SciFi: Books, TV, Movies [Archive]

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Linus

12-29-2009, 09:14 PM

I know I can't be the only one out there who loves a good SciFi show ("Dammit, Jim, I'm a doctor, not a..."). Last week, we saw Avatar (OMG! Ya gotta see that in Imax 3D! Storyline was.. eh.. but the graphics.. WOW!). I also recently finished (thanks Hulu) watching the new V episodes (I saw the entire original mini-series) and Fringe. I like the idea of contemplating things that might be, could be, should be. Along that line, I enjoy a good alternate historical fiction (e.g., Turtledove's various novel series).

So.. anyone else?

Darth Denkay

12-30-2009, 02:51 PM

Count me in! Star Wars is, and will always be, my favorite movie (both trilogies included). Haven't seen Avatar but I'm going this weekend. Last night I picked up the boxed set of the first 3 Alien movies - wonder what I'll be watching tonight...

Linus

12-30-2009, 03:08 PM

Ah, yes. A classic. Or rather classics. The first is still the scariest in my book. H.R. Giger (http://www.giger-art.com/giger-movies.html), who's artwork is used in all the Alien series of movies, definitely sets the tone for what scary aliens might be like.

Some of the "funnest" SciFi, IMO, is found in the B-Movies. SyFy is having a running go at alien, monster and time-travel B-Movies today. Actually, they may be more D-movie given how bad they are. :cheesy:

NJFemmie

12-30-2009, 03:10 PM

NJFemmie

12-30-2009, 03:12 PM

I miss watching Mystery Science Theater 3000

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:S1EcTr9TQhGrXM:http://www.stuffwelike.com/stuffwelike/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/1.jpg

I love me some sci-fi B rated cheesy crap.

http://www.collider.com/uploads/imageGallery/Mystery_Science_Theater_3000/mystery_science_theater_3000_image__1_.jpg

Linus

12-30-2009, 03:13 PM

A random sci-fi thought ....

I think it is so fucking cool that William Bell is being played by Leonard Nimoy.

I love me some Spock.

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:JNu-ZhpoBemEPM:http://img.trekmovie.com/images/sfs/fringe-203-nimoy-2.jpg

Even when he's not Spock.

Oh hell ya! It was awesome to see him there. I have to admit having a childhood crush on Spock and wanting to be like him.

NJFemmie

12-30-2009, 03:16 PM

Oh hell ya! It was awesome to see him there. I have to admit having a childhood crush on Spock and wanting to be like him.

I'm a big Star Trek fan (thanks to my mother), and have an affection for Mr. Spock. Maybe it's because he's half human. Maybe it's because of his pointy ears. Whatever it is - Spock is the man. (Not to take away any kudos from Jim, mind you ....)

I love them all.

dreadgeek

12-30-2009, 03:37 PM

I haven't seen Avatar yet. Probably this weekend.

Love the first three Star Wars movies but, I have to say, the second trilogy just didn't do it for me. Belly and I did the first trilogy again a couple of weekends ago when we both were just not going to leave the house and even after seeing each of the first three *at least* 75 times each (I lost count with Ep IV at 100 which I'd easily done by my mid-twenties) I still get a thrill at the end of them. While Ep 1, 2 and 3 all had things to recommend them, I wish Lucas had made them back in the early 90's when the technology was not quite sufficient to give him precisely the scene he wanted and so he was forced to tell us a great story.

The reason I say it's funny that someone should mention sci-fi is that I got a Kindle for X-mas ('cuz my honey loves me) and the very first book I bought was an old (25 years old now) sci-fi novel titled Neuromancer by William Gibson. It's the first real cyberpunk book and it was cyberpunk that reinvigorated my love for science fiction that *wasn't* Star Wars or Star Trek. I've read this novel at least a dozen times before but it's been a decade since I've read it. It is, without a doubt, my favorite sci-fi novel and the impact of it has stayed with me because it was Neuromancer that made me decide that I wanted to write science fiction and it was that desire to write really good that made me want to study science.

Cheers
Aj

dreadgeek

12-30-2009, 03:42 PM

Oh hell ya! It was awesome to see him there. I have to admit having a childhood crush on Spock and wanting to be like him.

I SO wanted to be Spock when I was a kid! Kirk got the green space wenches but Spock was just *cool*.

Cheers
Aj

Linus

12-30-2009, 03:46 PM

Linus

12-30-2009, 03:51 PM

evolveme

12-30-2009, 03:51 PM

I've had a love affair with sci-fi going back decades. I always leaned more toward dystopian work (such as Octavia Butler but also Ursula K Le Guin) than anything like Star Wars. Lately, though, because of what is happening in science, I've been thinking about artificial intelligences and wondering what is out there that might be worth a damn.

