A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

Cover Design and Illustration: Jeff Walker. (C) 1983 Phonogram International B.V. The stars have always figured prominently in the arts of mankind, but at no time in history has this subject matter been used in a way that parallels the creation of recent films about adventures in space. These movies, which were made primarily as popular entertainment, have become the fairy tales and myths of modern times, calling forth responses from deep within us. - William Livingstone, in the liner notes for Out of This World.  In the summer of 1983, when director Richard Marquand's Star Wars - Episode VI: Return of the Jedi and the Steven Spielberg-John Landis production of Twilight Zone: The Movie were still in theaters, Dutch record label Philips released Out of This World: John Williams and the Boston Pops in a vinyl LP record and on audiocassette. It was a sequel to an earlier Boston Pops/John Williams album with a similar theme, Pops in Space and featured music from eight sci...

On September 21, 2009, Universal Studios Home Entertainment (UK) released Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series, a 20-disc Blu-ray collection that presents all four seasons of the 2003-2009 "reimagined" military science fiction television series that originally aired on the Sci-Fi (now SyFy) Channel. Based on Glen A. Larson's original Battlestar Galactica TV series that aired on ABC during the 1978-79 season, Ronald D. Moore and David Eick's was grittier, darker, and was geared for a more adult audience than its 1970s forerunner.  The plot of Moore and Eick's re-imagined Battlestar Galactica follows the outline's of Larson's original version. In a distant corner of our galaxy, humans live in the star system of Kobol, on 12 planets they call the Colonies. The Colonials have developed faster-than-light space travel, advanced electronics, and even a race of highly intelligent robots called Cylons that serve many of their needs.  "The Cylon...