So I really enjoyed the first two seasons of Extra Sci-Fi, and since they’ve just started up with season three, I’d like to do a blog series where I react to the episodes. From the first episode, it looks like the main focus of this season is on Lord of the Rings and Dune, two… Continue reading Extra Sci-Fi S3E1: Tolkien and Herbert, the World Builders
Tag: Frank Herbert
Y is for Yesteryear
They say that the golden age of science fiction is about twelve years old. That’s definitely true for me. My first exposure to the genre was Star Wars: A New Hope. I saw it when I was seven, right around the height of my dinosaur phase. Everything about the movie completely blew me away, from… Continue reading Y is for Yesteryear
L is for Lost Colony
As we discussed in I is for Interstellar, space colonization is a major theme of science fiction, especially space opera. Of course, things don’t always go smoothly. Space is a really, really, really big place, and sometimes, due to war or famine or simple bureaucratic mismanagement, colonies get cut off from the rest of galactic… Continue reading L is for Lost Colony
E is for Empire
Almost every far future science fiction story has a galactic empire of some kind. From Dune to Foundation, from Star Wars to Firefly, there’s always someone trying to rule the galaxy, often in a way that makes life difficult for the protagonists. Why? Rule of drama, of course, but also because it gives the story… Continue reading E is for Empire
Trope Tuesday: Rebellious Princess
You know that innocent and beautiful fairy tale princess, with the tricked out dress and the power to summon woodland creatures? The one with a tendency to get kidnapped, but who always ends up happily ever after with her prince charming? Yeah, that’s not this princess. A rebellious princess would just as soon puke if she… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: Rebellious Princess
Trope Tuesday: Recycled IN SPACE!
Or, as my friends at Leading Edge would say, IN SPAAACE!!! The basic idea behind this trope is that setting a story in space makes it cool and different. The tvtropes article focuses mainly on how this trope is used in children’s cartoons, but it actually goes much wider. In fact, most space stories are… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: Recycled IN SPACE!