Science Fiction Non-Fiction: James Rundle (Classic Science Fiction)

"... Sci-Fi had to popularize to survive. Now, the vast majority of top ten films in a year have genre bents, although the literary side of the genre is still more or less ignored by the mainstream, until it gets made into a film. ... I'm not bemoaning the fact that the genre is more popular than ever, I just hope that it isn't subsumed by its own popularity, made into something that doesn't make sense. Rather than disparage the old films for being kitschy and campy, we should look to the lessons that they can teach us about quality entertainment production, lessons about what makes sci-fi great. Sadly, they seem to have passed us by the first time around."

-James Rundle, SciFiNow #43, Mind Your Elders: The Early Science Fiction Films Are Still The Best, p.116-




This is a great opinion piece and the fact of the matter is it spoke volumes to me. It speaks directly to the crap that is churned out by Hollywood year after year with but a mere sampling of quality science fiction films to occasionally rear their ugly, but oh-so beautiful heads. It's extremely hard to find the quality works any more. They exist, but they are few and far between and we have to look a little harder for that minority view.



The above excerpt is from a refreshingly sharp essay by Rundle and a quote worthy of sharing here on Musings Of A Sci-Fi Fanatic.

Sadly, even at SciFi Now, the very place Rundle is employed, it is overrun by the latest and (not so) greatest superhero adaptations for both TV and film. The website itself is populated by a glut of superhero-based, comic-centric "sci-fi" and it is positively staggering and also a mind-numbing bore to read, of course that's entirely relative. Personally, I've simply had enough of it all. It's not to fault the publication either because it's covering what is up and coming and what is out there and clearly what is popular and making money.



Unfortunately the science fiction coverage today is hardly mentally stimulating. It's certainly not of the old school variety.

Caring about the title of the new Terminator 5 film as "stupid" (Terminator 5 New Title Sucks) is just one example of web site coverage. Who cares? Have we devolved to the point we watch the minutia play out like this? Are people so disconnected from the disastrous state of the world they would rather expend energy on the title of a sci-fi film or the skin color of a performer for a given part? It is positively astonishing. I mean is this where we are? Because I guess it is.

Do you remember when science fiction was about big ideas - when exploration, good or evil, opened the mind to possibilities you never dreamed of. Well, thankfully those films still exist but they are clearly in the minority. It's just refreshing to hear an opinion like that of Rundle's that shows a little respect for the past.



In the meantime the proliferation of up to the minute communications on the web allows for folks to expound ad nauseum upon the latest and the pointless.

Has anyone here seen the final shot at the end of your latest Marvel movie?
Of course you have! Aaaaarrrrrgggggghhhhhhhh!