The random witterings of Jonathan Morris, writer.

Thursday, 29 April 2021

A Fun Bunch Of Guys From Outer Space

  

An updated updated list of every SF film I’ve seen and haven’t seen.
 
Note: I don’t count superhero films and manga as SF, they are their own marvellous genres, and where variant titles exist, I use one of them.
 
1926
Metropolis
1929
Woman in the Moon
1930
Just Imagine
1933
King Kong
1936
Things to Come
1950
Destination Moon
1951
The Day The Earth Stood Still, The Man in the White Suit, The Thing, When Worlds Collide
1953
Invaders from Mars, It Came from Outer Space, War of the Worlds
1954
20,000 Leagues under the Sea, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, Them!
1955
The Day The World Ended, It Came From Beneath the Sea, The Quatermass Xperiment, This Island Earth
1956
1984, Earth versus the Flying Saucers, Forbidden Planet, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Plan 9 from Outer Space, X The Unknown
1957
The Abominable Snowman, The Incredible Shrinking Man, Quatermass 2
1958
The Fly
1959
Journey to the Centre of the Earth, On The Beach, Return of the Fly
1960
The Last Woman On Earth, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Time Machine, Village of the Damned
1961
The Day the Earth Caught Fire, The Fabulous World of Jules Verne, Mysterious Island
1962
Doctor No, The Fabulous Baron Munchausen
1963
The Birds, The Damned, The Day of the Triffids, La Jetee, The Mind Benders, Unearthly Stranger, Voyage to the End of the Universe
1964
Children of the Damned, Doctor Strangelove, Fail Safe, The First Men in the Moon, Goldfinger, It Happened Here, The Last Man on Earth, Robinson Crusoe on Mars, The Time Travelers
1965
The 10th Victim, Alphaville, Crack in the World, Dr Who and the Daleks, Thunderball, The War Game
1966
Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 AD, Fahrenheit 451, Fantastic Voyage, Seconds
1967
Barbarella, Casino Royale, Privilege, Quatermass and the Pit, The Terrornauts, They Came From Beyond Space, You Only Live Twice
1968
2001-A Space Odyssey, Charly, Countdown, Planet of the Apes
1969
The Bed Sitting Room, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Doppelgänger, Marooned, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Zeta One
1970
The Andromeda Strain, Colossus: The Forbin Project, No Blade of Grass, Toomorrow
1971
A Clockwork Orange, Diamonds are Forever, Escape from the Planet of the Apes, The Omega Man, Percy, Quest for Love, Silent Running, Solaris, THX 1138
1972
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, Doomwatch, Slaughterhouse Five
1973
Battle for the Planet of the Apes, The Final Programme, Phase IV, Sleeper, Soylent Green, Westworld, World on a Wire, Zardoz
1974
The Cars That Ate Paris, Dark Star, The Land That Time Forgot, The Little Prince, The Man with the Golden Gun, The Stepford Wives, The Terminal Man, Young Frankenstein
1975
A Boy and His Dog, Death Race 2000, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Rollerball
1976
At the Earth’s Core, The Big Bus, Futureworld, The Killer Bees, Logan’s Run, The Man Who Fell to Earth
1977
Capricorn One, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Demon Seed, Empire of the Ants, The Island of Dr Moreau, The Glitterball, The People That Time Forgot, The Spy Who Loved Me, Star Wars
1978
The Boys from Brazil, Coma, A Hitch in Time, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Pirahna, Superman, The Swarm, Warlords of Atlantis
1979
Alien, The Black Hole, The China Syndrome, Mad Max, Meteor, Moonraker, Ravagers, Stalker, Star Trek, Starcrash, Time After Time
1980
Altered States, The Apple, Battle Beyond the stars, The Empire Strikes Back, The Final Countdown, Flash Gordon, Monster,  Saturn 3, Scanners, Somewhere in Time, Superman II
1981
Escape from New York, Galaxy of Terror, Looker, Mad Max 2, Outland, Piranha II, Time Bandits
1982
Airplane II, Blade Runner, Britannia Hospital, ET, Forbidden World, Halloween III, The Thing, Tron, Videodrome, The Wrath of Khan  
1983
Krull, The Man With Two Brains, Never Say Never Again, Return of the Jedi, Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone, Superman III, Testament, Wargames
1984
1984, 2010, The Brother from Another Planet, Dreamscape, Dune, Electric Dreams, Ghostbusters, Gremlins, The Last Starfighter, Night of the Comet, The Philadelphia Experiment, Repo Man, Runaway, Search for Spock, Starman, Terminator, Trancers
1985
Back to the Future, Brazil, Cocoon, Creature, Enemy Mine, Lifeforce, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, Morons from Outer Space, The Quiet Earth, Weird Science
1986
