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Where have all the good sci-fi films gone (vanity)?
Yours truly

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 ;)


TOPICS: TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: sciencefiction; scifi; sfreference
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To: highball

"Governments only get in a man's way".

Yep, it truly was a conservative show, I can't believe that the sci-fi channel hasn't tried to pick it up either.
141 posted on 02/19/2008 12:07:34 PM PST by Abathar (Proudly posting without reading the article carefully since 2004)
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To: aragona
OMG. "Howard the Duck" had one of the nastiest scenes ever, where Lea Thompson (best remembered as Marty McFly's mom) decides to flirt with Howard. Gross.


142 posted on 02/19/2008 12:08:24 PM PST by Xenalyte (Can you count, suckas? I say the future is ours . . . if you can count.)
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To: Empireoftheatom48

First thought: Azimov & Will Smith?


143 posted on 02/19/2008 12:09:47 PM PST by Telepathic Intruder (*-o(:^{>)
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To: Go_Raiders

I’d like to see a movie of “The Mote In God’s Eye.” They’ve got the tech to do the three-legged aliens, and an alien planet now.


144 posted on 02/19/2008 12:09:49 PM PST by Dr. Bogus Pachysandra ("Don't touch that thing")
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To: Brett66
I agree re: Hoshi no Koe. It was everything SF is supposed to be: character-driven, poignant, epic, and full of sense-of-wonder.

American SF has almost been destroyed by the Cult of the Singularity: it is difficult to write meaningful stories set in a future where everyone is a godlike, disembodied intellect living in a virtual universe ruled by incomprehensible computers. (This is the future most SF authors hope for, these days.) This is why most of the big sellers these days in the US SF field are in the fantasy or altenative history categories. The technological Singularity may lurk sometime in the future, but for the US SF industry the Singularity is now.

This is why I prefer Japanese SF. In Japan, technology affects human beings, sometimes profoundly, but humans remain human. Depictions of the future in Japanese SF are almost always nothing more than the Japan of the present day with flashy bits stuck on for fun. In Hoshi no Koe, for example, mankind has perfected interstellar travel and giant fighting robots, but people still ride bicycles, use cell phones, and ship freight by rail. In Diebuster! Toppu o Nerae 2 (aka "Gunbuster 2: Diebuster"), Mars has been terraformed and weapons capable of cracking planets are built to look like cute teenaged girls, yet the characters still commute by rail, ride scooters, and hang out in coffee shops. It is this sort of thing that makes Japanese SF so compelling; it seems more like real life because it is real life, only with giant robots and space elevators.

And don't get me started on British SF...

145 posted on 02/19/2008 12:10:17 PM PST by B-Chan (Catholic. Monarchist. Texan. Any questions?)
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To: camle
as for depth, nothing beats Babylon 5 TOS.

I recently watched Bab 5 from beginning to end ... all seasons. The very best Sci Fi, particularly up to the end of the Shadows' war.

146 posted on 02/19/2008 12:10:45 PM PST by gitmo (From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put.)
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To: rjp2005

I liked The Farmer Astronaut. Science Fiction, not Science Fantasy.


147 posted on 02/19/2008 12:11:40 PM PST by Ol' Dan Tucker (After six years of George W. Bush I long for the honesty and sincerity of the Clinton Administration)
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To: Army Air Corps
My FRiend, have I got a Website for you!

RiffTrax
148 posted on 02/19/2008 12:12:23 PM PST by Xenalyte (Can you count, suckas? I say the future is ours . . . if you can count.)
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To: Abathar

Sci-Fi Channel can’t pick it up just yet, because Fox is still retaining rights to the series. Universal had rights for the movies, so that’s the only venue open for more Firefly right now.


149 posted on 02/19/2008 12:13:53 PM PST by tarawa
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To: Xenalyte

“...suck just as bad...” Exactly.

Long have I read excellent SF by a host of talented writers. Those who claim that “there isn’t any good SF being writted anymore.” Hello?! Dan Simmons? Larry Niven? Charles Stross? Alastair Reynolds? Jack McDevitt? Neal Stephenson?

Jeez, people! READ!

Anyway, to your point, a few years ago one of my favorite sets of books, ‘Hyperion’ and ‘Fall of Hyperion’ by Dan Simmons were optioned by the author to a movie company. I was both horrified and elated. One, movies generally take excellent source materiel and make it suck, but two, Martin Scorsese (!) was the one optioning it and was set to direct.

It didn’t happen. As far as I know, it is still in limbo. Probably for the best...

But, the glory of ‘Ringworld’ on the big screen? Beautiful if done right, horrid if done by the usual Hollywood standards. ‘Foundation Trilogy’ would be a miniseries, but the utter cretins who run the Sci-Fi Channel would ruin it beyond comprehension.

Folks, read your SF. Let your brain to the work. Don’t leave it to a herd of Hollywood morons (I know, redundant) to screw it up.


150 posted on 02/19/2008 12:14:22 PM PST by BrewingFrog (I brew, therefore I am!)
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To: JSDude1

>>Still waiting for a remake of “1984”

I wish they would release a new version of the DVD. Used versions go for $60+


151 posted on 02/19/2008 12:14:35 PM PST by Betis70
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To: rjp2005

Oh and remake “The Tripods” to me this was great.


152 posted on 02/19/2008 12:14:51 PM PST by JSDude1 (http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=56306 "MoveON McCain" To find McCain's Sorros)
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To: manapua

153 posted on 02/19/2008 12:15:21 PM PST by Xenalyte (Can you count, suckas? I say the future is ours . . . if you can count.)
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To: Xenalyte

RiffTrax is a riot. A friend of mine has bought a few of their offerings and sings their praises. What they did to The Fifth Element was a riot.


154 posted on 02/19/2008 12:15:39 PM PST by Army Air Corps (Four fried chickens and a coke)
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To: Tijeras_Slim

The most disappointing Sci Fi movie was the first release of Dune. We waited so danged long for that thing, and it came out perverted and ugly.


155 posted on 02/19/2008 12:15:58 PM PST by gitmo (From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put.)
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To: Abathar

The Sci-Fi Channel showed the complete series all day yesterday.


156 posted on 02/19/2008 12:16:17 PM PST by Raymann
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To: tarawa

I know, that was pure genius. Jimmy’s knees to the groin, the sucker punch as Jimmy tries to get up, the back breaker, it is all there and it is my favorite scene of any South Park.

Damn what a fight.


157 posted on 02/19/2008 12:16:57 PM PST by A Texan (Oderint dum metuant)
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To: Xenalyte

I guess I blocked that one out of my brain through the judicious abuse of scotch.
:)


158 posted on 02/19/2008 12:19:23 PM PST by Tijeras_Slim
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To: Raymann

Yeah, I caught the last one when I got home from work. I meant picking up the rights to it and continuing on with the series.


159 posted on 02/19/2008 12:19:29 PM PST by Abathar (Proudly posting without reading the article carefully since 2004)
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To: Go_Raiders
Ender’s Game (based on Orson Scott Card’s novels) is a potential barn burner, but it doesn’t seem to be high on Wolfgang Peterson’s priority list.

A great book, and it would be easily adaptable to the screen. I was disappointed with all the sequels to it, though.

How about the Foundation series?

160 posted on 02/19/2008 12:19:36 PM PST by gitmo (From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put.)
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