Sci Fi Monsters

I’m not sure that the concept of a “stable genius” predates modern political asininity. But the idea of the unstable genius certainly has a history – particularly in the genre of B science fiction movies. Many of these movies are now in the public domain and are available for showing on our local (here in the USA) public access television stations.

Have I mentioned that I run one of these TV stations? Yes, I do. And I love to salt the late night hours with titles like it came from beyond time or Creature from __________(insert your scariest place here!).

This is a canny marketing move for me. I know there are people who, tired of Netflicks, are roaming the channels for the unusual at three in the morning. What could be more uncommon than a demented scientist out to spawn test tube creatures on an unsuspecting world while stealing a succulent heroine from the buff hero? The hero needs to quell the hordes of slimy things with only the hamfisted help of the Army, the local reporter, the heroine, and a jar of mayonnaise. Mayonnaise? Yes? The creatures are allergic to the stuff.

So this is the stuff that I run after midnight for the insomniac crowd. And, of course, there is almost always some unstable genius daring to do what no stable genius would do and open the floodgates of creation to demon spawn. The problem is that with all the ecological disasters, political insanity, and stable and unstable geniuses running around, it’s gotten a bit hard sometimes to tell the difference between some news reports and the B science fiction movies. So one or two of my insomniacs have emailed me and asked for old westerns. 

But I don’t know, running old John Wayne stuff where First Nations folks get robbed blind, cattle destroy prairie, and unstable idiots shoot up entire towns for fun seems just a bit too much like real life. I prefer science fiction.