I have been thinking about the Star Trek movie for a while now.
My first train of thought brought me to question where the creators were really going with the story line. A lot of action happens, but really the entire stage is simply set for the true store - the love story between Kirk and Spock.
The basis is there in the old series for this new found 'bromance' - their relationship developed probably more in the film series than in the TV series of Star Trek. Things like the much cliched "I am and always will be your friend". Bromance.
But then I got thinking further - there must be more to it than this! The Star Trek Movie (11) was heralded as a triumph by many - dubbed the "Star Wars" of this generation (don't get me started on that). So there must be more going on than a simple fan fiction come to life.
Then it struck me - who is Kirk? He is a headstrong, impulsive charismatic leader - he is be any standard the Quarterback, or the Captain (excuse the obviousness).
Who is Spock? In this movie more than any other he is the outcast, the geek with the silly haircut who relies more on book learnin' than street smarts. Spock is a nerd.
So what does the Star Trek Movie (11) show us? Well it is a love affair between Nerds and Jocks. Terms that seem so archaic in today's society that they hark back to the days when Star Trek was actually new. So maybe this was always the formula - to combine nerds with jocks and try to explore that valley between the two. Where the brain and the brawn can come together to truly make a better world. That unexplored space of our psyche... where no man has - you know what? I can't even cliche myself to say it.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
The 1940s
The 90's were all about getting away from the 80's, and what we considered cliche from that time. The music went grungier and less produced (or at least it was pitched as such), Hawaiian shirts came in and left, the Macarana came and left, black culture proved more interesting than white and in total it felt like we were taking culture from everywhere to distance ourselves from the 80's.The 00's were all about re-establishing our nostalgia for the 80's. Shows like Scrubs had a common fall back trope of loving the kitch culture of the 80's, movies like Suddenly 30 and Music and Lyrics came out as hits because they tapped into the nostalgia of the 80's. We saw it as this silly, naive time and saw how silly we all were and then loved our past selves much like we would an innocent puppy (With the occasional laughing at ourselves, like the unintentional slapstick aspects of puppies). I would argue even people born in the 90's gained some joy looking at the archaic 8-bit graphics of yesteryear.
SO! Why all this talk? I'm not here to study social tendencies, as much more qualified people are want to do, I am here to make wild statements about our future, as Sci Fi is want to do!
My predicition for the stylings of the 2010's is: 1940's and 50's.
From the media I've observed in many fields, I have found that the 1940s vibe has entered popular culture, that it will be the core undertones of the 10's (or at least the beginning thereof).
Already there are more than a few examples coming about in media:
The themeatic setting of computer games such as Bio-shock and Fallout 3
The new movies like Indiana Jones which use it setting wise
Inclusion of old songs to give films an "authentic" touch. Their use in Watchmen and Severance are notable.
A rise in popularity for 'pin-up' models rather than the anorexic thin type
The why's of it both elude and facinate me. One argument could be it is a turn away from the futuristic aspect of life that we're currently in. At one time people could have been excused for thinking that technology would save us all before things like the GFC and Global Warming put a downer on that. A wish to go back to a simpler time could be the explanation.
There's also the mirror situtation - the 1940s being a period of recovery after a massive market collapse as well as being deep in a military psyche due to the wars of the day. There is often a tone of sadness in songs from this time, revealing a reflective nature as the people of the day come to grips with what they lost in the war, the war ahead of them and the impending threat of technology (i.e. the nuclear bomb).
It may well be that our timing is right for such sentimentality - sadness behind us (with 9/11 for us and Pearl Harbour for them), doom in front of us (Nazi threats and Terrorism and the GFC) and fear for the future (USSR with nukes for the 1940s and for us... well... if you weren't scared enough)
From all of that, it is not a stretch that people of today would find comfort, solace or even just a rapport with the people of 1940's-50's, and my prediction is that rapport will continue to influence us in our film, TV, music and interactive material.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Star Wars: The Clone Wars Series
I'm sure that you're all familiar with the movie come TV show, Star Wars: The Clone Wars so I won't go into its history or setting beyond the fact that it is set between Star Wars Episode 2 and 3.
