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Dune (2021)
Review from Neo-opsis Science Fiction Magazine issue 33
Some of the desert scenes were amazing. I can only imagine how great an experience it must have been for the crew who worked at Wadi Rum in southern Jordan (rocky scenes) and the Rub'Al Khali desert in Abu Dhabi (sandy scenes).
Some people commenting on the movie are claiming it's just an example of the "white savior trope." While the story is about a savior freeing people from great evil, it's also a cautionary tale about such saviors. Even though the evils Paul Atradies leads people against are extreme (extremely extreme), Paul himself knows the dangers of what he's doing and foresees many of the negative consequences of what he does. As for the story being about a white savior, Paul is mixed-race, a result of a complex Bene Gesserit breeding program, mixing genes over centuries. His father is described in the novel: "She (Jessica) looked at his tallness, at the dark skin that made her think of olive groves and golden sun on blue waters."
The stillsuits looked interesting, but I wondered, as I did with the 1984 version of the movie, why you would make a stillsuit black instead of light to reflect away light to keep you cooler, or sand coloured for camouflage.
Another detail noted about the still suits was that people seemed to be breathing in and out through the nose plugs. They should have been inhaling through their mouths and out through their noses. The nose plugs sealed against the inside of the nose, so they could capture exhaled moisture, so you tended to inhale through your mouth.
The Fremen lacked the lean somewhat dehydrated look as described in the novel. They looked, to use a term from the book, "water fat."
A change in the movie we didn't like was a bit of dialogue in the scene where Paul and Jessica Atradies were being taken in an ornothopter to be killed by Harkonnens. Paul used Voice to tell a Harkonnen to remove Jessica's gag, because he knew she was much better at using Voice (good and matching the novel). Jessica then told one Harkonnen to kill the other. In the novel (and in the 1984 movie) she played on the Harkonnens' violent and paranoid personalities and said, "There's no need to fight over me." which caused one to immediately kill the other. This showed that Voice wasn't just about the pitch and timber that you talked with, but what you said as well, and that understanding the person would help.
Another issue we had with the portrayal of Jessica, is that when she subdued the Fremen Stilgar, she held a knife to his throat. In the book she spun him around and grabbed his throat with her hand. This demonstrated she has the Weirding Way, not needing a weapon in close-quarters combat.
A change we didn't mind in the movie was the fate of Leit Kynes. Sharon Duncan-Brewster pulled off an interesting portrayal of Kynes. In the novel Kynes was sent into the desert with a cut open still suit. He hallucinates a conversation with his dead father (which includes some interesting details about Dune's ecosystem), then dies from a spice blow. In the movie, Kynes heroically takes out three Harkonnen soldiers by thumping for a worm, which consumes her and the soldiers.
No review of a movie version of Dune would be complete without a comment on important stuff the movie left out from the book. I understand that it's difficult to fit all aspects of any novel, let alone a complex novel like Dune, into a movie or even a mini-series, so choices have to be made about what to include and what to leave out. However, I will note that I was disappointed that the movie left out the Atredies / Fremen attack on the Harkonnen home-world Gidie Prime. Duke Leto knew that the Harkonnen had stockpiled spice for eighty years when they controlled Arakus, and that they intended to disrupt or shut down the Atriedes' spice production so they could sell their stockpiles at inflated prices caused by the disruption. The Duke ordered an attack on the Harkonnen spice stores on Geidie Prime, which included help from some Fremen. This section of the story showed that the Duke had an in-depth knowledge of the intricate power politics going on around him, and he comes off as more than a bit naive without this scene. We're hoping this bit is mentioned or perhaps shown in retrospect in the next part.
Review by Karl and Stephanie Johanson.
Plants vs. Zombies (2009)
Review from issue 17 of Neo-opsis Science Fiction Magazine
Fred Saberhagen's Berserker series discussed the concept of "the noble enemy." The Berserkers in the series were self-replicating robots programmed to destroy anything and everything alive. They were a "noble enemy" in the sense that they can't ever be converted to non-violent behaviour, so the only noble act upon encountering them, was to do everything you could to destroy them. Another common noble enemy in fiction are zombies. In many cases they are portrayed as unredeemable beings, bent only on savagery and consumption of pretty much everything organic, with a specific hankerin' for the brains of non-zombified humans. Zombies appear in both the fantasy and science fiction genres, created by supernatural forces in some cases, and by complex genetic modification technology in others.
Plants versus Zombies from Pop Cap Games" uses zombies as the antagonists in an arcade style computer game (including a cartoon version of the recently deceased Michael Jackson). I recommend this game, not just for its playability, but also for anyone studying game design. In addition to 50 levels of plant versus zombie game play, the game has numerous sub games which open up as you progress, and games which are variations on the main theme, all of which allow you to make money which can be used to buy items to help with other parts of the game. There's even a variation of the well-known game Bejeweled called Beghouled.
