Another Hugo Awards ceremony has come and gone. I watched a good chunk of the pre-show (Ustream.tv) and a good chunk of the award ceremony until the John W Campbell Award was given out. I then followed it on Twitter. The best part I saw was Robert Silverberg’s prayer invocation and compared the events of the 1968 WorldCon with 2015. The only speech I missed was Connie Willis’. I’ll have to watch it later when the full ceremony is posted.
If you’ve been following this year’s Hugos you will have heard of the Sad & Rabid Puppies gaming of the nomination process. They were routed last night, but had pre-declared a rout as one of their victory conditions. Go figure.
Much digital ink has been spilled since the nominations were announced and more will be spilled over the coming months. The Hugo Awards were damaged but not destroyed. The polarization will continue because that is what some people want and the Internet echo chamber provides a negative feedback loop to boost it.
No one knows what the future will hold for the Hugo Awards. They are the Oscars of the literary science fiction world and thus the most prestigious (though technically the Nebulas more resemble the Oscars as they are voted on by their peers). Very few people actually vote on them (even this year) when you consider the size of the readership.
My only hope is that fans love of science fiction will outweigh their politics.
Just got back from our vacation to Alaska. We did an overnight train trip to Denali. Didn’t spend much time in the park. Saw bits of Denali but not the whole mountain. Did see the top of Mount Foraker. Then we went back to Anchorage. Next day we were shuttled to Whittier and put on the Pacific Princess for a seven day Alaska cruise. Long story short. It was great. Saw Mount St. Elias and probably Mount Logan. We saw lots of glaciers and some whales. Sailed into Yakatat Bay and saw Hubbard Glacier. Next day sailed into Glacier Bay National Park picked up park rangers who gave us a tour of the bay. We sailed all the way up to Margerie Glacier and saw bits of it fall off. Saw lots of spouts but not the actual whales. Saw them later. After that we stopped in Skagway road the White Pass train, then stopped in Juneau went to Mendenhall Glacier. Stopped in Ketchikan and went to Saxman Native Village then two more days of sailing the inside passage to Vancouver where we ended ended our cruise. We spent two days in Victoria then two days in Vancouver before flying home.
I may post a more detailed log of the trip.
While in Victoria we got a ride in a convertible Mustang saw Mount Rainier and Mount Baker. Also saw Rainier and final approach to Seattle. We flew from Tucson to SEATAC then to Anchorage. We flew home from Vancouver to Phoenix then Tucson. Our luggage didn’t arrive with us but we picked it up the next day.
Things we did NOT see in Victoria: Butchart Gardens nor Craigdorrach Castle. We did go to the Royal BC Museum. We did go to Gastown in Vancouver and rode the hop-on hop-off bus. I don’t feel too deprived that we didn’t do a bus tour of Denali National Park and see attractions in B.C. because we saw and did a lot of stuff for the first time. I hope there’s another trip to Alaska and Victoria in our future but this one will keep me satisfied for a few years.
I saw Star Wars in the movie theaters when it first came out when it wasn’t called Episode IV A New Hope. I saw it four times. My friends at the time saw it dozens of times. By the time The Empire Strikes Back came out it was Ep. 4. And as far as I’m concerned the second film, aka Episode V is the best one of the six. After the first movie came out I recall reading that Lucas was planning on making nine films Then Return of the Jedi came out and nothing until The Phantom Menace came out sixteen years later.
I should back up a bit and say that I watched Star Trek first. It was and always shall be the first scifi show that I loved. TV introduced me to science fiction. Not only did I watch Star Trek, I saw Batman, Lost in Space, I Dream of Jeanie, Gilligan’s Island, Bewitched, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Land of the Giants, and Land of the Lost. It wasn’t until much later that I got to see Time Tunnel and Space 1999, so they weren’t formative.
As for movies, I saw Silent Running, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Rollerball, and Logan’s Run. I also watched many a Godzilla movie and the Planet of the Apes movies. This was all before Star Wars. 1977 was a turning point as SciFi went mainstream and became Hollywood blockbusters. Star Wars wasn’t science fiction and to compare it to Star Trek is like comparing apples and oranges.
Thanks to Star Trek and DC superhero comic books I became interested in literary science fiction. I was introduced to the big four, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert Heinlein, and Ray Bradbury. I stuck with science fiction until I met my friend Mike in college. He introduce me to fantasy, authors such as Fritz Leiber, Michael Moorcock, Glen Cook, and Roger Zelazny. I could list many other writers I discovered in the late 70’s and early 80’s, but I’m not here to reminisce about them.
Over the years I’d encountered the fandom that Star Wars generated. I should note I did see the Star Wars Holiday Special when it was broadcast. Lucas tried his best to bury it, but bootlegs of it can be found all over the place. It was notable for introducing us to Boba Fett.
Parodies
Here are the best Star Wars parodies I have seen over the years. Hardware Wars was the first and it paved the way for all parodies and pastiches that followed.
The absolute best one I’ve seen so far is TROOPS. It is very clever and tracks the plot of A New Hope.
The second best parody film which is almost tied with TROOPSStar Wars Talk to Your Kids PSA. Although I do not have kids, I know fellow fans that have encountered this dilemma.
Analyses
There have been critical looks at the films. One of the best is when Joseph Campbell talks to Bill Moyers about the first three films in the landmark mini-series, The Power of Myth. However, there are some other analyses and that put new interpretations on them. Now the thing is they could simply be people with too much time on their hands, overthinking what is in the movies and then cherry pick the elements that fit their hypothesis. I do find them compelling and they may change the way you view the films.
[Inspired by it, I’m trying to come up with an order to re-watch the Babylon 5 series. The idea is to list determine the few key episodes from Season 1 and Season 5 and then watch most of seasons 2,3, and 4.]