Sci-Fi, a mirror well worth gazing into

So having just watched the rather fantastic “Children of Earth” mini-series of Torchwood I though it would be a good time to talk about Science Fiction and how it can be used as a mirror.

A mirror that can reflect many different things, religion, scientific advancement, moral questions, war, human nature, and many other things. Science Fiction, like many other genres of media (I will be using “media” to mean everything from literature to movies to games), is a way to convay stories that make us think, that open our mind to questions and ideas. Unfortunately most people look at sci-fi as escapist and mindless, while in many cases this is true, there is a wealth of deep media out there if you are willing for it to be packaged in a more unusual format.

Some of these are on the surface quite simple but yet profound, like the optimistic future of Star Trek where all of humanity are one people regardless of race or creed and the Federation seeks out peace and discovery. Others can be deep and complex issues of war, terrorism, and the role of religion in politics, such as the remake of Battlestar Galactica. There are countless examples out there of genre media that have the power to make us think, question why we do what we do, and wither or not it is the right thing. There is piles of media out there that deal with our humanity and what it means to be “human” and wither or not non-humans can ever be “human” in whatever form that means.

There are of course genres within sci-fi ranging for the scientific accurate “Hard Sci-Fi” where a rigourous detail towards science is obsereved and flights of fantasy are few if any. “Social Sci-Fi” are where the ideas of utopia or more usually distopia are considered such as “1984“. There are many others from “Cyberpunk” made famous by William Gibson, to “Time Travel” such as in “The Time Travellers Wife” (although to be honest thats not really sci-fi really but I thought I’d mention it anyway) and every stop inbetween.

So give sci-fi ago, give it a chance to move you, challenge you, and perhaps even inspire you. To help I’ve drawn up a wee list of films I consider to be good example of Sci-Fi which contain a certain deepness (there are many more than are just fantastic sci-fi but I tried to leave them off the list). There are of course countless lists like this which are probably better but still here’s mine. There is some anime (and foreign language) in this collection and frankly I think more people should watch these, and if possible in the original languages simply because the dubbing is usually terribly done (with a few exceptions)

• 1984
• 2001
• Bladerunner
• Ghost in the Shell (and the TV series/movies as well)
• Voices of a Distant Star
• Place promised in our early days
• V for Vendetta
• Watchmen
• Donnie Darko
• 12 Monkeys
• Moon (I am presuming from what Ive heard)
• Contact
• Gattaca
• The Matrix
• The Day the Earth stood still (watch the original and the new one, both have their moments)
• Clockwork Orange
• Dr Strangelove (technically not sci-fi but still worth watching)
• Invasion of the Body Snatcher (1970′s version please)
• Planet of the Apes (original version again please)
• The Girl who lept through time
• Dark City
• Children of Men
• Solaris (1972 version, haven’t seen it but it comes highly recommended)
• The early BBC Quatermass serials
• Babylon 5 – well Series 3 really but you really should watch 2-4
• Enemy Mine
• Wolfs Rain
• And jsut because I’m a bit of a fan Gundam 00, or Gundam Wing

Ok, that list is getting a bit long and started to have some TV series in there, anyway hope it helps and please do give good scif-fi a chance. Ah what the heck, finally some Star Trek episodes that are well worth checking out:

• “Darmok” – Star Trek: The Next Generation (S5E2)
• “The Drumhead” – Star Trek: The Next Generation (S4E21)
• “The Measure of a Man” – Star Trek: The Next Generation (S2E9)
• “The Best of Both Worlds parts1&2″ – Star Trek: The Next Generation (S3E25&S4E1)
• “Chain of Command parts1&2″ Star Trek: The Next Generation (S6E10&E11)
• “City of the Edge of Forever” Star Trek: Original Series (S1E27)
• “Hard Time” Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (S4E18)