SciFi Tech Talk: Recent Episodes
Julie Kuehl, Jeff Syer, Mike McPeek
SciFi Tech Talk is the podcast where we look at a movie / TV show / book / short story and the tech involved and what it says about THE FUTURE. We may go through some older material and see how much has become reality and how far we have yet to go. And new material could be looked at from the standpoint of how long we think it will take to become reality and how far from the present does it stretch the imagination.
Julie, Jeff, and Mike look back at their favorites of the past 200 episodes and look forward to so many more to come!
Julie, Jeff, and Mike discuss the 2018 movie Annihilation:
"A biologist signs up for a dangerous, secret expedition into a mysterious zone where the laws of nature don't apply." - imdb.com
Julie, Jeff, and Mike discuss the 2018 movie Tau: "A woman is held captive by a scientist in a futuristic smart house, and hopes to escape by reasoning with the Artificial Intelligence that controls the house." - imdb.com
Julie, Jeff, and Mike discuss the 2017 movie Beyond Skyline: "A tough-as-nails detective embarks on a relentless pursuit to free his son from a nightmarish alien warship." - imdb.com
Julie, Jeff, and Mike discuss the 2018 movie The Titan: "A military family takes part in a ground-breaking experiment of genetic evolution and space exploration." - imdb.com
Julie, Jeff, and Mike discuss the 2016 book "We Are Legion (We Are Bob)": Bob Johansson has just sold his software company and is looking forward to a life of leisure. There are places to go, books to read, and movies to watch. So it's a little unfair when he gets himself killed crossing the street.
Bob wakes up a century later to find that corpsicles have been declared to be without rights, and he is now the property of the state. He has been uploaded into computer hardware and is slated to be the controlling AI in an interstellar probe looking for habitable planets. The stakes are high: no less than the first claim to entire worlds. If he declines the honor, he'll be switched off, and they'll try again with someone else. If he accepts, he becomes a prime target. There are at least three other countries trying to get their own probes launched first, and they play dirty.
The safest place for Bob is in space, heading away from Earth at top speed. Or so he thinks. Because the universe is full of nasties, and trespassers make them mad - very mad.
Julie, Jeff, and Mike discuss the 2018 movie Anon:
In a near-future world where there is no privacy, ignorance or anonymity, our private memories are recorded and crime almost ceases to exist. In trying to solve a series of unsolved murders, SAL FRIELAND (Owen) stumbles onto a young woman (Seyfried) who appears to have subverted the system and disappeared. She has no identity, no history and no record. Sal realizes it may not be the end of crime but the beginning. Known only as THE GIRL, she must be found before Sal becomes the next victim. —Andrew Niccol on imdb.com
Julie, Jeff and Mike discuss the 2013 movie Her:
"Sensitive letter writer Theodore has just ended his marriage. Lonely, he goes out to buy an artificially intelligent Operating System that promises to give him everything he needs. Samantha is more than his average OS. She does secretarial work for him but also becomes his friend whenever he's lonely. They go out on adventures and travel together. He becomes the physical feet to get them places, and she the new eyes in which to see the world. Their intimate moments soon turn into love and they start an unusual relationship between OS and human. Things get complicated as they deal with Theodore's complex emotions and Samantha's inability to provide physical comfort. What happens to an OS when its consciousness is altered? Or to a sensitive man who doubts his emotions?" — Marielle on imdb.com
Julie, Jeff, and Mike discuss the 2016 book Version Control:
"Rebecca Wright has reclaimed her life, finding her way out of her grief and depression following a personal tragedy years ago. She spends her days working in customer support for the internet dating site where she first met her husband. But she has a strange, persistent sense that everything around her is somewhat off-kilter: she constantly feels as if she has walked into a room and forgotten what she intended to do there; on TV, the President seems to be the wrong person in the wrong place; her dreams are full of disquiet. Meanwhile, her husband's decade-long dedication to his invention, the causality violation device (which he would greatly prefer you not call a “time machine”) has effectively stalled his career and made him a laughingstock in the physics community. But he may be closer to success than either of them knows or can possibly imagine.
Version Control is about a possible near future, but it’s also about the way we live now. It’s about smart phones and self-driving cars and what we believe about the people we meet on the Internet. It’s about a couple, Rebecca and Philip, who have experienced a tragedy, and about how they help — and fail to help — each other through it." - goodreads.com
Julie, Jeff, and Mike discuss the 2014 movie The Giver - "In a seemingly perfect community, without war, pain, suffering, differences or choice, a young boy is chosen to learn from an elderly man about the true pain and pleasure of the 'real' world." - imdb.com
Julie, Jeff, and Mike discuss the 2006 movie Children of Men: In 2027, in a chaotic world in which women have become somehow infertile, a former activist agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea. - imdb.com
Julie, Jeff, and Mike discuss the 2015 movie Infini: "An elite 'search and rescue' team transport onto an off-world mining-facility to rescue Whit Carmichael, the lone survivor of a biological outbreak." - imdb.com
Julie, Jeff, and Mike discuss the 2016 movie Arrival: "When twelve mysterious spacecrafts appear around the world, linguistics professor Louise Banks is tasked with interpreting the language of the apparent alien visitors." - imdb.com
Julie, Jeff, and Mike discuss the 1985 book The Handmaid’s Tale:
"Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if their ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the years before, when she lived and made love with her husband, Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now..." - goodreads.com
Julie, Jeff, and Mike discuss the 2016 movie "Passengers": A spacecraft traveling to a distant colony planet and transporting thousands of people has a malfunction in its sleep chambers. As a result, two passengers are awakened 90 years early. - imdb.com
Julie, Jeff, and Mike discuss the 1956 movie Forbidden Planet: "A starship crew goes to investigate the silence of a planet's colony only to find two survivors and a deadly secret that one of them has." - imdb.com
Julie, Jeff, and Mike discuss the 1968 movie Barbarella: "Barbarella is marked by the same audacity and originality, fantasy, humor, beauty and horror, cruelty and eroticism that make comic books such a favorite. The setting is the planet Lythion in the year 40,000, when Barbarella makes a forced landing while traveling through space. She acts like a female James Bond, vanquishing evil in the forms of robots and monsters. She also rewards, in an uninhibited manner, the handsome men who assist her in the adventure. Whether she is wrestling with Black Guards, the evil Queen, or the Angel Pygar, she just can’t seems to avoid losing at least a part of her skin-tight spacesuit!" - iTunes
Julie, Jeff, and Mike discuss the book "2312": "The year is 2312. Scientific and technological advances have opened gateways to an extraordinary future. Earth is no longer humanity's only home; new habitats have been created throughout the solar system on moons, planets, and in between. But in this year, 2312, a sequence of events will force humanity to confront its past, its present, and its future." - Amazon.com
Julie, Jeff, and Mike discuss the 1981 movie, The Road Warrior: “In the post-apocalyptic Australian wasteland, a cynical drifter agrees to help a small, gasoline rich, community escape a band of bandits.” - imdb.com
Julie, Jeff, and Mike discuss the 1976 movie The Man Who Fell To Earth: “Thomas Jerome Newton is a humanoid alien who comes to Earth to get water for his dying planet. He starts a high technology company to get the billions of dollars he needs to build a return spacecraft, and meets Mary-Lou, a girl who falls in love with him. He does not count on the greed and ruthlessness of business here on Earth, however.” - imdb.com
Julie, Jeff, and Mike discuss the 2014 movie "Space Warriors": “A group of kid space cadets must help in the rescue of three astronauts whose ship got stranded in space.” - imdb.com
Julie, Jeff, and Mike discuss the 2014 movie Robot Overlords: “Earth has been conquered by robots from a distant galaxy. Survivors are confined to their houses and must wear electronic implants, risking incineration by robot sentries if they venture outside.” - imdb.com
“The year is 3326. Nigel Sheldon, one of the founders of the Commonwealth, receives a visit from the Raiel—self-appointed guardians of the Void, the enigmatic construct at the core of the galaxy that threatens the existence of all that lives. The Raiel convince Nigel to participate in a desperate scheme to infiltrate the Void.
