Eye on Sci-Fi - August 2016 - Stranger Things, Rogue One, Orphan Black, Blade Runner 2 and Jack Burton and Snake Plissken

August 2016
By Ken Parker

Stranger Things - What an excellent show.  It is interesting to see a show that has so many homages and connections to the movies of the 80's and yet seem so original and exciting.  I would say, if you loved sci-fi movies like E.T, Firestarter, Goonies as well as Stephen Spielberg, John Carpenter and Stephen King films then you will recognize and like Stranger Things.  Not only does this show take you back in time to the 80's in both setting and feel but it also manages to deliver a highly entertaining show that is both a kids adventure and an adult horror movie.  Netflix is on fire right now with their original programming and this series, 8 episodes long and already renewed for season 2, raises the bar for not only other Netflix series but for television in general.  I could go on and on but there is no reason really.  Your excuses not to get Netflix have just dwindled to practically nothing!

Westworld TV Series - by J.J. Abrams of course!

HBO and Bad Robot are teaming up to make a TV series based on the 1973 movie, Westworld, which starred Richard Benjamin, James Brolin and Yul Brynner.  The movie was about theme park with human like robots who run amok.  The movie had a sequel, Futureworld (1976) and very short lived TV series called Beyond Westworld in 1980.

Jonathan Nolan (Person of Interest) will be writing the pilot.

The director and writer of Westworld was Michael Crichton who would later go on to write a book and movie about a theme park where dinosaurs run amok!!