Aliens, Biggles: Adventures in Time, Critters, The Fly, Howard the Duck, Invaders from Mars, Peggy Sue Got Married, Short Circuit, Star Trek IV
1987
Batteries Not Included, The Hidden, Innerspace, Predator, RoboCop, The Running Man, Spaceballs, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace
1988
Akira, Alien Nation, Earth Girls Are Easy, Moonwalker, They Live
1989
The Abyss, Back to the Future II, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, The Fly II, Ghostbusters II, Millennium, Slipstream, Star Trek V
1990
Back to the Future III, Gremlins 2, The Handmaid’s Tale, Hardware, Moon 44, Total Recall
1991
Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, Naked Lunch, The Rocketeer, Star Trek 6, Terminator 2, Wedlock
1992
Alien 3, Freejack, The Lawnmower Man
1993
Coneheads, Demolition Man, Les Visiteurs, Jurassic Park
1994
Stargate, Star Trek Generations, Timecop
1995
12 Monkeys, The City of Lost Children, Congo, GoldenEye, Judge Dredd, Screamers, Species, Strange Days, Tank Girl, Waterworld
1996
The Arrival, Barb Wire, Crash, Independence Day, Mars Attacks!, Star Trek: First Contact
1997
Contact, Cube, Event Horizon, The Fifth Element, Gattaca, The Lost World, Men in Black, The Postman, Starship Troopers
1998
Armageddon, Dark City, Deep Impact, Phantoms, Pi, Run Lola Run, Sphere, Star Trek: Insurrection
1999
Bicentennial Man, eXistenZ, Galaxy Quest, The Iron Giant, The Matrix, Muppets from Space, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace
2000
Frequency, Mission to Mars, Pitch Black, Unbreakable
2001
AI, Donnie Darko, Evolution, Ghosts of Mars, Jurassic Park III, Planet of the Apes
2002
28 Days Later, Equilibrium, Impostor, Minority Report, Solaris, Spider-Man, Star Trek: Nemesis, Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, Signs, The Time Machine
2003
The Core, Paycheck, Terminator 3, Timeline
2004
The Butterfly Effect, The Day After Tomorrow, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, I, Robot, Primer
2005
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Robots, Serenity, Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, War of the Worlds, Zarutha
2006
A Scanner Darkly, Children of Men, Deja Vu, The Fountain, The Host, Southland Tales, Superman Returns, V for Vendetta
2007
28 Weeks Later, I Am Legend, The Invasion, The Mist, Next, Sunshine, Timecrimes
2008
Cloverfield, Iron Man, Outlander, WALL-E
2009
2012, Avatar, District 9, Frequently Asked Question About Time Travel, Land of the Lost, Lockout, Moon, Mr Nobody, The Road, Star Trek, The Time Traveler’s Wife
2010
Despicable Me, Hot Tub Time Machine, Monsters, Never Let Me Go, Tron Legacy
2011
The Adjustment Bureau, Attack the Block, Cowboys vs Aliens, In Time, Limitless, Midnight in Paris, Paul, Perfect Sense, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Source Code, Super 8, Thor
2012
Cloud Atlas, Dredd, The Hunger Games, John Carter, Looper, Mine Games, Prometheus, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, Total Recall, Upside Down
2013
About Time, Continuum, Elysium, Ender’s Game Gravity, Her, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The Last Days On Mars, Oblivion, Pacific Rim, Snowpiercer, Star Trek Into Darkness, The World’s End, Under the Skin, The Zero Theorem
2014
The Anomaly, Coherence, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Divergent, Edge of Tomorrow, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Giver, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay 1, Interstellar, Left Behind, Lucy, The Maze Runner, Noah, Mr Peabody & Sherman, Predestination, Space Station 76, Time Lapse, Transcendence
2015
Advantageous, Insurgent, EX Machina, High Rise, Hot Tub Time Machine 2, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay 2, Jupiter Ascending, Jurassic World, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Martian, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, The Signal, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Tomorrowland
2016
10 Cloverfield Lane, Allegiant, ARQ, Arrival, Ghostbusters, Independence Day: Resurgence, Passengers, Star Wars: Rogue One, Star Trek Beyond
2017
Blade Runner 2049, War for the Planet of the Apes, Geostorm, The Humanity Bureau, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Time Trap
2018
2036 Origin Unknown, A Quiet Place, Annihilation, The Cloverfield Paradox, Mortal Engines, Mute, Prospect, Ready Player One, Star Wars: Solo, The Titan
2019
Ad Astra, Farmageddon, Io, See You Yesterday, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Vivarium, The Wandering Earth, Yesterday
2020
Bill and Ted Face the Music, Last and First Men, Love and Monsters, The Midnight Sky, Palm Springs, Sputnik, Tenet
2021
Awake, Space Sweepers, Stowaway
 