Once inside, Nigel discovers that humans are not the only life-forms to have been sucked into the Void, where the laws of physics are subtly different and mental powers indistinguishable from magic are commonplace. The humans trapped there are afflicted by an alien species of biological mimics—the Fallers—that are intelligent but merciless killers.
Yet these same aliens may hold the key to destroying the threat of the Void forever—if Nigel can uncover their secrets. As the Fallers’ relentless attacks continue, and the fragile human society splinters into civil war, Nigel must uncover the secrets of the Fallers—before he is killed by the very people he has come to save. (less)” - goodreads.com
Julie, Jeff, and Mike discuss the 1902 classic sci-fi movie A Trip to the Moon: A group of astronomers go on an expedition to the Moon..” - imdb.com
Julie, Jeff, and Mike review the 2016 movie ARQ: “Trapped in a lab and stuck in a time loop, a disoriented couple fends off masked raiders while harboring a new energy source that could save humanity.” - imdb.com
Julie, Jeff, and Mike discuss the movie "Star Trek Beyond" - “After stopping off at Starbase Yorktown, a remote outpost on the fringes of Federation space, the USS Enterprise, halfway into their five-year mission, is destroyed by an unstoppable wave of unknown aliens. With the crew stranded on an unknown planet and with no apparent means of rescue, they find themselves fighting against a ruthless enemy with a well-earned hatred of the Federation and everything it stands for. Only a rebellious alien warrior can help them reunite and leave the planet to stop this deadly menace from beginning a possible galactic war.” -- Written by Paramount Pictures
Julie, Jeff, and Mike discuss the movie Pitch Black: “A commercial transport ship and its crew are marooned on a planet full of bloodthirsty creatures that only come out to feast at night. But then, they learn that a month-long eclipse is about to occur.” - imdb.com
Julie, Jeff, and Mike discuss the 1997 movie Event Horizon: “A rescue crew investigates a spaceship that disappeared into a black hole and has now returned...with someone or something new on-board.” - imdb.com
Julie, Jeff, and Mike discuss the book Stranger in a Strange Land: “Valentine Michael Smith is a human being raised on Mars, newly returned to Earth. Among his people for the first time, he struggles to understand the social mores and prejudices of human nature that are so alien to him, while teaching them his own fundamental beliefs in grokking, watersharing, and love.” - goodreads.com
Julie, Jeff, and Mike discuss the movie Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow: “After New York City receives a series of attacks from giant flying robots, a reporter teams up with a pilot in search of their origin, as well as the reason for the disappearances of famous scientists around the world.” - imdb.com
Julie, Jeff, and Mike discuss the 2002 movie Equilibrium: “In a futuristic world, a strict regime has eliminated war by suppressing emotions: books, art and music are strictly forbidden and feeling is a crime punishable by death. Cleric John Preston (Bale) is a top ranking government agent responsible for destroying those who resist the rules. When he misses a dose of Prozium, a mind-altering drug that hinders emotion, Preston, who has been trained to enforce the strict laws of the new regime, suddenly becomes the only person capable of overthrowing it.” Written by Anonymous - imdb.com
Julie, Jeff, and Mike discuss the 2015 movie Synchronicity: “A physicist who invents a time machine must travel back to the past to uncover the truth about his creation and the woman who is trying to steal it.” - imdb.com
Julie, Jeff, and Mike discuss the book Ready Player One: “In the year 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines, puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them. When Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win—and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.” - goodreads.com
Julie, Jeff, and Mike discuss the movie Mars Attacks!: “Earth is invaded by Martians with unbeatable weapons and a cruel sense of humor.” - imdb.com
Julie, Jeff, and Mike discuss the 2014 movie Predestination: “For his final assignment, a top temporal agent must pursue the one criminal that has eluded him throughout time. The chase turns into a unique, surprising and mind-bending exploration of love, fate, identity and time travel taboos.” - imdb.com
Julie, Jeff, and Mike discuss the classic sci-fi film Westworld - “A robot malfunction creates havoc and terror for unsuspecting vacationers at a futuristic, adult-themed amusement park.” - imdb.com
“After peaceful aliens invade earth, humanity finds itself living in a utopia under the indirect rule of the aliens, but does this utopia come at a price?” - imdb.com
1855: The Industrial Revolution is in full and inexorable swing, powered by steam-driven cybernetic Engines. Charles Babbage perfects his Analytical Engine and the computer age arrives a century ahead of its time. And three extraordinary characters race toward a rendezvous with history - and the future. - goodreads.com
XCOM is a science fiction video game franchise featuring the titular fictional elite international organization tasked with countering alien invasions of Earth.
