Christmas, and beyond...

So, Christmas is almost here, and with it my last blog post of 2024. Merry holidays in general to all. Also, if anyone reading this wants some sci-fi reading, you can not only potentially try my work The Cluster Cycle, (free online samples from each book here and here), but also help support the work of many talented writers including Juliet E. McKenna, Jendia Gammon, Gareth L. Powell, Emily Inkpen, and Tej Turner. Just to name a very few.

But...what comes in 2025. It's now been just a little over a year since my traditional debut, and it has been a wild year. Both personally, and on a global scale. And the next year looks like it's going to be giving 2023-2024 a run for its money for some of the crazier years in world history. I didn't need all this new dark sci-fi speculative material, I really didn't. Good things have happened, pushback has been seen against some of the daftest decisions, but there has also been insanity and cruelty and vanity doing its best to send our people and planet spiraling into terminal chaos.

I also needed to overcome a great big stinking chunk of writer's block that had been infesting me since my debut, a creeping and horrible sense of "I'm never going to write anything descent ever again, so what's the point?" I had to go back and think of something I truly, deeply loved writing within to get a project completed. I've also been going through the first parts of my Open University degree, a BA in English Language and Literature to bolster my possibilities of getting a day job. You know, what authors need if they're not going to be the stereotypical starving dependents in garrets. Except today, garrets are getting pretty expensive too.

I'm in a good position. I've got support, friends, and a publisher (Roan & Weatherford, in case anyone was wondering) who seems to be with me for the long haul. I've also been getting a better grip on my mental health, and as I go into my thirty-first year of existence in this world, I can try to find simple pleasures in things like repairs, education, writing what I really want to write and doing it in a readable way. I also need to remember to actually READ. And I'm counting audiobooks in this too, since one can absorb great literature through one's ears these days.

So yeah. I'm hoping I'll enjoy my upcoming holidays, both with family visiting and after that my first overseas trip to see an exhibition of Yoshitaka Amano in Milan. And when I return in the new year, I hope I shall have some fresh eyes and perspective with which to attack 2025 with what I know I have when I get my head the right way round: verve, humour, and common sense.

My watching experience: Older/classic sci-fi

 I'm a writer. Of sci-fi and fantasy, but my debut and current series The Cluster Cycle is a science fiction space opera spanning a millennium of history. As one might expect, I have actually experienced a goodly amount of classic science fiction films. And a usual allowance of filmic drek. I've seen people recently either recalling memories of older titles they watched way back when or talking about their experience watching them.

Now, disclaimer time, I've not watched EVERY classic sci-fi movie. I've never watched The Thing yet because it didn't look that appealing and I've never clicked with Carpenter. I've just not come across Event Horizon to watch. Others that I can't name off the top of my head... Well, the fact I can't name them off the top of my head should be indication enough that they didn't stick. So here in no particular order are twelve movies I saw back in the day, my memories of first watching them, and what I think of them through older more cynical eyes. Plus opinions on the music for free.



Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country: I'd experienced Star Trek through its series broadcast on TV (Star Trek OG and Next Generation on reruns, and Deep Space Nine and Voyager during their debut UK broadcasts). The Undiscovered Country was my first Star Trek film, I think, and it provided a post for measuring others I came across. Its tone felt right to me, and still feels pertinent when compared to...super soldier shenanigans and time travel. Also that music. Oh, that music...

The Fifth Element: I hadn't seen this film in full for ages, but I'd seen parts of it. When I saw it in full, I knew: instant favourite. Not for Willis's character, terribly bland and bleh IMO, but for everything and everyone else. The art style, the gender-defiant fashion, Eric Serra's delirious score, the blending of grim elements with humour which I still find pretty funny. This has aged well for me, and continues to linger in the back of my mind.

