Sci-Fi Discussion in TV and Movies

I saw the first and second RE films, I've never bothered with the rest as my expectations fell somewhat. Are they genuinely worth viewing?

They don't really get any better...but at least they don't get any worse either. Even the last one was left incomplete...obviously leading to another in the series...

meh, I'm not feeling inspired.

I am reading the book "World War Z" it is pretty good so far. They will probably screw up the movie... I am also reading "Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter" I heard they are really making that movie too. We will see...

Saw the first episode of Terra Nova. It was pretty awesome.

Quick intro: in the 2100s earth's environment is too polluted to live comfortably. They found a way to travel back in time - to the dinosaurs age. Terra Nova is the name of their settlement, and the show follows a family of five who just arrived at Terra Nova.

I was expecting some more dinosaur actions at first, but it only came in the second hour; better late than never I guess. Wasn't expecting as much conspiracy stuff, but I guess that's what the overall storyline will draw on.

technologies + dinosaurs + rebels = great sci-fi

And it's on basic cable TV. Makes me not want to pay for movies

And best of all for us who demand exact realism...they explained that Terra Nova is an alternate time line...hence they cannot mess up the future of their original Earth...

However, I myself would have picked a more recent age to rebuild in...if possible, one after the dinosaurs...maybe one where mankind was beginning to develop. Then I could make myself a god and rule the ignorant savages and exploit them...

Goa'uld envy much? :P

Not so much envy...more I would just like them to send me young females to appease my appetites...

Actually in an SG-1 episode, titled "It's good to be king", Maybourne did just that: become king on a primitive planet. You can read the synopsis but it's quite spoilery
http://stargate.mgm.com/view/episode/2650/index.html

Back to Terra Nova: obviously they don't have a choice of exactly what time they will travel to? The only thing is that portal or whatever they found goes back a certain amount of time relative to their time. and apparently although it is a different "time line" they all seem to come to the same one? As Janeway said before, time travel paradox just gives you headaches, or something like that.

Another question I had was how they know they travelled in time, not space. I guess they somehow determined it was earth? When they saw the moon and stars at night, the moon was huge, and the constellations were different due to the huge time difference (75 mil years or something?) but still it doesn't confirm it was the same planet... oh well maybe they'll explain it at some point

The final thing is how they communicate with the "future people". Like the boy's girlfriend (xgf I guess haha) mentioned, it's a one way trip. They can't travel Back to The Future. But apparently they can talk through the time portal to the future? It's the same deal as radio comm/control through the stargate I guess - it just works somehow lol.

They mentioned a finding a fracture that made the journey possible. So it could be that the fracture controlled both the time and location of their travel backwards. I would imagine that the probe sent enough info through to lead them to the conclusion that it was Earth, perhaps by sampling genetics of plant growth, gravatational measurements, maybe even triangulation of constellations or whatever. How they determined it was an alternate time line I'm not sure, except that they might have to assume that since there is no evidence of the probe in future.

I guess they can send electronic communication through because it takes less energy than moving a physical mass? And they obviously don't have the resources back there to move particulate matter forward.

I like the rock drawings...at first I thought...oh boy, here we go again, alien technology...then later it was explained that it was the leader's son who drew them. Where he is is another mystery.

I think my favorite time-travel story of all time was one I read as a kid, Heinlein's "The Door Into Summer." I like happy endings...and cats.

Hmm looks like we really should have a new thread every September, when all the new seasons for TV series start, at least where I live

I watched Aliens on DVD last weekend. Actually I never saw this version with all those deleted scenes. Anyway I kept thinking all the influence it has on FPS games. For example the user placeable sentry gun only appeared in FPS games since Team Fortress in 1996, and in this 1986 movie they were already using them to fend off Aliens (altho the scene was not released until this version in 1991).

The relationship between Ripley and the survivor girl "Newt" is also influential in many movies. I thought Speilberg already copied it once in Jurassic Park 3, but in Terra Nova this past monday they almost copied it again...

Anyway, the next DVD in the box set is Predator, guess that's what I'll be watching this weekend

New season of "Walking Dead" started....I'm in hog heaven now!

Season one of The Cape is on Netflix now..So is season one of The Cape....

I've been ripping my entire DVD collection to encode... Rediscovering some really good X-Files episodes--particularly in season [series] five. Many people complain about post-Mulder X-Files (season/series 8 and 9) being icky, but it was really starting to go downhill (albeit slowly) when the show moved from Vancouver, Canada to LA, USA in the movie and season 6 + ..

Seasons 1 through 5 will always be the gold standard of the show haha. Season six started out good, but then they killed off my favourite recurring character!!! WHYWHYWHY! And they never referenced character again... I still need to get season seven... In hindsight, season eight is a pretty good season, not as good as 1-5, or even 6. But it's not horrible. Much better than season 9. I remember that show where I literally only liked one episode per disc--and there's only five discs for the year..

Anyway, sorry, I went all rambly on X-Files.. Don't hate me!

What was up with that last X-Files movie?