A Sense-of-Wonderful Century: Explorations of Science Fiction and Fantasy Films
Language: English
Pages: 340
ISBN: 1434445062
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
This book gathers together many of the illuminating essays on science fiction and fantasy film penned by a major critic in the SF field. The pieces are roughly organized in the chronological order of when the movies and television programs being discussed first appeared, with essays providing more general overviews clustered near the beginning and end of the volume, to provide the overall aura of a historical survey. Although this book does not pretend to provide a comprehensive history of science fiction and fantasy films, it does intermingle analyses of films and TV programs with some discussions of related plays, novels, stories, and comic books, particularly in the essays on This Island Earth and 2001: A Space Odyssey and its sequels. Inciteful, entertaining, and full of intelligent and witty observations about science fiction and its sometimes curious relationship with the visual media, these essays will both delight and entertain critics, fans, and viewers alike.
Hope for Film: From the Frontline of the Independent Cinema Revolutions
Avant le cinéma: L'oeil et l'image
underwater, or trekking into unknown polar regions—the fact remains that outer space is an environment radically different from all those that humans have previously explored. It is a realm without air, without water, and without material resources; a realm of zero gravity, extreme temperatures, and no protection from harmful radiation. A film about space travel, even if designed only to entertain, should in some way acknowledge these harsh realities; in the science fiction films of the last
destination. * * * * * * * To determine the logical way that the story should have been extended, one must begin by considering the conclusion of the original film and novel. In the more cryptic film, an alien race first places one monolith on the planet Earth four million years ago, and after a brief encounter with a tribe of prehuman primates, the monolith somehow boosts their intelligence so that they now can figure out how to use tools. Soon they are on their way to becoming fully human and
contact with their former crewmates. Matters have grown so grim that characters openly wonder if Earth will still be there when they are ready to return, anticipating a devastating nuclear war between the superpowers. Fortunately, though, it seems that humanity’s alien mentors have been monitoring the situation, and by means of forceful intervention they seek to resolve the dispute before it leads to a ruinous global war—apparently reasoning that the spectacular transformation of Jupiter into a
with an unpleasant situation until their normal family can be restored, or until a new normal family can be created. And the films where human characters are subordinate to animal characters—like The Rescuers, Oliver and Company, and The Rescuers Down Under—may move to this kind of conclusion: after being helped by Bernard and Miss Bianca, Penny is adopted by two loving parents; after the crisis provoked by her pet cat, the girl in Oliver and Company is reunited with her parents; and although
energy-neutral method to carefully observe the history of the species they are about to exterminate. This is intimated throughout Time’s Eye because the ubiquitous artifacts that represent these aliens—not monoliths, but perfect, floating spheres—are universally referred to as “Eyes” and are repeatedly described as somehow watching or observing the novel’s characters (19, 90, 191, 227, 249-250, 268, 276, 287, and 297). A character in the second novel, Sunstorm: A Time Odyssey: 2 (2007), describes
