2413 – Halo (TV Series 2022 -)

timespace coordinates: 26th-century war between the United Nations Space Command and the Covenant, a theocratic-military alliance of several alien races determined to eradicate humanity

Halo is an American military science fiction television series produced by Showtime in association with 343 Industries and Amblin Television for Paramount+. Based on the video game franchise of the same name,

Pablo Schreiber and Jen Taylor star as Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 and Cortana; the latter reprises her voice role from the video game series, Yerin Ha as Kwan Ha, an Insurrectionist teenager from the Outer Colony planet of Madrigal and daughter of Jin Ha and Natascha McElhone as Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey, a scientist for the UNSC, the creator of the SPARTAN-II program.

The first season of Halo premiered on March 24, 2022, and ran until May 19. It was met with mostly positive reviews from critics, with praise given for its action scenes, cast, and visual effects but criticism for its derivative writing and alterations from the source material. A second season premiered on February 8, 2024, and ran for eight episodes until March 21. It was met with positive reviews from critics, who declared it to be an improvement over the previous season.(wiki)

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2314 – Landscape with Invisible Hand (2023)

timespace coordinates: 2036 – 2037 Atlanta (Years into a benevolent alien occupation of Earth, the human race is still adjusting to the new world order and its quirky coffee table-sized overlords called the Vuvv. Their flashy advanced technology initially held promise for global prosperity, but rendered most human jobs – and steady income – obsolete.)

Landscape with Invisible Hand is a 2023 American science fiction film written and directed by Cory Finley, based on the 2017 novel of the same name by M. T. Anderson. The film stars Asante Blackk, Kylie Rogers, and Tiffany Haddish. (wiki)

Cory Finley took inspiration from several Bravo TV shows, especially the Real Housewives and Below Deck series, when making the film. He drew parallels between the themes of surveillance and people having to film and commoditize their love and humanity.

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2241 – Johnny Mnemonic (1995)

spacetime coordinates: 2021, Beijing / Newark, New Jersey (society is driven by a virtual Internet, which has created a degenerate effect called “nerve attenuation syndrome” or NAS. Megacorporations control much of the world, intensifying the class hostility already created by NAS.)

Johnny Mnemonic is a 1995 cyberpunk film directed by Robert Longo in his directorial debut. Based on the 1981 story of the same name by William Gibson, it stars Keanu Reeves, Dina Meyer, Ice-T, Takeshi Kitano, Henry Rollins, Barbara Sukowa, Udo Kier and Dolph Lundgren. Reeves plays the title character, a man with an overloaded, cybernetic brain implant designed to store information. The film portrays Gibson’s dystopian, prophetic view of 2021 with the world wracked by a tech-induced plague, awash with conspiracies, and dominated by megacorporations, with strong East Asian influences.

Shot on location in Canada, with Toronto and Montreal filling in for the Newark and Beijing settings, a number of local sites, including Toronto’s Union Station and Montreal’s skyline and Jacques Cartier Bridge, are prominently featured.

Gibson said that the film was “taken away and re-cut by the American distributor”. He described the original film as “a very funny, very alternative piece of work”, and said it was “very unsuccessfully chopped and cut into something more mainstream”. Gibson compared this to editing Blue Velvet into a mainstream thriller lacking any irony. Prior to its release, critic Amy Harmon identified the film as an epochal moment when cyberpunk counterculture would enter the mainstream.

In 2022, a black-and-white edition of the film, titled Johnny Mnemonic: In Black and White, was released. (wiki)

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2224 – 12 Monkeys (TV Series 2015–2018)

spacetime coordinates: Original Timeline: 1955 US > 1987 Tokyo > 2013 Baltimore, Maryland > 2015 Chechnya, NY > 2016 Manhattan on the day of the Chinese New Year > 2017 (the M5-10 virus kills 7 billion people) > 2030’s Western VII Quarantine Zone / Spearhead > 2041 – 2043 Project Splinter // Alternate 2015 / 2043 // Third Timeline: 2016 <> 2044 // Fourth Timeline: 1925 – 1944 US – 1950’s NY / 1961  East Berlin / 2044 <> 1971 – 1975 US / 2044 <> 2016 / 2020 Spearhead / 2044 // Fifth Timeline: 1852 American frontier / 1891 London / 1917 – 1922 (fr) <> 2045 <> 1940 France / 1953  Hope Valley / 1989 US / 2046, 2047 / 2163 / 1491 /// Titan (a massive time-traveling industrial facility)  __detailed timeline here__

