From: Tao Yue Subject: Marathon Descriptions To: lsc-webmasters@MIT.EDU, skd@MIT.EDU, maczhik@MIT.EDU Date: Mon, 13 Jan 2003 23:09:30 -0500 All feature films and most short films in 35mm. Star Trek episode and Animato in 16mm. These are descriptions, reproduced in order. The missing ones: Animato and Innerspace, I haven't seen, so you'd need to get them from somewhere else. *** Alien - Dolby Stereo In space no one can hear you scream. The film that launched Sigourney Weaver to prominence, Alien provides a creepy look into the perils of contact with new species. Far from the antiseptic interiors of Star Wars and the technological wizardry of Star Trek, a commercial towing vessel comes across a mysterious distress signal. Going down to investigate, they are horrified and must fight to stay alive. Featuring Alien design by H. R. Giger, the film won a 1979 Academy Award for Special Effects. Horses on Mars - Dolby SR He's 3.5 microns tall, and he's 100 million miles from home. A microbe living on an asteroid is separated from his friend, journeying through millions of miles of space filled with wonderous imagery. Evokes the spirit of space exploration (fitting in a vist by Soviet spacecraft to Venus), this short film is a perfect lead-in to Contact. Contact - DTS Digital A journey to the heart of the universe. Based on the acclaimed novel by astronomer Carl Sagan. SETI researcher Dr. Ellie Arroway (Jodie Foster) makes the breakthrough of a lifetime, being the first to successfully receive tranmissions of an extraterrestrial origin. Soon, the race is on to decode the transmissions and find out what the extraterrestrials want. Amidst religious sects looking to the end of the world and global firms interested in the aliens' technology, Dr. Arroway must find her own spiritual enlightenment and come to terms with the loss of her father. Winner of a 1998 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. (The Hugo is one of the highest prizes attainable by science fiction works) Classic Science Fiction trailers Take yourself back decades with these previews of groundbreaking science fiction films. Some of these are older than you are, so don't miss these treasures from the LSC archives! More - Dolby SR What price success. A worker on a tedius assembly line tinkers in his spare time, and finally succeeds in perfecting his invention, which allows people to see life through rose-colored glasses. A tremendously innovative short film, the first clay-animated film photographed in the tremendous clarity and depth of large-format IMAX, More was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Short Animated Film. Lolita trailer - black & white, mono Director Stanley Kubrick ranks among the legends of cinema. But how do you make a movie out of Lolita in straitlaced 1962? A very well-known and hilarious trailer, this will get you in the Kubrick mood for Dr. Strangelove. Dr. Strangelove - black & white, mono The hotline suspense comedy. How do you make a comedy out of nuclear explosions and the end of the world? Almost impossible, but not for legendary director Stanley Kubrick (Spartacus, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining). The film features a nuclear attack against the Soviet Union, a Doomsday Device which will destroy all life on the planet Earth, a general obsessed with denying women his "precious Bodily Fluids," a Texas cowboy in command of a B-52 attack bomber, and a scientist (Dr. Strangelove) with a remarkable resemblance to Henry Kissinger. Consistently ranked by critics as one of the best films ever made, and introducing none other than James Earl Jones (the voice of Darth Vader) in his first motion picture feature, Dr. Strangelove is not to be missed. Nominated for four Academy Awards, and winner of a 1965 Hugo Award. Star Trek memorabilia Between the end of the television series and the first Star Trek film, the cast of the show branched into various occupations, including singing. Yes, that's right, singing. Join a crowd of your fellow MIT students in laughter (or, if you prefer, a singalong) as we play songs from the classic recordings of William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. We will also feature audio clips from LSC lectures given by Star Trek affiliates. Star Trek original series episode: "The Ultimate Computer" Tightly edited, action-packed, and incorporating practically every special effects shot produced for the series, this episode ranks as one of the classics. Captain Kirk and a skeleton crew stay on board the Enterprise as the controls are handed over to M5, an advanced multitronic computer designed by the same man who made the duotronic breathrough that made the Enterprise possible. But when the computer starts destroying Starfleet ships and puts up a force field around it to prevent itself from being disconnected, the crew must find a way to stop the computer before it kills thousands. Bonus for staying It isn't easy to stay through the Science-Fiction Marathon, so those in the audience at the conclusion of Alien will get a small reward for their endurance. (You could sleep through the Marathon and come back in the morning, but what would be the fun in that?) **************************************** Tao Yue ------------------------------------ e-mail: taoyue@mit.edu WWW: http://www.taoyue.com/ AIM: taoyue ICQ: 106454946 Phone: 617.225.9104 ****************************************