The Flux Capacitor 4.11.08: Week 29 - Invaders, Travelers and Telescopes

Posted by Owain J. Brimfield on 04.11.2008

The past, present and future of science fiction - this week we look at first contact. 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:

FIRST CONTACT

We all know how humanity's first contact with aliens is going to go, don't we? They'll arrive in a blaze of power, descending from the night sky in their fiery spaceships, raise the hopes of mankind... before dashing them by blowing the everloving shit out of anything and everything on the planet. Sure, there are occasional variations on the theme - the aliens might be susceptible to human disease (War of the Worlds) or just plain stupid (Signs), but the intent will still be there. And how do we know this? Why, through the movies of course! Yes, the film world has taught us that the first action of a race of beings sufficiently intelligent to develop interstellar travel will undoubtedly be to exterminate first, ask questions never. This thread of science fiction film, as with so many others, has its primary genesis in the pulp movies of the 1950s - you know the kind, where the horrible alien beasties overrun small-town America only to be fought back by the valiant patriots of the US of A. Sure it's a stereotype, but it's one that has undoubtedly permeated our culture, because I know for a fact that each and every one of you knows exactly the kind of movie I'm talking about. The 50s must have been a scary old time, you know.

That kind of first contact with alien life doesn't concern us so much, so we're going to cast our eyes over one of the very few SF movies of the era that cast aliens in a role other than the big bad monster. Jack Arnold's It Came From Outer Space, despite the overwhelmingly shlocky title and the bizarre implementation of a 3D viewing gimmick, is a rarity inasmuch as it treats the alien invaders as benign travelers rather than the malevolent intruders so commonplace in cinema - especially B-grade cinema - at the time (it's perhaps unsurprising to learn that the original screenplay was created by sci-fi master Ray Bradbury). Taking place, wouldn't you know it, in a small Arizonan town, the film sees a meteor crash land in the desert under the watchful gaze of a hobbyist astronomer. Of course, said solar object turns out to be a crashed spaceship, and when local people begin to disappear concerns begin to grow that an invasion is underway. Needless to say, while the inhabitants of the town plan a violent excursion to the impact zone [long way to Orlando, no? Ahahaha. Ahem.], our protagonist discovers that the visitors are in fact intelligent wayfarers whose ship had the misfortune of malfunctioning over our own little rock, and give the aliens all the credit in the world for realizing that the human race, not least rednecks, a) would undoubtedly panic at the sight of aliens and b) aren't worth the effort of making formal contact. They're soon on their way with little more than the odd passerby having been subjected to a little harmless brainwashing. Whether you treat the movie as a sci-fi classic or just another B-movie (my own view is that it's somewhere between the two), there's no denying the fact that it was vastly ahead of its time when depicting the initial stages of contact between humans and alien lifeforms, portraying the latter as curious but ultimately cautious. Hey, it's a far cry from The Monolith Monsters.

[Bonus points to anyone who catches the link there.]

Zooming past the Cold War and its resultant reams of sci-fi monster flicks that I seem to touch on every other week, and arriving in the modern age, it seems that it's still hard for filmmakers to separate the idea of first contact from the notion of a large-scale threat to humanity. One of the few movies that takes an altogether more thoughtful approach is Contact, a film of which you may well be aware due to the large number of wishy-washy reviews it received upon release. It seems to be unfairly marginalized as a science fiction movie, probably because it doesn't fit the bill of a typical big-budget SF outing (and also undoubtedly in part because it's good, not great... and maybe also because it has the misfortune of featuring Matthew McConaughey in a prominent role). Presenting an altogether more thoughtful, theoretical and at times abstract take on the idea of how humanity might come across indication of alien life out there in the cosmos, the story was penned by Carl Sagan so you know immediately it's going to be overly scientific and more than a little secular in nature.

However, despite the expected emphasis on scientific method and the technology behind SETI (briefly, if you don't know of it, the movie features Jodie Foster as radio telescopist who discovers the blueprints for an alien wormhole machine hidden in footage of Hitler's speeches, which makes it sound instantly more entertaining), and not to mention the usual mawkish moral preaching Rob Zemeckis sometimes can't seem to help but inject into his films, it's more representative of genuinely feasible first contact than virtually any other movie I've seen. For as fantastic (not to mention fantastical) as it would be to see little green men flying in on their UFOs to the sound of hushed awe, and some quiet gloating from all those hicks who were probed in the 60s, it's entirely more convincing to believe that any life mankind encounters in the universe will make itself known through radio waves before any other medium. It's one of those themes within sci-fi that really retains a mainstream interest, as there can't be a person on the planet who hasn't entertained thoughts about whether intelligent life is really 'out there', so it makes sense for contemporary sci-fi movies to at least pay lip service to a more plausible means of exploiting the concept. Even if all it provides is some respite from alien invasion flicks for the moviegoing intelligentsia.

