- Sci Fi Wire offers a list of reasons why 24 is actually science fiction. I’m reminded how, a few years back, I made a case that The West Wing was science fiction. It really was, you know.
- Paula R. Stiles offers some interesting thoughts on taboos in speculative fiction:
The other reason is that taboos change and not every theme that seems taboo now was taboo when such books came out. Some of the strongest taboos can come and go within a generation, while others simply mutate. For example, people now talk about homosexuality openly. In some circles, homophobia is what is now considered to be unacceptable. So now, something like Sturgeon’s groundbreaking “The World Well Lost†(1953) seems a bit repressed. The “tragic gay people†storyline isn’t exactly hyper-tolerant by today’s standards, but it was revolutionary in 1953 for showing sympathy toward homosexuality. Similarly, a lot of people have criticized Heinlein’s apparently pervy view of women while ignoring that when books like Stranger in a Strange Land came out, any open discussion of sex in speculative fiction was revolutionary.
- I find the prospect of a 3-D episode of Chuck equally annoying and endearing. I think the show is having a genuinely very good season, improving over a fun but not overly remarkable first, so I can’t say for certain I won’t pick up the glasses if I see them, even if I won’t go out of my way to find them. Then again, 3-D can sometimes be ridiculously amusing when you’re not wearing the glasses. Maybe the technology has improved significantly since then — Roger Ebert doesn’t seem to think so — but the other day I caught several minutes of Jaws 3-D on HBO. Shots clearly designed to wow and amaze an audience — a harpoon flying into camera, for instance — just look silly. Then again, maybe that’s also the product of Jaws 3 being a pretty lousy movie. (The first Jaws, though, which I watched in full a couple of days before, is still damn good.)
- I’m not sure I’m as disappointed in Battlestar Galactica as Jayme Lynn Blashcke, but I’ve also had serious issues with it, especially in its more recent seasons, and especially in its “Final Five” storyline. I think it’s given the actors involved some interesting things to do, but it makes almost no sense in terms of the story and has eclipsed practically everything else. BSG is basically just a show that I find very intense when I’m watching it, still find reasons to enjoy, but find it very difficult to build up any kind of enthusiasm towards, even when it’s airing week to week.
- The Remnants — a terrific post-apocalyptic web comedy. Where else are you going to see Ernie Hudson, Justine Bateman, Enrico Colantoni, and Ze Frank in a comedy about what happens after the end of the world? It would be a real shame if no more episodes were made. [via]
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The thing that disappointed me about BSG last season was that I could let four or five episodes build up on my DVR without feeling a pressing need to watch them. I’m glad that the show runs out after this – I think I’m close to reaching my cylon saturation point.
I think I could probably watch 24 forever, though. Geriatric 24 will be exceptional, I think. “Beep. Boop. Beep. Boop. Chloe! My pacemaker is beeping!”
“Jack, try the defibrillator!”
“I don’t know the code! Dammit!”
“I can’t make that out…Jack, put your teeth in! Jack! Jack!!”
This is exactly my problem with Battlestar. It’s rare than any one single episode truly disappoints me, but I also find it all but impossible to build up any enthusiasm for the next one. And then when I try turning a critical eye towards what I’ve seen…
I gave up on 24 very early in its third season. I think my mistake was caring about these people (with the exception of Kim) as characters. I came to the show midway through the first season, thought the second was phenomenal, and then quickly realized I no longer cared at all. I think if I’d just learned to accept the growing ridiculousness of it, I might still be watching.