Films That I Like: Outland

I've decided to write a few blogs about films that I like. They're not reviews they're just the things that I like about a particular films. 

Outland (1981)
Written and Directed by Peter Hyam

O'NIEL

There's a whole machine that works because everybody does what they're supposed to. I found out I was supposed to be something I didn't like. That's what's in the program, that's my rotten little part in the rotten machine. I don't like it so I'm going to find out if they're right.

You can pick as many holes in this film as you like but the script and the performances are amongst the best of any I've ever watched. All the actors portray their characters in a low key, naturalistic manner. I'm particularly fond of Nicolas Barnes's portrayal of O'Niel's wonderfully unattractive son Paul. A lumpen blob of a boy who could only be loved by his parents and has been cursed with the pet name of Paulie. He, along with Kika Markham who plays O'Niel's pusillanimous wife, help demythologise Sean Connery to the point where we accept him as being an ordinary bloke who decides to do something extraordinary.

I've mentioned the script; watch how all the characters are differentiated not just by their performances but also in their dialogue. When Frances Sternhagen, as Dr Lazerus engages in witty banter with O'Niel note how that while she's equipped with a ready wit O'Niel's responses are stilted and clichéd. James B. Sikking's character, Montone, speaks in hesitant half sentences and questions - a man desperate to avoid committing himself. None of this is accidental and is one of the signs of a proper professional writer.

The art direction is another stand out. As O'Niel chases a suspect through the complex see how each area has been carefully thought out and made to look authentically functional. I particularly like the line of pipes where workers, dressed in their pressure suits, plug themselves in to recharge their air supply.

A Joy Forever

A thing of beauty is a joy forever;
Keats

Marc Platt has delivered a wonderful first draft for the second episode of the second B7 Audio series. This follows on from an equally brilliant first episode by James Swallow leaving me with a tough act to follow for episode three.

Science Fiction Story Killers Part I

Series elements that damage story telling unless they are continuously covered in sticking plasters

Transporters

Examples: Star Trek, Blake’s 7, Stargate

Sticking Plasters: losing your bracelet, or communicator or my personal favourite, EM interference in the upper atmosphere.

Why? Because before anybody can be in jeopardy you have to explain why they can’t be whisked out of trouble. Having to add that baroque little curlicue of an explanation onto every tense situation undermines the drama.

Life Sensors

By this I mean sensors that detect ‘life signs’ which are sometimes defined as the unique heat and electrical signature of a living being but are mostly treated as if it were a distinct form of energy in its own right.

Examples: Star Trek, Babylon 5.

Sticking Plasters: lots of rock, sensor malfunctions and our old favourite – EM interference in the upper atmosphere.

Why? Because it removes uncertainty, and thus a level of drama, from any situation involving other character's lives or identity. Rushing into a burning building because you think someone might be still in there is braver, and more dramatic, then rushing in to save someone you know is in there.