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RE: He's right, though

Comment comment by scottb on 07 February 2008

Above all, SF poses questions and makes you think, while sci-fi is mostly good for digesting popcorn and marketing action figures.

Well, I think there's a more fundamental problem there. It seems like there are hardly any people who are in the business of making SciFi for movies and TV that actually "get" (or should I say, "grok") the genre.

Take the so-called SciFi Channel. I say "so called" because their programmers haven't the vaguest idea what SciFi is about. They seem to think it's monster movies and supernatural "reality" shows. And for some bizarre reason they think there's sufficient overlap between SciFi fans and pro-wrestling fans to warrant an hour of wrestling programming each week. Completely clueless.

And whenever good SciFi makes it to the air (say, Babylon 5, or Firefly, they can't seem to find an audience for it.

Science Fiction fans are curious about things--which means we'll watch just about anything no matter how crappy it first appears. I think this might diminish with age--as I get older and have less time to waste, I find I'm more selective about what I watch.

Don't count on it. I'm closer to fifty than forty, and I still abuse myself with Flash Gordon each week, as awful as it is.

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RE: He's right, though by NomadSoul :: NR6

Too true--it's all about what they think they can sell, and unfortunately, the type of science fiction accepted by a mass audience is cheap thrills. I don't know if it's fair for Sawyer to blame Lucas for all of this--it seems more systemic than that. Whenever something is reduced to "entertainment" it falls to the lowest common denominator.

I wouldn't care so much except that it's getting very hard to even publish an SF book these days--publishers are much more risk averse than they used to be, so it's hard for new writers to break into the field, and almost as hard to stay there.

Don't count on it. I'm closer to fifty than forty, and I still abuse myself with Flash Gordon each week, as awful as it is.

LOL--well, I guess that curiosity never goes away. There's worse vices to have, to be sure.

Posted 07 February 2008, Hide, Parent, Reply