SF at the Movies - April '10

Ok, it's time for another look at what Sci-Fi goodness may be gracing our screens this month. As this is inevitable a shorter and less involved post I may take the liberty of telling you a few things.

First the shock news that Star Wars: Legacy is finishing!!! You may be relieved after the saturation of Legacy posts you've has recently, but it really is terrible to see the series go. Now we were frequently assured that it would not end and there is some matter of new leaking before it should, but the series 'as we know it' is ending with the 50th issue. I'm sad at what might happen, but also a little excited to see where they might take the era next - I'll update you when I know.

Secondly you may have noticed something new on the blog - 'Blogga's Wall' is a new way for me to share information with you. As of posting it features a Dr Who poster, these are put on the website to print following each episode so I thought I'd put them on the 'wall' here instead. After the show it will be used as a way to show you what's going on, what books I'm reading, what games I'm playing, movies I've watched without having to post about them all, which might get tedious.

OK, quickly onto movies...

Repo Men
Released 16/04/10







Repo Men is set in a future when organ harvesting is now common. It follows the story of a man, who took out a new heart on a loan and now has to avoid the futuristic 'repo men' who want it back.

And that, it seems, is it - there's some movie called Nephilim supposedly out but I can't see anything about it - of well, more next month!

Power Trip 8 - Persuasion

It's been a long time since I did one of these, but I think I'll finally get on with another post and see if 'Power Trip' still has any juice. For those of you who don't know or have forgotten (most of you I'd imagine!) Power Trip is my brief look at superpowers, which characters have them, where they come from and what they say about us. I start with character who appear in Heroes, look at their abilities and go from there.

It's quite interesting how the bank of superpowers have pretty much all been 'done' - I try on occasion to come up with my own super-team, and it's very difficult to create abilities that don't already belong to a decades-old Marvel character, I wonder what that tells us, do I have the answer - heck no!

Anyhow - this ability was shown in Eden McCain a character in Series 1 who had the ability to get people to do just about anything she wanted just by speaking to them. Her ability was used by the company to cover up their secrets and get people to do work for them. She used it effectively until Sylar went after her power and she killed herself to stop him getting it.

Few other characters have this power, only 'Kelly' - a character from the 'iStories' has a similar ability. I guess this is because it has been superseded by the advancement of Matt's telepathy, though Eden's power was different from this as (in a comic) she killed her mother simply by saying 'die' - which seems beyond a telepath, also she couldn't read minds as far as we can tell.









There has been a long-standing interest in mind-control and powers of persuasion among humankind. Hypnosis, drugs and myriad other techniques are employed or dreamed about as a way of persuading our fellow man to do what we want. The ability manifested in this character is merely a natural extension, someone who can just do it by speaking while the rest of us fiddle about with LSD and fobwatches.

I guess it's just a basic desire for power here - there are various situations when our fellow man just gets in our way and we could do with control over them. Eden herself uses the ability to avoid the police and distract unwanted visitors.










Not many characters have this specific ability, with most going down the 'advanced telepath' route to achieve the same goal. One character who does is Silver Fox a member of the Weapon X team and lover of Wolverine (shown above in her movie appearance) she can make anyone do whatever she wants as long as she touches them, a restriction like this seems to be common, Eden has to speak specifically for control, maybe we still want limits to our powers.

I enjoyed that - I might do some more.

Star Wars Legacy: Monster (43-46)

Last Legacy post for a while now honest!! This four part arc brings us up to date, more or less, with current Legacy storylines, making these 'reviews' slightly less farcical than they already are. With this being the case it is worth asking you, the readers whether you appreciate this as there are significant spoilers in this post if you have yet to receive your latest issue. I guess for me it's my pleasure to fill you in on what's happening in Star Wars and to encourage you to maybe try this series out yourself - but if this style doesn't suit you let me know.

There's a fair few updates here so no extra post on the end ok!!

Imperial Knight Updates

Hogrum Chalk
Species: Human
Sex: Male
Position: Master Armourer
First Appearance: Legacy# 43 (Monster, part 1)




Master Chalk was grievously injured sometime during his service to the Empire, forcing him to retire from the Imperial Knights. He, however believed the force had a purpose in his accident and devoted his time to building better armour, including life preserving suits. He upgraded the suit Azlyn Rae was given using these skills. He had been responsible for delaing with Jedi before the war and was brought along by Emperor Fel to their meeting with Jedi.

