I've got a few things on my mind regarding current events under the speculative fiction entertainment umbrella, so I wanted to talk about them all in one post.
Godzilla. Godzilla: King of the Monsters is getting rave reviews from kaiju...err...titan-loving people who were lucky enough to get an early screening. I'm going Thursday evening, and I'm seeing it in IMAX with some friends. My seats are perfect, right dead center, and I paid for a luxury recliner for myself and friend Geneva. Looking over the soundtrack by Bear McCreary, I noticed that there's a track called Mothra's song. I hope that we get to see the Shobijin...two tiny fairies that follow Mothra around and can communicate telepathically with Mothra.
Alien Universe. I realized this weekend in a random thought that Disney now owns Alien, because they purchased the rights to the franchise when they acquired Fox's portfolio of franchises, which included the X-Men, Deadpool, and the Fantastic Four. That just seems so weird, and I know they are going to comb through the canon and throw out a bunch of stuff and reboot, which may also breathe some fresh life into a thing that I like very much. Additionally, there's now an Alien Universe tabletop RPG, which I think is amazing. I guess you can take on a role within the greater Alien Universe, and depending on your GM, you may actually never face off against the xenomorph itself. Just all of that Lovecraftian lore is out there, and those events either have happened or are going to happen depending on how your character is created and during what time period. This is how I understand it anyway. It sounds like a ton of fun.
The Expanse Universe. I got my friend Geneva to read the first book, Leviathan Wakes, and she read 450 pages in one afternoon. She told me, "I'm having difficulty putting this book down." I nodded in understanding. It's a super good read...all eight books...and the pacing stays consistent and never lets you go. Speaking of tabletop RPG's, the Expanse now has one from Green Ronin games, and I so want to play it with others.
Star Trek: Discovery. I recently finished Star Trek: Discovery's second season, and I was completely blown away by it. In the season finale (SPOILER ALERT), the Discovery launches permanently into the future by time traveling through a wormhole that places it 950 years later...or about 800 years or so beyond Janeway returning to Federation space with the Voyager crew. Literally, anything can happen. It's a new slate, and based on the writing of the series, season three is probably going to be incredible.
I hope everyone's Memorial Day was relaxing. I'll chat with you all on Friday. It's hard to believe that June is almost here already.
I hope everyone's Memorial Day was relaxing. I'll chat with you all on Friday. It's hard to believe that June is almost here already.
Um... But why bother to even do that time travel thing?
ReplyDeleteThat seems redundant.
SPOILER ALERT: The whole second season was about getting to the source of seven signals that popped up at various places around the universe, apparently originating from a being called "The Red Angel." In unraveling the identity and nature of this being, the Discovery came across a lifeform in space called "The Sphere" and it gave to them 100,000 years of observational data so that it would be remembered (and downloaded all of that into Discovery's computer). Then it died. Section 31 got taken over by a malevolent artificial intelligence known as "Control" and "Control" desperately wanted this data because with the Sphere's information, it could evolve into an unstoppable killing machine that could sterilize all life in the known universe. The Red Angel has used time travel to repeatedly thwart Control, and no matter which timeline it tried, it always failed because Control always outwitted the Red Angel. The data could also not be destroyed as it protected itself. So the solution ended up being to follow the Red Angel through a wormhole it could create that would take it permanently 950 years into the future (the time travel technology they used would anchor them permanently this far into the future). They could use time travel to come back to the present, but it required tremendous energy to stay in the present and the rubberband connecting to the anchor point far in the future would always pull them back. So basically, season three is going to take place in a whole new universe with a clean slate and no canon to follow. Also, Starfleet covered up what really happened with the Discovery and swore the crew of the Enterprise (who was there when Discovery vaulted into the future following the Red Angel)to permanent secrecy. So no one knows about Discovery or the entity known as Control.
DeleteAlso I'd like to add that it's not redundant. It's brilliant! I was definitely wowed by season two.
DeleteWhat I mean is, with a show already in the future, isn't it a bit redundant to time travel more into the future, just from the perspective of making the show. If you want to be that much more in the future, just make a show that much more in the future.
DeleteI don't know if that makes sense or not.
Maybe at some point, I'll get around to Discovery, but not until I don't have to pay for it.
950 years in the future they better hope they don't need spare parts.
ReplyDeleteTabletop games so you'll have lots to do on game nights. Nice.
ReplyDeleteAs usual, you are a master at summarizing these franchises. I'm glad you're so happy with these four.
ReplyDeleteSorry I've been absent until now. I just had some (highly successful) orthopedic surgery and that distracted me from lots of stuff. Also, it means I'm on meds that make me occasionally loopy. Today I found my renewed driver's license in the recycling bin where I'd accidentally thrown it. Now I'm wondering what other crazy stuff I've done.