Spiderman

Hi all,

"Alfonso" here. Just wanted to get something off my chest--figured you all would probably understand the best.

You may have read recently about the Spiderman fiasco. And no, I'm not talking about the third movie, which was really a piece of shit. No, I'm talking about the director and lead actor deciding not to make the fourth film. And then the Sony studio is talking about rebooting the series in time to compete with the new Trek film?

I can't count the ways this is dumb. And I don't presume to know much about sci-fi. In fact, I don't give a spider's left testicle whether they make the stupid movie or not. But Sony: c'mon. Rebooting the franchise? Isn't it a bit soon? Obama gets the Peace Prize before he accomplishes anything and now Spiderman's getting rebooted? Is the whole world in some sort of mythic pre-ejaculatory state? We just can't wait so we're getting our jollies too early?

WTF, world? WTF?

InBox Mondays: Favorite Sci-Fi Series

On Mondays, I've decided, I will choose an email that seems particularly useful for the class and answer it on the website so you can all bask in the glory of learning. Today's email comes from Shantanu in Chicago, IL.

Dear Prof. Sci-Fi,

What is your favorite Sci-Fi series? 

Shantanu
Chicago, IL

That's an easy one, Shantanu. The finest piece of science fiction I've come across is Deep Space Nine, which is the third series by the Star Trek franchise. They say the third time's the charm, and this one certainly was something for the franchise to be proud of. There are several reasons why DS9 is hands down my favorite sci-fi series:

1. It carried the premise of Star Trek to it's next logical step. You can only explore the potential for humanity's future in a positive light for so long. Eventually, things are going to get complicated. TNG's 4th season started to develop the Trek universe along these lines with Worf/Klingon storylines. But there were hints to the moral ambiguity of Trek's evolved humans even in the old movies with Kirk and Spock. It was time for a series to specifically explore the darker sides of the Trek universe--which is what happened in DS9. The show focused on war, political oppression, greed, and racial conflict. Yet despite these being its major themes, the vast majority of the DS9 senior staff worked together just like the Enterprise did. Most of the conflict came from non-Starfleet characters. In this since, Gene's vision was upheld and yet carried to the next step.

2. The writing focused on character more than plot. This was a critical shift in the Trek style of telling stories. And it worked--once the show started to become more serialized. I began to care about the characters once I could follow how their lives were developing from episode to episode. I can identify with some of their issues. What saved the show from becoming a mere soap opera was the setting. The characters took on a larger-than-life status, becoming symbols that carried over into the real world. This is especially true with the Bajoran/Cardassian storyline. So added onto the fact that the characters were worth getting to know was this almost mythic aspect surrounding the characters. These characters stood for something. This is when the show became more than entertainment: it became art.

3. The baseball metaphor. The whole series, like TNG's Q frame, can be seen in terms of the baseball metaphor Sisko explains to the Prophets in the pilot "Emissary." But that will be a topic for another post.

I hope that answered your question. I highly recommend the series, and despite its serial nature, you can figure out the relationships of the characters fairly well wherever you jump in. My first experience was the 5th season, and I caught on pretty well. Or you could always head over to Wikipedia and get your basic primer here: Deep Space Nine.

Uses for Kryptonite #7

Mash these up and put them in Superman's smoothie or just take them to turn your skin green. Either way, you will be AWESOME!

Homework #6: Live

If you could live anywhere and anytime in any part of any Sci-Fi universe, where would you live? Why?

QUIZ ANSWERS: Frogs

SARUMAN

The correct answer is Saruman. Why? Well, it is a well known fact that Yoda is a vegetarian, so the third answer is null and void. Between Janeway and Saruman, the white wizard has the upper hand for two reasons: magic and science. Meaning that Saruman could use a spell and make it considerably easier for him to conjure frogs and bring them to him than Janeway's tricorder ever could just by scanning. Furthermore, Janeway, as a scientist, would most likely be so enthralled by studying the planet that she would like be distracted, thus giving Saruman the clear win.

