Do Androids Drink Oil?

This wonderful production still of Brigitte Helm and crew from the great film Metropolis reminded me that childhood games of Space War were always enhanced by pretending that my mother's hair dryer was a laser gun. The advantage of a hair dryer laser gun, of course, was that it made such a tremendous noise. But, on the other hand, you would have to unplug it if you wanted to boldly go where no small boys had ever gone before.

Can you imagine how much more peaceful the world would be if weapons had to be unplugged before soldiers marched off on their bloody campaigns of death and terror, and then plugged in again once they had reached the field of combat? As far as I know there would not have been enough electricity on the Somme to power all that heavy artillery. Well, there certainly wouldn't have been very many outlets or extension cords, that's for sure.
Brigitte Helm moved to Switzerland when Hitler took control of the German studios. She never made another film, which is a shame, because I believe she would have stolen the show as Dale Arden in Flash Gordon.

Compared with today's violently overstuffed futuristic films, doesn't science fiction seem so much more appealing when ithe genre was dressed in Art Deco costumes, sets and props? Bring back the Hair Dryer! Bring back imagination!