It’s a slightly click-baity title, but as we’re still generating more content for our magazines, this one included, why not?
My Sci-fi unpopular opinion is that 2001: A Space Odyssey is nothing but pretentious, LSD fueled nonsense. I’ve tried watching it multiple times and each time I have absolutely no patience for the pointless little scenes which contain little to no depth or meaningful plot, all coalescing towards that 15 minute “journey” through space and series of hallucinations or whatever that are supposed to be deep, shake you to your foundations, and make you re-think the whole human condition.
But it doesn’t. Because it’s just pretentious, LSD fueled nonsense. Planet of the Apes was released in the same year and is, on every level, a better Sci-fi movie. It offers mystery, a consistent and engaging plot, relatable characters you actually care about, and asks a lot more questions about the world and our place in it.
Hah. I read the whole thing in pretty much one long sitting over a weekend, so I don’t think I quite agree. I was way more bothered by the obvious propaganda than I was about the writing or the translation. But then again that’s pretty frequent in all sci-fi, don’t think I don’t notice it just as much in US media.
EDIT: I also don’t quite thing its game theory approach to the Fermi paradox makes too much sense, but once again, that one is shared with a lot of other hard sci-fi.
EDIT EDIT: Oh, here’s a fun one: given the Prime Directive, Star Trek is technically a “dark forest” sci-fi setting. That one may need its own thread.