Claws & Saucers

  • The Terrors of Television

    THE TERRORS OF TELEVISION A fair number of science fiction and horror pictures in the 80s betray worries over television: it fools us, it makes us violent, it brainwashes us, it substitutes illusion for reality, and it even provides a dimensional gateway for aliens or demons. Why these fears?  Sociologists point first to the growing…

  • “Road Warrior” Imitators Of The 80s

    ROAD WARRIOR IMITATORS OF THE 80s Who doesn’t love the post-apocalyptic sci-fi films of the 1980s?  If you define the subgenre broadly, you’ll count at least 100 such films.  They include post-nuke films and post-pandemic films.  They also include Road Warrior imitators. I’d like to cover these Road Warrior imitators; that is, post-apocalyptic films that…

  • “A Christmas Carol” (1984) review

    “A CHRISTMAS CAROL” (1984) REVIEW: A CHRISTMAS CAROL (Cliver Donner, 101 min, color, 1984) What’s Happening: Ghosts persuade miser to change greedy ways Famous For: US/UK co-production made for television Though I’ll always be partial to the 1938 and 1951 adaptations, I think I like George C. Scott best as Scrooge.  He seems smarter than…

  • Stop-Motion Underdogs

    STOP-MOTION UNDERDOGS If you think of stop-motion animation in classic fantasy films, you think of Ray Harryhausen.  Even folks who know the name “Harryhausen” only from that restaurant in Monsters Inc. know the films themselves: Jason and the Argonauts, 7th Voyage of Sinbad, Clash of the Titans, Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, and the rest. But…

  • Where’s the C&S Facebook page?

    Where’s the C&S Facebook page? The Claws & Saucers Facebook page was hacked in late June 2024 and is currently in limbo.  I’m still trying to recover the page and hope to one day regain it.  The page had more than 2500 followers.  From 2014-2024, I posted about three times a week.  I very much…