The game also manages one of the rarest and most precious of gaming feature combinations. It is both complex and easy to learn how to play. Some games require a huge tutorial before you can even get past level one, while others are easy to learn, but have game play so simple that the game is dull. Zombies explains itself in simple steps, getting more complex as you go along. In fact the Help section, is simply a letter from the zombies telling you to sit back and do nothing.
When you complete the 50 levels of 'Adventure Mode,' the zombies decide they'd rather do a music video with you rather than eat your brains. This suggests they may not be pure 'noble enemies' and might be capable of a level of redemption after all. If you don't want to work through 50 levels to see this J-popish video, search YouTube for "There's a Zombie on Your Lawn," written and performed by, Laura Shigihara.
This game contains cartoon violence, including scenes of zombies losing body parts and anthropomorphized plants being eaten. Parental digression is recommended.
-Review by Karl Johanson.
Predators (2010)
Review from Neo-opsis Science Fiction Magazine issue 20.
This movie starts off with some human predators dropped (literally, not figuratively) onto a hunting preserve planet used by alien Predators.
Watching the trailers for this movie gave me the impression that the movie would be about a bunch of human sociopaths and psychopaths fighting Predators. The personalities of the humans wouldn't get me vested in any of the characters, so there wouldn't be much tension about when all or most of them wind up getting killed. The only tension in the movie would be about whether or not they bag any of the Predators by the end of the movie. My first impression turned out to be pretty much correct. Predictable didn't make it bad, it just means if you didn't like the first Predator movie, there likely isn't much you'll find to like in this. If you liked the first Predator movie, this is likely enough of a variation on the theme to keep you watching.
We have a pretty standard mix of sociopath/psychopathic personalities among the human prey. Royce (played by Adrien Brody), a mercenary with US military training who likes hunting humans. Isabelle (Alice Braga), a spook who shoots people both for the Israeli government and the CIA. Edwin (Topher Grace), a doctor. Nikolai (Oleg Taktarov), a Russian machine gunner who couldn't hit the broad side of a brontosaurus with a thousand rounds. Stans (Walton Goggins), a death row inmate who confesses a fondness for rape. Mombasa (Mahershalalhashbaz Ali), a member of a death squad from Sierra Leone who admits to using people he's wounded as bait. Hanzo (Louis Ozawa Changchien), a Japanese organized crime enforcer. And Cuchillo (Danny Trejo) a Mexican organized crime enforcer.
As seems common enough with violent sorts in both movies and real life, all but two of the ones in the movie seem blissfully unaware of what the sites on their guns are for. This, predictably, leads to some scenes like in the first Predator movie, where the merry band of mercenaries fire huge numbers of bullets into the jungle, having little to no effect on anything not part of the plant kingdom.
The movie has some back story elements, such as two types of Predator aliens at war with each other, that we may expect to see in more detail in future movies.
As with all the Predator movies the predators once again show themselves to be cowards deep down. They pretend to be tough, but even when they're wearing bullet proof armour and have self-aiming directed energy weapons, they still feel the need to cower behind high tech camouflage / invisibility suits.
Star Trek: Of Gods and Men (2007)
Review from Neo-opsis Science Fiction Magazine issue 20
A significant part of the Star Trek phenomenon is "fan fiction." The movie Star Trek of Gods and Men, jumps the fan fic phenomenon up a few notches from the more common zines or home movies. In addition to high quality sets and effects, the movie includes various people who have worked on the multiple Trek series, most notably Nichelle Nichols (Uhura) and Walter Koenig (Chekov) both from classic Trek.
Seeing this movie I was again inspired to wonder again why the recent theatre release movie didn't opt for a Star Trek movie with original Star Trek actors, instead of the 'tribute band' movie they went for.
During the production of the original series, Nichelle Nichols almost left Star Trek as it seemed that every time a scene needed to be cut from a script, to keep the episode from going over time, that it was a scene of Uhura that was cut. I expect that she was quite happy to be a part of Of Gods and Men, which features Uhura quite prominently.
Tim Russ similarly seemed happy to appear next to Nichols and Koenig, revising his role as Tuvok, from Star Trek Voyager. Tim Russ directed Of Gods and Men as well.
Numerous other actors from the various Trek series appear in this movies, some as brief cameos, and some with more substantial parts.
The original Trek series lacked the detailed episodic constancy and multi-episode story arcs of later series such as Babylon 5 and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Of Gods and Men by contrast used the events of the earlier Trek episodes as back ground material, and tied a number of things together from the series. Fans of the minutiae of the Trek series will thus likely get extra enjoyment out of the movie.
Commander's Log (2004)
Review from Neo-opsis Science Fiction Magazine
The year is 2052 and the global ship, Sarcups, has just experienced a change in command. Thrust into the position of commanding the vessel after a mysterious loss of its high-ranking officers, Commander Craig Scott of the Laundry Corps struggles to maintain order and routine. Scott is challenged by a less-than-competent crew of fellow laundry staff obsessed with cleanliness and good coffee, a short cranky alien who can't speak English, and Scott's own myopic view of what it takes to run a space vessel and its crew.
