A month's worth of links

I seem incapable of reading all my RSS feeds more often than monthly, unfortunately. But hey—that means big linkdumps like this one, and everyone loves those!

• SciFi Scanner interviews Ronald Moore about the conclusion of Battlestar Galactica, and roughly half of the interview is about the role of religion in the show. That's the good news. The bad news is this:

The journey is not over, but certainly both sides are suddenly faced with the prospect, "Maybe it's all been for nothing. Maybe there is no God, and if that's the case where do we go from here? What does it all mean and what are we going to do with ourselves?" which I think is a great place to take the characters.

Sure, Ron, it's a good place to take them. Just don't leave them there, OK? 'Cause if the whole point of this occasionally very upsetting journey has been that there's no point to anything... well, let's just say BSG won't be on the list of 14 awesome things about 2009.

• I knew Richard Dawkins was a humorless bastard, but this takes the cake: he suspects fantasy novels might have an "insidious affect on rationality." The best part? This whole discussion takes place in the context of Mr. "Do-Not-Indoctrinate-Your-Children" announcing that he's going to write "a children's book on how to think about the world, science thinking contrasted with mythical thinking." 
• Also in the Humorless Bastards Department, the Fourth Annual Christian Filmmakers Academy will focus on the theology of SF film—and not in a good way, from the sound of things. Founder Doug Phillips states: "The popular genre has been responsible for persuading American thrill-and-chill- seekers that fictional speculation is reality—especially in regard to the creation of the universe, life on earth, and the 'certainty' of extraterrestrial life." This is pretty much the same anti-SF stance given by James A. Herrick in his polemical book Scientific Mythologies (review coming within a month, really!). One wonders what these anti-SF evangelicals will say when bacteria are (inevitably) found elsewhere... Oh, and to give you a sense of just what kind of Christian filmmakers make up the Christian Filmmakers Academy, they've declared Ben Stein's histrionic and generally dumb Expelled to be one of "the year’s most groundbreaking films." Yeeeeeaaaah.
• In the wish-I'd-thought-of-it category at Holy Heroes, Elliot explores crucifixion imagery in the work of Grant Morrison. Man, I love that Animal Man cover...
• The Crotchety Old Fan reviews... SF Gospel! Well, not just me. He's reviewing every site that was included in that ginormous SF Book Reviewers meme that started a few weeks back (and has been turned into a song—I'm in the last verse.) COF goes into a bit more depth on SF Gospel than on some of the other sites. On his comments I say: 1) Oops, you're right—Klaatu didn't speak to the UN in the original; 2) I'm aware of Wise's opinion, but I stand by my interpretation (particularly since Wise didn't write the screenplay); 3) I hope you won't disagree with everything here, and in fact I can guarantee it right now: The original The Day the Earth Stood Still is a darned good movie. See, we agree on at least one thing.
• Auxiliary Memory takes a look at Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End with an eye to its religious overtones—including a comparison or two to the aforementioned The Day the Earth Stood Still.
• As soon as I have time to play video games again, I'm getting this: "The You Testament," an early church simulator by indie game designer MDickie in which you play one of the first disciples of Jesus. You get to wander around Israel preaching, praying, and possibly getting crucified. 

Comments

[steve davidson]

After 'reviewing' your site - any chance you might want to send me a copy of your book for review? (It'll have to wait until I'm finished Saturn's Children, Zoe's Tale, Marsbound and The Accidental Time Machine) - but I AM intrigued by the subject matter.

I think you've got a very nice niche here.

I also think we could argue just about forever - or at least as long as the time frame between TDTESS-O and TDTESS-TR - regarding who was doing what.

True, the writers kind of fessed up years later, and Wise maintains his ignorance - but maybe he wasn't all that ignorant and laced just a little bit of 'directing' into his directing - particularly that smug, knowing smile by Rennie as he throws away the Carpenter laundry tag.

The 'crown-of-thorns' imagery is certainly good evidence - but if you look at any film from back then (directed and lit by masters), ALL of them were playing with light and shadow. There seems to have been a one-upsmanship game going on between directors in that regard and I think it's reasonable to argue that Wise was just struck by the shapes and shadows. His usage in that film was absolutely superb. The streets, when Billy sneaks out at night - brilliance!

[Caithlin]

Your Dawkins link is broken. :-(

[Gabriel Mckee]

Caithlin: Oops! Thanks for letting me know-- it should be working now.