We also saw Azlyn in her improved armour, which is very similar to Knight armour. We also
saw a few anonymous Knights later in the battle.









Jedi Updates

Hira
Species: Human
Sex: Female
Position: Jedi Knight
First Appearance: Legacy#45 (Monster, part 3)



Hira was part of the delegation sent to meet with the Imperial Knights. She struggled with the idea of allying with the Emperor who was on the throne when the Sith massacred the Jedi. She later fought the Sith and was struck down in the battle.

Fionah Ti
Species: Human
Sex: Female
Position: Scientist
First Appearance: Legacy#44 (Monster, part 2)




Fionah Ti is the daughter of two Jedi, but she does not possess their force abilities. Nonetheless she was raised among the Jedi and trained by both them and the Yuuzhan Vong. She was with her parents of Zonama Sekot, the living planet which housed the majority of the Vong. She returned to Wayland to investigate the source of the Sith plague that mutated their creations. She was able to return some Vong growth to normal, including an amphistaff. She rescued Jariah Syn from the mutated natives and worked with him to help Cade.

Sith Updates

Darth Rauder
Species: Human
Sex: Female
Position: Starfighter Pilot
First Appearance: Legacy#45 (Monster, part 3)




Darth Rauder led a contingent of Sith fighter pilots to head up the Imperial strike force. Adept at piloting a sith Fury-class, she also brought a new Imperial starfighter for the Empire to fly. She was brutal in her methods, threatening death for disobedience and ordering her pilots to kill ejecting enemy combatants.

We also got to see some more of the One Sith's fighter wing.










Map

I'm moving the map up the post as it looks a bit odd on the end without additional updates- this is my one positive contribution to Star Wars!






















Issue Review

Wolf Sazen remembers the Jedi project on Wayland, how Yuuzhan Vong skill restored the world their species had destroyed. Yet weeks later the work had horribly mutated by Sith sabotage. Following the force, he headed to Wayland to find his former apprentice.

Cade, however, was on Zeltros enjoying the party in Queen Jool's latest cantina. The party was interrupted by Rav, his former boss, who offered him a job worth a million credits. He warily accepted, then regretted it after finding out it was on Wayland. On arrival they were set upon by Vong creatures and the mutated natives who defeated them and captured Blue. Cade tracks Blue down to fin this was a plot by Darth Maladi designed to test a weapon that will help her gain control of the Sith from Wyyrlok who she suspects of lying. She has placed the weapon on Blue to test whether his dark side powers can defeat it.

Wolf Sazen arrives on Wayland, meeting up with Jariah Syn and Fionah Ti, together they infiltrate the Vong laboratory that Maladi has set up with the help of Zenoq Quah a crazed shaper. They defeat the Yuuzhan Vong weapons within and reach Cade - Maladi flees. Wolf convinces Cade of the power of the light and he, fueled by his love for Blue, defeats the weapon and saves Blue. He has accepted his place in the force, not a Jedi but a weapon to be used against the Sith.

Meanwhile and alliance between Jedi and Imperial Knights is taking place on Agamar. The Sith have learned of this and send a strike force to the planet. The two groups agree to cooperate, but are surprised by an unexpected visitor, Nyna Calixte who has broken away to warn Emperor Fel of the impending attack. The Jedi and Imperials battle the Sith but suffer losses and some of the party, including princess Sia Fel are stranded on the world.

In a shock twist at the end, Nihl advised by Maladi that Krayt is dead, enters the Dark Lord's stasis chamber with Darth Talon and discovers the Dark Lord is...gone!!!

My Two Credits

One of the best story arcs since the beginning, it really moved things forward with Cade's development and also with the galaxy as a whole. The enemies of the Sith are more united, but their unity came at a cost to them as they lost forces during the battle. The only problem I had was the somewhat unclear nature of 'the weapon' that Maladi developed, what it actually did was never really revealed. But on the whole it really pushed things forward, gave us some great new characters and events for the ones we know and love.

Solomon Kane/Darksiders/Legion - What kind of God?

There have been a number of supernatural media circulating of late, both in movies and video games, demonic forces, powerful angels and anti-heroes seeking redemption have been the order of the day over the past two months or so so I thought I'd pass comment on some of what's being said or implied in these stories.

