The year 1982 was truly a remarkable one, which Mark A. Altman, one of the producers of the eagerly anticipated upcoming documentary 1982: Greatest Geek Year Ever, and a prominent TV showrunner and author, notes, "What's so remarkable about 1982 isn't just the amount of iconic, groundbreaking films like E.T., Blade Runner, The Thing, Conan The Barbarian, Tron, or Dark Crystal, but you have films like Star Trek: The Wrath Of Khan and Poltergeist literally opening on the same day in June 1982.
"And beyond the usual justly-lauded genre classics," he adds, "you have Stallone not only starring in Rocky III, which reinvents that series into a genuine franchise, but First Blood as well, launching the Rambo films. You also have Jessica Lange in both Tootsie and Frances, not to mention Mel Gibson in The Road Warrior and The Year Of Living Dangerously. It's such a diverse and ambitious year for movies with films like Eddie Murphy's comedic tour de force in 48 Hours, Amy Heckerling's brilliant, raunchy and thoughtful teen comedy, Fast Times At Ridgemont High; the Shape-less Halloween III: Season Of The Witch, Clint Eastwood with a stealth aircraft, Firefox; and even the mega-bomb, Megaforce, in which the vehicles and costumes are literally designed by a toy company, because the good guys always win... even in the Eighties. And in the independent arena you have films like Susan Seidelman's Smithereens, the cuckoo for Cocoa-Puff's Liquid Sky and Ladies & Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains. And in a year with such magnificent films as E.T., The Verdict, Tootsie, Blade Runner and Costa-Garvas' Missing, what wins the Oscar? Well, the undeserving, bloated epic Gandhi, of course. Some things never change."
The focus below is on the sci-fi and fantasy films of that year.
The Sword and the Sorcerer (April 23)
A mercenary armed with a three-bladed projectile sword agrees to assist a princess attempting to stop a sorcerer as well as a tyrant from taking control of her land. Along the way he discovers his own royal heritage. Directed by Albert Pyun, the cast includes Lee Horsley, Kathleen Beller, Simon MacCorkindale, Richard Lynch and Richard Moll.
Forbidden World (May 7)
A low budget rip-off of Alien, only with more blood and bare boobs. On the planet Xarbia, researchers create a life form that is designed to help solve a galactic food shortage, but instead starts turning humans into food. One of the cast members is June Chadwick, who would go on to play the Visitor Lydia in V: The Series a few years later.
Conan the Barbarian (May 14)
Ahnuld Schwarzenegger in his best turn as Robert E. Howard’s greatest creation. In a nutshell, Conan is seeking vengeance for the murder of his parents as orchestrated by Thulsa Doom, played by James Earl Jones (he of the voice of Darth Vader). Impressively, this one cost $20 million and pulled in about $80 million. The power of the Schwarz!
The Road Warrior (May 21)
Shortly before his world exploded — in good, and, later very bad ways — Mel Gibson reprised his role from Mad Max. Continuing to battle nomadic tribes in post-apocalyptic Australia, he reluctantly finds himself in service as defender of an encampment under attack. Gibson would play the role one more time in 1985's Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome.
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (June 4)
Although 1979’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture was far more epic in scope, the critics and the audience seemed much more at home aboard the starship Enterprise in this sequel that resurrected genetic superman Khan (Ricardo Montalban) from the “Space Seed” episode of the original Star Trek series. Nicholas Meyer directs and the collective returning cast gives one of its best performances. Not surprisingly, William Shatner is at his finest as Kirk, and this is the one where we lost Leonard Nimoy’s Mr. Spock (but only for two years and the release of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock).
E.T. — The Extra-Terrestrial (June 11)
Probably the closest Steven Spielberg came to proving himself a modern Walt Disney, this tale of an alien stuck on Earth and desperate to get home touched the hearts of audiences around the world and justifiably so. The real magic is the genuine emotion generated by young Henry Thomas as Elliot Taylor and Carlo Rimbaldi’s puppet design for E.T.