 
Still left to see:
 
1955
The Conquest of Space
1957
The Invisible Boy
1958
Teenage Caveman, Terror in the Midnight Sun
1959
Teenagers from Outer Space
1961
Gorgo, Night Tide, The Phantom Planet 
1964
Dogora, The Earth Dies Screaming
1965
The Curse of the Fly
1967
Jules Verne's Rocket ot the Moon
1968
Je T’aime Je T’aime
1969
The Body Stealers, A Case For A Rookie Hangman, The Gladiators, Moon Zero Two
1970
Gas-s-s-s
1971
City Beneath The Sea, Punishment Park
1972
The Mind Snatchers
1973
The Day of the Dolphin, Fantastic Planet
1974
It’s Alive, Where Have All The People Gone?
1977
Tomorrow I'll Get Up And Scald Myself With Tea
1978
Bermuda Triangle
1979
The Spaceman and King Arthur
1981
Condorman
1983
Brainstorm, Xtro
1984
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai, Caravan of Courage, Supergirl
1985
DARYL
1988
Short Circuit II
1990
Meet the Applegates
1992
Timescape 
1993
Bodysnatchers 
1995
Johnny Mnemonic
1998
The X-Files
2000
Red Planet
2001
Vanilla Sky
2002
The Adventures of Pluto Nash
2003
Riverworld
2005
A Sound of Thunder, Sky High
2007
Premonition
2008
Death Race, Doomsday, The Happening, The X-Files: I Want To Believe, Triangle
2009
9, Pandorum, Splice
2011
Apollo 18, Cold Fusion, The Collapsed
2012
Earth's Final Hours, Robert & Frank, Safety Not Guaranteed
2013
The Colony, The Congress, Europa Report, Love,
2014 
Debug, The History of Time Travel, The Last Invasion, Survivor
2015
Chappie, Circle, Evolution, Dark Planet, Infini, Rotor DR1, Turbo Kid
2016
Capsule, The Darkest Dawn, Midnight Special, Morgan, Paradox, Spectral
2017
Anti-Matter, Beyond Skyline, The Discovery, The Endless, Ghost in the Shell, iBoy, Orbiter 9, Revolt, Stasis
2018
Abduction, Aniara, Anon, Attraction, Await Further Instructions, The Beyond, Bumblebee, Curvature, Extinction, High Life, How It Ends, Kin, Level 16, Maze Runner: The Death Cure, Occupation, Replicas, Solis, The Shape of Water, Tau, White Chamber, Zoe
2019
Color Out Of Space, Countdown, Cosmos, Enhanced, Encounter, I Am Mother, Jurassic Galaxy, Prospect, Proxima, The Mandela Effect, Synchronic, White Space
2020
2067, 3022, AI Rising, Archive, Anti Life, Black Box, Chronical 2067, G-Loc, Greenland, Monster Hunter, Portal, Possessor, Sea Fever, Skylines, Underwater, Variant
2021
Assimilate, Bios, Chaos Walking, Dune, Infinite, Infinitum Subject Unknown, The Intergalactic Adventures of Max Cloud, The Mitchells vs the Machines, Oxygen, Reminiscence
 

