Sunday, February 26, 2017

Game Over Man! Game Over! RIP Bill Paxton

Tomorrow we will wake up in a world knowing it's without Bill Paxton, one of the most recognised actors of some of the greatest movies of the 80's and 90's and a more recent star of Television.


You may not remember his appearance in The Terminator in 1984, or in Commando in 1985 but if you don't know his first iconic role of Colonial Marine Private Hudson who famously uttered "Game Over Man! Game Over!" in James Cameron's Aliens which earned him a Saturn Award then you probably shouldn't be even reading this page.

Paxton had many subsequent roles, he was Floyd "God" Dane, the sniper in Navy SEALS in 1990, Detective Jerry Lambert in Predator 2 (earning him a distinction shared with Lance Henrickson of facing a Terminator, Predator and Alien on screen), Morgan Earp in Tombstone, Bill "The Extreme" Harding in Twister and portrayed astronaut Fred Haise in Apollo 13 earning him a SAG award as part of the cast.

He also had roles in True Lies, Titanic, U-571 and Vertical Limit to name but some of many. More recently he appeared in 2 Guns, The Edge of Tomorrow and in 2015 he lent his voice and likeness to the Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare - Exo Zombies video game. Paxton had a long running role in TV with five seasons of HBO's Big Love and was nominated for an Emmy and a SAG award for his role as Randolph McCoy in Hatfields & McCoys. He most recently appeared in Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and was currently the lead in a TV adaptation of Training Day

Paxton died on Saturday from complications after heart surgery. He was just 61, but his body of work immortalises him for eternity. May he rest in peace.

Wednesday, February 08, 2017

RIP Richard Hatch

I was at DragonCon with a group of friends in Atlanta in 2011 and in a large hall where many stars of both large and small screens signed autographs and greeted fans. I spied a face I knew who appeared to be getting ready to pack up before going to dinner. There was no one near him at the time so we approached him quickly and I told him I just wanted to greet him and thank him for his work. He was very appreciative, but as soon as he noticed my accent he was most reluctant to let me go with just a greeting. He packed up and sat on the edge of his booth talking to us for about 10 minutes or so. He asked me about science fiction fandom in Ireland and was curious to know if we had any conventions ourselves - because he said he would've jumped at the chance to visit here. He came across as an intelligent and well informed person who was genuinely interested in meeting people and interested in what we had to say. 

The man was Richard Hatch and he was the face of Battlestar Galactica from the original to the modern series. He sadly passed away today at age 71. He will be missed.