Steven Lyle Jordan's Blog, page 10

What kind of show is Doctor Who?

[image error]Recently some friends and I were discussing different SF characters and series, and the subject of Doctor Who came up.  As we discussed the good Doctor, a question arose—no, not the usual “Who is the best Doctor,” “Who’s the best companion,” “How cool is Vastra/River Song/Strax/the Brigadier/etc/etc,” but a much deeper question:

Is Doctor Who a hard SF series?  Soft sci-fi?  Is it not SF… is it Fantasy?  Parody?  What, exactly, is it?

Naturally, I didn’t think of this until well after we’d discussed the matter and moved on.  (Isn’t that always the way?)  But after giving it further thought later that night, It occurred to me that Doctor Who is essentially a Pulp character and a pulp series at heart.

I’ve since mentioned this to people who are into the pulps, at which point I was immediately ridiculed for one specific reason: Pulp characters, I was told, are pulp characters specifically because they began their existence in the “pulp” era; that is, the period, circa 1930s to 40s, when stories and occasional illustrated pieces were printed on cheap newsprint that was available to the public during and after WWII and sold to the masses at low prices (ever heard of the dime novel?  Bingo).  Their reasoning was, if the character didn’t have its origins in pulp publications, it wasn’t a pulp character.

[image error]But I see this as a very limited definition of “pulp.”  Pulp wasn’t just a medium; it was also a style.  Pulp stories were designed around easy entertainment in periodic, serial forms.  They featured loose concepts, high adventure/drama/romance, unsophisticated storytelling, colorful characters and gimmicks like the “cliffhanger,” a story that abruptly ends in the middle of a dramatic moment and promises to resolve the scene in the next installment of the story.

During the pulp era, this storytelling format was being used in the movies as well, notably, the short “serial” films of characters like Flash Gordon, Batman, Commando Cody and many others.  The elements of pulp, especially the cliffhanger, were in full evidence here, and two more elements common to movies became standard elements in the serial: Rather generic but exciting background music; and simple special effects for visual punch.  These serials opened before a feature presentation, and thanks to their format of providing a new chapter every week, drew movie audiences back on a regular basis to see how the serials unfolded.

[image error]When television developed, the serial became the weekly episode, with many of the same characters, many new ones, and the same visual and audio elements of the movie shorts.  Some ended on cliffhangers, while others ended on a “happy ever after” note, with the promise that the characters would be back with a new adventure next week.  But though many TV programs began to tell more sophisticated and intelligent stories, and began to rely more on honest drama and real-life situations, a significant number of programs were essentially based on the same westerns, adventures, police and detective stories that had developed back with the pulps.

When television studios started to bequeath their programs more money and resources for more fanciful tales, the first serious SF series began to appear on TV.  Despite their higher production values, it was clear they emulated the old movie productions, with their high drama/adventure formats, fanciful elements (space travel, monsters, futuristic technology) and flashy productions that had been cemented all the way back into the pulp era.

[image error]And this is where Doctor Who comes in.  As a television series, it has all the earmarks of pulp sci-fi, including recurring characters that risk and escape death every week, fanciful elements (time travel, aliens/monsters and futuristic technology) and high-drama situations.  Doctor Who was also patterned originally on the serial format, with perhaps a half-dozen story arc and cliffhangers at the end of each, until the Doctor would emerge as the hero and leave, with a recurring set of supporting characters, to start a new story next week.  Add to that a character that seemed to be literally incapable of dying, a unique premise that allowed the series to continue for decades with new actors in the title role.

[image error]And the stories were pure pulp: Fantastic sci-fi, usually more aligned with fantasy-level elements and pseudo-science, with no effort made to tell sophisticated stories or inject much (or any) real science into the premise.  Doctor Who was designed from the beginning to be fun, escapist science fiction adventure, at first not much more advanced than the old movie serials, or the pulp novels of characters like Doc Savage or The Avenger.  And though special effects and sets improved over the years, Doctor Who embodies the essential elements of pulp to this day.

So, there’s my reasoning to support the idea that Doctor Who is a pulp series.  In much the same as the original Star Trek and Lost in Space, British series like Stingray and Fireball XL-5, Japanese series like Ultraman, and countless others, are essentially pulp series, even though they were conceived or produced long after the pulp era was over.  QED an’ stuff.

If you have any comments or refutations, I’d love to hear them below.

Gateway to the Moon (and beyond)

I’ve recently been running across mentions of this, the NASA concept for a Deep Space Gateway project, now known simply as Gateway.  A great resource to get a newcomer up to speed is on Russian Space Web.  And the concept has some good things going for it.

The basic idea is to create a facility orbiting the Moon, a modular system similar to the International Space Station (ISS) orbiting Earth.  But instead of being devoted to research, the Gateway facility would act as a depot between rockets from Earth and landers destined for the Moon.  The theory is that Gateway would provide a more efficient, reusable, sustainable platform for lunar traffic, allowing vehicles to arrive from Earth carrying just its passengers and some required equipment, who would transfer to dedicated lunar landers and descend to the Moon’s surface for whatever work and research they planned to do.

