Josh Reviews 1982: Greatest Geek Year Ever!

1982: Greatest Geek Year Ever is a lovingly-made documentary, looking back at the incredible array of films released in 1982.  Was 1982 truly the Greatest Geek Year Ever?  The people behind this film make a strong case.  Take a look at some of the films released in 1982: E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Blade Runner, John Carpenter’s The Thing, The Road Warrior, Poltergeist, Tron, Conan the Barbarian, The Dark Crystal, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Night Shift, First Blood, Rocky III… and so many more!

This documentary was produced by Mark A. Altman and Roger Lay, Jr., who also directed it.  I’ve been reading Mark Altman’s writings about sci-fi ever since discovering his Star Trek recaps and interviews in Cinefantastique magazine back in the day.  I’m a big fan of his Inglorious Treksperts podcast (with Daren Dochterman and Ashley E. Miller).  As for Roger Lay, Jr., I’ll love him forever for his extraordinary work on the gloriously in-depth documentaries made for the blu-ray release of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Enterprise.  (In general, I think the behind-the-scenes special features on the various DVD and blu-ray releases of the Star Trek TV shows and movies have been slipshod and disappointing.  The huge exception was Mr. Lay Jr.’s magnificent documentaries made for the season-by-season blu-ray releases of TNG and Enterprise.  I someday long for DS9 to receive the same treatment.)  The documentary was also produced by Scott Mantz and Thomas P. Vitale.  Mr. Mantz was a correspondent and producer for Entertainment Tonight whose enthusiastic love of Star Trek and other geeky topics make him a welcome guest on podcasts (I’m always thrilled when he appears on Inglorious Treksperts) and panels.  Mr. Vitale is the Executive Producer of Pandora and was a long-time executive at the SyFy channel.

I backed this project on kickstarter and so I received a wonderful DVD of this documentary.  It’s also available for viewing as a four-part experience on Apple TV+!

The documentary is very long (around three hours!) but I relished watching this in-depth and loving look at all the many great films released in 1982.  The film focuses on the sci-fi and genre films, but it also discusses some of the more mainstream hit films released that year.  It also takes the time to dig deeply into the more obscure cult films released that year (films such as Creepshow, Cat People, Swamp Thing, Parasite, The Slumber Party Massacre, and more).

It’s fun to explore the behind-the-scenes stories of the making of these films!  There’s so much love pouring forth from the screen by the interview subjects.  It’s infectious.  It’s fun to hear everyone on-screen, waxing poetic about the geek movies that affected them back in 1982, and that they still love so deeply!

This crowd-funded documentary is similar in many ways to In Search of Tomorrow, another lengthy crowd-funded doc that explored the many classic sci-fi films released in the eighties.  (Click here for my review.)  I enjoyed both projects, though I’d give this one the slight edge.  Because it’s only focused on one year, 1982, this film is more focused and is able to spend more time on the films it covers.  One weakness I found in In Search of Tomorrow was that its sections on the more famous films felt too short and superficial to me — an understandable flaw, with so many films to cover.  I didn’t feel that way here with 1982: Greatest Geek Year Ever.  It also helps that Mark Altman and Roger Lay Jr.’s knowledge of Star Trek and connections to the people behind that franchise clearly helped elevate the section on Star Trek II.)

While some of the biggest names involved in these 1982 films didn’t participate in this labor of love film (don’t expect Steven Spielberg to appear to discuss E.T. or Poltergeist), there are a lot of big names who do appear: William Shatner (discussing both Star Trek II and also Airplane 2!!!), Ron Howard (talking about Night Shift), Nick Meyer, Bryan Fuller, John Carpenter, Roger Corman, Adrienne Barbeau, Henry Winkler, Dee Wallace, Leonard Maltin, and more.  I was also happy to hear from Drew McWeeny (whose writing about film I’ve been following since finding him on aintitcoolnews years ago) and Robert Meyer Burnett (who worked with Roger Lay, Jr. on those incredible TNG documentaries and whose youtube show Robservations is always a ton of fun).

There are times when this film has a somewhat amateurish feel to it.  (I thought the opening minutes were a little rough, and I wasn’t a fan of the opening titles which felt too cheesy to me.)  But as the film settled in, I was quickly engaged with, and carried along by, the joy of everyone involved with the project.  It’s a delight hearing this array of talented creators turn into giddy fanboys/girls as they talk about these movies that they love so much!

I already knew many of the stories connected to these films, but nevertheless there was a lot of new information here, and I particularly enjoyed the sections about the lesser-known movies that I didn’t know as well.  And there are some deep-cut stories and clips that are a lot of fun — such as the outtakes of a surly (and drunk?) Orson Welles recording his voice-over for the trailer for Conan the Barbarian.  Amazing stuff.

If you’re a geek, this documentary is for you!

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