Sunday, September 21, 2008

A Galaxy Far Far Away My Ass!

Robert J. Sawyer Rants about how Star Wars ruined Science fiction



part 2


part 3
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8 comments:

ladybug said...

Eh, he makes a good point, but the real problem is he relied on the "franchise" to be his "chef d'oeuvre" (and principle money chest). That alone cheapened the work as a whole, and made it less of a masterwork.

Besides there are still great works to be had, such as Blade Runner (a reworking of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick) which PRECISELY explores the moral questions Sawyer raises concerning android lifeforms; Alien and it's many sequels, which provide comments how "corporate" interests control human activity and individual moral decisions are affected thereby; Firefly, with a great subtext of governmental criticism and also individuals acting to survive in a hypocritical universe-(both the movie and the series)

So no, I think Sawyer is a bit over the top, I still haven't seen ANY of the 3 "prequel" movies, probably never will. Anybody who has a brain knows his work isn't the best of the best....so...

I'd rather he expend his energy writing and producing good scifi for us to enjoy.

September 21, 2008 at 1:37 PM
rob! said...

the phrase "lighten up" occurs to me after watching all that.

its well thought out and well intentioned, but where does he get that Han Solo is a DRUG runner?

also, Luke clearly cares for the droids--he's worried about R2 at the end of SW, and in Empire rejects getting a new droid because he and R2 have been through so much.

blaming the retardation of most sci-fi post-SW is like blaming Pulp Fiction for all the crappy, quip-filled, gun-toting crime movies that followed afterward.

September 22, 2008 at 8:37 AM
Faded said...

Oh MY... Sawyer, that's probably gonna get you a B at your average State University as a thesis, but other than that, it's just a big ole crock of shit.

How dare he refer to the worthy Chewbacca, the only non-english speaking character as Inarticulate?! Fucking racist!

September 22, 2008 at 9:08 PM
Pandabonium said...

I think he's right on. And I think there are other disturbing aspects to Star Wars which are not at all accidental, but there is not time or space here for that discussion.

Thanks for posting these.

September 23, 2008 at 5:32 AM
The Moody Minstrel said...

So Star Wars is to sci-fi what McDonalds is to nutrition. I still like both of them. Sue me.

(Actually, that should have read, "Eat me.")

Oh, and Rob!...
...where does he get that Han Solo is a DRUG runner?

When we first meet Han in "Episode IV" we're told that he dumped a load of "spice" at the first sight of an Imperial cruiser. Now what sort of "spice" are we talking about? Marjoram?

(In at least one of the Star Wars novels "spice" is described as a psychogenic drug, i.e. it boosts psychic potential...rather like the "spice" in the Dune novels.)

September 26, 2008 at 7:38 AM
The Moody Minstrel said...

Then again...now that I think about it, a lot of people have pointed out that Episodes II & III seem suspiciously to parallel events in the U.S. under the W.Bush administration.

"This is how democracy dies...to thunderous applause."

September 26, 2008 at 8:41 AM
rob! said...

i always figured the spice line could mean anything. how do we even know spice is spice in this Star Wars universe? the people of Star Wars could point to an umbrella and go "spice!"

September 26, 2008 at 8:34 PM
The Moody Minstrel said...

Maybe it was the Spice Girls!

(Naaah...but that would be a nice dream. "I dumped Ginger Spice at the first sight of an Imperial cruiser...")

September 27, 2008 at 6:21 AM

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