Dear GS Homeslices,

In this here blog, we're gonna discuss Sci-Fi B-Movies.

I'll jump this puppy off by bringing up a long time fav that I've recently replaced: Trancers, written by Danny Bilson & Paul De Meo and directed by Charles Band.It's actually a six (6) movie series, starring Tim Thomerson and (in the earlier movies) Helen Hunt. Trancers started in 1985 and extended well into the new milinium. It has also built a cult following, of which I have become a member.

Trancers sports a tech noir (hardboiled detective mixed with cyber-punk) aesthetic, similar to anime klassik series Cowboy Bebop or the movie Blade Runner. In 2245, 'trooper' Jack Deth (Tim Thomerson) is hunting down a terrorist cult leader named Whistler. Whistler turns people into mindless, raging attackers by "trancing" them. Hense the title.

Whistler manages to go back in time to 1985 L.A. in order to assassinate the ancestors of the high council members. He also has his sights set on wacking Jack's ancestor, Phil, whom Jack discovers is a pretencious prick Jack follows him back to 1985. Jack and Whistler travel back in time and enter the bodies of their ancestors, a la' Sam Becket in Quantum Leap.

1985 is a strange world to Jack Deth. Southern California hasn't sunken into the Pacific Ocean yet: Jack used to recreationally scuba dive in the sunken ruins of L.A., now he's seeing it above ground in a different time period. He meets Lena (Helen Hunt, in all her hotness), who's a regular minimum wage employee at a local mall, whom Phil (Jack's ancestor) has recently hooked up with. After a series of weird events, they find themselves looking for the council members' ancestors and dodging Whistler's flunkies. And the series rolls from there.

All-in-all, the Trancers movies have managed to build a cult following for some very good reasons. Chiefly, they're fun as all Hell to watch. Their combo of low-budget, everyday joe type characters, deliberately cheesey acting (similar to the much venerated Evil Dead trilogy) and an action sci-fi setting are simply addictive and even somewhat charming. It's almost like seeing everyday people in an over-the-top story. I love it.

Take Care & Support Your Beloved B-Movie Genre

-nate1222/hare122275 on Youtube