Role Models in Science Fiction

Oct 14, 2009 14:24

I've been considering the lack of scientist/engineer role models in current TV science fiction ( Read more... )

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kludge October 14 2009, 15:38:01 UTC

I realise that it's essentially a kind of inverse spoiler, but which book?

Also: Forensics. One of my friends is a forensic scientist, and she always finds forensics shows annoying because they're all good-looking people kicking (metaphorical) arse.

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elseware October 14 2009, 16:00:08 UTC
China Melville, Un Lun Dun. Also has the lovely idea of symbolism crossing both ways... Like the fact that you guys built a pointless wheel thing on the site of our great waterwheel, or that fact that fashions on the other side seem to leak into our world as uniforms for police and traffic wardens etc.

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elseware October 14 2009, 16:00:49 UTC
I decided to skip Dexter on my role models list...

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kludge October 14 2009, 16:07:06 UTC
But he's an excellent role-model compared to many screen scientists!

  • No hang-ups about women
  • Devoted step-father/father
  • unique problem-solving skills

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ext_31109 October 15 2009, 03:28:14 UTC
CSI (Vegas) worked for me when I was watching that. Grissom isn't that much better looking than a lot of real scientists. He does a lot of staying in a lab thinking and talking to people. Not too bad, but then I'm not a forensic scientist, maybe even Grissom is too silly if you actually know what you're doing.

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kludge October 15 2009, 07:22:23 UTC
Grissom is OK, but he's surrounded by clothes-horses - which I think was her complaint. The actual science on CSI: Vegas is not bad, I understand.

CSI: NY, on the other hand, appears to be pure technological fiction every time I watch it - for instance, their "zoom in on that" sequences seems to imply that their digital cameras have sensors around the terapixel range.

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elseware October 15 2009, 08:15:18 UTC
I did love the scene in Buffy where Cordelia asks for a video to be enhanced, and Xanders points out that it's just a video and you can't actually do that, but it does turn out to have a real live "pause" function.

It does make me sad when the computer tech is just plain wrong in a modern show -- 3D displays in Bones, "Could you cross reference that with all the guys in Idaho with a limp who dislike chocolate ice cream and are secretly gay?" "Sure!", or the laptop in Torchwood where the screen starts to fade in and out as it runs out of power. That's the worst as a 10 year old knows that's bollocks.

I actually really want to see Nick's version of the Matrix. We'll get XKCD to do the scripts, Charlie Stross to direct. Perhaps Will Wheaton will be available to star, failing that the chap who plays Hiro in Heroes has a degree in computer science (and actiing).

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