In the ’70s and ’80s, while other girls were crushing on musicians like Shaun Cassidy and NKOTB, or “brat pack” stars like Rob Lowe and Emilio Estevez, my tastes were always a little more nerdy.
The 1978 TV movie Dr. Strange featured Peter Hooten as comic book sorcerer supreme Stephen Strange. I not only crushed on the main character, I loved everything about the movie and got into reading the comics soon after.
Then there’s Malcolm McDowell as author and time-traveler HG Wells in the 1979 movie Time After Time. Something about his intelligent but socially-awkward “man out of time” character falling for the sweet “modern woman” played by Mary Steenbergen just really appealed to me, even at such a young age. Science fiction with romance is still my favorite genre.
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century was a science fiction TV show that lasted two seasons, from 1979 to 1981. I could never decide who I liked more, the titular swashbuckling, hairy-chested Buck, or his silent feathery friend with a tragic backstory, Hawk. I wrote fan letters to both and received autographed pictures in return, which I put on my bedroom wall.
I first saw Rutger Hauer in the 1982 movie Blade Runner and became a lifelong fan. Roy Batty’s “Tears in rain” monologue deeply moved me then, and still does now.
When I got really into the 1985 movie Ladyhawke, my parents mistakenly thought I had a crush on Matthew Broderick, but no. I watched every Rutger Hauer movie I could get my hands on in our small-town video rental store, including Flesh+Blood, The Hitcher and The Blood of Heroes.
~ J.L. Hilton
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