Your mom's version of this problem is interesting. In workshops, I've heard this referred to as the "strangeness budget" and the discussion, from a writer's standpoint, is not to overspend your strangeness budget. And in some cases, like with your mom, you can't know how much strangeness a reader/viewer will take before just saying they can't take it any more. So I bet if Firefly had both spaceships AND aliens, it wouldn't have worked for her?
Thanks for sharing!
Oh, and I meant to say: I feel your pain about older fiction and television shows. TV as well as movies, sometimes it's just so OBVIOUS the thing was filmed before special effects got GOOD, and so it ends up looking dated. Heck, even camera angles and LIGHTING can make something look dated! I feel your pain. :)
I must have a very high strangeness budget, because I thought BSG was awesome in execution, daring to go where Star Trek did not (and since I've seen most of both, I know of what I speak), if too mystical for what I consider SF.
When I was in elementary school, I was unaware that there was such a genre as science fiction and fantasy, despite being a voracious reader. I think the kids' books I was mostly reading weren't separated out that way at the library. I had read some fantasy without realizing it was part of a larger genre. I loved the Narnia books and A Wrinkle in Time, for example. The first book I re-read more than 5 times was a British book called The Talking Parcel, which involved three cousins going to Mythologia to rescue 5-ft-tall talking magic books from the evil cockatrices
( ... )
I was never a Trekkie. The friend I mentioned in the post? She and I had a bet: she's watch the original trilogy (which she'd never seen before) and I'd watch the equivalent amount of Star Trek. That ended up being Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Generations, and a few Voyager episodes (she was a HUGE fan of Mulgrew's Captain Janeway). We never truly WON each other over to each other's fandoms (though I seem to remember her jumping up and down after watching Return of the Jedi saying "I love Star Wars!" over and over...), but I think we definitely broke down our personal biases quite a bit: I learned to appreciate what Star Trek had to offer, and she came to appreciate and enjoy Star Wars.
I haven't really sought out any Trek since, save for the J.J. Abrams reboot of the movie franchise, which rocked my world. :)
Great comments. :) I agree with pretty much everything you've pointed out. It's a shame, to me, that certain fantasy franchises just haven't taken off due to low ratings or ticket sales: see The Legend of the Seeker television series (based off Terry Goodkind's books) and The Golden Compass film adaptation.
That reminds me, I really need to finish reading Pullman's trilogy...
This is so WEIRD! I just came back from the bookstore with my first 3 Star Wars books, because I've been craving some more Star Wars stories while I wait for The Old Republic game to come out. And then you do a post on Star Wars books! Weird!
Anyway I'm really excited to read them.
As for fandoms, I'm the kind who tends to latch onto anything that is able to sustain my interest in it. Such as movies being released over years, books in a series, etc. I'm not a re-watcher or re-reader so it has to be something that is continually updated. Maybe that's why I love comic books.
Have you read a lot of the Star Wars expanded universe novels? Which ones did you pick up today? I haven't ready any of the stuff released since... 2005? I've still got a small stack to read, though there's a part of me that's afraid of continuing. I did read The Force Unleashed (first one) because I was ridiculously curious about the game. :)
Nope, I've never read any novels (although I know some of the story of certain events). I picked up Heir to the Empire, Knight Errant and Darth Bane: The Path of Destruction. I'll start them soon I hope and post reviews for them.
When I attended the Odyssey Writer's Workshop in 2005, I spent six weeks worth of intense writing and critiquing. I was afraid that after the experience, the stuff I read prior to Odyssey wouldn't stand up to scrutiny, and I'm trying to preserve nostalgia. Not that Star Wars books are bad: I've read some fantastic ones, and I've read some stinkers. It just depends on the author.
That's a somewhat complicated question. I don't really refuse to look at fandoms other than the one(s) I'm involved with - for example, Harry Potter and Star Wars have awakened in me an interest in SF/F as genres that I didn't know I could have at first -, but reading or watching something doesn't necessarily mean being OMG!passionate about it.
I am passionate about Harry Potter and Star Wars. Period (as least for now). That doesn't mean I am not going to read other SF/F stuff - or rather, it does but only because I can't really afford all the books I'd like to buy (I'm a "buyer"), and at this moment I just want everything that has to do with Star Wars.
Speaking of that, have you read the Lost Tribe of the Sith e-book series yet? I'm reading the second one, Skyborn, at the moment and loving it.
With the exception of The Force Unleashed (first book, not the second), I haven't read a Star Wars book since 2005. :) However, Erika from Jawas Read, Too! (Word Press), might be familiar with it, if you're looking to chat about it. :)
And you make a good point: often, my selections were limited to what I could afford anyway, and since I was a Star Wars fangirl at the time, it makes sense that's where my cash went. :)
I haven't read The Force Unleashed yet. I'm a beginner to the Star Wars books, and I'm trying to read them in a more or less chronological order, hence I'm starting with Lost Tribe of the Sith (the series is set around 5,000 before the battle of Yavin). I'll get there though :)
Before Star Wars, I was a Baby-Sitter's Club and Sweet Valley fangirl, as well as a major fan of the author Cherie Bennett, who was predominantly known for her Sunset Island series. :) But yeah, I was a fixater too!
Maybe that's why I don't like sitting down and going through a whole series all at once now, perhaps? I want to spread the installments out, even if I love the first book in the series. Hmmm...
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Thanks for sharing!
Oh, and I meant to say: I feel your pain about older fiction and television shows. TV as well as movies, sometimes it's just so OBVIOUS the thing was filmed before special effects got GOOD, and so it ends up looking dated. Heck, even camera angles and LIGHTING can make something look dated! I feel your pain. :)
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I haven't really sought out any Trek since, save for the J.J. Abrams reboot of the movie franchise, which rocked my world. :)
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That reminds me, I really need to finish reading Pullman's trilogy...
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Anyway I'm really excited to read them.
As for fandoms, I'm the kind who tends to latch onto anything that is able to sustain my interest in it. Such as movies being released over years, books in a series, etc. I'm not a re-watcher or re-reader so it has to be something that is continually updated. Maybe that's why I love comic books.
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Why are you afraid of continuing?
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But tell that to my paranoid mind. :)
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I am passionate about Harry Potter and Star Wars. Period (as least for now). That doesn't mean I am not going to read other SF/F stuff - or rather, it does but only because I can't really afford all the books I'd like to buy (I'm a "buyer"), and at this moment I just want everything that has to do with Star Wars.
Speaking of that, have you read the Lost Tribe of the Sith e-book series yet? I'm reading the second one, Skyborn, at the moment and loving it.
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And you make a good point: often, my selections were limited to what I could afford anyway, and since I was a Star Wars fangirl at the time, it makes sense that's where my cash went. :)
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Maybe that's why I don't like sitting down and going through a whole series all at once now, perhaps? I want to spread the installments out, even if I love the first book in the series. Hmmm...
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