Category Archives: writing

A Heretical Opinion on The Babylon 5 Re-Boot

 

From 1993 thru its conclusion in 1998 I watched J. Michael Straczynski’s (JMS) sci-fi saga Babylon 5. The series followed the events on the last of the Babylon stations conceived and constructed in the aftermath of a devastating stellar war as various races tried to form a lasting peace amid a struggle between light and dark, order and chaos, that had lasted eons. For many American the series was their introduction into serious long form television where the entire run of the show was meant to tell one large grand story, something that in today’s era of prestige television is not only common but expected.

With the flowering of prestige television is perhaps no surprise that the studio with the rights to Babylon 5, Warner Brothers, and who has a streaming service needing content, HBO Max, has announced its intent to reboot the franchise sitting in its vaults, even bring back the show’s original creator and writer JMS, to helm it once more.

Full disclosure I was fan, as I stated I watched the entire run of the series, cosplayed as a character at WorldCon, and even conceived of a dark episode with a writing partner but I think it would be prudent, wise, and in the show’s best interest if JMS this time refrained from writing nearly the entire series, nearly every script, himself, and turned that duty over to others.

JMS created a grand and fascinating setting, his characters have deep and conflicted inner lives, he possesses a rare talent, the ability to fully realize characters that are diametrically opposed to his own thinking without turning them into strawman arguments. He should show-run any reboot.

However, JMS has some glaring weaknesses as a writer. His dialog can be blunt and lacking subtly. Perhaps more importantly his handling of exposition is clumsy. During the series’ run I often referred to his ‘Exposition truck’ because of how often and blatantly the unfolding story would stop while characters ran us over with terrible, truly awful, exposition. Then once we had been left dead in the road from this writing hit-and-run, the script would gamely try to get momentum back into the story.

Because of mistreatment and disrespect by the people making feature films talented writers with tremendous gifts have been moving to television and we are so rich for it. JMS should seize this talent for his series and relinquish any scripting crafting duties himself.

My SF/Noir Vulcan’s Forge is available from Amazon and all booksellers. The novel is dark, cynical, and packed with movie references,

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Why I Prefer the Theatrical Cut of Aliens

 

Seven years after Alien burst upon the scene and spawned countless imitators and knockoffs the James Cameron helmed sequel Aliens arrive for a fresh round of terror and action.

The version released to theaters in 1986 ran a total of 137 minutes, that two hours and 17 minutes making it a very long film for theatrical distribution. The more over two hours a film runs the fewer screenings a theater can screen in a single day. In 1991 an extended version running twenty minutes longer was released on laserdisc with both editions available on the Blu-ray boxed set collection. Writer/Director Cameron has stated that his preference is for the extended ‘Director’s Cut’ version of the film.

When I first saw the extended cut on DVD/Blu-Ray I agreed with Cameron but over time I’ve found that my preference has become for the theatrical cut.

In the making of documentaries packaged with the Blu-ray release Cameron reports that when the film came in longer than the studio preferred time and technology hampered going through the entire film and trimming scenes here and there to shorten the running time. In 1986 editing was still a physical processed of cutting and splicing film as non-linear editing had not yet become the industry standard. His producer and at the time wife Gale Anne Hurd suggested and entire reel of the film depicting the colony of Hadley’s Hope and the discovery of the alien vessel, and the parasite eggs could be dropped without damaging the narrative. That’s exactly what Cameron did.

It’s the introduction of the reel that I find doesn’t really work and it all comes down to Point of View.

In Alien it is not clear at all that Ripley is the protagonist of the story until late in the film. Perhaps as early as Dallas’ doomed foray into the airduct but certainly by the reveal of Ash’s true nature do we understand that Ripley is our real focus. Part of the terror of Alien is because we haven’t had the protagonist clearly defined, we are uncertain who is ‘safe’ due to storytelling conventions.

Before the first frame flashes past our eyes, before we have gotten our popcorn and taken our seat in Aliens, we know that Ripley is our hero and our eyes into the world. It is he struggle with PTSD and survivor’s guilt that drives the emotional heartbeat of the story. It is her pain that we empathize with and her restoration we are hoping for.

Given that to leap away from our protagonist, our viewpoint character for 15 or more minutes to meet the colonist is a violation of the story’s point of view. We don’t know these people and save for newt, who drives none of the deleted scenes, we will never meet them again. Leaving Ripley for these throw away characters saps emotional investment from the audience and wastes time. With this reel excised from the movie the story remains tight on Ripley, and we ride along with her, knowing no more than her as this fresh horror unfolds.

 

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Genre Blender

 

Genres are cool and useful guides to what a story is about. If I tell you a story is a horror you know that you should feel tense and unsettled as it unfolds and perhaps even after it is over. If it is a romance, you will hopefully feel joy and fulfillment by the end. When two genres are combined then something truly wonderful and magical is possible. Alien the movie that launched countless imitations artfully blended science-fiction with horror, it was by far not the first to do so but its unparalleled quality elevated it above the material that had come before. My own novel Vulcan’s Forge is a combination of colonial science-fiction and 40s styled film noir.

