Posted on 07/27/2006 6:49:43 PM PDT by 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 !
ping
I liked LEXX. That was one bizarre show. It's where I learned what a "fluffer" is.
That Canadian series LEXX I now realize is another example of Canadians ripping off someone else's ideas(for once, not one of ours) .
The British series RED DWARF was first, and better .
It started out as a comedy stage act on UK TV, then became more Sci-Fi . .
And yes, I had a guilty pleasure of liking that bizarre show too !
Red Dwarf is playing again here in Georgia!
Smegg off!
>>I liked LEXX. That was one bizarre show. It's where I learned what a "fluffer" is.<<
You are talking about the last season, the episodes that take place on earth and Stanley Tweedle gets a job in the porn industry . .
I suggest all the stuff by Ringo, the Niven/Pournelle collaboration Angel's Down, the stuff by Rick Cook, Eric Flint's 1632 universe and the Honor Harrington books. I think you'll be pleased.
What are you ? A GIT :-)
I wanted to visit Potatoho.
I think it's amusing that everything that passes for science fiction these days is dystopian. It's all this angst-ridden bleakness that belies man's innate stubborness, the parasitic persistence that causes him to defile one creation after another, only to create yet another. But in the PC future, there is no light, only tunnel.
*Sigh!* In a better universe, there would have been an anthology series "Tales of Known Space", with installments of Gil 'The Arm' Hamilton, Beowulf Shaeffer, and Man/Kizn Wars...
Robert Heinlein
I liked Firefly. Never saw it on TV but I have all the episodes on disc.
No "aliens" with latex glommed on their faces, no space monsters or exploding suns, but it was a western in the old tradition, people dealing with people problems, but in a ship named Serenity.
I never saw LEXX, though, is it worth the effort?
We can all dream about "The Jerry Pournelle Theater", but good luck trying to interest anyone in Hollywood in such a concept.
On the other hand, improving video technology is steadily reducing the cost of production, while the Internet is reducing the cost of marketing. Is there a TV Rutan in our future?
>>I suggest all the stuff by Ringo, the Niven/Pournelle collaboration Angel's Down, the stuff by Rick Cook, Eric Flint's 1632 universe and the Honor Harrington books. I think you'll be pleased.
<<
Oh really ?
I have only read the works and short stories of:
H G Wells
EE Doc Smith
Larry Niven
Robert Heinlein
AE van Vogt
Issac Asimov(Second Foundation, History of the Greeks)
Edgar Allen Poe(Facts in the Case of Mr Valdemaar)
John W Cambell Jr(Who Goes There?)
Arthur C. Clarke(Exile of the Eons)
Dean R Koontz (Phantoms)
What gets my blood boiling is the Sci-Fi channel is billed as Sci-Fi...why do they constantly show horror films. If that's what they want to do...then CREATE a horror channel.
Put on episodes of the Dark Knight, Poltergeist, Nightstalker, etc...even Ghost Hunters.
Whether it lives on in the video world -- well, I can't say and I don't care, but I will say that well over 90% of I see in SF movies... leaves me cold. It's shallow, it plays to what the producers think is "today's market" (right or wrong, at best it soon becomes "yesterday's market") and most of it is best ignored.
I'd like to have a copy of the "original" "War of the Worlds" in my DVD collection. The last remake.. forget it.
"When Worlds Collide" is there, proudly. (Did they ever do "After Worlds Collide" by Wylie & Co?)
And the weeklies.. well. several years I got so bored by the Star Trek follow-ons I quit watching broadcast teeeeheeeeveeee entirely. I think I turned the tube on early this year to watch the Rose? Super? Cereal? Sugar? Finger? bowl -- but I'm not sure which nor when.
Can't, it was destroyed by Mantred's drone arms !
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