Julie, Jeff, and Mike discuss the movie Ex Machina - “A young programmer is selected to participate in a ground-breaking experiment in synthetic intelligence by evaluating the human qualities of a breath-taking humanoid A.I..” - imdb.com
Julie, Jeff, and Mike discuss Ultima, the sequel to Proxima: “In PROXIMA we discovered ancient alien artifacts on the planet of Per Ardua - hatches that allowed us to step across light years of space as if we were stepping into another room. The universe opened up to us. Now in ULTIMA the consequences of this new freedom make themselves felt. And we discover that there are minds in the universe that are billions of years old and they have a plan for us. For some of us. But as we learn the true nature of the universe we also discover that we have countless pasts all meeting in this present and that our future is terrifyingly finite. It's time for us to fight to take back control.” - goodreads.com
Julie, Jeff, and Mike discuss the SyFy series "The Expanse." Two hundred years in the future, in a fully colonized Solar System, police detective Josephus Miller, born in the asteroid belt, is given the assignment to find a missing young woman, Julie Mao. Meanwhile, James Holden, the first officer of an ice freighter, is witness to an unprovoked attack upon the ship, by attack craft believed to be from Mars (MCRN Federation). As news of the attack spreads throughout the System, the incident's flow-on threatens to destabilize already tenuous relations between Earth, Mars and The Belt. Far away from the struggles in deep space, on Earth, Chrisjen Avasarala, a powerful United Nations executive & diplomat, works to prevent war between Earth and Mars by any means at her disposal. Soon, the three find out that the missing woman and the ice freighter's fate are part of a vast covert conspiracy that threatens all humanity. - Written by nano_tech imdb.com
Julie, Jeff, and Mike review the movie Alien Outpost: "A documentary crew follows an elite unit of soldiers in the wake of an alien invasion." - imdb.com
In 2021, the whole world is connected by the gigantic Internet, and almost a half of the population is suffering from the Nerve Attenuation Syndrome (NAS).Johnny with an implanted memory chip in his brain was ordered to transport the over loaded information from Beijing to Newark. While Pharmakom Industries supported by yakuza tries to capture him to get the information back, the Low-tech group led by J-Bone tries to break the missing code to download the cure of NAS which Johnny carries. - Written by Miho Ishimine on imdb.com
The very far future: The galaxy is a drifting wreck of black holes, neutron stars, and chill white dwarfs. The age of star formation is long past. Yet there is life here, feeding off the energies of the stellar remnants, and there is mind, a tremendous galaxy-spanning intelligence each of whose thoughts lasts a hundred thousand years. And this mind cradles memories of a long-gone age when a more compact universe was full of light... The 27th century: Proxima Centauri, an undistinguished red dwarf star, is the nearest star to our sun. How would it be to live on such a world? - goodreads.com
The six-person crew of a derelict spaceship awakens from stasis in the farthest reaches of space. Their memories wiped clean, they have no recollection of who they are or how they got on board. The only clue to their identities is a cargo bay full of weaponry and a destination: a remote mining colony that is about to become a war zone. With no idea whose side they are on, they face a deadly decision. Will these amnesiacs turn their backs on history, or will their pasts catch up with them? - imdb.com
A genetically inferior man assumes the identity of a superior one in order to pursue his lifelong dream of space travel. - imdb.com
In the near future, crime is patrolled by a mechanized police force. When one police droid, Chappie, is stolen and given new programming, he becomes the first robot with the ability to think and feel for himself. - imdb.com
Spike Spiegel is a bounty hunter in the far future with an easy going attitude and some deadly skill at martial arts. Together with his partners, Jet Black, and later Faye Valentine as well, they go from job to job across the galaxy looking for the high priced fugitives to bag. - imdb.com (by Kenneth Chisholm)
1000 feet below the ocean, navy divers discover an object half-a-mile long. A crack team of scientists are deployed to the site in deep sea habitats. What they find boggles the mind as they discover a perfect metal sphere. What is the secret behind the sphere? Will they survive the mysterious 'manifestations'? Who or what is creating these? They may never live to find out. - imdb.com, written by Michael Hofer
In one of Robert Heinlein's most controversial bestsellers, a recruit of the future goes through the toughest boot camp in the Universe--and into battle with the Terran Mobile Infantry against mankind's most frightening enemy. - Goodreads.com
“When their shuttle is damaged on the way to Centari Five, six friends are forced to crash land on the surface of a mysterious alien planet. Stranded with little hope of rescue, it soon becomes clear that they are not alone. Hunted by the planet's ferocious inhabitants and targeted by heavily-armed forces, they will have to struggle just to survive.” - Written by Jiilo_Kim on imdb.com
NASA must devise a strategy to return Apollo 13 to Earth safely after the spacecraft undergoes massive internal damage putting the lives of the three astronauts on board in jeopardy. - imdb.com
Three million years ago, a radiation leak killed the crew of the mining ship, Red Dwarf. The only survivor was Dave Lister, the chicken soup machine repairman. He spends his time on the ship with a holographic projection of Arnold Rimmer (his dead bunkmate), Cat (a life-form that evolved from Dave's cat), Holly (the ship's senile computer), and Kryten (a service mechanoid). - Written by Garrett Hobbs
Blair, a fighter pilot, joins an interstellar war to fight the evil Kilrathi who are trying to destroy the universe. - imdb.com
The private armies of global business are preparing to crush the Daemon once and for all. In a world of conflicted loyalties, rapidly diminishing government control, and a new choice between free will and the continuing comforts of ignorance, the stakes could not be higher: hanging in the balance is nothing less than democracy's last hope to survive the technology revolution. - goodreads.com
A group of astronaut explorers succumb one by one to a mysterious and terrifying force while collecting specimens on Mars. - imdb.com
Julie and Mike interview JF Dubeau about his new project "A God in the Shed" as well as a few other things.
