DAWN - redux

I was able to find the time to read through part I of Dawn. I thought it was an interesting take on alien life and society.

In the opening chapter, I was under the impression that Lilith was being held by a government agency, CIA, FBI. I began to grow a feeling of aggravation towards her captors in the way they were treating her. Not even considering answering any questions that she had about the predicament she was in, leaving her in utter silence at times, silently making her pass out and operating on her body.

It wasn’t until a few pages of misery and sporadic isolation later when I realized I was totally wrong about her captor, about their intentions, and position in government.

Jdahya’s kidnapping was quite heroic. Saving Lilith and other humans from the global massacre that was occurring on Earth. This is why she required long periods of isolation, they needed to cool her down and prepare her for the shock that would come when she was revealed to the world she is now a member of.

Jdahya’s alien race seemed very odd to me. The use of tentacles as sensory organs was an interesting concept, it is foreign to think of any living creature without having eyeballs. I began to think about how Jdahya saw the world around him, what would it look like if you could see in 360 degrees and then some? The multiple uses of the tentacles to encompass touching and hearing was well thought out. I also appreciated how he was able to remain completely still for long periods of time. It was a subtle characteristic that improved his alien quality. However interesting Octavia’s concept was of this species, I thought it could use some further development. I do not understand why a species that have the ability to breathe underwater would live primarily on land and maintain a primarily aquatic appearance. I guess I am not at liberty to say though, I haven’t read through the entire book. These qualities must come into play later in the novel.

It was interesting how Jdahya described his race as being ‘Traders.’ The idea of trading makes the alien seem a little more human, as it is significant practice by the human race and key to the development of our species. Their items of trade seem to be different, however. The cuts and scars on Lilith’s body were from surgical operations in hopes to remove her cancer, not only for her survival, but also for their own biological reasons.

The ship the Traders pilot is alive, which is cool but could use some development as well. How does it survive in the vacuum of space? Again, I have to finish the book. I loved the environment Lilith was exposed to upon her exiting her isolation chamber. The organic quality of the ship was refreshing in contrast to the drab environment I felt that was experienced within her cell.

Overall I thought Butler conceptualized a different approach to our outlook on alien life and society as well as the future of our human race.

DAWN

            Octavia Butler’s Dawn was provided a fresh look on alien abduction. In fact in the beginning I thought the CIA or FBI took the main character, Lilith. They kept her in isolation, keeping her unconscious for years, performing surgical operations on her, and sporadically waking her up to question her.

            After a few pages of isolation, her captor’s reveal themselves to her, and it turns out they have been aliens all along. The alien looks like some sort of weird squid/amphibious creature that has tentacles for eyes, nose, and ears. They call themselves, ‘Traders’ and have been giving her surgery to get rid of cancer that has been growing inside of her. They tell her that they wanted the cancer cells for their own use, which I found to be odd.

            Jdahya is the name of the alien who corresponds with Lilith. He brings her out of her isolation chamber and shows her the ship they have been living in. It is huge, and apparently the space ship is a living being that actual “loves” the Traders, it trades services with the them, allowing them to live on it. In return, they pilot it.

            For some reason I imagined a lot of vibrant and cool colors. A lot of purples, greens and blues.

The Twilight Zone

I am surprised how we didn't cover The Twilight Zone in this class. It has such a great mixture of sci fi and horror elements, brought to you with great story telling. (Also, it is now streaming on Netflix.) It’s a very strong series, influencing many notable Sci Fi and Horror writers, and I would not consider it as mainstream as other renown sci fi shows.

            The episodes run for around 20-30 minutes a piece, and have some thrilling stories packed in. I was originally introduced to the Twilight Zone by my dad when I was younger, back then, the most terrifying episode to me was Nightmare at 20000 feet. Now I would have to say it’s the one with the doll who has a mind of it’s own (Living Doll). Dolls scare the hell out of me, those, and clowns. Stephen King’s “It” is a no go for me. I saw it once when I was younger – never again.

