STARTLING TOMES

FANTASTIC PLANETS, FORBIDDEN ZONES, AND LOST CONTINENTS: The 100 Greatest Science Fiction Films.  Douglas Brode. University of Texas Press; 2015. Author Brode looks at 100 of the most influential, popular, and well-made science fiction films. There are chapters on such films as   The Invisible Man,   The Day the Earth Stood Still,   The War of the Worlds, Village of the Damned,   Seconds,   Alien, Star Wars,   Fantastic Voyage, Jurassic Park , and many others. This is more a book of reportage than of film criticism, as Brode's approach is to divide each essay, pop culture-style, into bold-faced sections: Background, Film, Plot, Theme, Trivia and Most Memorable Line. There is little analysis of the film's themselves. In addition to genuine classics, Brode seems to have a weakness for some of the more pretentious titles covered but he does come up with some interesting factoids on many movies. Heavily illustrated. This is an okay introduction to some me...

THE GREATEST SCI-FI MOVIES NEVER MADE . David Hughes. A Cappella Books/ Chicago Review Press; 2001. This entertaining and well-researched book examines the struggle to get many science fiction films made, (some of which have since materialized since the publication of this first edition). These include efforts to bring to the screen such novels as Alfred Bester's "The Stars My Destination;" and Arthur C. Clarkes' "Childhood's End." More often the book examines how the scripts of certain films metamorphosed from the screenwriter and/or producer's original conception into something entirely different.   Superman Lives   (as   Superman Returns )   and   I am Legend   were eventually made, but in very different form and with different actors and creative people attached.   Spider-Man   eventually came to the screen but without the participation of James Cameron, who was attached to the project for several years. Then there are dissections of why certa...