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George Lucas is the visionary mastermind behind the epic space opera saga Star Wars. The franchise was launched in 1977 with the commercial success of the original film. Despite its indispensable place in modern pop culture, the film faced some criticism when it was first released, primarily for its lack of sci-fi principles.

Star Wars creator George Lucas (Credit: Lucasfilm).

During an interview, Lucas addressed the criticisms surrounding the film, arguing that his vision was never to make a hardcore sci-fi film. Instead, Lucas shed light on his inspirations, which deviated from the core genre, proving that Star Wars was truly a unique cinematic experience. Here is what Lucas had to say about one common Star Wars criticism.

George Lucas admitted Star Wars wasn’t meant to make scientific sense

Filmmaker George Lucas directed 1977’s Star Wars, which emerged as a major commercial success and launched the epic space opera saga that is popular even today.

This post contains spoilers for "Soylent Green" and its source material.

Richard Fleischer's 1973 dystopian sci-fi classic, "Soylent Green," ends with a shocking revelation. Set in a future consumed by ecocide — thanks to unchecked overpopulation and the depletion of resources that came with it — New York City stands on the brink of collapse. The increasing divide between the affluent and the poor has prompted riots over the artificial wafers made by the Soylent Corporation, and their latest product, the plankton-rich Soylent Green, remains coveted, while the rich indulge in organic delicacies. After NYPD detective Robert Thorn (Charlton Heston) gets embroiled in a conspiracy, he learns that the plankton claimed to produce Soylent Green has gone extinct, and that the key ingredients in the wafer instead come from human bodies. "Soylent Green is people!" he shouts in anguish to the crowd assembling around him in the end, devastated that the truth might never be uncovered.

Richard Fleischer's 1973 dystopian sci-fi film "Soylent Green" takes place in the distant future of 2022 when Earth's resources are dwindling, thanks to overpopulation and climate change. Food sources are becoming scant and difficult to maintain. Food and water are rationed for everyone, and the most common foods are small processed crackers called Soylent Red and Soylent Yellow (named for their two ingredients: soy and lentils). A new flavor is taking the populace by storm: Soylent Green is said to be made from plankton and possessed of a much better flavor. It seems that a recent thriving biome was discovered on the ocean floors.

This is a bleak future, and citizens are encouraged to volunteer for euthanasia to keep the population down. The government provides special death rooms where people can relax to calming music and lovely forest scenes as they receive lethal injections.

Charlton Heston plays an NYPD cop named...

Sci-fi is a catch-all term, really. Most folks might think of franchises like Star Wars or Star Trek when they hear it—imagining fantastical vistas with magic wizards and teleportation beams. And to be sure, the space opera is a prized staple in the genre’s cabinet of curiosities; but the more interesting science fiction, or at least the type that sticks around in the old noodle, is the more grounded “hard sci-fi.” With a greater emphasis on speculation and estimation derived from the scientific realities of their times, as opposed to the flights of fancy in their pulps, these are stories created by writers, directors, and artists with an eager eye on the horizon.

It is easy to walk out of a film and announce “that will never happen,” but there have been plenty of times where the sci-fi of today turned out to be the scientific reality of tomorrow.

This story is part of The Hollywood Reporter’s 2023 Sustainability Issue (click here to read more).

In 1970, 20 million Americans participated in the first Earth Day. One of the more alarming predictions that day was from Stanford biologist Paul Ehrlich, who foresaw a future in which “population will inevitably and completely outstrip whatever small increases in food supplies we make,” resulting in the starvation death of hundreds of millions.

Hollywood took notice and released a string of eco-disaster films in the years to follow.

In 1972’s Silent Running, a science fiction film starring Bruce Dern — and directed by 2001: A Space Odyssey effects master Douglas Trumbull — all plant life on Earth has gone extinct. And 1973’s Soylent Green, with Charlton Heston (who had starred in two other sci-fi hits, 1968’s Planet of the Apes and 1971’s The Omega Man), took Ehrlich’s ideas to scary, if campy, extremes.

Helmed by Richard Fleischer...

