1104 – The Wandering Earth / 流浪地球 (2019)

timespace coordinates: In the future, the Sun has aged and is about to turn into a red giant, pushing the nations of the world to consolidate into the United Earth Government, a world government, to initiate a project to move the Earth out of the Solar System to the Alpha Centauri system, in order to preserve further human civilization. Enormous thrusters running on fusion power are built across the planet to propel the Earth. Human population is reduced severely due to catastrophic tides that occur after the planetary engines stop Earth’s rotation, and later as the planet moves away from the Sun, much of the surface is frozen due to lowered temperatures, forcing humans to live in vast underground cities built adjacent to the engines.

The Wandering Earth (Liu lang di qiu) is a 2019 Chinese science fiction film directed by Frant Gwo, based on the novella of the same name by Locus Award and Hugo Award-winning author Liu Cixin. It stars Qu Chuxiao, Li Guangjie, Ng Man-tat, Zhao Jinmai, Wu Jing and Qu Jingjing. (wiki)

According to The Hollywood Reporter, The Wandering Earth is China’s “first full-scale interstellar” film.

imdb   /   rt

1091 – High Life (2018)

High Life is a 2018 English-language science fiction film ( UK | France | Germany | Poland | USA coproduction ) written and directed by French director Claire Denis with Robert Pattinson and Juliette Binoche in the lead roles. It is Denis’s first film in the English language and was co-written by her long-time collaborator Jean-Pol Fargeau and Geoff Cox.

French physicist and black hole expert Aurélien Barrau has been part of the project as a scientific expert. Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson has designed the spacecraft for the film and it is his first cinematic experience.

The film focuses on a group of criminals who are tricked into believing they will be freed if they participate in a mission to travel on a spaceship towards a black hole to find an alternate energy source while being sexually experimented on by the scientists on board. (wiki)

imdb   /   trivia   /   rt

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olafur eliasson – the weather project

1062 – Lifeforce (1985)

timespace coordinates: 1986 London / Halley’s Comet 

Lifeforce is a 1985 British science fiction horror film directed by Tobe Hooper, written by Dan O’Bannon and Don Jakoby, and starring Steve Railsback, Peter Firth, Frank Finlay, Mathilda May, and Patrick Stewart. Based on Colin Wilson‘s 1976 novel The Space Vampires, the film portrays the events that unfold after a trio of humanoids in a state of suspended animation are brought to Earth after being discovered in the hold of an alien space ship by the crew of a European space shuttle.

Horror and comic book writer C. J. Henderson praised the film: “Lifeforce is an incredible film, and may by be the most intelligent vampire movie ever made … [The ideas presented in Lifeforce] are beyond [others vampire movies] beyond all of them, light-years beyond … the story is what makes this movie hum…. Lifeforce is a true, thinking sci-fi fan’s film”. Andrew Migliore and John Strysik in their Lurker in the Lobby explain that Colin Wilson wrote The Space Vampires as a consequence of H.P. Lovecraft‘s publisher August Derleth challenging Wilson (who was critical of Lovecraft’s writing) to write a Lovecraftian novel himself (a challenge that resulted in three such novels, The Mind Parasites, The Space Vampires, and The Philosopher’s Stone), and they continue, “[Lifeforce] is big, splashy, and … the scenes of an apocalyptic London are not to be missed. And the film, an obvious tribute to Nigel Kneale‘s Quatermass, has deep roots in Lovecraft’s mythos”. (wiki)

imdb

1056 – Les mondes engloutis (TV Series 1985–1987)

Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea (French: Les Mondes Engloutis, “The Engulfed Worlds”) is a French animated series created by Nina Wolmark. The series consists of 52 episodes, each between 20 and 25 minutes in length, divided into two 26-episode seasons.

The lost city of Arkadia (named for Arcadia) resembles a small Alderson Disk, and is home to an ancient civilization which escaped a Great Cataclysm in the ancient past by relocating deep within the Earth’s crust. Unaware that life continued on the Earth’s surface, and hoping to keep their people safe, the elders sealed all records of their past in the city’s Archives.

Arkadia survives by the light of an artificial sun, the Tehra (Shagma), which is dying. A group of young Arkadian kids and teens defy the law and enter the Archives. With information about the world above, they create a messenger, Arkana, and send her above to find help.

Arkana encounters two children from the surface, Matt and his sister Rebecca, and brings them back through the underground strata (which seem more like separate worlds or dimensions, with one strata even being the distant future) to save Arkadia. They travel in a living turtle type spaceship called Tehrig, along with Spartakus (a mysterious wanderer) and Bic and Bac (a pair of pangolin-like creatures), Arkadia’s mascots. (wiki)

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1021 – Starchaser: The Legend of Orin (1985)

timespace coordinates: distant future – subterranean Mine-World / planet Trinia

Starchaser: The Legend of Orin is a 1985 animated science fantasy film directed and produced by Steven Hahn, and written by Jeffrey Scott. It was originally released in 3D by Atlantic Releasing. Starchaser: The Legend of Orin was one of the first animated movies to mix traditional and computer animation, as well as one of the first to be released in 3D.

imdb

973 – Prospect (2018)

Prospect is a 2018 American science fiction film starring  Sophie Thatcher,  Jay Duplass, and Pedro Pascal. The film is written and directed by Christopher Caldwell and Zeek Earl. Based on the 15 minute short film of the same name.

