Science Fiction musings

Further to Norah's post about Star Wars, I thought I'd chime in with a few of my thoughts. It really surprised me how... empty we were left feeling after seeing the last Star Wars movie. Not because of anything wrong with the movie itself. I quite enjoyed it. I know a lot of people have had nothing but criticism for episodes I, II and III, saying that they don't measure up to their childhood memories of the original. To those people, I would suggest going back and watching the original again to see if it was really as great as you're remembering. I love Star Wars, but let's honestly look at these movies for what they are: fun entertainment. Sure, there are a few things I might have done differently, and some things that I wanted to see as a fan that weren't included. But I absolutely respect Lucas' right to make his movie his way.

The question remains: where are all of the original ideas in Hollywood these days? Since The Matrix, I can't think of a single original sci-fi movie or TV show that was any good. Even my latest obsession, the new Battlestar Galactica, is a remake.

I keep hearing about how good Firefly is. I like Joss Whedon's other shows (Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel) quite a lot, so I watched Firefly. I wanted to like it, and I really tried tried to get in to it. For some reason, it didn't click with me. I don't know if I just can't get past the whole space Western thing, or what. The movie based on that show is going to be hitting theaters later this year, I think I'll give it another chance. I imagine they'll structure the movie so that it isn't necessary to be a fan of the TV show first.

Now that Star Wars and The Matrix are done, they've canceled all Star Trek and the Babylon 5 movie fell through, there isn't much left worth looking forward to. I've heard rumors of another Trek movie with an all-new cast to take place some time between the time of the series Enterprise and the original Trek. My question: why do this, when there are already so many unanswered questions lingering from Deep Space 9, Voyager and Enterprise? Couldn't we round up these cast members and fill in some of the blanks? I suppose the actors probably want too much money.

What other sci-fi movies have we had this year? The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. While this has never been a movie before, it has been a TV miniseries and a radio series. I don't mind making movies from books, if they're going to stay more or less true to the source material. I haven't seen this one yet, I'll wait for the video. From what I hear, they didn't stay very true to the book at all. Batman Begins: another prequel. War of the Worlds: another remake. Fantastic Four: another remake. I'll check these out eventually, but I can't say I have any desire to spend the money to see them in the theater.

Looking through the other movies, we have Bewitched, The Honeymooners, Bad News Bears, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and The Dukes of Hazzard. Did all of these really need remakes? And don't even get me started on television.

The amount of mindless drivel that Hollywood is shoving down our throats is insulting to our collective intelligence. And they wonder why their profits are down all across the board. Could it be because the economy in general is down, and when people get laid off, the first thing they do is eliminate their entertainment budget? Could it be because we're sick and tired of the crap that we're being fed? Oh, no, it must be the fault of the Internet. Clearly the solution is to regulate the Internet out of existence. Yes, that will immediately fix all of our problems and get people running back to the theaters to sit in tiny, uncomfortable seats with sticky floors and put up with other people's bratty children to watch a bad remake of a TV show that was never very good to begin with. The sooner the RIAA and MPAA are forced in to complete technological obsolescence and quit wasting all of their energy harassing all of their own customers trying to ensure that nobody watches or listens to anything without forking over some cash first, the better off we'll all be.

Where has all of the creative talent gone? I think a lot of it has gone to Pixar. Everything they've done so far has been amazing (Toy Story 1 & 2, A Bug's Life, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo and especially The Incredibles), although I'm not too sure about their next film (Cars). I'm really eager to see what they'll be able to pull off once their contract with Disney expires and they're out on their own. The team that did Shrek and Shrek 2 also has a lot of talent on it. I haven't seen Shark Tale yet, or Madagascar. I'm not too sure about Will Smith as a fish, he isn't a very good actor as a human (no matter what he plays, it's always basically Will Smith and the Robots, Will Smith and the Aliens, Will Smith and the Other Aliens, etc.). Based on the previews, when he tries to play a fish it still just sounds like Will Smith and the Fish. Madagascar looks pretty funny, but again I'll wait for the DVD.

I think maybe I'm going to start paying more attention to the independent film circuit. Maybe check out Atom Films once in a while to see what people are coming up with. Most independent films are bizarre beyond words, but every once in a while you turn up a real gem like Memento. There must be some talented, creative people out there who are still interested in making quality entertainment. I'm not asking for fine art here, people. Just something that I can enjoy for a couple of hours without wondering if it was written for (or by) a horde of lemmings. Is that really too much to ask?