Category Archives: Sci-Fi Saturday
Recently, fellow WordPress blogger Anonymole mentioned in a comment here that he enjoyed Day Zero, a 2021 science fiction novel by C. Robert Cargill. I checked out the Wikipedia article about it, and thought it sounded interesting. Turned out my library had it, so I checked it out (in both senses of the word).
And I agree! It’s very good, and I’d recommend it for any science fiction fan, especially fans of hard SF. It’s the story of a robot uprising that kills most of the humans but as told from the first-person point of view of one of the robots.
It’s the story of his desperate attempt to save the child he was bought to nourish and protect as the world crumbles around them.
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4 Comments | tags: artificial intelligence, killer robots, robots, technology | posted in Books, Sci-Fi Saturday
Over the last few weeks, I’ve watched (on Netflix) two seasons of Resident Alien, a SyFy television adaptation of the same-named comic series. A third season finished airing on the SyFy channel earlier this month but isn’t yet available on Netflix.
Both the comic and its adaptation are stories about an alien stranded on Earth, but the adaptation is a severe departure from its source text. Worse from my point of view, the television show is an Idiot Clown comedy, and I’ve never cared for those. In its favor, though, it stars the inimitable Alan Tudyk.
The pity is that the comic story is much better — and much smarter — than the adaptation but has been almost entirely discarded.
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7 Comments | tags: adaptations, aliens, comics, science fiction, science fiction TV | posted in Sci-Fi Saturday, TV
Over the last few weeks, on Amazon Prime, I’ve watched all 30 episodes of the first season of Three-Body, the Chinese television adaptation of the 2006 science fiction novel The Three-Body Problem, by Liu Cixin.
That’s the first book of the Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy. The second and third books are The Dark Forest (2008) and Death’s End (2010). I haven’t (yet) read the novel, but the adaptation is said to be reasonably faithful to the text.
I enjoyed the TV adaptation but found certain aspects of it frustrating. I’m curious to see if my frustrations are due to the adaptation or inherent in the novel.
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18 Comments | tags: adaptations, Liu Cixin, science fiction TV, SF TV | posted in Sci-Fi Saturday, TV
Whatever you think about Tom Cruise the person, it’s hard to dispute that Tom Cruise the actor has turned out a lot of very worthwhile films. It’s hard to find many duds in his filmography but easy to spot noteworthy titles. Ever since Risky Business (1983) and Top Gun (1986), Tom Cruise has starred in movies so memorable that they became part of our cultural lingo.
More importantly for this Sci-Fi Saturday post, Tom Cruise has appeared in a perhaps surprising number of science fiction movies. Even more importantly, nearly all of them are good science fiction movies. Some of them are even really good.
Unfortunately, one of his rare duds is among them.
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10 Comments | tags: Edge of Tomorrow, Humphrey Bogart, Minority Report, science fiction, science fiction movies, SF, SF Movies, Tom Cruise | posted in Movies, Sci-Fi Saturday
Last Saturday, thanks to Amazon Prime, I screened a theme-related science fiction double-feature: The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008) and Arrival (2016). Both are fairly recent films about aliens visiting the Earth on mysterious missions.
The former, of course, is a remake of the 1951 same-named classic — a film good enough to have stood the test of time. Which, for science fiction films, is saying something. The remake suffers in comparison (and because it’s a remake) but considered on its own is an okay SF movie.
Arrival is generally a better film, but I do have a few issues with it.
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15 Comments | tags: adaptations, Arrival (film), Denis Villeneuve, Keanu Reeves, remakes, science fiction, science fiction movies, SF Movies, The Day the Earth Stood Still | posted in Movies, Sci-Fi Saturday
It’s not often that a modern movie really grabs me. Especially a modern science fiction movie. Extra especially any science fiction movie involving time travel (because time travel makes no sense at all). When that movie is a first-time directorial effort with almost zero budget and shot on iPhones, it’s really something very special.
And when the story, despite time travel making no sense at all, exudes a sense of sheer joy and fun to carry it along (despite time travel making no sense at all), and delights even on a second viewing — where one can pay attention to how it was shot to appear as one long 70-minute take — it gets an enthusiastic Wow! rating from me.
I’m talking about Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes (2020).
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3 Comments | tags: science fiction, science fiction movies, SF, SF Movies | posted in Movies, Sci-Fi Saturday
For today’s Sci-Fi Saturday, we have Juicy Ghosts (2021), the latest novel from mathematician turned science fiction writer Rudy Rucker. The library blurb describes it as “a fast-paced adventure novel, with startling science, engaging dialog — and a happy ending. […] It’s also a redemptive political tale, reacting to the chaos of a contested US presidential election.”
It’s very clear from the text — and explicit in his Afterward — that the novel was inspired by recent American politics. The story features a cruel tyrannical President who, backed by Big Money, steals a third term.
And is taken out by technological wizards. As the blurb said, a happy ending.
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4 Comments | tags: Rudy Rucker, science fiction, science fiction books, SF, SF Books | posted in Books, Sci-Fi Saturday
The Sci-Fi Saturday posts lately have reported on books by Robert J. Sawyer, my new favorite science fiction author, or on books by Ben Bova, one of the notable stars in the SF firmament. A couple of posts recommended interesting movies (this one and that one).
This month I’ve been exploring other things. For instance, other parts of YouTube than I usually frequent (see yesterday’s post). Relevant here, other science fiction authors. (And maybe a TV show if there’s space.)
Today’s post reports on books by: Isaac Asimov, William Gibson, Neil Gaiman, and James S. A. Corey.
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7 Comments | tags: Isaac Asimov, Neil Gaiman, Sandman, science fiction books, SF Books, William Gibson | posted in Books, Sci-Fi Saturday
I had plans today but woke up feeling less-than-great (still have a headache). Fortunately, friend was fine with tomorrow. Meanwhile, here’s a post planned for next Sci-Fi Saturday. Ironically, after my complaints about modern movies, here’s another delight.
Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022), starring Chinese superstar Michelle Yeoh, written and directed by Daniels (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert), is wild and wacky — a comedy action thriller about family, choices, and saving the multiverse. Also, a bagel with everything on it.
Gets a Wow! rating. Recommended (as ever: if you like that sort of thing).
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6 Comments | tags: Michelle Yeoh, science fiction, science fiction movies, SF, SF Movies | posted in Movies, Sci-Fi Saturday
What if, as more than one science fiction story has imagined, the sheer size and complexity of the World Wide Web made it become self-aware. And what if, contrary to most of those stories, it was wonderful in every sense of the word. What if it meant world peace, freedom, and humanity at long last growing up.
That’s the vision Robert J. Sawyer presents in his WWW trilogy, which consists of Wake (2009), Watch (2010), and Wonder (2011). It’s the tale of a young woman blind from birth who gains sight, a bonobo-chimpanzee hybrid who makes a choice, and an emergent machine-based superintelligence who wants to serve man.
And not, it (or rather he) adds, in the cookbook sense.
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17 Comments | tags: AI, hard SF, Robert J. Sawyer, science fiction, science fiction books, SF, SF Books | posted in Books, Sci-Fi Saturday
Logos con carne 