The Sci-Fi Page

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    As any moron should know, the three prequels to Star Wars are coming out *soon* (less than a year!).  Rumors have circulated about the plot, characters, and of course, the excellent special effects.  Some people have proposed the possibility that they could just suck, but all Star Wars fans give George Lucas more faith than that.  As soon as I am standing in line holding the ticket in my hand, I will know that the Force does in fact exist.

    Every Wednesday, me and my family gather around the TV to watch Star Trek: Voyager.  We appreicate the unique thinking and creative ideas that the story-writers come up with.  Today, two aliens teleported into the holodeck, which was playing a black-and-white "Captain Chaotica" simulation at the time.  Tehy believed that it was the real world, and, well, the whole plot got more interesting after that.

Good Reads:

The Bounty Hunter Wars, by K.W. Jeter.  This series of books is all about Boba Fett and Bossk, and what happened with them after A New Hope and after Return of The Jedi (two separate time speriods).  It involves characters like Xizor, Vader, Kud'ar Mub'at, and many other familiar characters.  I personally love Boba Fett, and fans of his will love this trilogy, as well.  I always like the Star Wars books that get away from "The Force" and "Luke Skywalker".  Fast reflexes I can believe in, but "The Force" pretty much ruins the sci-fi scene for me when it rears its ugly head.  That is, of course, just my own opinion.

Foreigner, by C.J. Cherryh.  This is I believe the first book in a trilogy.  It is about a man officially known as the "padhi", or negotiator, between humans and a humanoid race.  C.J. Cherryh is great at portraying scenes realistically.  She writes in detail and her stories have moving plots with surprising depth.  This book focuses mostly on the struggles of uniting two completely different societies to achieve a common goal: to rediscover space-travel (the colony had long been-abandoned).

STAR WARS: Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina, edited by Kevin J. Anderson.  If you are at all interested in Star Wars you simply have to check out this book.  It is a series of short stories describing what different humans/aliens were doing at the time of Luke's departure from Tattooine.  Every story has a part describing the way the character sees the activities at the bar which result in a severed arm.  For some characters, it is a bit more painful.  This collection gives us a little bit of background information on the characters that play a subtle, yet integral role in the universe that is STAR WARS.

Warped Factors, by Walter Koenig.  Okay, so this is actually a biography.  You got me there.  Those Star Trek fans out there should already recognize the name Walter Koenig.  For those who don't know, he played Chekov on the original Enterprise and Alfred Bester in a newer TV series called Babylon 5.  Biographies, to me, are usually boring, but I love this one because it talks about someone that I really can emphasize with, someone who played a necessary role on the original Enterprise.  This book is the honest poop, a real look behind the scenes of the making of the sci-fi phenomenon which is Star Trek.  If you care at all about the original Star Trek or Babylon 5, you simply must check out or buy this wonderful, truthful autobiography.

Nightfall, by Isaac Asimov and some other guy.  This excellent novel describes a world which possesses six suns.  The people have never lived without sunlight and think it impossible for anyone else to do so.  An attraction is opened up which simply consists of going through a pitch-black tunnel for 15 minutes.  People start dying and getting traumatized.  Meanwhile, in the legends and myths of their culture, the suns are supposed to stop shining every 3,000 years, at which point devastating fire comes down from the heavens.  At a dig site, an archaeologist finds evidence of repeated burnings of a town for seven times in a row with a deadly regularity of 3,000 years.  It has been a little less than 3,000 years since the last great catastrophe.  A group of scientists figure out what will happen (though I won't tell you) and try to warn the general public.  In this book you will not only learn what happens at Nightfall.  You will learn what happens at Daybreak.

The Gods Themselves, by Isaac Asimov.  This book describes the relationships between humans and 'para-men' who live in a 'para-universe'.  As the story goes, the aliens initiated an energy transfer using a device which they call a 'Positronic Pump'.  Humans, naturally, call it the 'Electron Pump'.  This device exploits the difference between the universal laws of our universe and the para-universe.  Because of this process, however, the two universes are slowly becoming mixed.  The main scientist theorizes that the phenomenon will spread out into the universe, having little of an effect at all on any one area.  Another scientist, however, believes that the effect is localized, and that the Sun will be become un-balanced and explode!  The story gets even more interesting when we hear the story from the aliens in the para-universe.  They have three different sexes and reside as clouds of matter that can contort and stretch.

1984, by George Orwell.  This book, published in the earlier 20th-century, depicts the "future", though it is not that anymore.  In his book the future is a dim, horrible place to be, where the Party has absolute control.  The Party's three mottos are: WAR IS PEACE.  FREEDOM IS SLAVERY.  IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.  The past is alterable.  The Party invented air planes and all known forms of technology.  The Party is life.  The Party has never made any mistakes, simply because no unaltered works are left to prove otherwise.  The Party has implemented a new language called "Newspeak", whose dictionary is continually decreasing and whose purpose is the complete elimination of "thoughtcrime".  The incineration tube is named the "Memory Chute".  Power is absolute.  War is continious.  War has lost its meaning, and is simply a way to destroy consumer goods.  Mankind is slowly becoming more and more pathetic, though the Party claims that the quality of life is getting better, simply because no evidence exists to the contrary.  Eventually, everyone will speak from their larnyx (no thought involved) and rebellion is impossible.  The complete elimination of technology is emminent and necessary.  The Party has created another Dark Age, in which traitors are publically executed by hangings.  Are you intrigued?

The Boat of a Million Years, by Poul Anderson.  Let's start this off honestly: it took me three months to read this book.  Not only is it huge, which is usually not a determinant to me, it is not really sci-fi!  Throughout the first 350 pages the only sci-fi element I saw was the possibility of immortality, or, the people who possessed immortality.  Only one measly section in the back describes a world that is science fiction, where everyone is immortal, where people's gums can be modified to produce diamonds, etc.  Even this part was confusing.  This book would be good for people who aren't true sci-fi lovers.  I myself, however, will always prefer books like The Parafaith War, which should be reviewed in this section but isn't.  I can Star Wars, with the Force and all, but I prefer books with no fantasy elements.

Good Movies:

"Star Trek: Insurrection."  This is the ninth Star Trek movie so far, and as such is different from most of the others.  It resembles an episode, which is either a good thing or a bad thing.  The basic plot is that 600 immortal people on a planet are being relocated, against their will, so that the planet can be used for medicinal purposes (there is something that makes the inhabitants of the planet immortal).  The movie starts out with Data running amok, supposedly because of some malfunction.  The plot progresses gradually, with huge plot twists in store for the viewer.  It is not action-oriented, though it has some action.  It is intended as a food-for-thought movie.  In its entirety, Insurrection is awesome and a must-see for any serious science-fiction fan.  Along with Star Wars and Fifth Element (yes, Fifth Element), this is my favorite sci-fi movie.  And it even has some humorous parts (namely Data cracking some jokes, but it's more involved than that).  Be sure to pay attention, or you will miss a lot of the plot and a lot of the funnier jokes.

"The Fifth Element."  Just because I liked "Chickan!", and just because I liked those changing scenes ;).  Seriously, though, the sound effects were really great, the music compelling, and the science fiction aspect was unique.  It was Blade Runner-esque, but not quite as dark nor gritty.  Though some people didn't like it, every sci-fi person I know saw something good in The Fifth Element.

That's all the reviews for now!  Please come back often and check for more reviews as I read more books.

Click to enlarge.

I sort of clipped these fantasy science buildings out of a rendered picture.

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