Forbidden Planet

With the parts that we did watch of Forbidden planet, I think it does fit our class definition of science fiction because it is set in the future, space and has some advanced technology. I didn't really like the part I watch. I found it a little bit confusing and hard to follow. I can see how other works of science fiction took ideas from this movie.

Repent, Harlequin

In this short story, it had elements of being set in a hopeless future where being on time is crucial. The story is very believable because there is the possibility that someone might take over our society and set limits to our daily lives. That idea itself is a very scary concept. The Ticktockman serves to be the mysterious alien-like man who has the power to end any persons’ life at any given moment. This story didn’t have as many clear elements of science fiction as the stories that we have read in the past. This short story did have some extrapolations. A few examples are; stiktytes, finks, fallaron, and a Betillon system. None of these extrapolations were really explained in detail. I liked the concept of the piece. It made me think about how we; as humans, are tied to time and how important it is to us. I think That the Harlequin’s philosophy about ignoring the hands on the clock and living your life without restrictions was very refreshing. The only thing I didn’t like was that the storyline was a little hard to follow.

Sales Pitch

In “Sales Pitch”, there are elements of robots and space travel apparent in the storyline. The robots seem to have taken over the planet and the people fear the power the robots have gained. Mr. Morris, the main character uses a space ship to travel to his job that is located on a planet far away from earth. Everything seems to be moving fast in their society. An example of extrapolation in this piece is the robots that follow the people in the streets. Forcing them to listen to their sales pitches and consider buying their products. Another example is the ads that were placed everywhere in space. They seemed to be very distracting and overbearing. To me, they seemed to be the problem behind many of the accidents that were happening along Morris’s commute. One last example of extrapolation that was present was the fasrad. The fasrad could do all of the normal things humans could do. When the fasrad was first introduced in the story I though it was the robot’s first step to take over the world. I thought that this story was alright. It was kind of boring throughout the beginning and middle. Even though I didn’t like these two parts of the story, I still though that the author ended it in a very interesting way that I never expected.

There will come Soft Rains

This short story was believable according to the time of place that it took place. We as humans expect the future to be filled with advances in everyday life. The house in this story had devices that would make everyday life more manageable. I hope that in the future we have inventions like these but I honestly think that 2026 is too soon to see such changes. I also hope that we don’t see too much reliability in technology because if we do we might see the human population become lazy and have less purpose in life. The only thing that was missing from our definition is extra terrestrials and space/time travel. What it lacked in those aspects it made up in things like technology, robots, and the setting of the story (year 2026).

A couple of extrapolations were found throughout the story. For example on the first page there was talk of a voice clock, a breakfast stove, a weather box, a hot washer and tiny robots that cleaned the house. As a whole, all of these extrapolations give the reader a sense of being in the future where we would expect more simplicity in life. If the extrapolations weren’t present then I think this piece would lose its image of being science fiction.

I really enjoyed this story. It kind of made me wonder how reliant we are going to be on technology and how we are already so reliant on it. It was kind of sad reading towards the end because the house was so advanced that it seemed it had feelings. For example, it reading the poems even though everyone was gone and making meals for the family it missed. The line of the poem that went, “not one would mind, neither bird nor tree, if mankind perished utterly” made me think about our place in life as humans and our impact on the world.

Events Proceeding the Helvetican Renaissance

According to our class definition of science fiction, "Events Proceeding the Helvetican Renaissance" fits our description. The short story was very believable and could possibly happen in the future. It also had elements like space travel, time travel, robots, and other science based things we would expect in the future. The story had a bunch of examples of extrapolation. For example, on page 2 a “scanlid” was mentioned. This invention seems like it would be possible to replicate in the future. With all of the examples of extrapolations as a whole, I think they make the story more believable in being classified as science fiction. It makes the story seem set in the future and it also makes the story more interesting. I enjoyed reading this piece. I liked all of the inventions that the author put in. I also wasn’t disappointed by the ending. The sudden twist also took me by surprise and make the reading more enjoyable.

Homelanding and Cause and Effect

In “Homelanding” by Margret Atwood, the language is very mysterious and only describes things halfway. When describing characteristics, the author chose very unordinary words to describe the creature. For example, to describe the fur on the creature she chose to describe it as being similar to a “species of seaweed”. The last thing that Atwood does is make it seem like we are the aliens that came onto the world she described. All of these elements successfully illustrate elements found in science fiction. In the Star Trek episode that we viewed in class there was always the element of the unknown. Whether it being why the ship blew up or how the ship got stuck in the repeating time loop; we never knew what was going on until the end. Other things that were present were a robot, a brown creature that I couldn’t figure out the species, and the fact that they were on a spaceship traveling through outer space. All of things were effective elements of science fiction.

I think that you choose these pieces because they showed that yes, physical elements are important in portraying the science fiction genre; but also, things less noticeable like the unknown, description, and perspective are very important. These pieces do hold up to my definition as science fiction because there are a lot of elements of science fiction in them. I didn’t really like the short story that we read because I like to read things that have more of a storyline and more action. But, I guess it was alright. I really liked watching Star Trek. My best friend really loves the show and sometimes talks about it so I’m glad I had the chance to view an episode. I liked the storyline and it was very interesting.

Science Fiction Blog 1

Hello, my name is Dakota Giroue. I have one older sister and a younger sister and brother. I'm really close to my mom and older sister. I am coordinated in no way whatsoever so I don't usually like to do sports. In my spare time I love to read and watch movies with my friends and family. My favorite thing to do is to go shopping. My closet is filled many pairs of shoes. My family has banned me from buying me more after they gave me 6 new additions for Christmas. When I was a child, Star Wars highly impacted me. I used to watch it almost on a daily basis and I swear I own almost every action figure that came out. I remember playing out scenes from Star Wars with my cousins in my backyard whenever they came over to visit. To me, science fiction tells stories about supernatural beings in a setting that is make-believe and/or set in the future.