Here Today... Gone To Hell!

Has anyone seen I Robot and has read Isaac Asimov's novels?...

is the film of the same quality as the book? and are there many novels written by Asimov that match this sort of quality?

Any book recommendations as a starter for Asimov's work?

I'm sure Prom would recommend 'Pebble In The Sky'...............The start of Asimov's hailed Foundation series...........

I robot is dumb.
we've seen this kinda movies over and over, and again, and again.
ok, they start off a good storyline, a book, but man, they way they do the movie !!! it is SOOO PLAIN !! so USUAL !!!

all these movies now, look and go the same, same events, in the same order .... i'm so bored with these movies......
i'm gonna watch a Godard again ...

Science fiction thread... okay, is this where I confess I was at one time a massive fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation & the X-Files?  Yeah... little know true fact about me... but moving on...

I saw I, Robot a couple of nights ago.  Truthfully, we saw this film as nothing that appealing was playing (uhhh, Princess Diaries, anyone?).  And I must say, I was pleasantly surprised.  I thought it was a great movie!  I enjoyed it.  There was a lot of action, bit of a story line, good characters, etc... it's a pretty good movie.  I'd recommend it to others for sure. 

ok, but is it a good novel in your opinion?


i disagree...i robot is a quality piece of work...i detect a bit of jealousy...you wont find any digital animation of even half that quality in any French film studio...

godard is pretentious...i have better things to do with my time that to watch one of his movies...

hmmm.
well, if you wanna talk about CGs, we have fight club and panic room that have the best CG ever.
but this wasnt my point,
 i just wanted to say that movies sux a lot now,  im talking BIG MAINSTREAM movies, you know.
years ago we were so impressed by terminator 2 and indiana jones ... then jurassic park and independance day came ... we were, ok ....its entertaining, nothing great, but its ok .... but now, every fuckin movies follow the same trend

some love, some jokes, stupid heroic storyline, u can smell what the actor is gonna say 5 minutes before.
so plain. im serious, i can't tell the difference between spiderman, i robot, bad boys ....

i dont wanna compare godard to anything, nor indies movies , cause we had some good flicks recently ( 25th hour...) but all the mainstream movies just arent good anymore.
and i robot isnt good.

I really liked I, Robot, though the product placement (those shoes, JVC, Audi was horrific 'hey, nice shoes!' sickening......

I, Robot is the most shocking movie i have seen in the last few... (Well, ever)

For the money spent on making it - it's a load of shite, boring and predictable.  Especially as Izzy mentioned, the marketing is  :o


Only go see this if suicide is only the next viable option

CGI: ummm i certainly dont think thats anywhere near the case...but each to their own opinion...

You certainly have a lot of negativity inside you...plenty of great films exist now...you cite the terminator as a great film but that plot could be written on the side of a matchbox...no disrespect to that movie of course

how would you see these movies differently? put the conclusion in the middle of the film? character introduction at the end...

there was no love interest in i robot, ....and a few quips maybe but nothing over the top...and im aways dubious about people who say they knew what they were going to say...the fact is you dont unless you were involved in the movie

whats wrong with spiderman? its just a representation of the comic books...there isnt anything in the movie thats not in the comic books...

of you dont like these movies then dont watch them...simple solution

i love science fiction, whether its cheesy or fantastic...and i thinkthat overall i robot is a great movie


i never noticed any of them except for the audi car...but since they designed and built the car then its only right they put their logo on it...i think im becoming numb to adverts... lol

Actually I haven't read it.........

well, u have to admit that these movies (spiderman, i robot ..) dont bring anything new.
the way it's filmed, the way the story is tell, the way it is MAINSTREAM ... it is just : " already seen".

and again, i'm comparing to what cinema could do, what it can brings, you know, you have money and time in your hand, these directors should try stuff : angles, dialogs, new type of characater ...
but no, we have the usual
nice, funny but kinda rebel hero
or the "looser" hero so we can relate to him
the usual : im strong -> i fail, i start to depress -> an old wise man tells me philosophical things -> i get strong again and i save the city. ..... blah blah blah ....

