William Stroock (as in Stroock's Books)
Showing posts with label the Expanse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the Expanse. Show all posts
Monday, January 27, 2020
What Will's Watching
The Expanse Season 4 Episodes 1-4: On the Confederate Contingent's advice we pressed ahead with the new season of The Expanse even though Episode 1 absolutely sucked. The next episodes aren't that bad, but they aren't that good either. Lot's of stupid human relationship sub-plots wedged into the story line becuase someone took a creative writing class. These episodes don't approach the brilliance of Season-1, the best season of Television Science Fiction since Star Trek TNG. There are some interesting things happening on Mars at least, and it's nice to finally see what life is like there. We checked and these episodes aren't written by chicks, so that's not the problem. So far the blonde lesbian from Season-3 is nowhere to be seen. But this show has lost its edge. 2/4.
Wednesday, January 15, 2020
Woke Trek
Via Ace, Patrick Stewart says Star Trek: Picard will be totally woke:
Do these people even understand Star Trek? Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek is supposed to be hopeful. The Federation is a utopia where mankind has evolved into a more perfect being. This is a world in which one wants to live. That's the whole point.
If one wants space pessimism, one should watch The Expanse. Would anyone want to be a citizen of the UN's Earth, where half the planet is unemployed? Actually, we haven't even been able to get through Season 4, Episode 1. So far it feels like an episode...of Star Trek.
The new “Star Trek” series starring Sir Patrick Stewart isn’t being explicitly billed as “woke,” but it seems the series’ star, who will reprise his role as the legendary Enterprise captain, Jean-Luc Picard, believes “Star Trek: Picard” will have a message for anti-immigrant leaders and global isolationists. The series will have a “more pessimistic take” on Starfleet, the quasi-military arm that handles discovery, research, and, generally, law enforcement duties for the United Federation of Planets, according to Newsweek. Stewart described the fictional organization, now years past the events of “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” and the subsequent Star Trek films, as hopelessly corrupt and cruelly “isolationist” in the face of a galactic refugee crisis.Ok, ok, original Star Trek took on the race issue once, and TNG would ask viewers to consider modern issues, but always did so in a non-preachy, non-obnoxious way.
Do these people even understand Star Trek? Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek is supposed to be hopeful. The Federation is a utopia where mankind has evolved into a more perfect being. This is a world in which one wants to live. That's the whole point.
If one wants space pessimism, one should watch The Expanse. Would anyone want to be a citizen of the UN's Earth, where half the planet is unemployed? Actually, we haven't even been able to get through Season 4, Episode 1. So far it feels like an episode...of Star Trek.
Wednesday, June 13, 2018
Further Thoughts on 2543-Accentuated
Like we said, we're interested in ripping off The Expanse and doing our own confined solar system space opera.
We've been thinking about the Earth/Mars relationship.
In The Expanse Earth and Mars are blood enemies. Earth is an over-crowded welfare state, while Mars is a sparsely populated Spartan State.
One of our annoyances with The Expanse is the accents. While the Belters have a kind of sing-song Jamaican patois, or sometimes a faux Russian accent, Earther and Martian accents are usually interchangeable. Both Earth and Mars characters usually sport Standard American English accents, though there are some yuuge exceptions.
We think in the future Standard American English for Earth is possible. But Martians should have an accent all their own. No one would believe a bunch of icy red Spartans would have Brit university accents*, so why not give the Martians an American western, or even an Alaskan accent? They'd say a lot of 'Ah' and 'Eh' and 'Oh.' and tend to say 'oooo' for 'o'.
Very Sarah Palin...
[Again with her?-Ed]
*like the Empire.
We've been thinking about the Earth/Mars relationship.
In The Expanse Earth and Mars are blood enemies. Earth is an over-crowded welfare state, while Mars is a sparsely populated Spartan State.
One of our annoyances with The Expanse is the accents. While the Belters have a kind of sing-song Jamaican patois, or sometimes a faux Russian accent, Earther and Martian accents are usually interchangeable. Both Earth and Mars characters usually sport Standard American English accents, though there are some yuuge exceptions.
We think in the future Standard American English for Earth is possible. But Martians should have an accent all their own. No one would believe a bunch of icy red Spartans would have Brit university accents*, so why not give the Martians an American western, or even an Alaskan accent? They'd say a lot of 'Ah' and 'Eh' and 'Oh.' and tend to say 'oooo' for 'o'.
Very Sarah Palin...
[Again with her?-Ed]
*like the Empire.
Monday, June 11, 2018
In the Future, a lot of Space Stations will smell like Currie
We live in Chindia.
A few weeks ago when we were up at the house in the Berkshires we saw a sari wearing old woman of a decidedly bronze hugh meandering down the street.
'Hey, Just like home,' we said, then .'Well there are a billion of them.'
Yesterday we talked about writing a sci fi novel that takes place about 400 years in the future. Mankind has colonized the solar system.
Now, usually in sci-fi TV series you see a predominately white crew with a few POCs* thrown in. Star Trek is as guilty of this as anyone, though in the new show there's a Chinese captain. Star Trek IV did briefly feature an Indian starship captain. In firefly society was a mix of American and Chinese culture, not unrealistic given American cultural dominance.
In any future society scattered throughout the solar system Caucasians** will be a distinct minority. It's far more likely that future colonies will have names like New Manchuria and New Bengal rather than New Ohio.
*Not our terminology
** Being 47% Ashkenazi Jew we identify as Middle Eastern, we ain't white.
A few weeks ago when we were up at the house in the Berkshires we saw a sari wearing old woman of a decidedly bronze hugh meandering down the street.
'Hey, Just like home,' we said, then .'Well there are a billion of them.'
Yesterday we talked about writing a sci fi novel that takes place about 400 years in the future. Mankind has colonized the solar system.
Now, usually in sci-fi TV series you see a predominately white crew with a few POCs* thrown in. Star Trek is as guilty of this as anyone, though in the new show there's a Chinese captain. Star Trek IV did briefly feature an Indian starship captain. In firefly society was a mix of American and Chinese culture, not unrealistic given American cultural dominance.
In any future society scattered throughout the solar system Caucasians** will be a distinct minority. It's far more likely that future colonies will have names like New Manchuria and New Bengal rather than New Ohio.
*Not our terminology
** Being 47% Ashkenazi Jew we identify as Middle Eastern, we ain't white.
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