It's Gonna Be The Future Soon

Sci-Fi Gene is looking forward to these films:

Tron Legacy: a no-brainer. Even if this film had no dialogue, no characters, no plot and was just a two hour fly-through of the virtual city I would still watch it twice.
Titanic 2: A hundred years after the fateful voyage of the Titanic, a replica ship is retracing the original route when a freak storm throws a giant iceberg into it's path. You can add your own jokes about going down in history, sinking without trace, cold reception etc. here as much as you like, I still want to see this Asylum classic.

Predators: open. I wasn't a fan of the original Predator which was well made but kind of a one-trick pony. However this film, set on the Predator homeworld, looks like a different kettle of fish. Also, has anyone noticed that when hamsters yawn they look like Predators?


Inception: opening now. Leonardo DiCaprio narrowly missed out on the lead role for Titanic 2, instead opting to appear in this potentially mind-blowing film made by the director of The Prestige.

Splice: Looks like a brilliant tale of genetic engineering. Sadly I missed this one at Sci-Fi London but hope to catch it on release.

Mega Python vs Gatoroid: just entering production now so a little further into the future, this is the film that will re-unite 80s singers and monster slayers Debbie Gibson and Tiffany.

Urban Fairy Story [Review: The Blue Girl]

17-year old Imogene is a recent arrival to Charles de Lint’s fictional town of Newford. Along with her brother and their permissive parents she is trying to put her teenage gang past behind her, but this proves difficult when she has to deal with the bullies at her new high school and she is constantly in danger of being drawn back into a cycle of violence. Then there are the fairies.

Charles de Lint is an award winning author who likes to interweave fantastic and urban concepts, often drawing out the most sinister aspects of both. In this case, the high school menace is by no means the last of Imogene’s worries: the school is inhabited by a tribe of house fairies who have lost their moral compass (a consequence of being forgotten by humans) and the ghost of a suicidal schoolboy who develops a crush on her, while mysterious and far more dangerous entities wait in the shadows.

There was a point about a third of the way through where the story suddenly took hold and became compulsive reading: when lovesick ghost Adrian realises that the only way he can save Imogene from the shadow-dwelling creatures that are closing in on her is for someone else to die, he doesn’t hesitate in the slightest. Nor does he put himself forward nobly – straightaway he identifies one of the bullies to take her place, imagining an impossible, happy future with Imogene as a result. This rescue fantasy is exactly what crushes are all about!

There is a lot to enjoy in this book, and it is also extremely sinister in places – the idea of fairies granting wishes in unexpected and dangerous ways is handled well. Imogene and Adrian feel like very real characters and their respective pasts have a strong bearing upon how they approach their situation. The book is also well written, making good, clear use of multiple narrators. However this is very much a teenage read, and sometimes felt a little too lightweight for me. Given the compelling twist above the ending felt like a cop-out – I expected a little more. I can’t help comparing it to China Mieville’s Un Lun Dun, a young adult novel which I thought had much more bite, and much more to enjoy for the adult as well as the younger reader. Giraffes, not fairies, are still the new zombies.

The Paul of Cthulhu

The hero of this year's footie World Cup (apart from the inventor of the vuvuzela and his or her long-suffering family) has been Paul the Psychic Octopus. Oberhausen zoo's octopus Paul has now predicted the outcome of every German match, including this week's defeat at the hands of Spain. Paul's prophetic rise began two years ago when he correctly predicted all but one German match result in the European Cup

From his tank headquarters Paul is now considering his forecasts for the final and third-fourth playoff game. However, after predicting defeats for both Argentina and Germany he seems to have acquired a number of enemies and the zoo is receiving daily death threats - mostly in the form of recipes. Do these people not know the danger of taking on any lifeform with this amount of psychic power? Have they not seen Scanners? In addition to his own formidable abilities, Paul is also surrounded by a Cthulhu-esque cabal of followers led by zookeeper and high priest Oliver Walenciak who will no doubt lay down their lives, and perform any number of bizarre human sacrifices, before seeing their demi-god deep-fried.

No doubt having made some quiet appointments with his bookmaker, after the final on Sunday Paul will be retiring to his Beverley Hills mansion tank. The rumour that he is currently dating Miley Cyrus has also not been officially denied.

