Is Science Fiction About The Future Anymore? 377
An anonymous reader writes "A recent Globe and Mail article looked at the state of science fiction and concluded that the future is bleak. Fantasy and science fantasy are popular but near-future predictions are not. But author Robert J. Sawyer says, 'Science fiction has never been about the future, it's always been about the present day...' 'People are looking for a simplicity in their fictional worlds where good and evil are clearly delineated, that you can't find in the real world, and that provides an enormous comfort -- and that, I think, has an awful lot to do with the reason fantasy is so popular.'"
Is Science Fiction About The Future Anymore? (Score:5, Funny)
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Getting Old (Score:5, Funny)
Bradbury must be getting old if he can't remember the titles of his own books.
2020 Singularity (Score:3, Funny)
Re:This is funny (Score:5, Funny)
Is that a prediction?
Popular? (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Not necessarily true (Score:2, Funny)
Some religions, yes. (Score:4, Funny)
Historians have successfully cross-checked so much of the Christian Bible against historical facts that I'd think twice before calling it a fantasy story.
Re:Getting Old (Score:5, Funny)
Tim
Re:Fantasy vs SF (Score:5, Funny)
That's why you're not an author.
Re:Fantasy sounds like religion? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Hogwash! (Score:5, Funny)
That's so true. I want to return to the 1930s, when all the science fiction on the big screen was much less crappy. I mean, Flash Gordon. Buck Rogers. Intellectually fulfilling stuff, that -- the men were men, the alien women were knockouts, and the bad guys were Chinese.
Well, okay, maybe the 1940s. Yeah. "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man." "The Invisible Woman." "One Million B.C." That's more like it.
No? How about the 1950s, which gave us dozens of cinematic classics about giant ants/scorpions/spiders on a rampage, along with "I Was a Teenage Frankenstein," "Devil Girl From Mars," "Jungle Moon Men," "The Man From Planet X," and "Monster From the Ocean Floor?" (Everyone's from somewhere!)
But surely the 1960s are the good old days. I mean, hey, "Barbarella" -- no cheese there. "Gill Women of Venus." "How To Make a Doll." "Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster."
Well, okay. The 1970s gave us "Star Wars," so that's gotta be the oasis in the cinematic desert. Surely that outweighs "Meteor," "Starcrash," "The Giant Spider Invasion," "When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth," and "Dracula Versus Frankenstein" (damn that Mary Shelley and her interminable sequels!)
The 1980s certainly produced a lot more science fiction movies than earlier decades, thanks to "Star Wars." But were they good movies? Some were. But I also remember "Interface." "Alien From L.A." "Space Raiders." And the inimitable Scott Baio's "Zapped!" -- what a masterpiece that one was.
Then we get to the 1990s. Surely the advent of really good special effects must have led to an explosion of quality in science-fiction filmmaking. But no -- in fact all of your examples of crappy films are from the 1990s.
So when did "lately" start again?
Sturgeon's Law [jargon.net] doesn't have an expiration date or a start date, I'm afraid.
Re:Star Trek Univserse has gotten corrupted... (Score:3, Funny)
for your huge breach of star trek canon, your nerd license is revoked.
Re:Some religions, yes. (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Fantasy vs SF (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Fantasy vs SF (Score:3, Funny)
You need to work on your imagination.
' In 2004 Bush is President and my Penis is 12" ' (Score:1, Funny)
Hmmm...maybe I should start writing...
Re:What about Raistlin? (Score:3, Funny)
If this was true, Raistlin wouldn't be such a popular character.
Only on Slashdot would a statement like this be made. The remaining 99.99% of the world would be scratching their heads asking "Raistlin who?".
Re:Fantasy vs SF (Score:4, Funny)
"Stargate" was "What if there were portals that could allow people to travel between planets".
Oh, so that's what Stargate is about; I've always wondered. I thought it was about taking the worst parts of Dr. Who's transportation, Star Trek's aliens (and alien crystal devices/controls) with costumes from the original Planet of the Apes, the nasty Dune movie's silly weirding weapons, and the military expertise of Gomer Pyle in No Time for Sergeants and mixing it all together. My mistake.
Re:Fantasy vs SF (Score:4, Funny)
It wasn't real when he wrote them, so he wrote fantasy. You can't change it to, for example, historical fiction retroactively.
Clarke used the science at the time and its progress to fairly accurately predict the near future. That's not fantasy. Fantasy is when you write, "From under her cloak and behind the cascade of golden hair, gossamer double wings appeared, spread outwards and vibrated, lifting her tiny, green-velvet clad feet a man's height above the courtyard's rough-hewn stone paving as she intoned in a lilting elven accent, 'Luser.'"
Be it right or wrong facts doesn't matter.
That has to be one of the all-time best AC quotes. Ever.