:)

I think all Mainstrean movies, Sci FI and all genre's follow a simple forumla.

Simple Plot. - It seems every movie I see nowadays 15 minutes into it you can see the ending coming.

Product PLacement and tie ins (What is the last movie you seen without one, Every movie has one Soda supplier, so even if they dont say it you see usually in the background a Pop machine (ie Pepsi) throughout the movie, never a Coke, and if you see one Coke you never see a Pepsi, same with Electronics, Cars and ewverything. If a car is the sponsor, all thbe good guys drive one car company, and the bad guys drive a car from another company and they blow it up. Afteral Remember Robocop? The police were driving Ford Taurus in that movie. No police station would ever use them in real life, but Ford sponsored the cars.

What disney happy ending. They rap everything up in such a nice and cute little package. Why can't the bad guys win every now and then?  The dont want people leaving without a happy ending telling their friends not to see SO & SO movie because it left a bad taste in their mouth.

Why cant movies end like "Empire Strikes Back","Planet of the Apes (original)", or something where Evil Rules.

Fight Club, which is my fav movie , in the book When the Edward Norton Charecter pulls the trigger to the gun in his mouth, it kills both him and the Brad Pitt Charecter. The book is so f'n' bad ass. But even in that movie they had to give it a happier ending in which he survives a bullet to the head.

How about the first 3 star wars. Empire strikes back is my fav, but I do enjoy all three. The third one was soo sappy and it was just setting up to do 2 spin-off movies for the Ewoks.  But then Episodes 1 and 2 came along and I was like Yes I am gonna see the destruction of the Jedi's, and in both movies so far its been Happy Walt Disney Movie endings. I know where Episode 4 starts and where we are at with two. I am hoping Episode 3 will be PG13 and will end on a very sour bad guys mass killing ending so it set the stage perfectly for Episode 4. I dont want another happy ending in which I have to imagine the destruction off Camera in my head, like I did with AvsP, So I guess May of 2005 I will find out if I need to give up on movies or not.

There I said it

I'm a big Star Wars fan, can't remember exactly how old I was when I first saw New Hope probably 6 or 7 but I did become "obsessed" immediately. One of the best things I remember is when my dad and I watched the original trilogy one day and then on the next day we watched the special editions.

The new Star Wars movies are kinda strange subject as this kind of film making has never been done before, in this scale at least. The movies aren't funded by the studio but Lucas himself which gives him total 100% control over the movies, also he has said that his making these movies for himself not for the audience, so this new trilogy is what he exactly want's it to be.

I must admit that I was a bit dissapointed after I saw Episode 1 but that was because I was expecting something else because I had visioned the early star wars galaxy a lot different than it was on the movie, I thought all the spaceships, technology even the movie itself would be more similar to the ones in the original trilogy. But pretty much everything was different from what I had expected but now after some years have gone by and I've seen both episode 1 & 2 many times I feel that both of them are great movies that tell an important part of the story about the Skywalker family.

btw. Return of the Jedi is my favourite

ANYWAY................. ::)..........

What sci-fi have you read Loco?

yes MCT is correct I would recomend Pebble in the Sky the First novel by  Isaac Asimov. its actualy part of the Empire triology which is followed by I, robot triology, and then the many books of the foundation era, and the great Harri Seledon himself.

I found pebble to be one of those works that just burns through your imagination, and lites your sences afire. But ill give ya a tip anfter reading the empire triology skip i, robot as it doesnt even fit in the overall timeleine of the empire and foundation eras, even though its the same universe.

I'm not an Asimov expert, but I highly recommend Nightfall and Other Stories.  He is a master of short fiction. 


Sounds like a must-read.  :)

<waving hand> Hello.................?!?!?.............Q old chap...........LOCO.............over here!!!