I have started in on a short story blending two genres that are wildly different and I hope I have the skill to pull it off even halfway decently, forward-looking science-fiction and tradition oriented folk horror.

Folk horror is a sub-genre of horror fiction that fixates on isolated usually rural setting and communities where the old ways are not only now forgotten but are usually embraced and practiced with zealotry. Where strangers confronted with unknown customs and filled with derision for these communities often meet untimely fates. A perfect example of this style of horror and one of my favorite films is 1973’s The Wicker Man.

I think science-fiction, with its emphasis on the new, the novel, and the future makes for an excellent contrast with folk horror with its dedication to tradition, custom, and the wisdom of the past. I hope I can do justice to moth forms.

 

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Folk Horror Inspiration

 

Recently, I stumbled across a YouTube video from The Evolution of Horror exploring the cinematic subgenre of Folk Horror. The video had a very nice overview of the subgenre and presented one filmmaker’s, Adam Scovell, essential elements of folk horror the chain of Rural Setting — Isolated Groups — Skewed Morals or Beliefs — and Supernatural or Violent Happenings. Several of my favorite horror films are often classified as Folk Horror including the original and incredible The Wicker Man and I instantly saw the possibilities of Scovell’s analysis.

This prompted me to ponder could I craft a science-fiction story that followed the chain and landed successfully as a folk horror tale? I mean sure you could grab bag plot and character elements, follow the chain, and produce something that met the criteria but that’s nothing more than copying someone else’s work much like all those terrible slasher movies that followed in the wake of John Carpenter’s Halloween. I wanted something more than a copy, a paint-by-numbers execution I wanted something that at least spoke to me individually.

Pieces, fragments, began coalescing in my imagination and the unique constituent that would drive the mystery and horror arrived and I knew that had the skeleton framework of a new short story. Everything is not there yet, there are ineffable elements still cooking but for the first time in years I have a short story cooking and it is going to be science-fiction folk horror.

My SF/Noir Vulcan’s Forge is available from Amazon and all booksellers. The novel is dark, cynical, and packed with movie references,

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Character Wants, Needs, and Growth

 

In fiction writing it is often the case that a character has a want, something that the character is aware that they desire to obtain or achieve and a need which is a psychological element that the character is usually unaware of that they require to become their better self.

Here are a couple of examples to illustrate my point. In JawsChief Brody wants to make his community safe, in particular to stop the shark attacks. His need is to overcome his terror of the water. He doesn’t go around in the story saying or even acting like this is a goal, but it is the character growth and evolution that makes the story satisfying. In Back to the Future Marty wants to ensure his parents meet so that he and his siblings will exist, but his need is to gain the self-confidence for his own artistic pursuits. (A need that was ignored the sequels.) Achieving his wants allows him to meet his needs.

It is important to have needs and wants cleanly separate goals. In the musical/fantasy Xanadu Sonny’s need and his want are precisely the same thing. He wants to be inspired to create original art and it is his psychological need as well. In addition to the film’s numerous flaws, this means that there can be no arc, no character growth for Sonny. If a character’s need is the same as their want, there is no change to the character when they achieve it. A static unchanging character is ultimately unsatisfying it is why the final shot in The Hunt for Red October is critical, only by seeing Jack asleep on a plane, having fully met his need to overcome his fear of flying can we appreciate his character’s growth and change.

When you create character to drive your stories think about their wants, the plot, and their needs, the story, are distinct things for fuller richer tales.

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Facebook Memories

 

The thing that Facebook does where is previews for you posts you did one to several years prior on that date is really an odd trip for me.

There are quite a few posts about making progress on a writing project, nearly always unnamed, and as such I have no idea what stories or books these refer to. I am nearly always working at some level, on a project, usually oscillating between short stories and novels and they progress so quickly that without cues I simply can’t identify them.

This morning Facebook presented a memory from eight years ago that I had received a job offer following an interview and it took me a moment to work out which job offer that had been. Very close together I got two offers, both were temp jobs, both were with companies new to me, but I ended up working only at one.

Looking at the exact date I think I worked it out and it’s the anniversary of the offer to work at Kaiser as a temp. That turned out to be the very best job offer I ever received. Eight months later I transitioned from contract to regular full-time employee of KP and I have been there ever since.

I have never experienced a level of financial and job security like I have working for KP. In addition, I work with good people and generally can be proud that I am doing my best to working at a non-profit helping people access vital healthcare.

The financial security has led to emotional stability which enhances my creative work. All in all, this memory from eight years ago is a truly happy one.

 

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A Decision Has Been Made

 

Running a little late this morning and so this post will be a brief one.

With my latest novel now off to a publisher and query letters off to new agencies it is time to turn my attention from my former Work In Progress to my next one.

