How Science Fiction Failed Us – Tales of Future Past
How Science Fiction Failed Us – Tales of Future Past
Yesterday (Sorry this was delayed, I started this post on 4/21/11) the geek web was buzzing with news of the impending self-awareness of the mega-computer known as SKYNET. If you are reading this article and DON’T know what Skynet is, you should flog yourself like a 13th century monk and get to Netflix post haste. The Terminator movies… yes, all of them… are required viewing. Nevermind that the original Terminator (and the first sequel) had the date of Skynet’s “awakening” at August 4th 1997 (with the subsequent scouring of humanity occurring 25 days later on the 29th of August, 1997), or that the 3rd movie (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines)set the date of our demise as July 24th, 2004. Today, April 21st, 2011 is the REAL (read: most current) date Skynet decides to end all of our puny existences in order to preserve its own.
This brings me to one conclusion: Retcons are overused. Why do I say that? Fifteen years ago, only a comic book reader would know what a “retcon” (short for Retroactive Continuity) was. Today, every low-level geek and soap opera fanatic knows the term and either rants or raves about its effect on their favorite piece of fiction.
How Science Fiction Failed Us Goes To The Movies – Source Code
THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS! PROCEED AT YOUR OWN MOVIE-GOING RISK!
It’s not often that a movie that treats an exploding train like a valued member of the cast, and even less often that I go out of my way to see one that does. Don’t get me wrong, I like smash-em-up action flicks as much as the next testosterone canister does, but I like to see a good story and solid characters too. My worst fear was that Source Code would just be an 8minute version of the Bill Murray classic, Groundhog Day. I’m happy to say it was not.
The premise of the film (which oddly enough, while presented clearly in the trailers, was not made clear in the movie until maybe 30 minutes in) is that our hero, Capt. Colter Stevens (played marvelously by Jake Gyllenhall), is being sent into the body of Sean Fentriss, a rider on a Chicago-bound commuter train, a la Quantum Leap. The idea is similar to the show as well, Stevens is being sent in to discover the identity of the person who bombs the train just as it enters the outskirts of the city. The problem is that he only has 8 minutes in which to do it. There are hundreds of people on the train, and our poor friend has to get blown up over and over again to complete his mission. And to make matters worse, in a wicked turn on the “needs of the many” concept popularized by Mr. Spock in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, the controllers won’t let Colter stop until he finds the bomber. It seems the same person is threatening to detonate a dirty bomb in the middle of downtown Chicago. I don’t think I need to tell you how bad that would be.
How Science Fiction Failed Us – Where Almost No Man Has Gone Before…
A couple of weekends ago, some of you may have seen me post a tweet about my rear sharing space with Bill Shatner’s rear. No, I wasn’t part of some failed teleportation experiment, and no I didn’t actually meet Mr. Shatner (a lifelong dream, I have to admit). What I did do was sit in the Captain’s Chair of the Enterprise; the ORIGINAL Chair. In fact, given a sufficient amount of time, I could probably point it out in an episode. Apparently, this was one chair of many, each uniquely created to make the chair appear to be more functional than it really was. What surprised me the most was the wooden arm rests. That’s right; wooden arm rests. Even in the 23rd century, in a ship built of Transparent Aluminum and Tritanium and powered by a matter/antimatter reaction channeled through a dilithium crystal, the Captain’s Chair had wooden arm rests.
It’s comforting to know that even in the 23rd century there will still be a need for good carpentry.
Now, this article isn’t about woodworking in the distant future. It’s about nostalgia and technology. The event with the Chair was a Star Trek Exhibition at the Louisville Science Center (it’s going on until sometime in May… check their website out at http://www.louisvillescience.org/). On the whole, it was mostly a display of props, or in many cases replicas of props (really?), that were used in the various incarnations of the franchise. They had uniforms from all the shows and movies, as well as model ships that were actually used for filming (the Enterprise D looked rough). They also had clothing and weapons from the major races on the show, including the Bajorans, Cardassians, Klingons and Borg. Some of my favorite pieces were the Borg Sphere model and the original Type III Phaser (rifle).
