7 ms·

"Science fiction" films. I think sci fic tv series are getting main stream. But all too often I see just action films masking as sci fic such as the current s

"Science fiction" films. I think sci fic tv series are getting main stream. But all too often I see just action films masking as sci fic such as the current star trek incarnation. I want those space opera and space ship and hard stuff.

losvedir 10y ago
> I want those space opera and space ship and hard stuff. I've been watching The Expanse on SyFy lately and it's quite good! I enjoyed it so much I'm now reading the book series it's based on, and really enjoying that as well. They're slightly different, but both good in their own way.
- jorvi 10y ago
  Once you're done with that try the "Remembrance of Earth's Past" trilogy (really hardcore sci-fi, eventually goes into weaponizing the laws of physics etc.), or the "Zones of Thought" trilogy (for something comparable to "The Expanse" in terms of sci-fi level).
  - mattmanser 10y ago
    I read the expanse to book 4 until it took a serious dive in quality, the dialogue and story just went awful and I got tired of the main guy constantly being on the spot, it felt contrived. I really enjoyed the first 3 so was disappointed. Does it get better? Was it a temporary drop?
    - izacus 10y ago
      Luckly it's a temporary drop - book 4 (the one on the colony right?) is by far the worst part of the series and the next pair of books return back to the politicking and Holden being naive and kicked in the head due to it :) Also the story really starts tying up and gets better pacing.
      - mattmanser 10y ago
        Yeah, the colony one, it was really dragging. Might just try reading a plot summary and skipping to 5 then. Thanks!
      - houst0n_ 10y ago
        I read them all and I'll probably read the next one, question for a fellow reader: am I the only one who absolutely hates Holden? He doesn't really seem to have developerd or grown up al all, he routinely puys whiney personal issues over the lives of billions and etc. Things get rather interesting in 5&6 though. Scale gets quite good!
- glenneroo 10y ago
  I feel there are a lot of things wrong with The Expanse which make it really hard to enjoy. Personally I find the dialog often very weak and the acting very forced and obvious, but that's just my personal opinion. I seem to only be reading endless praise on reddit/HN. As for the world, there seems to be a lot of nonsense tech such as see-through cell-phones? No way to even hide what you are doing, even crucial characters and VIPs have see-through communication devices, whilst they steal/look at top secret information? Why is AR (using HUGE eyeglass-like devices) reserved only for very special engineers/scientists? Haven't the shows creators heard of Hololens? It's like they took VR/AR and took it back to the 80s. Why do they need to do so many things manually, yet not completely manually e.g. control an antenna, but they can do it remotely they just have to be within 20 meters? How can they open solid metal doors without electricity in zero-g? It feels a bit like Star Trek back in the 60s, before they had any clue about what was to come, except it's 50 years later and they are still using similar ideas without adding anything new. I understand compromises need to be made to adapt to the screen so that viewers can understand the world, but it seems like there are tons of areas where a bit more creativity should be order.
  - Shorel 10y ago
    > As for the world, there seems to be a lot of nonsense tech such as see-through cell-phones? No way to even hide what you are doing, even crucial characters and VIPs have see-through communication devices, whilst they steal/look at top secret information? I'm sure that's just for TV viewers to be able to see their screens. It is better than projecting the screen over the face or reflecting it on the glasses of the actors like other TV shows do. If you don't like it, that is OK, no one is forced to like anything. I don't like The Walking Dead, and it doesn't mean a lot of people is wrong, just that we have different tastes. But to be fair the show is ages ahead of Star Trek TOS in terms of plausibility. In fact, the lack of the fantastic technologies indistinguishable from magic that are present in Star Trek is very much part of the appeal. Is what makes the show more real. There's no faster than light space travel for a start. They have to use orbital mechanics to move around. They have to accelerate half of the way and deccelerate the other half. They have to dock very carefully instead of saying 'beam me down'. It is a very welcome change.
mathewsanders 10y ago
