Favourite Sci-fi universe

[Belushi]

Not only would I be a member of the Empire I would volunteer for the ethnic cleansing of the Forest Moon of Endor.

 

[DotCommunist]

I would Blates live in the whoniverse- If I was a Time Lord with my own TARDIS

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

I always suspected I'd be on the side of the Empire - a combination of liking their hats and wanting to be a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, which seemed to be an entry requirement for Imperial Forces

There was a great article after one of the prequels arguing that the Empire were really the goodies, that the rebels would most likely turn the universe into Somalia writ large, while the Empire didn't really seem to do much other than maintain order, and that the Jedis were a hereditary elite, not something anyone could join and train up with...

 

[The Octagon]

When you think about it, the underlying philosophy of Star Wars and the jedi, as revealed in the prequels, is deeply dodgy, yet Lucas got away with it while everyone stood round shouting 'wacist!' at LOTR...

They did?

What for, I missed that.

I remember the deeply dodgy Jar Jar / Gungan / Trade Federation characters from the prequels though.

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

Not only would I be a member of the Empire I would volunteer for the ethnic cleansing of the Forest Moon of Endor.

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

They did?

What for, I missed that.

I remember the deeply dodgy Jar Jar / Gungan / Trade Federation characters from the prequels though.

Yeah - Star Wars got picked up for the racist characters. I'm talking about the ideologically dodgy nature of the fact that you have to have 'midichlorians' to become a Jedi. Arguably racist, definitely just as, or more, ideologically dodgy as the kings in LOTR which everyone prattles on about.

 

[DotCommunist]

They did?

What for, I missed that.

I remember the deeply dodgy Jar Jar / Gungan / Trade Federation characters from the prequels though.

even before the films plenty of people felt uncomfortable about the whole easterlings bit...

 

[The Octagon]

Yeah - Star Wars got picked up for the racist characters. I'm talking about the ideologically dodgy nature of the fact that you have to have 'midichlorians' to become a Jedi. Arguably racist, definitely just as, or more, ideologically dodgy as the kings in LOTR which everyone prattles on about.

even before the films plenty of people felt uncomfortable about the whole easterlings bit...

Going over my head a bit (only read half of LOTR, but watched the films loads), what was dodgy about the Kings? Wasn't that just line of succession?

 

[fogbat]

Yeah - Star Wars got picked up for the racist characters. I'm talking about the ideologically dodgy nature of the fact that you have to have 'midichlorians' to become a Jedi. Arguably racist, definitely just as, or more, ideologically dodgy as the kings in LOTR which everyone prattles on about.

The difference being that IRL, "Master race" ideology is balls.

In the Star Wars world, there's a genuine difference in those of jedi bloodlines.

 

[EastEnder]

They did?

What for, I missed that.

I remember the deeply dodgy Jar Jar / Gungan / Trade Federation characters from the prequels though.

Everyone's equal, apart from those lucky enough to be in touch with "the force", who are a bit special, have their own religion, are self appointed guardians of the universe, and who seek out "lucky" children in order to remove them from their parents at an early age so they can be indoctrinated into the aforementioned cult...

 

[DotCommunist]

Going over my head a bit (only read half of LOTR, but watched the films loads), what was dodgy about the Kings? Wasn't that just line of succession?

'High' men. There's the backwards dunlanders and other 'low men' and the good but simple Rohhirim (gurkhas)

In the book bad men, goblin/men crossbreeds made by saruman etc are often refered to as swart and dark skinned while high men are 'clear browed' pale fair etc.

I don't think Tolkien intended any racism no more than he intended the reactionary classism that runs through the book.

But I'd say it is there.

 

[rekil]

'High' men. There's the backwards dunlanders and other 'low men' and the good but simple Rohhirim (gurkhas)

In the book bad men, goblin/men crossbreeds made by saruman etc are often refered to as swart and dark skinned while high men are 'clear browed' pale fair etc.

I don't think Tolkien intended any racism no more than he intended the reactionary classism that runs through the book.

But I'd say it is there.

I thought deconstructing LOTR is just a way of taking the piss out the pompous humourless scrota who take the shitly written toss a bit too seriously. Star Wars is far worse. That goes without saying.

 

[DotCommunist]

I thought deconstructing LOTR is just a way of taking the piss out the pompous humourless scrota who take the shitly written toss a bit too seriously. Star Wars is far worse. That goes without saying.

Stomp on my childhood a bit harder please

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Oh and the LEXX universe is mental.

The four features and series 'two' only for me. The daft heaven and hell thing was b b b b b boring.

 

[Yetman]

Jean Pierre Jeunet's worlds.....not quite sci fi universes, more alternate realities. The vinyl pancake makers making LP's using crepe tables and just the oddly toned style and interestingly featured people give it the feel of being in a dream, a nice one

 

[mentalchik]

The Culture
Duniverse
Polity

Also have a love for Sherri Tepper's Arbai universe too !


(Star Trek's a given)

 

[rich!]

why cant you have infinite infinites again?

Continuum problem.

Basically, it's hard to show by construction that there is more than one infinity.

Almost any other interpretation of things like the Axiom of Choice gives you a whole hierarchy of infinities - the next one up is the size of the set of all subsets of the natural numbers - so multiverses and such can just drop into a corner somewhere conveniently.

 

[Signal 11]

Stomp on my childhood a bit harder please

Serves you right

 

[Awesome Wells]

Star Wars (with the almight caveat that you'd want to be a force-user, or life's generally shit).

Han Solo says fuck off!

 

[Awesome Wells]

Yeah - Star Wars got picked up for the racist characters. I'm talking about the ideologically dodgy nature of the fact that you have to have 'midichlorians' to become a Jedi. Arguably racist, definitely just as, or more, ideologically dodgy as the kings in LOTR which everyone prattles on about.

how the fuck does midichlorians make star wars racist?

 

[QueenOfGoths]

Mr. QofG's would like to live in the universe of Final Fantasy X. And carry a big sword like Sir Auron!

 

[SpookyFrank]

Culture ftw. Immortality, drug glands, spontaneous sex changes, knife missiles, orbitals, displacers, omnipotent Minds to chat to when you're bored and the wonderful smugness that must come from knowing that your team has the whole galaxy by the balls.

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

Going over my head a bit (only read half of LOTR, but watched the films loads), what was dodgy about the Kings? Wasn't that just line of succession?

Nothing that isn't found in any number of perfectly good countries in Western Europe...

I mean the Dutch have a heriditary monarchy, and we know just what a fascist country that is.

Oh.

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

how the fuck does midichlorians make star wars racist?

Not racist, but something-ist. It's saying that if you don't have a certain gene, you don't qualify, in essence. That's at least as racist as some of the things which get called racist on here, like criticising ideologies...

 

[pboi]

everything is something-ist

art imitating something

 

[The Octagon]

Han Solo says fuck off!

Poor man's Mal Reynolds

 

[DotCommunist]

Culture ftw. Immortality, drug glands, spontaneous sex changes, knife missiles, orbitals, displacers, omnipotent Minds to chat to when you're bored and the wonderful smugness that must come from knowing that your team has the whole galaxy by the balls.

not to mention a loop system in the bollocks to allow male multiple orgasm

 

[kabbes]

Foundation is wank.

Fuck off.

 

[Cloo]

I like the culture, and also China Mieville's Bas Lag is very cool, though his plotting and pace never quite live up to his vision.