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For the record, there are a number of people within NASA who think this idea is a waste of time and resources, since we can already go to the Moon using an Apollo-type system (a disposable rocket that carries a disposable lunar module and one non-disposable Orion command and re-entry craft); many of them believe we need to return to the Moon right away, and the Gateway project will just waste a decade or more and delay that return.  An article on Space News echoes much of the debate over Gateway versus established systems.

I personally think the Gateway project is a great idea.  I like the idea of reducing the amount of disposable craft involved in space travel, especially if it’s going to be a regular process.  Imagine if the ISS hadn’t been built, and the world’s space programs sent ships into orbit, to spend a few days to weeks on an experiment, then allowed the lab and all of its equipment to crash-land into the ocean after every mission.  The Apollo missions to the Moon also made one-off use of everything but the command module, allowing the rest to burn up on re-entry, remain on the Moon or eventually fall into the Sun.

Having a permanent orbital facility allows for more lengthy and extensive experimentation with minimal waste of materials—yes, the ISS can be decommissioned and allowed to burn up in re-entry, module by module, but only after thousands of experiments have been carried out.  The years that the ISS has been aloft have more than paid for it.

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The Gateway project would allow much of the same level of efficiency.  If lunar landers were stored at Gateway, rockets coming up from Earth would have a larger cargo or personnel capacity than when they carried their own landers.  If fuel could be processed from the Moon, it could be stored on Gateway and used to refuel landers and ships returning to Earth, allowing for even more cargo space on each craft.  And Gateway could also be used as a depot to construct, fuel and launch new craft going to other planets, like Mars, free from the need to escape Earth’s atmosphere and gravity well in its first stage.

Gateway, in its permanent orbit around the Moon, would also serve as a platform for Moon study, providing better mapping of its surface and more penetrating surveys for valuable materials (like water), and stand as a closer platform to assist those on the surface where resources from Earth could not be dispatched in time to aid in a crisis.

Gateway, like the ISS, could also be an international facility, with various countries sharing the costs, collaborating on R&D efforts and providing assistance to cooperative ventures.  And unlike the opinions of some NASA personnel and astronauts, I don’t see any reason to hurry back to the Moon (I honestly think they are more concerned with another country making a power-grab for the Moon and its resources, but I don’t really believe that’s a legitimate issue).

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This strikes me as the kind of forward-thinking idea that NASA should be pursuing, and we should be supporting.  Any sustainable platform for experimentation, resource and mission support is worth its weight in helium-3 (a possible fuel resource for power reactors back on Earth, and for rockets to other celestial bodies).  It should be our next step in creating a foothold in space.

Colonizing Mars? Nope.

Thanks to a resurgence in public interest in space activities, there has been a lot of talk lately about going to Mars… and not just to visit.  People like Elon Musk talk regularly about setting up a colony or two on Mars, where people will live out their lives.  Others, most notably Science Guy Bill Nye, challenge the idea of colonizing Mars anytime soon (read: Within the lifetimes of anyone you know).  And television shows like NatGeo’s Mars present us with scientists working alongside miners and starting the first families within its severe walls.

As much as I am a fan of someday putting humans on Mars, I side with those who are putting the hard brakes on the idea.  Men on Mars is simply NOT an idea whose time has come, and for a lot of reasons.

[image error]Many speculators like to use North America, a region that was colonized before it was extensively studied, as an example of where Mars development can go: Individuals and families moved out into the uncharted West, some in wagons filled with their possessions, sometimes on foot, with the idea of securing homesteads for themselves.  Some farmed to support themselves, and sold excess produce for money to buy things they could not make, grow or raise.  Others found convenient jobs, generally providing basic services to others.  Some lived very simply, maintaining homes that were not much more than camps on the land, and hunted, fished or prospected for resources they could dig up or cut down to sell to others for a meager profit.  Couples raised families, who created new homes by moving across the river or through the woods and building their own homes.  And so Westward Expansion filled in the cracks of American occupation.

But as romantic as this sounds, Mars cannot and will not be developed the way North America was developed, because of the incredible differences in scales, distances, resources and requirements for cooperation that will be mandatory on Mars.

Basically, the only reason to go to Mars is to work or study Areology.  Beyond study, primary work, specifically, will mostly be efforts trying to find valuable resources on Mars, and constructing facilities around any such points.  Any incidental work will be about directly supporting the primary work.

The rest of Mars offers nothing of value beyond a view… and since it’s unlikely humans will ever live on the surface of Mars (more likely, they’ll live underground, protected from solar radiation), local views won’t be worth much. And no one will be choosing fertile land to farm and support yourself, since there isn’t any.

[image error]Some speculate there is real estate value to be secured on Mars.  But real estate speculation is only operable if there is some value to certain properties over others.  Mars has some useful minerals and elements that may be more easily mined in one spot versus another, and if so, those lands will be more valuable than others.  As yet, we haven’t identified any such locations where valuable elements can easily be mined.  And when you consider the cost of traveling to Mars, prospecting for resources and setting up equipment hardened for the environment to do such mining, the potential profit of such a venture drops significantly, making it less likely to be worth the effort.  

