scifi101

While we definitely need to be informed voters, we deserve to be spared from never-ending political commercials and news pundits.  Sci-fi television can be a very welcome diversion.  Try out classic episodes of Star Trek or 3rd Rock from the Sun on TV Land.  Or, as an alternative, please note that during the month of October, the SCIFI Channel is hosting a fillm series called “31 Days of Halloween Movies”.  Tomorrow you can catch these great classic horror movies: 

Slayer

Hellraiser 7: Deader

Hellraiser 8: Hellworld

Dead Men Walking

Death Valley: The Revenge of Bloody Bill

Dawn of the Dead

Snakehead Terror

If you are not up for a movie, the TV series fare is limited for the day but you have the opportunity to see Tales from the Darkside, ECW, Scare Tactics, Dead Space: Sci vs Fi and the X-Files. 

Now, isn’t this better than hearing one more candidate say the same thing one more time?

One Sci-Fi Obsessor (not me- I am not an obsessor), posted a list of his idea of the Top 10 Sci-Fi Books of all time.  While I am unsure of his credentials, at least this list iniated my own thinking.  I reached the following conclusion:  I have a heck of a lot more reading to do before I can create any such list.  A list of my favorites is certainly something I can create but the best “of all time” - please.  Who has that much that time to read and who can read that many languages?  Here is the list that peaked my interest.  Some of my favorites are missing but that is a different list entirely.

#1  Enders Game by Orson Scott Card

#2  Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein

#3  To The Stars by  Harry Harrison

#4  Steel Gods by Scott Gronmark

#5  I, Jedi: Star Wars by Michael A. Stackpole

#6  Dark Tower 02 Drawing of the Three by Stephen King

#7  Blood an Gold by Anne Rice

#8  Thinning the Predators by Starlin

#9  The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

#10  Dragon Tears by Dean Koontz

New movie out this week with Mark Wahblerg - Max Payne.  I haven’t seen it yet.  We are headed to the theatre tomorrow night.  It is definitely an evening movie.  Some movies just cannot be seen during daylight hours.  I am excited.  While I am completely uneducated regarding any background on the gaming series the movie is based on, I am intrigued by the movie trailers.  (Did I mention it stars Mark Wahlberg?)  From blog traffic, it appears that gamers are unimpressed but I am withholding judgment.  Even if it plays only as well as the Underworld movies, I will be satisfied.  Underworld was dark and had a few lines that made you smile when you probably shouldn’t, right?  A review will follow tomorrow.

Today I am not feeling so well so I have enjoyed a little comfort sci-fi TV.  Nothing is better than Smallville on the CW.  Good heroes, good villains.  No episodes that revolve around Lana - too much soap opera.  With the addition of Oliver Queen (the Green Arrow), we have more pretty faces for both men and women to enjoy.  The old clear struggle of good versus evil with new special effects never gets old.  This is coming from someone who has still never read a Superman comic book and didn’t see a Superman movie until the twenty-first century.  Of course, the early hours of the morning beginning around 5:00 am started with old episodes of the original Star Trek.  Continuing with full honesty, I never saw an original Star Trek episode until the last few years either.  While William Shatner is a bit over the top at times and the graphics are pretty much toy models flown in front of a camera, this is good stuff.  Spock’s wedding ceremony on Vulcan this morning - Spock showed emotion!  So I can’t watch episode after episode and sometimes I find myself thinking of the Muppets show doing “Pigs in Space” but it does bring comfort as much as a bowl of chicken soup. 

Several recent previews of new Fall TV series include a new show called “My Ex List” - a show based on an Israeli dramedy featuring a single, thirty-something woman who is told by a psychic that she has already met her soul mate and that she has only one year to hook up with him again or she’ll never find true love.  In more than one preview, the Ex-List is listed among the new sci-fi shows.  In general survey answer terms, I strongly disagree.  Just because there is a psychic in the premise, does not mean that the show falls into any sort of genre other than romance which is what this show is at heart.  If this logic follows, then many daily soap operas could be grouped into the same category.  A psychic is a sometimes useful plot line but hardly science fiction related.  Don’t be fooled.  Enjoy the show but do not call it sci-fi.

You are already enjoying the Sci-Fi world if you are a TiVo TV fan or remember your favorite TV shows from the big three networks of childhood.  This fall is riddled with returning shows and new shows that fall into Sci-Fi patterns - but more on that later. 

Everyone talks about their new favorites with families and friends or reminisces about old favorites.  Lost is a top-rated show and not because it falls into any particular genre but because it has a storyline that keeps people coming back and wanting to know how it ends.  People keep coming back even if they are disappointed by a particular point in the story.  It is like continuing to read a book even if it gets slow in the middle but you believe the ending is worth it. 

My generation has seen Twin Peaks and the X-Files embedded in our culture.  We inherited the many iterations of Star Trek.  The music of Fantasy Island scared me as a child.  Mork and Mindy made me laugh.  Quantum Leap practically defined family night in some households.  Buffy the Vampire Slayer joined us in our post-adolescence.  I never watched the original Battlestar Galactica or Buck Rogers.  I am a little to young for that but didn’t want to ignore the obvious ones.  Once I stopped arguing with Eric (my husband) about how Sci-Fi is all cheesy graphics and no substance, I realized I was had been enjoying it for years!

WILL SMITH

Sci-Fi Super Hero

Classic Sci-Fi?  No. 

Legend?  Yes. 

Remember these……..

2008 - Hancock

2007 - I Am Legend

2004 - I, Robot

2002 - Men In Black II

1999 - Wild Wild West

1997 - Men In Black

1996 - Independence Day

Did I forget one?  Let me know!

Greetings soon-to-be science fiction fans!   

Sci-Fi 101 is intended for those of you that may have formed a notion that you are only vaguely interested in spaceships or robots.  So let me ask a quick question to ease you into the conversation.  Have you ever seen a Will Smith blockbuster movie in the summer?  Of course you have and you loved it.  Spaceships, aliens, saving the world and a good sense of humor – that is science fiction.  Okay, so all SCIFI doesn’t have a good sense of humor but it should.   

If you are still struggling with the Will Smith reference, see my Will Smith SCIFI Listing.   As a relative newbie to the Sci-Fi world (I became inducted only after marrying my husband), I am still finding what alcove of the Sci-Fi media world is going to be my favorite.   Today, if I had to choose a favorite, thrilling vampire romance novels by Sherrilyn Kenyon would have to compete with television’s Stargate legacy.  Then again, I haven’t seen Christian Slater’s new show My Own Worst Enemy but I have it on TiVo. 

Let’s explore together.