Blade Runner: This is one of the rare instances where I first saw it and wasn't impressed because I was too young and too inexperienced in cyberpunk to get it. I rewatched it years later, and I got it. This isn't a film for everyone, it's grim and fatalistic and deliberately ambiguous. But unlike other titles in this article that play the ambiguity card, Blade Runner pulls it off. It also (eventually) manages to paint a sympathetic portrayal of the antagonists. And for the time it released, that still seems to have been comparatively rare in mainstream films/

Alien (1979): I'd heard vaguely about this through pop culture osmosis, but it hadn't been shown on television yet. Then the original Alien tetralogy was broadcast on Channel 4 during the 2000s. I think it was on a tape recorder or an earlier DVD recorder (I forget which, probably the former), but my sister recorded it, and I watched it the following morning. No need to go into details, just...wow. Still love it. And for my taste, theatrical cut over director's cut. Also, if you can, find Jerry Goldsmith's original cut of the musical score before Scott butchered it. It's an audio revelation.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind: I'm just going to say it, this was one of the most boring film experiences I have ever encountered. It wasn't that I can't take slow movies (I mean, I like the OG Star Trek film, which is commonly dubbed "The Slow-Motion Picture"), but this movie just felt like it had no idea what a plot was. It may be because I wasn't brought up within Roswell culture that the alien elements fell flat (Lindsey Ellis's Axiom's End and Stephen Cox's Child duology are doing a better job of introducing me to that aspect of American culture). I watched to see what all the fuss was about. I still don't get what all the fuss was about. And...the music feels like it's trying to make up for the movie's shortcomings, and because I don't tend to click with John Williams, it fails completely.

Ghost in the Shell: I'd heard about this franchise through references, got a recommendation, and decided to try my luck and watch it. What I got was a film that has only grown more enjoyable with age. It's an enjoyable cyperpunk-style sci-fi title that knows exactly what to do. It doesn't spend too long on scenes unless those scenes need to be long, it balances conversations and contemplation with some grade-A animated action. Yes, it's a little old, and the dub hasn't aged well, but I still find it a great title and a strong sci-fi experience regardless of its animated presentation (yes, the snobbery towards animation was and to a point is very real). Also, Kenji Kawai's score...chef's kiss.

Star Wars: My experience with this film series is odd, because I experienced the prequel trilogy as it was releasing, and my opinions on it have remained soft. Yes, it has problems, but it's not the worst by a long way. I saw the OG trilogy through my oldest sister's VHS versions, and I found them enchanting. I don't like the later re-edits, but thankfully the original films got a DVD release that we own. Do I wholeheartedly like Star Wars? No, but I appreciate it, and I do like the original trilogy as it seems to be saying something. Also Lucas had the restraining hand of other writers, which is where I think the prequel trilogy suffered. The music's...okay.

The Matrix: I saw this when I was...very young. And while I shall always have a soft spot for the first two sequels, the original Matrix is completely appreciable as a standalone experience. The fact that whole schools of scholarship have been dedicated to this film...isn't that surprising. I don't find Neo that great of a lead, but Trinity and Morpheus make up for it, and there is some genuine tension and serious questions about reality and desire that have aged like a fine wine in this era of AI-generated content and virtual reality. I liked it well enough when I saw it as a child. I like it even better now. And, once again, the soundtrack is incredible.

2001: A Space Odyssey: I love Arthur C. Clarke as a writer, A Fall of Moondust is one of my favourite books. But I loathe this film. I think it's because of the Kubrick influence that this whole film feels like it doesn't know what to say from one scene to the next. It jumps about with very little rhyme or reason, every scene is at least five minutes longer than it needs to be, and the ending is a confusing jumble that tries to give you a migraine. As I've said, I can enjoy slow movies, but not movies that seem to be suffering from both ADHD and impaired movement. Also, I can never forgive Kubrick for the fact an excellent original musical score was scrapped for royalty-free classical music. The Blue Danube and Also sprach Zarathustra are forever tainted by this mess of a movie.

Predator: Once again, heard about this through pop osmosis, and I was shocked. Compared to my previous Schwarzenegger experiences, this was quite the tonal whiplash. Having watched it later in life, I still like it, even if I don't watch it for a deep story. I watch it for its unique building dread and vicious deconstruction of the action man archetype that still attempts to infest modern films. I even enjoy the sequel, which takes things to the next level creating a lead that is...difficult to like. Predator isn't a film I'd rewatch often, but it has an appeal when I'm in the mood. Also, while I don't tend to enjoy Alan Silvestri's work, his score here is engaging and genuinely creepy.

