I want to confess that I was a science fiction fan before I came to Dr. Clemente's Science Fiction Literature and Film class and I am coming out of the class more enlightened than before.I must express how much I enjoy the genre; I loved the Animorphs books by K.A. Applegate, I loved Dune by Frank Herbert, I loved the Star Wars movies, I loved the Alien and Predator movies, I crave futuristic shoot 'em ups such as DOOM, Half-Life, Halo, and Resident Evil, and I enjoy science fiction manga and anime such as Trigun, Cowboy Bebop, and Akira, to name a few.
The end is very near for me; I am about to graduate at the end of this week and my class will watch Blade Runner on the last night of our class. I have not seen Blade Runner, but I have read its source material, which is Phillip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Quite a mouthful of a name, isn't it? Not as sleek and stylish as Blade Runner but it is a good novel nonetheless. I will definately be comparing the movie and the book to each other, since I am always purist about enjoying the source material before any adaptation.
A classmate of mine listed her favorite movies and stories, and I might do the same, just for the sake of a (Possible?) fitting ending to this blog...
Favorite Stories from Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse (And any stories outside of the anthology)
First Place: "The People of the Sand and Slag"
Second Place: "The End of the Whole Mess"
Third Place: "Dark, Dark Were the Tunnels"
Out of all the stories I enjoyed out of Wastelands, I will have to say I liked "The People of the Sand and Slag." The story possesses a macabre and stylistic approach to apocalyptic science fiction. What is morbid about this story is that the main characters are powered by nanomachine-like mechanisms called "Weeviltech," which allows the users to heal from the most grievous wounds.
The humans in this story become like the polluted earth they thrive on. There is an interesting question on humanity posed as the "humans" decide on what to do with a stray dog they happened to find in blasted Montana. The story was a focus on my first paper I wrote for the class; I wrote how the characters' humanity degenerated as they adapted to the hostil surface. All humanity gains power to cheat death but much like they destroyed their world, they destroyed their humanity with power gained.
The stories that earned second and third place will also be examined. "The End of the Whole Mess" presented what I like the most about Stephen King; his humor, his themes of degradation, and his way of playing the macabre in a world that is easy to believe. I would say this is the least science-fiction oriented story as there is a heavy concentration on the brothers using the Calmative, a substance that is supposed to curb aggression. I like King but details are scant about the actual consequences, save for the end of the story. Still, it was a good read. The third place contestant, "Dark, Dark Were the Tunnels," was a suspenceful study of two versions of humanity meeting each other but it did not have the solid "punch" on humanity degenerating as "The People of the Sand and Slag" and "The End of the Whole Mess" did.
Favorite Movies Presented in Class So Far
First Place: The Day the Earth Stood Still
Second Place: Dr. Strangelove, Or How I Stopped Worrying and Loved the Bomb
Third Place: Testament
There were quite a slew of good, solid films worthy of cultural reverence in the class (Let's not speak of Liquid Sky); The Day the Earth Stood Still stands resolute after all these years with its theme of aliens destroying Earth is the humans did not get along. Of all the 1950s movies I have seen, The Day the Earth Stood Still affected me tremendously because of its theme, its production, its characterization of Klaatu and Gort, and its solid acting.
Before I saw this movie, I had a fixed notion that a lot of films from the 1950s, especially science fiction films, would have a strong, puritanical, McCarthyesque overtone that would have ruined the movie. There were heavy anti-communist fears and feelings that filled most of these films and I had the idea the theme would be preachy in the movies we watched. I was mistaken with It Came from Outer Space, which was good but will remain my least favorite, and the other '50s movies because the themes are very subtle and remain fresh because of humanity banding together against a common threat. The Day the Earth Stood Still was a different beast entirely because the movie was not about repelling outsiders but rather accepting the outside world and facts or face harsh consequences of embracing xenophobia, or the fear of foreigners.
Dr. Strangelove was my second favorite movie in our
repetoire of apocalypse-themed movies. The film is an excellent satire; nuclear weapons back in the 1960s were not talked about and this movie blew the subject up in everyone's face. I would rank it in second place because although it was funny and thought-provoking in its own right, it did not concentrate too much on any of the major characters in any given order. I would have even wanted more out of the notorious nuclear physics expert Dr. Strangelove, whose desire for the apocalypse was darkly funny and intriguing.
The third film that affected me profoundly was Testament; man, that movie not only ripped out my heart but it tore about whatever hope I had of humanity surviving a nuclear holocaust. The true horror is not on the sight of the bomb itself but the characters suffering through the effects of the bomb. I got attached to all the characters involved, and this made viewing Testament all the more heart-wrenching. I would rank this movie in third place because although it was a good movie that should be viewed once, anyone would be hard pressed to watch it again.
Favorite Stories out of The New Space Opera So Far (And any stories outside of the anthology)
First Place: "The Cold Equations"
Second Place: "Maelstrom"
Third Place: "Muse of Fire"
I am sad to admit that The New Space Opera is not one of the most engaging sci-fi anthologies I have read up to this point. So it makes sense that "The Cold Equations" is the first spot on the list. Technical details are given about the pilot's ship and why the little stowaway needs to be ejected outside of it, but they are not severely overblown. The theme is built up with the technology to build up the suspense in a universe where the galaxies beyond Earth are uncertain frontiers being colonized. I like how the story places with the five stages of death; the young girl who stows away on the pilot's ship to see her brother knows the horror of her fate but she understands there is no way to escape from the inevitable. Death is inevitable and death cannot be avoided in space.
