"You ever wonder what's up there?"
As much as Star Wars is one of my favorites, there are countless other stories to be told. There's more to SciFi that Star Wars cannot give you. I'll be talking about things I used to be really in to, stuff I was just interested in and movies and things that fit the genre (albeit loosely)
I feel a navigation will spoil what's here; There won't be any...
It should be noted that these things have only the genre in common and have different feelings and atmosphere's unless it is a point of focus I will be going over.
I'd watched this show for a long time. I would even say it was an older hyperfixation of mine. Got really into it around 2012 and watched it up until the show changed writers. I watched everything that was avalible, knew a ton of lore and even tracked down physical media to see what came decades before I found it.
The Tenth and Eleventh Doctor were very popular in the fan base; To some extent they still are. They served as my introduction. The Nineth Doctor is an actor I'd already known about, always thought that was cool.
My favorite aspects of the character would have to be that he always finds a way to help people. He usually has a team of companions to help him. He uses tools instead of a super power, that is the biggest plus for me personally. But you must remember, time travel plays the largest part in these stories settings so it always is interesting to look at.
I cannot remember very many episodes without a list anymore; Sometimes I recognize them by name still. (The episodes are in a chaotic order :P)
Played by David Tennant, he's very energetic and emotive making him quite fun to watch. Very fun outfit choices and nice color scheming with his coat in the earlier half of his seasons. As much as I like darker blues, I do not like the later outfit they'd give him.
Below I've picked what I consider my favorite moments that I remember. I've excluded Blink and Silence at the Library. Those are essential but not my favorites. He had quite a few people return in his season from the previous doctors that I really liked. It felt really connected. It feels like he had a ton of people that would alternate and help.
Matt Smith's Doctor; He feels less serious but has his moments. They covered a lot of ground plot wise and established what happened while the series was on hiatus between the Ninth Doctor and the Eighth Doctor's movie and while his character isn't getting more serious, the plot is and does.
It felt like there were more new monsters and things in this season than the previous two. Really nice fleshing out of his companions. They feel a ton like people outside of the Doctor's travels but I'd say this only is there for the purpose of his own character seemingly clinging to his companions and creates interesting issues for the character type that in the past would leave without question.
I cannot remember anything of this besides story moments from various episodes (I usually watched the Tenth Doctor episodes :| ).
The hype waiting for this to come out was insane. Three doctors at once is something that hadn't happened for a very long time in the series. This is a episode of the Eleventh Doctor's run but features David Tennant with Matt Smith working with John Hurt who would be titled the "War Doctor". Filling in the gap between Eight and Nine as previously mentioned.
The trailer came out and I was fully caught up with the series only months prior and I was ready to go!
New levels of "Time Shenanigans" and heavy Fan Service for the Tenth Doctor's run to keep it vague. I'm unsure when the Tenth Doctor is pulled from, I can't remember but he has a familiar look.
If you liked anything I'd mentioned about these seasons I have noticed the new Loki series seems similar in what it does and how it feels.
I've had a falling out with this series, I've heard from my friends who watched it too that the writer is changing again soon. I can't accurately put into words what will bring me back. But the Loki series recapturing that feeling tells me it's possible in concept.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a book series that was adapted to a movie; Although it's mostly based on the first book as it's well known. The movie has similar aesthetics to the Tenth Doctor's run. Light humor, galaxy-wide adventure to save Earth from something bizzare. The humor comes from strange logic and the rules of the universe. Bombastic.
There's also many official books and comics. Audio dramas and things like that with okay characterisation. If you wish there were more stories with a particular doctor and are willing to settle for off the screen, this is perfect.
Wikis and source books really can help you get a footing with jumping into those books timeline wise (If you so care). In my opinion the best place is honestly to start anywhere and work backwards. At best it keeps you curious.
This show was very popular although I never watched anything besides the movie for the longest time. This one goes out of it's way to ground things that happen. They solve unexplained cases as a special department of the FBI. I did have a few of the books while searching for more Science Fiction in the past and thought it was pretty neat.
Mostly focuses on things believed to be aliens and debunking them as something more human. Like a creepier Scooby Doo with murder and crime.
