The Flux Capacitor 3.28.08: Week 27 - Marines, Mutant Bugs and Mechs

Posted by Owain J. Brimfield on 03.28.2008

The past, present and future of science fiction - this week we look at the military in sci-fi. Plus, all the latest from the world of SF.

Welcome to "The Flux Capacitor", the column that examines the past, present and future of the science fiction genre. I'm your host, Owain J. Brimfield, and each week I'll be taking a look at films, TV shows and a whole lot more that exemplify a particular theme within SF. We'll see how the sci-fi of yesteryear influenced what we see on our screens today, and take a look ahead to see what may be in store in the months and years to come. Later on I'll also discuss some of the latest SF news and see how it impacts on the genre. For now though, let's get the DeLorean on the road - this week's theme is:

MILITARY

Of course militarism is a concept that has been entwined with science fiction throughout the ages - after all, when you've got worlds to conquer, giant alien beasties to kill and/or disparate species to unify, who you gonna call? No, not Bill Murray and co., but the good ol' army-air force-marines-navy-national guard (delete as appropriate). Countless black-and-white SF movies from the 50s and 60s feature the military (invariably the US army) posing dramatically in an attempt to thwart some sort of alien or mutant force - who can forget Clint Eastwood napalming a giant spider for the benefit of small-town America in 50s "classic" Tarantula, or the shoot-first-ask-questions-later gaff that enrages Gort in The Day the Earth Stood Still? Mind you, I guess in those two cases the army was a bit of overkill - all you'd need was a large dose of bug spray and a quick "Klaatu Barada Nikto" respectively. Of course, you can delve all you want into the historical reasons for such a trend, or alternatively you can dispense with hours worth of potential scholarly debate with a quick "it was the Cold War" and move on, as we're going to do here.

Let's take a leap a little further ahead in time to the 1980s, a decade where the military was the proving ground for countless (and invariably innumerate) sexy action heroes, and sci-fi got its first real, prolonged taste of a military experience at the hands of the Colonial Marines in Aliens. Tangentially, I'm probably obliged to preface any discussion of the Alien movies with the obligatory: Alien = best one; Aliens = most enjoyable one; Alien³ = not as bad as you've heard; Alien Resurrection = ...oh, hang on, I never saw that one. Anyways, these guys are a bunch of hard bastards (and bitches), and were pretty much unlike anything you'd seen in sci-fi before. Led by Michael Biehn, who as any follower of cheap action cinema knows makes a fucking kick-ass marine and is my girlfriend's second favorite actor for that very reason ***, these guys mean business, toting some absolutely ridiculous sci-fi weaponry and embodying all the classic military stereotypes (the crusty sergeant, the musclehead, the cool-and-calm second-in-command, the tough bitch, the whiner - I'm not sufficiently up on my full history of action cinema to know how well defined these stereotypes were in 1986, but it's a safe bet they weren't as clichéd then as they are now). Even without reading into the inevitable Vietnam allegories, the movie is a defining point for militarism in science fiction, showing convincingly that an alien threat can be made immensely more tangible by depicting a believable military unit at the center of the action. And hell, any film that makes Bill Paxton look tough has to be pretty strong evidence in favor the military's worth to the genre.


*** The Abyss, Navy SEALs, Timebomb, The Rock... the evidence speaks for itself, people.

Moving on into the late 90s, we come to the film that is probably foremost in most people's minds when the terms "military" and "sci-fi" are combined - Starship Troopers. A biting satire on the military in general, Troopers pulls no punches at either extreme, whether it be the depiction of army propaganda as sadistic, child-ensnaring, near-pornographic vitriol, or on the battlefield itself where the human aggressors are routinely sent to the slaughter and the hands of the vicious (but, you must remember, victimized) space bugs. It's entirely more representative of the contemporary attitude towards the military, or perhaps more accurately its governing body - whereas once soldiers were seen in science fiction movies as defenders of the human race or saviors of innocence, by the time of the turn of the century there was a much higher degree of inherent cynicism when it came to depicting the military on the screen (not just within the genre either; Saving Private Ryan, for example, came out at a similar time). In the wake of global events of the past decade or so, it's arguably even more relevant today than when the film was released, regardless of your feelings on the War On Terror^TM.

Of course, the movie differs vastly from its source material, Robert Heinlein's novel of the same name, but although the satire is dulled in its translation from the written word, the reduced number of traditional science fiction devices in the screen adaptation does actually serve a good purpose, namely to increase the parallels between what should be, ostensibly, a conflict far removed in nature from more traditional real-world battles, and those that we have experienced closer to home. Despite its 23rd century setting, Starship Troopers presents a Mobile Infantry relatively similar in both ethos and technical limitations to a post-Vietnam US army. Well, okay, they do have spaceships and lasers, which probably would have put the dastardly Vietcong in their place long before My Lai, but I'm speaking relativistically. The MI, despite its uncompromising ferocity when it comes to matters of war, seems to be unarmored and constantly hampered by communication setbacks, inefficient weaponry, lack of heavy support and a complete absence of any intelligence on the enemy. Naturally much of this is played up for dramatic purposes, but you have to wonder how accurately the movie represents the average moviegoer's opinion on the US army itself. Thankfully, Operation Iraqi Freedom and its subsequent aftermath has proved the naysayers wrong... or was Heinlein's vision of 'Nam just as relevant now as it was then? [Oooh, controversial!]