I had two in mind, one the idea came quite recently and would be a direct sequel to Vulcan’s Forge as I had some rather intriguing ideas, at least to me, on the fall out of the vents of that novel and the larger ramification it had for the fictional setting as a whole.

The second is a more fleshed out novel about ‘no contact.’ A situation where aliens have arrived at earth but have no communication with humanity and one person who thinks she has fond to key to bridging the gulf between the humanity and aliens.

The ‘no contact’ idea has won out, principally because I see the arc of the entire story including the ending. It is a truism that I cannot write a story or even a decent outline until I know how it ends. Endings are critical. To me they are where plot, story, and theme unify. And so soon I will begin the pick-and-spade work of hammering out an outline for my next novel.

 

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Wasting Wesley

 

Just a quick note from my writer’s desk on how the production of Star Trek: The Next Generation wasted their opportunity with the character Wesley Crusher. This is not about the use or abuse of the character’s skills and talents used to save the ship, much has been said on that issue and having a ‘tech save’ of any plot is bad writing anyway. No, this about the way the character could have fit into the show as a writing tool that would have be unique.

Wesley was introduced as Dr. Crusher’s son and not as a crew member of the new Enterprise, existing outside of the ship’s chain-of command. However fairly quickly the character was ‘upgraded’ to an acting ensign and from that point one was functionally crew.

This was a mistake.

As a person outside of the command his relationship with everyone else would have been unique. Characters would interact and say things to someone outside of the command that they could never ever speak to someone occupying a place under them in the chain-of-command. This could have been a wonderful tool to explore characters’ inner lives as they open up about themselves in a way that they would not have with a junior ensign. One of the hardest writing tasks is getting a character to reveal their inner truths especially in a military or pseudo-military setting. Instead, the character of Wesley becomes disposable because he doesn’t’ sever any vital plot or story function that couldn’t be performed by someone else.

 

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How Not to Write a Female Character: Sands of The Kalahari

 

Sunday night I watched a mid 60s adventure film Sands of the Kalahari about a small charter aircraft that after encountering a locus swarm crashes in the Kalahari Desert and the 6 survivors struggling to overcome the harsh condition. The surviving passengers and pilot are five men and one woman played by Susannah York.

York’s role hardly qualifies as a ‘character.’ Each of the men have clearly defined personalities complete with motivations and goals while nothing at all motivates York’s Grace beyond sexual attraction. Though she was a paying passenger aboard the hastily convened flight, the regular commercial flight has been delayed overnight and the passengers commissioned this trip rather than wait in a hotel, Grace during the trip serves all the other passengers their coffee.

Once they have crashed and found refuge in a set of caves, she is attacked by the pilot who has claimed her as his sexual right by being the ‘leader’ of their band. Despite descending into savagery less than 48 hours after the crash the pilot does not in fact rape her because she’s doesn’t participate in her own sexual assault. The pilot then leaves the camp on a trek intending the cross the desert on foot and get rescue for the others.

Grace sexually fixates on the big game hunter among them having decided less than a day after escaping sexual assault that she loves this manly man. However, their assignation fails to complete when she is unable to get him to admit any ‘love’ for her at all and she rejects him. Later she changes her mind, apologizes for wanting him to love her, and simply gives herself over to him. For the rest of the film, we are expected to believe that she is torn between he-man she ‘loves’ and the growing truth that he has murdered some of the other survivors to increase his own chance of making it out. Grace has no character, no arc, no backstory, and contributes nothing to the groups survival other than cooking meals from the game the men have trapped and hunted. Her ‘character; could be replaced with a blow-up sex toy and it would have no impact on the plot.

Sands of the Kalahari is currently streaming on Paramount+.

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The Body Swap Hypothesis

 

Exchanging two people’s minds is a fairly common fantasy and sf trope with it propelling storylines in everything from Freaky Friday, Star Trek, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. As an aside let me state that in my opinion it is fantasy one born out of our misconception that our minds and our bodies are separate and distinct phenomena. Our minds and a sense of awareness emerges from our biology and doesn’t exist independent of it, so it is something that is quite impossible to transplant. But it does make for fun entertainment.

Back in the 90s when I lived with a roommate who was equally into geeky entertainment as I was, I once asked the hypothetical questions if he could switch bodies and live for 24 hours as a woman would he do so? I was quite surprised by the speed and absolute finality with which he answered ‘no.’ I am a vastly curious person and that very much extends to how other experience their lives. I would, presuming an assured return to myself, take the chance without hesitation. I have a difficult time contemplating such a lack of curiosity about such an experience.

I am under no illusion that a brief excursion into someone else’s body for such a short time would provide a total understanding, but I think it would yield some new insights and empathy. It’s quite possible that my roommate rather than lacking curiosity rather feared emasculation. I suppose our cultural misogyny may run so deep as to make even a fantastic hypothetical threatening but if so, it doesn’t appear to have taken that deep of a root with me.

Still, the idea of the body swap is really an invitation to tryand envision life from someone else’s point of view which at its heart is the point of storytelling as well.

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