Category Archives: Fantasy & Sci-fi

Ooooooooookaaaaaaaay. Hope everyone survived their Christmas dinner and is ok for my ramblings. And considering the fact that this is both a "special" and Matt Smith's last Doctor Who episode, you can expect a lot of rambling, plus I've got a lot to get off my chest about this one. So please, let us begin. Warning, will contain spoilers. And nuts, a lot of nuts.

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This week, we're going to have a look at the major sci-fi staple; Aliens. The main thing I want to look at is why we seem to identify best with humanoids. If we look at the best loved and most famous aliens from sci-fi history, Predator, Chewbacca, the Klingons, E.T etc. they are very easily identifiable as humanoids, bipedal, human forms, all features (mouth, eyes, nose (usually), hands, feet) all in places we'd expect to be. Even the less humanoid aliens, such as the Aliens or Jabba The Hutt have some humanoid features with few bits taken away, like the humanoid rear legs on Jabba (but he still has very human arms) or the human-like head/ face on the Aliens, which is the bit that makes them so scary, as we humans seek emotion from the face, so removing the face makes the Aliens emotionless and unnerving. The only major alien that has no humanoid features, that I can think of off the top of my head, would be the Daleks, and we can argue semantics over whether the Daleks count as full aliens or cyborgs, because of the pepper-pot mobility suit, but even there they were engineered by a humanoid from humanoids, which is meant to be (alongside the Cybermen) a metaphor for the dangers of surgical enhancement, by making them less human they become more scary.

Anyway, I'll let you guys take over now. Why do you think we identify better with aliens that are more human? Can you think of any famous non-humanoid aliens that are worthy of major note that I've missed? And who/ what is your favourite alien?

There are many things that allow people to immediately define a story as Science Fiction; aliens, time travel, teleportation, futuristic gadgets such as laser guns/ swords, warp drives and humanoid robots. But there is only one staple of Science Fiction that is actually Science Fact: Space Travel in a Spaceship. Alright we might not be able to go very far in them and we haven't yet figured out interstellar travel, but its a start. So I thought we might as well celebrate the greatest spaceships in science fiction, because, you never know, one day they might just become science fact as well (providing their copyright is up by then).

I want to hear your opinions on this, what are your favourite spaceships? If you designed one how would you spec it? Would you trade off being able to do warp 9 for better defensive shields or greater fire power?

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To kick off this new monthly topic (as part of the new Monday rotor), I thought we'd have a look at the king of sci-fi shows.

Inspired by such varied sources as 'Wagon Train' (late 50's tv western series), Napoleonic wars navy based book/ tv/ radio/ film series 'Horatio Hornblower' and 'Gulliver's Travels', the original series only lasted three series and three years, but since it's first showing in 1966, Star Trek has become a cultural phenomenon, the most widely recognised sci-fi series  in history (sorry Star Wars fans). It spawned 12 movies, 5 spin off series (animated, next gen, deep space nine, voyager and enterprise), games, toys, novels and comics. There are two prop exhibits that travel the world as museum attractions and for 10 years between 1998 and 2008 there was a Trek themed attraction at the Las vegas Hilton- Star Trek- The Experience. You can't go to a comic convention without bumping into at least a million federation officers, a Vulcan or five and an army of Klingons. My computer didn't even ask to spell check those two, yet it does if I do Dalek or Mon Calimari or Sith. But yet, Star Trek is still considered a cult show, and that is something that has always confused me.

When you think of a cult, you think of small pseudo-religions or mid-70's micro budget comedies, something with a small audience. Star Trek is way beyond that, so why is it still considered a cult.

Maybe it is the geeky image that still clings to Trekkies. Having a Klingon dictionary probably doesn't help. When someone says Trekkie you usually think geek unfortunately. I personally would put this down to dedication to the show, the other criteria as to how a cult is judged. Really, no other show has such dedicated fans. With all the collectables available for Star Trek, you can see how such dedication can be ensured. And people, especially TV executives, realised this very quickly. Which neatly brings me onto the next reason for Star Treks geek cult image. As sickening as it may be, most people now-a-days get their perception of the world from TV, and TV is a caricature of a stereotype from a group of TV executives perception of real life. It's not going to be hugely accurate. Which is why on every TV show there is a super nerd who loves comics and collects Star Trek memorabilia and has the posters of the enterprise on his wall (and it is always HIS, female Trekkies seem to be a very rare breed in TV land, almost deserving of going on the endangered species list). So is bred the image of a socially inept, spotty teen who goes to comics conventions and does the Spock hand V, and people believe it. Therefore they don't really want to associate with that sort of image, so they either steer clear of Star Trek or hide the fact that they like it in fear of being ridiculed. And lo, cult status is lumped on the most successful sic-fi franchise of all time.

When we next come back around to this topic, I'll be looking further at Sci-fi fandom, but in a more broad spectrum that focuses on Conventions and Collections. If you have any ideas for me on that topic or for future subjects for any of the new topics (What Were They Thinking, Sci-Fi Corner, Under-Rated Characters, Screen Spotlight) either PM me on the forums or reply here.

Live long and prosper.