You could argue that Star Trek is an 'space soap opera' haha ;) But I agree, there are some pretty bad films being made under the science fiction genre. I want movies referencing hard science fiction (was wondering the other day what an adaption of 'The Three-Body Problem' might be like) and space operas too (Culture series is dying for a film adaption). But in terms of science fiction, I think it's great seeing non-space material being made too. Stuff like 'Dark Mirror', 'The Man from Earth', and 'Safety Not Guaranteed' are pretty good indicators to me that good science fiction has gone mainstream.
- yourapostasy 10y ago
  > ...(Culture series is dying for a film adaption). There was a recent discussion in /r/TheCulture about who Culture fans would like to see direct a movie adaptation of one of the books [1]. I'm dubious a live action film could be successful and at the same time live up to one of the books; it would take some mighty fine screenwriting to not slip into excessive expository minutiae about The Culture, and so much of the attraction of the books to many fans was the reader wasn't repeatedly hit over the head with explanations of the setting. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/TheCulture/comments/62g6mk/if_you_could_pick_someone_to_direct_a_culture/ https://www.reddit.com/r/TheCulture/comments/62g6mk/if_you_c...
  - mathewsanders 10y ago
    Nice! I've never seen that subreddit before, will dive into that thread. After posting that comment I spent a while wondering which novel would be best to jump start that sort of franchise and agree it's tricky to condense a novel into a movie. A lot of science fiction probably works better as a mini series or full TV series (could be interesting to have Culture take an approach like American Horror Story where each season is a self-contained story)
    - yourapostasy 10y ago
      > A lot of science fiction probably works better as a mini series or full TV series... If only animation automation got sufficiently good and economical enough that long-form (40+ hours) video storytelling was practical for more stories. I sometimes wonder if there is a Sapir-Whorf-style equivalent hypothesis for how we exchange our stories, where the storytelling modality (starting with just the time length our formats allow, but going much further afield with complexity management/expectations, formulation of models, etc.) shapes how our aggregate civilization thinks.
visakanv 10y ago
I really enjoyed Westworld, you might too. (It's about robots, not space, but still does a good job overall.)
- fao_ 10y ago
  To clarify: The poster is probably talking about the recent TV show, not the original movies, which were less philosophical and more action-driven (that I remember).
JohnBooty 10y ago
> I want those space opera and space ship and hard stuff. Yeah. The "mainstreaming" of sci-fi has been kind of a mixed blessing. We got all the PEW PEW PEW lasers and blinking computer lights but none of the thought-provoking stuff. God, I want some space opera. Doesn't even have to be "hard" sci-fi that aspires to realism (though it's a bonus) I liked the first Star Trek reboot movie, but I saw STAR TREK EXTREME or STAR TREK BEYOND or whatever it's called a few weeks ago and it was just atrocious. Just mind-numbing, generic action. Reminded me of the Transformers movies. I love me some giant robot fights, but the Transformers movies are just a big visual mess to me.
- NoGravitas 10y ago
  > Yeah. The "mainstreaming" of sci-fi has been kind of a mixed blessing. We got all the PEW PEW PEW lasers and blinking computer lights but none of the thought-provoking stuff. I'm inclined to agree with you, but then I also saw a couple of big Hollywood sci-fi movies this winter that were actually thought-provoking. 1. Arrival - adaptation of a really challenging short story. Drops most of the physics stuff, but keeps the linguistics, and the human element. Only adds a little action. 2. Passengers - lots of action, but centers around an ethical conundrum that will give you plenty to talk about afterwards. Agree on the new Star Trek reboot. It really offers me nothing of what I like about Star Trek.
  - wolly 10y ago
    I think that Passengers could have been much more interesting if, especially in terms of sequence of events, it had followed Jennifer Lawrence's character.
  - Mithaldu 10y ago
    To be honest, Arrival gives you little to think or talk about, other than the physics and metaphysics hollywood fucked up entirely by changing entire concepts the original story is based on. It creates a lot of structures with internal inconsistency that promote conversation only because some people will perceive them one way, some another, while in fact neither are understanding that it's just not consistent and both of them are wrong.
intrasight 10y ago
That, and that the industry has decided that the genre is "science fiction and fantasy" - probably because they think there isn't enough science fiction for its own genre. Mixing "science fiction" and "fantasy" sucks in my opinion.
Justsignedup 10y ago
Ah the fifth element. Literally had a space opera.