Thomas wakes up in an elevator, remembering nothing but his own name. He emerges into a world of about 60 teen boys who have learned to survive in a completely enclosed environment, subsisting on their own agriculture and supplies. A new boy arrives every 30 days. The original group has been in "The Glade" for three years, trying to find a way to escape through the Maze that surrounds their living space. They have begun to give up hope. Then a comatose girl arrives with a strange note, and their world begins to change. There are some great, fast-paced action scenes, particularly those involving the nightmarish Grievers who plague the boys. -- Written by KelseyJ at imdb.com
At first, only a few things are known about the celestial object that astronomers dub Rama. It is huge, weighing more than ten trillion tons. And it is hurtling through the solar system at an inconceivable speed. Then a space probe confirms the unthinkable: Rama is no natural object. It is, incredibly, an interstellar spacecraft. Space explorers and planet-bound scientists alike prepare for mankind's first encounter with alien intelligence. It will kindle their wildest dreams... and fan their darkest fears. For no one knows who the Ramans are or why they have come. And now the moment of rendezvous awaits — just behind a Raman airlock door. - goodreads.com
Brilliant brain surgeon-rock star-and comic book hero Buckaroo Banzai just made scientific history! Shifting his Oscillation Overthruster into warp speed, he’s the first man ever to travel to the Eighth Dimension and come back sane. But when his sworn enemy, the demented Dr. Lizardo, unleashes an evil army of inter-dimensional aliens, Buckaroo goes cranium with the madman in a battle that could result in the annihilation of the universe! - iTunes
On a cold night in a remote cabin, Professor John Oldman gathers his most trusted colleagues for an extraordinary announcement: He is an immortal who has migrated through 140 centuries of evolution and must now move on. Is Oldman truly Cro-Magnon or simply insane? Now one man will force these scientists and scholars to confront their own notions of history, religion and humanity, all leading to the final revelation that may shatter their world forever. - iTunes
In San Francisco, a group of people discover the human race is being replaced one by one, with clones devoid of emotion. - imdb.com
A woman, accidentally caught in a dark deal, turns the tables on her captors and transforms into a merciless warrior evolved beyond human logic. - imdb.com
Daemon and Freedomᵀᴹ comprise a two-part novel by the author Daniel Suarez about a distributed, persistent computer application, known as The Daemon, that begins to change the real world after the original programmer's death. - wikipedia.org
A team of explorers travel through a wormhole in an attempt to ensure humanity's survival. - imdb.com
A football player and his friends travel to the planet Mongo and find themselves fighting the tyranny of Ming the Merciless to save Earth. - imdb.com
A troubled child summons the courage to help a friendly alien escape Earth and return to his home-world. - imdb.com
A fleet of ships is forced to do battle with an armada of unknown origins in order to discover and thwart their destructive goals. - imdb.com
A computer hacker is abducted into the digital world and forced to participate in gladiatorial games where his only chance of escape is with the help of a heroic security program. - imbd.com
Officially, Apollo 17, launched December 17th, 1972 was the last manned mission to the moon. But a year later, in December of 1973, two American astronauts were sent on a secret mission to the moon funded by the US Department of Defense. What you are about to see is the actual footage which the astronauts captured on that mission. While NASA denies its authenticity, others say it's the real reason we've never gone back to the moon. -- (C) Official Site
One moment Conrad Schwartz was a hungover hiker in the mountains of modern Poland, the next he was running for his life from an angry Teutonic knight. At first Conrad just thought he'd stumbled across a mad hermit. But several days of ever stranger events convinced him that he had somehow been stranded in A.D 1231. And that meant Conrad had to turn Medieval Poland into the most powerful country in the world. Otherwise the Mongols were destined to destroy it--in just ten years! -- amazon.com
A man struggles with memories of his past, including a wife he cannot remember, in a nightmarish world with no sun and run by beings with telekinetic powers who seek the souls of humans. - imdb.com
In the near future, robots have taken over for humans in the boxing ring. A former boxer and small-time promoter (Hugh Jackman) struggles to make a living with patched-up robots in shady venues. When he discovers he has an 11-year-old son who believes that a robot found in the junk heap has what it takes to win, he finds himself with a shot at the big time. - Written by Movie Critic Next Door on imdb.com
Julie, Mike, and Jeff chat with guest Roy Mathur from Roy's Rocket Radio about scifi and podcasting and everything in between.
A modern aircraft carrier is thrown back in time to 1941 near Hawaii, just hours before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. - imdb
For generations, the people of the City of Ember have flourished in an amazing world of glittering lights. But Ember's once powerful generator is failing ... and the great lamps that illuminate the city are starting to flicker. - imdb
When a machine that allows therapists to enter their patients' dreams is stolen, all hell breaks loose. Only a young female therapist can stop it: Paprika. - imdb
Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars.
Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there.
Number 5 of a group of experimental robots in a lab is electrocuted, suddenly becomes intelligent, and escapes. - imdb.com
After visiting 2015, Marty McFly must repeat his visit to 1955 to prevent disastrous changes to 1985... without interfering with his first trip. - imdb.com
Two artificial intelligence engineers come together as they work to create the first ever self-aware artificial intelligence.
Unless a comet can be destroyed before colliding with Earth, only those allowed into shelters will survive. Which people will survive? - imdb.com
In 1963, the U.S. government launched a covert space mission sending hundreds of men, women and children on a century-long voyage aboard the starship Ascension to populate a new world. Nearly 50 years into the journey, as they approach the point of no return, a mysterious murder of a young woman causes the ship’s population to question the true nature of their mission.
An interstellar teleportation device, found in Egypt, leads to a planet with humans resembling ancient Egyptians who worship the god Ra. - imdb.com
UNSC Cadet Thomas Lasky must conquer his inner fears and join forces with super-soldier John-117 to take down a massive faction of the Covenant. - imdb.com
Attack the Block follows an unlucky young woman and and a gang of tough inner-city kids who make an unlikely alliance to try to defend their turf against an invasion of savage alien creatures, turning a South London apartment complex into a war-zone. Written by GK - imdb.com
Dr. Will Caster is the foremost researcher in the field of Artificial Intelligence, working to create a sentient machine that combines the collective intelligence of everything ever known with the full range of human emotions. High highly controversial experiments have made him famous, but they have also made him a prime target of anti-technology extremists who will do whatever it takes to stop him. However, in their attempt to destroy Will, they inadvertently become the catalyst for him to succeed - to be a participant in his own transcendence. For his wife Evelyn and best friend Max Waters, both fellow researchers, the question is not if they can... but if they should. Their worst fears are realized as Will's thirst for knowledge evolves into a seemingly omnipresent quest for power, to what end is unknown. The only thing that is becoming terrifyingly clear is there may be no way to stop him. - iTunes
A young pilot stumbles onto a prototype jetpack that allows him to become a high flying masked hero. - imdb.com
A military officer is brought into an alien war against an extraterrestrial enemy who can reset the day and know the future. When this officer is enabled with the same power, he teams up with a Special Forces warrior to try and end the war. - imdb.com
In a future where people stop aging at 25, but are engineered to live only one more year, having the means to buy your way out of the situation is a shot at immortal youth. Here, Will Salas finds himself accused of murder and on the run with a hostage - a connection that becomes an important part of the way against the system. - imdb.com
After stealing a mysterious orb in the far reaches of outer space, Peter Quill from Earth, is now the main target of a manhunt led by the villain known as Ronan the Accuser. To help fight Ronan and his team and save the galaxy from his power, Quill creates a team of space heroes known as the "Guardians of the Galaxy" to save the world. - Written by James Hake on imdb.com
Life for former United Nations investigator Gerry Lane and his family seems content. Suddenly, the world is plagued by a mysterious infection turning whole human populations into rampaging mindless zombies. After barely escaping the chaos, Lane is persuaded to go on a mission to investigate this disease. What follows is a perilous trek around the world where Lane must brave horrific dangers and long odds to find answers before human civilization falls. -- Kenneth Chisholm on imdb.com
Aeon Flux is a mysterious assassin working for the Monicans, a group of rebels trying to overthrow the government. When she is a sent on a mission to kill the Chairman, a whole new mystery is found. - imdb.com
“Something humongous is among us! A young boy rescues a huge robot which has rocketed to earth from space - and tries to protect the giant from a nosy government agent and the military. A captivating animated feature that’s part metal, part magic and all heart.” - iTunes
"On the world called Hyperion, beyond the law of the Hegemony of Man, there waits the creature called the Shrike. There are those that worship it. There are those that fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all. On the eve of Armageddon with the entire galaxy at war, seven pilgrims set forth on a final voyage to Hyperion seeking the answers to the unsolved riddles of their lives. Each carries a desperate hope - and a terrible secret. And one may hold the fate of humanity in his hands."
