LBT opened this issue on Aug 30, 2007 · 76 posts
XENOPHONZ posted Tue, 04 September 2007 at 11:23 AM
SciFi? It's as dead as H.G. Wells is. And BTW - men from Mars aren't interesting anymore.
I'd postulate that the average SciFi reader / movie watcher / channel surfer / whatever is seeking pure escapism. Not Deep Thought. The Real World is such a mundane place: so who wants to live in it? Space is much nicer.
Which is an example of the very old-fashioned "grass is greener" syndrome. Things looking glum? Then escape off to Proxima Centauri. And if you discover that your problems follow you there: then go further -- to Andromeda and beyond.............
But consider: if you really were in space, then you'd probably end up chasing down a perceived rival for a perceived lover -- while wearing diapers, of course. And in the aftermath you'd hold a press conference to complain about the discomfort & inconvenience of having to wear an electronic monitoring device around your ankle. Changing out the batteries is such a pain........
No fiction can be as good as that. Not even science fiction.
The truly definitive SciFi movie -- as everyone knows -- is Plan 9 From Outer Space. There have been no others to equal it: nor will there ever be. P9FOS is THE definitive SciFi movie. Kubrick never did anything to match it.
Quote - Everyone has communicators now (see cell phones).
That's the greatest danger to the entire SciFi genre. It's at risk of becoming Mundane: and thus offering no escape.