What sci-fi are you into, past/present?

oh yea, mind wandered

ummm, fav book is probably neuromancer by william gibson...im read a couple more of his novels but they werent of the same calibre...

kim stanley robinson, the mars trilogy, red mars is excellent, green mars is good but blue mars didnt capture my attention so ive never acually finished it

mars and venus by ben bova, both were easy reads but he is a good writer...the best writers make science fiction easy to read instead of all this technobabble that dominates many novels

larry niven is a good writer too, preferably short stories though, ringworld started off well but didnt care much for it overall

HG Wells novels are wonderful but why wouldnt they be? god of scifi

ive read dozens of star trek books, x files and babylon 5 but they usually are too easy to read with uncomplicated plots but it passes the time

im waiting patiently for the 5th series of Babylon 5 to come out on DVD...its a true masterpiece

what do you think of B5?

any recommendations of other scifi novellists? well written and groundbreaking would be appreciated

so what are you into mct?

anyone else with recommendations?

I've read 'Mars'.......and I must admit that I enjoyed it. It was however a second-rate book by really, a second-rate writer..........

Of course one can't deny Bova's place in the annals of sci-fi.......... : ok:


There is some element of truth to that, objectively speaking. For it's the writers' job to make their work clear and easy to read. A little concision can go a long way......

But I think that your above statement is one of personal preference more so than an all-encompassing look at sci-fi. Personally, I love technobabble...... ;D.......

Remember though, that there are writers out there who are considered very 'technical', yet they present the story in a way that is easy to digest.......

David Brin is a very good example of this.........


I have quite a few Trek novels under my belt (what can I say? I'm a Trek freak!), but only due to my affinity for that universe.

As David Gerrold said - Star Trek is the Mc Donalds of science fiction - and consequently, to read Trek books is to consume fast-food as opposed to fine cuisine...........but what's wrong with a Big Mac now an again huh?............. ;)


I gotta ask man - Do you read any literature outside of the sci-fi genre?

Personally, I like to mix it up. Plus I don't think I could stomach sf 100% of the time. Of course after a sf lull I practically scream for some aliens or something.........


BS............... :yes:

Actually I'm just not a fan. Nothing more.....nothing less......


Sure.......... :D

David Brin is perhaps my fav.......the Uplift series is just awesome to get caught up into......plus, the man's a great writer..........

David Gerrold comes highly recommended....... :yes:........The War Against The Chtorr series (taking place in the near future/with humanity fighting off the invasion of an alien ecology) is Grade A material. Wonderfully written, by a very talented writer, with many interesting premises contained within............

Frank Herbert is of course excellent. The Dune series is not to be missed..........

Arthur C. Clarke................Rama Series.......and a select few stand-alone novels

Orson Scott Card........Ender and the Alvin Maker series' are good reads. And of course Enders Game is a creme de la creme novel...............

A wonderful writer that I stumbled across fairly recently is Robert J. Sawyer...........I have only read Calculating God (very good book) but I was impressed. Moreover, he gets good reviews from sf communities.............


A whole lotta shit.................

I'm a big Anne Rice fan........... :yes:........

The 'classic' literature by the late greats.........

Poetry galore............ 8)

I read that book many years ago in highschool.  I remember liking it a lot.  What was the name of the girl who wore permanent sunglasses? She was cool  8)   

Later on, I read Snowcrash by Neal Stephenson, and I was reminded of Neuromancer.  Both visions of the future are catastropic, depressing, claustrophobically urban...yet oddly appealing (to me). 


You seem to like the Old Guard, so to speak. The early pioneers.  Have you read the CS Lewis Perelandra trilogy?  It's endearingly old fashioned, but he is a wonderful teller of stories.  I absolutely adored his Narnia series as a child.

