The Adventures of Nebuleena in Retro Sci-Fi Movies

  From the Bronze Age to the Page and Stage Handmaids ran to attend their master, all cast in gold but a match for living, breathing girls. Intelligence fills their hearts, voice and strength their frames, from the deathless gods they've learned their works of hand. The Iliad Homer Translated by Robert Fagles Jason and the Argonauts (1963) In tales of the heroes of bronze age Greece, we might find the word "automaton". Its meaning is "self-willed", and will is what defines these entities. Perhaps Homer's description of the handmaids of the smith god Hephaestus, cast from gold but otherwise self-aware, are literature's first automatons, dating from around the 8th century BC. These are among several such artificial lifeforms produced in Hephaestus' forge. Journeying home from the far side of the world, Jason and his ship of Argonauts arrived at the island of Crete. Here, a man of bronze, Talos, threw rocks at their vessel, the Argo . Some say T...

The prairie jackalopes of Epona, a frontier planet in the star system Kitalpha, are cute and very tame, but make the most aggressive-sounding, bellowing growls and threatening howls. Pity the crew of the space station Terra Epsilon don't know that, as they flee from the creature scuttling around the station's air ducts, certain they're being hunted by a terrifying star beast. Nebuleena, not welcome in the Terran system since almost starting a war with the Amazons of Bellatrix, takes the opportunity to steal back her guitar, then retrieves her jackalope companion to return it home. Back aboard the Silver Swift , she sits at the console and pets the jackalope, which lets out an ear-splitting howl of contentment. Nebuleena puts on some earphones and activates the stardrive. In folded space, time and space mingle, and a journey of light years can be achieved in hours. There are signals here, too, leaked into space centuries ago and frozen in time; echoes of an Earth long lost ...

Yes, sometimes I watch science fiction movies made in the last fifty years. Some of my favourites belong to two 20th Century Fox (now Disney) franchises; Alien (originating in 1979) and Predator (1987). Therefore, I've been excited to watch the trailers for the upcoming Predator: Badlands . One shot in an early trailer has garnered an awful lot of fan speculation. The Trophy Wall Predator: Badlands (2025) The Predators love their trophy walls, as any franchise fan could tell you. They hunt other lifeforms for sport, including humans, and they want to show off their achievements. The trailer for Predator: Badlands includes one such wall. Among the skulls on display (including what appears to be that of a tyrannosaurus rex), there's a skull that resembles that of an alien from another Fox franchise,  Independence Day (1996), often styled as Id4 . In the sequel, these interstellar resource hogs are called the Harvesters. Given there is already a strong connection between t...

The spherical Bellatrixian warships drop into strategic positions. From the bridge of the Chrysoar, Fleet Admiral Antiope appears on viewscreens across the Terranean Union with a simple demand. 'Hand over the criminal Nebuleena, or it's war!'  The young Terranean President's reply is quick and definitive.  'You were seen capturing her ship, we thought you had her. We'd gladly hand her over if we knew where she was.' You jerk! thinks Nebuleena, standing on the bridge behind Antiope disguised in an Amazon uniform. I thought we had something, President Spiro . Half an hour later, the sabotaged Chrysoar is spinning like a top, the water supply to Antiope's bath has been rerouted through the galley's tank of Skyllan eels, and Nebuleena is blasting out of the Chrysoar 's hanger in the Silver Swift . Nebuleena smiles at the thought of Fleet Admiral Antiope lowering herself into a foaming bath full of Skyllan elvers. She activates the stardrive, and ...