Zeek Earl and Chris Caldwell: “PROSPECT originated from a desire to make the kind of sci-fi we wanted to see. We wanted to create a rich and detailed original universe and explore it from the perspective of relative nobodies on the fringe of civilization. It’s not a projection of earth’s near future or a new technological paradigm, nor does the fate of the universe hang in the balance. Rather, the focus is on the people no one cares about who struggle just to forge a palatable existence. People who push into the treacherous frontiers of space, driven by economic desperation to put their lives on the line for a shot at changing the status quo. This kind of expansive, fantastic world becomes the platform to tell a more intimate story, tethered to the experiences of one girl as we follow her strange, survival-induced coming of age. And we hope we’ve created a universe that feels deep and alive; a backdrop that feels incidental to the story, rather than purpose-built for it. Though the perspective is focused, we want the world to feel like it extends well beyond the edges of the film.” (PROSPECT Wiki)

imdb   /  wiki   /   rottentomatoes

0966 – The Chronicles of Riddick

Pitch Black (2000)

timespace coordinates:  desert planet – distant future

Pitch Black (titled The Chronicles of Riddick: Pitch Black on its DVD re-release) is a 2000 American science fiction action horror film co-written and directed by David Twohy. The film stars Vin Diesel, Radha Mitchell, Cole Hauser, and Keith David. Dangerous criminal Richard B. Riddick (Diesel) is being transported to prison in a spacecraft. When the spaceship is damaged by comet debris and makes an emergency crash landing on an empty desert planet, Riddick escapes. However, when predatory alien creatures begin attacking the survivors, Riddick joins forces with the surviving crew and other passengers to develop a plan to escape the planet.Pitch Black was shot on a modest budget of US$23 million. Despite mixed reviews from critics, it was a sleeper hit, grossing over $53 million worldwide and developing its own cult following, particularly around the antihero Riddick. (wiki)

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Pitch Black: Slam City (2000 Motion Comic)

(Prequel to Pitch Black) Slam City is in the form of an official, confidential prison record detailing Riddick’s arrival and escape from the Ursa Luna Slam city Facility in eleven hours twenty-two minutes. Notably, it shows Riddick undergoing the surgery that gives him “eyeshine” – the ability to see in the dark – and paying for this with a pack of Kool cigarettes as mentioned in Pitch Black. William J. Johns is seen at the end of the movie and is charged with capturing Riddick. (imdb)

(on youtube)

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The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (2004 video game)

timespace coordinates: inside Butcher Bay, a maximum-security prison – facility constructed on a barren planet

(Prequel to Pitch Black)The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay is a first-person action and stealth video game developed by Starbreeze Studios and published by Vivendi Universal Games. Released for the Xbox and Windows in 2004, the game is a tie-in prequel to the futuristic science fiction film The Chronicles of Riddick. Actor Vin Diesel—who was involved in the game’s development—reprises his role as that film’s protagonist, Richard B. Riddick.

The game follows Riddick, the anti-hero of the two films Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick, as he attempts to escape from a maximum-security prison called Butcher Bay. Escape from Butcher Bay‘s designers focused on exploring Riddick’s character in a prison break setting to differentiate the game from the film. The game’s influences include the film Escape from Alcatraz, and video games such as Half-Life and Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell. (wiki)

(Game Movie) (Playthrough)

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The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena (2009 video game)

The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena is a science fiction first-person action video game for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Mac OS X. The game is a sequel to The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, which was remade and included along with the Assault on Dark Athena campaign. (wiki)

(Game Movie) (walkthrough)

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The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury (2004)

The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury is a 2004 made-for-DVD adult animated science fiction film. It was directed by the Korean-American Æon Flux animator Peter Chung, and features Vin Diesel reprising his role of Richard B. Riddick. It acts as a bridgepoint between Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick. (wiki)

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The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)

timespace coordinates: 26th century Helion Prime, prison moon Crematoria

The Chronicles of Riddick is a 2004 American science fiction adventure film which follows the adventures of Richard B. Riddick as he attempts to elude capture after the events depicted in the 2000 film Pitch Black. It is written and directed by Pitch Black director David Twohy, with Vin Diesel reprising his role as Riddick and now also acting as producer. It is the first and so far only film in the franchise to be given a PG-13 rating.

Despite not doing especially well in theatres, the film has been successful on DVD and has gained a cult following. (wiki)

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Riddick: Blindsided (2013)

A new attempt on Lord Marshal Riddick’s life is made on the Necromongers’ ship. It’s time for Riddick to end the years long meandering through space and go back to his roots. (imdb)

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Riddick (2013)

Riddick is a 2013 American science fiction thriller film, the third installment in the Riddick film series. Produced by and starring Vin Diesel as the title character.

imdb

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Sequel