>First of all - and let me just get this out of the way - Blade
>Runner sucks. So that's strike one.

he's also redone a 'final cut' that's coming out soon (apparently he was limited in the stuff he was able to put together for the director's cut). you should really check that out.

>There may be an argument here if it were possible to draw a
>distinct line between now and a time where all sci-fi movies
>were on par with 2001. But seeing as how that was never really
>the case, I can't really clap to this.

yeah pretty much.


>Second - I find it hard to declare Sci-Fi dead when it seems
>to be so damn popular. I realize that this is an attack on art
>and not commerce, but come on. Popular culture has gotten a
>LOT nerdier over the past 20 years and there are sci-fi
>elements almost everywhere you look. Our action movies are all
>sci-fi thrillers now. Our most popular TV shows have
>superpowers, mad scientists and smoke monsters. Some might see
>this as a negative thing, a retread and dilution of concepts
>that were played out decades ago. Maybe so, but I see it as
>more of a positive thing, an integration of sorts. And
>attacking originality is such a slippery slope. There's the
>whole 'there are no new ideas' thing for one. And plus, I
>think it puts too much responsibilities on the storytellers to
>focus on the wrong things. I think the audience has some
>responsibility here as well to not be so damn jaded. It's not
>always about seeing new things, but rather seeing things with
>new eyes.

you could replace the words sci-fi with hip-hop in there and have this same argument in the lesson - LOL.

>I do agree that great Sci-Fi depends on ideas and not effects.
>Sometimes you get both, and I will actually defend The Matrix
>as an example of this. Then there's stuff like Pi and Primer,
>films that are able to blow minds on a shoestring budget. And
>they will always be the minority, it doesn't mean Sci-Fi is
>dead. It just means that the good shit is hard to come by.
>That's why it's called the good shit.

good call on Pi. haven't seen Primer, I'll have to check that out.