

The War on Science Fiction and Marvin Minsky - heliokor
http://www.the-spearhead.com/2009/10/09/the-war-on-science-fiction-and-marvin-minsky/

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J_McQuade
I hate to jump in and sound like Mr. Politically Correct, but I actually felt
embarrassed while reading that article. A gay man adds a gay character to a
series, while continuing (if not even _emphasising_ ) the hero's use of
knowledge and skill in resolving problems (yes, as a man, getting things
done)! OH NO! RELEASE THE DOGS!

It's annoying because I definitely _do_ believe that sci-fi is getting
'watered down' with 'relationship drama' (see the recently launched Stargate
Universe as an example - if one were prone to puns, it could probably safely
be called "'Lost' in Space"), but I can't help but think the tone of the piece
suggests something of an ulterior motive for its vitriol.

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Adam503
I think the reason "Sy-Fy" is getting watered down with relationship drama is
financial. Relationship drama is a lot cheaper to produce. It's more expensive
to produce than reality-TV though, so you get a couple more GhostSeeker
reality TV and Pro Wrestling shows to fill out the prime time schedule.

I'm sure nobody needs to tell you the US economy is way too closely focused on
short term profits. This is what three straight decades of nothing but short
term profits only thinking gets you. Pro Wrestling and Soap Operas presented
as new prime time fall science fiction programming.

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brazzy
There's a whiny male here, and he's not a Battlestar Galactica character...

I read SF books almost exclusively, and my favorite author is a woman: C.J.
Cherryh, who writes really, really good stuff, including more or less manly
men who get things done (and more or less womanly women who also get things
done).

And I'll take some relationship drama over vapid Star Trek technobabble any
day, thank you very much. Ultimately, SF is not about technology, it's about
people and where technology might take them and how it might change them.

The author knows that too, he just doesn't want to admit it. What does 80s
Starbuck flirting with girls and smoking cigars have to do with technology?
absolutely nothing, that's what. What the author apparently wants isn't
science fiction, it's Conan the Barbarian, in space!

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elblanco
I think you miss the author's point. 80's Starbuck (and Apollo for much the
same reasons) is the kind vapid empty character you end up with in male
oriented sci-fi. The character is a fun placeholder for the id and ego of
young males. He's a proxy for them in that fictional universe. A universe that
just happens to be populated with thinking machines, cool looking star
fighters, laser blasters, alien planets and giant flagships the size of a
city.

Starbuck is the eyes and hands of the juvenile male that desperately wants
that kind of kinetic adventure. Being an incomplete and uninteresting
character is the important part, it makes the character more accessible and
adaptable to the myriad of young male fantasies. In general, any kind of
generic archetype is supposed to be available only a virtual "selection of
shoes" that the viewer/reader can look at, best identify with, and slip on for
the duration of the fantasy.

Densely fleshed out character profiles with tangled relationships are not
(generally) the kind of sci-fi boys are terribly interested in. Especially
when you can have, more or less, the exact same story in any particular
setting, sci-fi or not. _That's_ what the turn off of the kind of relationship
drama/sci-fi the author is talking about is. The setting (sci-fi) is
immaterial to the actual story.

That being said, the better sci-fi out there is chock full of relationship
drama. But when it's well crafted, it's inseparable from setting because the
drama is a _result_ of the setting, not just stage dressing. The recent
Battlestar Galactica series is large inseparable from setting and that's what
made it so appealing. That, and it struck a decent balance with "OMG That's
AWESOME" space battles.

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radu_floricica
Yup, agree with the rest of the comments here. TV science fiction has a whole
lot of problems, but saying Battlestar Galactica is bad because Starbuck is a
woman... really. The new show is aimed at an audience 10 years older then the
original, and at least for the first couple of seasons it had a hell of a
story.

The irony is there might be something to the idea that sf is mostly for men
and trying to make it more unisex will spoil it. But this kind of articles
will definitely not help.

~~~
jkmcf
I was initially very hesitant about a female Starbuck, if only because he was
my favorite character in the original. After a few episodes, I became a fan of
the character and the acting.

The retelling of BSG required a big adjustment for fans who grew up watching
the original series. You may disagree with some of their plot directions, and
perhaps the ending, but unless you haven't grown up yet you have to admit the
series as a whole was at least an A-, if not the best SF show ever.

It's like the recently revamped Dr Who: the companions are more empowered and
involved, rather than being one dimensional plot tag alongs/eye candy.

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anateus
This comes off as bitter, almost, but not quite as bitter as the linked-to
diatribe from the actor who played Starbuck in the original BSG.

There indeed have been some cultural changes about how sci-fi is handled on TV
and in movies. But it has been mostly in increasing its complexity. Moving
away from the standard "[genre]... in SPACE!" model.

A crude but effective spam filter is when someone says "[Broad social group]
is ruining [something]", it is unlikely that a good point will be made. This
seems to fit solidly within this bucket.

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tptacek
Whiny, relationship-driven feminized Science Fiction presumably disapproved of
by this author:

* Star Wars

* Stranger in a Strange Land

* Blade Runner

* The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy

* Speaker For The Dead

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elblanco
The author kinda makes a point. I think the unaddressed age-old elephant in
the room is the question "how do we get more women interested in science and
technology without castrating the things that get men interested in science
and technology?"

