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General Soontir Fel
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Post by General Soontir Fel »

I went into Barnes & Noble to take a look at The New Essential Guide to Droids today, and I found this gem.
Star Wars on Trial : Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Debate the Most Popular Science Fiction Films of All Time (Smart Pop series) (Paperback)
by David Brin (Editor), Matthew Woodring Stover (Editor)
And apparently, Brin brings up Trek quite a bit (I just skimmed a few sections, and at least his "Trek represents the common man" argument is still there.)

This is going to be fun. I wonder what conclusion they'll come to (if any).
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Post by JediMaster415 »

Yeah, I just saw that today. It was a WTF moment for me. Spent three minutes skimming it then moved on to more interesting things.
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Post by Ghost Rider »

Eh, same garbage he has on his website. Brin attacks people who are successful and remembered in a way he'll never be.

So what's new?
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Post by Patrick Degan »

Essentially, it's Mr. Brin's cry for attention.
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Post by dragon »

Ok the name sounds vaguely familar but who is this Mr. Brin
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Post by Bounty »

dragon wrote:Ok the name sounds vaguely familar but who is this Mr. Brin
He's the man who brought you The Postman.
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Post by Bounty »

Crap, that wasn't Preview.

Wiki profile, but he's better known around here for this opinion piece.
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Post by Batman »

The man was involved in the second Foundation trilogy. Nuff said.
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Post by Adrian Laguna »

Bounty wrote:He's better known around here for this opinion piece.
Which Wong tore to pieces.
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Post by Darth Servo »

Adrian Laguna wrote:
Bounty wrote:He's better known around here for this opinion piece.
Which Wong tore to pieces.
I see you haven't figured out that SD.net doesn't list the complete link. The link you posted only takes you to the title page. The shredding of Brin's trash is here
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Post by Adrian Laguna »

[quote="Darth Servo]I see you haven't figured out that SD.net doesn't list the complete link. The link you posted only takes you to the title page. The shredding of Brin's trash is here[/quote]

I had figured it out, just forgot about it. Indeed, I was thinking about the time when I finally figured-out how to link to those pages (right-click on the link, select "Properties", then copy the url) as I was reading the article. Unfortunately it did not occur to me that I had not done that when making my post in this thread.
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Post by General Zod »

The question Is George Lucas a hero for bringing science fiction to a mass audience or a villain who doesn't understand the genre he's working for?
I think this sums it up pretty well that it's a useless opinion piece by someone who nobody cares about. . .
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Post by Patrick Degan »

A Sad Pathetic Man wrote:The question Is George Lucas a hero for bringing science fiction to a mass audience or a villain who doesn't understand the genre he's working for?
Translation: WAAAAAAAHHH! GEORGE LUCAS IS SO MEAN TO ME! EVERYBODY PAYS ATTENTION TO HIM AND NOT ME WAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!
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Post by Batman »

Lucas probably did Star Wars with the express purpose of taking attention away from Brin.
:P
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Post by Isolder74 »

Yep just sounds like its a case of a sad writer crying because his movie flopped while the one written by what hbe calls a hack is doing great!

WAAAAH!

Anyway I would hardly call this man's work great Sci Fi. After all most his books are about man post some sort of disasterous appolilypse and their fight to survive.

Writing about the future does not neccicarily make his work more Sci fi than someone elses.

Of course in his mind apperentally the works of Jules Verne aren't Sci fi either but modernistic writing as Verne used main stuff from his own age, ect.

He is obviously in the camp of is a Sci Fi story has even a hint of myth and legend to it its not sci fi its fantasy!
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Post by Battlehymn Republic »

Didn't he come up with the whole uplifting concept?
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Post by Darth Servo »

General Zod wrote:
The question Is George Lucas a hero for bringing science fiction to a mass audience or a villain who doesn't understand the genre he's working for?
I think this sums it up pretty well that it's a useless opinion piece by someone who nobody cares about. . .
. . .attempting to REDEFINE scien fiction. Does he EVER justify his "definition" of sci-fi as "a new kind of storytelling that often rebels against those very same archetypes Campbell venerated. An upstart belief in progress, egalitarianism, positive-sum games -- and the slim but real possibility of decent human institutions"

I remember sending this idiot a link to Mike's thrashing of his article he wrote right after TPM came out. His response? Something along the lines of "Well, we all make mistakes. Why are people so willing to forgive Lucas' but not mine. I guess I'm just not an 'elite' ". I guess the tard doesn't get the difference between "mistakes" and "out-right lies", nor does he get that circular logic is NOT a good thing.
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Post by Darth Servo »

Isolder74 wrote:Of course in his mind apperentally the works of Jules Verne aren't Sci fi either but modernistic writing as Verne used main stuff from his own age, ect.