I like that aspect the most, the "actually it's this!" where they try to make sense of it keeps it interesting; Keeps you wondering each episode "How will they explain this?"--I'd love for more science fiction like this, where we are still figuring things out.
It does feel like a Detective show mixed with the right amount of things that appear to be supernatural or other-worldly.
Now I was going to talk about Battlestar or Robotech; I just can't engage with them anymore. Maybe another time...
I get excited to watch this movie; Please note it is a Sciecne Fiction, Horror movie. Kurt Russel is working on a research base; I think it was in Antarctica. They find a crashed UFO in the ice and mess with it. They find this thing that can take the form of anything living. It's a parasite; Of course it kills the host.
It's a scary movie with characters that react to danger in probably the best way for the genre they're in. They don't die by making dumb decisions. The first time you see it, you get a bit of anxiety if you're invested. It also has a very interesting ending, as to not ruin it if you'd like to see the movie.
Not a whole lot of expanded materials were done officially. Two comic sequels exsit yet to my knowledge they conflict. The ending is still up for debate as well but arguments exist for two outcomes.
It feels very Lovecraft in the way that nothing that happens is explained. They try to prevail over a threat they cannot fully understand. If you like that aspect, you probably are already familiar although I suggest you look into his works if that isn't the case.
The movie Life(2017) is a movie I find similar in concepts but are different beyond that. The ending is pretty clear cut but if you need something close it's this. There's the original movie, "The Thing From Another World" (1951). Neither is based on each other and actually borrow from a book called "Who Goes There?" from 1938. Looking into that for writing this has shown me there's an extended early version of the book titled "Frozen Hell" that got released in 2019. Given the age of the book, I'd say you may be able to find a PDF somewhere ;)
It's been said some of the tellings of this story have some Cold War histeria sprinkled in because of when they were created. I won't elaborate but I think that's something worth sharing. I couldn't tell you which one it was anymore. The creature effects in the 1982 version still hold up and supposedly a version of the 2011 remake/sequel exists with practical effects although I do not have a confirmed source at this time. Take this as a sweet nothing unless I update this later.
There's a game that contradicts one of the endings for some fan-service. The game is not something in my collection but I've seen the gameplay it looks like it suffers from "early 3D shooter syndrome".
Of course, Halo is what most early 3D shooters wanted to be (on console). It takes place in I believe the 2500s and humanity has become quite advanced. Science Fiction has this very close relationship with Naval Terms, Titles and Naming and it shouldn't care to use anything else unless they will completely step away from it. Almost every story uses it.
I point this out now because the soldiers here are space marines sent to fight an alien super-weapon.
This draws some inspiration from Ringworld if you like the basic idea of the setting.
The multiplayer was crazy for Halo 2, 3 and ODST. I never owned the console but friends had it and wanted to level up their alt accounts. ODST and 3 are the most insane and 2 was pure chaos with split screen. The dialog for reacting to the player in singleplayer make you feel powerful. The lore beyond the games just goes completely into details that I wanna know about. Quite a few books for that.
The art direction is very utilitarian with muted earth tones for the human assets and everything alien uses purples, blues and curves without feeling cartoony and still feeling like the opposite of the human things.
The atmosphere the first game managed to pull off with the limitations they had are commendable some genuinely scary everytime you play it. I won't spoil all the fun, I will tell you the soundtrack is dynamic and queues pieces based on player actions and that the most important piece of music that would define the sound for the entire soundtrack/series was written in three days. I think that's fun and worth reading about, he needed it for the unvieling at MacWorld. The main theme!
I could repeat the idea again as a closing. However I'd rather say, there's more out there in terms of Science Fiction especially if you start looking into authors and artists in particular that do more main stream ones like these. More often than not they are either picked for their ideas and concepts they've introduced to their own works that aren't as well known and you can splinter off into some really niche stuff.
Maybe even feel inspired enough to create your own if you can't find any that do what you want with a medium. I wanted to look back on my favorite things in this genre and share a few while being vague enough that I don't ruin that inital experience with them. I don't want to take that away from you but I want you to take these things and explore, create and experience more!
The special feelings of finding something cool for the first time are important. It doesn't have to be hard to find or get and shouldn't.
See you in the next one!
~CorBin