Throughout the course of his career, John Carpenter has directed horror movies that have redefined the genre in several ways. His 1978 horror classic, "Halloween" is nothing less than a full-blown pop culture phenomenon, and his lesser-known films, such as "Prince of Darkness," is still being discovered by horror-heads. Carpenter's legacy obviously extends beyond his filmmaking, as he is also a composer with a penchant for creating original soundtracks meant to enhance the source material. Despite being a man of many talents, Carpenter's love for horror seeps into everything he makes, be it hypnotic tales of terror or fast-paced action pieces with horror elements.

So, when exactly did Carpenter discover his affinity towards the genre? The director has been inspired by a string of classic horror writers, as his work has often been adaptations of the works of John W. Campbell, H.P. Lovecraft, and Stephen King. The Lovecraftian influence is evident...

The term "movie magic" exists for a reason. Hollywood has been creating impossible worlds for us to escape to for more than a hundred years. Although the film industry got its start in New York City, borrowing talent from the theater for early productions, the movie business quickly settled in Los Angeles.

The diverse climate and landscape of Southern California allowed filmmakers to mimic virtually any location on Earth ... and sometimes beyond. You'd be surprised how easily you can make a desert look like Mars. Between practical locations, sound stages, and special effects, Hollywood can bring just about any setting to life on the big screen.

But how do you create a dystopian New York City on a minimal budget? That was the task for writer/director John Carpenter when he made "Escape From New York." The film was released in 1981, long before you could digitize everything in front of a green screen.

Why settle for tacos when Tuesday can be Soylent Green Day? Far more nutritious than Soylent Red or Yellow, the green stuff is made with a secret ingredient that makes it a real delicacy. Of course the line “Soylent Green is people” is now an insta-spoiler meme and trope. But when Charlton Heston first uttered that anguished warning, it might as well have been a supermarket can-can sale promotion. Store shops in the 1973 science fiction classic Soylent Green were so mobbed on Tuesdays that riots started every week in this dystopian vision of 2022.

The historical montage which opens Soylent Green, based on real photographs from the 20th century, shows how industry and population colluded to form a dystopian future where too many people struggle for too little food, gag at the air, and wear masks on a daily basis. The face covering in the montage actually increases exponentially as the...

Exclusive: Former Revolution Studios CEO Vince Totino and former Orion Pictures President John Hegeman are opening the doors to Wayward Entertainment, a multi-platform studio which will focus on producing and distributing low budget genre and alternative content.

Wayward Entertainment will kick things off partnering with Nick Frost and Simon Pegg’s Stolen Picture to produce the horror feature Svalta which they previously worked on together when Hegeman was at Orion.

Svalta, written by Nick Frost, follows a family on their summer vacation to a remote island where they discover a serial killer is on the loose. Unfortunately for them the locals have no interest in helping the stranded family. The title is taken from the name of the fictional island.

Totino and Hegeman stated “Wayward is focused on working with creative people with something interesting to say and share. We couldn’t think of another project or partnership that would...

The director is seeking support for Tombstone Rashomon, a Kurosawa-style retelling of the Wild West gunfight at the Ok Corral. He reveals how past experience shaped his approach to this ambitious project – and what’s in it for investors

A couple of years ago, while I was teaching a course in film production at the University of Colorado, I thought it might be fun to try and make a feature with my students, based on Harry Harrison’s classic science fiction antiwar novel, Bill the Galactic Hero. For funds, we turned to crowdsourcing and – much to my surprise – raised $114,000.

Related: I was Dennis Hopper's henchman | Alex Cox

Continue reading...

Some days you're a step ahead, some days you're a step behind. I've been chasing this Akiva Goldsman/"Transformers" story for a few weeks, but couldn't second-source it. Now Deadline's reporting that the story is in fact happening. One of the reasons I was extra-careful was because it is the sort of story that sounds like someone making a joke about the way the industry works right now. "Akiva Goldsman has been hired to supervise the development of three back-to-back 'Transformers' sequels for Michael Bay" is what I heard first, and my response was, "Shut up and stop making horrible jokes." The thing is, this is the near-future of how they'll be handling these giant franchise films. You want to know the real truth of why the Russos are rapidly becoming Marvel's favorite filmmakers? Because they are trained to work in the TV model already, which is what blockbuster filmmaking is becoming.

