An SF Similarity

 

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)

Woe Unto the State of SF

 

I may not have made millions over the course of my life, may not have moved the culture with my writing, may not have influenced a generation of musicians with my music. But one thing I have done is gained an in-depth appreciation and understanding of science fiction, going way, way, all the way back to my single digits. That boy who spent second grade sick in bed devouring black-and-white 1950s sci fi, who eagerly tore into that Asimov five-pack of paperbacks Santa left under the tree (and dozens and dozens of other authors afterwards), who wrote his first science fiction story on a twenty-five pound metal typewriter he could barely lift, now sadly laments the state of science fiction.

 

More concisely, corporate science fiction, as in, but not exclusive to, Disney.

 

If you want to know where Hopper stands, consider the following:

 

Star Wars ended in 1983.

 

Star Trek ended in 1994.

 

The Alien franchise ended in 1992.

 

The Terminator movies ended in 1991.

 

Superhero movies, of which there really were only two, ended in 1980.

 

The Indiana Jones movies wrapped up nicely in 1989.

 

There was only one Matrix movie, released in 1999.

 

Likewise, there was only one Jurassic Park movie, in 1993.

 

Every franchise movie released after these dates is either bad or gross or both. Wokeness, DEI, and greed, ruins all.

 

Hopper hath spoken.

 

Sidenote: Wasn’t the 90s a great time to be a moviegoer?

 

Pope Hopper

 

I have been following the pre-conclave musings on the internet and the various traditional-leaning Catholic sites I regularly visit on the internet. For people minded-like to me in their religious views, there seems to be, at this very early stage in the selection of a Pope, equal measures of hope and dread. As of this point I have no idea what might happen, of who will be steering the Catholic Church in at least the near future, and that’s basically the boat we’re all in right now.

 

Here's a neat website that lists all the forty or so cardinal “candidates” for Pope:

 

https://collegeofcardinalsreport.com/

 

If you click on the link at the top, “Where They Stand” you get a concise breakdown on the positions these cardinals take on ten major issues of the day, such as ordaining female deacons, blessing same-sex couples, focusing on climate change, and promoting a “synodal church,” whatever that means, among others. It’s helpful if this interests you as you’ll probably hear meany of these names in the upcoming weeks.

 

What a great tool, as something like this has never been available in one place, sourced, for both laity and clergy alike.

 

Also, I have heard this conclave may take longer than average. We may not have a Pope until June. The reasons vary, but among the most convincing seems to me to range from the mundane (since Francis lived in the Casa Santa Marte, normally a Vatican guest house, there is no place for cardinals to stay and the shuffle is on to find hotel accommodations for 250 men) to the fact that Francis promoted many “from the peripheries”, i.e. South America, the Philippines, etc., that many cardinals do not know each other. So there will be a period of “getting-to-know-you” before the actual papal maneuverings begin.

 

As I typed the prior post on Monday, the thought of what would Hopper do if he was elected Pope? ran through my head. Hey, theoretically it’s possible I could be elected Pope. I’m a baptized male Catholic. However, for at least the past six or seven centuries the Pope has been a Cardinal, of which I am not. Still, though, what would I do if it was I who steered this barque of Peter?

 

I’ve written about it before. But here would be my plan, in no particular order but as fast as I could (or that Vatican machinery would allow me, provided I survive the poisoning attempts …)

 

- Suppress the Jesuit Order.

- Rescind Amoris Laetitia (Francis’s giving the OK for divorced and remarried Catholics to receive communion, citing himself in many footnotes).

- Rescind Fiducia supplicans (Francis’s giving OK to the blessing of same-sex couples).

- Lift the ban on the Traditional Latin Mass.

- Permanently banish Father Rupnik and allow criminal prosecution for his crimes and remove all his creepy artwork from any and all Church buildings.

- Remove Father James Martin from any position of influence.

- Undue the “agreements” with China which allow the Chinese communist government approval of cardinals from that country.

- Promulgate an encyclical, updated for the times, against the heresy of modernism, which touches EVERY aspect of Church, culture, and politics, including coining a better term for the heresy.

- Stop this false sense of humility. Return a sense of grandeur to the Church, and end this unnecessary antagonism to 2,000 years of tradition.

- End this “synodality” nonsense. No one knows what it means. Many suspect it means top-down tinkering with the Church disguised as a grass-roots movement. Many suspect it means further weakening the Church by undercutting centuries of teaching, dating back to prior popes, Fathers of the Church, the Apostles and Christ Himself.

 

There. That’s ten action items I’d address within the first months of my papacy.

 

My motto, inscribed upon my papal coat of arms, would be: “Challenge the world instead of compromising with the world.”  Provocare mundum pro compromissum cum mundo (if Google translate is to be trusted).

 

My hope is the next Pope will have a tenth of my bullishness (and a tenth is about all he probably could show if he wants to, er, survive his pontificate). The Church, and the World, is such a mess …

 

The Search for a Pope Begins

 

So I just woke up to the news that Francis died earlier today. The search for a new Pope begins, if indeed it has not already been going on for some time.

 

I pray that the world receives a strong, faithful man. In these evil and confused times we need a strong, faithful man to lead the Church. Not one who will water down Catholic teaching, will sacrifice Truth in the service of a cheap Mercy, will speak one thing and do its opposite. We need a valiant defender of the Truths set forth in the teachings and example of Jesus Christ, and those revealed by the Holy Spirit to the Church, the mystical body of Christ, these past twenty centuries.

 

Unfortunately, from what I’ve read (and it seems sadly logical to me), the influence of McCarrick is everywhere in the Vatican and the College of Cardinals. Francis did appoint 163 cardinals during his twelve-year reign, out of 252, or just under two-thirds of its current membership. These are the men who will select the next ruler of the Church, and again unfortunately, it seems likely each would be of similar mind to Francis’s and hold similar beliefs. However, their decisions are guided by the Holy Spirit, so our prayers for a holy leader should continue every day until the white smoke is released from the Vatican chimneys.

 

O God, eternal shepherd,

Who governs Your flock with unfailing care,

Grant in Your boundless fatherly love

A pastor for Your Church

Who will please You by his holiness

And to us show watchful care.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,

Who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

 

(Personal note: The upcoming papal election will result in the sixth Pope during my lifetime, though I only remember four: John Paul I, John Paul II, Benedict, and Francis. I was too young to remember Paul VI. The only thing I remember of the first John Paul, who reigned a mere 33 days, was my father’s comment, “Well, I guess God wasn’t too happy with him.” But six popes … boy and I getting old …)

 

Happy Easter!

 

Holy Thursday into Good Friday