            The Twilight Zone does a good job trying to capture the essence of what the future may hold, but is a little too eager on the timing. For instance, in the episode titled “Steel” features Robots created for boxing matches (Boxing is banned because of the violence.) Boxing Robots, Battle Bots, are futuristic, yes (kind of), but the episode is based in 1974 (broadcasted in ’63). Jumpin’ the gun a little bit.

            However, this does not hinder The Twilight Zone from telling captivating stories.

Fun Fact: Rod Serling passed away in my home town of Rochester, NY. Rest in peace!

World War Z

Max Brooks took a nice approach to the Zombie novel, he set the bar high after writing The Zombie Survival Guide, and it is good to know his creativity wouldn’t be peaked by his prior work.

            The believability of World War Z is manifested through the means of the dialogue. It is well articulated with characters, places and events, providing an eerie sense of realism. It makes you not much as wonder but understand what the world would be like post zombie apocalypse. The book begins to feel less like a work of fiction but more as age-old notes to be used as reference for history students.

            It is not surprising that Brooks’ book was turned into a movie. It is practically written as a screenplay. If all goes well it should put an end to the spewing of shitty zombie movies coming out of Hollywood.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

My parents always warned me about hitchhiking. However this piece makes it an almost necessary action at certain points in your life. Sometimes you just got to hop on a ship floating around in outer space to save yourself from imminent doom.

            I am a fan of British comedy, to an extent… Monty Python helped influence much of my sense of humor when I was younger with titles such as The Holy Grail and his Flying Circus series. Simon Pegg’s films are also quite fantastic. The British version of The Office however, does not sit well with me. Anyway, I thought the radio version of Hitchhiker’s Guide was pretty funny.

            If Earth were about to be destroyed I would be so up for hightailing it to outer space. The thing is, the only way for the human race to survive is to do this exact same thing. Our resources will be depleted soon enough, and our population increases exponentially. The key to our survival is colonizing space. Hopefully there will be more interest in the scifi genre on a global scale as to inspire space exploration.

Blade Runner

This movie makes the future look like an ugly place. The urban sprawl has gone out of control, leaving nothing of nature in the environment. The only seemingly natural things, like animals, have been genetically designed; the price of a totally natural animal pet is expensive.

            The movie is filmed in a cyberpunk fashion. Gritty textures, heavy smog, and constant darkness, the only light is artificial. There is a big influence from Eastern cultures, in fact, the 2019 Los Angeles resembles a 2011 Tokyo. In fact, the (gutterspeak/slang) language used in the movie is a mix of Japanese, German, and a few other languages. It was cool to see possible technologies and how they related to our modern day. Video chatting was displayed in the movie, as well as image enhancement and GPS.

            Even though it’s based in the future, it still takes a lot from the past. Sebastian’s apartment had an older feel to it, as well as Dr. Tyrell’s living quarters, which seemed to take from the style of the Renaissance. I loved the lighting, however artificial it seemed, it made for some nice shots, and made the movie have a noir quality to it.

            The movie is about a retired cop, Rick Deckard, who specializes in finding ‘Replicants’ which are genetically engineered humans, created to take on tasks too dangerous for human life, which are now banned from Earth. He is called to action to eliminate a group of Replicants who have escaped from an off world colony and returned to Earth. We find out that they have returned to Earth in search of a modification to bypass their ‘failsafe’ condition of a four-year life span, which we later find out can not be bypassed.

            There is one Replicant who has been living in LA all along, but she does not know she is a Replicant. She was implanted with memories of Dr. Tyrell’s nieces, to make her think she was an actual person and had an actual life. Much to her dismay, Deckard tells her the truth about her existence. Later they fall for one another, and Deckard is worried about her dying (due to the four year life span.) When he finds her, he remembers Dr. Tyrell said she was ‘special’ which he found out meant that she had no end date for her life. The two then drive off into the horizon, which is the first time we ever see any form of nature. Rolling hills, green grass, trees, ocean, and sunlight. A well earned breath of fresh air.

            The artwork in the movie is pretty nice, too. Apparently, there was an actor’s strike going on during the production of this movie, so the art team had seven additional months to work on their projects. If only we could get an extension like that for our classes!

http://www.tinderandsparks.com/blog/why-blade-runner-best-designed-film-all-time