The science fiction I spent my youth with consisted of faster than light travel, aliens who spoke perfect English for no good reason and sword fighting on mars. While this brand of science fiction is where most of us teethed, there are those pundits who believe that this flavour of “nonsense”, having no actual basis in real ‘science’, should have the word removed from its name. There have been arguments where terms such as ‘Space Fantasy’ got used a little too liberally and some trekkies get somewhat belligerent. Eventually the extremists ended their holy war and settled on the term Hard Sci-Fi, the general idea being that all Hard Sci-Fi is based on actual science, whether for the entire premise of the story or simply for the setting. As with all aspects of science fiction, there are disagreements. Some people are very black and white, drawing a line at what can be proven conclusively now, while others construct elaborate grading systems designating everything from Babylon 5 down into various grades of mushiness, and assigning everything from Dune up varying degrees of solidity.
This hard-line taken by learned folk in white coats doesn’t in any way detract from my interest in, and appreciation of, hard sci-fi, because despite the boring and educational implications of scientific accuracy, it often adds a strong sense of plausibility to the work in question. It’s a strange realisation while reading Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars Trilogy that this may actually happen one day, but If 1700 pages of the colonisation and terraforming of the red planet isn’t your cup of tea, then it’s worth getting hold of 2009’s Moon starring Sam Rockwell. It’s an easier transition into the sub-genre that will only cost you 97 minutes of your life, and it’s an outstanding piece of cinematic writing and directing where the accuracy stands more as a setting and general approach than an overall theme.
The hard cyber-punk of William Gibson’s Bridge Trilogy is a wholly desirable piece of work in this respect, and has been my go-to SF trilogy for all oppositionists who don’t like the space bound settings and ‘ridiculous’ premises of a majority of my library. Ever since my first trip into the media obsessed near future of hackers and corporate warfare that is Virtual Light I have considered it a law unto itself. It still lives the wild adventure of the Cyber Space Trilogy with its edges hardened into something nearly happened in its tangibility. Its hardness gives it credence.
In a more traditional setting the anime series Planetes is deep in the folds of hard sci-fi with the entire premise, setting and many of the sub-plots revolving heavily around a realistic and technically accurate speculation on the future of space travel. The main characters are responsible for recovering the satellites and other space debris that have become a hazard in the space age. The laws of orbital physics, known and theoretical space travel related illnesses as well as the limitations of interplanetary travel are not only adhered to, but essential for the unfolding and direction of the plot. If you pay attention, you may even learn something about the history of space travel.
It is in the policing of this realism that we find The Game. A brandished rapier and glove in the face, that revolves heavily around scientific ridicule and public humiliation. It is a challenge put forth by the authors and taken up by his audience, and the rules of The Game go a little something like this:
1. Approach a literary, cinematic or television work of science fiction having taken all the necessary safety precautions.
2. Subject all elements of the work in question to the rigors of scientific experimentation and theory.
3. Publish all scientific errors to your nearest internet and hope that you too haven’t made mistakes.
4. No eye gouging.
Every time a Hard Sci-Fi author publishes a book, this is the gauntlet they must endure. This has lead public mockery at science fiction conventions, and in the case of Larry Niven this has resulted in the publishing of corrected reprints and the writing of sequels with retroactive fixes to his scientific blunders. From the outside it appears very harrowing. Which is why it’s entertaining. I personally have never taken part in The Game as all of the science I have learnt since high school comes from books about the accuracies and inaccuracies in science fiction.
I still like your books Larry.
Every fan has to make a choice. I made that choice. For me there will always only ever be three Star Wars films. This is a purity I have endeavoured to maintain. Whether it be for Star Wars, Doctor Who or Transformers, I’ve spent years avoiding not only expanded universe material like the plague, but quite often other official materials. I have had my infidelities in the past. After the disappointment of Episode One I read Shadows of the Empire at the urging of a friend, but despite the relief it brought me I quickly ran back to the safety of my quarantine, because once you enter the murky waters of the expanded universes you are willingly going face to face with the ever shifting Hydra of Canon. This is why I was staying out. At least that was the plan.
