By:
On:
In: Uncategorized
Tagged:

One of the most prominent authors in the “New Space Opera” movement is Iain M. Banks (who apparently also writes fantasy, but under the name “Iain Banks”, without the ‘M’), whose highly-regarded novels are all set in a far-future society called “The Culture”. It’s the ultimate human paradise, apparently, with all needs taken care of by society and with people having achieved a status of near immortality. (Death is probably still a certainty, but it’s put off for a very long time when the only ways you can die are to perish in various mishaps or the like.) Banks alsoDown the rabbit hole….

By:
On:
In: Uncategorized
Tagged: ,

No matter how far afield I go, I always return to my true reading love: space opera. Here are notes on a few recent space opera reads, with qualification in one case. :: As I noted when I posted about John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War, military SF isn’t really my thing. I like it once in a while, but a lot of times, Mil-SF seems to come too close to being “war porn”: fiction for people who really like war. My space opera tastes require some of that good old “sensawunda”, along with some elements of the fantastic. Usually youDown the rabbit hole….

By:
On:
In: Uncategorized
Tagged: , , ,

UPDATED below. Seldom have I been more conflicted over a movie than I am over Star Trek. I mean, wow, am I of two minds on this movie. It’s as if the film has managed to split me right down the middle, which calls for something I haven’t done in a while on this blog: a full-on geek-out of epic proportions. Beware SPOILERS! I hold nothing back. I loved watching it. Absolutely loved watching it. I don’t remember a more enjoyable piece of pure entertainment than Star Trek. Maybe the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie. As a piece ofDown the rabbit hole….

By:
On:
In: Uncategorized
Tagged: , , ,

Well, now I officially want to see the damned new Star Trek movie. I still have my misgivings and I’ll probably bitch up a storm about it afterwards, but I genuinely want to see it in the theater now. Over at AICN, there’s all kinds of coverage of last night’s surprise premiere in Austin, TX. What happened was this: the audience there was supposed to see a preview chunk of footage from the new movie, which would then be followed by a screening of a restored, pristine print of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Well, instead, they showedDown the rabbit hole….

By:
On:
In: Uncategorized
Tagged: , ,

I’ve just watched the new trailer for Star Trek, and I’m still troubled. On the one hand it looks like a trailer for a kick-ass space opera action movie, which would be right up my alley, except they’re calling it Star Trek and using the names of characters I’m already deeply familiar with. Yes, it bugs me that they’re changing everything. No, I don’t know why it doesn’t bother me that the producers of the James Bond movies are doing roughly the same thing — but then, the Bond series is a different animal, which never came to grips withDown the rabbit hole….

By:
On:
In: Uncategorized
Tagged: ,

My leading light, reading-wise, continues to be the wonderful SF subgenre of space opera. I’ve done some more reading along that line the last few months. Margaret Weis wrote a space opera trilogy called Star of the Guardians back in the early 1990s, of which I recently read Book One, The Lost King. Weis is far better known as half of a writing duo, the other half being Tracy Hickman, that produces in prolific fashion the Dragonlance novels. For this series Weis went it alone, although Hickman provides an introduction wherein she declares that Star of the Guardians is notDown the rabbit hole….

By:
On:
In: Uncategorized
Tagged: , ,

A few months back I finally addressed a monstrously huge hole in my science fiction, space opera loving resume: I watched all of Firefly, every bit of it, including the movie Serenity. I realize I’m very much late to the game on this, but hey, late to the game still means I’m a player. Or something like that. Firefly, for those who haven’t paid attention, is a show that Joss Whedon created back in 2002, after Buffy the Vampire Slayer ended. It’s an SF show set something like five hundred years in the future where humanity has colonized a distantDown the rabbit hole….

By:
On:
In: Uncategorized
Tagged: , ,

The official first trailer for JJ Abrams’s Star Trek reboot is out. Having watched it, I can say once again regarding this project: Meh. I’m still not sold on the idea of rebooting Trek in the first place (If we’ve gotta have Trek, surely we can tell lots of new stories without tossing aside established continuity, and why do we even gotta have Trek in the first place? It’s a wide wonderful SF world out there, let’s go see some uncharted planets!), and as far as this particular project goes, I’m still less than enthusiastic. Here’s the trailer: It’s aDown the rabbit hole….

By:
On:
In: Uncategorized
Tagged: , , ,

Star Wars poster draft, originally uploaded by Michael Heilemann. THE date for Star Wars fans is, of course, May 25, 1977, when the very first film was released way back when; but I see via The Dude that there’s actually an earlier date: April 17, 1973, which is when Lord George, Duke of Lucas, sat down with legal pad and No. 2 pencil in hand to start cobbling together his first draft of The Star Wars. For we obsessives who have delved into those early drafts (The Jedi Bendu Script Site is an invaluable resource), it’s fascinating to see whichDown the rabbit hole….

By:
On:
In: Uncategorized
Tagged: , ,

The USS Enterprise under construction in JJ Abrams’s upcoming Star Trek movie: That’s a pretty cool image, even if shots of the Enterprise in drydock are getting a little passe, aren’t they? I mean, the various Enterprises are shown in drydock in eight of the existing movies already. If you look closely, you can make out the front of the warp nacelles, flanking the saucer section behind. Maybe it’s a trick of perspective, but those nacelles seem awfully close, don’t they? And big? I wonder what the actual Big E for the movie will look like. I suppose it’ll beDown the rabbit hole….