My iMac would make Flash Gordon's head explode
2001: A Space Odyssey provides a strange mix of anachronisms.
Artificial intelligences that have passed the Turing test are steering space ships on journeys to Saturn, communicating with the crew by printer output, if needed. Probes spinning past them gathering dozens of signals from the vastness of space are radioing it all back to Earth to be stored on miles of magnetic tape. Speaking of Earth, everybody down there is getting their news via handheld pads that update newspaper stories every hour. And are operated by a number pad. Heading back into nearer space, we run across Clavius Base, established on the moon in 1994 using all of man's greatest, most powerful technology. And some typewriters.
Oh, and the Cold War is still live and kicking. Can't forget about that.
I'm a huge fan of old science fiction and I'm willing to forgive it its quirks. I can't remember where I heard this sentiment, unfortunately (though I think it may have been a Doctor Who DVD documentary), but someone said that episodes featuring retro-futuristic technology that looks really outdated shouldn't be updated (with CGI or whatever) because they are a product of their own time
and should reflect the imagination of the time.
While I agree with the principle of this, it doesn't necessarily apply to everything. People are often divided when old shows and films have their effects updated, the CGI-ification of the original Star Wars trilogy being a prime example. On the one hand, there's the argument from above: it reflects the time at which it was made, as all creative works do. On the other hand, the addition of new effects can bring it closer to what the creator originally envisioned. This applies particularly in cases where something was done due to technological or financial reasons rather than as a matter of style.
The terrible animatronic cats from Survival come to mind. They were bad at the time and everyone knew it and very few people would object if an updated version with some clever editing was done, so long as it was optional. It being optional is very important, as George Lucas found out in the previous Star Wars example. He also got into trouble for making stylistic changes, such as the infamous "Han shot first" incident and changing the actor playing Anakin in the closing scene of Return of the Jedi.
I really need to get some more old sci-fi. Alongside my obvious Doctor Who obsession, I want to get my hands on some of the Quatermass serials, an even earlier example of classic British science fiction. Like I've said before, I'm a geek, but I am a forgiving geek. It won't shatter my suspension of disbelief if the ultimate computer ever constructed in the year 1 million has reels of magnetic tape stuck on the side and no monitor. I might laugh at the tin foil outfits of the technicians though.
Final note: you've probably noticed that Skippy hasn't been posting for a while, either here or at the MacTake, and that his NWTs have usually been late or missing. He's apparently been working on some kind of complicated webby-wimey, wibbly-wobbly thing (all those who got the Doctor Who reference get a gold star) that's taking up a lot of his time. Just thought I'd let you know.
Artificial intelligences that have passed the Turing test are steering space ships on journeys to Saturn, communicating with the crew by printer output, if needed. Probes spinning past them gathering dozens of signals from the vastness of space are radioing it all back to Earth to be stored on miles of magnetic tape. Speaking of Earth, everybody down there is getting their news via handheld pads that update newspaper stories every hour. And are operated by a number pad. Heading back into nearer space, we run across Clavius Base, established on the moon in 1994 using all of man's greatest, most powerful technology. And some typewriters.
Oh, and the Cold War is still live and kicking. Can't forget about that.
I'm a huge fan of old science fiction and I'm willing to forgive it its quirks. I can't remember where I heard this sentiment, unfortunately (though I think it may have been a Doctor Who DVD documentary), but someone said that episodes featuring retro-futuristic technology that looks really outdated shouldn't be updated (with CGI or whatever) because they are a product of their own time
and should reflect the imagination of the time.
While I agree with the principle of this, it doesn't necessarily apply to everything. People are often divided when old shows and films have their effects updated, the CGI-ification of the original Star Wars trilogy being a prime example. On the one hand, there's the argument from above: it reflects the time at which it was made, as all creative works do. On the other hand, the addition of new effects can bring it closer to what the creator originally envisioned. This applies particularly in cases where something was done due to technological or financial reasons rather than as a matter of style.
The terrible animatronic cats from Survival come to mind. They were bad at the time and everyone knew it and very few people would object if an updated version with some clever editing was done, so long as it was optional. It being optional is very important, as George Lucas found out in the previous Star Wars example. He also got into trouble for making stylistic changes, such as the infamous "Han shot first" incident and changing the actor playing Anakin in the closing scene of Return of the Jedi.
I really need to get some more old sci-fi. Alongside my obvious Doctor Who obsession, I want to get my hands on some of the Quatermass serials, an even earlier example of classic British science fiction. Like I've said before, I'm a geek, but I am a forgiving geek. It won't shatter my suspension of disbelief if the ultimate computer ever constructed in the year 1 million has reels of magnetic tape stuck on the side and no monitor. I might laugh at the tin foil outfits of the technicians though.
Final note: you've probably noticed that Skippy hasn't been posting for a while, either here or at the MacTake, and that his NWTs have usually been late or missing. He's apparently been working on some kind of complicated webby-wimey, wibbly-wobbly thing (all those who got the Doctor Who reference get a gold star) that's taking up a lot of his time. Just thought I'd let you know.
posted by Alasdair Corbett at
11:24 PM
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