In Search of Tomorrow A Journey Through 80s Sci-Fi Cinema (2022) poster

In Search of Tomorrow: A Journey Through ’80s Sci-Fi Cinema (2022)

Rating:


USA. 2022.

Crew

Director/Screenplay/Producer – David Weiner, Created by Robin Block, Photography – Oktay Ortabasi, Music – Weary Pines, Motion Graphics – Paul Konschake. Production Company – CreatorVC.

Cast

Nancy Allen, Melody Anderson, Adrienne Barbeau, Shane Black, Bruce Boxleitner, Barry Bostwick, Clancy Brown, Julie Brown, John Carpenter, Nick Castle, Tim Cogshell, Ronnie Cox, Joey Cramer, Joe Dante, Deep Roy, Dr Steve DeGennaro, Steve De Jarnatt, Sarah Douglas, Bill Duke, John Dykstra, Ike Eisenmann, Harrison Ellenshaw, Brad Fiedel, Bob Gale, Ed Gale, Mark Goldblatt, Jenette Goldstein, Lance Guest, Oliver Harper, Carrie Henn, Peter Hyams, Steve Johnson, Sam J. Jones, Randal Kleiser, John Knoll, Walter Koenig, Eric Kurland, Jason Lenzi, Dr Drea Letamendi, Mark Magnini, Nicholas Meyer, Craig Miller, Dennis Muren, Ian Nathan, Adan Nimoy, Kerry O’Quinn, Stewart Raffill, Ivan Reitman, Angelique Roche, Mark Rolston, Robert Rusler, Craig Safan, William Sandell, Gray Scott, Gene Simmons, Kurtwood Smith, Catherine Mary Stewart, Phil Tippett, Jesse Ventura, Paul Verhoeven, Dee Wallace, Dayton Ward, Gedde Watanabe, Peter Weller, Vernon Wells, Wil Wheaton, Billy Dee Williams, Corey Dee Williams, Matt Winston, Alex Winter. Sean Young


In Search of Tomorrow: A Journey Through ‘80s Sci-Fi Cinema is a companion piece to the documentary In Search of Darkness; A Journey Into Iconic ‘80s Horror (2019) and its sequel In Search of Darkness II: A Journey Into ’80s Horror Continues (2020). It comes from the same creative team – director/producer David Wiener, creator Robin Block and their production company CreatorVC. It employs the same format – covering the films of the decade within the exact parameters of a starting date of January 1 1980 and an end date of December 31st 1989 and discussing the key genre films in between. Clips from the various films are interspersed with interviews with creative talent and/or reminisces/observations from various people about the films, along with occasional diversions off into recurrent themes of the era.

There are slight variations to the format here. This takes a longer running time – a butt-numbing five hours and one minute as opposed to the first In Search of Darkness’s four hours and 24 minutes. The criticism I made of In Search of Darkness was that due to its strict cut-off dates, it made some odd omissions – like focus on the Halloween sequels but not the enormously influential Halloween (1978) itself as it fell outside of the window. That has been remedied here and there is more inclusion of some of the key films that had a huge influence on the era – Star Wars (1977), Superman (1978), Alien (1979) and Star Trek – The Motion Picture (1979) – that fall outside of that window, even when the focus is still on the sequels.

The interviewees this time seem far more of a mixed bunch – a good many that are welcome faces and you wish had been given far more time – Joe Dante, Dee Wallace, John Carpenter, Nicholas Meyer, Ivan Reitman. That said, there are not many who seem to come out with any wry, witty observations this time. There’s the odd nugget – the pointing out of comparisons between the opening of Heavy Metal (1981) and Elon Musk’s Tesla launched into space, which never occurred to me.

Ivan Reitman proves one of the best interviewees – this being filmed just before his death in February 2022. I have always written Reitman off as a very MOR director but he gives fascinating insight into the flop of Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone (1983) and about the making of Ghostbusters (1984), including of Dan Aykroyd’s original script that originally took place on different planets, before Reitman asked him to be bring it down to Earth to make it filmable.

Ivan Reitman in In Search of Tomorrow A Journey Through 80s Sci-Fi Cinema (2022) 2
The late Ivan Reitman interviewed

The interviewees also include people whose relevance is tenuous at best – like the sons of the late Leonard Nimoy and Stan Winston. And then there are a bunch of nobodies where you are left questioning their relevance – Dayton Ward, whose only real importance is having written a bunch of original Star Trek novels, while I have no idea why clinical psychologist Dr Drea Letamendi is present. This becomes particularly evident when it comes to discussion of Return of the Jedi (1983) and the film is represented by people from the bottom of the totem pole – Lucasfilm publicist Craig Miller, Billy Dee Williams’ son Cory who was stunt double for his father and dwarf actor Deep Roy who played an Ewok.

