My first experience with the Sci-Fi movie was, most probably, Star Trek. I remember back in my student life I used to eagerly wait to watch one hour episode of popular "Star Trek" movies on the national TV channel on Sundays.....
But why people loves science fiction and fantasy anyways?
Most likable answers will be: Sci-Fi comics and movies let us explore the unknown possibilities. With reading of Science fiction and fantasies, people escape out of their own worlds into places and times that do not exist nor ever will. A good reading of an well-written science fiction gives us ultimate interactive experience - because when we read science fiction, our brain begins to build a world from the ground up.
The tales of mystical worlds and improbable technological power appeal many of us, universally. Though Bollywood is the largest movie industry in the world, but sad to say, only a handful top hits of the last four decades have dealt with science fiction themes and/or fantasy. On the other hand, Hollywood's had a long love affair with sci-fi and fantasy. A quick glance into bookstores, television lineups, and upcoming films shows that the futuristic and fantastical is everywhere in American pop culture.
American Sci-Fi films make lot of their profits abroad, but they under-perform in front of Indian audiences. This isn't to say that there aren't folk tales with magic and mythology in India - of course there are. But Bollywood usually takes quotidian family dramas and imbues them with spectacular tales of love and wealth found-lost-regained amidst the pageantry of choreographed dance pieces. It's a sign that longing for mystery is universal, but the taste for science fiction and fantasy is cultural. For films like Avatar and The Hobbit, foreign sales equal or exceed domestic U.S. sales. But India, the world's ninth-largest economy and second-most populous country, does not even rank in the top 12 foreign markets for the genre.
Science fiction writers have often provided prescient glimpses of future technologies. From the advanced submarine imagined by Jules Verne in his 1870 novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, to the spacecraft described by H.G. Wells in his 1897 novel The War of the Worlds, there are countless examples of science fiction works that have foreshadowed, or even inspired, the development of real technologies. With the advent of motion pictures, science fiction writers’ ideas about what the future might look like could also be visually brought to life on screen.
Here are few science fiction movies that provided amazingly accurate glimpses of future technologies.
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)
Technology: Mobile phone
Star Trek franchise predicted include videophone communications, 3-D printers (replicators), and computer speech recognition. However, perhaps the most iconic Star Trek technology that later became a reality is the handheld communicator.
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Technology: Tablet computer
Among all the wondrous technical gadgetry depicted in Stanley Kubrick’s groundbreaking science fiction film is a device that many of us likely own today: the tablet computer. Besides depicting devices that bear an unmistakable resemblance to the tablets we use today, Kubrick’s film also fairly accurately predicted the time period when these devices would appear. Apple’s iPad made its debut in 2010, only nine years after the setting of 2001: A Space Odyssey.
As reported by FOSS Patents, the movie props’ resemblance to Apple’s iPad became enshrined in U.S. federal court records when Samsung cited 2001: A Space Odyssey as prior art against Apple’s iPad design patent claim.
Metropolis (1927)
Technology: Android
In the film, a mad scientist named Rotwang transforms a robot into a doppelgänger of another character named Maria, in order to crush a workers revolt. While today’s androids may not approach the same level of human likeness as Rotwang’s creation, there are plenty of fairly realistic humanoid robots that will take you deep into the uncanny valley.
Woman in the Moon (1929)
Technology: Space travel
It offers an amazingly prescient depiction of later rocket launches into space, especially considering that the movie was made twenty-eight years before the Soviet Union’s Sputnik 1 launch.
Short Circuit (1986)
Technology: Military robot
While this film’s story about a robot that becomes self-aware after being struck by lightning may not be based on solid science, its depiction of the military’s interest in robots was spot on. In the film, “Number 5,” or “Johnny Five,” is an experimental prototype robot that the government has developed for military applications.
Back to the Future Part II (1989)
Technology: Wearable tech
Back to the Future Part II depicts multiple futuristic technologies. The smart eyewear that Marty McFly’s children are using in the film. Is it a head-mounted virtual reality device like the Oculus Rift, or is it more like Google Glass?
Minority Report (2002)
Technology: Gesture-based user interface
The film did accurately predict gesture-based user interfaces long before touchscreens and motion-sensing inputs became common.
In the scene, Captain John Anderton — played by Tom Cruise — manipulates images on a computer with dramatic gestures. While most people today don’t operate their smartphones and tablets with exaggerated two-handed gestures, the swipe and pinch-to-zoom motions used by Anderton are essentially the same gestures used to operate touchscreens today.
Total Recall (1990)
Technology: Driverless car
This blockbuster film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger is packed with all sorts of futuristic technologies that have yet to be invented, including machines that can implant false memories and animatronic disguises that sort of work. However, amid all the Martian mayhem, there is also a scene that depicts a technology that is currently being developed by Google: driver-less cars.
Everyone has that feeling of being an outsider at some point in their lives, particularly here in the US, we don't have communities like we used to. A lot of people feel like they don't belong at all. Science Fiction hits on what it's like to go out into an alien environment. For some, change is frightening, and science fiction embraces, encapsulates, and explains that change.
I read science fiction and fantasy because it appeals to my critical thinking - because it's a genre full of ideas and optimism and inspiration.
Here are two interesting, old Sci-Fi stories from "Amazing Adventures Series". The first was drawn by Murphy Anderson and Sy Barry (possibly), and the second one is inked by John Giunta.
