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Starborn SocietySci-fi isn't just for nerds(Battlestar Galactica Ping)
NRO ^ | January 20, 2006 | Peter Suderman

Posted on 01/20/2006 8:29:57 AM PST by isaiah55version11_0

Science fiction has long been stereotyped as a hardware-obsessed, techno-jargon laden refuge for computer nerds and outcasts. Especially on television, which lacks the geek chic afforded by big-screen Hollywood budgets, the genre's reputation for hokey dialog and cardboard-and-wire effects have saturated it with a distinct odor of disrespectability. It is somewhat ironic, then, to see the Sci-Fi Channel, a network which often seems devoted to the pulpy and lowbrow, serve up Battlestar Galactica, a show about spaceships and killer robots that is also arguably the most potent, dramatically vibrant series on television. An unflinching examination of how the military, government, family, and religion interact in the fragile ecosystem of society, it as morally and intellectually serious as it is thrilling.

(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...


TOPICS: TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: scifi
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To: DTogo
My idea of good sci-fi is for entertainment, and Starship Troopers goes much better with popcorn.

Come on, get out of the 1940s. :)

Sci-fi has been doing deep literary themes for at leat 50 years.

241 posted on 01/20/2006 1:44:04 PM PST by antiRepublicrat
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To: DTogo

"Starship Troopers is one of my all-time favorite sci-fi flicks. "


Mine too, but dear God help us, have you seen the insidious "Starship Troopers II"?


In "ST", I found it unbelievable that, although they could master interstellar travel, the Colonial 'flyboys' couldn't dodge the Bugs' plasma poop missiles fired into space. Kinda pathetic.


242 posted on 01/20/2006 1:44:20 PM PST by Blzbba (Sub sole nihil novi est)
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To: warpcorebreach

"People are just out of ideas these days."


Except for movies about gay cowboys, you're probably right.


243 posted on 01/20/2006 1:45:17 PM PST by Blzbba (Sub sole nihil novi est)
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To: Blzbba; warpcorebreach
Except for movies about gay cowboys

And pudding. Don't forget the pudding!

244 posted on 01/20/2006 1:46:00 PM PST by antiRepublicrat
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To: doc30; warpcorebreach
The big problem with a lot of sci fi is the alien with the different bumpy pattern on its head. They were basically human with different facial features. ...Another pitfall that I don't like is the alien = stereotype. Star Trek was, in my mind, notorious for that.

Wasn't there an episode of Star Trek TNG that explained this, we all had a common ancestor that seeded the universe with it's DNA?
I bet warpcorebreach knows..
245 posted on 01/20/2006 1:47:03 PM PST by mnehring (Perry 06- It's better than a hippie in a cowboy hat or a commie with blue hair.)
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To: Blzbba

Ha ha- yeah, and in Superman, he had to fly at light speed for years to get to earth, but the Kryptonite fell to earth when he was like 26. That was some explosion- ha


246 posted on 01/20/2006 1:52:18 PM PST by warpcorebreach
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To: mnehrling

Yes, as a matter of fact I do.... and that was a lame excuse that they came up with to disguise their lack of creativity. The last good Sci Fi creature was the Predator- I loved when he took off his mask, and had Arnold by the neck-- and I'm sticking to that!


247 posted on 01/20/2006 1:54:32 PM PST by warpcorebreach
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To: warpcorebreach

Your Gaydar needs a re-calibration.

You are therefore tasked to pay money to watch Brokebutt Mountain and spend all your free time watching the BRAVO channel and MTV.


248 posted on 01/20/2006 1:54:59 PM PST by hattend (I wanna go through the Stargate!)
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To: catbertz; warpcorebreach

I like the new BSG quite a bit, but you are right. The old Baltar was just completely creepy. Very acting job.

"By your Command ..."


249 posted on 01/20/2006 1:56:28 PM PST by Betis70 (Brass Bonanza Forever)
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To: Betis70

Betis reminds me of Angela Bettis, the girl from "May"-- one of my all-time fave movies.

WOOOOOoooOoooooO


250 posted on 01/20/2006 1:59:07 PM PST by warpcorebreach
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To: warpcorebreach
The writers need to keep the moral reality with the fiction. It's science fiction, not moral fiction. A lot of the shows seem like they're a techno West Wing. Many of the plot lines are not very believable, particularly in the circumstances they're presented. Impractical people aren't going to be running an interstellar gate or refugee starship. At least with BSG there's Adama to propose the rational stuff, but then the actions of the rest are incredibly childish, impractical and short-sighted and aren't realistic morally, politically or materially.

