Star Wars, Star Trek and other Sci-Fi

[uk 75]

Independence Day: A Star Wars Story

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDxNPxbpFmo

Shame no fat lady! or Oops! but otherwise niiice.

 

[Rhinocrates]

Paul Chadeisson is credited as the designer for some of the stuff in Foundation (and Blade Runner 2049), but he's obviously looked at the work of Japanese architect Shin Takamatsu. The Imperial starships are clearly inspired by a sculpture by Takamatsu called 'Killing Moon' (which obscurely, was inspired by the Echo and the Bunnymen song of that name - a guy who worked in his office told me that).

Takamatsu's work is pretty sci-fi itself - just google his name (one of his buildings in Kyoto inspired the art museum in Tim Burton's first Batman film).

 

[Rhinocrates]

Strong hints of Moebius too, less literally, but there are connections in terms of composition and style (some have mentioned No Man's Sky, but the roots run deeper).

 

[Rhinocrates]

Tim White meets Kubrick for the 'Vault'

 

[Rhinocrates]

Imperial shuttle compared with Atreides ships in Lynch's Dune. One of the designers working for Lynch, Harry Lange, had worked for Kubrick on 2001: A Space Odyssey.

 

[Rhinocrates]

I'm not just doing the nerdish 'oh look, they plagiarised X!' Rather, I'm illustrating the process that production designers go through in film and TV. They assemble 'mood boards' of images that seem more or less associated to what the director has been talking about (think of the cliche in detective dramas where all sorts of images are stuck on a wall and connected with red yarn), then pour them into a cauldron, stir, see what lumps accrue and then see what the director thinks of them.

'Where do they get their ideas from?' This is how they do it.

Brian Aldiss once wrote that Lynch's Dune was best appreciated with the sound off as a sequence of Astounding magazine covers in his history of sf, Trillion Year Spree. When Lucasfilm sued Glen Larson for plagiarism in the original Battlestar Galactica, he was called as an expert witness and his testimony was that when he saw Star Wars, he experienced 'the pleasure of recognition', meaning that Star Wars was itself a pastiche of older pulp sf. There was an eventual settlement, though I don't know who paid whom how much.

Overall, my reaction to Foundation the series is 'Hey wow, they know their stuff.'

 

[tequilashooter]

title says other scifi, currently watching this series. https://gogoanime.be/watch/irina-the-vampire-cosmonaut-rwon-episode-3/

 

[Michel Van]

I start to read John Varley again.
with great fun
You could consider him as successor of Robert Heinlein

His Eight Worlds future history, is fascinate and full of new ideas
Alien arrive to make contact with another intelligent life, sadly Mankind is consider as vermin.
The Survivors in space rebuild civilisation and colonised the Solarsystem
Except Earth and Jupiter, were Aliens have great time with Wales, Dolphins and native species of Jupiter,
or who they consider as true Intelligent...

Gaea Trilogy, a Barsoomian wet dream
Wer Heros have crazy adventure in a gigantic organic Space colony in orbit of Saturn

The Thunder and Lightning series, is hilarious brilliant "Amerika in space, Fuck yeah !"
as group of common Americans discover a new Space drive and colonised the solar system with homemade space ships.

Millennium, the novel not that crappy Movie.
after 19 nuclear wars, mankind starts a dangerous Time travel program, to save it self from become extinct.
What could possibly get wrong ? let say everything...

 

[publiusr]

Independence Day: A Star Wars Story

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDxNPxbpFmo

Or they could have had Y-Wings with tail-gunners instead of the turret locked forward. Spies I tell ya’

 

[Flyaway]

Cowboy Bebop - Official trailer “Last Session”:

View: https://youtu.be/_JDWm1f6-M0


Pretty clever I reckon.

 

[GTX]

Pretty annoying trailer IMHO....

 

[Flyaway]

Pretty annoying trailer IMHO....

Couldn’t disagree more.

 

[Orionblamblam]

Pretty annoying trailer IMHO....

Couldn’t disagree more.

Couldn't disagree more. It just seemed off. My interest in the show is plummeting.

 

[GTX]

Don't get me wrong. I will probably want to see the movie having seen the anime. Its just the style of that trailer was quite annoying to me.

 

[shin_getter]

The presentation don't fit jazz. It feels ...western inside a comic book? The melancholy is left out. (granted, it wasn't ever present in the original either)

 

[shin_getter]

Blade Runner: Black Lotus second trailer. Much better than the first. It’s premiering on Adult Swim & Crunchyroll on the 13th November.

