{"id":14443,"date":"2013-09-23T06:30:50","date_gmt":"2013-09-23T11:30:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/?p=14443"},"modified":"2019-11-26T06:35:45","modified_gmt":"2019-11-26T11:35:45","slug":"the-ultimate-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2013\/09\/23\/the-ultimate-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ultimate Experience?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"walken\"<\/a>The early ’80s was a curious time for movies with studios chasing down the movie that they would hope would be the record-breaking blockbuster. In the wake of Star Wars<\/em>, science fiction and fantasy were in and all of the studios were chasing the next boxoffice bonanza that could be merchandised to the hilt. There were a number of hits such as E.T<\/em>., the Star Wars<\/em> sequels and Raiders of the Lost Ark<\/em>; a few films that were flops in their time and are now regarded as classics such as Blade Runner<\/em> and John Carpenter’s The Thing<\/em>; a few interesting near misses like Dragon Slayer<\/em> and Tron<\/em>, and films that have been utterly forgotten like Brainstorm<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"helmet\"<\/a>In the movie, scientist\/entrepreneurs develop a device that can record and playback people’s experiences and sensations. They plan on developing it commercially and improve it’s design from the clunky Professor X helmet pictured above to a more elegant and easily wearable WalkMan<\/em>-like device. It all goes well until the government wants to get it’s hands on the gadget. Then it turns into the earnest scientist versus the creepy spy guys sort of film that we’ve all seen a thousand times.<\/p>\n

\"Walken-and-Wood\"<\/a><\/em>It starred Christopher Walken<\/strong> and Natalie Wood<\/strong> who died tragically before the film was almost completed. Douglas Trumbull<\/strong>, famous for providing special effects for Stanley Kubrick’s classic 2001: A Space Odyssey<\/em>, directed the film and rearranged and reworked the film so it could be completed without Wood’s participation.<\/p>\n

Trumbull<\/strong> shot it in 70mm 6-Track sound, and Brainstorm<\/em> apparently looked great on Cinerama<\/a> screens, but was less impressive on standard movie screens and was ho-hum on television.<\/p>\n

\"BS-broch-in\"<\/a>I was reminded of Brainstorm when my brother Brian visited the East Coast recently, and we went through some boxes I’ve been warehousing for him for the past few decades. Among his comics, we found probably a thousand, 11″ x 17″, glossy advertising circulars that were meant to be distributed at a comicbook\/sci-fi convention. Brian had worked the convention back in 1983, and these were left over when the con ended. They were going to be tossed out, but Brian rescued them thinking that they may be worth something if Brainstorm became a blockbuster. It didn’t, and outside of curiosity, they’re not worth a dime.<\/p>\n

\"BS-broch-out\"<\/a>Oh, well.<\/p>\n

I haven’t seen Brainstorm<\/strong> in years, and I’ll have to give it a spin on Blu-Ray.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The early ’80s was a curious time for movies with studios chasing down the movie that they would hope would be the record-breaking blockbuster. In the wake of Star Wars, science fiction and fantasy were in and all of the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[31,2714,120],"tags":[2805,387,2808,2806,196,2807,195],"class_list":["post-14443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blast-from-the-past","category-collecting-2","category-curious-clutter","tag-2805","tag-brain","tag-brainstorm","tag-christopher-walken","tag-movie","tag-natalie-wood","tag-science-fiction"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1ed1x-3KX","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":37677,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2022\/06\/02\/everything-is-better-than-star-wars\/","url_meta":{"origin":14443,"position":0},"title":"Everything is Better than Star Wars","author":"Joe","date":"June 2, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"This is a scan of an insert from the DVD package of Shock Waves, a movie originally released the same year as Star Wars which also starred Peter Cushing. Star Wars was a huge success and it did change the way that movies are financed, made and marketed, but it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Stuff Joe Likes"","block_context":{"text":"Stuff Joe Likes","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/stuff-joe-likes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Shock-Waves-dvd-insert.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Shock-Waves-dvd-insert.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Shock-Waves-dvd-insert.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":17055,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2014\/08\/11\/a-missed-opportunity\/","url_meta":{"origin":14443,"position":1},"title":"A Missed Opportunity","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"August 11, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"With the remakes and reboots of Planet of the Apes that have been playing out in cinemas in recent years I'm surprised nobody has decided to put these swinging medallions back on the market. Back before Star Wars came along and changed the notion of what science fiction films should\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "What I Miss About Comics"","block_context":{"text":"What I Miss About Comics","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/what-i-miss-about-comics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Go-APE.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1960,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2010\/12\/07\/geek-cred-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":14443,"position":2},"title":"Geek Cred","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"December 7, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Yes, I was among the first wave of fan club members back in 1977. I used to carry this in my wallet as if that was going to grant me entree into special or unusual events or situations sort of like members of the old Playboy club flashing a membership\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Curious Clutter"","block_context":{"text":"Curious Clutter","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/curious-clutter\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/star-wars-fan.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":23356,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2018\/03\/06\/almost-all-of-them-flops\/","url_meta":{"origin":14443,"position":3},"title":"Almost All of Them Flops","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"March 6, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"This is a nicely printed flyer that was handed out at a comic book convention in the very early 1980s. On the opposite side of what's pictured above was a list of horror and science fiction classics released by Universal Pictures from Frankenstein up to The Birds. The pictured side\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blast from the Past"","block_context":{"text":"Blast from the Past","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/blast-from-the-past\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Universal-80s.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Universal-80s.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Universal-80s.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2195,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2011\/01\/19\/geek-cred-across-the-8th-dimension\/","url_meta":{"origin":14443,"position":4},"title":"Geek Cred Across the 8th Dimension","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"January 19, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"It was 1984 and the Star Wars saga had finished up. I couldn't get too worked up about the Star Trek films which were hit-or-miss. Indiana Jones was doused pretty quickly with the overstuffed second film. What else was there? I was in a film class in art school, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Curious Clutter"","block_context":{"text":"Curious Clutter","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/curious-clutter\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Banzai-Button.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":45268,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2025\/06\/24\/button-button-whos-got-the-button\/","url_meta":{"origin":14443,"position":5},"title":"Button, Button, Who’s Got the Button?","author":"Joe","date":"June 24, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"It's always the way -- I was looking for something else, and I find a lost treasure! I recently uncovered my stash of movie buttons from the 1980s. They used to hand these out at science fiction conventions and sneak previews. Punky and new wave kids would festoon them onto\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blast from the Past"","block_context":{"text":"Blast from the Past","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/blast-from-the-past\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/The-Ting-1982-button.jpg?fit=640%2C962&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/The-Ting-1982-button.jpg?fit=640%2C962&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/The-Ting-1982-button.jpg?fit=640%2C962&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14443\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}