Blade Runner (June 25)
Ridley Scott’s sci-fi masterpiece based on Philip K. Dick’s 1968 novel Do Androids ream of Electric Sleep?. Harrison Ford is cop Rick Deckard, who is assigned to capture runaway artificial life forms known as replicants. One in particular — Rutger Hauer’s Roy Batty — has truly developed a mind of his own and poses a tremendous threat to humans. Humorously, the film was set in the far future world of 2019 (unfortunately, it didn’t get things right). Spawned the 2018 sequel Blade runner 2049, the 2021 anime TV series Blade Runner: Black Lotus and a new live action TV series to be called Blade Runner: 2099.
Megaforce (June 25)
Megaforce is essentially a rapid deployment defense unit led by Barry Bostwick’s Ace Hunter, who, along with his team (including Michael Beck, Edward Mulhare and George Furth) comes to the aid of Zara (the late Persis Khambatta, best known as Lt. Ilya in Star Trek: The Motion Picture), who is trying to prevent the military invasion of her peaceful kingdom. The baddie is Guerera, played by Henry Silva. Stuntman turned director Hal Needham guides this one, the obvious hope that it would kick off a series of films. It didn’t.
The Thing (June 25)
Arguably John Carpenters greaest sci-fi/horror masterpiece, based on the John W. Campbell, Jr. novella Who Goes There?, and previously adapted as 1951’s The Thing from Another World. A group of researchers in Antarctica encounter some sort of extraterrestrial “thing” that can assimilate and take the form of virtually any organic being (including a dog!). Paranoia rules the remote facility as the creature claims victims and no one able to know who they can really trust. A cast that includes Kurt Russell, Keith David, David Clennon and Peter Maloney.
Tron (July 9)
Generally credited as the first film to incorporate computer generated imagery, Tron, the brainchild of writer/director Steve Lisberger, stars James Bridges as computer programmer and video game developer Kevin Flynn, who somehow finds himself trapped within the created software world of the mainframe computer. There he nteracts with other people within a whole society that lives there as he tries to escape. Over the decades it would inspire the big screen sequel Tron: Legacy (2010), the CG animated series Tron: Uprising and a variety of video games, novels and comic books.
The Beastmaster (August 20)
A year before playing journalist and alien fighter Mike Donovan in the 1983 V miniseries, Marc Singer starred alongside Tanya Roberts (she late of Charlie's Angels), John Amos and Rip Torn as Dar, a warrior who can communicate with animals and battles an evil wizard and his followers.
Airplane II: The Sequel (December 10)
“Airplane 2, what is it?” “A sequel to Airplane, but that’s not important right now.” Robert Hayes, Julie Haggerty, Peter Graves and Lloyd Bridges return from the original in a plot that involves a space shuttle run amok, a lunar colony and … oh, who cares? It’s silly fun, not as inventive as the original, but how could it be? William Shatner is Commander Buck Murdock and it represents one of the first times he had fun spoofing his Star Trek image.
Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swann (December 11)
In the middle of a race, dirt bike racer Lyle Swann (Fred Ward) accidentally veers in an area where an experiment involving time travel is underway and finds himself inadvertently projected back in time to to 1877. There he finds himself the target of outlaws who want that dirt bike; they may not know what it is, but they figure it must be worth something. He finds a hiding place in the town of San Marcos, sleeping with one of the local residents and having to fight off the outlaws. A helicopter from the future comes back to retrieve him and Swann makes the discovery that he is his own great-great grandfather. Yuck.
The Dark Crystal (December 17)
The late Jim Henson and Frank Oz are directors and Star Wars’ Gary Kurtz is producer of this fantasy populated by mostly sophisticated puppet characters. The plot revolves around Gelfling Jen, who is hoping to restore the Thra to their rightful place in power by restoring a magical crystal and driving out the Skeksis, who have taken control.
1982: Greatest Geek Year Ever will be released theatrically later this year.