It’s also unlikely tourism will ever be a thing, since, again, there is nothing to do on Mars, nothing you can see unless you’re ensconced in a rover or environmental suit, and nothing special to take home as a souvenir.

[image error]As a better example of how our efforts with Mars may develop, then, let’s look at a much more appropriate example: Antarctica.  The fifth-largest continent on Earth, it is presently occupied by approximately 1,100 humans.  It has mineral resources, but they are largely locked under an average 1.9 kilometers of ice, and not worth the cost and effort of obtaining them.  The ice and severe cold also mean there are no surface resources beyond ice itself, and that those who venture out onto the surface at the coldest times risk death by exposure within mere minutes.

Because of the difficulties in spending time and maintaining human-supporting facilities and resources on Antarctica, and the need for cooperation to support such efforts, a treaty was developed by twelve countries, and signed by those and thirty-eight more, supporting scientific research, protecting the environment, and prohibiting military activities, mineral mining, nuclear explosions and nuclear waste disposal.  As many as 4,000 scientists and explorers have spent time in Antarctica, studying and cataloging it since it was first landed upon in 1895.

In all that time, during all that study and examination, there have been no colonies set up in Antarctica beyond its research stations.  No one brings their families there to live, permanently or temporarily, and no settlements have grown up around the research stations to provide bars, restaurants, parka and boot sales or sub-zero SUVs.  No traveling salesmen visit seasonally to sell their wares, and no one has set up a penguin ranch on an ice shelf.

Mars, in comparison, is roughly as cold as Antarctica, but has very little ice, even less liquid water (that we know of), too little air to breathe, and too little air pressure to survive on its surface without a protective suit.  It has no magnetic field, so there is nothing to deflect solar radiation.  The land is dry and incapable of supporting crops.  Anyone going to Mars will have to first create a habitable facility to spend their time in, and bring suits to wear when outside, and vehicles to use to travel anywhere they cannot walk.  And anyone who spends too much time on Mars, with its much lower gravity, may be forever exiling themselves from the higher gravity of Earth (though I have talked about the potential of carousel habitats in the past).

And let’s not forget the 55-400 million kilometer distance from Earth to Mars (depending on when you leave), significantly longer than the 6,000 kilometer distance from Antarctica to South America, the closest continent.  The trip from Earth to Mars isn’t as easy as crossing wooded plains, hills and valleys in covered wagons… or even sailing a ship to its ice-locked shores.  There’s nothing to hunt, fish or live on along the way; you need to bring absolutely everything, including the most basic food and resources, with you, and they’ll need to continue to sustain you for a significant time after you arrive.  No one will be taking regular or frivolous trips back and forth between Mars and Earth, because of the distance and resources involved for the trip, until and unless significant (as in next-generation rocketry) advances in space travel are developed.

People also like to talk about “terraforming” Mars, or altering it to be more like Earth.  But just a little thought shoots howitzer-sized holes in that idea: First of all, we clearly don’t know enough to repair the damage done to Earth by human habitation, reverse global warming and climate change, and de-pollute our own skies, lands and waters, so we sure as hell don’t know enough to alter the completely different ecosystem of Mars to be an Earth-analogue; without an equal level of gravity or a magnetic field, any attempts to create an atmosphere will be scrubbed away by the solar winds; and scientists crunching the numbers discovered that a real terraforming effort on a planetary scale would take tens of thousands of years, at best, to be completed.  So we’ll be seeing Mars from within excursion suits, sealed buggies and habitation modules for the foreseeable future.

Clearly there’s no good reason to settle Mars by individuals and families, any more than Antarctica has been settled during the last century of its discovery.  The only people who should be going to Mars anytime soon will be scientists and explorers in national cooperatives, endeavoring to learn more about the red planet than our many robotic probes can answer.  And even after we establish that there are some minerals or elements on Mars that we can reliably collect and sell to others (on Mars, or perhaps in ships and bases moving out into the Asteroid Belt), there is still little-to-no advantage in bringing colonists and families to Mars.

[image error]Finally, let’s talk about the one thing that makes some sense: Spreading the human race out among the planets, making it harder to wipe us out with a planetary catastrophe.  I say “some sense,” because the likelihood that such a planetary catastrophe will ever happen is damned slim in the first place; but let’s say that there is the possibility of something catastrophic happening to Earth, and we want to ensure mankind’s survivability beyond that.  Well, there’s actually a better alternative than putting a few hundred or thousand humans on Mars: It would be far easier, faster and probably a damned sight cheaper to create massive satellite-habitats in Earth orbit, capable of supporting large populations equal to many major cities on Earth.

