tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2801441755423984496.post5333354472897932217..comments2024-03-05T17:26:44.559-08:00Comments on Roman's Movie Reviews and Musings: The Time Travelers (1964) – MST3K ReviewRoman J. Martelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09545497713474664555noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2801441755423984496.post-36377424409691358882017-11-24T18:19:45.765-08:002017-11-24T18:19:45.765-08:00I agree I think those visuals really did help the ...I agree I think those visuals really did help the movie in a lot of ways. It made it more fun to watch and it probably helped the actors on set work with physical items instead of having to react to rear projection or blue screen work. <br /><br />Thanks for commenting!Roman J. Martelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09545497713474664555noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2801441755423984496.post-21995315327507976772017-11-24T01:26:19.765-08:002017-11-24T01:26:19.765-08:00Hmm. Didn't know about the cut ending. Oddly e...Hmm. Didn't know about the cut ending. Oddly enough, this isn't the first time the MST3K crew cut an esoteric Sci-Fi movie ending to make it more comprehensible. "Time of the Apes" ended with a bizarre confrontation between the heroes and a supercomputer which was supposed to add tension to the plot (as the supercomputer wanted to send the heroes off into the future, but it instead somehow accidentally wound up sending them into the past because of ...reasons.) MST3K simply cut all of that sequence out, and had the heroes entering the mountain where the supercomputer was stored, having some lights flash, and the heroes waking up in the past at the point in time where they'd left. <br /><br />What I liked about the Time Travelers was its use of nifty, "magic trick" practical effects. It would probably have been easier to just sub-par optical effects to make people and objects transform and disappear, but they went the extra mile to make things seem tangible and real. I wish more low budget filmmakers would do the same kind of thing today instead of relying on crappy AfterEffects software to make cheap SFX.Amethystnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2801441755423984496.post-15792785143806312592017-07-17T07:52:38.835-07:002017-07-17T07:52:38.835-07:00Yeah I really think the Coneheads were inspired by...Yeah I really think the Coneheads were inspired by these androids. I know Ackroyd is a big sci-fi fan in general (the guy knows his Lovecraft too). So it wouldn't surprise me if he knew of this film.<br /><br />I think older special effects do look very dated to most younger eyes. I see folks of a certain age griping about poor CG from the early 1990s, so it isn't relegated to just the pre-CG stuff. What I find interesting is that they can't move past the effects and see how well the movie works on its own. In that way, I think "The Thing" and "The Thing from Another World" are both very good movies, because they are both very well put together. <br /><br />I have the same issue when I hear folks complaining about dated synth sounds in 80s and 70s film scores. That was the state of the art at the time the scores were made. But it really hard for some listeners to separate what they hear as "cheesy" because it has been parodied so many times, from when it was original and new.Roman J. Martelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09545497713474664555noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2801441755423984496.post-44976208336636406612017-07-08T12:35:00.191-07:002017-07-08T12:35:00.191-07:00From the look of that third picture, I wonder if t...From the look of that third picture, I wonder if that's where Aykroyd got the inspiration for his Coneheads routine. I've never seen this film either, but I'm curious. It does look cheesy, but I can overlook that. What's weird is I sometimes listen to SF podcast and the casters comment about how older effect ruin the movie for them yadda yadda. I can't totally understand that perspective. I sometimes wonder if newer special efx haven't ruined a generation to appreciate older films. <br /><br />The other day I was listening to a podcast comparing the 50s Thing From Another World, the 80s Carpenter Thing, and then the prequel. They all loved Carpenters and even the prequel, but had the same feeling about the first film. Sad, I still think that it's a classic and suspenseful. I guess you had to grow up with them. El Voxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05985563041511492981noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2801441755423984496.post-65759540199050323462017-07-03T07:33:24.551-07:002017-07-03T07:33:24.551-07:00Yeah I'm with you. I've never heard of thi...Yeah I'm with you. I've never heard of this film or seen any clips from it. It was an all new experience for me and that may be why I found myself pulled into the plot of the film when I watched it the first time. It really is a well put together movie for its time and budget. I think you'll enjoy it if you manage to find it.<br /><br />According to Jonah the movie ended in a "Groundhog Day" fashion with our heroes looping through the same day several times at the end. The writers found it very difficult to riff, so they cut that sequence out of the final film. I don't know if it really adds much to the final scene of the film (which really comes out of nowhere), but it would have resolved one odd plot element that seems to be dropped in the MSt3K version, but was addressed in the original.Roman J. Martelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09545497713474664555noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2801441755423984496.post-27916494335973078302017-07-02T18:47:11.988-07:002017-07-02T18:47:11.988-07:00It’s the rare scifi movie with a US release made b...It’s the rare scifi movie with a US release made before 1965 that I haven’t seen. They were a staple of independent channels on weekends and late-night prior to 1970, and I certainly sought them out. Yet somehow I missed this one. Time paradoxes have been in scifi almost from the beginning, perhaps reaching full expression in Robert Heinlein’s 1959 short story “All You Zombies” in which a person through time travel and sex change is both of his/her own parents.<br /><br />Maybe this film needs to be seen uncut – or maybe not. Sounds fun either way.Richard Bellushhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10108081864942272619noreply@blogger.com