Horror Sci-Fi Month concludes with a discussion of Stranger Things season 1. Stranger Things is a master piece of horror with a science fiction twist as well as being an homage to traditional movie making styles. The Sci-Fi Malady crew unanimously agrees that this season one was amazing and we are all looking forward to season two. So grab you 20 sided die and get ready to battle a demogorgon in the upside down - it is time to pull apart Stranger Things.
In his prep work for our Event Horizon review, that unfortunately he had to miss, The RageMaster found a clip in the movie that he did not exactly like, well, to be fair, it made him irate, and when he's irate, well, he's irate. The moral of today's rant from Ragemaster kids? Don't stick your finger in things if you don't know what they are. Enjoy.
Horror month rolls on and this week Corey and Scott discuss the cult movie classic - Event Horizon. While nothing in this movie is original, it is well acted, visually immersive and loaded with terrifying dark imagery. It seems with Event Horizon there is very little middle ground, you either love the movie or you hate it, and both Corey and Scott love it, seeing it as an excellent example of sci-fi horror. For the Ragemaster's opinion, or at least a partial opinion, tune in Wednesday for an edition of Ragemaster Rips a Clip.
So settle into your gravity couch and prepare to take a jump to Neptune Space - it is time to review Event Horizon
Horror month continues! This week we discuss one of the masters of sci-fi horror, H.P. Lovecraft and the Call of Cthulu. Lovecraft influenced many modern writers including Stephen King and had a unique, if verbose style. He was also horribly racist and we acknowledge this. Despite this hideous aspect of the man's personality we decided that if we are discussing sci-fi horror we must discuss the man who is largely seen as the founder of the genre.
Here is Symptom 41: Searching for the Cyclopian City - a dark, chilling vision of a universe where mankind is not the top of the food chain and alien demons that cannot be killed or even comprehended are slumbering on Earth, waiting to be awakened to enslave and murder us all.
It is October and that means it is time to start discussing horror sci-fi. Kicking off horror month is our review of Jason Gets a Space Machete, I mean Jason kills a creepy professor, I mean Jason swings coed campers in sleeping bags like a baseball bat, I mean Jason Survives Reentry, maybe, or as its better known as - Jason in Space or by its theatrical release title - Jason X.
Put your hockey mask on, make some popcorn and get ready for the crew's review of Jason X - someone really likes this movie, I won't spoiling it by saying who, I'd give a clue by saying he hates J.J. Abrams, but that really doesn't help much with this group.
We felt it was a time for a new segment at Sci-Fi Malady and so we give you RageMaster Rips A Clip. In this short rant The RageMaster tears into the John Denver "Country Road" scene in Alien Covenant.
I think he hates that the crew is portrayed as quirky everyman IceRoad Truckers...but I am not sure.
Storytelling has multiple aspects. One of the key aspects is world building. Some of the legends of science fiction - Gene Roddenberry, George Lucas and Frank Herbert are fantastic world builders, but they had flaws as storytellers in other areas. In some cases taking full creative control away from a legend would have been better for the franchise (think Game of Thrones with HBO vs the books). In the case of Roddenberry his control was taken and we got Wrath of Kahn, DS9 and seasons 3-7 of TNG. We can only retroactively wish someone would have taken the dialogue writing away from Lucas and that Frank Herbert would have told that three 400 page novels setting up a two part conclusion was excessive.
Symptom 39 discusses when legendary world builders need creative control taken away.
Next week starts Horror Science Fiction month and we kick it off with a light spoof by reviewing Jason X. (Yes, not really sci-fi but its in spaaaaace so we say it qualifies)
Today's podcast is nerdier than usual and that is good. Today we are talking about Rifts - a game in the Paladium RPG family. Rifts is a science fiction/fantasy RPG set in a post apocalyptic Earth where aliens, magic users, psionic users, cyborgs, genetically enhanced humans, dragons, gods and more are battling for supremacy. If you can imagine it the story can be told in Rifts. Nothing serious today, so grab your D20, role a save vs nerdom and listen in to a fun filled hour of discussing Rifts.