Feel free to download and distribute the stories - enjoy your weekends...
 |
| Star Trek gallery ships 1719 CONTRARIAN FANBOY |
But why people loves science fiction and fantasy anyways?
Most likable answers will be: Sci-Fi comics and movies let us explore the unknown possibilities. With reading of Science fiction and fantasies, people escape out of their own worlds into places and times that do not exist nor ever will. A good reading of an well-written science fiction gives us ultimate interactive experience - because when we read science fiction, our brain begins to build a world from the ground up.
The tales of mystical worlds and improbable technological power appeal many of us, universally. Though Bollywood is the largest movie industry in the world, but sad to say, only a handful top hits of the last four decades have dealt with science fiction themes and/or fantasy. On the other hand, Hollywood's had a long love affair with sci-fi and fantasy. A quick glance into bookstores, television lineups, and upcoming films shows that the futuristic and fantastical is everywhere in American pop culture.
American Sci-Fi films make lot of their profits abroad, but they under-perform in front of Indian audiences. This isn't to say that there aren't folk tales with magic and mythology in India - of course there are. But Bollywood usually takes quotidian family dramas and imbues them with spectacular tales of love and wealth found-lost-regained amidst the pageantry of choreographed dance pieces. It's a sign that longing for mystery is universal, but the taste for science fiction and fantasy is cultural. For films like Avatar and The Hobbit, foreign sales equal or exceed domestic U.S. sales. But India, the world's ninth-largest economy and second-most populous country, does not even rank in the top 12 foreign markets for the genre.
Science fiction writers have often provided prescient glimpses of future technologies. From the advanced submarine imagined by Jules Verne in his 1870 novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, to the spacecraft described by H.G. Wells in his 1897 novel The War of the Worlds, there are countless examples of science fiction works that have foreshadowed, or even inspired, the development of real technologies. With the advent of motion pictures, science fiction writers’ ideas about what the future might look like could also be visually brought to life on screen.
Here are few science fiction movies that provided amazingly accurate glimpses of future technologies.
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)
Technology: Mobile phone
Star Trek franchise predicted include videophone communications, 3-D printers (replicators), and computer speech recognition. However, perhaps the most iconic Star Trek technology that later became a reality is the handheld communicator.
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Technology: Tablet computer
Among all the wondrous technical gadgetry depicted in Stanley Kubrick’s groundbreaking science fiction film is a device that many of us likely own today: the tablet computer. Besides depicting devices that bear an unmistakable resemblance to the tablets we use today, Kubrick’s film also fairly accurately predicted the time period when these devices would appear. Apple’s iPad made its debut in 2010, only nine years after the setting of 2001: A Space Odyssey.
As reported by FOSS Patents, the movie props’ resemblance to Apple’s iPad became enshrined in U.S. federal court records when Samsung cited 2001: A Space Odyssey as prior art against Apple’s iPad design patent claim.
Metropolis (1927)
Technology: Android
In the film, a mad scientist named Rotwang transforms a robot into a doppelgänger of another character named Maria, in order to crush a workers revolt. While today’s androids may not approach the same level of human likeness as Rotwang’s creation, there are plenty of fairly realistic humanoid robots that will take you deep into the uncanny valley.
Woman in the Moon (1929)
Technology: Space travel
It offers an amazingly prescient depiction of later rocket launches into space, especially considering that the movie was made twenty-eight years before the Soviet Union’s Sputnik 1 launch.
Short Circuit (1986)
Technology: Military robot
While this film’s story about a robot that becomes self-aware after being struck by lightning may not be based on solid science, its depiction of the military’s interest in robots was spot on. In the film, “Number 5,” or “Johnny Five,” is an experimental prototype robot that the government has developed for military applications.
Back to the Future Part II (1989)
Technology: Wearable tech
Back to the Future Part II depicts multiple futuristic technologies. The smart eyewear that Marty McFly’s children are using in the film. Is it a head-mounted virtual reality device like the Oculus Rift, or is it more like Google Glass?
Minority Report (2002)
Technology: Gesture-based user interface
The film did accurately predict gesture-based user interfaces long before touchscreens and motion-sensing inputs became common.
In the scene, Captain John Anderton — played by Tom Cruise — manipulates images on a computer with dramatic gestures. While most people today don’t operate their smartphones and tablets with exaggerated two-handed gestures, the swipe and pinch-to-zoom motions used by Anderton are essentially the same gestures used to operate touchscreens today.
Total Recall (1990)
Technology: Driverless car
This blockbuster film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger is packed with all sorts of futuristic technologies that have yet to be invented, including machines that can implant false memories and animatronic disguises that sort of work. However, amid all the Martian mayhem, there is also a scene that depicts a technology that is currently being developed by Google: driver-less cars.
Everyone has that feeling of being an outsider at some point in their lives, particularly here in the US, we don't have communities like we used to. A lot of people feel like they don't belong at all. Science Fiction hits on what it's like to go out into an alien environment. For some, change is frightening, and science fiction embraces, encapsulates, and explains that change.
I read science fiction and fantasy because it appeals to my critical thinking - because it's a genre full of ideas and optimism and inspiration.
 |
| Amazing Adventures |
Here are two interesting, old Sci-Fi stories from "Amazing Adventures Series". The first was drawn by Murphy Anderson and Sy Barry (possibly), and the second one is inked by John Giunta.
Feel free to download and distribute the stories - enjoy your weekends...
 |
| Amazing Adventures (Size: 9 MB) |
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