We who are lovers of science fiction know that virtually every invention of the modern age was written about in some fashion before it came to exist. I want to see what the future will look like through the eyes of the artists whose craft is to write about it.

I want to imagine our own evolution through their eyes and determine whether I truly see it as a dystopian (self-made) disaster or simply another long stretch of epochs stringed together toward the effort in species survival.

Linus

12-30-2009, 03:57 PM

Ok. The two of you just caused me to get more books. Damn.

I had never heard of Butler before but am presently downloading Fledgling as my curiosity is piqued.

evolveme

12-30-2009, 04:11 PM

This is where I depart from sci-fi:

The idea of a Kindle saddens me. Not physically holding a book, smelling it's pages, writing in the margins, dog-earing...well. It just feels like something romantic and lovely has died.

Beyond that, it would certainly cost me a lot less to move!

NJFemmie

12-30-2009, 04:24 PM

Would the perfection of a mind meld interest you? (That's what I'm holding out for ... pfttt..... kindle....)

dreadgeek

12-30-2009, 04:37 PM

Ah, yes. Gibson is a classic. I've read that one and still have the rest of his books on my list of To-Read. I did become very enchanted with Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon. Have you read that one yet? It is a massive read but interesting (IMO) if you like cyberpunk stuff.

Add to those ones are the likes of Gaiman and Niven (my favourite general SciFi author).

Oh yeah I read Cryptonomicon! Went out and bought it the day it hit the shelves. Don't know if I ever told you this but I was a cryptographer during my stint in the Army so, yeah, it was right up my alley!

I don't like it as much as I liked his earlier work but I love the way he introduces one of his main characters.

For those that have not had the pleasure of this sublime passage here it is, in all of its rambling glory:

Let's set the existence-of-God issue aside for a later volume, and just stipulate that in someway, self-replicating organisms came into existence on this planet and immediately began trying to get rid of each other, either by spamming their environments with rough copies of themselves, or by more direct means which hardly need to be belabored. Most of them failed, and their genetic legacy was erased from the universe forever, but a few found some way to survive and to propagate. After about three billion years of this sometimes zany, frequently tedious fugue of carnality and carnage, Godfrey Waterhouse IV was born, in Murdo, South Dakota, to Blanche, the wife of a Congregationalist preacher named Bunyan Waterhouse. LIke every other creature on the face of the earth, Godfrey was, by birthright, a stupendous badass, albeit in the somewhat narrow technical sense that he could trace his ancestry back up a long line of slightly less evolved stupendous badasses to that first self-replicating gizmo--which, given the number and variety of its descendants, might justifiably be described as the most stupendous badass of all time. Everyone and everything that wasn't a stupendous badass was dead.

As nightmarishly lethal, memetically programmed death-machines went, these were the nicest you could ever hope to meet."

That is the best summation of neo-Darwinian theory I have ever read and my favorite character introduction ever.

Cheers
Aj

dreadgeek

12-30-2009, 04:46 PM

Oh.. and before I forget. Since you bragged about the Kindle.. ;) I get to go one further in that I have the Kindle App on my iTouch so I can listen to music while reading and having a hand-sized "book" rather than a full sized one ;)

Just sayin'..

http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2007/04/spockponfarr.jpg

Oh like you think I didn't have the Kindle app on my iPhone? You've met me, right? LOL

I LOVE that I can read something on my Kindle and then when I'm taking a break at work, continue reading on my iPhone in a seamless fashion.

And don't get me wrong, I LOVE the feeling of a book. For me the Kindle is practical (along with being insanely great). When I'm not in school, I leave the house for work with my laptop and at least two, usually three, books in my messenger bag. Add to that some massive textbook during the school year and I can easily have a bag that's coming in around 15 lbs or so depending upon what I'm reading at the time. Before I got the Kindle, for instance, I had the new Terry Pratchett in hardcover and the new Richard Dawkins in hardcover Thorsten Veblen's "Theory of the Leisure Class" in the bag. Did I mention I cycle to work?

So this way, I no longer have to worry about "which book(s) do I haul today" I can take as many with me as I wish, in the same 10 oz package and can read whatever it is I feel like reading that day. It saves my back. Oh and did I mention that the Kindle is insanely great?

There's things I promised Belly I wouldn't get on the Kindle--like any new Terry Pratchett since we both worship him as a literary god.

Cheers
Aj

dreadgeek

12-30-2009, 04:49 PM

If it's any consolation, I think both of you are extremely "Spock-Like"

Is Terry Pratchett considered Sci-Fi? Or is it just Fantasy? At any rate, I <3 him so much. How he combines political satire with popular culture references and then adds them to a whole 'nother solar system, like ours, but on the back of a turtle.

