Thanks to a technical issue related to a certain soft drink which could easily be mistaken for anti-freeze, we were unable to record our regular symptom this week. However, to keep you sickies satiated, we will present a short series segment we thought about called “Ode to a Robot.” Rage kicks this off with Voltron, Defender of the Universe!
Today we are going back to the beginning, literally. This is the first story about robots, using the actual word “robot.” We are reviewing Karel Capek’s play, R.O.R. Somewhere between a warning about technology and mob style Bolshevism, the Malady guys find much meaning despite a flat performance from the voice actors in the audio drama we listened to.
What do you get when you add ESP, a giant and slow robot, and a gee whiz kid? A great robot named Tobor. Tobor the Shiny. Tobor the Bug-Eyed. Tobor the… Why don’t you listen to the review and write a title for Tobor down in the comments.
This month, we are finally getting around to sci-fi about robots. Can’t believe it took this long.
Today we are covering the 1986 sci-fi horror remake, The Fly. We also compare it to the 1958 version starring Vincent Price. Both films are creepy, horrifying, and end in death of the protagonist. However, one is more grotesque. Can you guess which one? Stick around for the end to hear Ruk and Rage sing a duet.
Today Sickies we are dipping back into the Roger Corman collection of schlock. Ahhhhh Corman, will you ever run out of movies for us to review? This particular flick, borrowing heavily from Alien, Star Wars, and…his other work, is about a genetic monster thing which hunts people down between scenes of passion, just like a good Corman movie should. And no, Rage does not have an unhealthy attraction to the editor.
It’s been a while, but the Rage is back and ready to rip into some more smeg writing. This time, it’s from the film “Jurassic World” and concerns the I suckasaurus, I mean the I rexasasaurus… Vomitous Rex, whatever.
Salutations Sickies! The Malady Men are kicking off Genetic July with the ghastly story of Gattaca. In this film, we see a perfect future, too perfect. Everything is engineered to be exemplary. This includes people. If you happen to be one of the poor souls who aren’t valid, your life is void. During today’s review, Scott has a lot to say, Thomas asks all the right questions, and Rage chimes in every once in a while. If you haven’t seen this film, the Malady Men recommend it!
Salutations Sickies to Genetic July! All this month, we’ll be examining the films that dig into our DNA! From suspicious splices to wretched recombination, we’re going to cover what happens when humanity tells mother nature to take a backseat and we take a crack at creation. Tune in for Genetic July and catch the sickness or have it spliced in.
We wrap up Juvenile June reviewing Zathura. If you haven’t seen this movie, you probably still have since everyone has seen Jumanji. This film was written by the same guy and follows the plot, kids find board game, board game is real, the only way out is to survive the game. The only difference is this time ,it is in space. It is derivative? Yes. It is a fun and entertaining film? Yes.
Symptom 200. What an amazing journey over these last five years. For episode 200 we decided to imagine what it would be like if Sci-Fi Malady became huge and we became rich and famous. The answer of course is infighting, greed and insanity, resulting in us losing it all. Please enjoy what I think is our greatest production, symptom 200, Behind the Malady.
Written by Mark
Edited and Produced by Matt Rukstar
Performed by - Mark, Matt, Shane, Thomas, Sara, Halv, Scott
This week we review a much better film than Space Camp. It has a plot, a beginning, middle and end, so it already is miles ahead. More than that though, it is just a fun, well paced, funny and enjoyable tale that conveys a sense of wonder and awe.
Also, we find out what bad the Ragemaster hates with a passion.
The talented Mr. Rukstar strikes again. The world debut of Rage in the System.
Space Camp - a terrible movie with a nonsense plot powered by contrivances; contrivances which require NASA to be stupid and/or incompetent in every way. Space Cap manages to have an all star cast and John Williams scoring, and somehow still be absolutely horrible. Lots of ripping in this review.
***There was an encoding error due to computer lag. We could not fix it in post, both Ruk and I tried all that we could. Apologies for the clicking.
Courtesy of the incredibly talented Ruk - a stay sick sickies dance remix, for your enjoyment.
It’s Juvenille June all this month join use in our immaturity all this month
We wrap up Monster May with a review of the 1954 film Them! This one is a fun filled action romp about mutated giant ants and humanity’s struggles to eradicate them. It continues the theme of the month of the dangers of atomic power and the artistic motif that to create a menace greater than nuclear power you’d have to go to the absurd, like Godzilla or Giant Ants. I think this film continues the 1950’s belief that we have found the ultimate monster haunting humanity and it is us.
In this symptom we review Godzilla. We took a look at the 1954 original that spawned the legendary series. Watching this it is easy to why Godzilla endures and has been proclaimed the King of the Monsters. Not only do you get the one and only Godzilla, you get a film that examines humanity and how as a society we deal with our ever more powerful weapons of mass destruction and the scientific advances that can and are inevitably weaponized. It also shows that even as humanity faces an existential crisis we individually remained focus on what we always do, people and our interpersonal relationships. This is an amazing synthesis of entertainment, action and a deep introspective examination of issues at the core of the question of the human condition.
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, or proto Godzilla. It is an interesting movie about a prehistoric dinosaur that is unfrozen as a result of atomic testing. The beast rampages its way to New York City where it it is a destroyed by a scientist with an radio active isotope bullet. The creature made its last stand by a roller coaster in an amusement park that conveniently had barrels of oil stored under it. I can’t say much more than this is the inferior version of Godzilla. It is bad, it is just that everything this movie does is done much better in Godzilla a year later.
We start Monster May with a review of the granddaddy of all monster films, the 1933 original King Kong. It is easy to see why this film became a classic and spawned a franchise running until today. It is an innovative, fun, action filled romp that some 88 years later is still thoroughly enjoyable, if full of some problematic elements that simply do not hold up and serve as reminders of the deep social problems in America’s past. Regardless though, this remains a fun film.