More details including key art and voice cast.

Blade Runner: Black Lotus Anime Premieres on November 13

New trailer, key art unveiled // Crunchyroll announced during a New York Comic Con panel on Thursday that the Blade Runner: Black Lotus anime series will premiere...

www.animenewsnetwork.com

Personally, I think this is really the wrong time for cyberpunk, in the sense of why watch fiction of it when you can watch the news? Instead of exciting struggle in the sleek future, the conflict feels almost here and now. The ghosts of butlerian jihad....

Now forgive my weeb perspective on things, but I don't think I'm far from the zeitgeist here in the decline of sci-fi (especially new ip as opposed to nostalgia supported reboots) and the growth of isekai (alternative worlds: generally transport to medieval era) which involve wholesale ejection from modern technological civilization.

Perhaps it is the right time to pick up yokohama kaidashi kiko as it really is before its time. Comfy post apoc can actually be the most optimistic setting~

-------------
With the success of knight of Sidonia, I wonder if 'kojima' with waifus has potential.

 

[Aubi]

Acting in that Cowboby Bebop teaser seemed off too. Like if somebody said to them they must shout every word.

 

[Graham1973]

I'm not just doing the nerdish 'oh look, they plagiarised X!' Rather, I'm illustrating the process that production designers go through in film and TV. They assemble 'mood boards' of images that seem more or less associated to what the director has been talking about (think of the cliche in detective dramas where all sorts of images are stuck on a wall and connected with red yarn), then pour them into a cauldron, stir, see what lumps accrue and then see what the director thinks of them.

'Where do they get their ideas from?' This is how they do it.

Brian Aldiss once wrote that Lynch's Dune was best appreciated with the sound off as a sequence of Astounding magazine covers in his history of sf, Trillion Year Spree. When Lucasfilm sued Glen Larson for plagiarism in the original Battlestar Galactica, he was called as an expert witness and his testimony was that when he saw Star Wars, he experienced 'the pleasure of recognition', meaning that Star Wars was itself a pastiche of older pulp sf. There was an eventual settlement, though I don't know who paid whom how much.

Overall, my reaction to Foundation the series is 'Hey wow, they know their stuff.'

Here's a classic example from a book cover. This artwork, clearly drawing both from 'The Black Hole' and pulp in general was used for one of the anthologies published containing articles from the 'Star Trek' fanzine 'Trek'. It's also a personal favourite piece of artwork...

 

[Rhinocrates]

Here's a classic example from a book cover. This artwork, clearly drawing both from 'The Black Hole' and pulp in general was used for one of the anthologies published containing articles from the 'Star Trek' fanzine 'Trek'. It's also a personal favourite piece of artwork...

The artist is Paul Alexander, in case you're interested.

 

[Grey Havoc]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOemQuy2JUc

Before the New Version, Let's Revisit 1984's Dune - Slashdot

Thelasko shares a report from Ars Technica, written by Peter Opaskar: Frank Herbert's 1965 sci-fi novel Dune gets a new film adaptation -- this one helmed by Denis Villeneuve (Arrival, Blade Runner 2049) -- later this month. But before Ars Technica reviews the movie, there's the matter of its...

entertainment.slashdot.org

Frank Herbert’s crystal ball: how Dune predicted the future – and invented modern sci-fi

From desert planets and worm monsters to war against the machines, films such as Star Wars owe a lot to Dune – much to Frank Herbert’s ire

www.telegraph.co.uk

 

[Orionblamblam]

Dune 2021 capsule review: dull.

The thopters were substantially badass, but the rest of the movie sat there like a lump.

 

[Flyaway]

I think the ‘force ghost’ idea would be more interesting than flashbacks.

Hayden Christensen Returning to ‘Star Wars’ With ‘Ahsoka’ Series (Exclusive)

Rosario Dawson is starring as fan-favorite character Ahsoka Tano.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

 

[Michel Van]

Me and Friends try to watch on Apple TV+
- Foundation -
After episode 6 we gave up,
The confusing no linear storytelling is dreadful...
Special if got one main story and zillion subplots
the Series is not boring dull, but over strain you Mind!

 

[Richard N]

Dune 1984 Alternative Edition Redux [3 hour Spice Diver Fan Edit]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJykw3H4PDw

 

[jeffb]

Dune 2021 capsule review: dull.

