See:
Very KAOS:
- Any Bond film (especially Goldeneye)
- Gadgets, Bond villains, Bond girls, cheesy double entandres. Very
KAOS. And the reason we have double-o agents and a politburo
position called 'Q'.
- Cloak and Dagger
- A kid pretends he is a secret agent and plays at being a spy on a
dangerous mission. A little bit like our killing rounds.
- Get Smart
-
- The Avengers
-
- The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
-
The the three most influential spy series of the sixties and
seventies, each of these programs has made major contributions to
our recruitment posters
over the years.
Scifi:
- The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy
- The BBC mini-series of the play of the books of the radio series,
or something like that. It only covers the first two books worth,
but it carried over into TV quite well using much of the same cast
as the radio show. Impressive special effects for the time and
budget.
- Star Trek
- Not everybody loves Star Trek and it's many spin offs, but it's
small screen scifi; you've got to make the best of what you can
get. And admit it - classic Trek is funny. And some of the movies
weren't too bad either.
- Babylon 5
- A mid-nineties series that successfully raised the bar for small
screen scifi by introducing such radical notions as character
depth and development, an overarching story line and aliens that
were more than just a human with some latex on their
forehead. Watching B5 was just what we did on a Saturday afternoon
for much of the '90's.
- Star Wars Trilogy
- Whadaya mean you haven't seen Star Wars?
- Dr Who
- Legendary long running British scifi featuring the various
incarnations of the Doctor and his companions travels through time
and space, battling Darleks, Cybermen, The Master and a host of
other recurring villains through cunning and guile, rather than
superior firepower. Being the BBC, the quality of the stories
usually made up for Brocolli monster costumes and quarries of
Cornwall sets. The Tom Baker and Peter Davidson series are
especially good.
- The Prisoner
- Where am I? In the Village
What do you want? Information
Whose side are you on? That would be telling...We want Information
You won't get it. By hook or by crook... We will
Who are you? The new Number Two
Who is Number One? You are Number Six
I am not a number... I'm a free man! (Mocking laughter)*
- Sapphire and Steel
- A BBC scifi/fantasy series about a duo of alien investigators
charged with the task of fixing instabilities in space-time. In
spite of having no budget, it manages to convey the feel of
Lovecraftian horror far better than most of Lovecraft's more
overt imitators.
- Blake's 7
- Even more BBC low budget scifi action, about a mixed team of
rebels fighting against Earth's totalitarian Federation (take
that, Star Trek!). There only significant asset is an alien ship,
called the Liberator. The episodes are a bit hit and miss, but the
final series has a lot more grit than Star Trek and it's feel good
clones ever had.
- Blade Runner
- Based loosely on the Philip K. Dick novel, "Do Androids Dream of
Electric Sheep". The film sets a standard for future dystopian
vision that very few cyberpunk inspired films and series have ever
been able to achieve since. Nice soundtrack.
- Brazil (and anything else directed by Terry
Gilliam)
- Future dystopia, British style - nothing works properly, the
services is appalling, and the bureaucracy ensures that nothing
will ever get better. The war on terrorism that runs in the
background of the story is very now (though inspired by the
Northern Ireland conflict).
- Dark City
- Written and directed by Alex Proyas, who directed The Crow, it's a
scifi/fantasy film full of frotty alien costumes and stars Richard
O'Brian from RHPS.
- Plan 9 From Outer Space
- Amazingly awful scifi flick, so bad it has a cult following. If you
can't stomach it, see Ed Wood, as that's pretty good.
- The Matrix
- Kung fu and PVC porn. Shame about the physics and philosophy 101.
- Men in Black
- Great guns.
Fantasy:
- Labyrinth
- A kind of Alice in Wonderland as written by a puppeteer, rather
than a logician. Featuring David Bowie, Jennifer Connelly and
a cast of thousands of muppets.
- The Princess Bride
- It's got everything! Giants, pirates, sword fights, miracles,
villains, heroes, true love.
- The Dark Crystal
- Another film by Jim Henson, this one entirely cast by muppets. But
in a good way.
- The Highlander
- Immortals run around chopping each other's heads off until there
is Only One, in pursuit of some plot device of some sort. Silly,
and the sequels where appalling, but this one has just the right
amount of comedy, action, sword fights and a soundtrack by
Queen to make it entertaining.
- The Lord of the Rings trilogy
- The Peter Jackson one, of course, rather than the dodgy animated
version. Probably the best swords and sorcery films ever made.
Cartoons:
- Southpark
- Late nineties cult cartoon series, cram packed full of the filth
and depravity of small town America. Makes a great drinking game.
- Invader Zim
- A children's cartoon series, from the creator of Johnny The
Homicidal Maniac and Squee, about a meglomanical, yet incompetent,
alien sent to infiltrate and conquer the Earth. How it ever
managed to get screened and last for more than a few episodes is
anyone's guess; it eventually flopped in Nickelodeon's critical
7-11 market, but it developed a cult following amongst older
age groups.
Undead:
- The Lost Boys
- Starts off as light comedy, then becomes a thriller before finally
settling on comedy. A bit wonky, but a lot of fun. One of the first
films to make the soundtrack full of popular rock music thing really
work, and titles from said soundtrack have been popular KAOS party
for years.
- The Crow
- Based on the James O'Barr comic book, though somewhat less gritty,
it manages to strike a good balance between story, action and
sentiment. Brandon Lee's performance is excellent; unfortunately
he died in an accident on set at the end of filming. Another great
soundtrack.
- The Hunger
- Vampires! David Bowie! Hot Lesbian action! With a story so
stylised it's practically not there. Quite pretty, but apparently
the book by Whitley Strieber is much better.
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- The movie was pretty silly, but the series turned out alright. Go
figure.
Classics:
- Rocky Horror Picture Show
- The infamous cult musical burlesque, staring Tim Curry as
Frankenfurter. You really need to see it in a theater full of
pervs dress up as the characters for the full audience
participation experience. The Time Warp is a popular KAOS party
track.
- Casablanca
-
- Maltese Falcon
-
Classic Humphrey Bogart film noir. The original source material
for the trenchcoat and floppy hat fashions of early nineties KAOS.
Comedy:
- Monty Python
- Classic British surrealist comedy. The 'Importance of Not Being
Seen' sketch has been used as a KAOS agent training video a the
first meeting in past years.
- The Young Ones
- This is, without a doubt, the definitive documentary on the
student flating experience. I have personally flated with people
resembling all the characters.
- Blackadder
- Probably the best Rowan Atkinson comedy outside of his standup
material. Written by Ben Elton, who co-wrote "The Young Ones", and
Richard Curtis, who wrote "Four Weddings and a Funeral", amongst
other things. Curiously, it's Ben who knows all the history, and
Richard who writes the fart jokes.
- Red Dwarf
- More filthy Brit comedy.
- Clerks
- Kevin Smith's first and best film about (amongst other things)
the trials and tribulation of life in retail, a topic dear to the
hearts of any KAOS agent who's had to moonlight as a sales drone
or toil in the burger mines to fund their education/student
largesse.
Other Recommendations:
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Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Listen
- Read
- See
- Do
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