Category: Sci Fi

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines VHS cover art. Action sci-fi thriller movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nick Stahl, Kristanna Loken, Claire Danes. Directed by Jonathan Mostow. 2003.

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nick Stahl, Kristanna Loken, Claire Danes. Directed by Jonathan Mostow. 2003.

From the box:

He comes from the future to rescue the past. And this time he brings a new level of excitement with him!
Arnold Schwarzenegger puts on his trademark shades and leather jacket to return as a time-traveling T-101 Terminator in this smash hit directed by Jonathan Mostow. He’s back to protect youthful future Earth Resistance leader John Connor (Nick Stahl) and an unsuspecting veterinarian (Claire Danes) who’s stunned to learn her destiny is linked with Connor. But protecting the two is easier said than done. An awesome new foe is programmed to terminate them — a state-of-the-art T-X (Kristanna Loken) who’s smarter and stronger than a T-101. With dazzling effects, bravura thrills and a story that boldly spins into the unexpected, this is an event spectacle to see and see again.

DVD Upgrade: Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (Widescreen Edition)

APEX — Advanced Prototype EXtermination Unit

APEX -- Advanced Prototype EXtermination Unit VHS cover art. Time-travel sci-fi action movie starring Richard Keats, Mitchell Cox, Lisa Ann Russell, Marcus Aurelius. Directed by Phillip J. Roth. 1994.

APEX — Advanced Prototype EXtermination Unit on VHS. Starring Richard Keats, Mitchell Cox, Lisa Ann Russell, Marcus Aurelius. Directed by Phillip J. Roth. 1994.

From the box:

Trapped In A Future They Didn’t Create. Fighting An Enemy They Cannot Stop.

“…a cut above most time-travel cyborg thrillers.” — Seattle Times

The year: 2073. The place: Los Angeles. A rip in the fabric of time plunges the world into a cybernetic holocaust that only one man can stop in this futuristic action-adventure. Dr. Nicholas Sinclair (Richard Keats), leads an elite team of scientists in a robotic time-travel project utilizing computerized Advanced Prototype EXtermination units to shuttle back-and-forth from the present to the past. But when a routine experiment goes radically wrong, Sinclair himself is thrown through time into a parallel “time paradox” and finds himself in an altered 2073 — a world devastated by disease and decimated by terminator APEX units. Now he must lead a team of futuristic commandos in a desperate maneuver to reverse the timeline paradox and reshape the future in this explosive high-tech tale of a world gone mad.

Not Readily Available On DVD. Replace: Apex [VHS]

Split Second

Split Second VHS cover art. Action crime horror time-travel movie starring Rutger Hauer, Kim Cattrall, Alastair Duncan, Michael J. Pollard. Directed by Tony Maylam. 1992.

Split Second on VHS. Starring Rutger Hauer, Kim Cattrall, Alastair Duncan, Michael J. Pollard. Directed by Tony Maylam. 1992.

From the box:

He’s Seen The Future… Now He Has To Kill It.
He’ll Need Bigger Guns.

In the year 2008, the cops are better armed than before, but nothing has prepared them for this. Swift, sharp-clawed and deadly, something moves among them on the streets, in the alleyways, on the rooftops, tearing out human hearts and devouring them. Maverick cop “Harley” Stone (Rutger Hauer) lost his partner to the beast, and now it looks as if his girlfriend Michelle (Kim Cattrall) is next on the killer’s list. Even in the future, there aren’t guns big enough to stop the creature’s deadly force, but Harley has no choice. As the action explodes into a deadly struggle to save Michelle, Stone must track the killer to its lair before he too becomes its victim. It could be all over in a SPLIT SECOND.

Rare Region 1 HBO Video DVD Upgrade: Split Second US/Canada DVD

Rare HBO Video VHS: Split Second [VHS]

Timecop

Timecop VHS cover art. Sci-fi movie starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, Mia Sara, Ron Silver, Bruce McGill. Directed by Peter Hyams. 1994.

Timecop on VHS. Starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, Mia Sara, Ron Silver, Bruce McGill. Directed by Peter Hyams. 1994.

From the box:

Turn Back The Clock, And You’re History.

In the year 2004, time travel is not only a reality, it’s an opportunity — for criminals of the future to alter the past for profit and power. International superstar Jean-Claude Van Damme stars in this sci-fi action-thriller as embittered timecop Max Walker — toughest member of the elite “Time Enforcement Commission” which was created to enforce one simple rule: No One Goes Back.
But Walker may have met his match in the person of Senator McComb (Ron Silver), a corrupt ruthless politician who’s determined to reinvent history, get rich and buy his way into the White House. Walker’s relentless pursuit leads him to the year 1994, where he is confronted by an even more powerful force: his own interrupted past with beautiful wife Melissa (Mia Sara).
Can Walker resist the impulse to change his own future and still battle an evil that threatens to rip apart the very fabric of time itself?

Go Back In Time (DVD $2.00): Timecop

Live In The Present (Instant Rental): Timecop

RoboCop 2

RoboCop 2 VHS cover art. Movie starring Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Dan O'Herlihy, Belinda Bauer, John Glover, Mario Machado. Written by Frank Miller, Walon Green. Directed by Irvin Kershner. 1990.

RoboCop 2 on VHS. Starring Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Dan O’Herlihy, Belinda Bauer, John Glover, Mario Machado. Written by Frank Miller, Walon Green. Directed by Irvin Kershner. 1990.

From the box:

The sizzling sequel to 1987’s sci-fi blockbuster brings back “The Future of Law Enforcement,” RoboCop, to face his greatest challenge ever! Peter Weller returns as the half man/half machine police officer, this time to rid the lawless streets of Detroit of the deadly new designer drug “Nuke.” Unknown to RoboCop, the evil corporate empire which created him wants to take the city “private.” and develop RoboCop 2, a newer, bigger and more powerful version to replace the original.

