ULTRAKILLBOT

I’ve always loved science fiction – maybe a bit too much for my good when I was younger. In the 3rd grade I started reading Star Wars Expanded Universe. With such exciting titles as X-wing: Rogue Squadron, X-wing: The Kytos Trap and Thrawn’s Revenge. (Actually I would consider these to be science fantasy, but whatever. They had spaceships) These particular books might or might not have contributed to my exceedingly sad social standing at school as a helpless nerd. And that particular characterization doesn’t hold up because for the most part it was pretty pulp stuff, not really intellectually stimulating or challenging. Like harlequin novels, they often just re-confirm our preconceived beliefs about our world (bad people are bad and deserve to be capped, good people are good and deserve to have some kind of heterosexual relationship with a romantic interest + an x-wing).

But regardless, I loved em. Course this just translated into my love of more cerebral science fiction as I got older. Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001 series, Aldous Huxley, Phillip K. Dick are some of my favourite writers, and hell, some of their books have been fantastically translated into unforgettable films. Others not so much.

Science fiction has given the world some of its most challenging and imaginative cinema, starting with the ever iconic A Trip to the Moon, the theremin infused horror of Forbidden Planet, to the 1982 post-modern masterpiece Blade Runner.

Anyways, to move beyond waxing nostalgic about old films, there are some awesome ones looking to come out soon – hopefully keeping the zeitgeist of popular culture firmly planted in the world science fiction First is Moon:

Stark. Simple. And dealing in the currency of space, both literally and psychic. I’m down.

Next is District 9, produced by Peter Jackson (I’m sure his amazing prop studio WETA is on board) and directed by the Vancouver-based Neill Blomkamp, who was originally tasked with the direction of the Halo feature film. That movie fell through (for a number of convoluted reasons) and now he’s doing this.

What’s fantastic is that it is based off of an earlier short film that I had watched many moons ago, Alive in Joburg, which is an obviously scaled down version of the feature film-to-be. All of his work up until District 9 has been in short film – just youtube his name and you will find a number of exciting short films filled in with decent CG and creative story lines. Now he gets to expand beyond the short format and prove that his unique documentary style can work on the big screen.

And here’s the brilliant thing about science fiction: it allows fiction to deal with very real-world issues through fictional and imaginative means. Aliens have always been the code-word for the cultural “other”, for those of you who have found themselves in some cultural studies or anthropology classes. Double points in District 9’s case because the action takes place in South Africa (likely a point of intense interest for Blomkamp, who is a native Afrikaans). Exploring issues of race through the foil of the ex-apartheid state will yield some very interesting material. Like to be honest the actual theme of “humanity accepting the alien” isn’t a new topic for SF (think just about every Star Trek episode or movie barring The Borg), but I think that diving right into a space as topical as South Africa will drive the point home a better. And it just might capture the right amount of sublime awe to make for an entertaining film.

Here’s hoping it gets the proper media attention to be a success here in Canada and the States.