In general, i dont read that many books, finding the time is one reason and i prefer to read in silence which seems near nigh impossible...you are probably right that he is a second rate writer but most writers fit that category anyway...lets say bova is one of my favourites of all the novels ive read...


exactly!...

technobabble, you must love star trek voyager...


none of my friends are really that well read...so i dont get any recommendations...besides there are so many authors ,where do you start? too much choice...ive read some classics like the three musketeers, sherlock holmes, robert louis stevenson, tolkien, biographies mainly elvis related...i have a thick tome about the hisory of mathematics, i havent read it, but its not exactly something i would take on the bus...lmao


have you ever seen it? you really need to watch a whole season before it starts to take shape...

thanks for those recommendations...ill try my library before i consider buying them...i grudge buying books unless i know i would like them

Anne Rice? isnt she fantasy? not scifi?

classics and poetry, why am i not surprised???

have you ever read His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman? ive heard its good but never got round to looking it out

molly millions, now thats a great character...wasnt trinity in the matrix based partly on her?

snowcrash sounds interesting...i wil stick that on my list of possibles :)

not sure about CS Lewis, i think thats just a bit old fashioned for me...

soooooo are you still a fan of star trek, whats you fav episode and do you look like deanna? ;)

Yes.......I am......... ;)


True.......and fair enough........


lol.......sure do......... : ok:

All joking aside though, I find Voyager to simply be the most thoroughly enjoyable Trek series to date.

btw.....TOS is another animal altogether........


I'll give ya some advice.....

First of all, don't ask yourself this question - where do I start? - just simply...'start'........

For if you have a love for literature itself, then it doesn't really matter..............

It's like music (if you're a true fan of coherent noise).......you just go along for the ride........

Of course one has to be acutely aware of their own preferences..........and of literature itself, in order to be 100% satisfied.........

But it won't exactly hurt ya to simply try a book out, now will it?


I have seen B5, yes............but a full season of it just doesn't appeal to my sensibilities........like I said - I'm just not a fan...........


It's much more accurate to say that Anne Rice is Anne Rice........... 8)

But no, she's not sci-fi..................besides I was just pointing out that I really like her work......


I love mining poetry for gold..................... :yes:


Haven't read it. Nor have I done anything more than browse, anything related to Pullman....

That's good advice.  There's nothing more exhilarating than picking up a superb book by accident.  Like I did, oh so many years ago, when I came across Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.  Once I started reading it, I couldnt put it down.  :)


depends.  I think several blood vessels in my brain exploded while reading Stranger in a Strange Land.  >:(

I've seen your spiel on that book in another thread.......I can empathize.......

Personally though, I just found it to be extremely tedious...... :-\

yea, voyager certainly is unique, its like a comic dressed in pantomime, so do you prefer pre jeri ryan or post jeri ryan? lol...ill go crazy if you say you liked kes...fav episode was probably the killing game or future tense...the episode tuvix caused a lot of debate i recall...very much in the spirit of "was she right or wrong to do that?" id take the furry rat anytime lmao

tos produced a unique mix of characters that will be very hard to reproduce...

the next gen is my fav series but tos comes a close second...


i know what you mean and sometimes i think im going to sit down and read a book but after about 30 pages, some books just bore me, like anna karenina and ulysses which i put down fairly quickly, i prefer books that are more descriptive than pages and pages of incessant chatter

but the good news is that ive bought sundiver...you seem quite taken by it and i sense that you have a good eye for a good book...

unfortunately im reading quarantine by greg egan...lets say i dont recommend it...its plot is meandering outside of this universe


im not really a lover of poetry ...maybe robert burns...have you ever read anything by robert burns? what do you think of his work?

so who do you think are the writers to avoid?

terry pratchett would be the first on my list
 

does that mean you have to read 100 books to find one good one?

i read a SCI-FI trilogy years ago, and it was like about semantics and all, and this hero named Gossein i think, and he was kinda immortal cause several bodies were waiting at different place so he could continue his life, it was a weird book named " Le Monde des A " ( world of A ).
it was half philosphical half sci fi.
i need to find that book again, cause i can't find any infos online.

