aliens and 'serious' sci-fi

[rivendellrose]

So, in the process of twiddling about with the outline for a possible novel that I've been thinking about (or, in the case of today, staring blankly at in between sneezing fits...), I noticed that my Inner Editor and I are having a little fight about something, and that the general world of sci-fi around me isn't helping much. So I appeal to you, f-list, for your opinions on these things.

Aliens in sci-fi - over and done, just over-done, or just not especially 'in' right now? Or, you know, am I just hanging out in the wrong corners of sci-fi lately?

I ask because I can't help but notice that the majority of sci-fi that I've seen or read lately (and keep in mind, I have a chronic problem with not keeping up on current trends as well as I'd like) tends to forego any kind of aliens in favor of humans alone in the universe, doing our thing. Which, okay, great. Love it. It's very interesting. But... I kind of miss the sci-fi of my childhood, sometimes? With aliens? *Points at icon* And as much as I was underwhelmed by the time all the hype was through, Avatar was a pretty clear example that this kind of thing is not totally unappreciated by contemporary audiences, either, right? But the only other recent time I've run across aliens in anything was watching The Boy play the Mass Effect series... and giddily loving every minute of it because it reminded me of my sci-fi roots, damn it. ♥

So why do I feel like the instant I start to consider including aliens in my universe, I'm turning it into a bad space opera? Overactive guilt complex? Obsessive terror of vomiting all my childhood sci-fi pet-loves (what is the opposite of pet peeve?) all over my would-be novel in such a way as to make it utter crap? An unspoken acceptance of the lit-fic nonsense that says that sci-fi and fantasy can only be good and literary and serious if it includes only the faintest twinges of anything we don't see in modern life?

...I'm placing my bet on that last one, with a few shades of the others, myself. But talk to me, oh f-list. What do you think about this subject?

The cats insist that they're starving, and now it actually is almost their dinner time, so I'd better disentangle myself from the blankets and go feed them.

Comments

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Aliens are a tool. Like Unobtanium. Whether they're trite and awful or enriching and exciting depends on how you wield them.
Do you want aliens in the story because you like aliens or because they're adding a dimension to the story? You know, like that.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Do you want aliens in the story because you like aliens or because they're adding a dimension to the story?

Almost certainly the former. ;) But yeah, I get what you're saying. The tricky bit is, there's an extent to which aliens are always just set dressing in the majority of sci-fi. I mean, we all know B5 is just a few classic fantasy plots wrapped up in new dressing, and that Star Wars was exactly the same. So... it's an interesting situation.

[gaslightgallows]

The important thing is not, "Aliens are overdone in scifi," but "do aliens add depth and weight to my story?"

It's all about using what you're given.

I don't think aliens in and of themselves are overdone. Aliens as well-rounded characters with excellently thought-out backstories and cultures will always be welcome. I do think that aliens as overblown metaphors for Earth-bound problems are very much yesterday's pancakes.

Also: Mass Effect is delicious. ♥

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I do think that aliens as overblown metaphors for Earth-bound problems are very much yesterday's pancakes.

Agreed on that. Although it does certainly seem to continue in the major media (cf. Avatar).

Going to have to think long and hard about where I want to go with this whole thing... I'm such absolute crap at the plotting part of writing. :P

Also: Mass Effect is delicious. ♥

Isn't it? I'm crap at video games, so I just watch, but I adored that one. Very, very fun.

[gaslightgallows]

Although it does certainly seem to continue in the major media (cf. Avatar).

Avatar was successful because it wrapped several very familiar (and therefore comfortable) stories in an incredibly shiny package. Strip away the CGI and there's a very mediocre plot underneath. It's depressing, really.

I'd be more than happy to help you with the plotting part. That's what I'm best at!

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Strip away the CGI and there's a very mediocre plot underneath. It's depressing, really.

It really is. I mean, pretty movie, don't get me wrong, but... bleh. The whole thing very much left me feeling bored more than anything else. I mean, hello plot that we've all seen a billion times! Why are you getting so much acclaim this time? Oh, because James Cameron spent a bunch of money making you 3D. Well, then. Fantastic. *Yawns*

Eeeeeee. I would happily take you up on that! It's getting rather late for you now, probably, but maybe I could shoot you an email with what I've got, and we can go from there? (Oh god, don't laugh... this thing is just silly beyond belief right now...)

