Greatest Geek Year Ever: 1982 (8.5./10)
Written by Mark A. Altman, this first-rate documentary series explores what many consider (hence the title) the greatest single year for cinema ever, 1982. Whether one agrees with that assessment or not, '82 was without question a phenomenal epoch in movie history, and this production delves into its myriad of enduring classics.
Greatest Geek Year Ever: 1982 is divided into four segments:
1) Summer of Spielberg
2) Science Fiction
3) Fantasy and Action
4) Comedy and Horror
Many of the interviewees / commentators are people who were inspired by these pictures in their youth, and went on to make a mark in the profession themselves -- Dean Devlin, Zak Penn, Bea Grant, Mick Garris, etc. Additional comments are offered from a few of the people who worked on the actual films, like Buzz Feitshans, John Dyskstra, Adrienne Barbeau, Steven Lisberger, etc. Even Barry Bostick is on-hand to offer some hilarious (and frequently self-effacing) comments about
Megaforce!
Some movies do get more attention than others --
E.T. and
Poltergeist most obviously (which are allotted their own episode).
Star Trek II is also given a generous amount of coverage, with Nicholas Meyer and Robert Sallin on hand to provide reminiscences.
Blade Runner also a gets generous coverage -- though sadly no comments from Ridley Scott, but Sean Young offers a few interesting bits of trivia, as does Paul M Sammon (who probably knows more about
Blade Runner than anyone).
In contrast
The Road Warrior gets no more than two or three minutes of coverage, which is pretty unforgivable considering how influential it was --
and that it was a big hit despite being a sequel to a film almost no one in America saw. (The considerably less-significant
Rocky III is, bafflingly, given far-more attention here.) However I appreciated this series did spend a good amount of time on
The Thing and
Conan The Barbarian, acknowledged the importance of
The Dark Crystal, and also included coverage of
48 Hrs., Tron, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Creepshow, The Beastmster,
First Blood and a number of other significant pictures from '82.
Greatest Geek Year Ever: 1982 really drives home the fact that these movies really were excellent -- at least within the confines of their aspirations (and many of them broke beyond those confines). The series also effectively points out that many 1982 films were also extremely innovative -- and managed the feat of pushing the envelope while remaining accessible and finding large audiences. Many also spawned sequels, and influence films and television to this very day.
All four segments can be view on CW's website...
https://www.cwtv.com/shows/greatest-gee ... d1cc44bb4e