It's luck of the draw, I guess  :)  But once I find one good book by author, I assume his/her other books will be just as good. 

So you can end up with a string of hits.  If you like SnowCrash (by Neal Stephenson), then check out The Diamond Age. It's in a different vein, but I hope you like it.  Orson Scott Card has many MANY great books!  :yes:

Another interesting author is Octavia Butler.  I've read two of her books, Parable of the Sower and Kindred.  She mixes social history with science fiction which is something a lot of authors dont do.  She lives in a nearby town from me, and people say she's really weird.  :hihi:

No...no....NOOOOOOOOO

The fifth season where they destroy the station? The 5th season i wasted 100 quid on to get them on video? The fifth season where its all telepaths and no fighting?

That was awful, it was criminally bad

Season 1 was great, season 2 was near perfection, season 3 was perfection, season 4 was somehow above perfection - then...then, season 5 blows it all, before that i'd have said B5 was the best scifi series ever - but with season 5 there.....everything was wrong with that, they should never have made it, season 4 finished perfectly.

yup i totally agree with you

the story was originally set for a 5 season arc...unfortunately the media company involved in financing the series took too long deciding whether to finance a 5th series...it substantially upset the story because of the complex mix of overlapping story arcs...the peak was reached too soon... the telepath war could have been so much better...

the last episode in season 5 was a masterpiece...

ps personally i missed ivanova lol
 

There was no telepath war - they hinted at it and seemed to suggest it then happened in the future :P It would have rocked with the same mix of story and ass kickin' of the past series


The one where they destroy the station for being a 'menance to navigation'? That made me cry :'(


Tell me about it - i was watching it 90% for her and 10% for those cool little fighter things they had - Starfuries or something like that. And that really camp Ranger guy who dies herocially saving her - he was so cool, they should have found a way to bring him back to life - damnit its sci-fi it can be done!!!!!!!!

What did u think of the spin off series 'Crusade' - i think it could (though i don't think it was) have been excellent, more like Star Trek but with a warship about 20 mies long u can't really fail!
 

Post........ : ok:


The last season or two before Kes left the show, she was pretty hot........ :yes:



Well, like I said - if you're acutely aware of your own preferences, then you know what your best chance of not getting bored is........


If that's the case, then I think you'll love Anne Rice........


Sundiver isn't a GREAT book (it is good though), but it's the start of a great series......


Burns is pretty good. Not exactly my fav poet....but certainly worth reading........


In answering that question I would doing you a great disservice. For you might like a particular book or author (actual writing skill aside) whereas I might not. All I can honestly say, is that you have to find the answer to that question yourself.................


........ :rofl:..........

I love Pratchett.........!!!

You see? This is a perfect example of what I just said. Terry is a great (in terms of his writing skill) writer, and I happen to like his fictional universe, and to be entertained by his books. You on the other hand think that he is a writer to avoid................


 

the telepath war started in series 5, it ended 2 years later...


aye well there was that...i thought it was cool that the station lasted out its lifetime ...and then blown up by strazyinski the series creator...the end of the delenn sheridan story,..it was fantastic...its good to have sagas in the old fashioned sense...i guess thats what im looking for in a book

the star furies were cool, seemingly nasa asked for the specs to see if they could design something similar

the series had so many great quips...favourite was the GKar "King arthur" conversation, "No moral ambiguities, no hopeless battle against ancient and overwhelming forces. They were the bad guys, as you say, we were the good guys. And they made a very satisfying THUMP as they hit the floor!"...thats a classic

Crusade, i only saw the pilot, i hadnt seen the movie that connected it with b5, A Call To Arms i think it was?...so i didnt get the connections and my enthusiasm was non existent...it could have been a good series it it had strong characters which it didnt but time may have matured the stories, we will never know

i heard strong rumours that there may be another b5 movie, probably to be released in cinemas...im getting a little excited here lol

figure hugging suits are my favourite...jolene blalock is pretty damn gorgeous too...logic can be sexy lmao...


oh yea long haired kes was better than ummm short haired kes...