Monday, 15 February 2021

Out Of Time

This blog’s a little overdue, because last week saw the publication of the latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine. Not only did it include the latest instalment of the not yet erstwhile Blogs of Doom but there was a little book packaged with it, called Doctor Who: The Library of Time. It contained the opening chapters of the various Doctor Who novelisations which are being published by BBC Books in March and an introduction by yours truly.

 
 
It was quite a brief. Write something introducing a disparate selection of stories of Doctors four to nine, eleven and thirteen. My first idea – the obvious idea – to have the Doctor telling her companions stories to pass the time during a TARDIS lockdown was no good, as it had already been done elsewhere (and how could I justify her telling Graham, Ryan and Yaz about a story they were in?).  So I  had to come up with a more imagination solution – a short story with a title that could be used as a title for the collection itself. And one day history will relate quite how heroically rapidly I did it.

But, yes, I’ve written two and a bit pages of a Doctor Who Target book. Does it count? Does it mean that my name can be added to the pantheon of authors, like Terrance Dicks, Malcolm Hulke, Brian Hayles and Alison Bingeman? Well, it does in my house. It’s as close as I’m ever going to get!

So, rush out and buy issue 561 of Doctor Who magazine from your nearest WH Smiths' now!

Wednesday, 27 January 2021

Armageddon

It’s been a bumper month of Morris merchandise.

Last week saw the release of Doctor Who: The Day of the Comet. This one has been in pipeline for a long time; I wrote it back in October 2016 (when Barack Obama was still President!) and it was recorded in April 2017. I’ve reread the script since then a few times, to refresh my memory when doing interviews. What was I thinking when I wrote it? I remember being inspired by the apocalyptic paintings of John Martin, particularly the one below. It set me thinking, what would it be like to live in the city in that painting? The lights are on, so there are people home, but not for long as it’s about to be inundated with lava or suffer a volcanic storm. But beyond that as a starting point, I really can’t remember! (2016 did seem quite an apocalyptic year at the time, though)

It can be ordered here.

And this week’s release is River Song: Queen of the Mechonoids which I do remember a lot more about, as I wrote it in June last year. It was one of those ‘can you write something that can be recorded remotely under lockdown’ jobs. The brief was to feature River Song, the Mechonoids, and to introduce the duo of Mark Seven and Anya Kingdom, as although some of their other adventures had already been written, this would be the first one to be released.

The Mechonoids were quite tricky to write for; I went through their one, brief appearance in Doctor Who with a fine and very pedantic toothcomb, looking for every detail of their backstory. I realised that they have a very limited vocabulary; in the final two episodes of The Chase they only say 19 different words, and even then they rather take their time about it and are none too clear when they do. So that kind of ruled out any long scenes between two Mechonoids discussing their plans for cosmic domination (although James Goss managed it to great effect in the Daleks! series). So the adventure would need to be about the Mechonoids, rather than simply featuring them; as way of putting them centre stage without having them carry the story through dialogue.

The other thing I was thinking was, as the story featured characters and monsters either created by Terry Nation or inspired by him, I really should write a story in a Terry Nation mode. Not as a pastiche or a parody, but just to think, “What would Terry do if he was writing this?” That’s why the story features an exciting and suspenseful crossing-an-underground chasm set piece, because Terry did like his underground chasms. So let’s just say it’s From The Worlds of Terry Nation.

It can be ordered here.

 
 
So there we go, two releases in two weeks. I think it’s going to be a bit quiet after that – I have a few other stories at various points along the pipeline but have no idea when they will see the light of day. My next release this year is going to be the BBC Audio Doctor Who: The Nightmare Realm, out in June, which can be pre-ordered here.

That said, I do have an exciting secret project on the go, in its own exciting and secret pipeline. Well, I say exciting; it might just turn out to be an average romp.