Last Action Heroes: How 1990s Blockbusters Swapped Thugs for Thinkers

11/23/22 • 31 min

Audio Articles – Longreads from The Companion

Join Stargate's Chief Master Sergeant Walter Harriman to learn the ins and outs of the hotseat of the control room in this immersive roleplay and cosplay experience!

Tickets and info are available now at www.thecompanion.app/events. Sign up as a member (paid or free) for a discount code!

Science fiction stories have always mirrored their own eras. They’re a time capsule as much as they are a vision of the future, and few decades offer as rapid a change on screen as the sci-fi films of the 1990s.

Caution: This article contains plot points from Total Recall, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Universal Soldier, Alien 3, Demolition Man, Johnny Mnemonic, Independence Day, Men in Black, The Fifth Element, Starship Troopers, Alien Resurrection, Armageddon, Deep Impact, The Wild Wild West, and – phew – The Matrix, and in some cases reveals the ending.

Read by Rebecca Davis and written by Katherine McLaughlin. Theme song by Lofi Geek.

David Fincher’s Imagi-Movies interview: https://mossfilm.wordpress.com/2012/10/13/alien-3-fincher-talks/

Paul Verhoeven’s Interview Magazine interview:
https://www.jigsawlounge.co.uk/film/reviews/paul-verhoeven-interview/

Lily Wachoski’s Netflix Film Club interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adXm2sDzGkQ&feature=emb_title

The original article on The Companion: https://www.thecompanion.app/2020/09/18/changing-faces-of-90s-sci-fi-icons/

The Companion's Audio Articles is a new series and we'd love to know if you like the new show. If you do, please share it with your friends on social media, WhatsApp, or any other text groups.

You can Tweet us @thecompanionapp or send a message on Discord: https://discord.com/invite/BcFBwtY3Ju

Thank you to our production team which include Nick Hayward, Lawrence Kao, Tommy Terry-Green, James Hoare, George Mole, Ben Herbert, Hattie Smith, and Chris Smith.

Join Stargate's Chief Master Sergeant Walter Harriman to learn the ins and outs of the hotseat of the control room in this immersive roleplay and cosplay experience!

Tickets and info are available now at www.thecompanion.app/events. Sign up as a member (paid or free) for a discount code!

Read by Rebecca Davis and written by Katherine McLaughlin. Theme song by Lofi Geek.

David Fincher’s Imagi-Movies interview: https://mossfilm.wordpress.com/2012/10/13/alien-3-fincher-talks/

Paul Verhoeven’s Interview Magazine interview:
https://www.jigsawlounge.co.uk/film/reviews/paul-verhoeven-interview/

Lily Wachoski’s Netflix Film Club interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adXm2sDzGkQ&feature=emb_title

The original article on The Companion: https://www.thecompanion.app/2020/09/18/changing-faces-of-90s-sci-fi-icons/

The Companion's Audio Articles is a new series and we'd love to know if you like the new show. If you do, please share it with your friends on social media, WhatsApp, or any other text groups.

You can Tweet us @thecompanionapp or send a message on Discord: https://discord.com/invite/BcFBwtY3Ju

Thank you to our production team which include Nick Hayward, Lawrence Kao, Tommy Terry-Green, James Hoare, George Mole, Ben Herbert, Hattie Smith, and Chris Smith.

Previous Episode

Stargate SG-1: Janet’s Death Stings Now More Than Ever

Join Stargate's Chief Master Sergeant Walter Harriman to learn the ins and outs of the hotseat of the control room in this immersive roleplay and cosplay experience!

Tickets and info are available now at www.thecompanion.app/events. Sign up as a member (paid or free) for a discount code!

The events of ‘Heroes Part 1’ and ‘Part 2’ shocked Stargate fandom but as Kayleigh Dray argues, the tragic death of Dr. Janet Fraiser has only become more affecting in the years since it was broadcast.

Content Warning: This Audio Article deals with the death of a character, please be advised.

Read by Rebecca Davis and written by Kayleigh Dray. Theme song by Lofi Geek.

Excerpts from Martin Wood’s Stargate SG-1 Explorer Unit fan club interview: https://www.gateworld.net/sg1/s7/heroes-part-2/

Robert C. Cooper’s GateWorld interview: https://www.gateworld.net/news/2021/01/how-heroes-came-to-be-stargate-most-memorable-episodes/

The original article on The Companion: https://www.thecompanion.app/2022/05/10/firefly/

The Companion's Audio Articles is a new series and we'd love to know if you like the new show. If you do, please share it with your friends on social media, WhatsApp, or any other text groups.

You can Tweet us @thecompanionapp or send a message on Discord: https://discord.com/invite/BcFBwtY3Ju

Next Episode

Tessa B. Dick: Searching for My Husband in Verhoeven’s Total Recall

Join Stargate's Chief Master Sergeant Walter Harriman to learn the ins and outs of the hotseat of the control room in this immersive roleplay and cosplay experience!

Tickets and info are available now at www.thecompanion.app/events. Sign up as a member (paid or free) for a discount code!

Tessa B. Dick gives us the definitive take on Total Recall, what her late husband would have thought, and how much of Philip K. Dick’s wit, wisdom, and empathy she sees in Paul Verhoeven’s blockbuster.

Read by Rebecca Davis and written by Tessa B. Dick. Theme song by Lofi Geek.

We Can Remember it for You Wholesale (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, April 1966): https://www.scribd.com/document/485526708/We-Can-Remember-it-for-You-Wholesale

The original article on The Companion: https://www.thecompanion.app/2020/11/23/tessa-b-dick-searching-for-my-husband-in-verhoevens-movie-total-recall/

The Companion's Audio Articles is a new series and we'd love to know if you like the new show. If you do, please share it with your friends on social media, WhatsApp, or any other text groups.

You can Tweet us @thecompanionapp or send a message on Discord: https://discord.com/invite/BcFBwtY3Ju

Thank you to our production team which include Nick Hayward, Lawrence Kao, Tommy Terry-Green, James Hoare, George Mole, Ben Herbert, Hattie Smith, and Chris Smith.