What is the most crappy scifi ever?

[GregBurch]

Don't read sci-fi books I'm afraid, not really a big fan of sci-fi in general. But I can tolerate it in movies, same doesn't go for books though.

(this is probably why I like 'hollywood' sci-fi movies )

Indeed, it probably does. While the overwhelming majority of written SF is unpalatable garbage, the tiny portion that is good presents LOTS of really great material. The problem is finding those pearls in all the pigsh*t.

The very best cinematic SF (certainly fewer than 10 films) rises into the level of the best literary SF. But there are hundreds of really good SF books and that are worth reading, either for the actual scientific and technical speculation, the "philosophical science fiction," the "social science fiction," the literary quality, or some combination of those.

 

[simonpro]

I think the main reason I don't like them is because the characters never seem real. I don't know what it is, but I can't imagine people acting like they do in some sci-fi books.

The one exception (that I've read) is Arthur C Clarke. His characters seem very well written - as are his books in general. Something about his way of writing really works.

 

[GregBurch]

I think the main reason I don't like them is because the characters never seem real. I don't know what it is, but I can't imagine people acting like they do in some sci-fi books.

Strongly agreed. The basic literary elements of character development and dialogue are usually very, very poorly executed in the vast majority of printed SF, making almost all of it unreadable garbage.

The one exception (that I've read) is Arthur C Clarke. His characters seem very well written - as are his books in general. Something about his way of writing really works.

The best of Clarke reaches the level of great poetry (the short chapters of 2001 are like scientific haiku), but I wouldn't call Clarke a very good writer of character generally. I think Heinlein's "Golden years" work -- Moon is a Harsh Mistress, especially -- is pretty damned good as literature; at least as a delivery mechanism for the ideas (which most SF really is, ultimately).

If you like Clarke, you might like Vernor Vinge or Charlie Stross.

 

[Bullethead]

The best of Clarke reaches the level of great poetry (the short chapters of 2001 are like scientific haiku), but I wouldn't call Clarke a very good writer of character generally.

Clarke had his "Golden Years", too. But he got pretty weird and mystic in his later works.

I think Heinlein's "Golden years" work -- Moon is a Harsh Mistress, especially -- is pretty damned good as literature; at least as a delivery mechanism for the ideas (which most SF really is, ultimately).

For good SF characters, I like David Drake's "Hammer's Slammers" series. While these characters are pretty simple and all very similiar, Drake captures the type perfectly. They're all a bunch of PTDS-afflicted stone killers who haven't slept or bathed in weeks and are standing solely due to adrenaline and crank. I feel like I served with them all in real life .

For pure literature, you can't beat Jack Vance IMHO. That guy had a simply amazing touch with the English language, besides an incredible imagination.

 

[n0mad23]

I have to step in to defend The Fifth Element for a moment.

Granted, it was generally pretty crappy on several levels. I am not a fan of Bruce Willis, though I will admit his acting has surprised me on a couple of occasions (validating the blind pig finding the acorn axiom).

However, Luc Besson recruited Moebius for the design and imagery used in this flick, and Moebius' "Airtight Garage" pretty much kept me from killing myself as a teen back in the days that Heavy Metal was still being translated from Metal Hurlant.

The whole film is like watching snippets from my favorite comic books!

Plus Ian Holms was in this film making the film worth watching if only to focus on his acting.

 

[Urwumpe]

Plus Ian Holms was in this film making the film worth watching if only to focus on his acting.

yeah, alone the scene with the bomb is really immortal. And of course "Weddings are one floor down, my son. Congratulations."

What is worse: I know it is one of my favorite movies. I know my girlfriend also likes it. I also know that our daughter is too young to watch it. But why does she make the same "Stay away from me" gesture and sound as Ruby Rhod now?

I am scared.

Also, the coolest thing in sci-fi literature are still Stanislaw Lems Star Diaries. I really recommend them. :lol:

 

[Brad]

This beats Buck Rogers for crap factor.

YouTube - Six Million Dollar Man vs. Sasquatch

Six Million Dollar Man was da bomb! At least the first few seasons before Bionic B was introduced.

 

[ar81]

My favorite Sci-Fi would probably have to the The Chronicles of Riddick. The screenplay could have been better written, but I think the "macho" factor helps fill the gaps. Not very realistic though.

Yes, at Crematoria sunlight was more dangerous than reentry heat and plane change is so amazignly fast that I can barely believe it.

I also find amazing that sunlight in crematoria burns the ship, while sunlight in space causes nothing.

I like the decoration of that movie and the stunts, but I still believe that David Belle and Cyril Raffaelli are better stunts.

Six Million Dollar Man was da bomb! At least the first few seasons before Bionic B was introduced.

If we consider bionic woman to be scifi, then the newest TV show is worthy of being called "crappy".
It is like a bionic femme Nikita (and Femme Nikita is a poor remake of the french movie Nikita).

 

[pattersoncr]

yeah, alone the scene with the bomb is really immortal. And of course "Weddings are one floor down, my son. Congratulations."