The episodes showcase a lot of moral and material waste. There's really nothing to be gained from them other than the impression you can be light years away from earth, marooned, helpless and wanting and you can still get by being a sappy, self-centered, ignoramous. This is probably what the writers figure their audience is.

Consider BSG: they're adrift in space, the last of humanity (supposedly), vulnerable and with limited supplies. They should be thinking of 2 things strategically: hiding and acquiring resources. And the whole 'inter-stellar socialism' theme that runs rampant through the plots is disgusting.

I watch the shows via DVD or file share and usually end viewing sessions with more disbelief than anything. The technological fantasy is interesting but the stories and character actions are a joke. It's Science Socialism.

251 posted on 01/20/2006 2:00:23 PM PST by Justa (Politically Correct is morally wrong.)
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To: antiRepublicrat
Sci-fi has been doing deep literary themes for at least 50 years.

I'm just not the kind of person who goes into the sci-fi section of a bookstore looking for "deep literary themes." :)

252 posted on 01/20/2006 2:01:52 PM PST by DTogo (I haven't left the GOP, the GOP left me.)
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To: hattend

I love the way they took the receipts from Thursday, and said Brokeback was the #1 movie in America. It made like a million that day. A Thursday... yawn.

If there's anything wrong with my gaydar these days, it's just that it's overused. Keep getting a lock!!!! Too many queeny shows/movies!!! Capote, Transamerica, Brokeback, blah blah. My gaydar is overheating!! RUN!!!!


253 posted on 01/20/2006 2:04:02 PM PST by warpcorebreach
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To: Blzbba

I could only stomach bits and pieces of ST2. And yes, as an Army man myself, the tactical aspects of ST1 were ridiculous, but I was too busy being thoroughly entertained with other aspects of the flick.


254 posted on 01/20/2006 2:04:37 PM PST by DTogo (I haven't left the GOP, the GOP left me.)
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To: Justa
They should be thinking of 2 things strategically: hiding and acquiring resources.

They've been running (how do you hide in space?), and early episodes were about supplies. Now they're going for the important end strategic objective: a long-term place for humanity to settle. Humanity can't live on in a bunch of old spaceships forever.

So far that's been the search of Earth, but it was recently suggested to go back to Caprica and retake it.

255 posted on 01/20/2006 2:08:55 PM PST by antiRepublicrat
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To: warpcorebreach

That sounds like a warp core breach :)

She can't take it captain! She's just barely holding together! I don't know how long I can keep her running!

You need a new chief engineer to manage your gaydar.


256 posted on 01/20/2006 2:09:23 PM PST by JosephW (The world must stop Mad Mo and his orcs)
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To: DTogo

I like space opera, myself. Whiz, bang, BOOOM! Used to like Honor Harrington until Weber got too far in Honor's personal life...


257 posted on 01/20/2006 2:09:50 PM PST by Little Ray (I'm a reactionary, hirsute, gun-owning, knuckle dragging, Christian Neanderthal and proud of it!)
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To: warpcorebreach
I love the way they took the receipts from Thursday, and said Brokeback was the #1 movie in America.

Can't we all just agree to call it Bareback Mounters?

258 posted on 01/20/2006 2:10:01 PM PST by antiRepublicrat
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To: doc30
Boomer, Boomer, Boomer.....my wife is Asian and is much, much hotter :)

Smart boy!

Now show this post/thread to your wife for 10 "Get out of minor screw-ups free" cards, 1 Major "I "F'n Kerry'd Up, but it wasn't all my fault" free card, and 2 evening alone activities of your choice...just don't make it watching BSG...lol!

259 posted on 01/20/2006 2:10:24 PM PST by Itzlzha ("The avalanche has already started...it is too late for the pebbles to vote")
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To: JosephW

When I saw the cylons looking human so they could infiltrate us, I thought of Johnnie Walker Lindt (alias ratboy). How many 5th columnists exist within our nation while we are at war?


260 posted on 01/20/2006 2:10:59 PM PST by JosephW (The world must stop Mad Mo and his orcs)
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