Childhood movies that inspired you

[Xorth Tanovar]

4 hours ago, adsii1970 said:

Yeah, but those cheesy movies did have some pretty good looking sci-fi ships. Think about what we saw in the original Planet of the Apes movies or even Glen Larson's Buck Rogers in the 24th Century

Dunno if it's ever been mentioned:  http://www.scifiairshow.com/

" The images you see here on the site are photographs of practical miniature spaceships digitally blended with actual air show backgrounds. It is a fantasy air show that only exists on line, but appeals to many of us who, at one time, believed that these ships of fantasy really could fly."

Edited August 9, 2016 by Xorth Tanovar

[TheSaint]

17 minutes ago, Vanamonde said:

The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms.

I find your wordless accusation of thread drift vaguely offensive.  

Nevertheless, I'll see your Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, and raise you one:

I LOVED GODZILLA! I saw the first movie when I was about five and went nuts. I would set up all my Fisher-Price Little People city toys and then go crashing through them, roaring and stomping. At one point I saw a plastic model kit of Godzilla in a hobby store and convinced my dad to buy it. I managed to get it put together and then proceeded to play with it in exactly every way you should not play with a plastic model kit. My dad finally had to take it out in the garage and weld all of the joints together with a soldering iron. 

[ProtoJeb21]

I guess Star Wars episodes 1 through 6. They were cool and really captured my attention. However, I grew up watching... No, I can't say his name...

*shudders*

Jar Jar Binks.

Yep, I'm a prequels guy. Episode 3 was my favorite of those films, as it was the best of the prequels. 

[Superfluous J]

23 minutes ago, ProtoJeb21 said:

Episode 3 was my favorite of those films, as it was the best of the prequels. 

I got beat up by 3 guys once. My favorite was the guy who punched me in the gut. He was the nicest of the trio for sure.

[kiwi1960]

56 back in July.... so here is my list, TV and movies....

THE INVADERS

LOST IN SPACE (I had a crush on Penny)

STAR TREK

BATTLE STAR GALACTICA (the original witrh Lorne Greene)

UFO and ...well... any Gerry Anderson made TV series

VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA

DOCTOR WHO (back in the 1960's versions... and the newer versions

TORCHWOOD

FIREFLY

really..... anything Sci Fi.... it was all good....

Edited August 10, 2016 by kiwi1960

[The_Rocketeer]

Wow, u fogeys make me feel like such a youngblood (I'm 30)... thanks! 

Indiana Jones, sure. Bond too, blame my dad for that one. But sci-fi? Hmm...

Well, it has to be said - The Rocketeer!
Disney's The Black Hole featured somewhere back there - I remember feeling bad for the robot with the dented hat, but I must've been pretty young when I first saw it.
The Empire Strikes Back we had on VHS (well, my big brother did). Probably the coolest movie I ever saw (which was before I saw A New Hope, and which sucks my comparison imho - wow I feel the flames already!).
Another VHS was Top Gun. Yehaw, Jester's dead!
And of course, I nearly forgot! Flight of the Navigator - that was on at Christmas about 3 years running, I seem to remember.

Getting a bit older, movies like Event Horizon, Armageddon, Lost in Space (1998), Contact... but,

If we're talking about inspiration, there's one, just one: Apollo 13. And by a very long chalk. What an awesome, awesome incredible movie. Ok, not a perfect recreation of the reality, but for those like me born after the moon landings and after the novelty of the STS had worn off, boy did that movie make it real.

Drifting off-topic slightly, I also have to give a nod to a couple of videogames - Origin's Wing Commander, and David Braben's Frontier: Elite II, both of which we owned on our Amiga Commodore A1200. Those two games, more than any other thing, gave me the sci-fi/space-adventure bug, and both were seriously groundbreaking in their time.

Edited August 10, 2016 by The_Rocketeer

[Cydonian Monk]

Childhood movies that inspired you.

Interesting distinction to make - Childhood, not Children's. I'm not sure I ever had a childhood, and if I did it was spent in the water or under the weather. And I'm not sure there are any children's movies that really had much of an influence on me as a child ("Snoopy, Come Home", perhaps?). Yet there's one film in particular that was hugely influential in my theoretical childhood and remains to be now, some three decade later. I oft quote various bits of it to folks who have no earthly idea what I'm talking about, which makes it all the more tragic and amusing.

 

"Do you know what will happen to me if the bridge is not completed on time?"

"Be happy in your work."

"You!"

"Frankly, the consensus of opinion is that it's impossible, but we'll certainly give it a go."

(resignedly) "I have already given the order."

(also resignedly) "What have I done?"

And my all-time favorite quote from any film ever made: "Madness! Madness!" 

 

Yes, it was "Bridge on the River Kwai". It's probably the reason I got involved in model railroading, too. Good show. Jolly good. It's one of those rare films where I feel I can relate to every character in it. It's also an engineer's movie, and every large project I've worked on has gone almost exactly like Saito's bridge. Or was it Nicholson's bridge?

[Dispatcher]

22 hours ago, kiwi1960 said:

...

LOST IN SPACE (I had a crush on Penny)

...
FIREFLY

....

Heheh!  A lot of us had a crush on Penny.

I forgot to list Firefly.  I own the entire series on DVD.  Too bad its such a small collection.

[Jeb1969]

Fly away home (1996) This 1990s heartfelt story of a Daughter and Father rekindling their passions of flight after the tragic death of the Wife/Mother in a car crash. The film is set in rural Ontario Canada, John Alden (Played by Jeff Daniels) and his daughter Amy (Anna Paquin). So much to say it is one of my favorite movies set in Canada.

Apollo 13 (1995) It's about the Ill-fated Apollo 13 mission, honestly in my opinion this film should of won an Oscar, also interesting factoid; The commander of the Aircraft Carrier that Tom Hanks salutes and shakes hands with near the credits is that of the real Jim Lovell. 

How to Train your Dragon (2010) You might be asking me why this movie is on this list, I will give you my reason:

First and foremost I really liked the soundtrack of this particular film, but really I thought the animation was dynamic and not to tchotchke-like or gimmicky like that of Shrek, Third the storyline had some really good diction which in turn made for a more pleasing story, fourth who doesn't love Toothless he's cute but also extremely badass. If the two main characters were similar to that of Kerbals, Hiccup would be Jeb and Astrid would be Valentina. My only complaint is why did they insist on having one of the vikings have a very obvious Scottish Accent, after all historically The Celts and The Vikings didn't exactly see things at the same wavelength. 

[LordFerret]

On 8/9/2016 at 10:00 PM, kiwi1960 said:

...

LOST IN SPACE (I had a crush on Penny)

...

 

On 8/10/2016 at 8:56 PM, Dispatcher said:

Heheh!  A lot of us had a crush on Penny.

...

 

And there was Jeannie (Barbara Eden), of "I Dream Of Jeannie". Tell me the NASA portrayed in that series (with Nelson and Healey) wasn't totally Kerbal lol.

[Crandie]

The thorn birds

This movie doesn't inspire me at all, just makes me remember.