An alien lands and tells the people of Earth that they must live peacefully or be destroyed as a danger to other planets. - imdb.com
A detective from the year 2077 finds herself trapped in present day Vancouver and searching for ruthless criminals from the future. - imdb.com
Set in a future where a failed climate-change experiment kills all life on the planet except for a lucky few who boarded the Snowpiercer, a train that travels around the globe, where a class system emerges. - imdb.com
A group of humans must explore a vast starship in order to find the controls to save it from destruction. - imdb.com
In a future where all flora is extinct on Earth, an astronaut is given orders to destroy the last of Earth's botany, kept in a greenhouse aboard a spacecraft.
Today we want to talk about the various forms of scifi tech and how it compares to the tech of today.
Two mutants come to a private academy for their kind whose resident superhero team must oppose a terrorist organization with similar powers. - imdb.com
In the distant future, a small waste collecting robot inadvertently embarks on a space journey that will ultimately decide the fate of mankind. - imdb
After enslavement & near extermination by an alien race in the year 3000, humanity begins to fight back. - imdb.com
A veteran assigned to extract Earth's remaining resources begins to question what he knows about his mission and himself. - imdb
A medical engineer and an astronaut work together to survive after a catastrophe destroys their shuttle and leaves them adrift in orbit. - imdb
Captain Picard and his crew pursue the Borg back in time to stop them from preventing Earth's first contact with an alien species. They also make sure that Zefram Cochrane makes his famous maiden flight at warp speed. - imdb
Julie interviews Bryan Chaffin, a not-yet-published science-fiction author, about the challenges of creating a science-fiction universe.
Set in the near future when artificial organs can be bought on credit, it revolves around a man who struggles to make the payments on a heart he has purchased. He must therefore go on the run before said ticker is repossessed. - imdb.com
A diplomat is nearly assassinated. In order to save him, a submarine is shrunken to microscopic size and injected into his blood stream with a small crew. Problems arise almost as soon as they enter the bloodstream. - imdb.com
Astronaut Sam Bell has a quintessentially personal encounter toward the end of his three-year stint on the Moon, where he, working alongside his computer, GERTY, sends back to Earth parcels of a resource that has helped diminish our planet's power problems. - imdb.com
In an alternate Victorian Age world, a group of famous contemporary fantasy, SF and adventure characters team up on a secret mission. - imdb.com
A substance, designed to help the brain repair itself, gives rise to a super-intelligent chimp who leads an ape uprising. - imdb.com
Four friends/fledgling entrepreneurs, knowing that there's something bigger and more innovative than the different error-checking devices they've built, wrestle over their new invention. - imdb.com
After discovering that an asteroid the size of Texas is going to impact Earth in less than a month, N.A.S.A. recruits a misfit team of deep core drillers to save the planet. - imdb.com
A spaceship arrives in Arizona, 1873, to take over the Earth, starting with the Wild West region. A posse of cowboys and natives are all that stand in their way. - imdb.com
Dr. Ellie Arroway, after years of searching, finds conclusive radio proof of intelligent aliens, who send plans for a mysterious machine. - imdb.com
A human-looking indestructible cyborg is sent from 2029 to 1984 to assassinate a waitress, whose unborn son will lead humanity in a war against the machines, while a soldier from that war is sent to protect her at all costs. - imdb.com
A man goes on the run after he discovers that he is actually a "harvestable being", and is being kept as a source of replacement parts, along with others, in a Utopian facility. - imdb.com
After an encounter with UFOs, a line worker feels undeniably drawn to an isolated area in the wilderness where something spectacular is about to happen. - imdb.com
Back to the Future is a 1985 American science fiction comedy film. Michael J Fox plays Marty McFly, a teenager who is accidentally sent back in time to 1955. He meets his future parents in high school and accidentally attracts his mother's romantic interest. Marty must repair the damage to history by causing his parents-to-be to fall in love, and with the help of scientist Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown (Lloyd), he must find a way to return to 1985. - Wikipedia
Get ready to join Dr. Sam Beckett on the adventure of many lifetimes - a time traveler who never knows whose body he is going to “leap” into next and at what moment in history he may find himself! Who will he be this time? Mafia hit man. Air Force test pilot. Professional boxer. Sam does it all in Season 1 on the groundbreaking, five-time Emmy award-winning series.We’re focusing on the Season 1 two-part pilot, Genesis.
Well, it's not exactly a top ten list, but we took some time at the start of a new year to think about what some of our favorite sci-fi book, movies, shows, and stories might be.
A female cyborg cop and her partner hunt a mysterious and powerful hacker called the Puppet Master. - imdb.com
Planet Spaceball's President Skroob sends Lord Dark Helmet to steal Planet Druidia's abundant supply of air to replenish their own, and only Lone Starr can stop them. - imdb.com
In the year 2057, a crew of eight courageous men and women must embark on a journey to the Sun to reignite the dying star and save mankind from extinction. But when a terrible accident throws their mission into jeopardy, the crew find themselves not only fighting for their lives and their sanity, but for the future of us all. - iTunes
An international crew of astronauts undertakes a privately funded mission to search for life on Jupiter's fourth largest moon. - imdb.com
The International Military seek out a leader who can save the human race from an alien attack. Ender Wiggin, a brilliant young mind, is recruited and trained to lead his fellow soldiers into a battle that will determine the future of Earth. - imdb.com
Jules Verne’s classic about a ship sent to investigate a wave of mysterious sinkings which encounters the advanced submarine, the Nautilus, commanded by Captain Nemo.
The H.G. Wells classic story “War of the Worlds” was depicted as a radio drama crafted by Orson Welles 75 years ago this week. The story of an alien invasion of the earth left a lasting impact on science fiction.
A video-gaming boy, seemingly doomed to stay at his trailer park home all his life, finds himself recruited as a gunner for an alien defense force. - imdb.com
This week it's two short stories --A Sound of Thunder: “A Sound of Thunder” is a science fiction short story by Ray Bradbury, first published in Collier's magazine in the June 28, 1952 issue. As of 1984 it was the most re-published science fiction story up to the present time. It is based on the idea of the butterfly effect (though the story predates that phrase).Nightfall: “Nightfall" is a 1941 science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov about the coming of darkness to the people of a planet ordinarily illuminated at all times on all sides.
