Science Fiction has become a poisoned well . .

7-27-06 | Marc Costanzo

[marc costanzo]

The essay below was originally written in the early Spring of 2001:

With the passing away of LEXX ends an intriguing albeit tawdry experiment in Sci-fantasy. One that breaks with conventions, or should I say cliches of TV sci-fi of the 90's . The politically correct pabulum, the multicultural indoctrination, the BladeRunner motifs, and not the least; the steroid mutated superbabes that can punch the lights out of men, but never get punched back in return !?

How about creating a new sci-fi anthology with none of the puerile baggage of Rod Serling, Rockne Obannon, Michael J. Stracinsky, etc .. It is time to end their reign of un-American cynicism and fatalism !

[zeugma]

So don't be so anxious to gloat over the Moslems.

Yeah. I posted later about that. Christians are few and far between as well. 

[Kieri]

He "gets it," though. The inclusion of religion and belief gave B5's characters a richness Star Trek never had. G'Kar and Londo Molari are classic examples.

We borrowed the collection from a fellow B5 fan that works with my husband. Our son is seeing these for the first time and just loves them.

"Two little fishes, swimming in the sea,
"Two little fishes, just Londo and me."

- G'Kar's song from the "elevator" scene (a HUGE personal fav!)

[6ppc]

Gordon Dickson's Dorsai stories.

Those were great!

[Kieri]

Do you have a SF ping list? If so, please add me.

[6ppc]

Second Secretary Jaime Retief- Ambassador to the Stars

Discovered that series when I was a kid...loved it!

[OregonRancher]

Read "Slan", a classic

[ByDesign]

As others have pointed out... There are no muslims in the future...

"Actually, I know of one. In Niven and Pournelle's "The Mote In God's Eye" there is a Muslim character. However, even in the future he is duplicitous and conniving."

Add in Dr. "Stinky" Mahmoud in Heinlein's "Stranger In A Strange Land".

[zeugma]

I have to agree with Rebel about B5. The theme was definitely anti-totalitarianism rather than anti-americanism.

[zeugma]

The first few Honor Harrington books are available for free download from the Baen Free Library. Warning: Baen's Library is addictive.

[absolootezer0]

Phillip Dick. best sci-fi author ever.
wrote lots of alternate universe type of stuff, not the space cowboy type of stuff.
if you liked the movies: total recall, bladerunner, paycheck, imposter, and minority report (a scanner darkly that's soon to come out is his too) then you'll probably like his stuff.

[LonePalm]

Ping for later.

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

[Crolis]

Need a brutal and compassionless future in the scifi genre?
EVE

I had the pleasure of beta testing EVE and then playing it for a while. You're definitely right about the "brutal and compassionless" part of the game. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, it is a massively-multiplayer-online game. However, it's more of a capitalism/social-darwinism simulator. The goals are profit, expanding your territory, and destroying your enemies, either financially or militarily.

The designers don't really interfere with the game play though, and there have been stories of scams and even corporate espionage that will amaze you. But it's part of the universe and part of life in EVE.

[Dead Corpse]

L. Neil Smith. His North American Confederacy, Henry Martin, and Roswell, TX universes are a wealth of sci-fi material. In the NAC series, the alternate time lines alone would provide more than enough material to cover a 10 year run.

I can't believe no one has brought up Iain M. Banks yet. His Culture books provide nearly as limitless a selection of plot lines as El Neil's stuff does. Considering the Culture spans tens of thousands of years as a civilization, the possiblities are vast.

Ursula K. Le Guin would be another one. While Earthsea miniseries really didn't live up to it's potential, this was mostly because Ursula wasn't consulted on anything. The Left Hand of Darkness deserves at least it's own miniseries.

Dan Simmons' and his Hyperion Universe.

David Weber's Empire.

Anne McCaffery's Dragons of Pern.

Michael Moorecock's Eternal Champion.

Terry Brooks and his Shannara saga.

Asimov. Heinlein. Herbert. Clarke....

No... coming up with new ideas for mini-series, movies, or even regular seasonal series, isn't the problem. The problem is mediocrity. Polishing a turd until someone buys it.

How else do you explain Sci-fi movies like Sabertooth and Minotaur? How else do you explain a Sci-Fi channel with friggin' WRESTLING.

[zeugma]

Yes it is, the new series, and to some extent the old, but the older series had its' charms !

Dr. Who was always fairly campy, which is one of the things I like about it. The new series has a lot bigger budget to play with, which shows, but it seems to have lost some of what I always enjoyed about it. I'm most of the way through season 2, and they've hardly left the earth-centric stories at all. In that, it's fairly disappointing.
 

[IronJack]

Stargate is anything but dystopian.

It has its moments, I suppose. But as science fiction goes, Stargate is a lightweight.

Besides, I was talking more about the written genre. Although the visual media seem to be pretty obsessed with a bleak future too.

[Oztrich Boy]

I've thought about the possibility myself, and the big question in my mind is who would you get to play Harrington? That's a hard part to fill. Harrington is a tall, dark haired woman hailing from mountainous country.

The face that gazed back should have looked different, reflecting the monumental change in her status, and it didn't. It was still all sharply defined planes and angles dominated by a straight, patrician nose (which, in her opinion, was the only remotely patrician thing about her) and devoid of the least trace of cosmetics. Honor had been told (once) that her face had "a severe elegance." On Basilisk Station

No contest

Claudia Black - She's only 5'9" but that can be worked around. (And she's probably the only actress with the Harrington nose)

[OneWingedShark]

But.. but... I liked the moral absolutism... and the characters were pretty cool too.

[OneWingedShark]

Thanks for reminding me that I need to read Reteif...

[OneWingedShark]

"This is also my perception and I think scifi lends itself better to print than film. I'm even trying to write my own scifi novel. This is not going as well as I'd like but is going."

I hear you there. I'm working on a novel myself (rather of a fantasy vein) and it's not easy, particularly when I've been gifted with humor but really would love to do a serious-toned Science Fiction book sometime. So, keep at it... sometimes it just takes a bit of practice and patience.

[JamesP81]

Claudia Black - She's only 5'9" but that can be worked around. (And she's probably the only actress with the Harrington nose)

Probably a good choice overall. CB is darker complected than I imagine Harrington to be (remember, her family is all mountain men and women. These types tend to be fair skinned) but still a good choice overall.