He is obviously in the camp of is a Sci Fi story has even a hint of myth and legend to it its not sci fi its fantasy!
According to Brin's "definition" of Sci-fi that I quoted in my last post above, War of the Worlds and 2010 are NOT sci-fi but Robin Hood is.
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Post by Stark »

It *is* kind of cute how Brin takes the term 'science fiction' and decides that it *really* means 'naive proto-utopian buzzword fiction'. Maybe not even fiction - he probably sees this stories as 'the upstart dreams of the disenfranchised' or something similarly retarded. All that, instead of that OTHER definition! That one sucks because it doesn't 'venerate the individual' enough, or something. And plus it makes his work look like clueless self-indulgent nonsense.
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Post by Batman »

Darth Servo wrote: According to Brin's "definition" of Sci-fi that I quoted in my last post above, War of the Worlds and 2010 are NOT sci-fi but Robin Hood is.
But there's nothing wrong with that definition nosir. Just because Robin Hood has none of the classic elements of SF-y'know, the future, aliens, advanced technology, spaceships, robots, rayguns, that kind of stuff-while both 2010 and War of the Worlds did doesn't mean anything. Because, y'know, Brin said so.
'Next time I let Superman take charge, just hit me. Real hard.'
'You're a princess from a society of immortal warriors. I'm a rich kid with issues. Lots of issues.'
'No. No dating for the Batman. It might cut into your brooding time.'
'Tactically we have multiple objectives. So we need to split into teams.'-'Dibs on the Amazon!'
'Hey, we both have a Martian's phone number on our speed dial. I think I deserve the benefit of the doubt.'
'You know, for a guy with like 50 different kinds of vision, you sure are blind.'
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Post by Stark »

I agree with Batman. Robin Hood is true, old-school science fiction at it's finest - every scene is packed with speculation about future societies, the effects on man and his society of advanced technology, and most importantly space exploration.
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Post by Crossroads Inc. »

For an outsider on this, can someone explain how anyone could classify 2010 as NOT Sci-fi but RobinHood as?
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Post by Batman »

I believe Bounty linked to the article in question further up but here you go.
'Next time I let Superman take charge, just hit me. Real hard.'
'You're a princess from a society of immortal warriors. I'm a rich kid with issues. Lots of issues.'
'No. No dating for the Batman. It might cut into your brooding time.'
'Tactically we have multiple objectives. So we need to split into teams.'-'Dibs on the Amazon!'
'Hey, we both have a Martian's phone number on our speed dial. I think I deserve the benefit of the doubt.'
'You know, for a guy with like 50 different kinds of vision, you sure are blind.'
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Post by FedRebel »

Crossroads Inc. wrote:For an outsider on this, can someone explain how anyone could classify 2010 as NOT Sci-fi but RobinHood as?
Don't you know? English mythology set in the dark ages is a true vision of the future, while a movie involving spaceships, alien devices, sophisticated computers, and Russian-American cooperation is pure fantasy.
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Post by Darth Servo »

Crossroads Inc. wrote:For an outsider on this, can someone explain how anyone could classify 2010 as NOT Sci-fi but RobinHood as?
When you redefine the term. According to David Brin, sci-fi has NOTHING to do with a society having more advanced technology than we currently have. Noooooooo. According to Mr Self Acclaimed Great Sci-Fi Novelist, genuine science fiction is defined as "a new kind of storytelling that often rebels against those very same archetypes Campbell venerated. An upstart belief in progress, egalitarianism, positive-sum games -- and the slim but real possibility of decent human institutions"
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"You see now you are using your thinking and that is not a good thing!" DMJay on StarTrek.com

"Watching Sarli argue with Vympel, Stas, Schatten and the others is as bizarre as the idea of the 40-year-old Virgin telling Hugh Hefner that Hef knows nothing about pussy, and that he is the expert."--Elfdart
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