Set in the far future amidst a feudal interstellar society in which noble houses, in control of individual planets, owe allegiance to the imperial House Corrino, Dune tells the story of young Paul Atreides, the heir apparent to Duke Leto Atreides as his family accepts control of the desert planet Arrakis, the only source of the "spice" melange. Melange is the most important and valuable substance in the universe, increasing Arrakis' value as a fief. The story explores the multi-layered interactions of politics, religion, ecology, technology, and human emotion, as the forces of the empire confront each other in a struggle for the control of Arrakis and its "spice". - Wikipedia.org
A paraplegic Marine dispatched to the moon Pandora on a unique mission becomes torn between following his orders and protecting the world he feels is his home. - imdb.com
The aliens are coming and their goal is to invade and destroy. Fighting superior technology, man's best weapon is the will to survive. - imdb.com
A drifter with no name finds a jeep with the skeleton of a postman and a bag of mail and dons the postman's uniform and bag of mail as he begins a quest to inspire hope to the survivors living in the post apocalyptic America. - imdb.com
Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen start fires rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television “family.” But then he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn’t live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television. When Mildred attempts suicide and Clarisse suddenly disappears, Montag begins to question everything he has ever known. He starts hiding books in his home, and when his pilfering is discovered, the fireman has to run for his life. - iTunes
An action thriller centered on a soldier who wakes up in the body of an unknown man and discovers he's part of a mission to find the bomber of a Chicago commuter train. - imdb.com
When a destructive space entity is spotted approaching Earth, Admiral Kirk resumes command of the Starship Enterprise in order to intercept, examine, and hopefully stop it. - imdb.com
Set in the near future, an ex-jewel thief receives a gift from his son: a robot butler programmed to look after him. But soon the two companions try their luck as a heist team. - imdb.com
Set in old Detroit, a crime-ridden ghetto of the not too distant future, a cop killed in the line of duty is robotized then dispatched to fight crime. But Robocop is haunted by memories and dreams of who and what he used to be. As he rediscovers his past, he uncovers a murder conspiracy at the highest level of police management. -- Amazon.com
The Matrix is a world within the world, a global consensus- hallucination, the representation of every byte of data in cyberspace . . .Case had been the sharpest data-thief in the business, until vengeful former employees crippled his nervous system. But now a new and very mysterious employer recruits him for a last-chance run. The target: an unthinkably powerful artificial intelligence orbiting Earth in service of the sinister Tessier-Ashpool business clan. With a dead man riding shotgun and Molly, mirror-eyed street-samurai, to watch his back, Case embarks on an adventure that ups the ante on an entire genre of fiction.
Men called them OverlordsThey had come from outer space—they had brought peaceand prosperity to EarthBut then the change began.It appeared first in the children—frightening, incomprehensible.Now the Overlords made their announcement:This was to be the first stepin the elimination of the human raceand the beginning of—What?—Original back cover quote, paperback edition
Brian Hall is a writer for ReadWrite and writes about the "Smart Social Mobile Web" and how it is rapidly re-constructing markets, industries, business models and relationships around the world. And author of the book “Love in the Time of Caller ID”
Years after a plague kills most of humanity and transforms the rest into monsters, the sole survivor in New York City struggles valiantly to find a cure. - imdb.com (2007)
In an overpopulated futuristic Earth, a New York police detective finds himself marked for murder by government agents when he gets too close to a bizarre state secret involving the origins of a revolutionary and needed new foodstuff. - imdb.com
A wrongly-convicted man must try to survive a public execution gauntlet staged as a TV game show. - imdb.com (1987)
A crack team of top scientists work feverishly in a secret, state-of-the-art laboratory to discover what has killed the citizens of a small town and learn how this deadly contagion can be stopped. - imdb.com
In a dystopian future, teens Katniss and Peeta are drafted for a televised event pitting young competitors against each other in a fight to the death. - Netflix
This week we did something a bit different. What separates science fiction from fantasy? Why are some movies/shows/books classified as one or another? Julie, Mike, and Jeff talk through this topic and their favorite sci-fi properties.
The Nazis set up a secret base on the dark side of the moon in 1945 where they hide out and plan to return to power in 2018. -- imdb.com
In a violent, futuristic city where the police have the authority to act as judge, jury and executioner, a cop teams with a trainee to take down a gang that deals the reality-altering drug, SLO-MO. -- imdb.com
The alumni cast of a cult space TV show have to play their roles as the real thing when an alien race needs their help. -- imdb.com
Philip K. Dick’s ideas have influenced the development of real-life breakthroughs in everything from robotics to law enforcement. [He] is perhaps the most influential innovator in the science fiction world because of the dark view he took on technology’s impact on mankind. [He] suffered the loss of his twin sister shortly after birth and it had a pronounced effect of the rest of his life. -- The Science Channel
A pair of astronauts heads to Jupiter to investigate a radio signal sent from a mysterious monolith on the moon, but their tranquil trip is endangered when their on-board computer begins acting oddly. The simple plot of director Stanley Kubrick’s inspired space adventure (co-scripted with noted science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke) belies the profound philosophical implications of this classic film, which inspires viewers to ask questions about the nature of advanced civilizations … and of human consciousness. Nearly half a century after its release, the film’s groundbreaking special effects are still breathtaking, and its ending still mind-bending. -- iTunes
Over twenty years ago, aliens made first contact with Earth. Humans waited for the hostile attack, or the giant advances in technology. Neither came. Instead, the aliens were refugees, the last survivors of their home world. The creatures were set up in a makeshift home in South Africa’s District 9 as the world’s nations argued over what to do with them. Now, patience over the alien situation has run out. Control over the aliens has been contracted out to Multi-National Unit (MNU), a private company uninterested in the aliens’ welfare - they will receive tremendous profits if they can make the aliens’ awesome weaponry work. So far, they have failed; activation of the weaponry requires alien DNA. The tension between the aliens and the humans comes to a head when an MNU field operative, Wikus van der Merwe, contracts a mysterious virus that begins changing his DNA. Wikus quickly becomes the most hunted man in the world, as well as the most valuable - he is the key to unlocking the secrets of alien technology. Ostracized and friendless, there is only one place left for him to hide: District 9. -- iTunes
The film depicts a dystopian Los Angeles in November 2019 in which genetically engineered organic robots called replicants – visually indistinguishable from adult humans – are manufactured by the powerful Tyrell Corporation as well as by other "mega–manufacturers" around the world. Their use on Earth is banned and replicants are exclusively used for dangerous, menial or leisure work on off-world colonies. Replicants who defy the ban and return to Earth are hunted down and "retired" by police special operatives known as "Blade Runners". The plot focuses on a brutal and cunning group of recently escaped replicants hiding in Los Angeles and the burnt-out expert Blade Runner, Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), who reluctantly agrees to take on one more assignment to hunt them down. - Wikipedia
Rule 34: If you can imagine it, there’s pornography about it on the Internet.Meet Edinburgh Detective Inspector Liz Kavanaugh, head of the Innovative Crimes Investigation Unit, otherwise know at the Rule 34 Squad. They monitor the Internet for potential criminal activity, analyzing trends in the extreme fringes of explicit content. And occasionally, even more disturbing patterns arise...Three ex-cons have been murdered in Germany, Italy, and Scotland. The only things they had in common were arrests for spamming -- and a taste for unorthodox entertainment. As the first officer on the scene of the most recent death, Liz finds herself sucked into an international investigation that isn’t so much asking who the killer is, but what -- and if she doesn’t find the answer soon, the homicides could go viral. - iTunes
Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) is a member of the Men in Black (M.I.B.), a secret non-government agency that polices extraterrestrial aliens seeking refuge on Earth, living normal lives in disguise as humans around New York City. Operating from a base at a Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority ventilation station, they fund themselves using patents on alien technologies released to the public and maintain secrecy using neuralyzers to erase memories of alien sightings, also disguising aliens as humans and pets to maintain their secrecy, and that way they monitor currently 1500 aliens around the vicinity of New York. - Wikipedia.org
In 2074, when the mob wants to get rid of someone, the target is sent 30 years into the past, where a hired gun awaits. Someone like Joe, who one day learns the mob wants to 'close the loop' by transporting back Joe's future self. - imdb.com
Spaceships are a crucial part of many sci-fi stories. In this episode we talk about our favorite spaceships and the technology behind them including craft from Star Trek, Star Wars, Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, Dr. Who, Alien, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and others.
