Ad Astra

[Snake45]

Finally got around to seeing the sci-fi movie Ad Astra last night. About 20 minutes in, I thought, "This looks like 2001 meets Apocalypse Now." That idea only grew stronger through the rest of the movie. (Looked like a little homage to Mad Max in there, too, at one point.)

So this morning I decided to google to see if anyone else thought so, too. I only had to type in "ad astra a" before google auto-completed to "ad astra apolcalypse now." Yup. (Reminded me of a few years back when I googled "born this way respect yourself"--yup again.) The director himself said the same thing, according to one article: 

If there’s one thing that director James Gray regrets about his new movie, Ad Astra, it’s when he first described it to the press. “I said it’s a mash-up of Apocalypse Now and 

2001: A Space Odyssey , which it sort of is but isn’t.”

 

This is nothing really new, of course. Outland is really just High Noon in Space, and the wonderful Firefly franchise is really The Outlaw Josie Wales in Space. I kind of enjoy these things. 

[Jim B]

Never heard of Ad Astra, but I did enjoy 2001: A Space Odyssey, Apocalypse Now, & Firefly.

[1972coronet]

 

[Snake45]

Was that from their album Got Nothing to Do with the Topic at Hand? 

[Mike999]

16 hours ago, Snake45 said:

This is nothing really new, of course. Outland is really just High Noon in Space, and the wonderful Firefly franchise is really The Outlaw Josie Wales in Space. I kind of enjoy these things. 

The late great Harlan Ellison said when he was writing for the science-fiction pulp magazines in the early 1950's, one kind of story was always guaranteed to be rejected:  "cowboys in space." 

Editors hated those stories and would not buy them.  They even spelled it out in their Writer's Guidelines:  "no cowboys in space stories."  That's ironic, since "cowboys in space" describes some of the most successful sci-fi movies.  Including most of the "Star Wars" franchise, IMO.

 

 

[JollySipper]

2 hours ago, Snake45 said:

Was that from their album Got Nothing to Do with the Topic at Hand? 

Posts like that keep a topic going.....

1 hour ago, Mike999 said:

since "cowboys in space" describes some of the most successful sci-fi movies.

There was a cartoon series called "Cowboy Bebop", and that's exactly the premise. They were a group of bounty hunters in space. It was an adult cartoon, and probably the most successful Japanese franchise, although it was short lived....... they only did 26 episodes.

[Rob Hall]

44 minutes ago, JollySipper said:

Posts like that keep a topic going.....

There was a cartoon series called "Cowboy Bebop", and that's exactly the premise. They were a group of bounty hunters in space. It was an adult cartoon, and probably the most successful Japanese franchise, although it was short lived....... they only did 26 episodes.

I do dabble in anime occasionally, and I liked Cowboy Bebop..great music and visuals...had some neat cars also.  Initial-D got me into manga and anime, from the Fujimi kits. 

Edited July 9, 2020 by Rob Hall

[1972coronet]

On 7/9/2020 at 4:48 AM, Snake45 said:

 

 

Edited July 12, 2020 by 1972coronet

[Deuces ll]

On 7/9/2020 at 2:52 AM, 1972coronet said:

 

Is there a quadra-phonic version of this one?????..... ?☮️

[Richard Bartrop]

That was the last film I paid money to see in a theatre.  The 'teens have been a great decade for sci fi film, and I'll take more like this over yet another Star Wars/Trek rehash.

Speaking of sci fi films,  anyone else excited about the upcoming Dune movie?

[SfanGoch]

On 7/9/2020 at 8:37 AM, Mike999 said:

That's ironic, since "cowboys in space" describes some of the most successful sci-fi movies.  Including most of the "Star Wars" franchise, IMO.

Gene Rodenberry described Star Trek as a "space Western" I thought of the show in the same way watching it as a kid. Rodenberry had a background in television Westerns, writing scripts for Have Gun - Will Travel, Bat Masterson and others; so, it wasn't a stretch to incorporate Western-style storylines into Star Trek, too.

[Mike 1017]

That is 2 hours that I will never get back in my life.