Better than living in isolated settlements on Mars, resources brought up from Earth (or perhaps down from the Moon) could be used to construct the city-satellites.  They could rotate to simulate a full terrestrial gravity, which the human body is already acclimated to, and shielded against solar radiation.  Being in Earth orbit, they would still have access to Earth’s resources, but they could be designed to be largely self-sustaining.  And people could live quite naturally within their walls, with open spaces large enough to create greenspaces, potentially natural gardens and farms.  And if a catastrophe did happen on Earth, the satellite’s residents would not only be immediately insulated from harm, but might be able to render some assistance to Earth’s residents once the disaster was passed.

We are getting much closer to the point where we have the wherewithal to put scientists on Mars in limited numbers, to study beyond the capabilities of our probes and satellites.  Perhaps, many generations from now—maybe when we have evolved into a society that is not built around economy, and people can live wherever they want—it may make sense to start building colonies and raising families on Mars.  Until then, we should consider what we can learn from Mars for now, and the best way to get that knowledge, without adding romantic notions of colonists and families into the equation.

Showscan: Better than Brainstorm

[image error]Most of us—in fact, most moviegoers in general—have no idea how close we came to experiencing a quantum improvement in our regular movie experience, back in 1981, and how badly that improvement was dashed by such unfortunate circumstances.  That quantum improvement was to be presented to us in the movie Brainstorm.  Douglas Trumbull, the special effects genius behind movies like 2001, Close Encounters and Blade Runner, attempted to present movies in a novel new way: His Showscan process increased film frames per second 60fps versus the existing 24 fps, and at an increased size, 70mm film instead of 35mm.  A great article about the movie is on the Popular Mechanics site.

The article discusses Trumbull’s Brainstorm, a film about scientists who discover a way to record a person’s thoughts and memories and play them back to anyone else, with unexpectedly dangerous consequences.  It was originally supposed to showcase Trumbull’s Showscan process, but things didn’t work out that way.  And as fascinating as the story was, it one of those movies that, due to unfortunate circumstances, was seen by few people, and has since faded into obscurity.  But I saw the movie, and remember it fondly.  I still have a VHS version of the movie, and hope to someday score a DVD of it for my collection.

[image error]But I’ve also seen another early example of Trumbull’s Showscan process, an even rarer production that itself barely saw the light of day.  A friend of mine and I heard about the new process being presented, and were enthusiastic about seeing it when it came out.  But we were surprised to discover that this landmark Showscan film was being played exclusively in a very unusual venue: Certain locations of Chuck E. Cheese restaurants.

It seemed weird for us, two adults with no kids between us, going to Chuck E. Cheese to see a movie.  But hey, we were sci-fi nerds… we were already experienced with doing weird things.  So we went, we paid for our tickets, and we went into a small theater with maybe 80 seats, only about 5 of which were occupied.

The movie was cleverly set up.  It started with what seemed to be scratched, sound-scraped old footage of an aerial circus or somesuch, leaving us to wonder what the gag was.  But within seconds, the film seemed to burn and break, leaving us with nothing to watch.  The lights went black, then came back up a moment later, at which point a man walked onto the stage and explained to the audience that they were having technical difficulties with the film.

I don’t know how long this guy spoke to us, before we started to realize that… there was no one there.  We were actually watching more film, and this man was part of it!  But he looked so real!  And as we started to realize this, the man poked around along the screen’s wall until he found and opened a door that we knew wasn’t really there!  He walked through the door, and the point of view changed to follow him into the room.

And the incredible clarity of what we were seeing blew us away!  We were brought into a magician’s storeroom filled with incredible props and paraphernalia, and it honestly felt as if were were in the room with the projectionist as he wandered about.  And when the projectionist, just fooling around, got himself caught in what looked like a guillotine that just may have been real, we were seriously afraid for the guy’s life as the blade threatened to behead him!  It was a magician’s prop, of course, and he wasn’t hurt when the blade inevitably fell; but I swear my heart was racing like it never had before, because the moment felt more real than any movie I’d ever experienced!

This was the proof-of-concept Showscan breakthrough Trumbull wanted to bring to mainstream theaters in 1981.  (I wish I could find even one image from that film, but I can’t even find proof it existed!)  But the studios wouldn’t finance the process, the theaters wouldn’t pay for new equipment, and of course, the movie was far overshadowed by the unexpected death of star Natalie Wood during production, further turning the studios against even releasing the film.  Trumbull eventually persevered and the movie saw the light of day, but the experience so turned him against movie-making that he left Hollywood and never looked back.

[image error]It wasn’t much longer before Trumbull created IMAX theaters featuring the Showscan process, notably in the new Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, and later at other locations.  At the same time, new amusement park rides featured Showscan, combined with seating that synchronized and moved with the film, convincing the audience that they were piloting X-wing fighters or flying with Doc Brown in his DeLorean.  But I’ll never forget my experience, before IMAX and amusement parks, of Douglas Trumbull’s revolutionary Showscan process that the studios wouldn’t finance for Brainstorm.

To date, movies are still being filmed at 24fps, and only occasionally in 70mm, for general viewing.  But if you’ve even been to an IMAX film, and wondered why don’t all films look as good as that… don’t forget the man who tried to give that to you.

