Sci-Fi Malady

It has been a busy week for all of us here at Sci-Fi Malady and that means that we don't have a new symptom for this week. As a result I have dug into the vault and decided to re-post an earlier episode where Corey, Scott and The RageMaster break down the San Juniper Episode of Black Mirror. If you have caught the sickness late and missed this Episode I think you will enjoy it, if you heard it the first time I think it is worth a re-listen as there was a lot of good stuff in this one. 

It is another Isolation Unit Episode. That means no one put the 86 on a Star Trek topic.  On May 17th the first trailer for the new Star Trek Discovery TV show was released. I think I hate it.  I don't want to hate, but combined with the behind scenes dysfunction associated with the new show, I am worried. This is a short Sci-Fi Malady symptom, only about 19 minutes. It has the required crapping on JJ Abrams and me rushing to judgment on something I haven't seen yet. Maybe I will eat my words on this one, I hope I do. Enjoy. 

The Marvel cinematic universe is a smash success.  It seems Marvel cannot miss recently with their superhero movies.  Whether it is the Avengers franchise, or the individual hero stories, Marvel just keeps releasing well paced, action filled and thoroughly entertaining films.  The question remains though, is this good for comic book fans.  

On the surface this seems like an odd question. Of course it has to be good for comics if graphic novels are adapted successfully to the big screen.  Is it though? Movies and comics are very different mediums with very dissimilar audiences.  What works for one may not work for another. 

This week Scott and the RageMaster discuss the MCU and this question of is the MCU good for comics.  

The Marvel Cinematic Universe once again goes interstellar with Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2. This film ramps up the action, effects, and humor in a way that improves upon the original without sacrificing story or character development.  The common thread that runs along this film is the importance of family. As the film progresses, each member of the team realizes how they need one another.  While doing this, the film maintains its slapstick humor, edge of your seat action, and killer soundtrack.  On this week’s symptom, Scott, the Ragemaster, and special guest Groot heap atoms of praise upon James Gunn’s latest addition to the Marvel films franchise.

We love science fiction.  It is awesome.  Sci-Fi allows authors and writers to explore the question of what it means to be human as well as attempt to the predict the future or even explore alternate history. These are some of the strengths of the genre, except when that fiction is presented as fact. 

Enter Ancient Aliens. To call it pseudo-archaeology is an insult to pseudo-archaeologists.  Ancient Aliens is science fiction. If it was presented as such, it would be a fine and provocative show. Unfortunately it is presented a science fact, and often deceptively so. The show is dangerous as it further expands upon a trend of false science and false news spun to fit a predetermined narrative. In an era when science is distrusted and losing a public relations war against political and religious ideologues - Ancient Aliens only further weakens trust in actual science. 

So here is Symptom 22 - calling Ancient Aliens what it is - science fiction. 

It is time for another video game review.  This week Scott and Corey decided it was finally time to break down XCOM2.  Turn based strategy games are largely dead on console gaming platforms, but that didn't stop Firaxis and 2K gaming from releasing in our opinion one of the best games in recent years. XCOM2 has near infinite replayability and near perfect strategic gameplay. The story, while not Last of Us good, is good enough to captivate and even poses a few questions about the nature of human beings during a crisis. XCOM2 gets the Sci-Fi Malady seal of approval, it is just a fantastically well done game and we are eagerly awaiting XCOM3. 

Expanded universes, the exclusive domain of the superfan. This is where those of us sci-fi nerds who can't get enough of their favorite franchises live.  It is where you find out that Luke married a Jedi chick named Mara Jade (pre-disney and pre-prequels that is) or what actually happened to Balok and the people of First Federation, or what in the world Shepard Book's backstory in Firefly  really was.  

Yet, this is where you also get complete lunacy, like Ripley killing a hive mother in single combat without any enhancements or airlocks to blow her out of, or 60 something year Dr. Crusher having child with Captain Picard, or Mon Mothma demilitarizing the New Republic while the Empire was actually still around and still enslaving millions.

So yeah, expanded universes are a mixed bag. In symptom 20 Scott, Corey and the RageMaster attempt to figure out are they good for science fiction and if so, are the canon, or are they just glorified sanctioned fan fiction?

Also, anytime Scott says fan fiction by mistake in this podcast, he means 'expanded universe'.

It is hard to believe it has been 30 years since the Real Ghostbusters cartoon debuted. This was my introduction to science fiction. The technobabble, the proton packs, containment unit and overall the science drew me like fly to a bug zapper. This was my first favorite TV show. Recently Netflix released the series for streaming view.  I was nervous, would the series hold up? Yes. A resounding, reverberating yes. 30 years later and the show is as awesome as ever.  

So here is Symptom 19, an isolation unit episode with just Scott rambling on about a the Ghostbuster cartoon for 30 minutes. Enjoy and I promise the next upload will at least have one other member of the Sci-Fi Malady crew on board. 

Back in early March the RageMaster and Scott discussed new movie releases slated for 2017. This week they review The Discovery, the Netflix original film in which an afterlife is confirmed.  Both Scott and RageMaster were both very excited for this film and they felt that while the movie was overall solid, it was not the smash hit anticipated based on the preview. 

Symptom 18 digs deep into concepts of death and an afterlife, as well as looking analyzing the character behaviors in the movie. We try to figure exactly what statement the writer was attempting to make about death and how belief or a lack of belief in an afterlife influences human behavior and societal norms as a whole. Hope you enjoy Symptom 18. 

To finish off our recent run of list based shows in this symptom of Sci-Fi Malady Scott and The Ragemaster discuss three times science fiction correctly predicted the future and three times they got it wrong.  Science fiction writers are often portrayed as being visionaries of the future and sometimes they are, equally often though, the writers get it horribly wrong. So enjoy this week's Sci-Fi Malady as we break down when SciFiDamus got it right and when he or she got it totally and completely wrong. 

Let us know your thoughts by leaving comments at RavingLunaticMedia.com or tweeting at us @mediaraving on twitter.