12 Monkeys is an American television series on Syfy created by Terry Matalas and Travis Fickett. It is a science fiction mystery drama with a time traveling plot loosely adapting the 1995 film of the same name, which was written by David and Janet Peoples and directed by Terry Gilliam, itself being inspired by Chris Marker’s 1962 featurette La Jetée; the series credits Marker and both Peoples for their original works.

In the series, Aaron Stanford and Amanda Schull star as James Cole and Dr. Cassandra “Cassie” Railly, two strangers destiny brought together on a mission to use time travel to stop the destructive plans of the enigmatic organization “Army of the 12 Monkeys”. Kirk Acevedo, Noah Bean, Todd Stashwick, Emily Hampshire, Tom Noonan, Scottie Thompson, Alisen Down, Brooke Williams and Barbara Sukowa also star. (wiki)

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2221 – Soldier (1998)

spacetime coordinates: 2036. waste disposal planet Arcadia 234

Soldier is a 1998 American science fiction action film directed by Paul W. S. Anderson, written by David Webb Peoples, and starring Kurt Russell, Jason Scott Lee, Jason Isaacs, Connie Nielsen, Sean Pertwee and Gary Busey. (wiki)

A soldier trained from birth is deemed obsolete and dumped on a waste planet where he is reluctantly taken in by a community of defenseless, stranded wayfarers. (imdb)

Trivia

Writer David Webb Peoples has said that Soldier is a “side-quel” to Blade Runner (1982) (which he also wrote) it takes place in the same universe, and in fact the vehicles used by the Blade Runners – spinners – are also used in Soldier. The premise of Soldier was actually based on an unused opening scene for Blade Runner, where a group of Replicants are dumped and left for dead on an Off-world colony. Both films were released by Warner Brothers, and both were box-office failures that gained a cult following after being released on home video.

An implication in the film is that the genetically-engineered soldiers meant to replace Todd and his fellow soldiers are in fact replicants, continuing a theme from Blade Runner. The 2017 short film 2036: Nexus Dawn, set in between the original Blade Runner and its 2017 sequel Blade Runner 2049, implies that Nexus-9 replicants were developed in 2035, the year in which Soldier takes place.

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Todd’s service record, displayed on a computer screen, includes the following: – The battles of Tannhauser Gate and Shoulder of Orion (references to Blade Runner (1982)) – Receipt of the “Plissken Patch” (reference to Escape from New York (1981) and Escape from L.A. (1996)). Receipt of the “O’Neil Ring Award” (reference to Stargate (1994)) – Receipt of the “Cash Medal of Honor” (reference to Tango & Cash (1989)) Receipt of the “MacReady Cross” (reference to The Thing (1982)) – Receipt of the “Capt. Ron Trophy” (reference to Captain Ron (1992)) – Receipt of the “McCaffrey Fire Award” (reference to Backdraft (1991)) – Receipt of the “Dexter Riley Award” (reference to The Strongest Man in the World (1975), Now You See Him, Now You Don’t (1972), and The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969)) – Citations for the Nibian Moons Campaign, the Antares Maelstrom War, and the War Of Perdition’s Flames, locations referred to in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982).

Among the garbage on the planet is the U.S.S. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the F-117X Remora from Executive Decision (1996), a spinner from Blade Runner (1982), and a piece of the Lewis & Clark from Event Horizon (1997).

The Trinity Moons screen near the end of the movie, also includes references to “Eminiar 7” from Star Trek: A Taste of Armageddon (1967), and “Kessel”, possibly referring to the Kessel Run, mentioned by Han Solo, in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977) and several references to “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy“. The “Top Archive Specifications” comes up with ZZ9.Plurl.ZA (the sector in which Earth is reported to be) which comes up in Zaphod mode. On the right under “Search Results” you can see “Slartibartfast” complete with an “HHG” reference number.

