Adventure Time.

 

I've discussed my love for travel in previous blog postings, but I don't think that I've discussed how much it scares me.  My family didn't travel at all when I was a child, and as such I had to teach myself how to go on trips, an experience which took me completely out of my comfort zone.  I've done enough travel now that I've become competent at the various mechanics involved, booking plane tickets and hotels, going through airport security, finding my luggage, that kind of thing, but it's still very much an adventure for me.

2013's trip to Scotland proved to be an excellent source of blog content:  visits to Monty Python castles, found objects like police boxes and Tron churches, and of course a winsome geek or two.  2014 was a much less ambitious year for travel, but 2015 should turn out to be far more interesting, with travel destinations that will combine both the past and the future.

In April, my friend Colin and I are heading to Florida for a week in the sun, with the Kennedy Space Center prominently featured on my list of requested site visits.  This is where it all happened, this where they made history: the Saturn rocket, the Mercury and Gemini missions, Apollo, Skylab, the space shuttle, the ISS, and now that NASA is returning to a more active role with the new Orion rocket, it's going to be a central part of the next stage of space exploration.

My friend Terry is moving to Japan in a few weeks, and I've decided to pay him a visit in September.  In my mind, Japan is an idealized window into the future, with Tokyo in particular a Gibsonesque silicon metropolis that's just a little bit ahead of the rest of the world.  In addition, Japanese geek culture, in the form of manga and animé, has become a strong alternative to the Western superhero and Disney-dominated approaches to comics and animation. 

 

As an example, the life-sized* Mobile Suit Gundam statue and theme site located in Tokyo's Odaiba district has become a popular geek pilgrimage, but I also plan to make the more traditional pilgrimage to Kyoto, Japan's cultural and spiritual centre. Visiting Kyoto is like a trip into Japan's past, a glimpse of a time and a place which is almost the opposite of Tokyo's fast-forward vibe.

I have to admit that I'm a bit nervous about Japan, even nine months in advance.  I managed to survive a week in Paris in 2011 with my limited French, but travelling in a country where I can't even read the street signs** is going to be a real challenge, even with a locally based tour guide. But what would life be without an adventure now and then?

- Sid

* "Life-sized" is perhaps an odd way to describe a 60 foot tall recreation of a giant battle robot from an animated series, but you know what I mean.

**  This is a joke - apparently there are no street signs.

Strange days indeed.

Sometimes the Space Channel has some odd choices. One wonders "And what does that have to do with sci-fi, or even space?

- Laurie Smith, 2007 blog comment.

Oh Space, Space - why do you vex me so?

No, seriously, what were you thinking?  Today's lineup was one of the most marginal science fiction lineups you've ever programmed.  Okay, it doesn't include Jaws, but it's about on a par in terms of wondering what went wrong.

Let's look at the list, in no particular order:  Executive Action - fail, it's an action film.  Under Siege, ditto.  Under Siege II - see comment re: Under Siege.  The A-Team - already covered the last time you programmed it under the mistaken impression that it was science fiction (or maybe fantasy).  Face/Off - actually marginally science fiction, thank you.  Crank?  Hmmm....I'm going to go with action film again.  The Expendables - action film.  Expendables II...anyone in the audience?  Please, don't answer all at once - yes, thank you, action film.  Looper - FINALLY, an acceptable little time travel movie, which presumably made the program list because of Bruce Willis.

And the weird thing is that the rest of the week, before and after, is pretty good in terms of suitable selections - what happened today? 

For New Year's 2007, you showed Strange Days, a quirky but well done science fiction film whose pivotal action actually takes place on December 31st - why not make that a yearly tradition?  In fact, why not program the whole day with quirky little films, all of the wonderfully unique off-the-beaten-path movies* like Strange Days:  Dark City, The Zero Theorem, Code 46, Immortal, The Quiet Earth, Altered States, Solaris, Wizards, The Fountain  - have I got a full day yet?  Brazil, Soldier, Sunshine, Monsters - that should do it for a full programming day, one that might well attract some positive feedback from the critics. 

Admittedly, this isn't a list of movies that's going to attract the attention of the cool kids, but let's face it, the people who are watching Space on New Year's Eve are probably not the cool kids anyway.

Regardless - happy New Year, everyone!  One more step into the future...

- Sid

* This entire list is taken from two or three shelves of my DVD collection, and you know, "wonderfully unique off-the-beaten-path" actually covers quite a wide selection of science fiction movies - if not all of them.

Saint Nicholas?

There's a horror movie named Alien? That's really offensive. No wonder everybody keeps invading you. 

The Doctor, Last Christmas

Christmas is a time of traditions, and as such I feel obliged to follow the Infinite Revolution tradition of posting a brief review of the Doctor Who Christmas Special.

Over time (no pun intended) I've found the holiday episodes of Doctor Who to be a bit uneven, with last year's offering quite definitely scoring as one of the less impressive samples. However, this year's special redeemed the shortcomings of Matt Smith's disappointing final episode.

Last Christmas offers a well-written scenario which prominently features Santa Claus, elves, Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer and alien monsters, and then cleverly integrates them all into the story in a logical, reasonable fashion which makes perfect sense in the context of the plot.*  This qualifies as good science fiction by my definition, in that it creates what seems to be an irrational situation and then explains it in a completely rational manner** without ever breaking the rules created by the storyline.

Last Christmas pays homage to several classic films, to the point of even listing them on screen for the less observant or knowledgeable members of the audience.  (If you're curious, yes, apparently Dave is forgiven.) To be fair, number five on that list should probably be Inception, but it may be that they were less eager to point out that particular influence.***

The episode also resolves the question of Clara Oswald's continued involvement (or not) with the Doctor, and manages to gracefully break the barriers to that involvement that were created in the final episode of Season 8.  Ultimately though, the episode's greatest achievement is in casting.  I mean, seriously, how can you go wrong by choosing an actor named Nick Frost to play Santa Claus?

Merry Christmas to all - once again, we're half way out of the dark.

- Sid

* In acknowledgement of previous complaints by my sister Dorothy, no spoilers here.

** Well, to be truthful, that's a bit strong.  It's not completely logical, but by Doctor Who standards it's pretty good.

*** That being said, series producer and writer Steven Moffat had damn well better not end the next season by announcing that it was all a dream, that will NOT go well for him.