The second and third place participants were unique among a mish-mash of technological talk and space babble because each explored the humanities still thriving in the space opera realm. Imagine going up into space and not taking any work by William Shakespeare or any Broadway musical scripts. People on a ship without art would be soulless, heartless, and homicidal as a group of Klingons on fire.
Well, this list is my wrap up of what I enjoyed and what I gained from all the media I experienced. I wish everyone else on their remaining class work, their remaining blogs, and their love to indulge in science fiction.
Till then, this is the starship signing off...
Favorite Stories from Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse (And any stories outside of the anthology)First Place: "The People of the Sand and Slag"
Second Place: "The End of the Whole Mess"
Third Place: "Dark, Dark Were the Tunnels"
Out of all the stories I enjoyed out of Wastelands, I will have to say I liked "The People of the Sand and Slag." The story possesses a macabre and stylistic approach to apocalyptic science fiction. What is morbid about this story is that the main characters are powered by nanomachine-like mechanisms called "Weeviltech," which allows the users to heal from the most grievous wounds.
The humans in this story become like the polluted earth they thrive on. There is an interesting question on humanity posed as the "humans" decide on what to do with a stray dog they happened to find in blasted Montana. The story was a focus on my first paper I wrote for the class; I wrote how the characters' humanity degenerated as they adapted to the hostil surface. All humanity gains power to cheat death but much like they destroyed their world, they destroyed their humanity with power gained.
The stories that earned second and third place will also be examined. "The End of the Whole Mess" presented what I like the most about Stephen King; his humor, his themes of degradation, and his way of playing the macabre in a world that is easy to believe. I would say this is the least science-fiction oriented story as there is a heavy concentration on the brothers using the Calmative, a substance that is supposed to curb aggression. I like King but details are scant about the actual consequences, save for the end of the story. Still, it was a good read. The third place contestant, "Dark, Dark Were the Tunnels," was a suspenceful study of two versions of humanity meeting each other but it did not have the solid "punch" on humanity degenerating as "The People of the Sand and Slag" and "The End of the Whole Mess" did.
Favorite Movies Presented in Class So FarFirst Place: The Day the Earth Stood Still
Second Place: Dr. Strangelove, Or How I Stopped Worrying and Loved the Bomb
Third Place: Testament
There were quite a slew of good, solid films worthy of cultural reverence in the class (Let's not speak of Liquid Sky); The Day the Earth Stood Still stands resolute after all these years with its theme of aliens destroying Earth is the humans did not get along. Of all the 1950s movies I have seen, The Day the Earth Stood Still affected me tremendously because of its theme, its production, its characterization of Klaatu and Gort, and its solid acting.
Before I saw this movie, I had a fixed notion that a lot of films from the 1950s, especially science fiction films, would have a strong, puritanical, McCarthyesque overtone that would have ruined the movie. There were heavy anti-communist fears and feelings that filled most of these films and I had the idea the theme would be preachy in the movies we watched. I was mistaken with It Came from Outer Space, which was good but will remain my least favorite, and the other '50s movies because the themes are very subtle and remain fresh because of humanity banding together against a common threat. The Day the Earth Stood Still was a different beast entirely because the movie was not about repelling outsiders but rather accepting the outside world and facts or face harsh consequences of embracing xenophobia, or the fear of foreigners.
Dr. Strangelove was my second favorite movie in our
repetoire of apocalypse-themed movies. The film is an excellent satire; nuclear weapons back in the 1960s were not talked about and this movie blew the subject up in everyone's face. I would rank it in second place because although it was funny and thought-provoking in its own right, it did not concentrate too much on any of the major characters in any given order. I would have even wanted more out of the notorious nuclear physics expert Dr. Strangelove, whose desire for the apocalypse was darkly funny and intriguing.The third film that affected me profoundly was Testament; man, that movie not only ripped out my heart but it tore about whatever hope I had of humanity surviving a nuclear holocaust. The true horror is not on the sight of the bomb itself but the characters suffering through the effects of the bomb. I got attached to all the characters involved, and this made viewing Testament all the more heart-wrenching. I would rank this movie in third place because although it was a good movie that should be viewed once, anyone would be hard pressed to watch it again.
Favorite Stories out of The New Space Opera So Far (And any stories outside of the anthology)First Place: "The Cold Equations"
Second Place: "Maelstrom"
Third Place: "Muse of Fire"
I am sad to admit that The New Space Opera is not one of the most engaging sci-fi anthologies I have read up to this point. So it makes sense that "The Cold Equations" is the first spot on the list. Technical details are given about the pilot's ship and why the little stowaway needs to be ejected outside of it, but they are not severely overblown. The theme is built up with the technology to build up the suspense in a universe where the galaxies beyond Earth are uncertain frontiers being colonized. I like how the story places with the five stages of death; the young girl who stows away on the pilot's ship to see her brother knows the horror of her fate but she understands there is no way to escape from the inevitable. Death is inevitable and death cannot be avoided in space.
The second and third place participants were unique among a mish-mash of technological talk and space babble because each explored the humanities still thriving in the space opera realm. Imagine going up into space and not taking any work by William Shakespeare or any Broadway musical scripts. People on a ship without art would be soulless, heartless, and homicidal as a group of Klingons on fire.
Well, this list is my wrap up of what I enjoyed and what I gained from all the media I experienced. I wish everyone else on their remaining class work, their remaining blogs, and their love to indulge in science fiction.
Till then, this is the starship signing off...
- Kristopher