Seth McFarland has launched the Orville - and, it is something. It is two parts family guy and one part Star Trek fan fiction. Somewhere in this rambling A.D.D. fest called a television are some basic science fiction concepts but they are lost in the woods of dick jokes, a man complaining about this ex wife and Captain Brian the Dog arguing with helmsman not Stewie.
Here is Symptom 37 where Ragemaster and I breakdown whatever the Orville is.
Time for some light hearted discussion of a cartoon, and great cartoon at that. This week on Sci-Fi Malady we are discussing Futurama. No detailed analysis of meanings or messages, critiquing of writing or direction, just an hour long discussion about future, what we like about it and how it is an awesome parody the entirety of science fiction as a genre.
Damn it, that's finding a meaning or discussing writing style isn't it? Ok, so we mostly discussed what we like about Futurama and why its awesome and funny.
So RageMaster and Corey are out again this week, which means I continue reviewing the so called bad Star Trek odd numbered Star Trek movies. This week it is Star Trek: The Motion Picture. This movie is roundly hated by most for being slow and lacking action. They are not wrong that movie is slow and lacking action, they are wrong that the pacing and dialogue driven story makes it a bad movie.
The story is essential for the character of Spock and has a simple message that attempts to answer to question humanity has been asking for all of time - what is the meaning of life.
I challenge you to listen to Symptom 35 and then rematch The Motion Picture, its not as bad as you might remember.
So this podcast idea started life conceptually as a discussion of proper writing techniques and how the Star Wars Expanded Universe writers failed to employ them. It transformed into a bashing of Star Wars Episode 7, Rogue One and the author Chuck Wendig.
Rage master found a Gizmodo article that referenced the writers guide for the West End Games Star Wars roleplaying game. It emphasized such pro tips as: don't rely on cliches, don't discuss the past, don't write Anakin Skywalker's back story, don't write about the purge of the Jedi and don't invent the next biggest and baddest thing ever.
These are great tips for writers diving into the expanded universe of a franchise like Star Wars. The books will always be the sideshow to the main show - the movies. So to avoid having your novel become completely irrelevant, don't write something like oh say, Chewie dying saving Han's son Anakin, because, well, the new movie might come after set after that book with a very alive Chewie and Han and Leia having only one child (well maybe only one child) name Ben. Oops.
We however, being ourselves, could not resist pointing out where Episode 7 and Rogue One failed in handling the tips that should apply to all writing - cliches, the biggest and baddest, know the history of the franchise you are writing for, etc.
So here's Symptom 34 - a return to one of our favorite things - crapping on JJ Abrams, because he is, a douche.
This week we are discussing disaster movies, particularly Armageddon and Deep Blue Sea. Ragemaster hates them both, Scott attempts to defend Armageddon as an action/thriller movie. Disaster movies, or extinction level event movies tend to be excellent fast paced thrillers and do well at the box office, because they deal with high intensity human emotions. They tend to be horrible science fiction because generally the science needed to save the day is, well, less believable than if we cloned Merlin to wave a magic wand and mother nature and make her behave. There is your problem. There is no science that save Earth from a gamma ray burst, if the core stopped spinning, we would just die, and if we didn't see an asteroid the size of Texas until is passes Mars, well, good bye civilization as we know it, but that doesn't make for a very good film so, wizardtastic!
Enjoy Symptom 33. I did some cringeworthy lingual gymnastics to try to salvage Armageddon, a pretty much universally reviled film, that I may regret later. Should just said, ah, its a guilty pleasure and ripped it.
This week is a treat for our sickies who happen to be tabletop gamers. We had the pleasure of interviewing Tim Kask, one of the founders of TSR and Dungeons and Dragons. Dungeons and Dragons went on to inspire countless stories and games and created a generation of friendships. If you like Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, or even modern sci-fi, you can thank individuals like Tim for taking the risk to create.
Well after a week off we are back. No RageMaster, but he will be back for next week, but this week Scott and Corey discuss intelligent machines and how the way they are portrayed in science fiction might not actually be realistic.
Sci-Fi generally shows us two types of intelligent robot, an altruistic and good being, like Bishop in Aliens or Data in Star Trek, or it shows us something that is pure evil, like Ash in Alien, Data's brother Lore or SkyNet.