Having recently completed post-production on his new feature, Bill, The Galactic Hero, Alex Cox (Repo Man, Sid & Nancy, Walker) is almost ready to release the film for free online. Adapted from Harry Harrison's novel of the same name, and funded through Kickstarter, the project has been a collaboration between Cox and students at the University of Colorado, where Cox currently teaches production and screenwriting. Blending science-fiction with satire, it's a micro-budget feature, shot in black and white, and incorporating Cox's own brand of dark comedy, and politically conscious, counter-culture attitude.

Having taken almost 30 years to get the film into production (studios considered it "too anti-war") it's fantastic that he has finally been able make the f [Continued ...]...

In light of the affection many fans have for Harry Harrison's source novel - that playful, anti-war sci-fi satire of the 1960s - it is difficult to talk about Alex Cox's crowd-funded, film adaptation of "Bill, The Galactic Hero" without feeling duty-bound to prepare viewers for what lies in store. This is because it is essentially a feature length student film, albeit one of considerable scale and ambition. It's also a not-for-profit project, one which will be made available for free online. I must admit, during the first ten minutes of the film (which I had invited a friend unfamiliar with Cox's work to watch with me) I was tempted to switch off and suggest something else, as I felt that awkward pang of embarrassment which occurs when one insists on playing a favourite song before realizi [Continued ...]...

Director Alex Cox returns to the sci-fi genre with his new feature Bill, The Galactic Hero which premieres at the International Film Series in Boulder, Colorado on December 12th. Shot in black and white and with the participation of students from C.U., the film is based on the 1965 novel by Harry Harrison and was funded from a $100,000 Kickstarter campaign. From the look of the trailer I can spot shades of Cory McAbee's The American Astronaut along with glimpses of Cox's trademark counter-culture sense of humour. The budget is obviously pretty limited, but I like the use of animation and the music (artists including Iggy Pop have contributed music for free) so this could be a fun little movie. It's also worth noting that Har [Continued ...]...

The following is a list of all comic books, graphic novels and specialty items that will be available this week and shipped to comic book stores who have placed orders for them.

Alternative Comics

Hawd Tales #1, $4.99

Andrews McMeel

Baby Blues Collection Wetter Louder Stickier Tp, $18.99

Antarctic Press

Gold Digger #215, $3.99

Archie Comic Publications

Jughead And Archie Comics Digest #7, $4.99

Sabrina #1 (Robert Hack 2nd Printing Variant Cover)(not verified by Diamond), $3.99

Sonic The Hedgehog #266 (Rafa Knight Super Smash Variant Cover)(not verified by Diamond), $3.99

Sonic The Hedgehog #266 (Tracy Yardley Regular Cover), $3.99

Avatar Press

Crossed Badlands #65 (Gabriel Andrade Torture Cover), $3.99

Crossed Badlands #65 (Gabriel Andrade Wraparound Cover), $3.99

Crossed Badlands #65 (Jacen Burrows Red Crossed Incentive Cover), Ar

Crossed Badlands #65 (Jacen Burrows Regular Cover), $3.99

Crossed Badlands #65 (Michael Dipascale Fatal Fantasy Cover), $3.99

Black Library

Warhammer 40K Gods Of Mars Hc, $24.99

Book Palace

Art Of Modesty Blaise Sc (not verified by Diamond), $39.99

Illustrators Magazine #8, $24.99

Boom! Studios

Amazing World Of...

Repo Man director close to $100,000 target for low-budget film adaptation of Harry Harrison's satirical science-fiction novel

The director of Repo Man, Alex Cox, is nearing a $100,000 target on the crowdfunding site Kickstarter to fund science-fiction film Bill the Galactic Hero.

With four days of his campaign to go, Cox has received $91,897 toward what would be his first film since 2009's Repo Chick. The British film-maker, who has struggled for studio funding since the financial failure of his 1987 "acid western" Walker, intends to make the movie with the help of his students at the University of Colorado.

Bill the Galactic Hero is based on the 1965 satirical sci-fi novel by Harry Harrison, which was written as a counterweight to Robert A Heinlein's neo-fascist 1960 book Starship Troopers (itself borrowed by Paul Verhoeven for a 1997 film that heavily satirised its source's militaristic leanings).