Todd’s weapons training record lists the “USMC Smartgun” and “M41A pulse rifle” (references to Aliens (1986)) and the “DOOM MKIV BFG” – a reference to the computer game Doom.

Todd’s Unit Statistics reference the Dungeons and Dragons Ability scores: STR, DEX, INT(L), WIS, and DEX. It also shows stats for his damage (DAM), hit points (HTPT), language (LNG), loyalty (LOY), and even RSR, which means “Resurrection.”

2184 – Im Westen nichts Neues (2022)

spacetime coordinates: spring 1917 – November 1918 the Western Front – Northern France near La Malmaison  Champagne  the Forest of Compiègne –

All Quiet on the Western Front (German: Im Westen nichts Neues) is a 2022 German epic anti-war film based on the 1929 novel of the same name by Erich Maria Remarque. Directed by Edward Berger, it stars Felix Kammerer, Albrecht Schuch, Daniel Brühl, Sebastian Hülk, Aaron Hilmer, Edin Hasanovic and Devid Striesow. Set in the closing years of World War I, it follows the life of German soldier Paul Bäumer, who, after enlisting in the German Army with his friends, finds himself at risk to the realities of war, shattering the early hopes of becoming heroes. (wiki)

“Both timely and timeless, All Quiet on the Western Front retains the power of its classic source material by focusing on the futility of war.” rottentomatoes

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2180 – Christiane F. – Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo (1981)

spacetime coordinates: 1975 – 1977 in West Berlin

Natja Brunckhorst Characters: Christiane Film: Christiane F. Wir Kinder Vom Bahnhof Zoo We Children From Bahnhof Zoo Christiane F. DE 1981 Director: Uli Edel 02 April 1981 Christiane F. – Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo BRD 1981, Regie Uli Edel Natja Brunckhorst / Filmplakat, Plakat, Poster, Filmposter PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: MaryxEvansxAFxArchivexConstantinxFilm 12468751 editorial use only

Christiane F. (German: Christiane F. – Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo) is a 1981 German biographical drama film directed by Uli Edel that portrays the descent of Christiane Felscherinow, a bored 13-year-old growing up in mid-1970s West Berlin, to a 14-year-old heroin addict. Based on the 1978 non-fiction book Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo (We Children from Zoo Station), transcribed and edited from tape recordings by Kai Hermann and Horst Rieck, the film immediately acquired cult status and features David Bowie as both composer and as himself. In 2013, Felscherinow published her autobiography Christiane F. – My Second Life.

The film was shot with a low budget in 1980 and released in 1981, but set between 1975 and 1977 in West Berlin. It skips the beginning and the end of the book, and concentrates on the main story, starting when Christiane begins her nightlife in Berlin at around 13 years old, and stops rather abruptly after her suicide attempt by stating that she recovered. In the real story, Christiane F. never fully recovered from her addiction, nor did her troubles end with going to Hamburg to begin withdrawal.

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The cast is composed mainly of first-time actors, most of whom were still in school at the time and have mostly not pursued acting careers since. Natja Brunckhorst is the only cast member who continued to act in German films and television. Real life “Stella” (Catherine Schabeck), aged 18 at the time, has a short cameo as the drug dealer that sells the first dose of heroin to Detlev. Most of the extras at the railway station and at SOUND were actual drug users and prostitutes. It would now be illegal to have minors act in the film’s graphic shoot-up, nudity and sex scenes; at the time, however, all the production needed was a written letter of consent from the parents to proceed with filming.

Bowie’s music from his albums made in Berlin during 1976 and 1977 is played throughout the picture, and as he was at the peak of his popularity during the late 1970s and early 1980s, his presence helped boost the film’s commercial success. (wiki)

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Can you dream about anything?
Can you really be sure you are not dreaming?
Can you dream -are you dreaming-?
Have you pinched yourself to see that you weren’t dreaming?