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.

Star Wars: Tales of the Bounty Hunters

Anthology edited by Kevin J. Anderson, 1996

If you've seen Star Wars: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back...OK let's be real, you've seen it. Remember that short scene with all of the bounty hunters on Vader's ship? The authors that took part in this anthology had enough from that scene to write pages on these guys. Not only do you learn where each of these villains come from, but their (mostly) futile attempts to catch Han Solo during Episode V are described as well. If you read the whole book, you get five totally different stories, only sharing the aforementioned scene from Episode V in common (and a few other encounters between each other).

I found this book at a hospital on a "free books-shelf" [AWESOME]. What's neat about this collection is you don't have to read the whole book to enjoy it. I did, of course, but each story is great by itself too. If you're not a big Star Wars fan the first "tale", IG-88's "Therefore I Am" by the editor, is an awesome sci-fi story by itself. You don't really need to know anything about the Star Wars universe to get it and it's classic homicidal robot madness. If you ARE a Star Wars fan I would recommend the second story in the anthology, "Payback", Dengar's tale. It includes a fair amount of lore on Han Solo's past as well as other locations during Episode V and was definitely my favorite in the book.

I've seen this book in most bookstores and it's not expensive. It's definitely worth a look for at your local library at least!

Well that is all for today's posts, Space Homies. I hope to bring you more next week.

Until then,

Space Out!
--Liam

Moon (2009)

Film written/directed by Duncan Jones

So somewhere in the not-too-distant future, a wealthy corporation has set up a mining facility on the Moon. Only one person is needed to operate it and they do so in 3-year stints. Our protagonist, Sam Bell has almost reached the end of his 3-year tour and he is incredibly anxious for his replacement to show up so he can go home and see his family.

Well, not only is he anxious, he is hallucinating. Three years in isolation will do that to someone who only has himself and a computer to talk to (he is unable to communicate live to anyone on Earth for reasons explained in the film). Anyways, Sam eventually meets his replacement (or does he?) and let's just say things don't work out as planned.

I didn't hear too much advertisement or talk about this movie when it came out, but I loved it. The story was classic sci-fi. No unnecessary action scenes or special effects, just a great story. It was well-casted, too. Sam Rockwell ("The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", "The Green Mile") plays the protagonist and creepmeister Kevin Spacey voices the paranoia-feeding computer, GERTY.

Oh yeah and it was written and directed by David Bowie's son. 'NUFF SAID.

Watch the entire movie for free through Crackle.com right here:

Brainwave

Novel by Poul Anderson, 1956

One day in the mid-1950s, everyone wakes up a little bit smarter. Actually, they wake up A LOT smarter and continue to gain intelligence. This sounds like a great thing for humanity but it actually becomes more of an apocalyptic problem. The world's custodians and factory workers begin to get too bored for work. Foreign relations get even more complicated than usual and not everyone is coping with all the new ideas that are suddenly surfacing in their mind. 

OH YEAH. Not only do humans get smarter, but so does every other sentient being on Earth. For instance, pigs don't really like being harvested for food anymore and take on the offensive against their captors. On a much more neato note though, dogs can understand their masters perfectly and at least some chimps even speak rudimentary English.

I first heard of this novel when it was referenced in Stephen King's "The Tommyknockers". I'm happy I did. While it's not the greatest story-telling ever, sci-fi master Poul Anderson does an awesome job of describing every broad and minute effect a sudden global intelligence boost would have on our world. You can get it crazy cheap on Amazon, too.

I Shot an Arrow into the Air (from "The Twilight Zone")

TV episode written by Rod Serling, 1960

Three astronauts crash onto a desert-like planet and quickly realize their hope for survival is slim. As the trio's water supply diminishes, tensions rise to horrific consequences. Oh, and of course there is a crazy twist at the end.

I watched this classic "Twilight Zone" episode (Season 1, Ep. 15) a little while ago and it easily became one of my favorites. The twist at the end was actually used in a Futurama episode (I'm not going to mention which one so I don't spoil this awesome Rod Serling story). I highly suggest checking it out. It's only 24 minutes long and has been available on Netflix Instant at the date this was posted. Or watch it in three parts right here, through YouTube:

Welcome...to ScienceFictionLand!

Hello there, my fellow Space Homies, and welcome to ScienceFictionLand!

My hope is to make this blog a center of everything "sci-fi", be it short stories, television, movies, art, or even tourist attractions. I hope to get everything underway shortly, so if this is the only thing you can see in ScienceFictionLand, please return soon! There will be many more attractions on the way.

Until next time my friends,

Space Out!

--Liam