You Have The Right To Upgrade To DVD : RoboCop 2

Read Your Rights: RoboCop 2: A Novel

Hear Your Rights: RoboCop 2 (Original Score) [Soundtrack] Leonard Rosenman | Format: Audio CD

The Bride of Frankenstein

The Bride of Frankenstein VHS cover art. Movie starring Boris Karloff, Elsa Lanchester, Colin Clive, Valerie Hobson. Directed by James Whale. From the brain of Mary Shelley. 1935.

The Bride of Frankenstein on VHS. Starring Boris Karloff, Elsa Lanchester, Colin Clive, Valerie Hobson. Directed by James Whale. From the brain of Mary Shelley. 1935.

From the box:

One of the most outstanding horror classics of all times, and a superb sequel to the original Frankenstein. Horror great, Boris Karloff, reprises his role as film history’s most misunderstood monster who now longs for a mate of his own. Also starring Colin Clive as Dr. Frankenstein, and the incredible Elsa Lanchester as the ill-fated monster-made Bride sporting Hollywood’s most infamous hairdo.
Directed by the original’s James Whale (his last horror film) produced by the original’s Oscar-winning Carl Laemmle, Jr., with a haunting score by Frank Waxman, The Bride of Frankenstein ranks as one of the finest films of the horror genre.

DVD Upgrade: The Bride of Frankenstein (Universal Studios Classic Monster Collection)

Read The First Part For Free: Frankenstein [Kindle Edition] Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (Author)

The Fantastic Four

The Fantastic Four (1994) on VHS. Starring Alex Hyde-White, Jay Underwood, Rebecca Staab, Michael Bailey Smith, Joseph Culp, Carl Ciarfalio, George Gaynes. Directed by Oley Sassone. Produced by Roger Corman. 1994.

The Fantastic Four on VHS. Starring Alex Hyde-White, Jay Underwood, Rebecca Staab, Michael Bailey Smith, Joseph Culp, Carl Ciarfalio, George Gaynes. Directed by Oley Sassone. Produced by Roger Corman. 1994.

From the box:

Lights! Spandex! Action!

Can Marvel capitalize on this comic quartet?

DVD Upgrade: Not Readily Available

But here’s the story about this doomed movie on Blu-ray from Amazon

(One of these days when I figure out where I put this I’ll scan the back cover.)

The Adventures Of Pluto Nash

The Adventures of Pluto Nash VHS cover art. Movie starring Eddie Murphy. With Randy Quaid, Rosario Dawson, Joe Pantoliano, Jay Mohr, Luis Guzmán, Peter Boyle, Pam Grier, John Cleese, Alec Baldwin. Directed by Ron Underwood. 2002.

The Adventures of Pluto Nash on VHS. Starring Eddie Murphy. With Randy Quaid, Rosario Dawson, Joe Pantoliano, Jay Mohr, Luis Guzmán, Peter Boyle, Pam Grier, John Cleese, Alec Baldwin. Directed by Ron Underwood. 2002.

From the box:

The Man On The Moon

The year is 2087 and the future isn’t what it used to be now that mobsters (including Joe Pantoliano) are putting the squeeze on Club Pluto, the nightclub Nash runs. But audacious Pluto isn’t ready to kiss his assets goodbye. With the help of his robo-bodyguard (Randy Quaid), an aspiring singer (Rosario Dawson), his heat-packin’ ma (Pam Grier), a schnook-turned-superstar entertainer (Jay Mohr) and more, Pluto’s going to blast the mob into orbit.

DVD Upgrade: The Adventures of Pluto Nash

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Close Encounters of the Third Kind VHS cover art. Movie starring Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Teri Garr. With Melinda Dillon, Bob Balaban, Cary Guffey. Directed by Steven Spielberg. 1977.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind on VHS. Starring Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Teri Garr. With Melinda Dillon, Bob Balaban, Cary Guffey. Directed by Steven Spielberg. 1977.

From the box:

We Are Not Alone.

In the night skies near his Muncie, Indiana home, power repairman Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) experiences something out of this world. His close encounter sets into action an amazing chain of events that lead to contact with the benevolent aliens and their Mothership.

DVD Upgrade: Close Encounters of the Third Kind (30th Anniversary Ultimate Edition)

Read The Making Of: Close Encounters of the Third Kind: The Making of Steven Spielberg’s Classic Film Paperback by Ray Morton (Author)

Watch Now: Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (Director’s Cut)

2010: The Year We Make Contact

2010: The Year We Make Contact VHS cover art. Movie starring Roy Scheider, John Lithgow, Helen Mirren. With Bob Balaban, Keir Dullea, Candice Bergen. Directed by Peter Hyams. Based on the novel by Arthur C. Clarke. 1984.

2010: The Year We Make Contact on VHS. Starring Roy Scheider, John Lithgow, Helen Mirren. With Bob Balaban, Keir Dullea, Candice Bergen. Directed by Peter Hyams. Based on the novel by Arthur C. Clarke. 1984.

From the box:

While planet Earth poises on the brink of nuclear self-destruction, a team of Russian and American scientists hurtle to a rendezvous with the abandoned Discovery spacecraft and its sole known survivor, the homicidal computer HAL. Their mission: “awaken” HAL and unravel the puzzling skein of events that culminated in Dave Bowman’s last transmission, “My God, it’s full of stars!”

DVD Upgrade: 2010: The Year We Make Contact

Travel To The Stars In Your Mind: 2010: Odyssey Two Mass Market Paperback by Arthur C. Clarke (Author)