More importantly to see what they say or imply about God. The Lord Almighty seems to be a background character in these things, which I think uncovers our natural tendency to view God as a distant overseer rather than the true creator and active sustainer of all things.

I should state before I continue that this is not a criticism of the media I will discuss. I'm not implying that they are being immoral or heretical in exploring the themes that they do, rather I am using them as a basis to think about the real God and what he is like. I am neither cultural analyst nor theologian and so I must make it clear that these are my thoughts and as such are susceptible to error and this whole thing could most certainly do with more preparation and thinking, but here goes.

1. Solomon Kane - Redemption from Evil

Solomon Kane is kind of a messed up guy. He has been an evil dude, doing lots of murdering and pillaging until he realizes his soul is at stake and swears to live a life of peace so that his soul may be spared from hell. His dilemma was portrayed excellently in the film as he accepts beatings and tries to resolve things peacefully until ultimately pushed into fighting.



In the film: Solomon has crossed a line and is now doomed to Hell because he has commited too many evil deeds. However his companion tells him (conveniently) that he can be redeemed if he defeats the forces of evil and saves his daughter from them.

Therefore: There is a 'line in the sand' that if you cross, condemns you to Hell no matter what. To be saved from Hell you must either avoid crossing this line or prove yourself useful to God in some manner and earn your freedom.

But: The Bible teaches that 'there is no one righteous' (Romans 3v10), if there is a line in the sand then we're all on the wrong side of it. That means that being redeemed is essential for everyone, not just 'bad people'. You don't need to fight a demon army to prove yourself because 'a righteousness from God has been revealed...through faith in Jesus Christ' (Romans 3v21-22).[my italics]. Redemption is essential, but redemption comed from God himself - read the rest of Romans 1-3 for more, as well as the Gospels.


2. Darksiders - War on Earth and Heaven

Darksiders is the tale of War, one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse who is implicated in a conspiracy that has doomed the human race and unleashed the forces of Hell. Now he must battle against the forces of evil that rampage across a post-apocalyptic Earth and clear his name as well as defeat the enemy. Let's forget that the horsemen are metaphorical (Revelation 6) and have a look anyway shall we?

In the game: Darksiders is clearly fanciful and makes no apologies for it, so maybe they aren't sending a message with this piece, but it is interesting nonetheless. War has been deceived and the demon realm has won and destroyed Earth and War must prove himself innocent to God.

Therefore God: Is unaware of all that goes on in His realm and the enemy are capable of deceiving Him and His forces to their own ends. For such a significant catastrophe to take place God is either incompetent or incredibly far removed from what goes in in His creation.

But: Satan himself cannot escape God's eye, in Job 1 Satan has to present himself before God
and asks permission to strike Job, and even then only gets a limited power to do so. God is the one who says to the snow 'fall on the Earth' (Job 37), he is still actively involved in our world and neither men nor demons can deceive Him or thwart his plans.

3. Legion - God Giving Up


In Legion, Angels are sent to Earth with one purpose: the destruction of humanity. However there is a child that could change humanity's fate, a child as yet unborn. Michael rebels and aids a group of humans to defend this child and save humanity from destruction.



In the film: God has tired of humanity and prepares to send the forces of heaven to extinguish the human race. Michael rebels against this command and arrives ahead of the forces to fight his brothers, who use a particularly demonic set of abilities, including possession, to attack the small group.

Therefore God: Has 'lost faith' in humanity, has had enough of us and decided to jack it in and destroy the whole lot of us because of how violent and unpleasant we are. Comparisons are made to the flood, only this time God isn't using water but angels.

But: After the flood God promised never to flood the world again (Genesis 9) and yes that only covers water-based destruction specifically but he still made a promise to the human race, and God keeps his promises. It didn't take long after Noah for humanity to resume it's unpleasantness and God did plan to do something about it - and he did, He 'gave His one and only Son'(John 3v16). The God who went to such lengths to save undeserving sinners won't forget us or get bored of us.

I know this has been simplistic in approach, but without time to research this properly I felt it best to keep things as basic as I could manage, I hope it's of some interest.

Star Wars Legacy: Divided Loyalties

Ok, you're going to be saturated with Legacy now with another post coming up soon, but then we'll be up to date and I'll only post when arcs are complete, with maybe the odd character post dotted in between.

