series

1837 – Snowpiercer: Season 2 (2021)

timespace coordinates: 2021, seven years after the world becomes a frozen wasteland 

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Snowpiercer (TV Series 2020-)

Snowpiercer (2013)

imdb   /   rt

movies

1824 – Chaos Walking (2021)

timespace coordinates:  2257 AD, planet New World

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Chaos Walking is a 2021 dystopian action film directed by Doug Liman from a screenplay by Patrick Ness and Christopher Ford. It is based on the sci-fi trilogy Chaos Walking, adapting its first book, 2008’s The Knife of Never Letting Go by Ness. It is a USA | Canada | Hong Kong co-production.

It stars Daisy Ridley and Tom Holland, along with Mads MikkelsenDemián BichirCynthia ErivoNick Jonas, and David Oyelowo.

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It follows a young man (Holland) who lives in a dystopian world without women, where all living creatures can hear each other’s thoughts in streams of images, words, and sounds called “Noise.” When a woman (Ridley) crash lands on the planet, he must help her escape danger. (wiki)

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imdb

series

1820 – Brave New World (2020 TV series)

timespace coordinates: (post-apocalyptic) New London / The Savage Lands (amusement park) The series “imagines an utopian society that has achieved peace and stability through the prohibition of monogamyprivacymoneyfamily and history itself.” In an update of the original novel, an artificial intelligence system named Indra also connects citizens via a wireless network.

Brave New World is an American social science fiction drama series. It is loosely based on the classic novel of the same name by Aldous Huxley. It premiered on the NBCUniversal streaming service Peacock on July 15, 2020, In October 2020, the series was canceled after one season. (wiki)

imdb   /  The Jewel Net of Indra

series, Uncategorized

1815 – Tribes of Europa (TV Series 2021–)

timespace coordinates: 2074, Europe (after a global catastrophe that causes the continent to fracture into dystopian warring tribal microstates)

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Tribes of Europa is a German sci-fi television series created by Philip Koch that premiered on Netflix on 19 February 2021. Cast: Henriette Confurius as Liv, Emilio Sakraya as Kiano, David Ali Rashed as Elja, Melika Foroutan as Varvara, Oliver Masucci as Moses, Robert Finster as David, Benjamin Sadler as Jakob, Ana Ularu as Grieta. (wiki)

imdb   /   rottentomatoes   /   leifheanzo

animation

1792 – Birdboy: The Forgotten Children (2015)

birdboy poster

Birdboy: The Forgotten Children (Spanish: Psiconautas, los niños olvidados; festival title: Psychonauts, the Forgotten Children) is a 2015 Spanish animated drama-horror coming-of-age film written and directed by Alberto Vázquez and Pedro Rivero, based on the comic Psiconautas by Vázquez. It is the follow-up to the pair’s short film Birdboy, following the titular character, a shy outcast in a post-apocalyptic society, and Dinky, a teenage mouse runaway fleeing her desolate island home. (wiki)

imdb   /   rottentomatoes   /  albertovazquez.net/ 

movies, Uncategorized

1750

The Thing (1982)

timespace coordinates: Antarctica 1982 

The Thing is a 1982 American science fiction horror film directed by John Carpenter and written by Bill Lancaster. Based on the 1938 John W. Campbell Jr. novella Who Goes There?, it tells the story of a group of American researchers in Antarctica who encounter the eponymous “Thing”, a parasitic extraterrestrial life-form that assimilates, then imitates other organisms. The group is overcome by paranoia and conflict as they learn that they can no longer trust each other and that any one of them could be the Thing. The film stars Kurt Russell as the team’s helicopter pilot, R.J. MacReady, and features A. Wilford BrimleyT. K. CarterDavid ClennonKeith DavidRichard DysartCharles HallahanPeter MaloneyRichard MasurDonald MoffatJoel Polis, and Thomas G. Waites in supporting roles.

The Thing was released in 1982 to very negative reviews. It was described as “instant junk”, “a wretched excess”, and proposed as the most-hated film of all time by film magazine Cinefantastique. Reviews both praised the special effects achievements and criticized their visual repulsiveness, while others found the characterization poorly realised. 

The film found an audience when released on home video and television. In the subsequent years it has been reappraised as one of the best science fiction and horror films ever made, and has gained a cult following.

Thematic analysis


Dark Horse Comics published four comic book sequels starring MacReady, beginning in December 1991 with the two-part The Thing from Another World by Chuck Pfarrer, which is set 24 hours after the film. This was followed by the four-part The Thing from Another World: Climate of Fear in July 1992, the four-part The Thing from Another World: Eternal Vows in December 1993,  and The Thing from Another World: Questionable Research. In 1999, Carpenter said that no serious discussions had taken place for a sequel, but he would be interested in basing one on Pfarrer’s adaptation, calling the story a worthy sequel. A 2002 video game of the same name was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, and Xbox to generally favorable reviews. The game’s plot follows a team of U.S. soldiers investigating the aftermath of the film’s events. 


The Thing (2011)


A prequel film, The Thing, was released in October 2011, directed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr., written by Eric Heisserer, and starring Mary Elizabeth WinsteadJoel EdgertonUlrich ThomsenAdewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, and Eric Christian Olsen The story follows the events after the Norwegian team discovers the Thing.


In 2020, Universal Studios and Blumhouse Productions announced the development of a remake of Carpenter’s The Thing. The remake was described as incorporating elements of The Thing from Another World and The Thing, as well as the novella Who Goes There?, and its expanded version, Frozen Hell that features several additional chapters.


Although released years apart, and unrelated in terms of plot, characters, crew, or even production studios, Carpenter considers The Thing to be the first installment in his “Apocalypse Trilogy”, a series of films based around cosmic horror, entities unknown to man, that are threats to both human life and the sense of self. The Thing was followed by Prince of Darkness in 1987, and In the Mouth of Madness in 1994. All three films are heavily influenced by Carpenter’s appreciation for the works of Lovecraft. (wiki)

imdb: The Thing 1982 / 2011


documentary

1711 – The Longest War (2020 documentary)

This documentary feature unpacks the human stories and drama behind America’s involvement in Afghanistan, now the longest war in U.S. history.  (imdb)

rottentomatoes