A truly great list that I agree with 100%!
It’s tempting to look around at today’s literary scene, with its Twilight and its Fifty Shades of Grey, and wonder if we shouldn’t just flush the whole goddamn concept of written language down the toilet — maybe start again with some sort of hybrid colorwheel/odor system for communicating thoughts. Strangely, the one genre thriving in the swamp of modern literature seems to be science fiction. It’s kind of appropriate, actually: All of our crazy high technology has made publishing and distributing books about crazy high technology much more approachable and widespread than ever. But even the best works could stand to learn a little something from the past, so here are a few things that I miss about old science fiction, and would like to see come back.
via 4 Things Science Fiction Needs to Bring Back | Cracked.com.
How do you figure Sci-Fi is thriving today?
I see Fantasy thriving. I see Sci-Fi dying. Science Fiction shows don’t normally get renewed anymore. Even Sci-fi movies tend not to be doing well in the theatres… much to my disappointment.
I wish Sky Captain was universally loved because it hits most of those four, but the truth was, it was loved by critics and ignored by audiences.
I’d like to see more fun and less grittiness too. Not that I want either to go away, but hell a balance would be lovely!
Actually, in the eBook world Sci-Fi is selling like hotcakes, whereas Fantasy has just been doing so-so. The exact opposite of the print world.
Also, think about how many Sci-Fi movies came out this year, and then compare it with the number of Fantasy movies?
TV Sci-Fi is indeed in a lull right now, mostly thanks to Sy-Fy Channel basically dumping it in favor of Reality TV and Wrestling. It was Sci-Fi TV’s last bastion of hope.