I should start out by saying I've never watched the movie. Or that is to say, I have watched 15 minutes of the movie and felt my soul eroding at an ever increasing rate so turned it off before permanent damage was done. I have however seen a few episodes of the TV show (Played at the dead hour of 12pm on a Sunday where I live).
From what I've seen of the series, it has potential but is clearly classified as "Spin Off" material. Now some people (specifically the marketing team at LucasArts) have emphasized the changes they've already made in trying to separate the show from the movies, however a lot more could have been done to make it a property in its own right.
What I'm talking about is getting rid of Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi and to a certain extent the other really well known characters (Count Dooku, Mace Windu, Amidala and Palpatine). We know how that ends. The only character who progresses in any way is Anakin and we've been shown the evil in Anakin since episode 1. From 2 to 3 there hasn't exactly been too much change for our little minds to handle, specifically change that requires an additional series to understand.
Put frankly, Anakin is little more than a 2D character (no pun intended), cursed by his inevitable downfall since we first meet him. A lot of extra material has been done between Episodes 4, 5 and 6, but in all of those the future was still in flux. Luke Skywalker honestly started as an earnest farmboy and ended up facing major moral questions. Anakin stared as a pretentious kid who had a lot of power and anger - and ends up a pretentious adult with a lot of power and anger (and a blade to let both out). Obi-Wan has almost no character development between the movies and the same can be said of 90% of the cast.
SO! Back to The Clone Wars - Rather than give us familiar characters then make them out of wood, give them different voice actors and put them as the "core" around which other characters can reveal themselves, why not put them in the far distance - heroes of the republic who seemingly can't fail and have more sway in the Jedi council than in reality they should. Why not make our core characters Jedi who diligently follow orders but are a little skeptical of the whole thing? Maybe they're stranded away from Republic support or end up having to fight their own dark side? How about a Jedi and admiral who fall in love but are faced with the problem when the admiral has to choose who to send into battle and in particular some suicide mission?
The series has done a decent job of getting subsidiary characters up and established who have most likely done one or all of what I mentioned above (that's the potential I mentioned above). In the end though, we always come back to Anakin or Obi-Wan who form the core of the over-arching narrative. Hardly any of these characters are important for more than 1-2 short scenes each episode. We know how the war ends. We know how Anakin, Padame and Obi-Wan end. Most of us are over it.
I'll leave it with a simple comparison - Band of Brothers. A TV series. Set during a war. We know the outcome of the war and it has been done to death in other series / mediums. Yet still they make one of the most compelling shows I've ever seen because they make us care about who lives and who dies, what friendships are made, who proves themselves in battle and who ends up running away just when they shouldn't - not the big-ass war going on to which we already know the outcome.
I should start out by saying I've never watched the movie. Or that is to say, I have watched 15 minutes of the movie and felt my soul eroding at an ever increasing rate so turned it off before permanent damage was done. I have however seen a few episodes of the TV show (Played at the dead hour of 12pm on a Sunday where I live).
From what I've seen of the series, it has potential but is clearly classified as "Spin Off" material. Now some people (specifically the marketing team at LucasArts) have emphasized the changes they've already made in trying to separate the show from the movies, however a lot more could have been done to make it a property in its own right.
What I'm talking about is getting rid of Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi and to a certain extent the other really well known characters (Count Dooku, Mace Windu, Amidala and Palpatine). We know how that ends. The only character who progresses in any way is Anakin and we've been shown the evil in Anakin since episode 1. From 2 to 3 there hasn't exactly been too much change for our little minds to handle, specifically change that requires an additional series to understand.
Put frankly, Anakin is little more than a 2D character (no pun intended), cursed by his inevitable downfall since we first meet him. A lot of extra material has been done between Episodes 4, 5 and 6, but in all of those the future was still in flux. Luke Skywalker honestly started as an earnest farmboy and ended up facing major moral questions. Anakin stared as a pretentious kid who had a lot of power and anger - and ends up a pretentious adult with a lot of power and anger (and a blade to let both out). Obi-Wan has almost no character development between the movies and the same can be said of 90% of the cast.
