Babel Clash

Three trendy cataclysms in current speculative fiction disaster stories are zombie invasion, the 2012 “Mayan Prophecy” and the singularity (when artificial intelligence surpasses human intelligence, which theoretically translates into Terminator-style Doomsday).

Each has been turned into some very cool books.  Max Brooks’ World War Z, Brian D’Amato’s In the Courts of the Sun and Charles Stross’ Accelerando, to name a few.

Zombie infestation feels more metaphorical.  2012 is more mystical, sort of like a prophecy in a fantasy novel.  The singularity is the only one that has a hardcore Science Fiction feel to it.  It feels like there’s some plausibility there.

Do you see the trends changing?  Are environmental disaster and resource limitations going to be bigger and bigger pieces of  Science Fiction in the years ahead?

On the other hand, maybe the environmental piece has been there for a long time, from Waterworld to Stephen Baxter’s Flood.  Paolo, do you have any favorites or recommendations, other than your own, for fans wanting to explore these issues in SF?

David W. commented that Terminator struggled partly because of “Sci-Fi overload” after Wolverine and Star Trek.  That’s crazy talk!  (I say with a smile).  It’s hard to get burnt out on great movies, no matter the genre.

Is there a breaking point?  If so, how many sci-fi movies is too many?  My thought is that we still don’t have enough.

Strangely, the robots with free will don’t scare me as much.  Maybe I’m an optimist, but a robot with free will is more likely to act like R2-D2 than Megatron.  Anybody see the trailer for the Surrogates with Bruce Willis?  Those things look creepy.  Life by proxy through machines, that idea gives me chills.

Transformers? I liked the first one, and I’ll probably go see the next, but there’s something about robots that I’ve never quiet trusted. I’m a child of the 80s, so right off, Short Circuit comes to mind. That scene where Ally Sheedy dances with the robot kind of freaked me out. A.I. hit my creepy meter, too. I think Terminator had it right. (Run, ’cause he’ll be back.) Oh, and I Robot? Dude, he had it right. (shudder) Tell me again why we are giving robots free will? Don’t get me wrong. I absolutely adored the movie(s), but I just don’t trust the robot.

Josh & Matt are calling out Transformers 2 as a contender.  It has the action and effects to stand out.  If it brings the same humor and heart as the first one, it’s got a chance.

P.S. I added a link to an excerpt of Kim’s new Once Dead Twice Shy to the page.  Check it out!

My pre-season pick for summer blockbuster champion was Terminator.  Anybody else out there eating crow this morning?  Bale and his cyborn pals didn’t even win the weekend.

Kim here, and I’m thrilled to be a part of the beginning of this author/reader interaction on Borders that I hope is going to be fun. I’m going to get things started (I’m not even sure if this is live yet) with today’s topic: Hottest summer movie.  My money is on Star Trek, but if I like a movie, it’s usually delegated to “also-ran.”

Okay, I’ll admit I was in line for the opening of Star Trek.  I loved it from both a OMG-they-made-a-good-one to a more nuts-and-bolts aspect where they can now rewrite the entire saga because of that clever little alternate history they put in there.  I’m putting my money on Spock being the one to carry the sequels.  Dude, he’s going to be the lose cannon, and I can’t wait to see his sexual exploits.  They are going to be worse that the original Kirk’s.

Terminator . . . I’ve heard rumors.  Anyone seen it yet?