[gaslightgallows]

When my friend and I finally saw Avatar on the small screen, we played a game where we guessed which plot contrivance would pop up next. We were pretty accurate! I had to stop playing when the 2D effects started giving me a headache. I hate to think what the 3D version would have done! D:

I'd love to! I'll send you an LJ message with my email. (I won't laugh, I've got reams of things probably just as silly!)

[kusanivy.livejournal.com]

I know you told me once that due to squick-buttons it might not be a good idea but if you want to see a set of aliens done extremely well (and aliens-as-metaphors that absolutely kicks Avatar's ass) then you MUST see District 9

You'd LOVE Christopher (and little CJ)! And hey - they have tentacles! ;)

But I'm with you - moar aliens please!

Actually one of the reasons I didn't fall head over heels for Firefly like a lot of my friends did (I like it, but I don't LOVE it) is it has no aliens. Farscape however ... MMMM ;) *makes I-just-ate-the-most-awesome-desert-ever noises*

I kinda need an alien character - or at least an unusual character and that's normally the alien - for me to really love a show. They usually become my favorite.

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

I get the sense that a lot of sci-fi creators, whether TV people or novelists, feel like humanoid aliens in lumpy foreheads are pretty well done, and it's difficult to do anything else on a budget.

And, if you're doing TV, I think BSG kind of pioneered the "Yes, we're on spaceships, BUT WE'RE NOT ICKY SCI-FI, WE DON'T HAVE ALIENS!" way of thinking.

On the other hand, there's still Avatar, District 9, and I believe Peter F Hamilton's novels contain aliens.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I think BSG kind of pioneered the "Yes, we're on spaceships, BUT WE'RE NOT ICKY SCI-FI, WE DON'T HAVE ALIENS!" way of thinking.

In terms of (what passes in sci-fi for) fairly big market success (staying on for more than one season!) they definitely did, though Firefly did it first.

And yeah, the bumpy forehead days are gone. It's comforting to know that CG makes awesome-looking aliens with actual human actors possible, even if it did brutally destroy the sfx makeup industry I've always loved.

[icepixie]

Doesn't V have aliens? It's on a major network, too! And has been around for more than a season! (I need to watch that at some point.)

I feel like there's a pendulum that swings back and forth between SF and fantasy roughly every couple of decades, and we're currently at the nadir of the fantasy end of things (see VAMPIRES VAMPIRES EVERY-FREAKING-WHERE, also werewolves and zombies and all the Harry Potter ripoffs). Give it another ten years, and I think we'll be back to sci-fi, kind of like it was in the 80s and 90s when there seemed to be a ton of sci-fi on TV and in books (I think mostly thanks to Star Wars, which did for sci-fi what HP did for fantasy around 2000ish). It might depend on if there's something big and sciency happening to get excited about, like a Mars mission.

That said, I love aliens, I love good space opera (hell, I love some bad space opera), and I say go for it. Aliens are awesome. Given the exact same story, I'll take it told with aliens over told without any day. Plus, if it takes you five or ten years to get the novel out, you will be on the vanguard of the sci-fi renaissance I'm predicting! *g*

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Given the exact same story, I'll take it told with aliens over told without any day.

Lol. Yeah, that's pretty much how I feel. Aliens? Monsters? Elves? Yes, please! ♥

And you're very right, I think, about the cycles between sci-fi and fantasy, and us being in a very fantasy-oriented one right now. As much as I love fantasy (and I do - "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell" is one of my absolute favorite books, and of course I have nothing but permanent love for Tolkien's works), I'd just love to start getting some good sci-fi going on again, especially in terms of movies and TV (where the lack is always felt a little more keenly, since there's always some good sci-fi in books, and fantasy TV generally turns out to be really boring to me).

Plus, if it takes you five or ten years to get the novel out, you will be on the vanguard of the sci-fi renaissance I'm predicting! *g*

Wheeee. It'll definitely take that much or longer if I don't pick up the pace and actually start concentrating on the darned thing. Must get my head back into real-work-writing space.

