Tag Archives: science fiction
These are my notes for Dissonance Theory, episode four of Westworld, season one. As with all these “notes” posts: Serious Series Spoilers! Do not read unless you’ve seen season one (they won’t make sense, anyway)!
Several plot threads are in motion now: The MiB is pursuing the maze; William and Logan are having an adventure (a Dolores just joined them); Ford is up to… something (with Bernard’s help); Arnold and a Dolores are chatting; Elsie is worried about — and looking into — the hosts; Maeve is going off the rails; so is another Dolores; and Theresa has corporate concerns.
Plus, there’s Lee, Teddy, Hector and Armistice, Lawrence (El Lazo), Stubbs, various others (and we haven’t even met Charlotte Hale, yet).
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Leave a comment | tags: AI, Anthony Hopkins, artificial intelligence, Bernard Lowe, Dolores Abernathy, Ed Harris, Evan Rachel Wood, HBO, Jeffery Wright, Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy, Maeve Millay, Robert Ford, robotics, robots, science fiction, science fiction TV, SF, Teddy Flood, Thandie Newton, Westworld (TV series) | posted in TV
These are my notes for The Stray, episode three, season one, of Westworld. As with all these “notes” posts: Serious Series Spoilers! Do not read unless you’ve seen season one!
The first two episodes (The Original and Chestnut) introduced the main characters — the Delos park personnel (led by Ford), various hosts (most importantly Dolores and Maeve), and a few key guests (the Man in Black and William White-hat). Those episodes also introduced the idea that something weird is happening with the hosts, as well as the idea that Delos is up to something more than just an entertainment park.
Now, on that foundation, the story starts to take off…
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Leave a comment | tags: AI, Anthony Hopkins, artificial intelligence, Bernard Lowe, Dolores Abernathy, Ed Harris, Evan Rachel Wood, HBO, Jeffery Wright, Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy, Maeve Millay, Robert Ford, robotics, robots, science fiction, science fiction TV, SF, Teddy Flood, Thandie Newton, Westworld (TV series), William and Logan | posted in TV
Here are my notes for Chestnut, episode two, season one, of Westworld. As with the previous notes, these are longer posts than I usually allow, but they’re intended as something useful for me, so they are what they are.
The first episode was linear, seeming to cover five days while it introduced the idea of the host loops, the main Delos people, and the Man in Black. The second episode (along with those after) isn’t linear at all — yet it is deliberately constructed to appear linear (especially at key points). This episode also introduces a key idea: that of suffering.
Note that in all these posts: Serious Series Spoilers!
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1 Comment | tags: AI, Anthony Hopkins, artificial intelligence, Bernard Lowe, Dolores Abernathy, Ed Harris, Evan Rachel Wood, HBO, Jeffery Wright, Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy, Maeve Millay, Robert Ford, robotics, robots, science fiction, science fiction TV, SF, Thandie Newton, Westworld (TV series) | posted in TV
To prepare for season two of HBO’s Westworld (by husband-and-wife team Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy), I’m very thoroughly watching the first season again… and taking careful notes!
By “thoroughly” I mean that I plan to watch each episode multiple times. I’ve just watched the first episode three times (twice in a row last night, once the night before), and I plan to watch it again so my buddy can see how absolutely stunning it looks on my new LG 65″ OLED TV in 4K HDR off the Blu-Rays I bought. (And it is truly stunning that way! I gasped when I first started watching.)
I’m transcribing my notes from last night here, in part, because my handwriting is so bad I just have to type them up, but also to share them for whatever they may be worth. Obviously: Serious Series Spoilers!
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8 Comments | tags: AI, Anthony Hopkins, artificial intelligence, Bernard Lowe, Dolores Abernathy, Ed Harris, Evan Rachel Wood, HBO, Jeffery Wright, Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy, Maeve Millay, Robert Ford, robotics, robots, science fiction, science fiction TV, SF, Thandie Newton, Westworld (TV series) | posted in TV
It’s been a long time since I’ve written a Sci-Fi Saturday post. (I didn’t post at all in 2017, so it’s been a long time since I’ve written a lot of things.) But last night I watched Mr. Nobody (2009), a slightly surreal science fiction film that I found hugely engaging and affecting, and it inspired me to write about it.
The truth is that Mr. Nobody isn’t actually surrealism — it does have a concrete narrative, but it’s a jumbled, imaginary, and fantastic one. That can sometimes be the case with really good science fiction. A common trick SF authors play is keeping you guessing until they reveal their mysteries.
Mr. Nobody isn’t particularly mysterious, but it does require that you pay close attention!
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2 Comments | tags: Amy Adams, Arrival (film), Denis Villeneuve, Jaco Van Dormael, Jered Leto, Many Worlds Interpretation, Mr. Nobody, Richard Kelly, Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, science fiction, science fiction film, science fiction movies, Southland Tales, Story of Your Life, Ted Chiang | posted in Movies, Sci-Fi Saturday
The previous posts avoided spoilers and talked about HBO’s Westworld in general terms of its themes and characters — stuff that is apparent just from the trailers and basic setup. This post isn’t like that! Do not read this post unless you’ve seen all of season one!
