The Verge reports One of the greatest science fiction magazines is now available for free online “If you like classic science fiction, one of the genre’s best magazines can now be found online for free. Archive.org is now home to a collection of Galaxy Science Fiction, which published some of the genre’s best works, such as an early version of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 and Alfred Bester’s The Demolished Man.”
Here it is: Galaxy Magazine at archive.org.
FYI, the Humble Book Bundle: Super Nebula Author Showcase presented by SFWA has a nice collection of science fiction for dirt cheap (no DRM, multi-format).
I completely agree with Kwame Opam in The Verge, Legion gets the mystery box formula right where Westworld failed. Well, it's only been 4 episodes of Legion and it's very confusing what's going on, but I'm engaged and interested. I always felt detached watching Westworld because the only character I cared about was Maeve (and even now I had to look up her name). Mild spoilers for season 1 of Westworld and oddly, no real spoilers for Legion follow:
Both shows are dense, technically stylish sci-fi thrillers. Both shows weave rich mythologies across multiple timelines, with Westworld being set in a simulated Wild West peopled with robots that may or may not have consciousness and Legion set in a world filled with super-powerful mutants that may or may not all exist in the lead’s head. And both shows lend themselves to theories about who and what is real, where the plot is going, and if there isn’t something more sinister running beneath the surface.
Where Westworld differs is in privileging its mysteries and philosophical meditations over character and storytelling. Take William, who is much more an idea than a character. He doesn’t convey any fully realized motivations beyond a desire to be a good person for Dolores’ benefit, and his transformation into the Man in Black is an overreaction to the idea that suffering defines humanity, if not just a twist for twists’ sake. Or consider Maeve: she discovers that she’s a machine and that she’s being controlled, so she sets out to free herself. That’s a powerful and relatable motivation, but the series undermines it by questioning whether or not her actions are dictated by her programming. Don’t get me wrong: exploring the nature of humanity is a worthwhile pursuit, and I loved that about the show. But dancing around what it means to be human instead of creating memorable characters with goals turns the series into a lecture series instead of good TV.
Compounding the problem is how the show conceals information — no matter the illogical gymnastics — to maintain the mysteries until the final episode. So much energy is spent hiding the connection between William and the Man in Black, the true identity of Westworld employees, and the point of the Maze, that the show rapidly became a transparent Pez dispenser, slowly and arbitrarily dispensing treats even though we could see every piece of candy just waiting to be served.
Legion, on the other hand, is laser-focused on its main character by design. Despite being about a mutant with the power to alter reality itself, the story the series lays out is straightforward. David believes he’s a schizophrenic, but he might also be the most powerful mutant alive. So, after learning that people with powers are being targeted by a shadowy government organization, he chooses to learn to control his abilities to save his loved ones and maybe even the world. That’s all David knows, and, as a consequence, all we know. The show establishes David as a relatable person with an understandable purpose: in order to save the world, he needs to better himself. That the show subverts our expectations by asking us to question whether or not what’s happening on-screen is in his head is destabilizing, but always secondary. What he learns about himself drives him and the story forward. And when David learns something, we learn it, too. The show doesn’t withhold for the sake of mystery. Rather, the mystery is a product of its core dramatic premise.
The Nebula Award nominees have been announced. I prefer The Verge's list as it includes links to the stories that are available online. Go fill your Instapaper or other reading list.
Nerdwriter has a nice piece on Arrival. It assumes you've seen the film (spoilers), which you should.
Blind did the UI design for Rogue One. It seemed inscrutable to me but did match the Star Wars universe well. I wonder why it took so long to upload the Death Star plans because they’re all just 8-bit graphics.
(via Kottke)
It’s very good. It’s like a Star Wars version of the Guns of Navarone. I went into it knowing virtually nothing about it, having seen only one trailer a few months ago. I left very happy. It’s not without flaws, but I enjoyed it and the third act worked very well. I can quibble about some things, but that makes for fun post movie discussion.
I saw it in IMAX 3D in the second row. I even saw it in the only laser 4K projector theater in New England but I still want to see it again in 2D. I don’t think it will make much of a difference. I didn’t like wearing the glasses, I felt like I was watching through a porthole. Also lots of shots were composed for 3D, so when people are standing around talking, there’s someone’s back in the foreground covering half the frame and it’s very blurry and then there’s someone facing the camera in focus and then there’s background out of focus. The depth of field in a lot of shots seemed unnecessarily shallow. It got much better in the climax. If there’s a 2D IMAX version (I’m not sure there is) I’d go for that.