Ultimately, though (as with all my polls) Al Gore remains the true winner.

Fear and Love Part II

Sometimes we make decisions because we are afraid to lose what we have. I learned that from Star Wars.

Anakin Skywalker, a Jedi Knight, was in love with Padme. She was everything to him. When he was younger, she had reached out to him. Later, when he had grown, their relationship developed into a romance. Padme continued to reach out, and Anakin struggled.

He had lost his mother to a murderous group of aliens on his home planet. There were warnings, though--nightmares and visions--that he had received through the Force. But he had not been quick or strong enough to act on those warnings and save his mother. At least, that's how he felt.

Now he was having the nightmares again, but this time they were about Padme. He was afraid that she was going to die, that he was going to lose her. And this time, he promised himself and Padme he would do everything in his power as a Jedi to keep her from dying.

Ultimately, the only way he thought he could save her was by betraying his Jedi oath, turning to the Dark Side of the Force and using its power. What motivated him to turn on his principles and do something he knew Padme would not want him to do? Was it love? Was it fear? Is there a difference?

Anakin's decision was more made out of fear than love. He did not turn to the Dark Side in order to save Padme--he turned to the Dark Side in order to keep himself from losing her.

"Just help me save Padme. I can't live without her," he tells Darth Sidious. This sounds strikingly like a man who loves a woman deeply. How can this decision be made out of fear? It's clear from one clue: he made it alone. Love is collaborative. Fear is solitary.

When we make decisions in order not to lose something or someone, we are not acting out of love. At least, it is not purely a loving action. Fear is part of it. Fear is most of it. And if Anakin is any example, it usually ends up in disaster.

Unless you want to have asthma and sound like James Earl Jones. Then it might be cool.

Uses for Kryptonite #22

For those nights when the power's out and you just really really need a shower and want to kill Superman at the same time--Kryptonite soap.

Uses For Kryptonite #17

Lure Kryptonian ducks into your sights! Make your next Thanksgiving meal out of this world!

Uses For Kryptonite #31

Clean your soiled carpets and kill Superman! Makes a great gift.

Homework #5: Help

Has science fiction ever helped you? How?

Alfonso's First Post!!!!!!!

Hi, I'm Alfonso, I'm your TA, yada yada yada. If you need anything, just let me know. But don't expect me to get back to you in a timely manner. I'm busy. And honestly, I don't really like Sci-Fi. I just came to the University of Awesome 'cause, you know, how the hell you gonna pass up a chance to go to the University of Awesome?

I'm a grad student here at UOA. What do I study? None of Your Business 101. It's an actual course. Look it up.

Listen, I know you're all trying to learn about Sci-Fi and everything but, c'mon? Who watches this stuff? It's ridiculous. Every plot is so excessively more absurd than it ever really needed to be. I mean, sure, we did go to the moon. But some of the stuff they come up with--Magical Worms living in people (Trills) and Hayden Christensen being Darth Vader. C'mon. So I don't take too much stock in Prof. Sci-Fi. I'm just here 'cause of the money. You get me? And if I happen to maybe diss your little obsession every once in awhile: deal with it.

The thing is, Prof. Sci-Fi isn't really tech savvy. I'm the one running the show here on the blog. The new header--that wasn't an accident. I'm his guru when it comes to the computer. So don't be deceived by my official name. "Alfonso the Witless TA?" My real name is Steve. And Prof. Sci-Fi thought he'd nickname me that to be funny. He thinks I'm witless because when we first met, I tripped over his wastebasket and because I couldn't name the prefix code for the U.S.S Reliant. So apparently, I'm an idiot.

But I did watch TWOK again and checked. It's 16309.

Anyway, welcome to the class. Try to learn something. I'll be grading your papers.

Don't screw up.