losvedir 10y ago

> I want those space opera and space ship and hard stuff. I've been watching The Expanse on SyFy lately and it's quite good! I enjoyed it so much I'm now reading the book series it's based on, and really enjoying that as well. They're slightly different, but both good in their own way.

jorvi 10y ago
Once you're done with that try the "Remembrance of Earth's Past" trilogy (really hardcore sci-fi, eventually goes into weaponizing the laws of physics etc.), or the "Zones of Thought" trilogy (for something comparable to "The Expanse" in terms of sci-fi level).
- mattmanser 10y ago
  I read the expanse to book 4 until it took a serious dive in quality, the dialogue and story just went awful and I got tired of the main guy constantly being on the spot, it felt contrived. I really enjoyed the first 3 so was disappointed. Does it get better? Was it a temporary drop?
  - izacus 10y ago
    Luckly it's a temporary drop - book 4 (the one on the colony right?) is by far the worst part of the series and the next pair of books return back to the politicking and Holden being naive and kicked in the head due to it :) Also the story really starts tying up and gets better pacing.
    - mattmanser 10y ago
      Yeah, the colony one, it was really dragging. Might just try reading a plot summary and skipping to 5 then. Thanks!
    - houst0n_ 10y ago
      I read them all and I'll probably read the next one, question for a fellow reader: am I the only one who absolutely hates Holden? He doesn't really seem to have developerd or grown up al all, he routinely puys whiney personal issues over the lives of billions and etc. Things get rather interesting in 5&6 though. Scale gets quite good!
glenneroo 10y ago
I feel there are a lot of things wrong with The Expanse which make it really hard to enjoy. Personally I find the dialog often very weak and the acting very forced and obvious, but that's just my personal opinion. I seem to only be reading endless praise on reddit/HN. As for the world, there seems to be a lot of nonsense tech such as see-through cell-phones? No way to even hide what you are doing, even crucial characters and VIPs have see-through communication devices, whilst they steal/look at top secret information? Why is AR (using HUGE eyeglass-like devices) reserved only for very special engineers/scientists? Haven't the shows creators heard of Hololens? It's like they took VR/AR and took it back to the 80s. Why do they need to do so many things manually, yet not completely manually e.g. control an antenna, but they can do it remotely they just have to be within 20 meters? How can they open solid metal doors without electricity in zero-g? It feels a bit like Star Trek back in the 60s, before they had any clue about what was to come, except it's 50 years later and they are still using similar ideas without adding anything new. I understand compromises need to be made to adapt to the screen so that viewers can understand the world, but it seems like there are tons of areas where a bit more creativity should be order.
- Shorel 10y ago
  > As for the world, there seems to be a lot of nonsense tech such as see-through cell-phones? No way to even hide what you are doing, even crucial characters and VIPs have see-through communication devices, whilst they steal/look at top secret information? I'm sure that's just for TV viewers to be able to see their screens. It is better than projecting the screen over the face or reflecting it on the glasses of the actors like other TV shows do. If you don't like it, that is OK, no one is forced to like anything. I don't like The Walking Dead, and it doesn't mean a lot of people is wrong, just that we have different tastes. But to be fair the show is ages ahead of Star Trek TOS in terms of plausibility. In fact, the lack of the fantastic technologies indistinguishable from magic that are present in Star Trek is very much part of the appeal. Is what makes the show more real. There's no faster than light space travel for a start. They have to use orbital mechanics to move around. They have to accelerate half of the way and deccelerate the other half. They have to dock very carefully instead of saying 'beam me down'. It is a very welcome change.

mathewsanders 10y ago

You could argue that Star Trek is an 'space soap opera' haha ;) But I agree, there are some pretty bad films being made under the science fiction genre. I want movies referencing hard science fiction (was wondering the other day what an adaption of 'The Three-Body Problem' might be like) and space operas too (Culture series is dying for a film adaption). But in terms of science fiction, I think it's great seeing non-space material being made too. Stuff like 'Dark Mirror', 'The Man from Earth', and 'Safety Not Guaranteed' are pretty good indicators to me that good science fiction has gone mainstream.

