MonsPubis
Joined: Mon Aug 17, 2015 4:44 pm Posts: 669
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I'd be inclined to say Star Trek, but then again I'm a bit biased. I don't consider Star Wars to be science fiction. It's space fantasy. It makes no effort to explain how core, integral mechanics (such as The Force) actually work. Star Trek at least tries, even if it does end up being pretty far from the mark sometimes. Don't get me wrong, I love my Star Wars as much as the next guy, but there's a deficit of science, and thus it's hard for me to consider it science fiction. Expanded Universe tries to fill in some blanks, but the original source material doesn't even try.
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Kieve
Joined: Mon Aug 24, 2015 1:12 am Posts: 99 Location: Low Orbit
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Ooh, I like these kind of topics... For a long time I was heavily into Battletech - novels and games both. Played pretty much everything from MW2 onward, although I haven't picked up with the new online ones at all. MW2, MW3, MechCommander (and its Gold version with the extra campaign), MW4, MC2, and the two MechWarrior spinoffs on the Xbox, although those were kind of a disappointment. Book- and film-wise, I am of the firm belief that if done properly, the Blood of Kerensky trilogy could become one of the greatest movie sets ever made. Of course, I can't think of anyone I'd trust with that material off-hand, except maybe Peter Jackson. With his love of grandiose battlefield scenes, the final trials on Tukayyid would be a sight for the ages...
Ah, good times.
Other than giant mech combat, I don't have a preference for "hard" or "soft" sci-fi, as long as it's reasonably entertaining and the story holds together in the telling. -Ray Bradbury is probably top of my list for authors, because as much as I value character-driven pieces, it's always the plot that really grabs me, and he did this very well. -Isaac Asimov sparked my interest in the concept of AI, and more importantly, the notion of "robots can be people too." I can't say his writing style is my favorite, but the ideas are so fascinating it doesn't even matter. -Same can be said for Arthur C. Clarke. I tend to find his stories hard to get into at first, but once the ideas begin to come together... -Otherwise, I mostly look to Timothy Zahn for my sci-fi tales. I prefer his one-offs, like Angelmass and Night Train To Rigel. Something I can pick up, read, and put down again, without thinking I've "missed anything" by it being part of a series or saga. I'll give other random authors a try as well, if the description grabs me. -Been reading "The Long Way To A Small, Angry Planet" (Becky Chambers) recently, at the suggestion of a friend. Very character-driven piece, which I'd describe best as a novelized episode of Firefly, with different crew (most of whom are alien). -I am also in the process of writing my own sci-fi novel. Probably falls under "soft" sci-fi, since it focuses on a college grad from Rhode Island getting tangled up in interstellar brouhaha. Plot centers around a race of genetically-engineered semi-sentients, and could loosely be described as "The Island" in space, minus Michael's Bay-splosions.
Film-wise... I'll at least attempt to watch most anything sci-fi but I can't think of a whole lot that's really been stand-out awesome. AI, Ex Machina, Chappie, Automata, Bicentennial Man, and I, Robot are all ones that've dealt with my favorite idea (sapient machines), but none of them have quite hit the mark for me. These days it seems like sci-fi films are all about the spectacle, and story be damned.
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