Eric James Stone

Part of the problem I have with picking “good” SF movies or TV shows is that there are some where the SF premise is good but the execution is flawed, and there are some with great execution where the premise is flawed. Trying to get both right for a two-hour movie (let alone for every episode of a TV series) is very hard.

For example: time-travel movies. “Back to the Future” was executed very well, but the SF elements were flawed. (And I don’t mean making a time machine out of a DeLorean. I mean things like people gradually being erased from a photograph as the possibility of their being born changes. And what happened to the Marty McFly who grew up with a non-wimpy dad?)

On the other hand, there’s “The Final Countdown.” If you grant the premise that a freak storm could transport a nuclear aircraft carrier to December 1941, there are no loose ends. But the quality of the movie itself is about average.

So with that in mind, here are my SF movie recommendations:

Gattaca: Perhaps a little slow, but well-made with thought-provoking SF premise.

Contact: Missing my favorite parts of the novel, but still an all-around great movie.

Terminator & Terminator 2: Second one’s better movie even though the time travel aspect is better in the first one.

The Abyss: The ending’s a little disappointing (and that was before the director’s extended version) but a great movie nonetheless.

Robocop: I’m serious. Good SF premise, good action, and the satirical future newscasts and commercials are a hoot.

Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure: OK, it’s really more of a comedy, but it handles the intricacies of time travel better than most SF movies about time travel.

Jurassic Park: The science was pretty good, and it was well-made.

Sword & Sorcery Fantasy Movies:

Lord of the Rings: Need I say more?

Willow: Has some problems here and there, but overall a lot of fun.

Comic Book Movies (sort of a separate genre):

Unbreakable: Great examination of the idea of comic-book archetypes.

Superman & Superman II, Spiderman, Batman, X-Men, X2: X-men United: With varying degrees of faithfulness to the comic-book canon, they succeed in bringing the spirit of their respective comic books to the screen. (Deleted to make this post focus on science fiction. I may split these out into separate posts later.)

(Originally posted as a message here: Good SciFi/Fantasty movies/TV? - Hatrack River Writers Workshop)

Lst weekend, I went down to San Diego to see my sister Carolyn in a play at the Old Globe Theater. The play was “Sir Patient Fancy,” a Restoration comedy by Aphra Behn. Behn is generally considered to be the first professional female writer.

“Sir Patient Fancy” involves two neighboring noble families: the Fancys, headed by the hypochondriac (and cuckold) title character, and the Knowells, headed by Lady Knowell. (My sister played the latter role, and she did a great job.) The play lasts over two and a half hours (and that’s after being shortened!) but there is always so much going on that the time passes quickly. The dialogue is very funny, and the various subplots all tie together in a farcical manner.

It feels like the makers of “National Treasure” were trying to cross “The Italian Job” with “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”

If you’re willing to suspend your disbelief for the premise — the Founding Fathers hid a huge treasure from the British and left clues in historical places — and ignore the occasional plot flaw, “National Treasure” succeeds, for the most part. It has some good action sequences, plenty of comedy, and a good caper.

If you haven’t seen “The Incredibles” yet, what are you waiting for? Go! Go now! My blog will still be here when you get back.

If you’re wondering what happened to my blog, allow me to explain: I’ve switched from MovableType to b2evolution.

My website’s very much in flux right now, so don’t be surprised if things change quite a bit. There are all sorts of stray files out there that I’ll need to organize eventually.

SPOILER WARNING - If you’ve Tivoed it but haven’t watched it yet, read no further.

By default I’m rooting for the sisters from Utah, Lena and Kristy, but I haven’t really got a favorite team yet.

But I know who I want eliminated ASAP: Jonathan and Victoria. The way he treats his wife is despicable.

From Life, the Universe and Everything by Douglas Adams:

The ultra-famous sciento-magician Effrafax of Wug once bet his life that, given a year, he could render the great megamountain Magramal entirely invisible.

Having spent most of the year jiggling around with immense Lux-O-Valves and Refracto-Nullifiers and Spectrum-Bypass-O-Matics, he realized, with nine hours to go, that he wasn’t going to make it.

So, he and his friends, and his friends’ friends, and his friends’ friends’ friends, and his friends’ friends’ friends’ friends, and some rather less good friends of theirs who happened to own a major stellar trucking company, put in what now is widely recognized as being the hardest night’s work in history, and, sure enough, on the following day, Magramal was no longer visible. Effrafax lost his bet — and therefore his life — simply because some pedantic adjudicating official noticed (a) that when walking around the area that Magramal ought to be he didn’t trip over or break his nose on anything, and (b) a suspicious-looking extra moon.

Just a reminder that I’m doing a book signing today in Orem from 2:00-4:00pm. If you’re in the neighborhood, feel free to drop by the Barnes & Noble on University Parkway in Orem.

Here is a screenshot from my online account summary from my credit union (some information has been blacked out.)

I really like that rate of return I’m earning.

Gloat!