Astute (or extremely activity-challenged) readers will remember I watched 1973’s Westworld again back in July. This evening I saw its later (and lamer) sequel, Futureworld, circa 1976.

So – before I ‘review’ this movie I’m just going to say – I’m not worried about any of you going to rent it (turns out even the Mecca of Movies only had it on VHS) so all plot points (as may exist – and there aren’t many) will be spoiled herein.

So – basically fast forward several years from the events in Westworld – Delos has been rebuilt, bigger and better than ever. Now they have Roman World, Medieval World, Spa World and FutureWorld – no more WestWorld – although they visit its remains in this movie. Given the tragedy of before, Delos needs better PR to encourage people to come back, so they enlist a TV reporter (Blythe Danner) and the newspaper reporter who broke the story the first time around (Peter Fonda). But prior to heading out to Delos, Peter Fonda gets a clue from an informant (who is killed just before PF meets him to discuss the scoop) that something is still very ‘wrong’ at Delos this time around, too.

So they go there, and far too much time is taken up showing all the high-tech stuff, people walking here, people walking there, and there are two bit-characters (a Russian General + wife, and a famous Japanese person, probably a politician) who get some minor screen time. Very little of this advances the plot, save some (seemingly) random sequences showing people very interested in computer recordings and simulations of the main four characters.

It develops that Delos is making (effectively – they don’t name it directly) clones of world leaders and politicians because they don’t trust humans to keep from blowing themselves up. The visitors come to Delos, and the clones are sent out into the world to replace them, under Delos’ control. The movie never says if the robots hatched this plot on their own (one of the major Delos characters, Duffy, turns out to be one) or if they have mad-scientist backers (it is never revealed whether Dr. Schneider is human, robot, or something else) working with them.

At any rate, PF and BD find a (still-human) mechanic named Harry who helps them discover the truth, and then there is more running around with guns until the end, where they both escape Delos and (presumably) tell the world. Yul Brynner is wasted in a weird dream sequence with BD as a fantasy lover – I’m sure I was impressed by this back in 1976 (as a nine-year old) but it’s pretty silly now.

So….without dwelling on what the movie does wrong (mostly far too much tedium in advancing the meager plot) – i’d rather mention a few things that could have made it MUCH more interesting by contrast.

1) Futureworld never explains how the robots figured out how humans always want to destroy themselves (and thus hatched a plot to stop it and save themselves from our stupidity). By way of comparison, the recent BSG remake trickled this info out over the entire length of the series – of course to keep you coming back until the end, but partially because it kept you guessing and interested and inventing your own ideas about where the plot was going, then to watch it and confirm (or see where they went instead).

It might have been very interesting to see the ‘between’ story explained in more detail with more motives and the ‘how’. FW talks about the ‘700 series’ robots as being far more advanced than those in the prior movie/robot generation, but it’s only a few lines of spoken dialog at best and nothing beyond that.

2) Just like in the previous movie, the big ‘seller’ behind the concept of Delos is ‘sex with robots’ – but at $1200/day – would that really do it? And I would think more stuff (even Disneyland has Pirates of the Caribbean, and The Haunted Mansion) than just the Middle Ages or Roman times would be required to get people there (the lack of showers and actual cooking comes to mind, but I digress :)). Westworld itself might have had some attraction, I agree – but even in 1976 I’d think more would be needed (and Disney had both POTC and THM back THEN, too).

3) It would have been interesting also to see robots who didn’t ‘agree’ with the crazy clone strategy to take over the world, and if they helped PF and BD succeed to blow the story open. Here, BSG did this in various ways and various characters – creating a mosaic of character motives (if done well) can really serve to spice things up, no?

4) finally – what if Delos had actually ‘won’? What if they largely succeeded and THEN a reporter came back say, 20-30 years in the future and found out what had happened? And here comes the broken record, because now that I think of it (literally) BSG did this too – in a way – with the whole idea of Cylons being all-but human in appearance, etc. But they limited its scope by keeping it a limited number of models – in FW’s case, it might have been *many* world leaders over time – what if the clones ushered in a time of peace and world achievement, and then we found out we had all been tricked for 20-30 years? What then? I can’t help thinking of Kent Brockman saying “And I, for one, welcome our new ant overlords” with the paper sign on the wall behind him – too funny.

Anyway, if you find the book of this movie on a seedy bookshelf somewhere, and you are killing time on the beach, read it. Otherwise, just rent BSG and get the same thing only done far, far better. They should have quit while they were ahead with Westworld.

candybowl

I caught this article in the latest issue of The Utne Reader – not online yet – it’s originally from Notre Dame magazine (yes, the school).