The Verdant series: Updated for 2018

[image error]Thanks to having some extra time on my hands (don’t ask), I’ve been able to update the Verdant novels, Verdant Agenda and Verdant Pioneers, for 2018.

The updates include fresh editing and proofing passes, an improved ebook layout, more ebook formats, and new paperback versions of both books!  The Kindle ebook, along with the new paperback books, are still available in Amazon’s store; but Epub and other ebook formats are now also available from Books2Read.com.

If you know someone who’s been interested in the Verdant books, but always wanted them in paper form… now’s their (and your) chance!  And if you’ve wanted to see these books in other ebook formats besides Kindle again… they’re back!  Get ’em while they’re hot—er, uh, properly digitally formatted!

[image error]This is a step up from my past efforts in creating multiple formats: At one time I was manually producing over half a dozen ebook formats, but the products always fell short with one format or another.  That forced me to dial back to just two formats, Kindle through Amazon and Epub through Barnes and Noble.  But with B&N’s recent troubles, I needed a new vendor for Epub.  Fortunately, Books2Read handles Epub and many other formats very well, from one document, so choosing them was a no-brainer.  And as I was already looking for a convenient vendor for hard copy books, Amazon’s newly-purchased paperback service conveniently fit the bill.

I hope you enjoy the new books and formats!

The Kestral Voyages: Re-released for 2018

The Kestral Voyages, my most popular sci-fi series, has been updated and re-released, with new covers, and in paperback and multiple ebook formats, for 2018!

Within the Fraternity of planets in Orion’s Arm… among the terraformed planets and genetically-altered humans who colonize them… ex-Guardsman Carolyn Kestral and the crew of the freighter Mary flies, trying to make an honest living, avoiding the alien Raians that oppose human Manifest Destiny, and dealing on a daily basis with the fact that Humanity’s greatest enemy, as always, is itself.

And to go with the original novels, a new book has been added to the series, bringing the number of books to four: Defiance of the Concorde was a needed addition to the series, as it introduces the audience to the captain and crew of the Jovian Skies!

[image error]Book I: Race to Deep Abignon

She survived the Spiders’ virus… but is it just a stay of execution?

Carolyn Kestral’s last encounter with the hostile, spiderlike aliens known as Raians, and their attack virus—code-named Venom—didn’t kill her as expected, but all the same destroyed her career in the Orion Guard. Now the proud owner of a Quicksilver-class freighter, she gathers a small crew and goes into business on her own.

But when a clandestine first run attracts the attention of the Spiders, Captain Kestral’s crew worries that the stress could trigger the virus, turning her into a lethal human weapon at the worst possible moment…

[image error]Book II: Defiance of the Concorde (New for 2018!)

The Concorde does business rough. But they’ve never dealt with Carolyn Kestral.

Despite Captain Carolyn Kestral’s best efforts, her medical past and hazardous reputation means she must accept sketchy freight jobs just to make ends meet… including jobs from shadowy and barely-legal organizations like the Concorde.

And when one of those sketchy jobs at the remote Rho station takes a bad turn—and a group of innocents are marked for death—Kestral and the crew of the Mary realize that, to help them escape the Concorde’s wrath, they need the aid of an unlikely new ally: The wily and mercenary Captain of the Jovian Skies…

[image error]Book III: The Lens

Are Kestral and her crew battling the wrath of a planet?

Planet Shura Dva seems to be deliberately resisting and sabotaging the terraforming work of the Orion Engineers. A local workers’ leader claims to be able to “feel” the planet’s anger… but the Engineers think he’s really a terrorist leader secretly orchestrating the attacks.

And when Carolyn Kestral and the crew of the Mary arrive on Shura Dva to help out a friend in need… they discover that the planet itself may not allow them to leave!

[image error]Book IV: The House of Jacquarelle

Business is merciless between Lyrae Two and Lyrae Six!

Carolyn Kestral and the crew of the Mary, as well as Coray Gheris and the crew of the Jovian Skies, get caught in a crossfire of rival planetary corporate entities, con men, assassins and killer robots, all centered around the House of Jacquarelle… and in the process, discover a shocking secret about one of their own!

Choose your books and formats, and read previews, on the Kestral Voyages page.

Will BeBop be whitewashed?

[image error]SF anime fans were treated to the news this week that one of the most successful and acclaimed anime SF series, Cowboy BeBop, would become a live-action production coming to Netflix.  And, as expected, the news has brought with it a… ahem… bounty of controversy.

The controversy is all too familiar to fans of foreign TV and movie productions that are remade by American production companies, and most recently epitomized by the live-action movie production of Ghost in the Shell.  When GitS producers announced that Scarlett Johansson would be playing the starring role of Major Motoko Kusanangi, fans erupted in anger, demanding to know why a Japanese actor wasn’t going to get the role.  A recent attempt to bring Akira to the live-action screen had brought up the same appearance of American whitewashing of foreign material, and may be a major reason that the production has been back-burnered.  