In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race's next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin is drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training. Ender's skills make him a leader in school and respected in the Battle Room, where children play at mock battles in zero gravity. Yet growing up in an artificial community of young soldiers, Ender suffers greatly. Is Ender the general Earth needs? - Amazon.com
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is book written by Douglas Adams that has been at one time or another a book, a radio play, a tv show, a computer game and a feature film. Originally written as a trilogy it grew to 5 books and adopted the subtitle ‘an increasingly misnamed trilogy’. The story revolves around the misadventures of the human Arthur Dent and a cast of disreputable associates.
The crew of a commercial deep space mining ship, investigating a suspected S.O.S., lands on a distant planet and discovers a nest of strange eggs. - imdb.com
In a world where technology exists to enter the human mind through dream invasion, a highly skilled thief is given a final chance at redemption which involves executing his toughest job to date: Inception. (2010) - imdb.com
In the future, the terminally ill can prolong life by surrendering their consciousness to a cybernetic life form that is then recruited into the notorious Legion of the Damned, an elite fighting unit charged with protecting humanity. (published 1993) - iTunes
Minority Report is a 2002 American neo-noir science fiction film directed by Steven Spielberg and loosely based on the short story "The Minority Report" by Philip K. Dick. It is set primarily in Washington, D.C., and Northern Virginia in the year 2054, where "PreCrime”, a specialized police department, apprehends criminals based on foreknowledge provided by three psychics called "precogs”. - Wikipedia
Since the dawn of man, we have tried to create things in our image. Attempts have been made through painting, sculpture and even robotics but they have always lacked the one thing that sets man apart from every other living creature, intelligence. Even though real artificial intelligence has yet to be achieved science fiction has been playing with the idea for decades. And that is the center of our discussion, sci-fi’s vision of man’s ultimate achievement or final demise.
William Mandella is a physics student conscripted for an elite task force in the United Nations Exploratory Force being assembled for a war against the Taurans, an alien species discovered when they apparently suddenly attacked human colonists' ships. The UNEF ground troops are sent out for reconnaissance and revenge.
Tony Stark is the complete playboy who also happens to be an engineering genius. While in Afghanistan demonstrating a new missile, he's captured and wounded. His captors want him to assemble a missile for them but instead he creates an armored suit and a means to prevent his death from the shrapnel left in his chest by the attack. He uses the armored suit to escape. Back in the U.S. he announces his company will cease making weapons and he begins work on an updated armored suit only to find that Obadiah Stane, his second in command at Stark industries has been selling Stark weapons to the insurgents. He uses his new suit to return to Afghanistan to destroy the arms and then to stop Stane from misusing his research.
Battlestar Galactica (BSG) is an American military science fiction television series, and part of the Battlestar Galactica franchise. The show was developed by Ronald D. Moore as a re-imagining of the 1978 Battlestar Galactica television series created by Glen A. Larson. The series first aired as a three-hour mini-series (comprising four broadcast hours) in December 2003 on the Sci-Fi Channel, and ran for four seasons thereafter, ending its run on March 20, 2009.
Time travel is travel from one distinct time to another distinct time, physically. Movement can be forward or backward and often involves some sort of device to cause the movement, i.e., a “time machine.” The time travel may take the traveler to an alternate time stream that may bear little resemblance to the traveler’s origin. Time travel is a popular theme among science fiction writers.
The Matrix is a 1999 American science fiction action film written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski. The film stars Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, and Hugo Weaving. It depicts a dystopian future in which reality as perceived by most humans is actually a simulated reality or cyberspace created by sentient machines to pacify and subdue the human population, while their bodies' heat and electrical activity are used as an energy source. Computer programmer "Neo" discovers this truth and is drawn into a rebellion against the machines, which involves other people who have been freed from the "dream world" and into reality. - Wikipedia
Starship Troopers is a military science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein, first published (in abridged form) as a serial in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (October, November 1959, as "Starship Soldier") and published hardcover in December 1959.The first-person narrative is about a young soldier from the Philippines named Juan "Johnnie" Rico and his exploits in the Mobile Infantry, a futuristic military service branch equipped with powered armor. Rico's military career progresses from recruit to non-commissioned officer and finally to officer against the backdrop of an interstellar war between mankind and an arachnoid species known as "the Bugs." Rico and the other characters discuss moral and philosophical aspects of suffrage, civic virtue, juvenile delinquency, capital punishment, and war.
The series is set in the year 2517, after the arrival of humans in a new star system, and follows the adventures of the renegade crew of Serenity, a "Firefly-class" spaceship. The ensemble cast portrays the nine characters who live on Serenity. Whedon pitched the show as "nine people looking into the blackness of space and seeing nine different things." The show explores the lives of some people who fought on the losing side of a civil war and others who now make a living on the outskirts of society, as part of the pioneer culture that exists on the fringes of their star system. In addition, it is a future where the only two surviving superpowers, the United States and China, fused to form the central federal government, called the Alliance, resulting in the fusion of the two cultures. According to Whedon's vision, "nothing will change in the future: technology will advance, but we will still have the same political, moral, and ethical problems as today."
As America reels from the bizarre presidential assassination committed by a child, seven men are abducted from their normal lives and delivered to a secret government facility. Each man has his own career, his own specialty … and all are identical in appearance.
Prophets of Science Fiction is a Science Channel series looking at 8 of the greatest sci-fi writers and their contributions to the art and to science itself. Among the authors in the series are Isaac Asimov, Jules Verne, Robert Heinlein and the subject of this podcast Arthur C. Clarke.Some sci-fi storytellers are content to merely predict, but Sir Arthur C. Clarke creates. The writer is single-handedly responsible for the cornerstone of modern telecommunication technology: the satellite. Clarke's collaboration with director Stanley Kubrick on the iconic 2001 predicted videophones, iPads, and commercial spaceflight, while redefining science-fiction cinema for a new generation.
