The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log

As the traditional rain clouds gather ahead of the holiday weekend Alex Fitch dances in the rain for our entertainment and delight, bringing us news of radio and podcast shows and some events he’s involved with over the next week or so, including several panels at Sci-Fi London which look very interesting (and I’m sure we’ll hear more about them afterwards). Alex also tells us that due to technical difficulties (some Mexican pigs were sneezing in the studio) last week’s Strip! show which was to feature an interview with our own Kenny Penman talking about Blank Slate Books was replaced with a repeat, so tonight at 5pm on Resonance FM the show with Kenny should actually air. I’ve heard it via the magic of podcast and I had no idea Kenny could sing showtunes so well… Okay, he didn’t, but its still interesting! As ever check the Panel Borders site for more information and links to podcasts of previous shows:

I’m ready for my close-up: Figures in a landscape, Friday 1st May on Resonance FM at 5pm

Alex Fitch talks to the directors of two new films which take the starting point of a character walking through a landscape and twist it into unexpected directions. Alex talks to Bent Hamer, the director of the gentle new Norwegian comedy O’Horten which depicts the tale of a recently retired train driver who gets embroiled in a series of misadventures of the kind Victor Meldrew would be proud of from losing his shoes in a locker room and ending up with red stilettos to ending up in a car driven by a blind man. Alex also talks to Christine Molloy, one half of the film making duo Desperate Optimists, about their new film Helen, which concerns a young woman who takes part in a police reconstruction of a girl going missing and starts to take over her life from dating her boyfriend to getting maths advice from her parents.

In the cinema:

Kev O’Neill Q & A / screening, Thursday 30th April, 9pm Apollo Piccadilly, Lower Regent Street, London. More info at Sci-Fi London

Alex Fitch talks to renowned comic book artist Kevin O’Neill about his work from gruesome tales of aliens and robots in 2000AD to his acclaimed run on The League of extraordinary Gentlemen, which can be seen in shops today (actually Knockabout tell us it will be around mid-May it hits UK bookshelves – Joe) with the advent of the latest issue Century: 1910. The Q & A will be followed by a screening of the film Hardware (1990) based on his short story Shok!

The City of lost children screening / Marc Caro Q & A, Friday 1st May, 9pm Apollo Piccadilly, Lower Regent Street, London. More info at Sci-Fi London.

Following a screening of the brilliant French fairytale The City of Lost Children (1994), Alex Fitch (with translation by Virginie Selavy) will be talking to co-director Marc Caro about his career so far, co-directing City… and Delicatessen with Jean Pierre Jeunet, designing the underrated thriller Vidoc and his recent solo directing debut Dante 01.

Comics as Sci-Fi Literarure, Saturday 2nd May, 2.30pm Apollo Piccadilly, Lower Regent Street, London. More info at Sci-Fi London

As the graphic novel is increasingly being accepted as a legitimate form of literature, what makes a great SF comic and why are writers from TV and literature interested in the format? We discuss these issues with some of the finest practitioners of the medium.

Panel discussion with: Bryan Talbot (The adventures of Luther Arkwright), Paul Duffield (Freak Angels), Paul Cornell (Captain Britain and MI13) and Daniel Merlin Goodbrey (Iron Man 2020)

Chair: Alex Fitch

The Problem of Sci-Fi film making, Saturday 2nd May 4.15pm, Apollo Piccadilly, Lower Regent Street, London. More info at Sci-Fi London

Money, money and of course, money – this is often the main reason why many Directors tend to stay away from sci-fi and fantasy film projects. But do sci-fi movies need mega-budgets? And how do you pitch the idea for a sci-fi film without making it sound expensive?

This panel discussion will talk to directors with genre filmmaking experience and try to extract the pearls of wisdom and the magic wand that will get your film off the launch pad:

Guests include: MARC CARO (Delicatessen, Dante 01), CORY MCABEE (American Astronaut, Stingray Sam), GERALD MCMORROW (Thesbian X, Franklyn), RICHARD JOBSON (A Women in Winter, The Purifiers)

Chair: Alex Fitch

Comedy and Satire in Science Fiction, Sunday 3rd May, 12.30pm Apollo Piccadilly, Lower Regent Street, London. More info at Sci-Fi London

What makes the sci-fi/fantasy genre different when it comes to writing comedy? What can you do in the genre that you cannot do in straightforward fiction? And if we are doomed, are we likely to go out with a gag? These uniquely funny writers share some insight on the challenges of writing comedy in a sci-fi/fantasy setting.

Panel discussion with: Robert Rankin, Nick Harkaway, Neil Gardner, Dirk Maggs

Followed by Robert Rankin’s The Brightonomicon – LIVE

The Brightonomicon is a hilarious sci-fi / comedy drama that relocates the Necromomicon to modern day Brighton. We’re proud to present an on stage live performance of the BBC radio adaptation featuring Robert Rankin himself, producer Neil Gardner as the Narrator and other members of the original cast including Rankin himself and Kevin Eldon.

Based on an idea by / technical support: Alex Fitch

Online:

Reality Check: Gentlemen in Flight, online now at Sci-Fi London

In a special episode looking at two of the great gentlemen of the sky, who first found fame in the 1960s with their piloting of classic Sci-Fi air/spacecraft, Chris Patmore talks to George Takei about being the helmsman of the Starship Enterprise inStar Trek in both the classic TV series and beyond while Alex Fitch talks to Wing Commander Ken Wallis about building and flying the gyrocopter ‘Little Nellie’ in For your eyes only and its stablemate in The Martian Chronicles…

Previous podcasts:

Panel Borders: Ed Pinsent and Fast Fiction

Continuing comic book publishing month on the show, Alex Fitch talks to Ed Pinsent, the second editor of the 1980s small press anthology Fast Fiction which was a ground breaking publication in the history of British comics. Alex talks to Ed about his comic book work then and now, his processes of including work in the anthology and the reasons it came to an end. Also in this episode we have a competition to win a complete set of Dare Comics’ The Hunter, so tune in / download the podcast for more details!