I always thought Blade Runner was overrated, but perhaps I need to give it another viewing.
ping
I can’t define it, but I know it when I see it.
No, wait, that’s porn.
Science Fiction
Fiction written with some modification to known science
Generally, the fewer the better.
Examples,
Faster than light travel, extra planetary Intellegence.
Write story about consequences of the modification
Using standard Fiction principles.
There, generally, the more modifications to known science
The more SciFi becomes fantasy.
Don’t try to define it, just enjoy it.
As a film seen simply as entertainment, Blade Runner is overrated. However, once you understand the secret of the movie, the depth of the story and how the story is handled because really fascinating.
The Sixth Sense, for example, reveals its secret at the end and so people will go back and see it again. Blade Runner never reveals its own secret. You either recognize it or have to be told the secret.
Dune pushes the limits into Fantasy
Sand Worms = Dragons
Spice = Magic elixirs
Instantaneous Travel = Teleporting
But still darned good writing
The movie was called Under the Skin and starred Scarlett Johansson as an alien femme fatale who lures young men to a bizarre demise, until she begins to feel something like compassion for her victims.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1441395/
Kubrick fans might especially enjoy this movie.
As for the list being offered here, my only gripe would be that the original Planet of the Apes, which Charlton Heston, should be in the top 10.
The more accurate term used in the profession is “speculative fiction” - stories about things that could happen as logical extrapolations of things we know today. It covers everything from alternate history to space opera.
I finally watched Blade Runner after hearing it praised for decades. It really did nothing for me. I didn’t understand what was going on and found it quite leaden. But, maybe I too should give it another try.
bfl
ping
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See the final director’s cut on blu-ray.... far superior to prior versions even though the changes are small and subtle.
Bladerunner is a visual masterpiece, considering it’s one of the last of the “analog” sci-fi films, in that it had no CGI, all props and camera effects.
It has a few awkward spots, but all in all is amazing.
Who can take seriously a list of the “best” 100 sci-fi films that includes dreck like Pacific Rim, Avatar, The Truman Show, The Prestige?
Neil deGrasse Tyson?! I’m not surprised he likes the boring “Contact”.
I tried to watch that “Cosmos” show but he is soooooooooooooooo boring.
SciFi is many different sub genres. As far as the printed word, there were the pulp guys who started and continued writing in such organs as Fantasy And Science Fiction, Amazing Stories, and the like. Azimov, Heinlein and Bradbury got there start there. Guys like Kurt Vonnigut did not. His type of writing was not recognized by the pulp guys and was called by some Ghetto SciFi. Of course that was back in the 70s when I was still reading the pulps. I don’t know nor necessarily care what the dominant paradigm is in SciFi.