Well I think Ridley Scott was right about people copying Kubricks 2001. There a number of shots for example in "Alien" alone, that are clearly inspired by Kubricks work. Allso in Star Wars. Sunshine was allso making tributes to Kubrick. Mission To Mars etc etc.. As much as I loved 2001, I hope filmmakers would get over it.

SamTherapy is right about Star Wars. That's the movie that turned serious sci-fi into a bad rollercoaster ride where the effects dominate. And I do like Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back. But they did harm the genre as well. Studios and Hollywood moguls probably think it's safer to mimick Star Wars, than to come up with "serious" sci-fi.

Thing is though; Stories don't have to be new to be good (Like Ridley Scott suggests). The same fairytales are being re-written all the time and there's nothing new in them. Most important is how you tell the story. Not  if it's new or terribly original. I've seen a lot of Studio Ghiblis animation lately and the stories are nothing terribly new. You have your witches, spirits and forgotten worlds. The stories are well written. That's what counts.

Allso there is Ghost In The Shell. It's good Sci-fi and quite serious as well. I don't think the genre is dead.

Besides I don't think western genre is dead either. Didn't I just watch a brilliant western called "The Proposition"?. It was made in 2006 and it was very good indeed. Along with Unforgiven, I'd say the genre isn't dead, it has matured.

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