Whedonesque Mobile : Comments on 10147 : Tonight on SciFi

April 22 2006

Tonight on SciFi - Summer Glau in 'Mammoth'. Described by iFMagazine as "a fun romp through the film style of yesteryear", this could be the definitive Mammuthus Primigenius movie of the last few years. And over at Slayerverse, there's an interview with the producer where he talks about the movie, Summer and other Serenity cast members.

Obviously this is the discussion thread for tonight's movie so feel free to chip with your reviews and comments.

Simon | 21:35 CET | 39 comments total | tags: summer glau, mammoth

I don't know what to watch, busy schedule tonight. Cartoon Network is airing Ultimate Avengers tonight. Choices, choices.

delirium_haze | April 22, 22:37 CET

Is this gonna get shown in the UK? I know the two Sci-Fi channels aren't actually the same company any more, but I assume they trade shows, or something? Y'all better watch it and tell me if it's good!

OT, an interesting coincidence, in tonight's Doctor Who one of the characters was called "Captain Reynolds" - Russel T. Davis' little nod to Joss there? Or am I reading way too much into that?

blork | April 22, 23:22 CET

*is amazed that someone would want to watch Ultimate Avengers and pass up a chance to see Summer's feet in action*

Doctor Who is slowly poisoning my mind. That's all I can think of to say on the matter.

BrightShiner | April 23, 00:24 CET

BrightShiner: you're being inscrutable! (Or I'm being dense.) Was that a "Yay!" or a "Nay!" for Doctor Who? I know this isn't a Doctor Who thread but I can't resist saying that I thought tonight's episode here in the UK ("Tooth and Claw") was simply incredible, although blork might be stretching things a little by thinking it was so incredible that it even contained a Firefly nod! Also, blork: I seem to remember reading in one of the Mammoth links here that they haven't sold it to the UK yet, so I'm hoping there'll be a torrent of it. I can't possibly miss Summer. Someone please report whether her feet make a starring appearance.

dzr | April 23, 01:05 CET

Forget another series of Firefly, I think what we all really, truly want is a show all about Summer's feet. Directed by Joss. "Joss Whedon's Podophilic Half Hour", they'd call it. Um.

blork | April 23, 02:54 CET

Blork,
The UK version of the Sci Fi Channel have not bought the rights to this movie despite the email campaign that we instigated. Instead we are now trying to persuade the BBC to buy the movie to screen over here. Email the Acquisitions Department to persuade them that there is a fan base and a market.

fade2dust | April 23, 03:27 CET

What's wrong with Sky One out of interest? I thought they would have been a perfect choice.

Simon | April 23, 03:34 CET

"When you have a son you only have to worry about one.....Weiner"
"When you have a daughter you have to worry about all the weiners in...The hot dog stand"
That plus Summer's character is named Jack. And her Boyfriend is named Squirelly

I believe this show is amazing so far.

[ edited by JustNick on 2006-04-23 03:57 ]

JustNick | April 23, 05:40 CET

That old couple on the car was just.....ewwww!

delirium_haze | April 23, 06:00 CET

It's an entertaining movie so far. (I'm watching it as I type this.)

(Edited for heinously horrible spelling)

[ edited by Emma Frost on 2006-04-23 04:04 ]

Emma Frost | April 23, 06:03 CET

Oh. My. Gosh.

Shades of Ash, anyone? I love Summer, but I don't know if I can handle cheesy-severed-hand gags...

UnderTheDark | April 23, 06:16 CET

Frank: Can I be frank with you?
Detective: You are Frank.

Pure Genius.

JustNick | April 23, 06:22 CET

Evil gorillas are attacking!! Hide!

ETA: False Alarm! Just man in suit!

[ edited by delirium_haze on 2006-04-23 04:37 ]

delirium_haze | April 23, 06:23 CET

Poor Squirrel.
:-(

[ edited by JustNick on 2006-04-23 04:49 ]

JustNick | April 23, 06:38 CET

God's for Sunday, Frank. Today we pray to Nike. Run!

This really took me back to all those terrible monster movies when I was a kid. But did anyone else watch the commercials and marvel at what gets on the air while Firefly remains canceled?

C. A. Bridges | April 23, 07:04 CET

Is it just me or is Frank the worst scientist ever?

aberforthsgoat | April 23, 07:07 CET

I have a question. Why when they went to that party did Jack and girly dude put on headphones and get all drugged up? Were they special injecty headphones?

Smooshed Face Lion | April 23, 07:25 CET

Smooshed, I don't think they were drugged, I think they were in shock from the OMG!MAMMOTH that stomped their iPod dance party.

Which is a phrase that is *so* not getting old in our household. Every five minutes or so, either my BF or I comes out and says "OMG!MAMMOTH" or "OMG!MAMMOTH!ANGST" (in reference, of course, to the gas station goring.)

So, how many product placements/mentions can we tally up? I got iPod, onStar, Nike, Palm Pilot... did I miss anything?

fiareynne | April 23, 08:26 CET

Jaguar

delirium_haze | April 23, 08:28 CET

It sounds awesome. So awesomely awful it's awesome.

Kris | April 23, 08:33 CET

I'm trying desperately not to look closely at any of the science or plot or... well, anything, really. But was there ever a reason for the guy in the gorilla suit? Did I blink when he was explained?

C. A. Bridges | April 23, 08:41 CET

Much as I groan through every scene,
I can't... not... watch.