Much as I'd love to use Joe Haldeman's The Forever War as an example of militarism in SF in the coming years, rumors regarding a potential film adaptation don't seem to be quite as concrete as I'd like. It's a cracking book though, and if you've never read it you really should (the more recent semi-sequel Forever Free is, sadly, less essential). However, where one line of attack fails another invariably succeeds, and filling the gulf in our discussion this week comes the soon(ish) to go into production live-action version of seminal anime Robotech. This is what we want to see from SF militarism - balls-to-the-wall giant robots kicking seven shades of shit out of the alien menace and causing more carnage than Godzilla on an LSD trip. It's an ideal that has always been appealing to science fiction fans (see also: Transformers), primarily because of the flights of fancy involved, but also because there's a small, sensationalist aspect of every true geek's mind that wonders whether future wars really will be fought by mechs. It's certainly plausible to a limited extent (the potential technology is made scarily real in (again) Haldeman's Forever Peace) - and if not, the human race is surely missing out.

Despite a number of proposed, cancelled, and released-but-underwhelming follow-up anime movies, we've yet to see a live-action interpretation of the classic 80s Robotech series, until now. The movie itself is currently in development and slated for a 2010 release or thereabouts, and is due to be produced by Tobey Maguire (who apparently is also coveting the lead role) under the watchful eye of Warner Bros., for whom the franchise is apparently being groomed as somewhat of a 'tentpole' [I hate that term], and also Harmony Gold, producers of the original series, which has to be a good sign. I'm a little unsure whether it casts us in a favorable light that a Robotech adaptation seems to be the next logical step in portraying the military in science fiction. It does make sense though - after all, thus far we've seen allegories and cyphers for the Korean War to Desert Storm and everything in between (namely Vietnam), with the progression seemingly going from typical action-movie marine corps towards bigger, better and truly SF armies. Why shouldn't mecha be the next step? Just as long as Michael Biehn is in the lieutenant's pilot's seat, that is.


Reactions and interactions

Posted by: Cheryl

"Good column, I was sad to learn of Arthur C. Clarkes death...I did here his last book was finished just weeks ago. Mieville's Bas Lag novels are my favourite Science Fiction/Fantasy novels, the whole "new weird" movement can come under the label though I think. He-Man, I think I was the only girl at my school to watch that and TMNT...I even had a Turtles themed bedroom and handknitted jumpers...Could I be more geeky? Dune, in my opinion is unfilmable, but I do hope I'm wrong. More BSG, I can't wait. Bionic Woman was just a matter of time...I was suprised it was so bad considering the number of BSG people involved. Remade shows rarely work with BSG being the exception, you know because it blows all other shows out of the water. Fangirl moi?"

I think there are very, very few science fiction novels that are genuinely unfilmable, and given the relative quality of the Dune miniseries' I think there's hope yet for a truly good quality movie adaptation. I'm still surprised no one has picked up Rendezvous with Rama for the big screen though.

Oh, and after discussing Visionaries last week with my friend James, I'm calling it for a big screen adaptation by 2012. Mark my words, folks!


The Infosphere

Chris Evans says that the chances of seeing another Fantastic Four film are slim to none.

It's no big loss at this point, given how the franchise was treated in the first movie outing. Sad that Galactus may never appear on the big screen in his true form, but apart from that this isn't really troublesome news.

Hugh Jackman is teaming up with writer Marc Guggenheim for the upcoming new comic series, Nowhere Man. The story will be set in a future where mankind has traded privacy for safety, and the main character will be reminiscent of the one Will Smith played in I Am Legend. Virgin Comics will publish the series and is hoping to turn it into a big screen movie with Jackman as the star.

Although we'll have to wait and see how the concept in itself pans out, the overall idea of conjoining a comic publication and a movie isn't half bad, especially with someone as reasonably comfortable in the genre as Jackman, and it's sure to do well commercially off the back of that.

The Weinstein Company announced today that they are planning to release two alternate versions of Fanboys, both on DVD and possibly theatrically, in response to fan protests. The movie, which centers on a group of four die-hard Star Wars fans who break into Skywalker Ranch in order to see The Phantom Menace before its release, wrapped over two years ago, but has been stuck in development hell ever since because of disagreements over the storyline.

Fiiinally. I've been waiting on this one for ages, although I'd be surprised if it does see a cinematic release after all is said and done. This smacks of a cult DVD hit to me, so let's get it over and out there.

Tobey Maguire has bought the rights to the Afterburn comic series and plans to produce a movie for it.

No idea if the comic is any good (anyone?), centering as it does on a group of treasure hunters who scour the earth for historical artifacts in the wake of a devastating solar flare. Again though, you'd think Maguire would be confident enough in the medium by now to do a project like this justice.

Chris Carter, who co-wrote and directed the upcoming X-Files sequel film, offered fans a glimpse at a rough cut of the trailer for the movie, which featured the new tagline "Believe Again", screened at the William S. Paley Television festival in Hollywood on March 26. (courtesy of Sci Fi Wire)

I couldn't find this online, but apparently the final trailer will be opening Iron Man in May, so there's not long to go for fans of Mulder and Scully to get their first glimpse at the next iteration of the franchise.


And finally…

As always, reader feedback and suggestions are welcome, I respond to everything so just drop me a line or leave a comment. You can also check out my column "The Wonder Years" over at 411 Games. Next week in "The Flux Capacitor" - prepare yourselves for a brilliant pun, or play on words. Until then - keep watching the skies.