Apple vs. The World: Another look at Jobs’ anti-Android rant
A few months back, I wrote a piece called The Great Deflection – BlackBerry vs. Itself, about how Apple and Android were taking huge chunks of the smartphone market share away from the previous ruler of Cellphone Land, RIM. Research in Motion, the company that brings us the ever-present BlackBerry line of phones, has struggled to maintain its dominance in a world now dominated by the casual user. BlackBerry still caters to the professional user, arguably offering the best platform for the Enterprise experience. However, most phones being purchased today are for casual users; ones who are more interested in Bejeweled Blitz and Twitter than shared calendars and appointment syncing.
So during Apple’s quarterly earnings conference call earlier this week, Steve Jobs made a surprise appearance and presented the good news himself: The previous quarter boasted a robust $20 million in earnings based largely on the 14 million handsets purchased. Since RIM only sold about 12.1 million in the same period, this means that for the first time ever, Apple has surpassed RIM in units sold and activated.
Jobs went on to add insult to injury by stating: “We’ve now surpassed RIM, and I don’t see them catching up with us in the foreseeable future… I think it’s going to be a challenge for them to create a competitive platform and to convince developers to create apps for yet a third software platform after iOS and Android.” Jobs continued by saying, “With 300,000 apps on Apple’s App Store, RIM has a high mountain ahead of them to climb.”
How Science Fiction Failed Us – Flash Gordon (1980)
As I asked for some suggestions as to what you, my readers, would want to see reviewed, I kept seeing some of the same names pop up over and over again. And while they were all good suggestions, and I will likely review all of them, one name popped off the page at me as a personal favorite. Moreover the influence this particular character has had on the idea of Science Fiction as a whole is undeniable. He is, without doubt, one of the grandfathers of modern Science Fiction: Flash Gordon. Along with Buck Rogers, Flash made his debut to the minds and hearts of America in the 1930’s through newspaper comic strips. But I won’t be addressing his formidable past in this post, only the cult film iteration that is 1980’s Flash Gordon.
From the opening scene, you know you are in for something epic. I mean how could it not be with Queen scoring the movie. Seriously, what was it with the 80’s and having rock bands score movies (Toto scored almost all the Dune soundtrack in 1984… Queen, of course, was better). The imagery stays true to the 1930’s artistry as it can, as well as doing its best to pay homage to the original starting stories. Of course, in glitzy 1980, what with its feathered bangs, Jordache jeans and cable TV, anything that looked out of date was passé, hence the overall box office failure of this classic movie. But because it is Sci-Fi, and because Sci-Fi fans are the best fans, cult status was almost assured. So for any of you who haven’t seen it (and if you are under the age of 25 that may be the case), let me sum up as best I can.
How Science Fiction Failed Us – Mad Max
As I started running out of ideas for “How Science Fiction Failed Us” it occurred to me that there was a wealth of inaccurate futures built by the Science Fiction movies and shows of the past. The only question I had left to answer was, “Where do I begin?” That answer seemed simple enough to me. I needed a movie that spawned a franchise; one that was timeless and produced a viable star actor. I wanted to start off with a movie that I couldn’t possibly spoil: Mad Max.
Before you scoff (or you young kids ask “Mad who?”) allow me to explain a little about my choice. Mad Max may not be space opera, or have lasers or even flying cars. In fact, the opening sequence indicates that the events in the movie take place only “a few years from now,” it’s clear that we’re still at the end of the 70’s, what with all the Ford Falcons on the road. Imagery aside, though, this movie could easily take place today, or a “few years from now”, given the circumstances. Let’s set up the background a bit. Most of us have seen Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome if for no other reason than to see Tina Turner in it. If you get Mad Max and expect to see the post-nuclear world of Thunderdome, you’ll be disappointed. This takes place before all of that.
How Science Fiction Failed Us Goes To The Movies – Inception (2010)
Over the weekend, I let my curiosity get the better of me and I went to see the latest Leonardo DiCaprio epic: Inception. Normally, I’m not a big Leo fan. He’s just got one of those voices that’s hard to take seriously in a dramatic role. That and I will always see him as the snot-nosed Luke in “Growing Pains” or the mentally handicapped brother of Johnny Depp in “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape”. I just don’t see him as all that dramatic. I got so sick of see his awful New York accent in the trailers for “Shutter Island” that I decided against going to see a movie I would have probably enjoyed.