I also got a Kindle for Xmas, I just need to figure out how to use the damn thing...Anyone? Spock?

I would put Pratchett in the realm of fantasy having the exact same relationship to fantasy as Douglas Adams did to science fiction.

Anytime you want to hang out, June, I'm happy to show you around the Kindle.

And thank you for saying I was Spock-like (Spocksh?), that's the second nicest thing I've heard all day. "Belly saying "I love you" being the first"

Cheers
Aj

Linus

12-30-2009, 10:07 PM

Ah.. AMC had Aliens on (just finished watching that) and now am watching Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. Between Tina Turner's Aunty Entity and Mel Gibson's Mad Max (prior to his Last Temptation of the Christ) don't know who's more interesting..

Waldo

12-30-2009, 10:21 PM

Waldo

12-30-2009, 10:22 PM

I also got a Kindle for Xmas, I just need to figure out how to use the damn thing...Anyone? Spock?

If you weren't so busy giving me a hard time about my Kindle in Mexico you would be a Kindle pro by now... but NOOOOO.

Medusa

12-30-2009, 10:28 PM

I JUST discovered Neil Gaiman and am reading "American Gods". It is, so far, pretty brilliant.

Does Margaret Atwood fall here? :)

Linus

12-30-2009, 10:36 PM

I JUST discovered Neil Gaiman and am reading "American Gods". It is, so far, pretty brilliant.

Does Margaret Atwood fall here? :)

American Gods is awesome.

You might also want to check out Good Omens and Neverwhere.

Darth Denkay

12-31-2009, 12:47 PM

This thread is making me think about my favorite sci-fi's through the years. Anyone remember Tron? It's going on my Netflix list...

turasultana

12-31-2009, 12:56 PM

American Gods is awesome.

You might also want to check out Good Omens and Neverwhere.

LOVE Neil Gaiman! i have Neverwhere the Brit mini series on DVD. The book was actually based on the show.

I grew up on Sci fi. Star trek (along with Monty python) was required tv watching by my Dad when I was kid. Got to stay up late or whatever it took, it was homework :) I've inherited quite a few of his 1950s/1960s sci fi paperbacks (double sided Ace etc.) Grew up on Heinlein, Philip K. Dick, Ursula La Guin etc etc.

I'm a big ole geek, fringe, battlestar galactica, Babylon 5, blah blah blah. :)

not exactly sci fi , but urban fantasy like Neil Gaiman with a socialist bent is China Mieville. read the Scar or Perdido Street station. He rocks.

Linus

12-31-2009, 01:10 PM

This thread is making me think about my favorite sci-fi's through the years. Anyone remember Tron? It's going on my Netflix list...
I heard they were doing a remake of Tron (Tron 2.0?).

LOVE Neil Gaiman! i have Neverwhere the Brit mini series on DVD. The book was actually based on the show.

I grew up on Sci fi. Star trek (along with Monty python) was required tv watching by my Dad when I was kid. Got to stay up late or whatever it took, it was homework :) I've inherited quite a few of his 1950s/1960s sci fi paperbacks (double sided Ace etc.) Grew up on Heinlein, Philip K. Dick, Ursula La Guin etc etc.

I'm a big ole geek, fringe, battlestar galactica, Babylon 5, blah blah blah. :)

not exactly sci fi , but urban fantasy like Neil Gaiman with a socialist bent is China Mieville. read the Scar or Perdido Street station. He rocks.

Oh.. I just watched the pilot of Caprica today. Interesting. And I see that BG: The Plan is coming out. I do wish they had continued the B5 series or a spin-off. I miss that.

Darth Denkay

12-31-2009, 01:13 PM

Hmmm, this could be a good thing or a very very bad thing me thinks...

[QUOTE=Linus;28726]I heard they were doing a remake of Tron (Tron 2.0?).
QUOTE]

Sweet_Pea

12-31-2009, 01:30 PM

I am thinking of getting a kindle soon, for now i read off the laptop. I havent boughten a book in a LONG time.

Linus

07-24-2010, 08:06 PM

Anyone else a fan of Doctor Who, whether TV or book versions?

Linus

05-14-2011, 09:52 PM

Bumping a bit. Anyone else watching Doctor Who this season on BBC America?

All I can say is OMG! It's so awesome! Matt Smith makes a great mad doctor!

wolfbittenpoet

05-15-2011, 09:38 AM

Neil Gaiman's The Doctors Wife may quite possibly be my favorite Matt Smith Dr Who Episode ever. It was amazing and a half.

So anyone else like Vonnegut and I am a steampunk addict.

