We thought it was time to bring more to THE TACHYON signal and each contribute something in the written format as well as our team effort for the actual podcast itself.
Well....here...we...go!
Oh yeah....*SPOILERS* All these movies are old enough but giving you warning anyways. I will try to keep in minimal.
My first written contribution is going to center on one story that has been made into movies at least 4 times. I am not going to get too much into the one called I AM OMEGA because I really found it difficult to watch. It is what I refer to as a firework movie. Not fireworks plural, rather fireworks singular. It just goes off in all directions at once and fades out.
The original story I am talking about is I AM LEGEND by Richard Matheson and published in 1954and takes place in 1976. Really a tense short story, easily read and followed and gets your apocalypse imagination going...”What would I do?” The story itself is about Robert Neville an everyday man that seems to be the last survivor of some global event that has decimated the planet. He seems to be a self-taught scientist as he investigates the bacteria that has brought the dead back to life as what is classically referred to as vampires. His neighbor, Ben Cortman, is one of those vampires that taunts him nightly to try to kill him. These vampires act like the vampires of written lore, they react badly to and can be killed by sunlight, are repulsed by garlic and mirrors, bullets won’t stop them and a stake through the heart seems to be the only thing that will. He finds a female survivor he thinks is immune as he is, tries to test her blood, she knocks him out and takes off. Neville does find her again but he learns she is a vampire as well. She is part of a colony, the human race that was alive when the virus hit and have adapted to it as well as created new medicines to combat the negative effects (like, you know, drinking blood), and they live relatively normal lives...aside from psychotically killing the vampires at night at which Neville has also defended himself against and killed some of them as well. Neville is captured by the living vampire and approached by the woman, turns out that she is part of the ruling council of the colony, and she informs Neville that his public execution must take place for the good of the colony. She does offer him the option of suicide by pills so that it can be more on his own terms. In his death, Neville realizes he has taken the place of the mythical vampire in this new vampire world with his final thought, “I am legend.”
The first movie adaption most will think of is I AM LEGEND starring Wil Smith but it isn't the first filmed adaption.
THE LAST MAN ON EARTH stars Vincent Price and released in 1964. Richard Matheson did partially write the screen play so it is pretty faithful to the original source material...but...it's a pretty ploddy movie. I think it does lend to the drudgery that has become Neville’s existence. The vampires themselves follow that of the book but they are slow moving and easy to see how George Romero was inspired for NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. This was a movie made in Rome so production values and movie making philosophies are really different from North American movie making. Keep an open mind as you watch as its point is made. I encourage watching it because of the original story and as an experience in watching movies from an anthropological standpoint and how different cultures make movies. The ending is a little different but the same idea is there.
Next up is from my favourite era for science fiction movies, the 70’s. THE OMEGA MAN starring
Charlton Heston and released in 1971. Really a fun cast in this one as well, Anthony Zerbe plays Mathias with a whole creepiness that is difficult to get over, Eric Laneuville (future member of St. Elsewhere) is Richie as the kid with a heart of gold that pays for it the hard way, future Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Brian Tochi, Lincoln Kilpatrick from FORTRESS and more, Paul Koslo that...omg what hasn’t he done, and Rosalind Cash from BUCKAROO BANZAI and even more as the Ruth character but now named Lisa. Directed by Boris Sagal (Father to Peg Bundy actress Katey Sagal), this story now presents the Neville character as a Colonel Robert Neville, an MD in the US Army. This diversion gives the character a little more credibility in trying to develops a vaccine to the virus. In this adaption,
it is a Sino-Soviet conflict bringing about a war that has a global effect as it steps fully into the concept of biological warfare. The bacteria released has almost immediate affects killing most of the global population but there is a small part it has a slower effect on. In the war effort, Neville is working on a vaccine. With some positive results, he gets into a helicopter to fly off for a meeting about the results. Shortly into the flight, the pilot croaks, Neville tries to take control but he too has become infected! The helicopter crashes, Neville somehow survives and desperately injects himself with the vaccine amidst the flaming wreckage. Neville is now the lone survivor patrolling the streets of empty Los Angeles looking for “The Family”. This is the biggest change to the story and, honestly, it works great.