QUIZ ANSWERS

The correct response is Krypto, obviously named after Kal-El's home planet of Krypton. Before the Crisis on Infinite Earths, which substantially reduced the number of characters in the DC Universe, Krypto was a regular character who had many of Superman's abilities. After the Crisis, Superman was the only survivor of Krypton--or so it was believed. Krypto has appeared in several publications since the Crisis in the 80's. It just goes to show that you can't put a good dog down.

I would also like to apologize for the new header. It seems Alfonso may have misunderstood me when I asked him to add some new graphics to the site. We'll have that cleaned up in a week or two--so long as Alfonso understands my directions this time.

Enjoy the rest of your break!

Regards,

Prof. Sci-Fi

CLASS ANNOUNCEMENT: Reboot

Class,

I hope you all had a good winter break. Now that the next semester is beginning, I'm sure you are all looking forward to classes and homework.

I wanted to inform you about some changes that will be taking place in the next few weeks in our class, "Sci-Fi: A Narrative to Live By" or AWSM 101. First, I'd like to introduce you to a new member of our class, Alfonso, our TA. You will see him posting occasionally to keep you updated about changes to the syllabus, assignments, and other administrative things that help make the class run smoothly. It was necessary for me to hire Alfonso due to yet another change.

I am teaching a new course--some lectures of which will be appearing on our class website as supplementary material. The class is called: "Practical Skills for Sci-Fi Environments." This course is largely designed for people who will be doing field research in Sci-Fi environments and will cover topics such as safety tips for encounters with the Borg, guidelines for operating DeLoreans, and the many uses for Kryptonite. Check this space often for new material in this course.

Obviously, my busy schedule required me to hire Alfonso as an aide. I will also be participating in several conferences this semester, and so we will be having guest lecturers from all over the Sci-Fi universe. This semester, guest lecturers will come exclusively from the Star Trek mythology. Their lectures will be available as video blogs on the class website. The first lecturer will be Cowboy Worf and he will be visiting on Jan. 11. The topic will be forthcoming.

Because I will be out of the classroom so much, I believe it will be beneficial for you, the students, to have more direct access to me in case of any questions. Of course, as this is a class about Sci-Fi and morality, feel free to send me any questions regarding our class topics. You can reach me at profscifi@gmail.com . You can also contact Alfonso if you have any questions about grades or administrative things. Alfonso: alfonsothewitlessta@gmail.com . If the questions pertain to the whole class, I may answer them on the class website--with your permission, of course.

Of course, also keep watching this space for your homework assignments and weekly quizzes. The quizzes will be explained at the end of each week in order to better facilitate your learning.

It has been a great semester, and I look forward working with you in the new year, 2010. Sounds like something out of Sci-Fi, doesn't it?

Regards,

Prof. Sci-Fi

CLASS ANNOUNCEMENT: Upcoming Changes

Class,

There will be changes coming to the website. Stay tuned to find out how the timeline is about change.

Prof. Sci-Fi

Homework #4: Time

Time travel is a common plot device and theme in sci-fi. Usually in a sci-fi movie, ep, or book, the timeline gets distorted somehow and the job of the heroes is to fix it.

Of course, "distorted" is a pretty loaded term. In a story, we see the timeline as being "distorted," but in reality there's no "right way" for events to unfold. This leads me to a question:

Why does time travel intrigue us so much? And in the absence of even the possibility of time travel, why do we dream about it? Before sci-fi was invented, did people dream about changing the past or the future?

Feel free to answer any of these questions--or all of them.

Homework #3: Dark Side

Why is the Dark Side of the Force so appealing? Why do people turn to it? Would you?

Experience

We never really understand our own experience. Yet our experience is what defines us and what guides our decisions. And that's living. I learned that from Buffy.

Angel's experience is a conundrum (whose isn't?). He is a vampire--a monster who took great pleasure in torturing and inflicting pain on others. But he also has a soul--which means his own conscience tortures him with guilt for what he has done. And one Christmas, Angel's experience was almost his undoing.