I left with a question that I can state here without spoilers. The Star Wars universe has some interesting future tech and seems short changed in some other ways. They don't seem to have decent encryption for secret transmissions, so they have to messenger things around. There's a bit of computer tech in Rogue One that just had me scratching my head of why someone would invent something like that. So here's the question. How long until Star Wars becomes the old Flash Gordon serials, where the tech is no longer futuristic?
Update: This is Film Critics Hulk’s take, Film Crit Hulk SMASH: The Slippery, Sloping Story of ROGUE ONE and I have to say I agree with all of it.
Today is the 50th birthday of Star Trek. I've certainly devoted more hours of my life to this series/universe than any other. If you're not like me, Vox offers, Star Trek, explained for non-Trekkies.
I realized I hadn't watched any Star Trek episodes in a long time because they're not rerun on any stations. I know they're available on Netflix but it's not something I'd seek out that way (there's already too much in my Netflix queue and stored on my TiVo). But I found that BBCAmerica shows reruns and has been showing a lot lately. So I've watched a bunch of TNG episodes. It's easy to skip the bad ones and the good ones bring back lots of memories. I usually list Tapestry as my favorite, but I think the finale, All Good Things the better. I also think it's the best sci-fi finale of all-time and perhaps the best TV show finale. I'll expand on that in another post.
This is my favorite Star Trek story today: Things Bones McCoy Is Not, Ranked.
In researching Sequels recently I tried ranking all the Star Trek films, there's surprisingly little agreement doing so (Entertainment Weekly has particularly odd thoughts on the matter). I think I settle out as follows.
I'm not a huge fan of the reboots. I like the characters (though Kirk is far too one-note) and am fine with the idea of rebooting the original cast, but I didn't like how JJ Abrams filmed them (lens flares) and how the stories were weak and un-Trek-like. For the record, the IMDb ratings are as follows:
Someone took the screenplays of many sci-fi films and fed them to a neural network and generated a screenplay for a short film. Then they filmed it. Ars Technica writes Movie written by algorithm turns out to be hilarious and intense. I found it incoherent and unengaging. If this is state of the art, I'm not concerned about AIs taking over the world any time soon.
The Verge reports Ronald D. Moore and Bryan Cranston announce Philip K. Dick anthology series "The show will be written and executive produced by Battlestar Galactica creator Ronald D. Moore and TV veteran Michael Dinner. Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston is also executive producing, and will appear in at least one episode. The series will premiere on the UK's Channel 4 and be distributed internationally by Sony Pictures, although it's still unclear when the series will premiere and whether it will make it to US broadcast screens."
This could be exciting.
The Hugo Awards have announced 2016 Hugo Awards Finalists. These are voted on by sci-fi fans (unlike the Nebula Awards which are voted on by writers). As is usual lately, I haven't read any of the books, but have seen all the movies.
‘The Force Awakens’ Reimagined As Calvin and Hobbes Will Make Your Heart Melt "Artist Brian Kesinger from Walt Disney animation studios drew ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ in the style of Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson and it was just perfect."
His instagram and twitter accounts are the source but have other stuff. This Rickey article looks like it's being updated with new images as they come out. These two are my favorites:
This Quora answer by Mark Hughes is definitely the best thing I've read on Ex Machina, one of the best films of last year, At the end of the movie, why does Ava ask Caleb to stay in the room?. It's all spoilers, don't read until you've seen the film (and then watch it again).
io9 lists 10 Things That Star Trek Got Right (That Have Never Been Copied). I agree that Star Trek did these 10 things well, though a few have been done well by other shows. Stargate had an expansive universe that developed alien cultures. BSG did a pretty good job of showing the dehumanizing nature of war.
It's completely unfathomable to me that Star Wars toys have left out Rey. The Verge reports Hasbro is adding Rey to Star Wars Monopoly after criticism from fans. What idiot eliminated her in the first place? And what other idiots didn't catch it or allowed it to go through?
