I was
thinking a bit about yesterday’s post regarding the stagnant state of silver
screen science fiction in 2025. From what I’ve heard and read, there’s a slow
recognition from Hollywood that the excesses of the past decade or so need to
be curtailed in order to make a profit. Dial back on the DEI, the wokeness, the
girl bosses, the Mary Sues, the political and cultural agenda hidden and
not-so-hidden in every movie … perhaps that would put more viewers in theater
seats or at least clicking on the streaming services and watching until the
end.
But do I
think a true change of heart is at hand? A return to the golden years of the
80s and 90s for science fiction action flicks?
No. Not
really.
The phenomenon
parallels nicely with the 2025 papal conclave set to commence on May 7. In that
case, a lot of Catholics – in fact, a “silent majority” I would contend – are kinda
frustrated with the direction Francis had guided the Church over the past dozen
years. Since 2013 Francis, full of modernist ideas, had attempted to change
millennia of Church teaching to varying degrees and varying successes, through
the use of papal documents containing potentially heretical ideas, off-the-cuff
airplane interviews where ideas contrary to the Faith were uttered, and
suppression of traditional catholic orders, priests, and bishops.
So I think
Hollywood has about the same chance of righting its course as does the Catholic
Church. Dark times ahead, but I’d love to be proved wrong. Time will tell, I
suppose.
* * * * * * *
But if the
film studios do in fact toss out their enforced and often unpalatable agendas,
may I offer a suggestion?
Mine the
works of Robert Silverberg. And in doing so, be faithful to his stories
and characters.
In 2017 I
read a half-dozen Silverberg novels, and perhaps another half-dozen in the
years before, going way back to my childhood. His tales age well. The
characters all have fascinating backstories and dialogue is natural in
revealing innermost thoughts and advancing the plot. There’s always a
compelling science fiction-y dilemma, and a pinch of existential horror tossed
in. I can honestly say I’ve never read a bad Robert Silverberg story.
Not sure
what he’s up to now, at age 90, but he’s said to have retired from writing in
2015. His last published novel was in 2003, and the following year he was voted
a Science Fiction Grandmaster by the Science Fiction Writers Association. He
first was published in 1955, so there are 60 years of material for screenwriters
to peruse – over 500 works. Perhaps they have reached out and he’s rejected
every offer. Couldn’t and wouldn’t blame him. But what a treat it would be to a
fan of legitimate SF if one of his novels made it to the big screen in a
faithful adaptation.
Here are
seven reviews of Robert Silverberg novels, for those who may be interested:
Downward to the Earth (1970)
“… an
SF-stylized take on Kipling … a ‘snake milking station’ … a deranged yet
undoubtedly charismatic man named Kurtz (enjoyed the reference!)”
Kingdoms of the Wall (1992)
“… some
interesting speculative dialogue, bits of horror, neat confrontational characterization,
even an M. Night Shyamalan twist towards the ending …”
Lord Valentine’s Castle (1980)
“… this is
going to sound a bit loopy, but – I think I just spent a year on another planet
…”
The Majipoor Chronicles (1982)
“Majipoor
truly comes alive – and it is a wonderful world. Dangerous, yes, amoral, often,
but so lifelike and real, more real to me than, say, Australia or China or the
African continent.”
The Book of Skulls (1971)
“What
would you do, see, study, experience, master, if you would live forever without
having to taste death?”
Tom O’Bedlam (1985)
“…
something very strange begins to happen. It starts with Tom – dreams of distant
worlds, lush green worlds, worlds with multiple suns in the skies, then dreams
of the inhabitants of these worlds, ‘eye’ creatures, ‘crystalline’ creatures,
horned giants and flying ethereal things …”
Nightwings (1969)
“…
translucent bodies soaring in the twilit skies … fortune-tellers who foretell the
present … starstones to decipher the will of the Will … and a man with his back
to the wall who sells out mankind …”
Bonus recommended
books (but not reviewed on the Hopper):
The Face of the Waters (1991)
Conquerors from the Darkness (1965)
At Winter’s End (1988)
The New Springtime (1990)
Planet of Death (1967)
A Time of Changes (1971)