Podcast # 324 - Year 1999

[Rhen]

GAK I searched everywhere for Journey to Eden, I so wanted to watch it. I think mainly because it was a scifi movie i havent seen!

I'm sooo sad to see it wasn't real

[Redshirt97]

Hi Rico, I was able to listen to podcast 324 last week.  great podcast.  I do remember most movies form 1999.  One of my favorites was the Phantom Menace.  I remember when I walked out of the movie at the end, I really felt that I had seen  one of the Best t movies in a while.  though some ma disagree.  I liked Bartok's comments on the movie joury to Eden.  that really had me going as I am sure it did most everone. 

[RobbieUK7]

Hi guys/girls,

I've just finished listening to an earlier podcast on the films and TV of 1999. The film The 13th Floor was mentioned, and I just wanted to add a few comments on this film. Incidentally, it's now available on NetFlix in the UK - and I imagine it might also be there in the US NetFlix and other countries if you fancy searching for it.

The 13th Floor is, like I believe another reviewer commented, a very Matrix-like film. Although many had an accurate premonition of the ending, it's still a valuable addition to your viewing. Though similar to The Matrix in character, the plotline is somewhat different.  TTF isn't merely an inferior attempt at the Matrix idea. In fact, Thirteenth Floor is perhaps more effective in generating a serious doubt about our own reality!

A long time after watching TTF I discovered an interesting fact.. I was watching a German film (subtitled!) called World on a Wire - and noted the similarity of this early outing to TTF.  I thought the plot was a little too close!  According to Wikipedia, Thirteenth Floor relates to a modern version of a 1960s book called Simulacron-3.  The German film was inspired by this novel (in fact, I think TTF may be based on the earlier German film, though I'm uncertain on this).

World on a Wire dates back to the 1970s. Although rather slower moving than Thirteenth Floor, it's interesting to see the virtual reality idea being created by scientists based on pre-microchip technologies. The film shows the idea of venturing into simulated or fake realities isn't a recent idea - even in terms of screen sci-fi. Though I think TTF is a more entertaing film,  WOAW was quite cerebral and impressive for a 70s film. Or maybe German sci-fi was ahead of England and the US in this area? It's not exactly a vital purchase, but if you do find a cheap copy of World on a Wire it's worth checking out.

[Rico]

Thanks for the comments.  Merged this with the podcast topic.