A real visionary, this guy. I fell asleep reading so many of his books, but unlike most authors, it wasn't because they were boring. RIP, space cowboy.
Mark
Posted by Mars Needs Women (Member # 1505) on :
Oh I'm sorry to hear this.
Posted by Sean (Member # 2010) on :
Only the good die young, or in this case old, but sad all the same.
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
True sadness, we lose Gene and Arthur and get Mike and Rick.
Posted by Daniel Butler (Member # 1689) on :
And with Gygax gone as well (and Asimov gone years ago) it's like the death of some kind of Golden Age.
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
The Dark Ages of Sci Fi are upon us.
Posted by Sean (Member # 2010) on :
Yep. A new ST movie, a new SW movie (animated too) and the ending of the original Stargate. However, we have gained SG Atlantis, a live action Transformers movie, and Battle Star Galactica.
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
Asimov was no great loss.
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Explain.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
"However, we have gained SG Atlantis, a live action Transformers movie, and Battle Star Galactica."
"Atlantis" hasn't been as good as it used to be (though that could theoretically change). "Battlestar Galactica" is ending after this year. And the Transformers movie was crap.
Posted by WizArtist II (Member # 1425) on :
No, that would happen if they tried to make a David Brin book into a movie.
I would really like to see a series of Gordon Dickson's "Dorsai" books made into movies. Always liked his work.
Posted by Sean (Member # 2010) on :
One science fiction novel I am not too keen on is Farenheit 451. DENHAM'S DENTIFRICE DENHAM'S DENTIFRICE DENHAM'S DENTIFRICE DENHAM'S DENTIFRICE DENHAM'S DENTIFRICE DENHAM'S DENTIFRICE
There was a whole page devoted to a tooth paste advert!
Posted by Daniel Butler (Member # 1689) on :
I'm with you - that book wasn't very good. OH MY GOD! KIDS DRIVING AT 90MPH!? BOOKS ARE ILLEGAL! And, uh, apparently the Internet never happened either, or else it was made illegal too and not a single person minded - after all, it would only take one to keep a chest fulla flash drives or something...
Posted by Sean (Member # 2010) on :
What! No internet pr0n? How would certain members of this forum survive? Books are illegal too, so that includes magazines...
Posted by Fabrux (Member # 71) on :
Age: Fahrenheit 451 > internet
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
quote:Originally posted by Lee: Explain.
Characters should be more than talking plot devices.
Posted by HopefulNebula (Member # 1933) on :
I only skimmed F451. The teacher who assigned it to us taught it from Cliff's Notes because she couldn't be bothered to read it herself; why should I do any different?
Posted by Sean (Member # 2010) on :
I was absent from school with medication related illnesses for the majority of the reading. I find it hard to read when I am asleep, or druged up, or so emotional that I cry when Voyager comes on the tele.
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
Voyager makes me want to cry sometimes too.
And yes, I'll agree that Asimov's characters were at times just talking plot devices. Two books had a man who was never wrong, it was the driving force behind the entire plot, and NOBODY bothers to ask how this can possibly be! But Asimov could also rise above that. Read "Prelude to Foundation" and "Forward the Foundation" to see that. "The Gods Themselves" for an earlier example. Or "The Bicentennial Man" and "The Ugly Little Boy", among other short stories. And even when his characters were just advancing the plot, the plots were pretty damned good.
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
I had a hard time caring about the plots. I tried the Foundation books after my dad bought them for me. It was like eating ash, so I sold them.
Posted by Sean (Member # 2010) on :
I read a short story once, I think by Asimov. Algernon? I think the name was. A nice little story about a mentally slow man who is made smart along with a lab rat. They both die however. Sad. Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
That's not Asimov.
Posted by HerbShrump (Member # 1230) on :
Neither's Fahrenheit 451
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
And, whether it sucked or not, the proposal of the Transformers live-action movie as evidence for this NOT being a Dark Age of Sci-Fi is inherently depressing. It's like when someone here said "I DO read Sci-Fi - for example, I've read all the X-Files novels!"
Posted by B.J. (Member # 858) on :
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
I guess I'd rather eat 'ash' as opposed to watch a two story robo-car not be seen in the open, since it appears the neighbors do not look out there windows.
Timing sequences like that, example, dragon wars, where the evil serpent is at the window and the shrink turns around too late to see it. So freaking cheesy.
SG-1 not so good movie. SGA spin off and pretty dullish now BSG rehash Tranformers reshash Flash Gordon bleh, Flesh Gordon could be a better alternative.
Sci Fi today bleh
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
I didn't say the rest of that was any good, either. In fact, I've seen none of it.
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
quote:Sci Fi today bleh
Terminator!
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
Hey, I didn't kill it, blame hollycrap for not having original ideas.
Posted by Daniel Butler (Member # 1689) on :
I know F451 was older than the net...I'm not saying he should've seen ahead somehow...but that doesn't mean it isn't dated anymore.
Posted by Kosh (Member # 167) on :
quote:Originally posted by Shik: Asimov was no great loss.
(Beats Shik senseless)
Posted by Mars Needs Women (Member # 1505) on :
No great loss, to you maybe.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Grumble grumble, conflation of books with TV, grumble.
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
Bitches, please. Asimov was an idea man only. He should've sold off that shit & let someone with talent write them up.
Posted by Sean (Member # 2010) on :
Chances are that that hired writer would fail to apply the ideas in the context that they were meant to be in. He might put have tried to put something like F451 ( which was written by Bradbury, I know, but I'm using this as an example because I am not familiar with Asimov's works) in the past, or direct present day, or too far in the future. Sometimes the correct formula is in the writer's head, and only he/she can put it on paper in a way that makes the ideas flow.
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
You can still make a layout of the idea & let someone who actually can write handle the grunt work. Happens all the time.
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
Shik, you base your opinions on reading how much Asimov, exactly? Yes, he based a lot of his stories on his (awesome) concepts of psychohistory and the three laws of robotics, and especially in the early Foundation trilogy that came at the expense of characterization. But he also wrote stories that had very powerful emotional content. Forward the Foundation is essentially the story of a great man slowly losing everyone he's ever cared about as he ages, even as he tries to leave something behind for the rest of humanity. You can see Asimov himself there, writing just before he died.
If all you've read is some of the early Foundation books, you don't know Asimov at all.
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
No, there's more that I read...it's just that none of it was particularly enough to stick with me save the 2 short stories that every & their uncle knows. And I don't read later books of a series without reading the ones that came before. And that's not like to happen any time soon.
Again, in short: Asimov--visionary brain, awful writer. There's no shame in that.
Posted by The Ginger Beacon (Member # 1585) on :
His short stories were much better - they suited his style much better. Foundation books kind of read like a text book sometimes.
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
Agreed.
Posted by Mars Needs Women (Member # 1505) on :
Yes, I enjoyed his short story version of Nightfall very much.
Posted by Daniel Butler (Member # 1689) on :
I haven't read *much* of him...a few things, here and there. Some non-fiction when I was a kid. What I remember most is, of course, the short that Shik mentioned.
I also remember ssssomething about a...companion star and planet to the Sun...hidden behind a dust cloud...sentient bacteria or somesuch...What do I google here, 'planet dustcloud asimov companion'...Aha! "Nemesis."
Posted by Pensive's Wetness (Member # 1203) on :
Imagine if Azimov or AcC helped create Macross...
in a way, he/they did...
Posted by WizArtist II (Member # 1425) on :
Shik is really Giskard.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
(Foundation is, of course, a fix-up novel.)
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
(Is that like a fix-up home?)
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