..to read another book and give generously to recycling


superb...anything you can recommend as a starting point?


its got to be better than the books ive read of recent...

if it gets better as the series continues then thats all i can hope for


wise man make great fence


hahaha...what can i say,i am speechless

Interview with the Vampire.......... :yes:

well alrightee then

thats another one on the list

:)

Loco........you're gonna like this:

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/179616

Just click - Watch This Movie - and enjoy........The Picard Song......... :rofl:

:rofl: :rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:
omg someone has far too much talent and time on their hands...its psychedelic drug induced scifi

what did i deserve to have ewoks shoot phasers at me? poor little ole me...id turn them into tribbles if i could

beverley sure looks like shes got a penis hahahaha

Just another couple of links for ya.........

http://www.rainbowanimations.com/animations/

http://www.newgrounds.com/collections/startrek.html

Loco, in the anne rice sence of the world if you dont linke interview, try out "The witching Hour" its part of the mayfair witch chronicles. takes place in the same universe as the vampire books, and she merges them in a few books, and her latest book is the final merger :) cant wait to read that on w00t w00t... and well finish the others first as well lol

I am at a loss to understand the fascination for vampires, werewolves and other gore-related creatures.  Does it just appeal to the bloodthirsty nature of people?  Our desire to be immortal?   

I remember watching Interview with a Vampire back in 9th grade.  I felt that Tom Cruise's character (think his name was Lestat) was far more entertaining than Brad Pitt's lugubrious character.   Antonio Banderas' character was incredibly homoerotic.

Are vampire stories considered to be science fiction?

I dont believe so, they are pretty much in the horror or fantasy genres although there are probably many crossover books...does anyone actually like buffy charmed and angel? pretty faces with unrealistic characters

as for the anne rice books prom, if they are vampire books then i probably wont like them...

i do recommend reading "I am Spock" by Leonard Nimoy though, same subject, different department

MCT, ive seen 3 or 4 of them, i love it...

 and i have saved them for later amusement...

nah the mayfair witches series is a rather good story overall and lends nothing to the vampire ways of our friend lesat, or even a passing mention of him.

its All about witches and spirits, and one spirits transcendence to the flesh.

the homoeroticism that u speak of random, is prevalent throughout Anne Rice in general, however in the vampire lore, a la Anne Rice, it is from the Asexualism of the vampire population. you have to remember that  the actual sex of the vampire matters not, all that matter is that they are beautiful and intresting to another vampire.

How are ya making out with Sundiver?

i admit, i have been really really busy and will be up until the end of the month...maybe i will get a chance after that...dont worry ill give you my opinion for sure lmao

whats going on in the scifi world?

any new series worth watching?

what scifi movies are out this year? apart from superman

I dont know if a new movie but I've heard that a New movie about the X files is gonna be made, but now IMDB has no more info about it, a few month ago there was a title about a X file movie and it was in pre-production so for now I think nothing new  :(

I (unfortunately? ???) have become a HUGE sci-fi fantasy GEEK!! I used to hate all that space shit. However, now I love all the Star Wars movies, Huge fan of Star Trek (geek drum roll here-) TNG (only true geeks call it that), Harry Potter movies, Lord of the Rings (the biggest fan ever of LOTR- another geek moment- thank you), I've even been giving the vulgan wave to my friends. OMG! I need a pocket protector!!
Personally, I loved the I Robot film. Will Smith did a better job than I thought and the action was nicely paced.
What do most of you feel is the best Sci Fi flick? Which is the best fantasy?
My picks: Star Wars Episode V Empire Strikes Back and Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring. (If I can only chose one from each series- another scifi geek trait- series!)