The Science Fiction Thread

[axls_locomotive]

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?

[MCT]

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

[Where is Hassan Nasrallah ?]

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 ...

[Eeebs]

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. 

[axls_locomotive]

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

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

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 ...

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...

[Where is Hassan Nasrallah ?]

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

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

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 ...

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.

[Izzy]

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

[Mattgnr]

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 


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

[axls_locomotive]

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.

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

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

[MCT]

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

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

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

[Where is Hassan Nasrallah ?]

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.

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

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

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 ....

[Mr Cowbell ?]

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

[Rockin' Rose]

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'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

[MCT]

ANYWAY................. ..........

What sci-fi have you read Loco?

[Prometheus]

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.

[Doc Emmett Brown]

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

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

I found pebble to be one of those works that just burns through your imagination, and lites your sences afire.

Sounds like a must-read. 

[MCT]

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

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

[axls_locomotive]

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?

[MCT]

mars and venus by ben bova, both were easy reads but he is a good writer...

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..........

the best writers make science fiction easy to read instead of all this technobabble that dominates many novels

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...... .......

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.........

ive read dozens of star trek books

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?.............

x files and babylon 5 but they usually are too easy to read with uncomplicated plots but it passes the time

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.........

what do you think of B5?

BS...............

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

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

Sure..........

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....... ........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.............

so what are you into mct?

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

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

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

Poetry galore............

[Doc Emmett Brown]

ummm, fav book is probably neuromancer by william gibson

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     

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). 

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

anyone else with recommendations?

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.