"Bill the Galactic Hero is a feature-length science-fiction comedy set...

You know we live in interesting times when established filmmakers are turning to crowd-funding sites like Kickstarter to get their newest projects off the ground. The latest big-name director asking for your help? None other than Alex Cox. Cox, who made Repo Man and Sid & Nancy, has launched a Kickstarter in hopes of raising $100,000 to finally film his take on Harry Harrison’s sci-fi novel Bill the Galactic Hero. With that cash, Cox will at long last be able to make a movie he’s been trying to get off the ground since way back in the early ‘80s, and sci-fi fans will be able to see Harrison’s response to Heinlein’s Starship Troopers. Sounds like a win for everyone. Cox exhaustively details how the project will unfold in the Kickstarter pitch...

Read More...

Crowdfunding was made for guys like Alex Cox. Similar to Ralph Bakshi, whose successfully Kickstarter-ed project we profiled recently, The Sid and Nancy and Repo Man director is a cult filmmaker who doesn’t fit in Hollywood and who therefore has had a hard time getting his movies off the ground. Even when working with his old titles, as he did with the sorta-sequel Repo Chick and the re-cut release of Straight to Hell (called Straight to Hell Returns), he’s had trouble getting notice. Hopefully he’s able to turn things around with Bill, the Galactic Hero, a low-budget sci-fi comedy adapted from the same-titled novel by Harry Harrison (who wrote the basis of Soylent Green – the novel “Make Room! Make Room!” — and co-wrote the script for Bill with Cox before his death last August). Cox has launched a Kickstarter campaign to help fund the movie at $100,000, and after a week he’s already halfway there...

Sure, you could use crowd funding to back a studio movie that the studio doesn't want to pay for themselves but does want to profit from. That's certainly an option these days. Or you could use it to support something that actually is independent. Something like Repo Man and Sid And Nancy director Alex Cox's adaptation of Harry Harrison's scifi novel Bill The Galactic Hero which Cox will direct with his film students at the University of Colorado serving as crew. So not only will you be backing a film by a maverick iconoclast but you'll also be contributing to someone's higher education. Double win!Bill, The Galactic Hero is a feature-length science fiction comedy set in the far reaches of our galaxy, as humans wage...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

While science fiction writer Harry Harrison never had the a high profile career like Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clark or Ray Bradbury, he none the less is still a legend who helped define the decades that made science fiction one the best genre’s for social commentary. Harrison died on August 15 of undisclosed causes at the age of 87.

Most might be unaware that his 1966 novel, Make Room! Make Room! Became the 1973 thriller Soylent Green, a dystopian film that starred Charleston Heston.

“He believed science fiction was important, that it caused people to think about our world and what it could become,” Tor Books’ publisher Tom Doherty wrote in a blog post.

That novel and film was about population that has exploded since the turn of the 20th Century. And while the novel was set in 1999, the books themes resonate today as they did when the book was released 46 years ago: there are too many people,...

Knight in shining armor, indeed. On Thursday, Prince William piloted a Raf Search and Rescue Force helicopter deployed to save a teenage girl drowning off the coast of Wales. The 16-year-old and her friend had been body-boarding when they were caught in a riptide and dragged out to sea, reports CNN. The friend, 13, was rescued by a surfer, but the elder teen swallowed water and was slipping under the surface when the alert was raised. The Duke of Cambridge had just landed the Sea King helicopter after the completion of a routine exercise, allowing him and the crew to arrive on scene in only 38 seconds.

Prince William led the rescue team which saved the lives of two teenage girls in Anglesey yesterday (16.08.12). The royal - who qualified as a search and rescue pilot in September 2010 and gained his captaincy with the Royal Air Force in June - helped to rescue the girls who were described as 'exhausted' after being caught on a riptide while body-boarding off the coast of Wales. Winchman, Master Aircrew Harry Harrison told the Daily Mirror newspaper: 'When I got to her, the elder girl was clearly exhausted and was going under the water for what was the very last time. 'We never know what we'll face when we're called out. 'Sometimes it's just a twisted ankle or a broken...

Harry Harrison, best known for his character Jim Digriz, the Stainless Steel Rat, and the novel Make Room! Make Room! (adapted into film as Soylent Green) died yesterday at the age of 87.

