Posted on 02/19/2008 11:03:14 AM PST by rjp2005
Where have all the sci-fi films gone?
Those simple, thought-provoking speculative tales about how people respond to something new, what kind of moral choices they make, keeping traditions in the face of technological change. Essentially, the kind of films that were thought provoking and story/character driven - Day the Earth Stood Still, Planet of Apes, 12 Monkeys, Minority Report (more action though but good), etc.
The "Superhero and Fantasy Genre Craze" since Spiderman and LOTR has really eaten up a lot of support for original sci-fi works to film...
For 2008, we have two horror/slasher types "I Am Legend" (Omega Man remake) and "Death Race" (revisiting the 70's version), another superhero film in "Jumper", "Iron Man", which could be a treat, and maybe the only true sci-fi attempt, "Babylon A.D.". There was also "Sunshine", a late 90's disaster film leftover, possibly funded by Global Warming-mongers ;)
One of my favorite books of all time (non-sci-fi) was The World According to Garp. It was a horrible senseless waste of money and time as a movie.
KLAATU BARADA ummm NECKTIE? NECTAR??
Hawksbill Station by Robert Silverberg would make a pretty good movie.
Personal opinion (obviously), but having the Wild West imagery so out in the open was a major turnoff.
Will also state that personally more into sci-fi with 'ancient hi-tech.' High technology and high culture. The sci-fis based in the future are--opinion again--lame (i.e. Star Trek, Firefly).
Retro? Should we kill him?
NBC sort of seemed about to show “Tin Man” on NBC because they showed a promo, but they ended up just showing the miniseries on the Sci-Fi channel, so people without cable couldn’t see. They showed the first two episodes of Battlestar Galactica on NBC before moving the series to the Sci-Fi channel. They could have done something similar with “Tin Man.”
So, whadaya think about Harry Turtledove?
The Pendragon productions version of War of the Worlds was the most true to the book, but the effects are soooooo poor, and the budge so low, and the cast so sparse, that the movie sucks on ice. A remarkable accomplishment!
“KLAATU BARADA ummm NECKTIE? NECTAR??”
Well, maybe not every single syllable, no. But basically I said them.
>>Firefly stank. Cowboys in space with a solar system with a huge number of terraformed worlds.<<
I get your drift, but I live by the phrase, “I’m no art critic, but I know what I like”.
The show entertained the heck out of me. One of the funnyest lines: Wash: “Psychic, though? That sounds like something out of science fiction.”
Zoe: “We live in a space ship, dear.”
The show had my wife and me laughing out loud on a regular basis. We loved it. ‘Course, I stopped taking science fiction seriously decades ago, which may be what allows me to suspend disbelief with this show. The actors just seem to be having too much fun.
As for 2001: A Space Odyssey, would guess that a black stone magically appearing counts as fantasy, along with the singularity-thing going on during the end (not to mention that that stupid psychedelic light show that went on and on and on and on got old after the first ten seconds).
Robinson Crusoe on Mars?...
You’re certainly right about that sir. That’s my only problem with 2001 though, is the aliens...
Larry Niven also mentioned this slight problem in his book Scatterbrain.
(it was a subtle nudge to Empireoftheatom48, who spelled Asimov with a Z)...
Probably. I have to "see it to spell it" and that's a name I haven't actually seen in a long while.
I just put a hex on him. ;-)
You got that right! I just got tired of seeing bugs splattering all over the place, so I really don't care for the film.
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