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SF conventions--of another sort
Someone on an SF mailing list directed me to an interesting post on ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
james_nicoll's LJ.
If you could make one convention of modern SF go away, which one would you choose?I commented there but I decided I'd like to know what you think. My picks are:
If you could add one, what would you add?
Get rid of the hackneyed civilisation where--gasp, how original!--women are oppressed. Even Farscape and Firefly have done it. Use some imagination already.But you knew that. :-)
I want more alien aliens. How about furry aliens, or insectoid ones instead of the usual humanoids, and let's play with gender with a little more imagination. How about societies with several sexes, where you need more than two to procreate, or a hive society? Anything but clichéd old recycled human ones.
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And, yeah, that was a show that really put some thought into making the biology and the culture and such actually feel kind of alien, even if ultimately the aliens were just humans in spotty headpieces. Their reproductive system didn't make a whole lot of sense to me in evolutionary terms, but if you believe that they were genetically engineered -- which is supportable from canon -- it works quite nicely. What I really liked is the fact that the alies quite clearly regarded themselves as normal, and when the human got freaked out by them not conforming to his ideas of "masculinity," etc., it was pretty clearly the human's problem.
I liked that show. :)
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A Binnaum was a catalyst - they needed to have sex with the Linnaum before conception by the Gannaum was possible. And leter on, the Linnaum tranfers a half-formed pod to the Gannaum - who actually gives birth. Kinda like seahorses.
...I was mildly obsessed with the show growing up, okay? *blushes*
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So, what are your picks? :-)
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(and this isn't just Sci-fi, this is EVERY TV SHOW EVER WRITTEN that's not a sitcom, it feels like.)
OMG, Unresolved Sexuel Tension!
I want a TV show where the lead character and his/her love interest find each other mutually attractive, form a rapport, fall in love...
And stay together. And have a nice, stable, open, honest relationship with a sane and normal level of conflict, that mostly stays in the background except on very very very RARE occasions when the plot revolves around it. Or hell, where they're together when the show starts. Less John/Aeryn, more Wash/Zoe, please.
What would I add? ...more alien aliens really gets my vote too, ESPECIALLY the gender thing.
Other than that, though...
(I am utterly aware how freaking impractical this is, but...)
Having the aliens TALK ALIEN, and subtitle it. Alien Nation, again, did this right. Alternately, it would be nice is alien talk is handled CONSISTANTLY. Either everybody talks one language for whatever reason and exceptions are subtitled or we have magic translation devices and everybody understands everybody, and there's no need to show off quoting latin or klingon, because it WON'T MATTER. (I'm looking at YOU, Star Trek!!) Farscape was really good most of the time, the Translator microbes felt alot more beleivable than the UT in Trek, and they sure as hell were MUCH better about idioms than Trek was, but they goofed on occasion.
I'm a linguist. A) this stuff gets under my skin, and B) acting as a translator for a sci-fi show is my DREAM JOB.
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And YES for the languages stuff.
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And yeah, B7 does it too.
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Funny you should mention...
Chracter one: My English... not good.
Character two: (mutters) More good than Eglish mine.
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Albert, actually.
And, yup, the binnaum were a very small percentage of the population. So binnaums generally wouldn't form pair-bonds themselves, but would join aforementioned monk-like order, and catalyze the unions of couples wishing to have children in a sort of religious ritual. Binnaum were allowed to leave the order if they wished, but were not allowed to practice outside it. Albert eventually left the order to marry a female, which was apparently permitted, but not exactly something the order was happy about.
(Um, yes, I was mildly obsessed with that show, too. Why do you ask? :))
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So tell me, do YOU get cold shivers down your spine if somebody says *leez'antzuun?
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Shit, I just got one. :)
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I get this odd urge to rub my wrists nervously, too....
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I am not writing AN/Farscape crossovers. I am not.
I still need to make an Uncle Moodri icon, though. Badly.
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But, but, the golden light that came out of that box Moodri had! AN could be an Unrealized Reality!
I still need to make an Uncle Moodri icon, though. Badly.
You DO! Or a Moodri-Stark icon "I *heart* crazy mystical alien ex-slaves"
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Sadly, the DVDs are hard to obtain -- you have to get 'em through Columbia House's annoying subscription service (and that's possibly only in the US, anyway -- and none of the movies are out at all. Sigh.
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