Let's do this, you'll be thankful there's no additional character post, that's 'cause there's a stack of updates right here!

Jedi Updates

This issue introduced us to four new Jedi. I think from now on I'll only include 'Homeworld' if it's known.

Te Corso
Species: Elomin
Sex: Female
Position: Jedi Master
First Appearance: Legacy#42 (Divided Loyalties)





Te Corso is a Jedi Master now residing in the Hidden Temple on Taivas, before the war she led diplomatic envoys to Coruscant and was well known to the Triumvirate ruling the Galactic Alliance. After the rumours of Darth Krayt's death she lead a team of Jedi to discuss an alliance with Gar Stazi's fleet and then led their fighter pilots into battle.

Asaak Dan
Species: Togruta
Sex: Male
Position: Jedi Master
First Appearance: Legacy#42 (Divided Loyalties)



Assak Dan was an accomplished fighter who escaped the Jedi massacre and found his way to the hidden temple. He joined the task force sent to the Galactic Alliance fleet, and was intrigued by Imperial Knight Sigel Dare, probing her with his humour. He joined the Mon Calamari Rangers on Dac after visiting the planet.

Drok
Species: Nikto
Sex: Male
Position: Jedi Master
First Appearance: Legacy#42 (Divided Loyalties)




Drok was on the task force to the GA fleet. While there he rooted out and attacked a traitor to the fleet, then joined Te Corse and the Alliance starfighters in space combat.

Sayar Dun'La
Species: Bothan
Sex: Male
Position: Jedi Master
First Appearance: Legacy#42 (Divided Loyalties)





Dun'La joined the Jedi Task force to the GA Fleet. While there his skills as a Jedi Healer were put to quick use in the ensuing battle and his powers proved invaluable to the fleet.

Imperial Navy Updates

You thought it was over didn't you?!

Krion Grail
Species: Human
Sex: Male
Position: Admiral (First Coruscant Task Force)
First Appearance: Legacy#42 (Dividied Loyalties)





Grail was an ambitious commander in charge. Leading the small but powerful task force fleet he had already become and Admiral and had his sights set on the Grand Admiral position. He believed in advanced planning to anticipate the moves of the enemy so that they do what you want them to and boasted of this to Shantileen, his second in command.

Issue Review

This was a tense and powerful issue that covered a lot of ground. We see the first proactive steps of the Jedi as they meet with the Galactic Alliance. At the same time Sigel Dare takes a shuttle from the ship to Dac to retrieve master Sinde, Asaak Dan accompanies her. She fights her master when he refuses to leave and master Dan joins the fight, separating then and offering to take the Imperial Knight's place and freeing him up to return to the Emperor.

Meanwhile the fleet is under attack, a helmsman, coerced by the Empire, shoots Admiral Stazi and leads the Imperial Task force to the fleet's location. With Stazi injured, his second in command must take the helm. Relentlessly pursued by the Imperials, they eventually work out how they are being tracked and turn the trap on their enemies. The traitor is executed, but forgiven, by Admiral Stazi.

My Two Credits

This issue had a very 'Battlestar Galactica' feel to it, with the fleet being desperately tracked across space. The action was fast-paced and covered a lot of ground, but somehow didn't lose me along the way and there were some great fanboy moments with the return of the Jedi and their 'twintail' fighters.

The resolution was moving and realistic, with Stazi understanding how the Imperials had threatened his officer's family. His line of 'forgiven, but not excused' was a moving end to the piece.

Map

I'd already done a map, shortly after the issue came out - you can see it here if you want.

And that's it! Hope you liked it 'cause there's more o' that headed your way.

SF Masterworks #26 - UBIK

Another exploration into the great Science Fiction books that I have actually read. Not to say that there aren't more, I've read some pretty fantastic Sci-Fi that as of yet hasn't appeared on this list, though I have to admit I spend too much time on tie-in fiction and graphic novels relative to the classics - anyway, UBIK is another PKD book I've laid eyes on, thanks to a five book bundle I once bought.

UBIK is perhaps my favourite of them all, though I understand it the least - I came out at the end in complete confusion about what I had read (the intention of the author I believe) and also completely satisfied at the story I had just read. Now I'm admittedly not as well read as I should be, but I don't think there are many authors who can leave you questioning everything that happened in the book yet not in the slightest bit disappointed - Christopher Priest is an accomplished head-messer, with The Affirmation and his more famous The Prestige providing similar mental journeys.

