I offer up to you an episode of mysteries and wonders. This is an episode that boldy goes where no man has gone...yeah, you know the rest. This week, I talk about two of my favorite supernatural programs.
In Search Of...was an after school pleasure of mine. A paranormal primer hosted by the best possible of inter-steller guides, Leonard Nimoy. This was often followed up with weekend re-runs of Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World, and it's duo of spin-offs--World of Strange Powers, and Mysterious Universe. These shows were staples of my teenage viewing habits. They acted as both discussion point, and story telling device.
Now, I present them to you.
You can listen to the outer-worldly goodness here, or, on Archive.org
I pose a question to all of you, and to myself, "Does the "B" movie still exist?" Sure, we have the back catalogue of Roger Corman and Jack Hill--which serve as latenight movie fodder. But are there modern "B" movies? Would you consider Stars Wars, Jaws, Indiana Jones, or Transformers to be the stuff of "B" movies? When George Lucas and Steven Spielberg changed the game of Hollywood in the late 70's, budgets, and cinema, were never the same. Movies that many of us grew up with, staples of the genre, would have once been considered "B" movies.
Stories of space wars and aliens, were considered pulp magazine page fillers, and saturday matinee tripe. Now, movies about giant robots from space are blockbusters.
What defines a "B" Movie? Is it budget, subject matter, or genre?
While I may not have definitive answers in this week's episod--I bring up some interesting ideas.
As always, you can listen to the B-Grade carnage here. Or, download the show for iPod, or similar device from Archive.org