Love's Bitch | April 23, 08:42 CET

Chris Bridges, this whole movie felt like it was improvised. It seems like the director just threw out an idea to actors and let them deal with it, hence the guy in the gorilla suit.

delirium_haze | April 23, 08:45 CET

It was pretty obviously played as a tribute to the plotless monster movies of days past -- the "whoosh" noises of the sunglasses and the 70's style split screens made it clear that they weren't taking it seriously, so there was no reason I should -- and I enjoyed it as a good "bad" movie. I'm just wondering about the gorilla guy. Fall from an airplane? Antenna theft that went tragically awry? All I saw was the old guy go outside and see the (ha!) terrifying space monkey. I'm hoping I just came back late or something and missed where he came from or else this movie is even more surreal than I thought.

And was that 17-ton mammoth stealthy or what?

C. A. Bridges | April 23, 08:52 CET

Oh, sorry, the guy in the suit had something to do with Jack's birthday. He brought balloons and seemed like he was going to do some kind of performance when he was attacked by the Mammoth.

delirium_haze | April 23, 08:58 CET

Cool, thanks. As long as there was a reason... :)

C. A. Bridges | April 23, 09:08 CET

So...I'm watching the second run of the movie. Not because its a great movie, but because...well...it really is kind of entertaining. And I feel like I missed out some stuff on the first run? ~~And okay, there's the fact that I immensely enjoy so-awesomely-bad-they're-really-just-awesome movies.~~

And I can't seem to be able to write tonight. And yes, that was one incredibly stealthy mammoth.

Emma Frost | April 23, 10:09 CET

"I have a question. Why when they went to that party did Jack and girly dude put on headphones and get all drugged up? Were they special injecty headphones?"

Only Edison knows the truth: http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=739

Niels | April 23, 14:37 CET

I though it was great fun. Honest, I started to laugh at the very *first* cheesy CG image of the Mammoth in ice! My fav lines were " ...we don't get involved in domestic issues" and "Neither does the White House".

-JanR

wissxwe | April 23, 18:02 CET

I have to say I liked it too. It had it's funny moments ("Today we pray to Nike"/The opening credits), it's 'WTF?' moments (the rave scene), and it's 'OMGNO!' moments (Squirrel! The Grandpa!). And of course, Summer did a damn good job.

EvilFirePixie8 | April 23, 21:59 CET

I caught the second run of this but missed the first half-hour. I thought it was pretty funny and pretty campy but that's what made it funny. Of course Summer was great in it. It was nice to see her with hair that wasn't all stringy looking and hanging in her face because she truly is a beautiful girl. I thought Tom Skerrit was a hoot! And yeah, that old couple in the car was a very "ewww" moment for me too!

It wasn't nearly as good as Slither but it was still a hoot!

Oh, and the "hand" cracked me up - especially when they said it was trying to tell them something and it starts using sign language!

Firefly Flanatic | April 23, 22:19 CET

I thought it was really fun, with some great moments ("You are Frank," "We pray to Nike," the hand's Dance of Alien Domination and American Sign Language, etc.). Yeah, there was some really silly stuff (zombie-like teens in shock, grandpa thinking guy in Worst. Gorilla Suit. Ever. was an actual terrifying space monkey, etc.), but it was all part of the spoof, I thought. The actor who played Frank was hi-larious, and Summer did look very pretty, and she got to drive an expensive car really fast, just like Emma ~~Frost~~ Peel. ;-)

Thumbs up from me! :-)

billz | April 24, 00:44 CET

Wow...um...I taped it last night, and watched it this afternoon.

Yes, the Sci-Fi Channel got me to watch another of their godforsaken movies...at least it's better than the one Bruce Campbell suckered me into watching, Alien Apocalypse.

Mammoth was wildly inconsistent; it kept jumping from mildly amusing to out-and-out awful to weird monkey guy with balloons extravaganza.

Well...um...Summer and Tom Skerritt were enjoyable.

UnpluggedCrazy | April 24, 04:27 CET

It was really bad, while at the same time being funny as hell. Girls named Jack=AWESOME. Is it just me, or did they never really settle on what size the mammoth was? It was bigger sometimes and smaller sometimes...

I laughed out loud at the runnning-through-the-cornfield scene.

"Forget another series of Firefly, I think what we all really, truly want is a show all about Summer's feet. "

Yes. Half an hour can be Summer's feet and the other half can be Nathan's bootay.

Come on, I know I'm not alone here.

BrightShiner | April 24, 04:49 CET

Am I looking too far into things, or was this a shout out to Firefly:
Jack: -Insert her weird River type quote here-
Father: Right. I'm sorry I put you in private school

Of course, I could just be insane.

JustNick | April 24, 06:47 CET

Considering they also had a Jurassic Park shout-out, Empire shout-out and the cornfield shout-out, I wouldn't put it past them for a Firefly shout-out, too! ;-)

billz | April 24, 07:55 CET

Just saw on slayerverse.org that on Saturday at Supernova in Brisbane, Summer said during the Q&A she was flying to Canada on Monday to film a couple more episodes of The 4400. I hope her enchanting self gets lots of work.

jaynelovesvera | April 24, 08:16 CET

She was great on 4400 last year. I can't wait to see more of that character.

TamaraC | April 24, 08:31 CET

BTW, this is now available online. I don't think I'm allowed to post more details than that, but I'm sure you can work out how to find it. The encode is not very high quality but it's certainly watchable.

What a silly film! Loads of fun. And great to see Summer again.

[ edited by dzr on 2006-04-25 05:54 ]

dzr | April 25, 05:56 CET

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