Harrison started as a comics illustrator in 1947, notably with EC Comics’ two science fiction comic books, Weird Fantasy and Weird Science, as well as a short stint on Blackhawk for Quality, and various war, western, and romance comics– even western romance comics. Harrison was one of Wally Wood’s early employers and the man who brought Woody to EC.

He also edited comics in the 50s for very small publishers. He used house names such as Wade Kaempfert and Philip St. John to edit magazines, and has published other fiction under the names Felix Boyd, Hank Dempsey, and even as Leslie Charteris on the novel Vendetta For The Saint. Harrison also wrote for syndicated comic strips, creating the...

Science-fiction author Harry Harrison—best known for his 1966 novel Make Room! Make Room!, the basis of the film Soylent Green—died today of undisclosed causes. He was 87. Although Make Room! Make Room! (and its reconfiguration as the 1971 short-story Roommates) was Harrison’s calling card to the world at large, he was already legendary within the sci-fi world. In addition to numerous standalone books (like the recently reissued proto-steampunk novel A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah!), he wrote many popular series—including Deathworld and Bill, The Galactic Hero, the latter a parody of Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers. His most ...

German filmmaker Cyril Tuschi ("SommerHundeSöhne," "Turn") is looking to make "Three Dates With Harry Harrison", a project that's being described as an English language rom-com about Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

Producer Jan Krüger tells Screen Daily that "Cyril came up with the fact that Assange had been involved in internet dating using the screen name of Harry Harrison. So, the film recounts three dates with Harry Harrison taking place in 2010."

They've even broken down the dates themselves - "One date is in Iceland when he was establishing a organisation that would change journalism, democracy and the Internet. Then we jump to the second date with a fan in Sweden where he is the man of the moment and feted like a popstar… Finally, there is an internet date in a manor house in London, with ‘Harrison’ all by himself wearing an electronic tag, third date being with a woman journalist...

Acclaimed documentary-maker, Cyril Tuschi, is to direct a film about a series of fictional dates involving the Wikileaks founder, to be shot in Germany

Cyril Tuschi, the director of an acclaimed documentary about imprisoned Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, is to make a fictional film imagining a trio of romantic assignations involving Julian Assange.

Alongside British screenwriter Michael Gaster, whose credits include the 2010 short Underdogs, Tuschi is working on an English-language script entitled Leaks – Three Dates With Harry Harrison. Co-producer Jan Krüger told Screen International:

"Cyril came up with the fact that Assange had been involved in internet dating using the screen name of Harry Harrison. So, the film recounts three dates with Harry Harrison taking place in 2010. One date is in Iceland when he was establishing a organisation that would change journalism, democracy and the internet. Then we jump to the second date with a fan in Sweden where he...

Wally Wood: Strange Worlds of Science Fiction

Vanguard Publishing, Trade paperback, 224 pages. $24.95

Introduction by J. David Spurlock

A friend of mine owns the original art to a page of what he (and I) consider the zenith of Wally Wood’s creative genius, “The Mad ‘Comic’ Opera” (Mad #56, July 1960, written by Frank Jacobs). It is a lush piece of work, a cartooning tour de force that causes wide eyed disbelief on the printed page and gasps of astonishment when viewed in its larger, original form. “The Mad ‘Comic’ Opera” is an amazing moment in time, a moment that offered Wood a piece of work which allowed him to show off everything he had learned in his preceding dozen or so years as a comic book artist.

There is not a false note or creative misstep in a single panel of this six-page feature, not in layout or story telling, not...

If you were a baby boomer growing up in the New York City area, Wabc was the Am radio station you were glued to for the best rock 'n roll and British invasion songs, all brought to you by legendary DJ's Cousin Bruce, Harry Harrison and Ron Lundy. Yesterday, Lundy died from a heart attack in Mississippi. He had a career that spanned almost thirty years, bringing classics to listeners when the songs were new, then becoming a popular retro DJ. His famous signature greeting was, "Hello, Luv!" He also had a famous movie cameo, though he was not seen on screen: his familiar voice is heard by Jon Voight's Joe Buck on his transistor radio as he begins his ominous entrance into New York City in Midnight Cowboy. For more click here...