The Day the Earth Stood Still: It's shocking how well this movie holds up. I saw this as a kid, remembered it fondly, and still think of it fondly. It has the subtlety of a sledgehammer during its final ten minutes, but then that's forgivable in sci-fi of that era. It paints a still-pointed image of humans as scared and sectarian, and within the production limitations (AKA self-censorship) of the time, it conveys a lot of disturbing messages and warnings. Oh yes, and a tiny note: NOT THE REMAKE! NEVER THE REMAKE! And the music's all right too, though I've never much liked 50s music.

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial: I suppose I should mention this one, as I did think it would be good. But...eh. I suppose I liked it well enough as a child, experiencing its approach to aliens for the first time. But I never wanted to rewatch it. And as I've grown older, that wonder has been replaced by a feeling that this film's story could have been told in 100 minutes rather than the 140-plus the original release used. I get it was aimed at a young audience, or at least I assume it was, but I as a child wasn't impressed. And the latter half is so full of needless dramatic cliches. Also, unlike most of the other films I've covered in this post, I really don't like the music, which wobbles between overdramatic and bland.



So, there we are. Twelve opinions, and depending on the movie hot takes that might get me cancelled. I don't know. Being honest about one's views and opinions is coming back into vogue now, so maybe we can say we don't like something other people do like. Anyway, hope you enjoyed it to a point if you got this far, and take care out there. We might enter a dystopia within the next few years, but let's hope not.

A (reasoned) defence of Ghibli's Tales from Earthsea

 In previous posts on this platform, I have talked about the Earthsea series by Ursula le Guin. The main book series, and the short story collection. They are classics, truly worthy of inclusion in the canon of fantasy and of wider literature. But I was introduced to the world of Earthsea via a route that...well, isn't well liked. Studio Ghibli's 2006 animated movie Tales from Earthsea. It was the directorial debut of Goro Miyazaki, and the stuff he had to endure from his father makes me pity him deeply and has permanently lowered my opinion on the older Miyazaki. But that's beside the point. How does the film adapt le Guin's work, and why do I still like it?

WARNING: THERE ARE SPOILERS FOR THE FILM IN THIS ARTICLE.

As a straight adaptation, it's terrible. It doesn't adapt a single book, but instead blends elements of multiple stories with more original elements. The story of the movie follows the archmage Ged on a journey across Earthsea as magic is fading from the world, and dragons are seen fighting. He takes in the wandering Arren, a young boy tormented by inner demons. The pair eventually find shelter with Ged's old ally Tenar, and her adopted daughter Therru, and eventually confront the evil wizard Cob.

This story blends elements taken from The Farthest Shore and Tehanu, with additional story beats and lore elements traceable to A Wizard of Earthsea, The Other Wind and the short story "Dragonfly". But there are also original elements that for book fans will come out of left field: some chronological elements, the inclusion of a slaver gang as secondary players, the reason and themeing behind Arren's torments, and a whole opening segment that is the furthest from le Guin's style it's possible to get.

As someone who adores the original books, I should find this as unwatchable as I find the film version of Eragon. Even more so given the complete whitewashing of the cast, something that is present in ALL of Studio Ghibli's works TBH. But when I look at this film, when I remember it, I remember that without this film, I wouldn't have been as deep into Earthsea as I have become. Though it strays wildly away from the stories, it keeps true to many of the series' themes and motifs. It preserves Therru's character in some important respects (she's the character most easily butchered) and doesn't go completely over the borderline as it might have done.

It helps that the music and performances help to sell this world. Tamiya Terashima's score is one of my favourite film soundtracks, blending orchestra with Celtic folk music. And the English dub is spellbinding. It sells the world in a way that I wasn't prepared for, and makes some of the...weaker elements of the plot and characters at least bearable.

Le Guin's own opinion was that...it wasn't her world, her Earthsea, but it was a fine film. And for the first work of a director under abusive pressure from a celebrity father holding an iron grip on his studio, it holds up. I like it far better than some other Studio Ghibli efforts. And it was my introduction to Earthsea at a time when my eyesight and reading problems meant the editions of Earthsea we had in the house were a closed book to me.

Should you watch it? Maybe, maybe not. If you're an Earthsea purist, you'd probably be insulted. But it is a good way of getting a feel for this world and these characters, from a culture the author was emulating. So...who knows? You might like it.