vintage
Vintage articles and footage from the science fiction archives.
What Everyone Should Know About Osho
The entry ticket to the Osho Commune International in Poona, India, is a hospital certificate stating that your blood has tested negative for the AIDS virus within the past month. If you haven't brought a certificate with you to India, you submit to the needle at the local hospital. After picking up the form a few hours later, you walk several blocks to the commune through the crowded, dusty, diesel smelling streets of the city, which is located about 120 miles southeast of Bombay. You enter the commune through a gate manned by robed guards. Past that point, you are surrounded by an 11-acre Edenic world that's designed to defeat death.
Futurism StaffPublished 8 years ago in FuturismMaking of Alien
So simple. One word that defined a genre. A simple concept, that of man against monster. A crew unwittingly lured away by pleas for help, introducing us to a new level of psychological horror and quite possibly propelling actress Sigourney Weaver to the role of first lady of science fiction heroism. Alien.
Futurism StaffPublished 8 years ago in FuturismReal Bionic Man
The rumor began in 1972. That's when Martin Caidin's science fiction novel Cyborg was published. The rumor intensified when ABC turned Cyborg into the popular television program Six Million Dollar Man. The hero of the TV series, Steve Austin, is an astronaut whose body was almost destroyed in a rocket-sled accident. But by using bits of plastic, titanium, sophisticated electronics, and a nuclear power pack, medical scientists put him back together again. Moreover, not only was old Steve restored to peak condition, he was given superhuman capabilities. He could leap over buildings, hear conversations half a mile away, see with zoom lens accuracy, and resist physical assaults that would fell a water buffalo. It all added up to good fun on the tube.
Futurism StaffPublished 8 years ago in FuturismEvolution of Cults
The decline of secret "orders" like the Masons has been balanced by new and weirder quasi-religious sects, which intrigue science-surfeited youngsters with obscure philosophies. The 60s brought with it hippies saying it was the Worst of Times. Respond to the polluted air and the putrid rivers and the unsafe streets by leaving the cities altogether, they said. Dance in tune with nature out beyond cemented-over civilization to find your authentic self. Most of us are not about to take that step, yet we have embraced their entire array of neo-religions, para-religions, pseudo-religions. In a word, cults.
Futurism StaffPublished 8 years ago in FuturismFlash Gordon Behind the Scenes
Working on Dino De Laurentiis's multi-million dollar epic, Flash Gordon, was quite an adventure for the British FX team Of Martin J. Bower and Bill Pearson, two of the most talented and prolific model makers in science fiction film. Together, they have tackled the making of Alien and The Medusa Touch, and their separate credits include Space: 1999, Doctor Who, and Blake's 7. In December of 1980, theater screens exploded with the film that became their most demanding project to date—Flash Gordon—a comic strip that lives on the screen and one of the best sci-fi cult classics of all time.
Futurism StaffPublished 8 years ago in FuturismHistory of Flight
In 1903, man realized a primal dream—to fly. The Wright brothers's hometown paper was one of the few to note the epochal achievement. Today, we have gone above and beyond the beginnings of flight, even entering space. Today's flight technologies have a long and intriguing history of development and dedication to the dream to take to the skies.
Futurism StaffPublished 8 years ago in FuturismShould Vaccinations Be Administered?
What could possibly link the theology of Protestantism with the rivalry between Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin over their respective polio vaccines?
Futurism StaffPublished 8 years ago in Futurism50 Greatest Movies Never Made
Remember that great scene in Starfleet Academy—you know, the sixth Star Trek movie—in which the young Cadet Spock, the school's first alien, endured racist taunts from his classmates, only to be defended by fellow student James Kirk? And remember that deeply affecting scene where the two meet again on the maiden voyage of the Enterprise? You don't? Well, maybe that's because Starfleet Academy was never actually filmed.
Futurism StaffPublished 8 years ago in FuturismDarwin’s Archipelago
In 1966, I spent four months in the Galápagos Islands, gathering materials for a picture book on that archipelago. My Galápagos, the Galápagos of 1966, had been discovered by science but not by Lindblad. Charles Darwin had come 131 years before, but tour boats were not yet calling; there were no hotels, and the Ecuadorian government had yet to establish the Galápagos National Park. The islands were best known among the citizens of the mainland for their old penal settlements. The Encantadas—the enchanted isles, as the Spanish had first called them—for a time had been devil's islands of the Pacific.
Kenneth BrowerPublished 8 years ago in FuturismUnderstanding Paranormal Activity
The following text is an excerpt from Lyall Watson's"Lifetides," originally published in the November 1978 issue of OMNI Magazine.
Futurism StaffPublished 8 years ago in FuturismJames Randi Scientific Skeptic
James Randi is a skeptic, well known for challenges to paranormal claims, false invention, religious claims and the pseudosciences. Randi started as a magician stage named "The Amazing Randi", he retired to devote his time to investigating the occult, and other supernatural claims. Randi became famous in 1972 when he openly questioned the claims of Uri Geller. He said Geller used plain magic tricks to accomplish his allegedly supernatural feats. Randi wrote about his claims in The Truth About Uri Geller one of a number of great books on debunking charlatans.
Futurism StaffPublished 10 years ago in FuturismMark Hamill Interview With Maria Shriver
In this revealing Mark Hamill interview, Maria Shriver inquires if the Star Wars icon will reappear in the franchise 20 years from then. She was off by more than a decade but it is intriguing to realize that even as early as the 1983 release of The Return of the Jedi, there were plans for this franchise to live long into the future.
Futurism StaffPublished 10 years ago in Futurism