SO! Back to The Clone Wars - Rather than give us familiar characters then make them out of wood, give them different voice actors and put them as the "core" around which other characters can reveal themselves, why not put them in the far distance - heroes of the republic who seemingly can't fail and have more sway in the Jedi council than in reality they should. Why not make our core characters Jedi who diligently follow orders but are a little skeptical of the whole thing? Maybe they're stranded away from Republic support or end up having to fight their own dark side? How about a Jedi and admiral who fall in love but are faced with the problem when the admiral has to choose who to send into battle and in particular some suicide mission?
The series has done a decent job of getting subsidiary characters up and established who have most likely done one or all of what I mentioned above (that's the potential I mentioned above). In the end though, we always come back to Anakin or Obi-Wan who form the core of the over-arching narrative. Hardly any of these characters are important for more than 1-2 short scenes each episode. We know how the war ends. We know how Anakin, Padame and Obi-Wan end. Most of us are over it.
I'll leave it with a simple comparison - Band of Brothers. A TV series. Set during a war. We know the outcome of the war and it has been done to death in other series / mediums. Yet still they make one of the most compelling shows I've ever seen because they make us care about who lives and who dies, what friendships are made, who proves themselves in battle and who ends up running away just when they shouldn't - not the big-ass war going on to which we already know the outcome.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Sci Fi and Spirituality
An interesting notion came to me recently, in the difference between "soft" science fiction like Star Wars, the Matrix, the Fifth Element and "hard" science fiction like Star Trek and Star Gate is clearly on the one hand about explaining how the wonderful things that are happening occur (dilithium crystals, DHDs, etc) but also there tends to be a level of spiritualism in the former that is sometimes lacking in the latter.
In many cases, the "soft" or science fantasy genre like Star Wars or the Matrix often rely on spiritualism as a form of displaying the character progression - in a sense, rebelling against the very concept of technology to survive the technological future. I'm sure there's no better example of this than a simple line uttered by Darth Vader - “Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed. The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force.”
If you wanted to take an even more in depth look - you could make the comparison that in the hard science shows, technology quite often acts as a solution, while in the science fantasy it is often the problem. Could this be an example of humanity's thoughts towards science when we don't know how it works? Or perhaps they just take spirituality as a method of forcing the story along a lot faster than taking the time to explain how stuff works.
"God did it" is certainly a simple way to wave off complex ideas, although maybe the only difference between hard sci fi and science fantasy is that in sci fi they simply look you in the eye and say "An-advanced-alien-race-very-similar-to-what-we-conceive-to-be-god did it"
In many cases, the "soft" or science fantasy genre like Star Wars or the Matrix often rely on spiritualism as a form of displaying the character progression - in a sense, rebelling against the very concept of technology to survive the technological future. I'm sure there's no better example of this than a simple line uttered by Darth Vader - “Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed. The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force.”
If you wanted to take an even more in depth look - you could make the comparison that in the hard science shows, technology quite often acts as a solution, while in the science fantasy it is often the problem. Could this be an example of humanity's thoughts towards science when we don't know how it works? Or perhaps they just take spirituality as a method of forcing the story along a lot faster than taking the time to explain how stuff works.
"God did it" is certainly a simple way to wave off complex ideas, although maybe the only difference between hard sci fi and science fantasy is that in sci fi they simply look you in the eye and say "An-advanced-alien-race-very-similar-to-what-we-conceive-to-be-god did it"
Thursday, April 2, 2009
An Inquisition
From watching my way through Stargate SG1 Season 1 and 2 I have noticed a strange trend that happens to appear in multiple episodes. This is the trend of negating a direct response to stimulus. It was the episode "Prisoner" in Season 2 that got me thinking of this.
In this episode the team go to a prison planet, presumably created thousands of years ago. One character makes a reference to Australia, how it was originally a prison colony. It got me thinking - why exactly is Australia not a "wretched hive of scum and villainy"? Aside from a few occasional incidents the population here are not planning their eventual revenge on England - we got over it.