The thing is good and evil behaviors are essentially driven by emotion, as are all behaviors. Our emotions are determined solely by chemicals and hormones and without these physiological reactions we could not experience them. Since a robot or sapient computer could never have a chemical or hormonal reaction it can't actually exhibit emotionally driven behavior. It could simulate emotional behavior, but it is difficult to believe that it could be emotionally driven to take either altruistic good actions or selfishly evil actions. How would an intelligent machine intelligence behave. Scott and Corey dive into this question this week on Sci-Fi Malady.
Also, stay tuned at the end for the trailer for our upcoming new segment - Nerd Duels!
Science Fiction portrays two possible visions of the future usually, utopian, where everything is perfect, and dystopian, pretty much hell on earth. In this symptom we are exploring dystopian science fiction and what makes it great. Dystopian sci-fi generally can deliver the more powerful messages, because usually the events discussed have occurred, although to a lesser degree. It tends to be more relatable to the average viewer or reader because being the flawed creatures we are, we have real life examples of nightmare societies and oppressive powers to compare it to. Utopia's though, just don't exist.
So here is symptom 30, we talk a lot about Demolition Man, have a great side bar conversation about Aliens and discuss Planet of the Apes, all excellent examples of a flawed, dystopian future.
It is the movie that fans like to forget. Trekkie's pretend it never happened and there are running arguments that if you struck it from the canon nothing changes and there is zero lasting impact. They are right, but the movie did happen and it is canon. Of course, I am talking about William Shatner's tour de crap, Star Trek 5 The Final Frontier. This is the movie that almost killed Star Trek on the big screen. It certainly is a terrible, with a rambling and non-sensical plot full of holes and special effects that look like a graduate student with a C average was contracted for this film. THe thing is though, if you can push all of that aside, there is some amazing stuff in this nightmare and with a re-write or five and an Earnest Hemingway approach of removing unneeded garbage, this film could have an amazing discussion of religion versus humanism. Unfortunately this filmed failed to accomplish that and we would have to wait until the mid 90's with Deep Space Nine for Star Trek to truly tackle this one.
So here is Symptom 29, a discussion of the steaming pile of garbage that is Star Trek 5 and how close it came to being truly epic. Its the amazing movie we almost got but didn't. Thanks Bill.
The most recognized symbol of xbox is that of Master Chief. The Halo series redefined the first person shooter genre while mixing modern combat themes with sci-fi troupes. With a sleek gameplay, great multi-player options, a dirge of great weapons and enemies, there isn’t much not to like about this series. However, in recent years, the series has taken on a new direction when it was taken over by a different company. This new direction was not received with the fanfare of the originals. Can the series retain its former glory? Nick, Corey, and the Ragemaster give their take. As Scott has never played these games, he has been tied to a chair and kept quiet lest he contribute less than nothing to this symptom.
Movies have many different non-verbal methods of advancing the story. An actor or actress does not always need to be speaking for the director to be conveying information to the viewer. In Symptom 27 Scott and The Ragemaster discuss the use of score, panning, set and art design and other non-verbal clues that make up good movie making. There is also a song or two about fidget spinners.
Science Fiction has a mono-culture problem. On one hand it is a proven and reliable story telling and world building device that allows talented writers to tell deep stories which examine the flaws of humanity through actions of the alien races. This, in a show like Star Trek, allows the writers to portray humanity as the hero and the perfect society that it hopefully evolves into, while exposing the flaws of our current society through the actions of the aliens.
The downside to the use of monocultures is that it reinforces, passively, stereotyping. In Star Wars all Radians are bounty hunters, all Jedi are selfless and all Sith are selfish. In Star Trek all Vulcans are morally upstanding and emotionless, all Klingons are warriors obsessed with honor and ritual, all Romulans are cunning, deceitful and paranoid and all Bajorans worship the Prophets. These portrayals, albeit passively, support the reliability of stereotyping a person by race or cultural identity.
So on one hand, the use of a monoculture allows a progressive thinking show, such as Star Trek, to tell smart, heady, deep morality plays which explore the strengths and weaknesses of current human society and the perfect society we hopefully will one day evolve into. It is both a good and bad thing, hence, science fictions problem with the story telling device of a monoculture.