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A SciFi Weekend
Dec. 21st, 2015 10:35 amThe Weekend That Was proved to be very science fictional. I DVR-ed the miniseries Childhood's End and the two episodes of The Expanse, so that was Saturday's entertainment. On Sunday, I took in a matinee (and inadvertently 3-D) version of Star Wars. Herewith are my thoughts.
Childhood's End
It has been decades since I read the book, so I can't comment on how closely the miniseries follows the book. The first of the two big changes, making the Overlord's mouthpiece being a Missouri farmer, helped humanize the action. IIRC, Clarke's book was a little more abstract. The other big change, making the human resistance as a thinly-veiled head of Fox News, also worked to the advantage of the show. I think overall the SciFi Channel nailed both the intellectual and emotional content of the book.
The Expanse
I devoured the novel, and am really liking what I am seeing so far. The Belters are belt-like, the tech is fairly realistic, and they are sticking fairly closely to the book. Again, SciFi folks nailed it.
Star Wars
Somebody said that Rey, the young female lead, is the first feminist Star Wars character. It's worth considering, but feminist or no, she's a great character, period. Actually, so is Finn, the escaped stormtrooper. I had some questions about the worldbuilding, and the plot bore more than a passing resemblance to the 1977 original, but overall a very entertaining movie. Go see it, but avoid 3-D. Some of the spaceship shots in particular ended up looking like somebody had hung a large model in the auditorium.
Childhood's End
It has been decades since I read the book, so I can't comment on how closely the miniseries follows the book. The first of the two big changes, making the Overlord's mouthpiece being a Missouri farmer, helped humanize the action. IIRC, Clarke's book was a little more abstract. The other big change, making the human resistance as a thinly-veiled head of Fox News, also worked to the advantage of the show. I think overall the SciFi Channel nailed both the intellectual and emotional content of the book.
The Expanse
I devoured the novel, and am really liking what I am seeing so far. The Belters are belt-like, the tech is fairly realistic, and they are sticking fairly closely to the book. Again, SciFi folks nailed it.
Star Wars
Somebody said that Rey, the young female lead, is the first feminist Star Wars character. It's worth considering, but feminist or no, she's a great character, period. Actually, so is Finn, the escaped stormtrooper. I had some questions about the worldbuilding, and the plot bore more than a passing resemblance to the 1977 original, but overall a very entertaining movie. Go see it, but avoid 3-D. Some of the spaceship shots in particular ended up looking like somebody had hung a large model in the auditorium.
