Ha, really? I guess I haven't seen that episode yet.
It's...um, the 2nd or 3rd episode of season 1 of Next Generation. So, being on TV, it's "canon". :/
What! Come on now.
Totally not making that part up. In fact, Ensign Rock's horta-ability to "taste metal" is part of a locked-room mystery in one of the books. It's an integral plot point.
But his name is ENSIGN ROCK. GAH.
I just finished re-watching all of Farscape, and most of the aliens are slightly-odd human stereotypes, yes. A couple of the DESIGNS are interesting - Pilot, a merchant (another puppet) from the first season, etc. - but yeah, it's that fine line again between "what would a real alien be like?" and "how much of this will the audience understand?"
That's why I like Cherryh's scifi so much. She's good at postulating alien *mindsets*, and then re-introducing humans...who then seem very WEIRD, because we-the-reader have gotten used to being in the alien headspace. Pyanfar from the "Chanur" series, or the aliens from "Cuckoo's Egg", or even Kekellen from the Genewars books.
I am going to look for papers for you...
Loving Seska
I'll log off and go to bed if you'll log off and go to bed, OK?
Can we rain check the answer to that question to times I'll feel smarter?
Heh. Sure. If you can remind me that I was too tired to discuss the social model with you. Tomorrow I will want to hit myself over the head repeatedly for missing the opportunity.
Yes, I have recs! Try "Gibbon's Decline and Fall" for an alien/gender/Eco twist; "Beauty" if you enjoy fairy tales and feminism; "The Family Tree" for eco/(redacted for spoilery.)
She gets a mite doomy and gender/Eco apocolypicty at times, but I enjoy her POV and imaginative force.
I'll log off and go to bed if you'll log off and go to bed, OK?
Just let me find this one paper I've had in mind, first... *grin*
N'night, Bitches.
Sheri Tepper's book The Family Tree is the only one of hers I've read, and (no spoilers here!!) I'll just say that about halfway through, you have to completely change your mindspace. Biggest "WTF?!?" (but in a good way) moment I ever had reading. Do NOT let yourself get spoiled about this book, because I loved that 180 turn I had to take.
I also liked an old SF romance I read back in the late '80s by Ann Maxwell (Elizabeth Lowell's SF penname) called Timeshadow Rider. I read it in one day, did not understand the climax of the book at all, reread it the next, and finally the light bulb went on over my head about 3/4 of the way through the second read. It involved a big mental shift to figure out the ending because it was so alien. Again, I loved that rethinking.
Tomorrow I will want to hit myself over the head repeatedly for missing the opportunity.
Hey hey, we're both still alive, as far as I noticed. The future is ahead of us!
And thanks, Erin. Your post was duly marked.
if we can't begin to comprehend the truly alien, as Shir points out, then should we just give up on sci-fi altogether? Is it a pointless genre?
Sci fi doesn't have to be about aliens to be good sci fi. It can be about "just" the impact of technology on our culture.
I second the recommendation of Octavia Butler--she did a lot about the cost of alienness. I can't recommend anything of Sheri Tepper's beyond her YA stuff, which I don't think was remarkable in handling aliens. Her adult work I found shrilly one-note political.
Staying true to my words, I'll say goodnight to you too, Bitches.
Don't talk so much while I'm away, OK? I have the feeling I'll wake up tomorrow to 152 new posts in discussion I hate to miss.
Williams Gibson's stuff mostly isn't about aliens but is damned good science fiction.