Sources: Metro, Telegraph, everywhere

[Edit 13.7.10 This post has generated unexpected levels of traffic - if you're new to The Sci-Fi Gene then welcome! Thanks for dropping by - stay for a cup of tea and a comment? In other news Paul the Psychic Octopus has been an inspiration all over the blogosphere, including a thread of limericks on The L Blog. Enjoy your retirement, Paul! ]

The Ex-Factor [Review: My Super Ex-Girlfriend]

Superheroes really do get a raw deal. G-Girl here (Uma Thurman) has been written as one of those misogenistic fantasy characters, the neurotic-obsessive-clingy woman, but half-way through the film I found myself rooting for her rather than her boyfriend Matt (Luke Wilson) the supposed hero/victim of the piece, who is only interested in bragging to his best friend about his sexual exploits. The extremely funny scene in the restaurant where G-Girl knows that, if she leaves her table to save the world from a meteorite threat, this will leave Matt free to flirt with his co-worker Hannah (Anna Faris) pretty much sums it up - and she has a point, why can't they just leave it to the military for once?

I would have to say this is not a film that stands out as any kind of classic, although it's original and quite funny. It's always good to see superheroes using their powers for something more inventive than just the common good of all mankind: for example the third act, when G-Girl finally gets round to taking imaginative revenge on Matt for dumping her, is a lot of fun. Actually I think she is relatively restrained given how badly she's been treated.

Divided States Of America Part II [Review: The Man In The High Castle]

The Man In The High Castle, by Philip K. Dick, also describes a divided America – this time between the German and Japanese forces that have won World War II. Most of the action is set on the Japanese side of the line, while the novel hints at Nazi atrocities committed elsewhere.

While The Years Of Rice And Salt is often about the movers and shakers of the world, this novel is about the under-dogs and middle-men, the Americans under occupation, scraping by and trying to make an honest or dishonest buck. Fakes and fake fakes abound: the Americans are forging historical Americana for the Japanese collectors. The I Ching features heavily again – and yes, I, the author and the cast of the novel are all aware this is not a Japanese philosophy! It’s been introduced to America by the Japanese and is there for a reason. Meanwhile a sudden German leadership contest forces the Japanese colonists and diplomats to choose between supporting different flavours of inhumanity.

The central mystery within the novel is another alternative history novel, banned on the German side of the line, which seems to depict a world in which the Germans and Japanese have lost the war. In the final chapter, a meeting with the author of the novel leads to a subtle, existential twist in the tail, foreshadowed by an earlier scene where a minor character briefly finds himself in our reality. It’s the perfectly executed prestige at the end of a great conjuror’s illusion.

Divided States Of America Part I [Review: The Years Of Rice And Salt]

Kim Stanley Robinson’s novel is an alternative history with a broad canvas: medieval Europe is entirely wiped out by an outbreak of plague, and the last thousand years of history are re-imagined as the interplay between Asian and Middle Eastern cultures. America is discovered and colonized by an east-sailing Chinese fleet and later becomes divided into a Chinese west coast, an Arabic east coast and a central reserve held by the native Americans who have united in the face of the invaders. Unopposed by Christian crusaders the Islamic world expands West and Newton’s discoveries in optics, mathematics and gravitation are made by scholars of the Qu’ran, while an Indian league inspired by the native Americans is the source of the Industrial Revolution.

The novel is structured around the concept of reincarnation: the same characters reoccur in each era with no knowledge of their previous lives; they must somehow recognize each other and work together to improve the world. After their deaths they meet in the bardo and discuss their experiences before being reincarnated into another time. They may be rich or poor, powerful or meek, but they are always the witnesses or enactors of key moments in history.

This is an enjoyable and very original novel. As with the best alternative histories, you will also learn more from this epic than from any textbook, particularly about the ideologies of the world.

Light Of Other Days

Reflections in a Slow Glass (TM) window:

In 2008 I remarked here that there was no prospect of a new film version of Karel Capek's famous play R.U.R. Now it's in development, with director James Kerwin on board (reported on io9 last year, also official website here.)

In 2009 I commented on Stephen Baxter's Titan, which continues to be that rarest of things - a science fiction novel that does actually predict the future, describing clearly and accurately the first steps of the Chinese manned space programme, and sadly anticipating the break-up of Space Shuttle Columbia during re-entry. As described in the book, atmospheric data from the Cassini mission is now being analysed carefully as it may indicate there is life on Titan.
Also in 2009 I reviewed my three favourite Terry Pratchett novels here, commenting that I preferred his science fiction writing to much of the Discworld series. Mr. Pratchett has just announced to my joy that he will be returning to science fiction in a future novel - which he will co-write with Stephen Baxter (news via Grasping For The Wind.)