Or unless you really like spoilers or just don’t care about the series. But if you do, you should trust me on this: You do not want this spoiled! It may even be all the better if you avoid any interweb discussion … the fans really did figure out some of the secrets before their big reveal. (On the other hand, the show’s creators have made it clear the truth was always in plain view. And so it was.)
Here are my questions and observations about the last episode and the season as a whole. I think we all have a few questions…
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10 Comments | tags: AI, Anthony Hopkins, artificial intelligence, Bernard Lowe, Dolores Abernathy, Ed Harris, Evan Rachel Wood, HBO, Isaac Asimov, Jeffery Wright, Jonathan Nolan, killer robots, Lisa Joy, Maeve Millay, Robert Ford, robotics, robots, robots-as-menace, robots-as-pathos, science fiction, science fiction TV, SF, Thandie Newton, Westworld (TV series) | posted in Sci-Fi Saturday, TV
In the previous post I wrote about some of the general themes I saw in HBO’s Westworld. Such big picture topics are inherent in the basic description of the series — intelligent robots used as playthings — and don’t require spoiling plot points or character revelations. Everything I wrote about in the last post is part of the general context of the show.
In this post I want to look more closely at things that struck me in particular, but it requires exposing certain aspects of character or implementation that could count as spoilers if one is very strictly trying to avoid knowing anything about the show.
But if you have some idea about what’s going on, maybe just from trailers, this post shouldn’t spoil anything for you. I won’t give away any of the big secrets or reveals.
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16 Comments | tags: AI, Anthony Hopkins, artificial intelligence, Bernard Lowe, Dolores Abernathy, Ed Harris, Evan Rachel Wood, HBO, Isaac Asimov, Jeffery Wright, Jonathan Nolan, killer robots, Lisa Joy, Maeve Millay, Robert Ford, robotics, robots, robots-as-menace, robots-as-pathos, science fiction, science fiction TV, SF, Thandie Newton, Turing Test, Westworld (TV series) | posted in Sci-Fi Saturday, TV
Way back in 1958, science fiction author and critic Theodore Sturgeon coined the term Sturgeon’s Revelation. Which is that “90% of film, literature, consumer goods, etc. is crap.” This became known as Sturgeon’s Law while Theodore’s actual law (from a 1956 story) — that “nothing is always absolutely so” — is forgotten. (Philosopher Daniel Dennett expanded the Law to say that 90% of everything is crap!)
I’ve always found this applies especially to science fiction TV. And in this Anno Stella Bella era, there is a lot of SF TV, so naturally there is a lot of crap. (Honestly, I don’t even pay attention to the SyFy channel anymore.)
Happily: HBO’s Westworld … not crap! In fact, it’s a gem that offers many facets worthy of (non-spoiler) thought and discussion…
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8 Comments | tags: AI, Anthony Hopkins, artificial intelligence, Bernard Lowe, Dolores Abernathy, Ed Harris, Evan Rachel Wood, Frankenstein, HBO, Isaac Asimov, Jeffery Wright, Jonathan Nolan, killer robots, Lisa Joy, Maeve Millay, movie violence, Prometheus, Robert Ford, robotics, robots, robots-as-menace, robots-as-pathos, science fiction, science fiction TV, SF, Thandie Newton, The Chinese Room, Turing Test, TV violence, violence, Westworld (TV series) | posted in Sci-Fi Saturday, TV
So… I finally saw the most recent Star Wars movie the other night (it has already made its way to cable; meanwhile, I’m still waiting for Interstellar and Ex Machina to show up). Those who know my value system with regard to science fiction, with regard to movies, and especially with regard to science fiction movies, warned me I that I probably wouldn’t like it very much.
But I already knew that was likely just because of who directed it (same guy who nailed the Star Trek coffin shut), so I approached watching it with very low expectations and without any oxen to gore (since I was never really a fan and never really got into the characters or story).
And even so I still really disliked it. A whole bunch.
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8 Comments | tags: science fiction, science fiction movies, Star Wars, Star Wars VII | posted in Movies, Sci-Fi Saturday
A long time ago (nearly four years!) I wrote a post about my high school English teacher, Mrs. McGee (see The Love Connection) and a short story I’d written in her class. I complained in my post that she’d given me a low grade on the story because she objected to its conclusion.
Turns out my memory about the objection is correct, but she give me an ‘A’ on the paper anyway. (In fact, she compared the writing to Chekhov’s The Seagull … kinda sorta.)
I wanted to share it years ago, but didn’t know where it was. I found it just last week, and here it is:
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9 Comments | tags: English class, Phyllis McGee, science fiction | posted in Sci-Fi Saturday, Writing
Logos con carne 