Wracked with the suffering of those he killed, Angel decides to kill himself by standing on a hill, waiting for the sun to rise. But then Buffy finds him.

Buffy has had her own experience. But hers, like most of ours, is not nearly as cut-and-dry good-and-evil as Angel's. Hers is filled with nuance. She has a tendency to fall for guys who are likely to hurt her. Plus she has a calling: she is the Vampire Slayer. She never wanted to be the Slayer, and so her experience of living has been the tension between fate and free will, duty and liberty. Buffy's done some bad things, but she's mostly a good person. And she has come to talk some sense into Angel.

But Angel is just trying to make sense of his own experience. And he has a point.

"Am I thing worth saving? Am I a righteous man?" he cries.

Buffy doesn't buy it. She loves him and wants him to live. So she accuses him of being a coward for not fighting--for not dealing with the conundrum of his dual experience. Angel sees it another way: he thinks he IS dealing with that problem and solving it. He asks her to let him be strong.

But Buffy says: "Strong is fighting! It's hard, and it's painful, and it's every day. It's what we have to do. And we can do it together."

The real beauty of this moment is that even though Buffy and Angel's experiences are so wildly different, she sees herself in him. That's why she helps him. That's why we help each other. Because our experience is the same on some basic level. We understand and know what others need--we know this from our own experience. It's all we can offer to people in need. Our own experience. And even though we can never be sure, we can hope that we share something in common. And that it will be enough.

Buffy's right. The only way we can get through and make sense of our own experience is if we do it together.

From the University of Awesome, Prof. Sci-Fi wishes you Happy Holidays.

Homework #2

Which sci-fi ideal do you aspire most to? What are you doing to achieve it?

Homework #1

One of the main themes of this course is the status Sci-Fi has in our literary tradition. My thesis is that Sci-Fi evolved out of the social-construct of myth and could ideally function in much the same way fairy tales do. Who knows? Perhaps we won't be telling Grimm Brothers' stories to our kids. Maybe we'll put them to bed with a little tale about how Buffy slayed the vampires.

HOMEWORK

Writing Prompt

What is your favorite fairy tale? What is your favorite bit of Sci-Fi? Are they similar? How?

Please submit your assignment via the comment button. This is out of a total of 10 points. Due date is Tuesday.

Belief and Doubt

Belief and doubt work in tandem. They are partners investigating this same strange world. And the conversation they hold never ends. I learned that from the X-Files.

Old conventional wisdom says you can't believe and doubt at the same time. But today, even priests talk extensively about how doubt is "okay" and "natural" and even "helpful" to the faith experience because, once you abandon those doubts, your belief is stronger. So ultimately, doubt is a means to an end--at least in conventional wisdom.

But belief and doubt really aren't all that different. In the X-Files mythology, this is shown through the relationship between two FBI agents. Mulder and Scully, the believer and the skeptic respectively, initially have their doubts about each other. The believer thinks the skeptic is out to sabotage his work by exposing his views as frauds. The skeptic thinks the believer is a little unbalanced. But only in the beginning. When they don't know each other. Only when the other person is still an unknown, a dehumanized collection of beliefs (or nonbeliefs) and assumptions, is it possible to think that belief and doubt are at odds with one another. But once they take on the same case, it's clear that they're on the same team. Hell, they even like each other. And they're really two sides to the same coin.

Ultimately, Scully was set up by higher-ups in the agency to expose Mulder and his beliefs as frauds. But by the end of their first case involving a potential alien abduction, Scully cannot bring herself to hand Mulder over as a crazy. Why? Does she feel sorry for him? Maybe a little. Does she think he might be onto something? Maybe a little of that too. But without Mulder, Scully is just one voice articulating something false: that everything has a logical explanation. And without Scully, Mulder is a lonely voice for another falsehood: that faith alone is enough. When the two get together and talk, that's when they find the truth that's out there.

But sometimes the truth is just a smudge on the lens. So make sure you clean your lenses properly.