You know, I noticed while I was thinking of a way to round off this column that Iain M. Banks has a new novel out, which got me wondering about the 'Culture' so heavily featured in his sc-fi work. While the idea of 'first contact' inevitably, understandably, brings to the mind notions of humans encountering an alien race for the first time, what might the experience be like from the other side? It's a perspective that hasn't really been explored in sci-fi cinema, but Banks' Culture novels would be a nice way of introducing some different ideas on the theme. Here we have a race of beings that goes out of its way to introduce first contact with inferior races and species only to manipulate them and mould the universe to the Culture's liking. They're more subversive than blatantly malicious, but it's a hell of an idea that an intelligent alien race might seek to overrule and dominate us without our even being aware of it. While I'm not sure how well any of Banks' novels would translate to the big screen with the exception of his first two sci-fi works (least of all Excession in fact, so I'm not sure why I picked that cover for the screencap), the general idea is both smart and intriguing and represents a clever way for SF cinema to break its decades-old trend of focusing on overtly hostile alien contact.

Failing that take on the concept of course, we could ask for an adaptation of Tim Zahn's Conquerors trilogy, but lord knows how well that would go down.


The Infosphere

Short Circuit is set to get the remake treatment. S.S. Wilson and Brent Maddock, the men behind the first two films, will write the remake.

This seems to have been roundly shat on, and with good reason. Hey, if Hollywood is going to pay for ideas of other 80s remakes, can I be the first to suggest Weird Science? Still, I suppose every cloud has a silver lining, and if this can bring Steve Guttenberg back into the limelight then that can only be a good thing, surely?

George Lucas' LucasFilm filed a lawsuit against prop designer Andrew Ainsworth for £10 million awhile back, claiming he has been infringing on Star Wars copyright by reproducing and selling costumes from the film.

Hohoho. You don't mess with the richest man in movies. If I were Lucas, I'd send an actual squad of guys dressed as stormtroopers to this poor schmuck's house to break his flower pots.

TwitchFilm reported that Mathieu Kassovitz's upcoming SF movie Babylon AD may be cut to 90 minutes for its U.S. release from two hours and 40 minutes for the mainland European release. The cut, mandated by 20th Century Fox, has been submitted to the United Kingdom's film board for certification at the 90-minute run length, the site reported. (courtesy of Sci Fi Wire)

How disappointing. I guess this is one for the DVD list rather than the cinema list. Funny how the balance is shifting that way. This is a shame though, as Babylon AD sounds intriguing and I'd have liked to see it on the big screen. I'm not going to watch a half-length cut though, that's just ridiculous.

Universal is moving forward with its planned Sci-Fi epic, Earth vs. Moon. Not much is known about the film except that Universal is called it a "space-set-epic." Universal beat out competition from three other studios for the project, and eventually shelled out a mid-to-high-six figure sum for the script.

The film itself is a bit of a mystery, but original SF moviemaking is always more than welcome. Hell, it's not like they're remaking movies that are less than thirty years old.

Jewel Staite, who played Kaylee on the much-loved Fox SF series Firefly, told conventioneers in Australia that a Blu-ray special edition of the short-lived show is coming soon, according to a report on TV Guide online. (courtesy of Sci Fi Wire)

Nice work if you can get it I guess, but I won't be upgrading to Blu-ray for a good while yet. This should be an indispensable purchase for high-def fans of the show, though.

IGN reports that British martial artist-actor Scott Adkins (The Bourne Ultimatum) will apparently play Weapon 11 in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Here's where I betray my lack of comic book knowledge, as I don't really know that much about the character. Hey, it's still news, even if I don't comment on it.

The New York Times reported that CBS Paramount Network Television has held talks with Comcast, the cable provider, about finding new life for Jericho, citing two people briefed on the talks who requested anonymity. It's unclear what form a revived Jericho would take or where it would air. (courtesy of Sci Fi Wire)

As sad as it is to say it, I think it's time to let the show die. Seriously, it's been brought back from the dead before and you can only aggravate a zombie so much before it bites you in the face (to use a potent metaphor).


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" - delving into the seedy world of biotechnology. Until then - keep watching the skies.