Sometimes the films are passed over quickly when their story is one that cried out for more depth. When it comes to Superman II (1980), there is inclusion of footage from the much superior Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut (2006) and interviews with various actors but the firing of director Richard Donner is only briefly skipped over and the series’ troubled production history largely left unmentioned.

My other issue is that for a film that requires a five-hour investment of time, a lot of it is spent with people simply rehashing the plots of the films. Tim Cogshell, who gets far more screen time than he has anything significant to say, is particularly guilty of this. I have seen all of the films that are discussed – and okay, there is a certain nostalgia factor in watching clips from some works that I haven’t seen since their original releases. However, the makers of these In Search of ___ films need to come to a clear decision about who the audience for these films are. From the way they are pitched, it seems to me that they are films being sold to the nostalgia crowd ie. an audience that came from the era who grew up watching the films being discussed. Or are the filmmakers seeking to introduce new audiences to older works? If the latter is the case then this recount of basic plots is the sensible way to proceed. On the other hand, if the audience is the nostalgia crowd, then why spent a substantial portion of your five hours plus recounting aspects that an audience already knows – could not the time be spent with some more of the interviewees or else on analysis of the making of the films?

Like In Search of Darkness, there is also an Americano-centrism at work. There are only two non US-made films discussed throughout – the Australian Mad Max 2 (1981) and the Japanese Akira (1988) – and these are treated in a way that is Americano-centric – Mad Max 2 gets referred to as the US-release title The Road Warrior rather than as Mad Max 2 that everyone else knows it by, while the clip that is shown of Akira is one that is dubbed into English. Even aside from that, there is also the use of the grating neologism ‘sci-fi’ – both in the film’s title and frequently by interviewees throughout – as opposed to the universally preferred science-fiction or SF.

Peter Weller in In Search of Tomorrow A Journey Through 80s Sci-Fi Cinema (2022) 1
Peter Weller, star of The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai; Across the Eighth Dimension (1984) and RoboCop (1987), interviewed

Amid this there are some insightful nuggets – Nicholas Meyer on the death of Spock controversy in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982); Dee Wallace on Drew Barrymore’s belief in the reality of the E.T. animatronic in E.T. – The Extra-Terrestrial (1982); Barry Bostwick on how he was cast as Ace Hunter in Megaforce (1982) after appearing in a stage version of The Pirates of Penzance, which was seen by the producer’s wife who insisted his costume be outfitted exactly the same way; Lucasfilm publicist Craig Miller who makes the claim that Boba Fett was quickly written off in Return of the Jedi after being introduced with much fanfare because George Lucas had decided he was tired of the series and wanted to retire; Nancy Allen talking about the fun she had on the set of Strange Invaders (1983) and wishing it had been handled by a more experienced director; and Peter Weller offering money if anybody can explain the plot of The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai; Across the Eighth Dimension (1984).

There are a number of omissions – we go through 1982 with discussion of the disastrous bomb of Megaforce but no mention of The Thing (1982) (perhaps because it was discussed in In Search of Darkness). Director Stewart Raffill discusses his dreadful Mac and Me (1988) but there is zero mention of his much better The Philadelphia Experiment (1984). All of the Star Trek sequels of the era are covered with the exception of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989), presumably on the grounds it is best forgotten; Superman II and Superman III (1983) get a section devoted to them, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987) is mentioned in passing but Supergirl (1984) is not. There are a good many other major works of the era that are omitted – no Scanners (1981), Brainstorm (1983), Videodrome (1983), The Ice Pirates (1984), Repo Man (1984), Brazil (1985), Enemy Mine (1985), Lifeforce (1985), Invaders from Mars (1986) or Masters of the Universe (1987). Some of these are mentioned in passing or else a clip plays in one of the general sections but they are key films of the era and their exclusion feels like an oversight.

I would also add that the 1980s was where low-budget films were doing some amazing things – from New World Pictures with its vigorous output of Alien copies to Charles Band and Empire Productions, to a host of copycat time travel and Terminator ripoffs. It feels as though a whole world of films that stocked the videostores in this era has been rendered invisible by the focus only on select A-budget releases.

In the general themes, there is brief mention of the magazines of the day where aging Starlog publisher Kerry O’Quinn is wheeled out to talk about the genre’s influence on his publishing endeavours. The film also delves into the visual effects revolution of the era and touches on the way the emergence of CGI effects began to blossom by the end of the decade and would become a major revolution a few years later.


Trailer here


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