my grade. I tried to become like my favorite superheroes.

Still, it's worthy to note monster models were my fascination and I built up models made by Aurora. Back in the late 1960's and early 1970's I had all 12 of the Aurora monster models. I even remember all of the monsters: Frankenstein, Dracula, the Wolfman, the Mummy, King Kong, Godzilla, the Forgotten Prisoner of Castlemare, the Witch, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, the Phantom of the Opera, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and the Creature from the Black Lagoon.

Aurora discontinued their Bride of Frankenstein kit at the time I was collecting these kits, but I'm currently looking for it as it was reissued recently. I'll probably build it up and give it away. In the old days, I used to horde all my possessions but in my old age I just do it for the fun of it and try to give the joy to other people.

Back over 30 years ago the kits came with two sets of heads and hands. The first set was the regular type of part and the second was glow in the dark. I used the glow parts on my models.

I used to do something really crazy with the Godzilla heads. The glow head I'd put on the built up model but I'd shoot underarm deodorant through the neck of the regular head and I'd light the deodorant after it came out of the mouth, simulating the monster's fire-breathing, radioactive breath. I'm lucky I didn't blow myself up! It's not funny, I could have.

As a side note, my bedroom used to glow in the dark for about an hour after I turned my lights out at night due to all the glow parts on those monster models. I really used to get a kick out of all of this.

One day, my mother got tired of all of these aberrations of nature and demons from the fire pits of Hell. She threw them all out without warning. It's too bad because they are actually worth a pretty penny these days.

One of my friends from my elementary school days and I used to play Dracula vs. Dr. Van Helsing all the time. My friend and I used to switch off which roles we'd play. We used to always argue as to whether or not flashlights warded off Dracula. It was slanted. If I had the flashlight it worked and if my friend had the flashlight it didn't.

In the movies the good doctor and his descendents were the sworn enemies of the demon, Dracula, and they killed him every time he was resurrected and became undead again. But it is hard to keep a good demon down.

We also used to watch Dark Shadows and read Dark Shadows books, which were about a vampire named Barnabas Collins who lived in England, and the show featured werewolves, vampires and witches and other assorted types of monsters. My friend gave me a whole bunch of Dark Shadows books. All of this was back in the 1960's.

One day, my family adopted our German shepherd as a watchdog. His name was Zeus and he eventually became very large and powerful. The weekend we adopted him, on Friday night, there was a monster movie time slot called ”Fright Night” and they played Daughter of Dracula. There were wolves howling in the movie and my little puppy Zeus was howling right along with them. It was very comical.

My family used to also watch The Munsters, which featured a family of monster parodies. Herman was the Frankenstein Monster, Grandpa was Dracula, Lilly was Dracula's daughter and Eddie was the wolf boy. I always got a kick out of the show and its gallows humor. As a side note, I was at a car show some years ago that had the Munster Coach vehicle in the show. It was kept in good condition many years later.

One year around 1990, I bought a horror/sci-fi magazine called Fangoria and I saw an ad by David Ayres (he worked on Close Encounters of the Third Kind) about learning how to make rubber masks as I mentioned earlier in this piece. I started learning this craft but it became obvious to me that I would never attain the skill to make a top-notch mask.

I went to a horror convention called Chiller Theatre, named after the old horror movie time slot of many years ago, around 1992 and met Warren Disbrow, John Dods and Brian Coposky and I contracted with Brian to do a life cast of my head. Brian dragged his friend Mark Alfrey into the deal and Mark led the life casting session.

Later on, I went to Mark's apartment in John's complex (I bought some items from John - he worked on Beauty and the Beast, Cats and the Monsters TV show) and saw all the fantastic sculpts that he did and I decided to have him design a line of masks for me.

I called the line, The Twilight Delights Legion of the Undead and my favorite mask, a werewolf skull, was named after my beloved dog Princess.

One of my former therapists noted that I had been dealing with the other side for a long period of time. He seemed to have a respect for my involvement with the dark side. And I wanted to capitalize on it. I found a struggling and starving artist in Mark Alfrey and I wanted to become a patron of this art and craft. I'm still working on it.

If you see Mark's Website you will see how he sculpted demons, vampires, aliens, mutants and similar themes for TV shows like Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Hercules the Legendary Journeys, Babylon 5, etc. Just look at the amazing talent of this man and recently he “graduated” from horror and is working doing bronze sculptures.

More recently, I have watched shows like Hercules, Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Charmed all of which featured a variety of monsters and supernatural beings like witches. I never lost my fascination with this genre and I'm not the only one. It seems that quite a few baby boomers watch these shows too.

So to wrap up, I'd like to say that watching monster movies and TV shows is healthy for people of all ages, and I still have a few Godzilla movies in my apartment. I find all of this to be relevant, even in my old age and I hope I adequately covered why people watch these types of shows.