I was kind of taken by surprise while reading this. Without stepping into the ‘big picture’ issues around a potential motive he may have (prison reform – a subject I’m not very familiar with by any means) – this article really made me stop and think about several things, namely:

a) The comparison between ‘young man decisions made in ignorance’ vs. ‘old man never able to escape them’. This of course brings up the tired cliche of ‘youth being wasted on the young’ – but certainly with more than a hint of irony. I’m not sure the lesson to be learned here is much more than ‘impulsive decisions can sometimes cost you dearly, sometimes forever’. We don’t know the circumstances of what this guy did, but it was obviously permanent (he hints it was murder) and may not have even been done with any sort of planning, or ‘evil’ – although certainly the outcome ended up that way. No excuses – and even the most ignorant person in this country knows what happens when you kill someone, right?

b) This type of essay makes me think – what is the cost? What is the cost to our society (not thinking of $$, but that’s a factor too of course) in terms of lost potential (both by what he and others might have contributed had things gone differently, and by what else society itself may have gained as a result)? What does it say about us? Are we really willing to treat others’ lives like a permanent UFC reality show behind bars for decades if not their entire lives? And how does that square with what they did, proportionality and other ‘rules’ such as ‘eye for an eye’, etc.? All tough questions with no easy answers.

c) One of the most interesting points made was that of prison = a society of captive children. everything (save defecation and eating) is done for them and they aren’t allowed to do almost anything for themselves even if they want to. Does this imply they are ‘frozen’ in an immature state (also may depend on the age at which they enter and other background factors, to be sure) – and how do we change that? DO we change that?

c) Beyond running the prison laundry, making license plates and the like, one thing WA has done of late is allow prisoners to tend gardens and grow food. I don’t believe the food grown leaves the prison (unlike the license plates and other products they may manufacture) but rather they eat it, too. Why wasn’t this done decades ago? It’s not like tending gardens is a 21st century innovation? even if a person is going to be in prison for life (and even if deservedly so) – why not let them tend a garden? And certainly for those slated to eventually rejoin society – it might actually help rehabilitate them? If nothing else, it might give them a break/respite from the otherwise nearly constant violence he describes? Yes, I get it – prison is not ‘vacation’ and not intended to be easy – but there’s a difference between imprisonment and ‘perma-riot’, no?

d) The point made about society’s perception of the prisoner being made when the person entered prison (and doesn’t really change), while the person inside – especially one growing old inside for literally decades – is increasingly reminded of those early, permanent mistakes. And as he notes, the aging, frail body conveying those thoughts serves as a second, painful reminder of same.

e) It is human nature for many to want a black and white solution – to want to make an easy (or even hard) decision and then be DONE with it, period. Locking up a malefactor and (effetively) throwing away the key may be one way – the guy did his crime, regardless of his background/upbringing, environmental factors, etc. – and now he pays with his life (as he made someone else pay, whether that person was an innocent victim or someone who was seconds from doing the same to him). No matter the circumstances – is that all there is to it? Again, not arguing excuses or softening the blow of permanence – just wondering if this is the only answer…..

As noted when I sent this article around via email prior to this post – one thing is certain. I am very, very thankful I haven’t made the mistakes this guy did – and that I have the life I have, and not his.

candybowl

What is it about Alan Rickman that rocks? Well, for starters I think I’ve liked nearly every movie he’s in (or at minimum, his part in it). Despite being ‘genetically predisposed’ to like Galaxy Quest in being a big nerd – I could only put up with the first half hour or so. However, Alan Rickman’s bit as an alien with the catch phrase (‘By Grapthor’s Hammer’) uttered both at critical plot points – and at the grand openings of car lots – is TOO classic.

Who else goes from German terrorist (Die Hard) to guardian angel (Dogma) to sarcastic, doomsayer robot (Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) to Professor Snape (not all the HP movies have near enough of him in them, but most have a good amount :))?

I think it’s the combination of subtle, voiced exasperation, sarcasm without even trying, and just his mannerisms that do it for me. The guy just cracks me up!

candybowl

So another fun thing we did while camping (see previous post) is during transit time between campsites, we listened to the Ricky Gervais Show podcasts (these are now about 5+ years old, methinks) while driving. They just debuted recently in animated form on HBO, but the original podcasts are slightly better, and longer (they edited some of the content out of the HBO versions).

So if you haven’t heard these yet, you can get them for a nominal fee on iTunes or Audible.com. They are really funny, especially the Monkey News segment in each ‘cast. Apparently they are up to 5 seasons of them – we were only listening to the first…. Enjoy!

candybowl

So besides the jet boat trip in July, so far we have attended two family reunions (the first was in Medford – the jet boat trip was the first event; the second was last weekend in Manzanita– somewhat interrupted by rain, unfortunately).

After the second reunion, we drove the Syncro up the coast and camped at 3 different locations: Cape Disappointment (just north of Astoria but on WA side); Grayland (mid-coast, about 25 miles south of Aberdeen); and Heart ‘O The Hills (just below Hurricane Ridge outside Port Angeles). In the first two cases, the weather was overcast, breezy and somewhat wet – typical for this time (and nearly every other time) of year. The last site was much warmer and dryer, but also came with more bugs – doh!

We got in some good biking too. In Medford, we took a couple rides – a ~30 miler roundtrip to the outskirts of nearby Ashland; a second one about 14 miles RT (bike problems prevented more). This past week, we took a ~42mi ride around the Long Beach Peninsula; some short rides near Grayland (one with about 50lb of ice and food on my back!); and a 6 mile ride down (from the campground to Port Angeles) and then back UP (this was the bad part). But we made it, and were better for it in the end.

Sat. am the 14th we packed up and drove to Hurricane Ridge, then hiked the 1.6mi ‘hurricane hill’ hike to overlook the Strait of Juan de Fuca (between the northwest WA coast and Vancouver Island/Canada), then back to the van and blast on home. Got home around 3pm and it was HOT back here in Seattle! And now the Syncro needs a good can or two of Woolite. 🙂

candybowl