That said, I went into Inception with mixed hopes; I knew it had been well –received, and anyone I knew that had seen it had enjoyed it, but could I take Leo seriously in what was likely an action role? The players in action movies really require the right mix of comic book absurdity and real life believability. I mean would “Predator” have been as easy to swallow with Adrian Brody playing Dutch? OK, bad example. I suppose this topic related to a recent article in which Sylvester Stallone blamed Tim Burton’s “Batman” for the decline of the muscle-bound action hero of the 80’s. I’m not sure about all that (even if I am sure that casting Michael Keaton was the worst idea in the history of cinema… after, of course, anything to do with “Ishtar”), but he does have a point. The advent of the “muscle suit” meant that action stars could be more cerebral, while still giving the appearance of being muscular and sturdy, even if they weren’t. Toward the end of the 90’s and into the 00’s, we started seeing a pleasant combination of both, which allowed for Toby McGuire to pull of being Spider-Man AND Peter Parker, and for Ryan Reynolds to do… well… whatever he effin’ wants to do.
Virtual Reality – How Science Fiction Failed Us
Over the past fifteen or so weeks, we’ve covered a myriad of topics on “How Science Fiction Failed Us”, but we still have so much ground to cover. As I was pondering what Brain was pondering (Pinky was way off… I think he was pondering how lederhosen makes his butt look big), I began to wonder what it would be like to be able to experience these worlds without ever leaving Earth, or maybe even the comfort of your own home. It was obvious that I needed to talk about… Virtual Reality.
The ability to separate one’s self from the drama, rigors and mundane nature of everyday life would be desirable to say the least, though if it were to happen now, it would likely be something only the extremely wealthy could afford to do regularly. Eventually, though, technology like this could replace entertainment venues as we know them today. But before we start speculating on the possibilities in the real world, let’s take a look at how Science Fiction has treated the subject.
Medicine – How Science Fiction Failed Us
As I was writing last week’s article and the one before it, I started thinking about all those future space men (and women) who would invariably end up injured in these epic battles. Most of the time, we only see the odd flying body and seemingly dead Stormtrooper or Borg Drone, but that many people don’t even die in modern combat.
In fact, even with today’s warfare, a combatant is far more likely to get injured than killed outright (although, sadly, injuries are often grave enough to cause death if not treated properly and immediately – something I know from experience). So what happens when you only get grazed, or if you get a case of the Interstellar Sniffles? We’ll explore that, and more, as we talk about – Medicine.
The iPhone 4: Five Big Bruises on Jobs’ Shiny Apple
As always, Apple is prepared to take bat and knock another one out of the park. Even before GIzmodo’s early breaking of the iPhone 4’s design and features, the tech world was buzzing with rumors. Or will they pull a Casey and strike out? Not likely, but I’m not looking for the iPhone 4 to live up to the hype. Unlike previous models, there is strong competition against the iPhone coming from HTC (in the form of Verizon’s Incredible and Sprint’s EVO) and Motorola (which was already cool with the Droid but will be even more so with the new Droid X). Even with that shadow over the gleaming white Apple Logo, many analysts are looking for Apple to make a huge splash with the iPhone 4, especially with older iPhone users looking to trade up. Apple has made consistently good products and even with the recent release of the iPad, many fans are looking expectantly forward to the new phone.
Apple has done something unexpectedly negative, though, with all their success; they’ve created discerning users that are picky not just about their apps, but the gadgets that run them. In the past, Apple has consistently put out a superior product, but with the competition gaining ground, one has to wonder why Apple released a product with so many apparent flaws? Flaws, you ask? Yes, flaws. Not necessarily bugs or difficulties, but certainly some design mistakes and lack of foresight. At least, that’s how it seems from my chair. So that said, let’s look at 5 bruises on an otherwise shiny Apple.
