The story of Frankenstein's monster has long been one of the staples of horror.   The book Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelly, wife of poet Percy Shelly is one of the modern horror stories and is also considered one of the earliest science fiction stories.  The 1931 movie Frankenstein is very loosely based on Mary Shelly’s book.  One of the most striking differences being that of the appearance of the monster.  In the book the monster begins as an almost handsome and well-spoken man and only turns ugly as his skin begins to rot away due to poor blood circulation.  For most of us however Frankenstein’s monster is best remembered as the large, groaning brute with a flat head and bolt shaped electrodes sticking out of his neck.  Frankenstein stars Boris Karloff as the monster and Colin Clive as inventor Henry Frankenstein. Read more about Frankenstein – 1931

Opening - Season One: It was the dawn of the third age of mankind, ten years after the Earth-Minbari War. The Babylon Project was a dream given form. Its goal: to prevent another war by creating a place where humans and aliens could work out their differences peacefully. It's a port of call, home away from home for diplomats, hustlers, entrepreneurs, and wanderers. Humans and aliens wrapped in two million, five hundred thousand tons of spinning metal, all alone in the night. It can be a dangerous place, but it's our last, best hope for peace. This is the story of the last of the Babylon stations. The year is 2258. The name of the place is Babylon 5.

Babylon 5, created by J. Michael Straczynski, came to our Televisions in the early 1990’s, about the same time as Star Trek’s Deep Space Nine.  The two are often compared.  Fans of each have called one a “rip-off” of the other.  The truth is they were both developed and planned independently of each other.  Babylon 5 did something that was amazing at the time; it got Trekkers and Trekkies alike talking about a new show.  Some of them even thought this new series was better than Star Trek.  Read more about Babylon 5

In November a show which is perhaps the longest running television series in the history of Television celebrates 50 years. The show is BBC One's time traveling adventure Doctor Who. "Who" is more of a question than a name. Launched 1963 with William Hartnell as "The Doctor" a Time Lord from Galafrey who travels in time and space in a ship known as The T.A.R.D.I.S; a ship inexplicably larger on the inside than the outside and which looks exactly like a 1960's British police call box. Read more about If You Liked Doctor Who

Quite a while ago I posted about the movie "Melancholia," a film about the end of the world and how people reacted to the knowledge that not only their lives would end, but also the lives of everyone else on the planet. Recently I watched the film "Seeking a Friend for the End of the World." As the title suggests this is another film about the end of the world. The premise is almost exactly the same; what effect would knowing you and your world will end in a matter of days have upon you. In fact these movies could almost be two episodes of the same movie. "Seeking a Friend for the End of the World" stars Steve Carell as Dodge and Keira Knightly as Penny two individuals traveling together for very different reasons. Dodge is seeking his old high school sweetheart to spend his last days with. Penny just wants to be with her family. Read more about The World Ends.... Again!

Take a touch of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, add to it a smidgeon of John Grisham, a dislike for the music industry, (not music, just the industry behind it), stir well and you have Rob Reid's book Year Zero. It's about a universe of beings that have discovered that humans have the best music of any race in the entire universe, only they can't contact us because we aren't part of the "Refined League." In a moment of universal insanity, their solution is to pirate every song ever made, and distribute these to every being in the universe. Suddenly, after coming out of their music- induced rapture, they realize that under earth law the universe owes the people of earth a very large amount of money. Read more about Year Zero