Please do Battle Beyond the Stars. One of my all time favourite memories.

I’m old enough to remember seeing Star Wars when it first hit theaters-I was 16 at the time. It completely captivated me because I’ve always loved great sci-fi. Before that, as a kid, I saw 2001: A Space Odyssey in 1968 (I think), and while I was too young to grasp the ending or its deeper social commentary, I was fascinated by the spacecraft and the sheer realism of it all. It was fresh, innovative, and incredibly exciting. Fast forward to today, and things have changed dramatically. Kids, teens, and adults can now create their own high-resolution worlds in their living rooms with a video game console. They can interact with these worlds, modify them, and immerse themselves for hours. Getting them to sit through a two-hour movie, where their only interaction is munching on a snack, is a tough sell. Take my grandson, for example-he spends hours playing Star Wars games on my old PS4, but he won’t sit on the couch to watch the original movie. It makes me wonder: if the original Star Wars were released today, would it have the same impact? Back then, we had Pong and the Atari 2600-our media landscape was vastly different. As for the newer Star Wars movies, I’m not a huge fan. They’ve become overly complicated, filled with social posturing that shifts the focus away from simple, engaging storytelling. The original Star Wars was a straightforward tale of good versus evil, light versus dark-pure entertainment. Today’s versions feel like morality plays, loaded with social activism, which for many of us, detracts from the escapism that entertainment is supposed to offer.

Actually, while the idea of a device that traveled through time was uniquely Wellsian, Mark Twain did a time travel story “ A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur‘s court”. And don’t believe the descriptive tag-lines like “satire and spoof”. Remember how “Forbidden Planet” was treated as a kid’s story. “Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur‘s court“ especially at its end is a dark narrative which examines what happens when advanced technology is introduced into a primitive culture. There are funny moments but it’s a lot more.

Close Encounters was BORING. and never understood how people thought it was so great.

I’m with you, this is my favorite 1950s SF film. I wish I’d seem this in theaters!

How did they do the laser from the helmut

Your points about imagination when conceiving the Krell reaches all the way to the epic Beowulf. When being the actual epic poem’s text you will find that Grendel the monster is never entirely described-he is hinted at. This was sais a fundamental law of fantastic literature and film which contemporary CGI has dampened. Don’t show, suggest. Years later “Alien” would use this principle to good effect.

Here in the UK it aired on a Sunday evening at 7:30pm, essential viewing for a 12 year old boy like me at the time. Great tv show.

Star Wars is a movie for kids. Close Encounters isn't

This was my favorite show as a kid. I copped the complete series on dvd back in the early 2000s. To me, Buck's character closely mirrored Captain Kirk.

Loved this episode so much, Dan. Made even more special by your musical renditions😊❤

Fun walk down memory lane. I was 13 when it debuted, so it was right in my wheelhouse as a wily teenager 😂. The day after new episodes would be discussed in class or at lunch.

This is totally adorable. I could weep!

Heyyyy are any of them STILL ALIVE. Now days. 😊😊😊😊😊😊

We use to watch it EVERY DAY. AT. 5.OO PM MONDAY TO FRIDAY. ,,,,THEN LATER ON. SATURDAY. AFTERNOONS. 😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊

How about LAND OF THE GIANTS.

They recycled him to a DALEK. OK 😊

What happened to Remo Williams? Chiun? and The Destroyer?