The following is a list of all entries tagged with scifi.
2 CommentsSure, Star Trek-style teleportation seems like the next big thing. Sure we could go on vacation in July just by stepping on to a transporter pad and be instantly moved from A to B; B probably being Acapulco or somewhere really nice. Off the bat we would love it, but have you ever pondered the moral and ethical implications of teleportation?
CommentReplicants, more human than human robots do humanitys dirty work. Given time, they will develop their own emotional responses. To prevent revolts, they are given only a four year lifespan. When they’re a hazard, Blade Runners are sent to “retire” them.
Blade Runner has been through its share of troubles. The first one with the voice over was marred by producers wanting to control the young art director, Ridley Scott, whose experience hadn’t yet been proved (not even by Alien). The second version, “The Directors Cut”, felt rushed and the DVD release was grainy and VHS like. The Final Cut has finally been given the proper treatment. Tweaks and fixes have been made and a near-perfect, cleaned-up transfer make this the ultimate version of Blade Runner.
Blade Runner works on many levels. There’s the gorgeous dystopian design. There’s atmosphere oozing from every sound of Vangelis’ soundtrack. There’s the vision and the philosophical aspects: life, death, the time we’re given. They don’t make movies like this anymore and Blade Runner is the peak of a period. It’s an absolute delight to marvel in the polished and crisp picture and to notice details like the eyes of replicants reflecting light differently. Who’s replicant and who’s not? And does it matter? And what’s that about a unicorn? Find out.
3 CommentsJust a few weeks ago, my favourite science fiction author, Arthur C. Clarke, passed away. As a tribute to the hours and hours of reading enjoyment and plethora of wonders he’s projected into my mind, I was compelled to commemorate the event.
7 CommentsCloverfield is the codename for a Manhattan event, documented using handheld camera by 5 young New Yorkers throwing a going-away party the night a monster attacks the city.
Essentially that sums up the entire movie. That’s both good and bad, mostly good. The handheld feel and the fact that we don’t see the monster in anything but short flashes, works really well, almost as well as it did with Alien. Despite the premise of the film, the plot is actually somewhat believable, which is impressive considering it’s a monster-flick.
Cloverfield works on many levels, and it’s definately worth 5 stars. To have earned the sixth star, however, I would personally have wanted a more fleshed-out and detailed ending, possibly one that wasn’t so predictable.
CommentSci-Fi channel has made a delicious zooming Flash microsite for their upcoming Wizard of Oz re-interpretation entitled Tin Man. Note to self: try and make such a picture/flash combo.
2 Comments“It was a hard thing for human beings to deal with, when we first realized how much of our behaviour arose from evolutionary necessity,” said Wiggin. “There are still numberless humans who refuse to believe it. [...] It’s another thing to find out that neither God nor evolution created you [...]“
The above passage is from Xenocide by Orson Scott Card. I removed parts of the quote to ensure it spoilerfree. What’s interesting is not the contents of the passage, rather that Card is a devout Mormon. I find it very satisfying to see that he can leave his religion out of his books.
2 CommentsRemember Dune II? If you don’t, you missed out on a great game and probably the founding father of the real time strategy genre. If you did play it back in the days, however, you’re likely to fondly remember the delicate balance of harvesting spice while protecting against sandworm attacks, all the while building up your base and preparing your sonic tanks to charge into a Harkonnen base.
7 CommentsThere’s nothing like striking Wikipedia gold. Megastructures:
Topopolis:
A topopolis is a tube-like space habitat, rotating to produce gravity on the inner surface, which is extended into a loop around local star. Topopoli can be looped several times around the local star, in a geometric figure known as a torus knot.
Dyson shell:
The variant of the Dyson sphere most often depicted in fiction is the “Dyson shell”: a uniform solid shell of matter around the star. Such a structure would completely conceal the emissions of the central star, and would intercept 100% of the star’s energy output. Such a structure would also provide an immense surface which many envision being used for habitation, if the surface could be made habitable.
8 CommentsYou are at the threshold of your next trillion years. You will live it in shivering, agonizing darkness or you will live it triumphantly in the light. The choice is yours. If you wish to leave the room after seeing this film, walk out and never mention Scientology again, you are free to do so. [...]
13 CommentsI saw Joss Whedon’s Serenity yesterday. I didn’t intend to see the movie, quite simply because the TV Series never caught my attention and the title sounds like a chick flick.
And those are the only two problems this movie has.
Serenity is everything Star Wars never was, and never could be. It’s a hugely impressive space opera that manages to cram in love stories, epic space battles, strange markets and hover-cars, while at the same time paying tribute to Mad Max, Blade Runner and even Star Wars. All in some two hours.
Here’s my six stars, and sometime next year: my bucks for buying the Firefly DVD set.
10 CommentsOn the pet-project of Star Wars Episode 1 & 2 Art Director Doug Chiang.
20 CommentsSo it seems they might turn Arthur C. Clarke’s 3001 into a movie. 2001 and 2010 are already movies, so what about 2061?