I now have nine Star Wars books on my night stand, and I can hear the beast in the swirling mists. Immediately turning to the internet for some guidance, I find that my beloved wookie laden universe has four official levels of canon. This is not an uncommon trend, it’s a neat way to rank the extensive contradictions that tend to arise when you try and milk the fans’ wallets without planning ahead. In the end they just fall back on “because George says so”, and that’s why the most official level is called G-Canon.
A similar, though slightly more confusing, approach to the "because we said so" line was adopted by the people behind the Macross series. After someone called them on the use of runways in zero-G environments they dropped them for the feature film which itself was meant to be an in-universe historical film, and then kept all the design elements from the film, but the plot points from series as Canon. Then they made a sequel which no one liked so they called it a parallel universe, and got right back to business with Macross Plus, which everyone liked. Everything after that is fine, unless you talk to Harmony Gold who like to think none of it is canon outside of Japan.
Doctor Who fans have been handed a slightly different bag of snakes. On one hand the series itself, which is considered the highest level of canon, is rife with its own contradictions before you even introduce the expanded universe. On the other hand it’s a story about a guy with a time machine that has a habit of changing history, so much so, that he got executed for it (Troughton to Pertwee). This constant rewriting of history is now the party line according to new head writer Steven Moffatt. It all happened and then some of it unhappened.
Navigating any universe in which dozens of writers have contributed is always going to be difficult, but what do you do when all materials are written by one man. For none know the fetid breath of the hydra like anybody that has invested any time in the many space operas of Leiji Matsumoto (Space Pirate Captain Harlock, Space Battle Ship Yamato and Galaxy Express 999). At every new release we stand toe to toe and the waters a deep and coffee coloured. Mr Matsumoto’s work, which I can’t get enough of, is all connected. Consisting of at least half a dozen story lines each with films, comics and television series, intertwining and contradicting themselves and each other, thrashing at your sense of order and continuity like a four year old recounting his Saturday. We are talking about a level of discontinuity only dreamed about by the combined Star Wars fanfic writers, all accomplished by a single man. In honour of its fluid nature and Star Blazers, I have dubbed this approach Wave Motion Canon.
Having intrepidly traversed the entirety of Leiji’s mayhem for years after investing heavily in a cartoon from 1977 that is no longer ‘in’, I have come to my own conclusions on canonicity. You don’t have to follow the official party line. Remember though that you are never alone. As you stand before the beast you stand shoulder to shoulder with other hitchhikers through the maelstrom. Some petulant, like the Doctor Who fans that tried to get Paul McGann de-canonised, others defiant, such as fans determined to find explanations to include all materials despite the inconsistencies that keep them awake at night, and others simpy passive aggressive, who make snide remarks about the original creators in their blogs while espousing their own continuities. With this in mind, I set out on my journey into the Star Wars Expanded Universe, and I’m making my own rules. It’s called J-Canon, and you know what George, there are only three movies, Darth Vader didn’t make C-3PO and Jar Jar never existed.
I am a watcher. For my first two decades I lived and breathed VHS. Coveting the magic bricks that let me watch 'Flash Gordon' whenever I damn well pleased. Even now my fetish blossoms as I rummage through my mother's garage of mislabeled boxes to be rewarded with the black plastic treasures of my youth. I rush to the living room, noticing that my adult hands had grown to the perfect size to brandish the cassette as an extension of my self, only to be denied by the sleek DVD player by the television.
The future comes to fast. After journeying through the distant reaches of science fiction for better part of my life, one would assume this to be less of a shock. Alas, here I stand 'Captain Harlock' in hand, with the realisation that I will probably have to order DVDs from France and watch it with German subtitles. Why did 'Blade Runner' never prepare me for this?
