The Thing and Blade Runner Escape From New York. Mad Max 2.- Badass Sci Fi 1980-83

Posted On October 18, 2019

As mentioned in the post, An Alien and a Phantasm Walk Into a Bar. Mad Max Ducks., Badass Sci Fi officially made 1979 a part of the 80s based solely on it spawning these three genre mainstays.

The dawning of the 80s brought with it a glorious coalescence of media that shaped tastes for the decade. Cable (HBO and The Move Channel), VHS (video stores and Video Nasties), and MTV (as well as Night Flight and Night Tracks) joined forces to dominate pop culture.

I entered the 80s, as well as secondary school (7-12), with an identity crisis (one that’s yet to be resolved). Was I a jock for playing sports? Was I a nerd for playing with an Atari 2600 and Star Wars figures? Was I a band-f** (geek) for playing saxophone? Was I a weirdo for listening to Dr. Demento? Was I a criminal for (excerpt redacted)?

To complicate matters, puberty, blood-lust, beer, pot, and no curfew conspired to turn me evil. I already carried the Star Wars and Star Trek genes, but I needed something darker. Enter Humanoids From the Deep (1980).

Oh, shit yeah. This had it all; violence, sex, beer, blood, boobies, and Doug McClure. Rob Bottin, one of the masters of practical effect (The Thing, Robocop, King Kong (man in suit), Star Wars (cantina band)), designed the creatures. Hell, we’ll have to dedicate an entire post to this genius.

It also had the sci fi angle; ambulatory mer-men, the result of predatory sea creatures eating hormone injected salmon from a nearby cannery (Canco), infest a small fishing village. They kill the men and rape the women, mostly during an awful, offensive, shamefully hilarious Salmon Festival scene.

So, why isn’t it in my top 20? Good question. Probably because I just realized its significance and changing the landing page (again) is a huge pain in my ass. We’ll sneak it in the snubs for now.

Badass Sci Fi’s current tastes took a while to mature. I went through a sci fi only phase (Star Trek, Star Wars, Space 1999, Dune, Ender’s Game). As I came across the Video Nasties, I went through a horror only phase (Evil Dead, Dead Alive, Clive Barker, Cannibal Holocaust).

Movies like Humanoids, The Thing, Re-Animator, and Alien taught me that when the genres are brought together, the cocktail can be sublime.

The same thing happened with my writing (I’ll make it short). Opposable started as pure horror, and Halteres as an exercise in worldbuilding science fiction. When I combined the two, I found my voice, my Proxy.

Well, this post didn’t end up as I planned. What about The Thing (1982- #3), Blade Runner (1983- #9), Escape From New York (1981- #7), and Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1982- #5)?

They’re all fantastic! You’ll have to go somewhere else if you want a review or synopsis (like you need one). Here, you get custom images, memes, and GIFs.