The first season of the American science fiction television series Fringe commenced airing on the Fox network on September 9, 2008, and concluded on May 12, 2009. ... The first season introduces a Federal Bureau of Investigation "Fringe Division" team based in Boston, Massachusetts under the supervision of Homeland Security. The team uses unorthodox "fringe" science and FBI investigative techniques to investigate a series of unexplained, often ghastly occurrences, which are related to mysteries surrounding a parallel universe. FBI agent Olivia Dunham is portrayed by actress Anna Torv, while actors Joshua Jackson and John Noble play father-son duo Peter and Walter Bishop. - Wikipedia
The Golden Age of Sail has Returned - In the Year 2352
When his mother dies in a flitter crash, eighteen-year-old Ishmael Horatio Wang must find a job with the planet company or leave the system--and NerisCo isn't hiring. With credits running low, and prospects limited, he has just one hope...to enlist for two years with a deep space commercial freighter. Ishmael, who only rarely visited the Neris Orbital, and has never been off-planet alone before, finds himself part of an eclectic crew sailing a deep space leviathan between the stars. - from Amazon description
The Mote in God's Eye is a science fiction novel by American writers Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, first published in 1974. The story is set in the distant future of Pournelle's CoDominium universe, and charts the first contact between humanity and an alien species.The book describes a complex alien civilization, the Moties. The Moties are radically different (both physically and psychologically) from humanity in ways that become more clear over the course of the book. The human characters range from the typical hero-type in Captain Roderick Blaine to the much more ambiguous merchant prince and suspected traitor Horace Bury. The novel is an example of hard science fiction in that close attention is paid to scientific detail. - Wikipedia
This week we look at the Stargate franchise through the Continuum movie. The paradox of time travel is explored along with the technologies of multiple cultures and time periods.
This week's episode focuses on Logan's Run, a 1976 film that portrays a society kept in equilibrium by killing off everyone over 30. Free from responsibilities, free from consequences, free to seek pleasure at all times. Until your time's up. What happens when Logan runs from his fate and discovers a world he never knew existed.
Trying the different approach to the podcast yet again this week. Julie, Jeff, and Mike discuss clothing/fashion and how it's depicted in scifi. And a bit of real science slips in a bit too.
Trying the different approach to the podcast yet again this week. Julie, Jeff, and Mike discuss Mars and how it's depicted in scifi. And a bit of real science slips in a bit too.
Taking a different approach to the podcast this week. Julie and Jeff are joined by Jeff Gamet to discuss the technology of "local" transportation as it is depicted in several scifi universes.
Trek Nation is a documentary film directed by Scott Colthorp examining the positive impact that Star Trek and creator Gene Roddenberry may have had on people's lives as seen through the eyes of his son, Eugene Roddenberry, Jr. ("Rod"). It includes interviews with cast members and crew from all five Star Trek shows, as well as various fans and celebrities who were markedly influenced by the show while growing up. - WikipediaThe Tech: every Trek tech ever
Buck Rogers “is the titular 20th century astronaut who goes on a space mission only to awaken 500 years later on a very different Earth, where he's chosen to aid a special defense organization because of his superior piloting skills.” -- NetflixThe Tech: spaceships, cryrogenics (again), mutants, lasers, AI (Dr Theopholus), courts run by AI, sports, Olympics
“Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a Time Lord—a time travelling, humanoid alien with two hearts known as the Doctor. He explores the universe in his TARDIS—a sentient,telepathic time machine that flies through time and space. Its exterior appears as a blue British police box, a common sight in 1963, when the series first aired. Along with a succession of companions, the Doctor faces a variety of foes while working to save civilisations, help ordinary people, and right wrongs.” -- WikipediaThe Tech: sonic screwdriver, Tardis, regeneration
20 minutes or 20 years into the future--take your pick for this classic, prophetic and very cool series from 1987: Max Headroom! Get a pretty dead-on look at the world of our present and probably near future, but from 20 years ago. The Tech: tasers, CCTV, instant ratings data, videoconferencing, 3D mapping
“Nineteen Eighty-Four is a novel by George Orwell published in 1949. It is a dystopian novel about Oceania, a society ruled by the oligarchical dictatorship of the Party.[1] Life in the Oceanian province of Airstrip One is a world of perpetual war, pervasive government surveillance, and incessant public mind control, accomplished with a political system euphemistically named English Socialism (Ingsoc), which is administered by a privileged Inner Party elite.[2] Yet they too are subordinated to the totalitarian cult of personality of Big Brother, the deified Party leader who rules with a philosophy that decries individuality and reason as thoughtcrimes; thus the people of Oceania are subordinated to a supposed collective greater good.[1] The protagonist, Winston Smith, is a member of the Outer Party who works for the Ministry of Truth (Minitrue), which is responsible for propaganda and historical revisionism. His job is to re-write past newspaper articles so that the historical record is congruent with the current party ideology.[3] Because of the childhood trauma of the destruction of his family – the disappearances of his parents and sister – Winston Smith secretly hates the Party, and dreams of rebellion against Big Brother.” - wikipedia.orgThe Tech: Big Brother, phones, food, torture
In this German silent movie from 1927, Metropolis, the gleaming city of tomorrow, has a dark underbelly where workers continually operate the machinery that keeps the city running. The privileged son of the city leader discovers its dark secret and mediates when a revolt ensues. “The mediator between head and hands must be the heart!” The revolt is fueled by an android made to look like a saintly woman, but whose mechanical version is just the opposite. The Tech: machinery, videophones, cars, elevated trains, 10-hour clock, robots
Kirk and his crew find a ‘sleeper ship’ of genetically bred superhumans, led by the ruthless 20th century dictator Khan Noonian Singh, who tries to take over the ship with the help of a 23rd century archaeologist who falls in love with him.The Tech: eugenics, radio (ham signal - CQ), cryogenics, intercoms v. communicators, viewing screen in sickbay that ties into ship library tapes, hair doodads, literature (Milton), interstellar travel
Story takes place in the near future. A hitman has been making hits that have been contracted by an AI spam filter to eliminate spam by having the spammer assassinated. He’s been given instructions, information, and assistance through crowdsourcing. After figures out he’s actually working for a company, who he believes has turned on him, he kills much of their board of directors. However, he ultimately meets his end at the hands of another assassin filling a contract generated by another, competing computer from another, competing company.The Tech: artificial intelliigence, crowdsourcing, smart filters
“The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.” ~ B.F. Skinner
A short story by Issac Asimov that looks at the future of education through the eyes of children 100+ years in the future (200 from publication date). Two children discover an ancient educational device in their grandma’s attic called a “book.” They marvel at the idea that children once went to school to be taught together by a person rather than have individual instruction at home on their mechanical “teacher.”The Tech: a mechanical "teacher"