Anyways...: Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon

Showing posts with label Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. Show all posts

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Night of a Thousand Geeks

Sorry it took so long... I started this back in August!

Okay, here's the list... Over 120 actors (and a few directors acting), all linked Kevin-Bacon-style!

The names of actors and movies link to IMDB's credits and cast respectively. No pictures, as this would just clutter everything. Click the link, or do a Google or Wikipedia search.

Bold names denote Oscar winners or nominees. Actors for main or supporting, movies for best picture or nominees.

[The list is not chronological... I started with Bill Pullman and worked outwards. So if it seems that I'm avoiding certain obvious links, it's because they were used elsewhere. Don't worry... your favorites will appear. If not, mention my omission in the comments, and I'll try to work them in later.]

Dune [This is where I stopped. Feel free to continue from here.]

E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial

Batman Returns [The first Batman movie on the list.]

Tommy Kirk [A member of the Disney bRat Pack, plays a Martian in...]

Pajama Party

Buster Keaton

How To Stuff A Wild Bikini [The first multiple link.]

Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine

Vincent Price

Edward Scissorhands

Anthony Michael Hall

The Dark Knight [Batman #2]

Michael Caine [a proto-Kevin Bacon]

Kurt Russell [Another Rat Packer]

The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes [Frank Welker, the voice of Scooby Doo and many others, makes a rare appearance in front of the camera]

Cesar Romero

Batman [Batman #3]

Burgess Meredith

Twilight Zone: The Movie

Bill Murray

Ghost Busters

Ernie Hudson

Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone

Michael Ironside

Total Recall

Sharon Stone

Catwoman [Batman #3.5]

Halle Barry

X2 [A Nexus.]

Bryan Singer [No. Really.]

Star Trek: Nemesis

Ron Perlman

Prince Valiant [Yes, they made a recent movie on Prince Valiant. Who knew? And it is not the first. (Holy smokes!)]

Joanna Lumley [Check out THIS.]

The Satanic Rites of Dracula

The Island of Dr. Moreau

Charlton Heston (Only nominated once, but won for Ben-Hur)

Planet of the Apes

Roddy McDowall

[Oh, crap... got Roddy McDowall confused with Malcolm McDowell!]

[Man... it took some work, but I got it done!]

Bedknobs and Broomsticks

Star Trek: First Contact

Patrick Stewart

Excalibur

Helen Mirren [Also a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire]

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Spaceballs [This is where it all started. Towards the end of the movie. Heh.]

Bill Pullman

Independence Day

Jeff Goldblum [The first multiple link between actors.]

Geena Davis

Beetle Juice

Michael Keaton

Batman [Batman movie #4]

Jack Nicholson

Mars Attacks

Natalie Portman

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace

Liam Neeson

Batman Begins [Batman movie #5]

Elf [Ray Harryhausen!]

Mary Steenburgen

Back to the Future Part III

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

Labyrinth [Jim Henson does not perform in this movie, but Frank Oz does.]

David Bowie

The Man Who Fell To Earth

Rip Torn

Men In Black

Tommy Lee Jones

Batman Forever [Batman movie #6]

Rene Auberjonois

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

Christian Slater

Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles

Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium

Batman & Robin [Batman movie #7] [All of the Batman movies have been linked. If you want to link the serial from 1943, knock yerself out. I ain't stoppin' ya.]

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Jerry Lewis [My favorite link on this entire list. Wish I could have linked Valerie Harper.]

Way Way Out

James Brolin [also in Fantastic Voyage]

Westworld [Michael Crichton had only one appearance, in Andromeda Strain.]

Majel Barrett [She rivals Leonard Nimoy and Mark Lenard for the most variations of Star Trek.]

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

William Shatner

Airplane II: The Sequel

Lloyd Bridges

[Crap... had a direct link to Anjelica Huston, but it doesn't exist. Took some work... but here's the patch.]

Honey I Blew Up The Kid

Rick Moranis

Little Shop of Horrors

Steve Martin

The Muppet Movie

Richard Pryor [You could take a shortcut and use Carol Kane to link to Ms. Huston. Here's the scenic route:]

The Wiz

Michael Jackson [Yup, can link to Ms. Huston via Captain EO... patience.]

Masters of the Universe

Courtney Cox

Zoom

Tim Allen

[Galaxy Quest.... CRAP! Already used with Sigourney Weaver. Just a sec...]

The Santa Clause

Peter Boyle

The Adventures of Pluto Nash [Bad movie, great cast]

The Reluctant Astronaut

Leslie Nielsen

Forbidden Planet [Style point for using a serious role of Mr. Nielsen.]

Robbie the Robot [He plays himself in Forbidden Planet, but since this is a fictional movie, not a documentary, and a major role, it counts.]

Gremlins

Chuck Jones [Yes! My second favorite link on this list.]

Innerspace

Henry Gibson

Gremlins 2: The New Batch

Christopher Lee

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Johnny Depp [Betcha you thought I forgot him, didn'tcha?]