When I was first introduced to this Vancouver produced science fiction comedy by Cyrano Productions, I braced for something less than stellar. I was delightfully surprised. And I have seldom laughed so hard. It might have been my initial low expectation; I don't think so.
First of all, there is the unique and charmingly wacky premise of 'incompetents' from the laundry corps suddenly charged with running a space ship in its discovery mission. Premise is followed by innovative and original material, well and convincingly delivered. Add to that a cast of eccentric characters competently played by accomplished actors dispensing witty dialogue and hilarious use of metaphor, and you have a show worth watching.
The metaphoric theme of laundry runs throughout the show as the newly instated commander begins his report to home base. Commander Scott (Craig Bowlsby) explains that he now has command due to a succession of previous commanders having each succumbed to the "Stimulator" at maximum setting. As Scott reassures home base that the mission to "seek out habitable planets...and, of course, long term coffee markets" is not compromised, he openly wonders why each previous commander would have willingly ended his life in the "Stimulator." But we soon realize from the current commander's own behaviour and those of crew members we are introduced to, that there may be good reason for such desperation.
Consider, for instance, Scott's newly appointed second-in-command, Chief Petty Officer Blather (played by Vancouver actor Linden Banks), whose answer to everything is soap. When instructed by Scott to monitor life support and engine functions for abnormalities then clean up any problems causing electrical shorts, Blather's answer is industrial solvent 24B-with devastating consequences. Scott is not far behind. His strategy for achieving crew moral is laundry: "...as laundry goes, so goes moral. So much can be dependent on a few grams of extra soft...or crisp. It's all in the balance. All ninety-seven members of the crew have a medium level of moral and a 90% clean garment efficiency rate," he blithely announces. When the nameless alien (called simply the Albanian) sabotages the ship, this precipitates the feared services of the fierce gun-toting "Exterminator" (played by Tiffany Timms), who we discover is actually the ship's librarian. She's taken on a personal mission to hunt down "bugs" in the system by indiscriminately blasting circuitry. One begins to appreciate the desperation with which the previous commanders of the Starcops took solace in the "Stimulator". And, if that isn't enough, we also learn that Starcops Coffee, purportedly the very best in the galaxy, (touted as the "blend that's out of this world") tastes like mud. Despite this comedy of errors, which includes the disappearance and accidental detonation of a nuclear bomb, the crew manage well enough; in several cases, ironically, due to their expertise with laundry and soap.
The idea for Commander's Log was originally conceived by actor/writer/producer Craig Bowlsby as a show for the internet but it soon became more ambitious and developed into its current eight half-hour episodes. The majority of Commander's Log takes place in the command centre of the ship, and mostly in the form of daily reports made by Commander Scott. While this was obviously a way to curb production cost (use of a single set, resembling a one-act play), the strategy worked effectively for Bowlsby, who took the challenge and channelled it into an effective platform for his unique humour.
Commander's Log mixes intelligent satire with gut slapstick and bathroom humour into a delightfully palatable cocktail. It is a charming blend of wit, nerve and silliness that soars on wings of fanciful absurdity. Sometimes a little too cute, (e.g., with names of main characters like Laundry Chief Blather, and Lieutenant Commander Bastaard, played by Greg Anderson of Stargate), the show nevertheless delivers good entertainment. Bowlsby, the show's creator and lead actor describes the show's humour as "multi-layered" from the obvious joke, to wry and subtle sub-text, often making clever use of cliché to achieve yet another often surprising layer. If there is a negative in all this, it would be that the humour tends to be too clever and erudite at times; perhaps a Canadian trait. The audience may also perceive the set and milieu as rather quaint and unsophisticated by current SF TV show standards; yet it has its own charm. Bowlsby reserves his production costs for quality acting and delivering a good script and story. Bowlsby shared script-writing with Catherine Girczyc (The Collector, Dead Man's Gun). And in several episodes we are treated to some dazzling moments care of NorthWest Imaging, the creators of the award winning effects of Andromeda.
The tag line for the DVD of the Premiere episode of Commander's Log runs: "In space, no one can hear you do the laundry." The clever play on words is also, unfortunately an apt metaphor to the legacy of the show on Space Channel (pardon the awful pun). Commander's Log sporadically aired on the Canadian Space Channel in 2005 and not at any specific time or in any particular order. Running Commander's Log out of sequence was potentially devastating to its success and certainly increased "the weirdness factor" according to Bowlsby. Imagine your favourite comedy movie where the last scene with the punch line is shown before its set up scene. Any chance of gaining genuine interest from a TV audience accustomed to routine and being told when to laugh would be slim indeed under such circumstances.
Despite its shortcomings, Commander's Log charms, evokes bouts of belly-laughs, and entertains. It deserves a proper run on network television for providing something genuinely new, refreshing and quirky. If Commander's Log makes it to your local SF network, check it out, but chances are it will be shown out of order or not in its entirety. You may be better off purchasing the DVD set.
Review by Nina Munteanu.
Original review in Neo-opsis Science Fiction Magazine Issue # 12. Posted here by Karl Johanson, Neo-opsis' editor.