Anyhow - I'll leave the review to the professionals at SFSite.com

A review by A.L. Sirois

Glen Runciter's business is beleaguered. The telepaths his telepaths are monitoring -- to prevent them from influencing consumer trends among the population -- are vanishing, and his precogs can't find them. Not even his dead wife can help him, from her stasis tank in Switzerland. Apparently, someone doesn't like Runciter's continuing efforts to get to the bottom of his problems, because he and several of his employees are caught in an explosion that kills him.

Or does it? Before long, Runciter employees, including his right-hand man, Joe Chip, are receiving voice and data messages from the supposedly deceased boss. And their world is warping and changing around them. Is their own time running out? And who is behind it? Joe tails the disturbances past death itself, into the shadowy world where suspended people like Runciter's wife exist. Is Joe able to communicate with her -- and Runciter, or the person posing as Runciter -- because he has been killed, too? Is he himself held in the half-life of suspended animation, where only UBIK, the universal product, can save him? Meanwhile, Joe's co-workers are turning up dead, one by one.

As ever with one of Philip K. Dick's books, the plot -- crenellated though it is -- is less interesting here than the characters, the theme, and the virtuosity of the writing. Dick's explications of his fractal reality look easy to accomplish, but they really aren't. He seems to have taken A.E. van Vogt's self-referential writing a step or two further into territory that even van Vogt, with his own odd grasp on reality, wasn't equipped to explore. Only someone with a very firm grasp on and understanding of their own shifting grip on sanity could map out the less solid nearby terra incognita as successfully as Phil Dick did.

Dick was the first SF writer to really get into playing with the heads of his readers, and getting them to think about the nature of reality and their perceptions. For this reason, his books never really grow stale -- you can come back to them years after the first reading and find new signposts directing you into previously obscure pathways of your own personality. A.E. van Vogt tried to do the same, but from the inside rather than the outside -- he was perhaps too much the product of the pulp era to really be able to focus the glass of his thematic concerns on himself. Whereas that's all Dick could do, after a point.

Dick's better books are less novels than they are explorations of the relationship between reader, writer and story. His explorations became even more pointed after he suffered a mental breakdown in 1981. Whether his breakdown had anything to do with his experiments with drugs remains unclear, but subsequently it became harder to separate Dick from his work. It seems pretty clear that's what he had in mind, or, at least, it's a side effect that he would have found perfectly appropriate.

As a result, reading his stuff is at once a venture into the mind of a highly creative man, and a fictional roller coaster ride -- because Dick's work took on a slightly hysterical apocalyptic tinge as it grew darker. It may be that reading Phil Dick is as close as one can get to the world of the paranoid schizophrenic, without going too far.

It's tempting to point at Dick's work and say, "This is the key to the 21st century," but we ought to resist the temptation, at least for another ten or fifteen years. It may well be that key, but perhaps it doesn't behoove us to examine it too closely for fear of what we might find.

Which is probably what Philip K. Dick wanted.

(By the way, let me add a brief note about the cover art. I can't tell if it's a reprint from an older SF magazine -- it rather looks that way -- but the feral-faced and somewhat sallow woman pressed against what seems to be a grimy spaceport wall in the rain really suits UBIK nicely, although the artwork has nothing at all to do with the books contents.)

Copyright © 2000 by A.L. Sirois

I'd really recommend this one - if you can handle it!!

SF at the Movies - March '10

OK so there's basically nothing, really I mean no real 'pure' Sci-Fi movies this month...at all. We've got a stack of supernaturally scary stuff like Shutter Island and Legion. But no robots or aliens to be seen. Our one saving grace is coming in at the last possible second and looks like an excellent exploration of the superhero genre by one if it's most popular scribes.

Kick-Ass
Released 31/03/10












This film centres around a teenager who dons a superhero costume asking the question 'why has no one done this before?' Lacking any powers or gadgets he simply is willing to take the fight to the bad guys and soon finds other young vigilantes willing to follow the call. Making up for all the times when people wish they could stop something bad but couldn't they determine to do something and... well I guess we'll just have to watch the film to see what happens, I'm definitely there.