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

John Rhys-Davies

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

[One of the few fantasy films to be nominated for, let alone win, an Academy Award for Best Picture.]
Cate Blanchett

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Harrison Ford

And thus ends the initial list. Why end it at Harrison Ford? Because once I got going, and found it approaching 122 names, I decided to link all of the Batman movies. Luckily, I was able to splice in the last Batman movie (actually the first) via Kurt Russell, although I had to sacrifice a double (Kurt Russell + John Carpenter = The Thing + Escape From New York) as well as Jamie Lee Curtis (EFNY/Buckaroo Banzai) and John Lithgow (Banzai/Twilight Zone). Actually, it would be slick to link Buckaroo Banzai and its sequel, Big Trouble in Little China via Kurt Russell and Jamie Lee Curtis.

Any corrections, comments, suggestions, criticisms... let me know.

What Do They Have in Common?

Check out the next post and find out!

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Six Degrees of Geeks

Okay... last part.

Susan Sarandon can link to Speed Racer, or Witches of Eastwick to Jack Nicholson to Mars Attacks (nexus) or to Batman...

Puzzles: what is the shortest link containing all seven Batman movies? (Adam West to the present) No direct linkage allowed.

All Star Trek movies? Star Wars? All Marvel movies? Lord of the Rings?

Enjoy.

Six Degrees of Geeks, continued

Actors must be well known, if not for the role in a movie, then for another role in another movie or television show. (Kevin Bacon's appearance in Animal House is brief, but it does count.)

Any challenges will be settled by IMDB.com, or an agreed upon paper source if the internet is not availble, such as Video Hound. If those do not exist, majority rule will suffice. The victor gains a point (either for using an obscure role, or for challenging the error). One point is subtracted from the loser.

In the course of each game, a player may use a wild card. The player can link via a non-actor such as Director (Terry Gilliam), Composer (John Williams) or writer (Harlan Ellison). The next player can nullify that link by using an actor, thus gaining a point.

Players can link back to a player already used, but cannot use the movies already linked to the actor. (If V for Vendetta and Star Wars I were already used to link to Natalie Portman, they cannot be used if one links back to her later.) Also, if an actor costars with an actor in two or more movies in a series, a player cannot use any other movies in that series as a link. (Brent Spiner and Patrick Stewart can be linked via any of their Star Trek movies, but only once.)

Now, back to my link... Robinson on one end, Portman or Smith on the other... Smith links to Men In Black to Rip Torn to The Man Who Fell to Earth to David Bowie to Labyrinth to Jennifer Connelly to Hulk to Eric Bana to Star Trek (nexus) to Rachel Nichols to GI Joe (nexus) to Ray Park (nexus) to Star Wars I (nexus) to Samuel Jackson to Unbreakable to Fifth Element to Bruce Willis to Gary Oldman to Batman Begins to Liam Neeson (nexus) (Star Wars I = shortcut) to Natalie Portman (SW I) to Dustin Hoffman to Hook (nexus) to Robin Williams (nexus) to Jumanji to Kirsten Dunst (nexus) to Interview With a Vampire (nexus) to Tom Cruise to Legend to Tom Curry to Annie (dead ends with Peters, Finney, Burnett?) or Rocky Horror to Susan Sarandon to...?

continued...

Six Degrees of Geeks

[Q| Anyways, a few weeks ago, I finally saw "Spaceballs" at a midight screening at the Landmark Sunshine movie theater. Towards the end of the movie, John Hurt, playing himself, suffers another Alien heartburn attack.

As I watched the credits, my mind got to thinking... Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, using only sci-fi, fantasy, and comics movies! (Horror only counts if it falls into the above three categories... vampires, yes; slashers, no; Freddy Kruger, yes, because of dreams.)

Bill Pullman was also in Independence Day with Jeff Goldblum, who was in The Fly with Geena Davis, who... (darn, couldn't remember a link!)

But John Hurt was in Alien with Sigourney Weaver who was in Galaxy Quest with Alan Rickman who was in Excalibur with Patrick Stewart who was in...Wow... PS has been in a lot of geek movies! Star Trek, Excalibur, Dune, Life Force, X-Men... I selected ST:Generations, for some big star power... Roddy McDowell, who was in Planet of the Apes with Charlton Heston, who was in Soylent Green with Edgar G. Robinson.

This was all in my head as I walked to the subway. Then I pulled out my notebook and started working on the nexi (nexuses?). Star Trek 7 has a link to Independence Day via Brent Spiner. X-Men links via Cyclops to Superman Returns which links to Kevin Spacey which leads to Moon and the lead (which I can't remember). Alan Rickman links to Excalibur, Galaxy Quest, Harry Potter (and John Cleese!). Then there are other actors, like Natalie Portman and Will Smith who link to all sorts of stuff. Portman links to Smith via Jason Bateman. Using that same movie, P links to Dustin Hoffman, Hook, Robin Williams (nexus!) which links back to P (Jumanji) to Mars Attacks (nexus) to Jack Nicholson (!) to Batman to Michael Keaton to Beatlejuice to Geena Davis to The Fly...)

Now, if you want to make a game of it... Each linked Oscar nominee or winner gets a point. If a person cannot continue a link, she or he loses a point. A person continuing that link earns a point.

To Be Continued...