Over the Rim Part Two – Wide Open Outer Spaces

By Bennett Owen

Wow! Four days, 13-hundred miles and four states behind us, now that is a My-West road trip! Makes you wonder how many miles … make that light-years … these guys had to travel, just to get their butts kicked by Harrison Ford!

Whooo-peee-dooo, this is gonna be good watching!

But as I mentioned in my last post, there is nothing new under the sun no matter which solar system you wander into.  So happens that Sci-Fi Westerns have a long and illustrious history … just check out stardate 4358.3 when the Starship Enterprise, under command of Captain James T. Kirk makes contact with the ‘Melkotians’, only to find himself and his crew in a gunfight at the OK Corral …

Credit: Chicago Tribune

Credit: YouTube

Or, The Time Tunnel, 1967, where two time-traveling scientists get a birds-eye view of the Battle of the Alamo … (click here to watch the full episode)

And not to mention The Wild, Wild, West, with two government agents outfitted with gadgets just slightly ahead of their time …

Credit: Steampunk

Credit: Visual Feast

And the silver screen has a history of genre-creep as well with offerings such as:

-       Westworld

Credit: Michael Heilemann

-       Back to the Future Pt. 3

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-      Ghost Rider (featuring the mighty Peter Fonda)

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And many others, not to mention the iconic, the legendary, Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter!

And of course the genre proved irresistible to Rod Serling in ‘The Twilight Zone.’  In this episode, a down-on-his luck pioneer takes a walk ‘100 Yards Over the Rim’ and encounters modern-day Arizona. Well. Modern as in 1961.  Here is all 25 minutes and it’s well worth the time.

Now if I could just transport myself ahead to July 29^th!

Credit: Beyond Hollywood

Cowboys & Aliens – 100 Yards Over the Rim

By Bennett Owen

Credit: io9.com

Hot Damn!  Cowboys & Aliens is just one month away! The anticipation only grows as we inch towards opening night. Watch this!

I’m a kid again, counting down to Christmas! I haven’t been this excited since I found the Lone Ranger PJs in my parents’ closet with the ‘For Bennett – From Santa’ tag on it.

Credit: Vintage Treasures

And C&A is a gift that keeps on giving, bringing back the mighty Harrison Ford, restoring him at age 68 to his superstar, mega-force, butt-kicking splendor.  Now if you think the movie is set to be some camp, smirking, half-comedic western satire, you’d be oh-so wrong. Here’s how co-screenwriter Roberto Orci describes what we’re about to see:

“The world feels like the world in ‘3:10 to Yuma’ or even ‘Unforgiven’ but introduced into that are aliens who start attacking … the guys on the horses in the movie have no words for what they’re seeing.”

Credit: Movie Goods

Credit: Coming Soon

And Ford adds this assessment:

“…It’s a cowboy movie first and then stuff happens. Even after stuff happens…it’s still a cowboy movie. And that’s what’s incredible about it because nobody’s done that before, that’s new territory.”

Check out the full and fine Ford profile in the LA Times:

Credit: LA Times

‘3:10 to Yuma’…’Unforgiven’…Now those are some serious credentials.  You know where to find me on July 29^th. I’ll be the guy down on the front row, so close to the screen I can count the pixels. Don’t even think about asking me to share the popcorn.

Science Fiction and the Western, mixing the genres, what a novel idea! Seems like someone would have come up with that one years ago…something along the lines of  ‘Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter…’

Credit: imdb

It turns out the Sci Fi western is almost a genre unto itself and we will be exploring it in tomorrow’s post, including a full episode of  ‘Twilight Zone’ that you will NOT want to miss.