The Road Not Taken

Short story by Harry Turtledove, 1985

Whenever most of us picture extra-terrestrial beings with the capabilities of visiting Earth from light-years away, it is assumed that all of their technology vastly exceeds that of our own. But what if only their space travel technology outdoes us and nothing else? Would that make the alien race stupid, or us stupid for not finding faster-than-light travel before such things as cell phones and machine guns?

Harry Turtledove asks this question in this spectacular short story that left me with so many questions about our own technology and evolution as humans. I found this gem in Orson Scott Card's anthology, "Masterpieces: The Best Science Fiction of the Century" but you can read it online here through pastebin.com.

 

Prometheus (2012)

Film directed by Ridley Scott

Two anthropologists (?) or scientists anyways find cave paintings that show a star map to the same planet that was the focus of Ridley Scott's and James Cameron's "Alien" and "Aliens", respectively. Needless to say, stuff gets scary and stuff gets really really gross. I really don't want to give too much away as the thin plot needs every subtle surprise it can afford if you so choose to undertake this gross/fear-fest. Seriously, don't even watch the trailer or you will figure out the entire movie after the first few minutes. 

Have you seen the classic sci-fi horror, "Alien"? Then you've essentially seen "Prometheus". This is pretty much what a friend of mine told me and, after seeing the movie myself, I have to agree totally. That being said...it was visually amazing and if you don't mind some pretty gross scenes, the movie is psychedelic sci-fi + H.R. Giger gothic wierdness. It also happens to feature what could be my all-time favorite android since Bishop of "Aliens" or Jude Law's "Gigolo Joe" from "Artificial Intelligence: A.I.".

Still, I would recommend waiting until this one makes it to DVD or even the SyFy channel.

Well, fellow Earthlings, I know I was brief today, but that's all folks!

Space out!
--Liam

Stranded (2001)

Film directed by Maria Lidon
Written by Juan Miguel Aguilera

At some point during the mid-21st century, the first manned mission to Mars goes wrong and the crew of six crash lands to the surface of the Red Planet. With the realization that a rescue mission will not arrive anytime before at least two years go by, the crew must find a way to survive in their cramped living space.

First of all, do not let the first five minutes of this film decide the rest for you. The first actor to appear in the movie actually made me laugh it was so bad. It was like someone recorded their presentation for a freshman...for a freshman class that required a video project. The intro sequence is actually annoying too, the way the credits go in and out. BUT BEAR WITH IT.

After the annoying intro, we get to the beginning of the movie...The acting really doesn't get any better to be honest. In fact, one of the worst actors is also the director of the film. There are two actors that seemed to be kind of professional but no one that I had heard of. Oh! I did recognize one: Fabienne, Butch Coolidge's French girlfriend in "Pulp Fiction". She has the same accent in this movie, too.

Anyways if you stick through the bad acting and poorly written intro, the movie actually develops a pretty interesting and somewhat-realistic plot--until towards the end where it gets ridiculous. Should you see this movie? Well, I enjoyed the middle and if you liked sci-NON-fi movie "Apollo 13" you will probably like "Stranded", too. Or at least up to the middle of it.

If you do so choose to check it out, I found it on Netflix Instant up to the date this was posted.

Special (from the album "Version 2.0")

Music video directed by Dawn Shadforth, 1998
Performed by Garbage

This music video for the band, Garbage, is a neato watch. Lead singer, Shirley Manson, plays a queen of a "peaceful people" who must defend them from evildoers (played by the rest of the band)--by dogfighting them in WWII-styled spaceplanes! Honestly, there's not much plot to decipher here but it's a really cool video!

I first saw this video when I was a young teenager and for some reason the air combat just fascinated me--and it still does. I don't think the song has anything to do with the story involved in the video, but I think the lyrics definitely add to the intensity in the combat. Also, although the video ends with "To be continued..." I'm pretty sure it was never continued.

Of course, you can watch this video right here in ScienceFictionLand (through YouTube).

The Nine Billion Names of God

Short story by Arthur C. Clarke, 1953

An American computer company gets a strange request from a Tibetan monk to procure for a him a large number of computers. The monk says his monastery requires the computers to speed up the process of going through what he says are all 9,000,000,000 possible names of God--a process that would take thousands of years without the use of these computers (which would only require a couple of months). The two assistants that are sent to Tibet to help with the use of these computers become quite unnerved when they find out why the monks want to go through all these possibilities.

Strangely enough, I first came across this story as required reading when I was a student in a Catholic middle school. I was greatly intrigued. I pondered the dramatic ending for weeks to come as I waited for sleep to come at bedtime. 

It's a really quick read and well worth the ten minutes or less it should take to complete. You can find it right here, online.

I found the photo of Yumbulagang Monastery (appropriately from Tibet) at "Within the Crainium". Its author, "joke du jour", said it reminded him of the monastery from this story and it really did to me, too. I mean look at this photo as you read the story, and all given details from the text seem completely accurate to those of the photo! Anyways, I hope you enjoy.

Well that about wraps it up for today's science fiction. I hope to keep these posts regular but, alas! Another semester of college is just around the corner. However, I will do my best to persevere, fellow Robo-Nerds.

Space out!

--Liam 

The Last Question

Short story by Isaac Asimov, 1956

What happens when we run out of fossil fuel energy? Well I guess there's always solar power if nothing else. But what happens when the Sun dies? Or when ALL of the suns die? Isaac Asimov (who may in fact be the best sci-fi writer of all time) has the characters in this short story asking the same question. For, as depressing as it sounds, the universe will one day end. Right? Fortunately, the characters in this book have Multivac, an all-knowing computer (like a less funny version of Deep Thought from "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"). Over a long span of time, several humans ask Multivac if there is any way to "reverse entropy" and stop the eventual fadeout of the universe. Is there an answer? You'll have to read the story to find out. 

Luckily it's online right here and here, depending on which font and size you prefer.

I found this story through StumbleUpon. After scrolling through to get an idea of length (by the way it's not terribly long for a short story, but perhaps a bit for the inexperienced online reader) my eyes became intrigued by the breaks in the story and variation of character names. When I finally got to reading it I was blown away by Asimov's extremely far-reaching predictions and the believability that they held. A great read.

By the way the artwork above is by ~Dragonfly22 and was found on DeviantArt with the artist's explanation.

Omega Boost

Video game by Polyphony Digital, 1999

"Omega Boost" was a great PlayStation game I played a lot in middle and high school, simply because it was one of those games you could throw in and casually play over and over again. In the game, you fly around in your giant robot spaceship and shoot up other robot spaceships and, for some reason, this never gets old. But the review of this game is besides the point. Here is what I really want to bring to your attention:

THE INTRO SEQUENCE.

The intro to this game is so cheesy awesome I just had to share it. It's hard to get a full idea for the plot from just watching it, but if you had access to the manual that comes with the game you could piece together that a rogue artificial intelligence is trying to go back in time and make itself more powerful. But YOU, key-tossing, giant-robot-flying, COOL GUY, are not going to let that happen. 

Enjoy the hard rock music that doesn't seem to fit the video. Fortunately some more appropriate Static-X appears in the actual game. If you would like your own copy, it's around $20 new, and a measly dollar-or-so used, on Amazon.