Sci-fi Creative Corner

In this show, we're discussing world building in African American science fiction literature, as part of our Black History Month Series.  Dr. Bethany Jacobs is our guest host. Bethany Jacobs is a Marion L. Brittain Postdoctoral Fellow at Georgia Tech in the writing and communication program. She received her PhD in American Literature from the University of Oregon. She teaches and publishes African american women’s writing and science fiction and narratives of social protest. We're delving deep into how creating sci-fi worlds can aide in African Americans perception of the future.

In celebration of Valentine’s Day, this week’s episode features love and romance in Sci-fi. A great part about romance in Sci-Fi is the existence of interspecies relationships. We are talking robot/human, alien/human, etc. It’s something you only find in our favorite genre! Some of our favorite interspecies relationships are Liv and Major in iZombie, Gamora and Starlord in Guardians of the Galaxy, Spike and Buffy in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Rose and the Doctor in Doctor Who. We also shout out to our meant-to-be OTPs: Zoe and Wash and Mal and Inara in Firefly, Han and Leia in Star Wars, Neo and Trinity in The Matrix, Tony Stark and Pepper Pots - Iron Man, Uhura and Spock in Star Trek, and the whole cast of Sense 8 Let’s not forget strength of platonic love! Some of our favorites that we talk about are the Setras of Orphan Black, Jessica and Trish in Jessica Jones, Ravi and Major in iZombie, R2D2 and C3PO in Star Wars, and Hero and Ando in Hero If you’re feeling a little mush and want to watch some lovin’ in Science Fiction, be sure to check out one of our recommendations: Deadpool, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Safety Not Guaranteed, In Your Eyes, The Matrix, or Gattaca.

(Recorded Jan 25th) We're discussing our expectations of the new afro-futurist comic book movie, Black Panther! Our expectations and concerns with the heavy handed marketing campaign. T’Challa’s sister, Shuri is the smartest person in the Marvel universe, out ranking Tony Stark - According to Comic Book Resources https://www.cbr.com/black-panther-shuri-smartest-person/ The great soundtrack with Kendrick Lamar. Anticipation for the return of Westworld - season 2. HBO working with MCSFO on promoting Westworld to a diverse audience. Other titles, actors, characters mentioned: Serenity/Firefly, Thandie Newton, Mr. Black, Sansar VR company, The Shape of Water Oscar nominations. Predictions and concerns for Ava Duvernay’s a Wrinkle in Time film, will it be more style over substance?? Excitement for Annihilation, with it’s strong all female cast and great Ex-Machina director, Alex Garland. New sf film, The Beyond gaining momentum! . MCSFO’s new sci-fi film festival for Children – Kids with S.T.E.A.M. and this year’s theme for the annual Atlanta Sci-fi Film Festival.

(Recorded Jan 25th) Remembering Ursula Le Guin, one of the best sci-fi/fantasy authors in our time, died on Jan 22nd. We’re discussing several of her books – Earthsea, The Dispossessed and The Left Hand of Darkness. And the Sci-fi Channel miniseries adaptation of Earthsea, and how Ursula’s main points in the book were sorely missed in the series. Issues with adapting sf books and how readers need to approach adaptations. Best example of an adaptation getting it right, The Expanse! Expectations of Altered Carbon and its challenge of being compared to Ghost in the Shell with its white washing issues. Cyber-punk movement is back! Is Netflix’s Dark series may be too dark for some? One of our hosts thinks so. Other sci-fi titles and authors mentioned: Octavia Butler, Parable of the Sower, Parable of the Talents, Samuel Delaney’s Nova, Amazon’s Tolkien series, Dune, Netflix’s Bright, ARQ, Fringe, X-Files, William Gibson, The Road, Blade Runner, Black Mirror.

Meet the Hosts of the MCSFO Podcast show - Zachary Vaudo, Mike Smith, Colin Sharpe and Amanda Ray! MCSFO Podcast is back with new hosts! Get to know each of us: our backgrounds, knowledge of sci-fi, and what we will each cover on the show. We’re also, covering diversity in sf and changes happening in the fast growing genre. Sharing our experiences falling in love with sf and from the perspective of an African American Women, Jewish bi-sexual male, and from 4 different generations!

Contributing Host: Zachary Vaudo (WARNING: EXPLICIT LANGUAGE) Netflix’s first series of 2018, Altered Carbon, released on February 2nd, and it is a massive storm of cyberpunk detective goodness. Raw, intense, silly, and engaging, this adaptation of Richard Morgan’s early-2000s novel is visually stunning, highly entertaining, and surprisingly complex with concepts on multiculturalism, personal identity, and philosophy in the future. Sources mentioned in this episode: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt6607748 https://www.reddit.com/r/alteredcarbon/comments/7upy29/altered_carbon_season_1_episode_discussion_hub/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altered_Carbon https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/feb/01/altered-carbon-review-ambitious-netflix-sci-fi-is-flashy-flawed-and-fun Find us on MCSFO.org, or follow us on Twitter at @MulticulturalSciFiOrg

Dr. Tobias WIlson-Bates closes out our 3 part series on World-Building in Science Fiction. Today, Dr. Bates focus is on time travel and technology in world-building. Dr. Bates has a PHD from University of Davis California, studied 19th Century Literature, with focus on novels, specifically on time and technology. He’s now a Marion Brittan Post Doctorate Fellow and teaches classes on Time Travel and Robotics at GA Tech.

Today Laura Grace is speaking with Dr. Bethany Jacobs - a Marion L. Britain Postdoctoral Fellow at Georgia Tech in the writing and communication program. She received her PhD in American Literature from the University of Oregon. She teaches African American women’s writing and science fiction and narratives of social protest. Here she discuss the results of an interesting world-building project she gave to her students this semester - where they looked into world-building in speculative texts by people of color.

The goal of this podcast show is to challenge filmmakers and writers to imagine greater! To inspire them to move away from dystopian narratives and tropes. To challenge themselves to create worlds with more favorable experiences, while still creating a world ppl can see themselves living in. GA Tech professors: Dr. Yaszek, Dr. Jacobs and Dr. Bates all discuss world-building from different perspectives.

Today's podcast I'm discussing the great Black Mirror episode, San Junipero and the alternate ending people were talking about in the article on Vulture - http://www.vulture.com/2016/10/black-mirror-san-junipero-ending.html as well as the article on the technology used in the story - http://www.vulture.com/2016/10/san-junipero-real-life-ask-a-neuroscientist.html