Linus

05-15-2011, 10:15 AM

Neil Gaiman's The Doctors Wife may quite possibly be my favorite Matt Smith Dr Who Episode ever. It was amazing and a half.

So anyone else like Vonnegut and I am a steampunk addict.

Ah.. so that's who wrote that episode. It was awesome and Suranne Jones as Iridis/Tardis Iridis was awesome!

And I've recently become a steampunk addict. I always like that whole concept of advanced clockwork and historical settings. I've been reading Stephen Hunt's (http://www.sfcrowsnest.com/author/index.php) Jackelian series. And just started Cherie Priest's Boneshaker (zombies and steampunk!) I'm up for suggestions of other authors books/series if anyone has any.

wolfbittenpoet

05-15-2011, 10:20 AM

Lavie Tidhar's Bookman is cool
I also really liked White Chapel Gods by S.M. Stirling

Starbuck

05-15-2011, 07:59 PM

I love Dr. Who! I've only been able to catch two episodes this season and strangely enough it was the same epidsode!

Unfortunately I do not like the new Doctor; he's a bit on the ugly side...but that's not why I don't like him. I just REALLY liked the previous Doctor. In fact, I think I may have had a bit of a crush on him?? Or at least wanted Martha Jones to get with him on a permanent basis; I really liked her too, she was pretty.

Now from the last Doctor's companion list, I absolutely couldn't stand Donna. She was just a twit! Too mouthy and rude...shall I tell you how I really feel? LOL.

kannon

05-15-2011, 08:51 PM

Dark City

12 monkeys

Blade Runner (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep) Philip Dick. What does it means to be human? The only way Deckard and other blade runners can tell the difference between advanced modes and humans is the Voigt-Kampff which detects emotions.

Starbuck

05-16-2011, 09:34 PM

My favorite sci fi movie has to be DUNE. I've read the majority of the book series and they were pretty darn good too. A few of my favorite quotes from the movie:

PAUL: I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.

PITER: It is by will alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the juice of sapho that thoughts acquire speed, lips acquire stain, stains become a warning. It by will alone I set my mind in motion.

PAUL: Father! The sleeper has awakened!

ALIA: My brother is coming and he is bringing many Fremen warriors...

PAUL: Silence! I remember your Gom Jabbar, now you remember mine. I can kill with a word!

Gemme

05-17-2011, 10:04 PM

My honey loves Firefly.

Ebon

05-17-2011, 10:12 PM

Thanks for bumping this for me baby.

Firefly
Dollhouse
Battlestar Gallactica
Stargate SG1, Atlantis, Universe was ok, not as good as the others.
Warehouse 13
Eurecka
Twilight Zone Original b&w

Starship Troopers
New Star Wars movie
The Stargate movies

Trishagee

05-18-2011, 08:03 PM

(Sci-Fi will definitely pull me out of lurker status!!!) I am a big Dr. Who fan... I DVR each and every episode, I really enjoy all the BBC Sci-Fi.

I also like a few shows here right now, such as Stargate Universe and Sanctuary...

I am more a Sci-Fi reader and LOVE Piers Anthony and Varley!

I also enjoy Heinlein, Farmer and many other.

My favorite books of all time is the Incarnation series by Piers Anthony

I have also found a new love which is urban fantasy, such as the Borderland series and anything by De Lindt. Sadly not too many of these books are available via Kindle :(

dark_crystal

05-18-2011, 08:49 PM

Someone said Cryotonomicon! Did you read the three prequels? I just finished a long Stephenson spell and then plowed through all of City Doctorow, now I am catching up on William Gibson- I had only read Neuromancer but now I am on the Bigend trilogy. And I read everything on my Kobo (Borders version of Kindle)

TenderKnight

05-15-2012, 01:38 PM

Found this thread by running a search on "Dune"..

Love sci-fi.. Books, TV shows, movies.. all of it is like the best kind of food for my brain :)

Currently I'm on a "Dune" kick, re-reading the entire series.. I also love fantasy and can not wait until the last book of the Wheel of Time series is out in print.. Will post later but wanted to bump this thread with my nerdiness :)

Julien

05-15-2012, 02:05 PM

I miss Battlestar Galactica and the forever strong female leads such as Laura Roslin, Starbuck, Six, and Boomer. Good or bad these women are great. Thank the Gods I have the series on DVD.:sunglass:

Cailin

11-24-2014, 01:25 PM

Jedi

11-24-2014, 04:51 PM

I really like the Heir to the Empire trilogy by Timothy Zahn

I'm a huge Neil Gaiman fan

I really loved Stargate Atlantis

Of course anything and everything Star Wars

Almost anything Star Trek

Babylon 5

X-Files

Alien movies

The list is endless.......I love all the campy 70s sci-fi series.......but I digress