Although the stylistic nature of anime doesn’t necessarily make clear a character’s ethnicity, to most Americans it is assumed that anime characters, being created in Japan, are Asian.  So when Americans are substituted for presumed Asian roles, people get as upset as they would in America if a European woman was given the role of Harriet Tubman.  But in fact, Japanese anime does often portray European characters, even when it isn’t as obvious to Europeans as it is to the Japanese.  And looks can be deceiving.

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Take a look at the image above for example, from the original series, and it looks clear that not all of the characters share the same skin color.  Jet and Faye appear to be significantly more European in caste compared to Spike, whose caste is decidedly more Asian, but whose last name—Spiegal—doesn’t sound very Asian.  But Faye’s appearance also suggests to many an Asian ancestry, and most fans assume Faye is therefore Asian… even with a last name like Valentine, which sounds more European.  And Ed (pictured at top of article) is redheaded, but her last name is Wong.  So who is what nationality?

[image error]In fact, all of the characters are supposed to be Asian, and creator Shinichirō Watanabe has professed to designing the characters after aspects of his own personality. (Gotcha.)

But what will happen in the live-action American production?  American remakes of European and Asian properties are well-known for “anglicizing” characters, believing they will make the properties more palatable for American audiences.  And, unfortunately, there is a basis for the assumption, and evidence that anglicized characters do indeed draw more American viewers.  Given that, American producers will be more inclined to do what they’ve always done and anglicize the cast.

On the other hand, we’re also in the midst of a renaissance of sorts for diversity and representation, and audiences in general responding more favorably to seeing multiple ethnicities and socio-sexual diversity on-screen.  And in BeBop, we have a main cast of four and a number of occasionally-appearing supporting characters.  So there’s a good incentive for breaking up the cast into multiple ethnicities to suit. 

For example, if I were handed the casting wand for this series, I would make Jet an American, Spike would be Japanese, Ed would be Scottish, and Faye South American or Pacific Islander.  (Einstein would remain a Corgi.)  Jet’s Americanism opens him up to multiple racial avenues in itself (hooray Melting Pot), so he could as easily become African-American, Native American, or any other ethnicity desired… if given the choice, I’d pick someone with a European/Native American heritage.  But with a name like Jet Black, maybe he should be part African…

But I don’t have the casting wand.  What we’re more likely to see is exactly one Asian character (Faye would be my first guess, Spike my second), with the remainder of the cast being European.  And a lot of complaining to follow, and claims that the value and success of the show will rise or fall on how this one issue is handled.

Now, maybe all of this is completely unfair; after all, a cast hasn’t even been chosen yet (not publicly, at least), and the production is being judged even before a minute of filming has been done.  I want to keep an open mind at this stage, and I know that Watanabe has been retained on the new series as advisor, so hopefully he’ll have some influence on the production and its adherence to his original intent.

[image error]But we’ve also seen this dance before, and we’re all very familiar with how American producers will insist on their steps and moves once the music starts… and how American dance moves have a habit of looking horrible when set to non-American music.  At this point, only time will tell.

I just hope they get the ship right…

NatGeo’s Mars: Grrr.

[image error]I have a love-hate relationship with National Geographic’s TV series Mars.  The series, which is in its second season, is doing a great job depicting a realistic effort to reach and colonize the red planet.  Along with scientifically-accurate science and technology, the fictional story is interspersed with commentary with real scientists, engineers and Mars promoters telling us about the efforts being made to reach Mars and the things we still need to do… and why.  It’s brave, it’s ambitious, and it’s worth seeing.

On the other hand…

Mars is a television show, made by a network that has to respond to ratings and sponsors in order to exist.  Therefore, Mars is expected to be entertaining, even moreso than being informative and educational.  And apparently, those who made this show don’t think there’s anything especially entertaining about exploring another planet in a realistic way.  So, to make it entertaining, they’ve baked in unlikely coincidences and unnecessary melodrama to illustrate their thematic points.

[image error]Now, I’m not opposed to some drama, some interesting personalities and surprise twists.  But the drama and twists they are using are mostly… stupid.  Many of their characters act out some of the oldest of space exploration clichés, not befitting the supposed intelligence of the first humans sent to Mars.  The rest of the clichés are also straight from the ages-old sci-fi drama handbook… the kind of gags common to shows like Star Trek but not to real-world exploration by top-of-the-line scientists and engineers; and they regularly happen at the exact moment to create crises.

I took note of this in season 1, where the storyline was regularly peppered with “surprises” like predictable malfunctions at horribly inconvenient moments (I know—it’s not as if a malfunction on Mars could happen at a convenient moment), human foibles putting others in mortal danger, lucky coincidences to save the expedition, and deaths that seem aimed at nothing more than shuffling character expectations.  (I’m not going to spoil it with specifics; you get the picture.)  And sure enough, in season 2, Mars has been following the same playbook, page by page.

[image error]The worst thing is, so many of those clichés and dramatic elements could have been used smartly, with some more intelligent and creative writing, and still create some great story moments.  Mars’ creators clearly wanted to create a notable series, as the quality of the overall production and the top-notch acting demonstrates.  But they could have put a lot more effort into the scripts and the depiction of the real issues and dangers involved in traveling to and developing another planet.  For a serious SF series, this feels more like the recent reboot of Lost in Space.