[icepixie]

I'm sure you figured it out from context, but "nadir" was supposed to be "zenith" up there. I always get those (and perihelion/perigee and aphelion/apogee) mixed up.

I too long for some good space opera-type SF on TV. Fringe and the like is good times, but it doesn't quite scratch the particular itch I'm feeling.

Reading-wise, though, I seem to be drifting away from both high fantasy and space opera. I tend to go for magical realism/quirky renditions of reality more than anything now. (This is kind of true for TV as well, but to a lesser extent.)

[websandwhiskers.livejournal.com]

I'm going to vote for internalization of that "literary" nonsense. I think every time anyone thinks of criticizing a piece of literature purely on the basis of content or subject matter or target audience, they need to be reminded of Harry Potter - probably the most influential literary work of the last several decades, written for children, featured people waving magic wands around.

What you do is not nearly as important as whether you do it well.

[velvet-midnight.livejournal.com]

I don't see what's wrong with aliens. Personally, (and this could also be my B5-type sci-fi roots) I tend to see sci-fi as a mirror on ourselves, a way of looking and critiquing and praising who we are and what we do, right or wrong. Which is why I think aliens are just humans that have bumpy foreheads, you know? There's no way for us to write any character who is actually alien, who doesn't have some form of human thought or emotion, because we can't fathom that. Any sort of emotion we put to them will always be human in some way. So why not put aliens in, because the way I see it, they're tools for helping us look at ourselves more closely.

But I realize that not everyone thinks that way and humans are distinctly ~special, therefore they must go out and conquer the universe alone in current sci-fi.

[schnurble.livejournal.com]

I can't talk about books as I haven't read much lately. But I think that for TV shows and movies, money is a big factor, and making actors look like humans is easier, quicker and thus cheaper than making actors look like aliens.

But there's not a total lack of aliens out there, Dr Who for instance has quite a few aliens and they're not just humans with bumpy foreheads :o)

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

I am a big Bujold fan, and at least part of it is the "Aliens R Us" almost speciation that goes on in her books. She's got beings with four arms and no legs, an "eight foot tall genetic cocktail with fangs," and a whole eight planet empire with aristocrats who are genetically engineering themselves into superhumans. Among others. And they all started with homo sapiens.

Now I'm not an across-the-board SF fan -- I haven't found any other SF authors who do characterization as well as Bujold does.

But that's why I'm piping up here. For me, the species doesn't matter so much as how deep and wide the characterizations are. If I believe in those people or whatever, then you'll have me for the long haul.

[parhelion-spark.livejournal.com]

Aliens are awesome if done right. Aliens that are basically humans "but totally not!!!" need to gtfo.
Moffat, I'm specifically looking at you here.

[katherineokelly.livejournal.com]

As someone who hangs around a SF/F writers' forum a lot, I can vouch for the unimaginative elitism prevalent among writers there. It's very much "only be good and literary and serious if it includes only the faintest twinges of anything we don't see in modern life" as you put it.

No aliens, no religion, no technology that can't be understood in our own times. It's pretty pathetic, really, because good spec fic relies on imagination to a huge degree. Who could have imagined the Internet in its current role in society 50 years ago? A SF writer back then would have been accused of inventing something so fanciful it would be more fantasy than science, but that's how things turned out. If we can only imagine the future through the strict lens of the present without making a few leaps of logic, our fiction will get dated fast.

The critics and haters are more bossy and vocal, but I still think there's a hushed majority who want to read about fanciful SF inventions and nonhuman races. They're just keeping quiet for fear that the oh-so-rational hard SF snobs will call them unintelligent for liking The Force more than quantum physics.

I think aliens and androids are awesome and I'd much rather pick up a book with them than one with just plain ol' humans. I think there are many others that feel the same. I DON'T think you need to make a big moral point or a human-specific metaphor with aliens--that's what's overdone and dull. Just let them be there. Let them coexist and be wildly different from humans so you can play with some 'what if?' concepts.

If you love it, odds are there are readers who will love it, too.