The thopters were substantially badass, but the rest of the movie sat there like a lump.

More pics at the link: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/XnmJBl

It's very cool looking. The interior layout doesn't make much sense and the forward visibility for the pilot kinda sucks, but it sure does look good.

 

[Orionblamblam]

It's very cool looking. The interior layout doesn't make much sense and the forward visibility for the pilot kinda sucks, but it sure does look good.

It's not just the design, which looks like an AH-64 and a dragonfly made sweet, sweet violation-of-the-laws-of-man-and-nature loving', but the way it's animated: at least on my 4K screen it looked damned *real.* It moved like such a thing seems like it aught. And a minor detail I liked; when they landed, they had ground crew hustling to attend to them. In a world where the Butlerian Jihad had eliminated all meaningful automation, having a bunch of staff running around makes sense.

 

[UpForce]

It moved like such a thing seems like it aught.

Something that's been mostly missing in otherwise impressive movie CGI visualizations of aircraft. I don't know if they used CFD/FEM analysis here (insofar as that thing could actually be made flyable, whatever the gravity and atmosphere of Arrakis are supposed to be, I suspect not) but we're certainly at a point where one could.

Dust, particle, gas and liquid approximations have been commonplace for a good while now but somehow that hasn't translated very well in portraying aircraft. It's very evident that realistic dynamics are missing even in trade show animations as evidenced by the otherwise cinematic videos that have emerged from KAI ADEX this year - apparently the KF-21 flies like a magic carpet from Disney's Aladdin ...

 

[starviking]

It moved like such a thing seems like it aught.

If we give the ‘thopter extra aerodynamic points for coolness. That said, the CGI was pretty amazing, and the only suspension of disbelief point was when a damaged ‘thopter was down to one extended wing, and failed to corkscrew into the ground.

 

[Orionblamblam]

the only suspension of disbelief point was when a damaged ‘thopter was down to one extended wing, and failed to corkscrew into the ground.

Caught that. I can give that a pass, though. Even though AI is forbidden int he Dune universe, the thopter clearly has to have some terribly advanced control system; as such, it should be able to promptly adjust to such a loss. Obviously the wings are capable of not only massive variations in sweep, incidence and dihedral; they must also be capable of extremely fine and extremely fast control.

 

[Rhinocrates]

Me and Friends try to watch on Apple TV+
- Foundation -
After episode 6 we gave up,
The confusing no linear storytelling is dreadful...
Special if got one main story and zillion subplots
the Series is not boring dull, but over strain you Mind!

A few people came up with charts and diagrams explaining Inception, so almost certainly someone will come up with one for Foundation eventually. Then you can binge and tick off plot points. Bonus points for guessing which Emperor Cleon the nth is on the middle throne.

 

[jeffb]

It's been a while since I read the Foundation series, is it just me or does the story diverge quite a bit?

It's not just the design, which looks like an AH-64 and a dragonfly made sweet, sweet violation-of-the-laws-of-man-and-nature loving'

If you're lucky the model kits will be in the shops for Xmas.

 

[Richard N]

Dune 2021 Capsule Review: Dull and Uninspiring

A couple of nights ago, I watched David Lynch's Dune fan edit to refresh my memory of and see if there was anything new or interesting that I had missed after seeing the original in theaters. It reminded me of all the features I liked about it and did bias me towards making a comparison to this new thing.

I found the latest Dune ordinary and too familiar. The planet surface scenes looked like places easily found on Earth and not nearly special enough to make them interesting. The architecture was blocky angular concrete without much ornamentation. I found the cast unexciting. Barron Harkonnen is just an overweight man who does two slow vertical flying moves and acts as if he is sedated. Jabba the Hut had better moves! Chalamet's Paul Atreides is wimpy and I could not see him inspiring anyone to believe he was their savior. They have space flight, yet fight with blades! You might have been expecting a feast for the eyes and instead are served a heaping bowl of sand...

Having watched the whole new thing, I was glad I took the time to watch the fan edit. The 1984 cast's acting is all distinctive enough to be memorable, the scenes properly look like they are not to be found on Earth, and the designs in 1984 were like nothing we had seen before. Harkonnen is an over the top believable acrobatic maniac and Picard is there with hair! You see a Guild Navigator folding space!

I am sure I will watch the fan edit again and probably not look at the new thing again.