John Whydham's The Chrysalids is my favourite type of Sci fi. The world has been through a major holocaust and the new religious system outlaws any kind of deformity. It is considered ungodly to be mutated in any way. A young boy named David is a mutant with the abitlity to communicate with thought pictures. He and his friens communicate by sending mental images to each other. His new sister is found to be more powerful than any of them and can send a distress call which influences the others to rescue her when she is in trouble. Eventually they are found out however and must flee. It seems that the story is having a say about the world's attitude about those who are different. It works for awhile, however I am afraid there is a weakness in the tale. When the group is found by others like them, living in New Zealand (or new Sea land and they call it) they go to live with them. These people have an attitude about the "normal" people. It seems that the "new" people are more advanced than the "old" and they are considered better. This is where, I feel the story fails to make its point. If the mutants don't like being considered abnormal why are they apparently "better" than the others. It focuses on the idea of evolution (which I don't believe in) arguing that since they are more advanced than the less evolved. It was this kind of belief that made white europeans believe they were more advanced and thus "better" than races such as the Aboriginal people of Australia. This does not mean I completely disapprove of the book, it's quite good, but I think there is a failure there. What do you think?
One of man's greatest desires is to look into the future. Why because we just can't wait. Everybody want's to know their future- hence the reason for the desire to see Tarot card readers and the like. However the future isn't always pretty, so why do we still want to see it? One idea is that it can act like a warning. In the film, Minority Report Chief John Anderton helps prevent murders from happening with the help of three people called the Pre-cogs. The pre-cogs were the accidental result of genetic mutation. Due to their "gifts" they are used to create a murder-free town. It seems like a good thing - but is it? When John himself is propesied to commit a murder John goes on the run to solve the mystery - but is his fate already sealed? After kidnapping Agatha, in order to find a "minority report", which is an alternate future he is given one. However Agatha insists that he can still choose his future, which he eventually does. At the end of the film the pre-cogs are set free and the pre-crime division is closed down. It seems it is best not too look into the future. If the future can change what is the point of looking at it - however if it cannot would you really want to?
Watching the film, "A Scanner Darkly" based on the Phillip K. Dick novel is like watching a huge drug trip. By the end it finally makes sense but from the second the film begins you are lost in a world of confusion and paranoia. With the developing surveilance technologies, terrorism and drug use this film could not be more relevant to today's world as it is to the time it was written. The film opens with a paranoid Charles Freck trying desperately to rid his body of non existent bugs crawling over his body as a result of taking the drug Substance D. And so begins the madness. We are introduced next to Fred - a spy whose identity is not even shown to his superiors who is working with the government to erradicate the drug problem. Fred is currently surveying Robert Arctor a suspected drug dealer who, unbeknown to Fred is Fred's split personality caused by his own use of the drug. The film takes the viewer through a series of events which lead Arctor/Fred further and further into madness. One interesting scene is when Arctor and his roommates Jim Barris and Ernie Luckman burst into their apartment, certain that someone has broken in and planted substance D in their home in order to incriminate them. They soon discover that it was only Arctor's girlfriend Donna Hawthorne, however the scene shows the utter paranoia not only from the drug use but from pressures from the government. Another great representation of the madness and paranoia are the suits that Fred and the other spies where in order to hide their identity. The suit shows scrambled physiques of many people thus denying the observer any idea who the person is. In the same way Fred's identity is scrambled by the drug and by the government he works for.
It is discovered by the end of the film that Fred/Arctor was deliberately put on the drug in order to lead him to the New Path recovery centre and later to the farms where they suspect the flowers that are used to create the drug are being grown. There, he becomes Bruce. It is also discovered that Arctor's girlfriend Donna Hawthorne is actually Hank, Fred's superior and it was she who helped work to get Fred/ Arctor/Bruce to the farms.
Overall it is a story about a corrupt government that sacrifices a real human being in order to save the majority. All the these things: the paranoia, the drug use and the questionable deeds of the government are relevant to today. It sure makes you think doesn't it?
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