jeff goldblum

With Benicio Del Toro ready to debut as Lawrence Talbot in Joe Johnston's The Wolfman tomorrow, it's time to pay tribute to transformations. When Lon Chaney Jr. played The Wolf Man in 1941, the physical transformation was effected through make-up and dissolves. But the idea wasn't just that Lawrence Talbot was changed physically, but that his interior life changed as well. All the make-up and special effects in the world can't hide a character who doesn't grow (or devolve) from the experience.

Science fiction opens up the possibilities considerably, expanding the idea of cross-species commingling. Here are my top ten sci-fi transformations, listed (almost) in alphabetical order.

1. Sam Worthington in Avatar
Jake Sully is a broken man in more ways than one, rendered paraplegic during his military service and broken of spirit as a result. He doesn't take much convincing to accept a mission that may earn him an operation to regain the use of his limbs. Little does he know that it's his increasingly intimate dealings with the Na'vi that will transform him body and soul. He may appear to be nine feet tall and blue, he may wag a new tail, but deep inside, it is his very essence that is changing.

2. William Hurt in Altered States
Eddie Jessup is a brilliant scientist, far more interested in expanding his mind and consciousness than worrying about his physical being. Yet the hours he spends floating in a sensory-deprivation tank -- not to mention the drugs -- begin to have an effect upon his body as well, drilling down far deeper than even the brilliant Jessup could ever have anticipated. The result is one of the more bizarre apparitions to appear on screen.

Han Solo as a experimental research scientist? In Extraordinary Measures, which opens wide tomorrow, Harrison Ford plays Dr. Robert Stonehill, a medical researcher seeking a cure for a life-threatening muscular disease. Though the film is inspired by the true story of John Crowley (played by Brendan Fraser) and his family, Stonehill is a composite of several doctors. As portrayed by Ford, the good doctor is strong-willed, hard-working, and ultimately heroic. Han Solo's cheeky bravado occasionally shines through in Ford's defiant countenance, though the sullen, oft-irritated facade of Rick Deckard (Blade Runner) is more often on view in Dr. Stonehill's bearing.

Not all experiments have happy endings, of course, and not all research scientists are heroic, especially in science fiction movies. When researchers on the cutting edge of science make mistakes, the results can be catastrophic. Here are the top ten sci-fi experiments gone wrong -- the movie edition.

1. The Fly (1986)
Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) has made incredible strides toward a working teleportation system, which could be the invention of the century. But it's not until after he meets Veronica Quaife (Geena Davis) that he dares to experiment with a living creature: first a baboon, then himself. If only he had noticed the tiny winged insect in one of the experimental pods ... David Cronenberg's version of the Vincent Price-starring shocker is a character-driven thriller that feels like it's teleported into your nervous system. "Be afraid. Be very afraid."

Though no one asked for a sequel to Independence Day (because didn't Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum use a computer virus to rid us of those damn aliens the last time?), that's not stopping special effects superhero Roland Emmerich from wanting to churn one out for the hell of it. Only problem is ... it's going to take a lot more than an arm and a leg to get Will Smith back in an alien fighting mood.

While speaking to Emmerich about 2012, Latino Review learned that there's a script and a story for Independence Day 2, but right now 20th Century Fox is delaying it because they can't come to terms with Emmerich, writer-producer Dean Devlin and Will Smith -- all of whom want to make sure they're paid, like, a trillion dollars for this thing. According to Emmerich, Fox wanted them to make the sequel without Will Smith, but the writer-director insists he star in it. "I said Will is essential for us, for this movie and actually for the audience too. And, so, it's in limbo and lately the studios are fighting. Like gross players, and Will is a gross player and is probably the only gross player right now who's worth his gross. So we'll see what happens. I would love to do it," Emmerich noted.

Unfortunately for those who feel like a good laugh today, Emmerich did not divulge any story details except to say that it's "a very really good great story, a very cool one." I'm not even going to begin to ask you to understand that quote because it makes as much sense as the ending for Independence Day did. Seriously? A f**king computer virus? How will they destroy the aliens this time around -- by un-friending them on Facebook?

Why is Hollywood so obsessed with remakes? Now you've got David Cronenberg looking to remake his own remake of The Fly. I get that the special effects technology has advanced and that you can make it look so much cooler, but the 1986 Jeff Goldblum film has become a modern classic. It doesn't need to be remade.

Every time we get reports of another remake, that's one less original film being made. And original doesn't even mean Cronenberg needs to make up a whole new story. Think of all the awesome science fiction, horror and fantasy stories that have been written that nobody's made a movie out of them. Why do you think we had to wait so long for a complete live-action The Lord of the Rings?

Hear me out. I know times are tough, but someone once said the greatest gift is the gift of giving, right? Well, I think what they meant to say was the greatest gift is the gift of giving me, a complete stranger, the bones of a dinosaur. So why not start lifting up those couch cushions and scrounge together enough scratch to buy me the world's 3rd most complete skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex? It's only a scant $6 million, so I'll understand if it takes a few minutes to gather up the coins. Oh, and considering Samson, as he is called, is over 40 feet long and weighs roughly 7.5 tons and I don't live next door to the auction house in Vegas selling him on October 3rd., it'd be really cool of you to spot the shipping costs as well.

What am I going to do with a the world's third most complete T. Rex, you ask? Well, I've already set into motion a complex plan of turning my backyard into a real Jurassic Park. Without your generous donation of a T. Rex, kidnapping Jeff Goldblum will just seem weird.