 

[jeffb]

Dune 2021 Capsule Review: Dull and Uninspiring

Kevin Maher of The Times gave two out of five stars, stating that while "every frame ... is spectacular", "Dune is also kind of boring". Reviewing the film for TheWrap, Steve Pond called the film "both dazzling and frustrating, often spectacular and often slow" and said, "This version of Dune sometimes feels as if it aims to impress you more than entertain you..."

Have to agree with the above reviews. I think both films (Villeneuve's 2021 and Lynch's 1984) are alike in that neither covers the source material very well.

Villeneuve's looks way, way better, spectacular even, but I think is brought down by poor casting and and a lackluster script. Some of the performances are good, the fight scenes are certainly better.

You see a Guild Navigator folding space!

Gahh! Folding space is an invention of Lynch's version. In the book, guild navigators use melange in a very limited way to pick safe FTL trajectories (one's that don't have them piling the ship into the third moon of Jagalan Beta every second trip). The Heighliners in Villeneuve's version seem to be an evolution of this trope, appearing to be not so much giant FTL spaceships as giant orbiting wormhole projectors (in fact I think Villeneuve's version does away with the guild altogether).

 

[Orionblamblam]

The Heighliners in Villeneuve's version seem to be an evolution of this trope, appearing to be not so much giant FTL spaceships as giant orbiting wormhole projectors (in fact I think Villeneuve's version does away with the guild altogether).

They looked like spaceworms, with one end in one system, the other at the destination system, and you simply transit a few kilometers through the tube from one end to the other.

 

[jeffb]

Which is another disappointment really but a good way to remove the spacing guild and a whole bunch of plot points which don't need character exposition to explain them.

Reduces the Empire to the Emperor and his Sardauker on the one side and the Great houses of the Laansrad and their armies on the other, much simpler...I guess.

 

[Orionblamblam]

Getting rid of the Spacing Guild gets rid of the opportunity for some really quality scene chewing:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRy18Euw6W4

 

[publiusr]

Now who did the voice-over with the 'pain amplifier' line? It might have been uncredited.

 

[Rhinocrates]

The Guild definitely exists in Villeneuve's version. In the early scene where the Herald of the Change arrives, Thufir calculates the cost of the journey and mentions the guild navigators, as does the Herald. Then there are these chaps - 'spice gas' is orange and their helmets are full of it.

In the original 1965 novel, the Emperor doesn't appear until the end and we don't see a description of a mutated navigator until Dune Messiah. Including them both early on was Lynch's innovation.

In the film's version of the attack on Arrakeen, Gurney is surprised to see a heighliner in the sky, suggesting that it hadn't been there before. My guess is that therefore they move like inchworms. One end at a time can be moved across interstellar distances but the heighliner itself is effectively in two places at once, so there's no journey time moving between one mouth of the wormhole and the other. To meet various contracts, the mouths are moved by the navigators.

 

[Rhinocrates]

The planet surface scenes looked like places easily found on Earth and not nearly special enough to make them interesting.... [in Lynch's version] the scenes properly look like they are not to be found on Earth, and the designs in 1984 were like nothing we had seen before

Possibly Slartibartfast was going through a minimalist phase.

What I really liked about Lynch's version was that the culture depicted was weird and old, with customs that seem downright perverse. I could believe that this was a civilisation that has existed for millennia (and remember that their dating system begins with the foundation of the Guild, not the birth of Christ). Villeneuve's looks too sensible.

I try to pretend that the TV version never happened, like I do with the Matrix sequels.

 

[Rhinocrates]

It's been a while since I read the Foundation series, is it just me or does the story diverge quite a bit?

It's been decades since I read the original trilogy, and I did read one of the later books by Asimov, but I can't remember which, or what was in it. Possibly much of what we see is consistent with the later books, but I think that many liberties have been taken to dramatise the themes if not the plots of the original novellas that were assembles into the first books (e.g., if I remember correctly, Seldon dies of old age in his office at the university on Trantor). I think that they've maintained thematic consistency so far while making changes that are necessary to ensure that it gets greenlit and which a large audience would be willing to watch. One aspect of this is establishing characters that will appear throughout the thousand-year span of the story, hence the cloned emperors and the role of Eto Dezmezel, an effectively immortal machine. I suspect that Seldon will be more than just a series of recordings, considering some hints that have been dropping like anvils.

A literal adaptation would just be two guys talking that a nerd would tape in his mother's basement and only be watched by a few friends.