Okay, I could do without all the doors making that "WHOOSH" sound.

Based on what I've already said about the size of my library, you wouldn't think that I would be going out of my way to add to it.  Nonetheless, when my friend Colin announced that he was going to get rid of some large hardcovers, I eagerly paid for the shipping in order to get a box full of new material.

One of the books was Films of Science Fiction and Fantasy, by Baird Searles.  As you might guess from its uninspired title*, it's an analysis of science fictions and fantasy films, and Searles offers some clever insights in the development of the motion picture aspect of the genre.

I was flipping through the pages this morning, and it occurred to me that there are damn few movie versions of the future in which I'd actually want to live.  Blade Runner is a good film, but would you want to live in that perpetual drizzle?  Mad Max speaks for itself, none of the zombie futures have any interest to me, and Soylent Green?  Thank you, but no.

But if I were offered the option of hopping into a fictional future, I think that I would probably say, "Star Trek - The Next Generation, please". 

Why ST-TNG?  Out of all the fictional futures that you might see on a movie or TV screen, The Next Generation is one of the few that suggests that people might lead real lives in the 25th century.  Far too often the future is just a backdrop, usually drawn in bold but undefined terms, but I think that the Star Trek team did its best to create a world that was both plausible and consistent, and then added everyday life to it.

The crew of the Enterprise has poker nights, plays around on the holodeck, works out, goes on vacation, hangs out in Ten Forward, plays musical instruments, presents amateur plays (sorry, Data, but "amateur" is appropriate), cooks real food when they get tired of that replicator stuff, and has to find someone to feed the cat when they head out on extended away missions.  (Ironically, they never watch TV.)

Think about it for a minute:  tell me one thing about a character from Star Wars in terms of their social lives.  Other than Luke's youthful interest in shooting womp rats in Beggar's Canyon, what do any of these people do when they're not whirling a lightsaber?

- Sid

*I first discovered Baird Searles when he was the movie/TV columnist for The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, which was equally "nose on your face" in terms of its name.