Well, despite my complaints, I’ll continue to watch Mars, just as I watched the first season.  After all, it’s pretty unique for a science fiction series.  But that doesn’t mean I can’t wish for better… that Mars could be better.

How is this the most popular Hulk?

We’ve gotten a lot of fun and enjoyment from the many Marvel superhero movies of the past decade; starting with Iron Man in 2008 it seems that Marvel can do no wrong with its movie characters.  Yet, there is one movie superhero that so far has seen more love and popularity generated by its appearance in a television series.

We’re talking, of course, about The Incredible Hulk.  The TV version of the Hulk is a very different one than its movie incarnation, being much less comic-book-y and over-the-top; the series was hardly must-watch TV, being painfully formulaic and predictable; but the TV version of the character remains so popular that the movie versions have been retconned to be more like the TV version.

So what was the TV Hulk’s secret?  A much more human premise.

[image error]The original, comic book Hulk was created from mild-mannered Bruce Banner, a scientist about to witness the test-explosion of a gamma bomb (early 1960s, people)… when he noticed a clueless bystander in the test area.  When he rushed out to push the boy to safety, Banner was caught in the gamma bomb’s blast, and the gamma radiation changed him into the Hulk.  The Hulk was the most powerful thing in the Marvel Universe for a time… also the dumbest… and it often roamed around, just trying to stay out of trouble, until someone would attack it and set it into a destructive rampage… mostly tearing up the weapons used against it.

When it was decided to bring the Hulk to TV in 1976, the producers decided on a lot of changes to deal with a weekly format and TV budget.  Their best decision was to update the premise, and this one element was a major part of the show’s success.

[image error]Renamed Dr. David Banner, he was no longer a mild-mannered milquetoast.  He was a nice, desireable guy, played by the popular and handsome Bill Bixby, and at the very beginning of the series, the audience saw a wife and an adoring relationship.  But as fast as the audience is shown this, the car David and his wife are driving suffers a blowout that results in a rollover and crash.  David is thrown free in the roll, but his wife is trapped inside the car.  And as the car catches fire, we see a horrified David, struggling with the stuck door from the side, using every ounce of energy he has, fighting desperately to save his doomed wife…

This is the David Banner we’re introduced to: Some time later, still traumatized by the death of his wife, and now obsessed with the stories he’s heard of other people in similarly dire situations who seemed to draw on incredible levels of strength to save themselves or loved ones.  Why couldn’t he summon that strength to save his wife?  He must know the secret.

[image error]So he experiments, to excess according to some of his co-researchers.  And one day, when he thinks he’s worked out the formula that will ignite that strength, using a specially-tuned gamma-ray beam in the lab, he tests it on himself… not knowing that the gamma machine has been re-tuned itself, giving him a much higher dose than he intended.  Frustrated when the test seems to have failed, he leaves the lab.  But on the way home in miserable weather, he has a flat tire.  Angry from his failure, angered by the tire, angered by the rain and slippery tools, he cries out in pain and rage, and inadvertently triggers the first dramatic transformation from man to monster.

This further triggers a series of events, from a reporter showing up to investigate sightings of a dangerous creature, to the destruction of the lab and the death of two of his co-workers; the reporter seeing the Hulk and concluding the monster killed Banner and his co-workers, and the beginning of the ongoing pursuit of the creature.

And so the show became a remake of the ever-popular Fugitive format, with Banner on the run for a crime he didn’t (intentionally) commit, trying to lay low until he can figure out how to prevent his changing into the Hulk… but continually falling into dicey situations (hey, it’s tough in the no-collar sector) and being triggered into “Hulking out” by bad operators all around him.

The hokey-ness and predictability of the Fugitive premise is balanced by its production versatility, which enables new locations, settings and guest stars every week.  It also depends on the charismatic draw of the main character, and actor Bill Bixby had that in spades, being utterly magnetic and sympathetic on screen as the haunted man on the run.

[image error]Against Bixby’s Banner, his hulking alter ego had quite a set of shoes to fill.  Professional bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno was given the role of the Hulk, with little more than a wig, facial prosthetics and green body paint as a costume… but that allowed his fantastic build to be highlighted, and with a little bit of forced perspective camera work, he looked appropriately massive.  The producers also made a good decision in not trying to make the Hulk comic-book powerful, instead going for a level of strength that TV special effects could pull off with reasonable effort.  Hulk wasn’t invulnerable, he could be hurt, so a lot of the things he did to attackers could be legitimately considered self-defense or retaliation for an injury.  But the Hulk never intentionally killed anyone, and more often than not disarmed and disabled them long enough to free their victims or for the police to capture the bad guys.

[image error]But the ultimate tragedy of the series was never forgotten.  Every episode ended with Banner shouldering his meager possessions and heading off on foot to find his next haven, as a solo piano played The Lonely Man theme, a reminder of the ongoing pain of this tortured hero.