What is worse: I know it is one of my favorite movies. I know my girlfriend also likes it. I also know that our daughter is too young to watch it. But why does she make the same "Stay away from me" gesture and sound as Ruby Rhod now?

I am scared.

Also, the coolest thing in sci-fi literature are still Stanislaw Lems Star Diaries. I really recommend them. :lol:

The normal response for my wife & I, whenever one of us gets tripped up using just about any piece of technology is for the other to point and say "autowash!"

 

[n0mad23]

What is worse: I know it is one of my favorite movies. I know my girlfriend also likes it. I also know that our daughter is too young to watch it. But why does she make the same "Stay away from me" gesture and sound as Ruby Rhod now?

I saw The Fifth Element by accident in the theater. My mother-in-law was in town visiting, and my wife and I had the opportunity to go out for the evening. At the time, only this one and Jurassic Park 2 were in the nearby theater. We both knew the latter was going to be really bad, so we took our chances with the first. When the opening credits rolled, and we saw that the actor (whose name I can't remember) from 90210 was in the film, we both groaned.

When the ship landed in Egypt, I leaned over and whispered to my wife, "My God, it looks like a Moebius design!" Throughout the film, I kept seeing familiar images and was delighted to see in the credits my favorite cartoonist credited.

"I never felt this way about a human before."

Still, it requires a certain amount of willing-suspension-of-disbelief to enjoy this one. At least it didn't take itself too seriously.

 

[Kyle]

So how come some movies get your bad vote for being "unrealistic", yet you list space cowboys (a movie in which someone managed to crash in-tact into the moon) and star wars (a movie full of antigravity and laser swords) as good?:blink:



Don't read sci-fi books I'm afraid, not really a big fan of sci-fi in general. But I can tolerate it in movies, same doesn't go for books though.

(this is probably why I like 'hollywood' sci-fi movies )

Actually, were you expecting them to show Gorey and Twisted up Bodys? Its PG for a reason.
I stated for Sci-Fi and Non Sci-Fi. Star Wars is a Classic, a Great movie, alteast the old Trilogy.

 

[Notebook]

I don't know why, and I should know better, but the two Dim Viessel movies, Chronick of Ruddick and the other one thats very dark, both stick in my mind.
Haven't figured out if they are good or bad yet, but I do watch them when they are on the telly.

N.

 

[Linguofreak]

8. Star Wars Episode II; Jar Jar should kill himself.
7. Star Wars Episode I; Again, Jar Jar Should be shot.

What is everybody's problem with Jar-Jar? Sure, he wasn't especially funny, but he wasn't *that* bad. Episodes I and II were in my book decent (and I was actually pretty good), and Jar Jar wasn't really enough to ruin them. III suffered from a run of bad acting that started in I, plus a degree of "trinketyness" in the designs of ships and other war machines that started in I, got bad in II, and got to be outright horrible in III.

Still, the prequels weren't really as good as the originals, though I'd say Episode I was more enjoyable for me than V, just because Luke getting his hand cut off in V spooked me a bit when I first saw it. (And, in general, V was just a dark and low point in the story, which is never the most enjoyable part, even if it needs to be there to make the rest enjoyable).

 

[n0mad23]

How did George ever go from THX-1138 to Starwars?

Do you think his conscience ever pesters him over it?

 

[GregBurch]

How did George ever go from THX-1138 to Starwars?

Do you think his conscience ever pesters him over it?

Great point -- it's easy to forget how amazingly good THX-1138 was for its time. Unlike everything else he's ever made, it was a movie for adults. It seems to me that ever since, he's been aiming his work at a younger and younger age. I guess his next movie will be about the traumatic challenge of making the big move to solid food, and the terrors of toilet training.

 

[tl8]

Great point -- it's easy to forget how amazingly good THX-1138 was for its time. Unlike everything else he's ever made, it was a movie for adults. It seems to me that ever since, he's been aiming his work at a younger and younger age. I guess his next movie will be about the traumatic challenge of making the big move to solid food, and the terrors of toilet training.

Not quite, but now Starwars is animated.

I saw the trailer while watching Get Smart, which is actually good.

 

[Bullethead]

What is everybody's problem with Jar-Jar?

Maybe it's how he drives most normal humans into fits of :axehead::compbash::chair::focus::suicide:

The only good thing with Jar-Jar in it was that "Robot Chicken" sketch where Vader, totally sick of his constant annoying babbling, threw him out an airlock. Only then Jar-Jar came back as a blue Jedi ghost and kept pestering him while he was trying to sleep at night.

 

[Linguofreak]

Maybe it's how he drives most normal humans into fits of :axehead::compbash::chair::focus::suicide:

Yes, I kind of got that part, but what is it about him that drives normal humans to apoplexy?

 

[pattersoncr]

Yes, I kind of got that part, but what is it about him that drives normal humans to apoplexy?

You're talking about the same Jar Jar as everyone else right?
You know, the annoying as s**t one.

 

[n0mad23]

It's because he's a simulacrum stereotype. What could possibly be more annoying than that?