It scared the shit out of me as a kid and I still feel the same dread when I start having my apocalypse day dreams. Members of The Family are slowly dying from the virus, it turns their skin and, most creepily, the iris of their eyes white. Hair also somehow bleaches out white rather quickly. The turning can take weeks, days, or minutes. The end result is always the same, a completely psychotic personality takes over and it is either kill or be killed. The Family is led by former TV newscaster, Johnathan Mathias and simply referred to as Mathias. Mathias sees Neville as the new evil, “He is part of the dead. He has no place here. He has the stink of oil, electrical circuitry about him. He is obsolete.” Neville is rescued by Dutch and Lisa during a rather tense encounter with The Family. Here we learn Richie is sick with the virus. Dutch is an aspiring virologist and updates Neville when Neville reveals he had developed a vaccine as well as taken it so he is immune. His blood could be used to make a serum to treat other people. CHEER! Plans are made to run off and start, you guessed it, A COLONY! Murphy throws that law book around and Lisa starts to turn. She turns quickly, invites Mathias into Neville’s fortress of solitude for the final confrontation. The ending is also very different but, I feel, much more impacting than simply replacing the legend of vampires. In the final scene, Mathias throws a speak from the balcony of Neville’s home hitting him square in the chest with enough force to throw him into the fountain pond behind him. Neville pulls out the spear as his precious blood spurts out and begins discoloring the pond water making it useless for any help. Dutch approaches the pond as Neville reaches into his jumpsuit and pulls out a full bottle of his blood and drops it from his weak hand. Dutch frantically searches for it and retrieves the bottle, holding the future in his hands. Neville slumps against the ornate structure in the centre of the fountain, his arms outstretched in Christ symbolism as if the pond were his cross. He has died with his sins for humanity to live again.
I am not going to get into too much detail as well other than a soft comparison to the previous two attempts. Reason being, its adaption is really an amalgamation of the first 2 with some poorly written changes for...well, producers that don’t know shit thought it would be cool. Honest...I got this from the guy that did most of the writing. I made a comment on a friend’s page (that also happens to be a well-known comic book artist. The Polish Guy) about my least favourite aspect and this guy apologized and said it wasn’t his fault, producers told him to make the change. That part was giving the vampires a “cool name” and, in this case, The Dark Seekers.
Will Smith plays Robert Neville, a virologist in the US Army. In this adaption, the cataclysm is the direct result to a cure for cancer. Patients that were doing fine suddenly mutate and start killing people. This mutation can also be spread to other people, and animals like dogs, through a bite or exchange of bodily fluids like blood and saliva. These creatures do have an aversion to sunlight, pale skin, reduced intelligence, incapable of normal verbal communication, some level of increased strength, bald and can perform parkour. Neville seems to live in fear of them and he takes precautions like living in a concreate structured building that he has reinforced the doors and windows with steel shutters. He also pours bleach on the steps so they can’t smell it's his house. Parts of the movie are ripped right from THE OMEGA MAN as he meets up with a woman and kid who are trying to find a colony of normal people. That’s when he first hears the name The Dark Seekers after he introduces himself by speaking whole lines of dialogue from SHREK as the boy watches the movie. As well, Neville has captured a female Dark Seeker and is experimenting on her, he gets into a scrape with her friends because they want her back, his dog is infected and he has to kill it (REALLY?!?!!? Leave dogs out of this mess. Yes, I have a thing for hurting/killing dogs even if it’s a story), the Dark Seekers finally realize where he lives and come knocking. To me, this whole idea of the change taking over globally in a quick time frame is pretty thin...and it really borrowed or stole too much from Max Brooks efforts. It also reduced the threat of the vampires or The Family as an effective antagonist. These things did not seem to be actively hunting or looking for Neville let alone nightly taunts with semi-naked women (in the book) or launching firebombs at his lofty and secure apartment. He did have a great idea of rigging explosives in cars up and down his street if they did eventually come around but, for the most part, the Dark Seekers seemed to leave him alone. From the cast standpoint, there are Wil Smith fans that will love this purely on the basis it’s Wil Smith. It does have some other great cast members...but...they just are not part of the story for any great length of time and was, I think, a step down for somebody like Salli Richardson Whitfield who has been in such great TV shows like EUREKA. Did it do anything good? Yes. It did a really good job of showing what that sort of isolation can do to an idle mind and even a working mind. But Neville’s death was really for naught...and the alternate happy ending is just happy.
I AM LEGEND - Sigh, do I hate this movie? No, I don’t hate it but I am really disappointed with it. It is in my collection and I still watch it from time to time.
There is supposed to be a sequel to I AM LEGEND. I would much rather see Jovanka Vuckovic do a proper adaption as I am sure she can.
Watch the trailer for I AM LEGEND here: I Am Legend Trailer
THE OMEGA MAN – Easily my top pick for a good adaption of the story.
Watch the trailer for THE OMEGA MAN here: The Omega Man Trailer
Before I Am Legend: The Omega Man
THE LAST MAN ON EARTH – I love Vincent Price. Not his best role but the man pours his heart into the melancholy of his character. Definitely my number 2 go to.
Watch the trailer for Last Man on Earth here: The Last Man on Earth (Vincent Price) Trailer
Watch THE LAST MAN ON EARTH here: The Last Man on Earth (Vincent Price)
-Rick
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