Hamlet, it wasn’t; though to me it did evoke a bit of West Side Story, and the ultimate hell of star-crossed characters whose world would conspire to give them no peace, except maybe in death.  Tugging on similar heartstrings, the TV Hulk endeared itself to a generation of viewers.  The series managed to last five seasons, plus some made-for-TV movies after its regular run.  The last movie finally killed the Hulk, and the audience got the payoff of seeing the monster morph back into David Banner, who died with a smile on his face… finally free of his nightmare.

And when the first movie version of the Hulk, in 2003, didn’t do well at the box office, Marvel tweaked the second movie in 2008 to include more of the familiar elements of the TV series, to bring the audience back.  Banner was again the victim of self-experimenting, on the run, hiding out in a Brazilian town while trying to collaborate with a distant scientist on a cure, and when bullies at his workplace attack him and threaten a girl he likes, he… well, does what he did in every episode of the TV series.  And at the end of the movie, he’s gone into hiding again, still trying to control his inner monster before he is again found.

[image error]In Marvel’s The Avengers, Banner’s alter ego seems to be in slightly better control at times, but he is still dangerous, even to his friends.  Director Joss Whedon smartly played Banner as a tragic character, a man deathly afraid of hurting anyone, distrusting of the military, having tried to kill himself at least once, and still struggling to control his rage.  The qualities that audiences loved about TV’s David Banner were still there, and it served the movie Banner to great effect.  Even when the Hulk is at its worst, we remember that this is an unintentional monster, a man out of control, and we sympathize with the horrors he commits through no fault of his own.

Sure, it’s fun to watch the movie Hulk jump miles at a time and throw tanks, and for moviegoers his deeds are impressive and exciting to watch.  But for a die-hard generation, the Incredible Hulk is still a traumatized, lonely, cursed man who only wants to be normal again.  And that will always be the essential part of his character.

Appleseed? Yeah, I’d reboot that.

A lot of people don’t follow science fiction manga… which is why a lot of people won’t be familiar with Appleseed, a Japanese manga series and various anime productions created by Masamune Shirow (also the creator of the manga Ghost in the Shell).  The series isn’t even old (the most recent anime came out in 2014).  But I’d like to see a rebooted Appleseed for two reasons: One, because of its premise; and two, because of its format.

[image error]Appleseed followed two elite SWAT officers, Deunan Knute and her cyborg partner Briareos Hecatonchires, as they live in and protect their home, Olympus, in the most powerful state after a non-nuclear World War Three.  The manga also featured non-law enforcement characters, friends of Deunan and Briareos, and politicians in Olympus, giving the reader a wide-ranging viewpoint and stories of Olympus, its population and its efforts to help guide the recovery of the rest of the world into its image, as well as fending off terrorists and politicians who oppose the new world order.

[image error]I especially liked this premise because it gives the audience a storyline of a developing utopia, a potentially positive future for humanity, and the efforts of good people trying to make it happen.  You don’t get much of that, especially in science fiction (outside of Star Trek, at any rate).  It’s also notable because it’s terrestrial-based SF, not in deep space with aliens, weird planets and Earth-analogue cultures… and we get even less of that kind of SF.  For me, that’s a great reason to develop a new series.

[image error]Another thing I like about the series is that the characters are reasonably diverse, and include robots and cyborgs who are treated like everyday people (Briareos was Deunan’s boyfriend before being injured in combat and rebuilt into a cyborg body, and the two remain best friends).

The other reason, frankly, is that the series has never been done in live-action.  Not that there’s anything wrong with anime (or CGI-based productions), but live-action has a greater impact; and although realistic depictions of scenes, robots and cyborg characters are difficult and expensive, CGI and practical floor effects are improving fast, and the ability to combine great CGI with live-action is developing by leaps and bounds.

I would make few changes to the premise and characters themselves, and I’d want to make sure the stories were fairly evenly split between the police stories of Deunan and Briareos and the civilian stories of their friends and other characters, all showing their challenges and progresses in developing and improving life in Olympus, and the concerns for outside threats to their lives and prosperity.  Perhaps add a major character that can help articulate the concerns, politics and dangers of the outside world and its opposition to Olympus (I don’t remember such a regular character from the manga or anime, but it would be important to provide that external POV among the main characters).

[image error]If I were to change anything—and I get that this might be considered sacriledge by Appleseed or Shirow purists—I might want to bring in a group of robots from another series, the Tachikoma from Ghost in the Shell.  Tachikomas are police robots with sophisticated independent AI that provide excellent backup and patrolling duties around the main characters.  I feel like they would be great representatives for the advances of automation in society, providing positive models of AI working with humans, not against them.  But if the Tachikomas are verboten, a similar AI-equipped robot would be a great addition to the regular characters of the series.

So, there you have it.  A recent review of past SF series has assured me that there aren’t many, if any, old series that I’d like to see return to TV; so Appleseed is probably the last in my series of shows I’d reboot.  But that’s okay, because I’d much rather see new and original series come to television or other media, and I’d rather spend time thinking about (and possibly developing) those.