Re: How good is the Science in Science Fiction films?
Reply #11 –
As another SF fan, I share the dismay with many regarding more recent offerings. If I never see another SF with the astronauts being woken up early from suspended animation, it'll be too soon. I've gotten to about the 15 minutes mark of a number of SFs recently and simply switched off. But I think most of the contributors here are more your thinking audience and can't be conned with a 'leap of faith' that is simply illogical or without some scientific credibility.
I confess to enjoying SFs with a human or even spiritual message. A splash of social justice comment also doesn't go astray. Loved the work of Rod Serling. He commented in an interview that his social justice/morality scripts just didn't get legs in Hollywood until he set them in SF. I have the original boxed sets of The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits - I grew up with these and love them still to this day. In the non-SF genre, Rod's movie from 1956, Patterns, is a brilliant commentary on corporates that still holds up today.
But, yep, to state the bleeding obvious, most SFs today are more about special effects than story (and underpinned with credible science) and so formulaic to satisfy one need only - bums on seats/downloads. However, you'd think there'd be a viable market for the thinking SF fan/nerd.