And they're not the only one. "A six-pack of action figures available at Target eschewed Rey in favor of a generic Resistance pilot, while a Millennium Falcon play set included only Chewbacca and John Boyega's Finn, despite the fact it's preternaturally gifted pilot Rey who's handed the keys to the iconic ship."
Morons.
Tor published Oral Argument "We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to publish internationally bestselling author Kim Stanley Robinson’s first stand-alone short story in twenty-five years. In it, we get a glimpse of a very green future through the lens of a Supreme Court transcript."
It's a short and fun story about science and patents and the supreme court. The prior cases he references are real.
I saw Star Wars The Force Awakens a second time. This viewing was in 3D IMAX and it was a very nice. The film definitely holds up on second viewing though it did lose a bit of sense of wonder. Next time I'll have to do 2D to see how that works. I had some more (spoiler filled) thoughts...
I'm more convinced that Rey had some Jedi training.
The comic series Star Wars Shattered Empire tells the story of Poe's parents during and just after the original trilogy. At the end they go on a mission to rescue the remains of the tree from the Jedi Temple on Coruscant that the Emperor stole. This time in TFA I noticed that Rey's home had a rebel pilot doll as well as a model of a tree. I think it might be some Jedi temple tree she saw in her training. Also, when BB-8 first shows the map, Han says that Luke went looking for the first Jedi Temple.
Kylo Ren knew Max Von Sydow's character. Ren said he looked older. I'm sticking with my idea that Rey was a Padawan and put in hiding after Ren went dark and Sydow is there to look after her. When Kylo was told that BB8 was a girl on Jakku almost shouts "What girl?". It's possible he knows of Rey from Jedi training days. Maybe he pieced something together from knowing that Sydow's character was on Jakku and if there were other Padawan survivors there.
When Kylo is interrogating Rey he mentions an island in a sea. That certainly foreshadows the ending, but it's not clear if it's literal or metaphorical.
A friend thought she saw a tombstone next to Luke at the end. I hadn't noticed it and looked for it this time. There's a rock that sticks up but I'm pretty certain it's not a tombstone.
Rey's lightsaber fighting was very defensive until she concentrated to use the Force, as if she remembered her training.
The Supreme Leader mentioned the Knights of Ren and Rey's dream showed Kylo surrounded by what looked to be six Knights dressed in black.
The film shows only 12 X-Wings attacking Starkiller Base and 7 return from the battle.
Leia does give Rey a big hug at the end but they've never met. It does seem a bit out of place.
When we meet R2D2, C3PO says it's unlikely R2 has a complete map in his backup data. It could be from then that R2 is working to find the original map, but it's still awkward.
I had read some things saying the Supreme Leader looked like Voldemort because he didn't have a nose. The Supreme Leader does have a nose.
Maz looks at Finn and says when you live long enough you recognize people's eyes. Perhaps Finn is a decendant of some we (or at least Maz) knows.
Quora has a thread, Who is Supreme Leader Snoke and what is his backstory?. The guess is he is Darth Plagueis.
Chris Taylor lists 27 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' questions answered by the novel. They're mostly minor points but there is some info about the Republic and Resistance that I think was useful.
Andrew Todd guesses at possible edits covering mistakes in the film. STAR WARS, Storytelling, And Fixing It In Post.. "But while you can identify filmmaking mistakes as a critic, as a filmmaker you feel them in your bones because you’ve probably made them too. You feel them in the weird omissions of information; in the equally weird over-explanation of other information; in the unmotivated cuts in the middle of scenes that could only exist to mask rewritten dialogue."
Patch-up jobs are everywhere in The Force Awakens. There are instances where characters go from point A to point C without hitting point B - in a way that in the moment just scrapes by, but doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. Poe randomly showing up at the Resistance base? He was originally meant to die in the first act, so the connective tissue to get him to safety just wasn’t there. (What a terrific pivot it would have been to introduce that character then have Finn take over - but then fanfic writers would miss out on Poe/Finn possibilities, I guess.) It’s also why Maz Kanata suddenly disappears out of the movie - she originally stuck around, so there just wasn’t a farewell shot for that character.
Update: Based on the screenplay, Luke knows Rey. New Details About Star Wars: The Force Awakens Ending
Also: How Rey Reflects The Strengths & Weaknesses of Star Wars The Force Awakens
The Washington Post shows us ‘Star Wars,’ if it were directed by Ken Burns
Genius.