That got me thinking furthermore - Why does it seem like most societies that are visited in things like Star Trek and Stargate simply adjust to their environment rather than respond to it. I'm thinking something along the lines of a desert planet where they spend 90% of their days in either air conditioning or in pools? To an ice planet where the explorers are met with the full force of a heating system designed by people who have had thousands of years not-wanting-to-be-cold-anymore.
Unfortunately this brings me to the sad realisation of the failure of things like Stargate and Star Trek - it is revealed in a very simple thought experiment. Imagine a superior alien race lands at stone hedge and decides not to search more than 2 km around the site. Our entire planet would be summed up as "the England planet". If I find a solution to this, I believe it will no doubt be a much more interesting post.
In this episode the team go to a prison planet, presumably created thousands of years ago. One character makes a reference to Australia, how it was originally a prison colony. It got me thinking - why exactly is Australia not a "wretched hive of scum and villainy"? Aside from a few occasional incidents the population here are not planning their eventual revenge on England - we got over it.
That got me thinking furthermore - Why does it seem like most societies that are visited in things like Star Trek and Stargate simply adjust to their environment rather than respond to it. I'm thinking something along the lines of a desert planet where they spend 90% of their days in either air conditioning or in pools? To an ice planet where the explorers are met with the full force of a heating system designed by people who have had thousands of years not-wanting-to-be-cold-anymore.
Unfortunately this brings me to the sad realisation of the failure of things like Stargate and Star Trek - it is revealed in a very simple thought experiment. Imagine a superior alien race lands at stone hedge and decides not to search more than 2 km around the site. Our entire planet would be summed up as "the England planet". If I find a solution to this, I believe it will no doubt be a much more interesting post.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
The Irregulatrity
I have recently concluded reading Irregular Webcomics, (that is to say, got past the thousands of back comics and am now up to date) one of the oldest comics on the Internet that I knew nothing about!
He has taken an interesting approach that I think more writer/artists should look at, by adding annotations to each of the comics. These give some insight into the creative process, but also allow him to speak his mind about the subjects in his comic. He commonly adds items such as wikipedia links to the contents of his comic. This does not only allow for a sort of "meta humour" in which you may only understand the punchline of his comic after researching the topic (sometimes laborious, but it does have its place), but also takes the audacious idea that quick daily comics can also -teach- you something. Here's one rather educational comic and here is one referencing our good friend Star Trek.
Anyway, I would say simply go there and check it out for yourself. There are normally about 7-8 different stories going in an alternating pattern, most of which involve the intricacies of time travel and one is a full on science fiction story. Give it a shot, and try not to get dissuaded by the fact that it is 90% Lego figurines!
Also check out the brilliant Darths and Droids by the same author!
He has taken an interesting approach that I think more writer/artists should look at, by adding annotations to each of the comics. These give some insight into the creative process, but also allow him to speak his mind about the subjects in his comic. He commonly adds items such as wikipedia links to the contents of his comic. This does not only allow for a sort of "meta humour" in which you may only understand the punchline of his comic after researching the topic (sometimes laborious, but it does have its place), but also takes the audacious idea that quick daily comics can also -teach- you something. Here's one rather educational comic and here is one referencing our good friend Star Trek.
Anyway, I would say simply go there and check it out for yourself. There are normally about 7-8 different stories going in an alternating pattern, most of which involve the intricacies of time travel and one is a full on science fiction story. Give it a shot, and try not to get dissuaded by the fact that it is 90% Lego figurines!
Also check out the brilliant Darths and Droids by the same author!
Sunday, March 29, 2009
The Portal
I have recently come across the Stargate Portal Collection which is a big-ass book type thing full of the complete series of Stargate: SG1 (plus the two movies currently out). Personally I am not a fan of storing digital media in cardboard that feels like it could break apart on repeated use (seeing as there are 61 dvds in the case, this may not take too long). It feels as though the set is a month-by-month collection in a magazine rather than a container for material that would have had millions of dollars pumped into it over the series span.
Though on the other hand when I bought it, it was certainly a better deal than buying each season individually, which is sometthing. If you can get a copy on the cheap then its certainly worth a look
Though on the other hand when I bought it, it was certainly a better deal than buying each season individually, which is sometthing. If you can get a copy on the cheap then its certainly worth a look
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