So you've recently seen a photo of myself and a wookie at San Diego Comic Con last year...but our love began at a much earlier age. Here we are in Orlando at the Ewok Village...me at the tender age of 15 (and yes that is a fanny pack...if that isn't horrifying enough for this blog post...then I don't know what scary is anymore).
My love for all things sci-fi started with repeated Star Wars viewings at the age of two. I could not get enough of it and my parents took me to the theatre to see it at least four times. They then fed my cravings for more by bringing me home an action figure or a ship nearly every week. My father eagerly helped me cut out the upc's from the card backs to send in for Obi Wan and the much coveted Boba Fett! I still own the bulk of my star wars collectibles as well as throw pillow and Empire Strikes Back sleeping bag (which gets regular use to this day). From Star Wars I moved onto the saturday tv shows...Svengooli and creature features. Godzilla and Gamura. Wolfman and Sinbad. I loved my Ray Harryhausen...
Sci-fi proved to be a great 'gateway' drug to horror for me. There's probably a safer way to ease into the scary movies though...I went straight from Star Wars to Alien at the tender age of four. Let's just say my parents rarely curtailed my television viewing. I was petrified of spaghetti for quite some time. However I distinctly remember being more worried that the alien would eat the kitty then the alien eating Tom Skeritt.
I started reading science fiction books a couple years later. Ray Bradbury was a favorite. I remember pouring over the novelization of V
and loving it...but being very confused by what a "guerilla" was. From there it was only a matter of time before I was working my way through Stephen King and Clive Barker books...no wonder I was an insomniac. Sigh...but all along my love for horror has only been rivaled by my love for science fiction (well maybe my love for superheroes is also a competitor). And nothing is better when the two mix it up together...like peanut butter in my chocolate. Check out some of these for a sweet sweet taste...Event Horizon
,Alien Quadrilogy
, and The Ray Bradbury Theater
2 comments:
I absolutely agree and relate, Aly. Not sure when it was decided that you couldn't be both a horror fan and a sci-fi fan, but I wish the walls would go back down and everyone could hang out in the same universe again.
The really sad thing is, you won't find most Harryhausen movies in either the horror nor the sci-fi sections anymore, which leaves them in no man's land. And the Harryhausen's were absolutely my gateway drug (along with Godzilla, another outcast) into the whole horror genre. You know, back when scary movies were FUN.
Hey Guys !!
I've never accepted the notion that you had to be either a horror or a sci-fi fan. I 've always enjoyed both genres...in fact, wasn't it the original Ackermonster who coined the term sci-fi !?!
Speaking of Forry, I was hooked from my first purchase of a FMF magazine way back when. And then the original Creature Features aired on Channel 9 followed shortly thereafter by the original Svengoolie...and I was a gonner. I use to love watching the old Flash Gordon and Buck Roger serials on Sunday mornings too. That led into Twillight Zone, Science Fiction Theatre, Outer Limits, Star Trek, The Invaders, Dark Shadows, Voyage to the Bottom of The Sea, Land of the Giants, etc, etc. Coupled with talking my parents or the older brothers & sisters of friends to take a bunch of us to the local drive-in or theatre for horror films.
Ahhh...those were the days !!
Vic
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