yourapostasy 10y ago
> ...(Culture series is dying for a film adaption). There was a recent discussion in /r/TheCulture about who Culture fans would like to see direct a movie adaptation of one of the books [1]. I'm dubious a live action film could be successful and at the same time live up to one of the books; it would take some mighty fine screenwriting to not slip into excessive expository minutiae about The Culture, and so much of the attraction of the books to many fans was the reader wasn't repeatedly hit over the head with explanations of the setting. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/TheCulture/comments/62g6mk/if_you_could_pick_someone_to_direct_a_culture/ https://www.reddit.com/r/TheCulture/comments/62g6mk/if_you_c...
- mathewsanders 10y ago
  Nice! I've never seen that subreddit before, will dive into that thread. After posting that comment I spent a while wondering which novel would be best to jump start that sort of franchise and agree it's tricky to condense a novel into a movie. A lot of science fiction probably works better as a mini series or full TV series (could be interesting to have Culture take an approach like American Horror Story where each season is a self-contained story)
  - yourapostasy 10y ago
    > A lot of science fiction probably works better as a mini series or full TV series... If only animation automation got sufficiently good and economical enough that long-form (40+ hours) video storytelling was practical for more stories. I sometimes wonder if there is a Sapir-Whorf-style equivalent hypothesis for how we exchange our stories, where the storytelling modality (starting with just the time length our formats allow, but going much further afield with complexity management/expectations, formulation of models, etc.) shapes how our aggregate civilization thinks.

visakanv 10y ago

I really enjoyed Westworld, you might too. (It's about robots, not space, but still does a good job overall.)

fao_ 10y ago
To clarify: The poster is probably talking about the recent TV show, not the original movies, which were less philosophical and more action-driven (that I remember).

JohnBooty 10y ago

> I want those space opera and space ship and hard stuff. Yeah. The "mainstreaming" of sci-fi has been kind of a mixed blessing. We got all the PEW PEW PEW lasers and blinking computer lights but none of the thought-provoking stuff. God, I want some space opera. Doesn't even have to be "hard" sci-fi that aspires to realism (though it's a bonus) I liked the first Star Trek reboot movie, but I saw STAR TREK EXTREME or STAR TREK BEYOND or whatever it's called a few weeks ago and it was just atrocious. Just mind-numbing, generic action. Reminded me of the Transformers movies. I love me some giant robot fights, but the Transformers movies are just a big visual mess to me.

NoGravitas 10y ago
> Yeah. The "mainstreaming" of sci-fi has been kind of a mixed blessing. We got all the PEW PEW PEW lasers and blinking computer lights but none of the thought-provoking stuff. I'm inclined to agree with you, but then I also saw a couple of big Hollywood sci-fi movies this winter that were actually thought-provoking. 1. Arrival - adaptation of a really challenging short story. Drops most of the physics stuff, but keeps the linguistics, and the human element. Only adds a little action. 2. Passengers - lots of action, but centers around an ethical conundrum that will give you plenty to talk about afterwards. Agree on the new Star Trek reboot. It really offers me nothing of what I like about Star Trek.
- wolly 10y ago
  I think that Passengers could have been much more interesting if, especially in terms of sequence of events, it had followed Jennifer Lawrence's character.
- Mithaldu 10y ago
  To be honest, Arrival gives you little to think or talk about, other than the physics and metaphysics hollywood fucked up entirely by changing entire concepts the original story is based on. It creates a lot of structures with internal inconsistency that promote conversation only because some people will perceive them one way, some another, while in fact neither are understanding that it's just not consistent and both of them are wrong.

intrasight 10y ago

That, and that the industry has decided that the genre is "science fiction and fantasy" - probably because they think there isn't enough science fiction for its own genre. Mixing "science fiction" and "fantasy" sucks in my opinion.

Justsignedup 10y ago

Ah the fifth element. Literally had a space opera.