All the World's a Soundstage: In Praise of Studio-Bound Alien Worlds onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com All the World's a Soundstage: In Praise of Studio-Bound Alien Worlds

S

Quick, what's the first thing you noticed about the planet we visited in last night's Doctor Who special? That's right: It was a soundstage.* None of Matt Smith's final hour was filmed in a real location. Alien worlds used to be filmed in the studio more often — here's why we miss visiting Planet Soundstage.

There are a few reasons to love a soundstage planet. First, you can get a lot more strange flora, by scattering weird fake plants everywhere. Second, it opens up the possibility for some really beautiful matte shots, which are still a thing even in the age of CG. Third, there's just something otherworldly and weird about an entirely manufactured landscape. Fourth, the sky can be any color you want, without post-processing.

Nowadays, you're much more likely to see an alien world created entirely using greenscreen, as in the case of Avatar. Or flying to an exotic location like Iceland or Utah, as in the case of Prometheus or John Carte. Few television shows, especially in the U.S., even try to depict alien planets any more — but if they did, it would be some rocks somewhere.

Classic Star Trek rarely did location shooting, although it famously shot the battle between Kirk and the Gorn at Vasquez Rocks. Also, a few bits of "Shore Leave" were filmed at a wildlife preserve, and some Paramount studio buildings were used as a Nazi headquarters and a NASA facility. Plus the Deneva Colony was filmed at the TRW Space and Defense Park, which featured tons of futuristic architecture.

But meanwhile, there were loads of alien planets created indoors, with funky rocks and weird skies and strange plants. And famously, when Star Trek wanted to visit an Earthlike settlement, the show used the streets of Mayberry, the quaint town from the Andy Griffith show.

Classic Doctor Who is famous for its endless gravel quarries, as spoofed in the comedy short "Curse of the Fatal Death." But the show also created a number of alien worlds on soundstages, some of which still look pretty darn impressive — like the strange planet Vortis in "The Web Planet," and the alien jungles in "Kinda" and "Planet of Evil."

There are also a ton of classic science fiction films that use soundstages to create their alien worlds — complete with some awesome matte shots.

Below are some of our favorite images of soundstage planets from classic science fiction...

Lost in Space:

Lost in Space spent a lot of time on a planet that was created entirely inside a soundstage. The show made the jump to color in its second season, which meant all the huge panoramic shots showing the ship's exterior from a distance against the alien landscape couldn't be reused — and thus you never really see the whole ship's exterior in the second and third seasons.

Forbidden Planet:

S

S

S

Check out those amazing matte shots! The planetary locations were shot on the MGM studio lot, inside a soundstage, designed by Cedric Gibbons and Arthur Longeran.

Star Trek:

S

S

S

S

S

S

S

You have to admire some of Trek's completely way-out-there matte paintings, in addition to the soundstage planets.

Doctor Who:

S

S

S

S

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century:

S

Okay, so it's a future post-apocalyptic Earth rather than an alien world — but you have to love these matte shots by Syd Dutton.

Alien:

S

The alien worlds in Alien and Aliens were filmed at the disused Acton Power Station, with fantastic H.R. Giger-inspired sets.

I feel like we're just scratching the surface here... what's your favorite alien world created in an indoor studio?

* Apparently this is a fact I invented, and it was actually filmed on location after all. Apologies for the mistake!

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com All the World's a Soundstage: In Praise of Studio-Bound Alien Worlds

Scientists say vitamins and minerals are "a waste of money" onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Scientists say vitamins and minerals are "a waste of money"

Americans spend more than $20 billion a year on supplements in hopes of staving off cancer, heart disease, and dementia. Trouble is, the latest research shows they provide no benefit — and they may even be hazardous to our health. But given our nutrient-deprived diets, should we really stop taking these pills altogether?

These are the startling findings of three articles just published in the highly influential Annals of Internal Medicine.

The researchers involved in the studies didn't mince words; they're concerned that people are spending too much money on pills that confer no benefit, and in some cases may even be harmful. What's more, they even hinted that companies selling supplements are fueling false health anxieties to offer unnecessary cures. In an editorial titled "Enough is Enough: Stop Wasting Money on Vitamin and Mineral Supplements," Dr. Lawrence Appel of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore and his co-authors wrote, "Most supplements do not prevent chronic disease or death, their use is not justified, and they should be avoided."

Wow. That'll come as a shock to the nearly 40% of adults who regularly take antioxidants, multivitamins, and other supplements.

Enough is Enough

To reach these conclusions, an international team of researchers conducted three different studies.

The first was a meta-study that looked at the consumption of a daily multivitamin to prevent cardiovascular disease and cancer in more than 450,000 participants (whoa, that's a pretty decent sample size — one drawn from 24 previous trials). These pills had no discernible effect on mortality.

The second study looked into the effects of a daily multivitamin after a heart attack in about 1,700 men and women over an average of five years. No advantage could be found. Although, it needs to be pointed out that more than half of the participants stopped taking their medications, making it difficult for the researchers to draw definitive conclusions.

The third study looked into the use of a multivitamin to prevent dementia in nearly 6,000 men aged 65 or older. Again, nada. Nothing.

"These vitamins should not be used for chronic disease prevention. Enough is enough," concluded the experts.

Hazardous to Your Health

If that wasn't bad enough, the researchers also found that vitamin E, when taken in large doses, can be harmful. And shockingly, smokers who took beta carotene were at an increased risk of developing cancer. The researchers also said the antioxidants folic acid and B vitamins are harmful or ineffective for preventing chronic diseases.

Instead of popping vitamins and minerals, the experts recommended that people should eat more fruits and vegetables, reduce trans fat, saturated fat, and salt, reduce calories, and increase physical activity.

Not So Fast

Personally, I'm not convinced that we should completely stop taking vitamins and supplements. While I agree that foods packed with nutrients can provide most, if not all, of our dietary needs, the fact of the matter is that many of us eat very poorly. A perfectly balanced diet isn't always possible, leading to nutritional deficiencies. Moreover, vegetarians and vegans are dependant on supplements as a way to get their essential B vitamins. And as the experts themselves admit, supplementation is important for people with deficiencies, malabsorption issues, and to prevent neural tube defects in pregnancy.

Lastly, the jury is still out on Vitamin D particularly for those who living in northern, sun-deprived climates), which can strengthen bones. There's also omega-3 fatty acids (including DHA and EPA), which are beneficial to brain health. Finally, there's magnesium supplementation — a cofactor in more than 300 enzyme systems that regulate diverse biochemical reactions in the body, including protein synthesis, muscle and nerve function, blood glucose control, and blood pressure regulation.

Read the studies at Annals of Internal Medicine: "Oral High-Dose Multivitamins and Minerals After Myocardial Infarction: A Randomized Trial," "Long-Term Multivitamin Supplementation and Cognitive Function in Men: A Randomized Trial," and "Vitamin and Mineral Supplements in the Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease and Cancer: An Updated Systematic Evidence Review for the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force."

Image: Jeff Wasserman/Shutterstock

Follow me on Twitter: @dvorsky

Related Related Related Related

onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Scientists say vitamins and minerals are "a waste of money"