Dune is the Star Wars killerScience Fiction with Damien Walter2024-02-29 | It's not just that George Lucas ripped off Frank Herbert. But it is that too.
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facebook.com/groups/324897304599197The 1970s science fiction classic that actually needs a rebootScience Fiction with Damien Walter2024-08-30 | Why was the 1970s a classic era for science fiction cinema? I’m guessing many 1970s scifi movies are forgotten, by anyone who wasn’t there to see them. Dark Star. Silent Running. Rollerball!
The 70s produced so much great scifi cinema it’s hard to list it all.
And even when it wasn’t great, it was still interesting. It’s like every scifi movie in that decade was a unique experiment, always different, always new. And then one movie came along that ended the golden decade for strange, cool scifi movies.
After Star Wars every science fiction movie was trying to be a scifi blockbuster.
And Hollywood’s search for the next big corporate entertainment franchise meant that everything would eventually get a reboot. Sometimes that worked. And sometimes it didn’t. And it didn’t work enough times that, I for one, live in dread of Hollywood rebooting another 70s science fiction classic. But.
There is one movie from that golden decade which, the more I think about it, actually does need a reboot.
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facebook.com/groups/324897304599197The Culture : the science fiction utopia that actually worksScience Fiction with Damien Walter2024-07-06 | 00:00:00 A Citizen of the Culture 00:04:08 A Few Notes on the Culture 00:14:41 The Early Trilogy 00:37:27 INTERVAL : is the Culture communist? 00:46:59 The Middle Trilogy 01:11:10 The Masterpiece
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03:41 PART ONE - Incomprehending the Comprehensible 03:45 Professor Gomel 1 05:31 The Five Lems 07:08 Professor Gomel 2 08:26 The Holocaust and the Stars 11:10 Ijon Tichy : Raumpilot 13:13 His Master's Voice
16:16 INTERLUDE - Lem vs the SFWA
19:08 PART TWO - When Bad People Do Good Things 19:17 Provocation 20:45 Professor Gomel 3 25:40 The Ethics of Kitsch
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Greatest scifi novel amzn.to/3GZgL9r First scifi novel amzn.to/41DazgK Worst scifi novel amzn.to/3S045FO Most overrated scifi writer amzn.to/3NIchI9The War for the Hugo Awards : a brief history of scandal and controversyScience Fiction with Damien Walter2024-02-04 | 00:00 The first Hugo winner 02:30 Robert Heinlein and John W Campbell 03:53 WorldCon, WSFS and the Futurians 05:40 Science fiction and racism 07:00 Analog and Ben Bova 07:52 Larry Niven, Joe Haldeman, David Brin, Orson Scott Card 08:50 WisCon and Feminst SF 10:45 Online geek culture and diversity 12:33 The disgrace of Harlan Ellison 14:32 Lovecraft and global fandom 15:32 Hugo voting and online influence 17:25 Sad Puppies 19:24 What is a Hugo worth? 21:34 Liu Cixin and Chinese SF industry 23:04 Discon 3 voting and Chengdu 2023
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Greatest scifi novel amzn.to/3GZgL9r First scifi novel amzn.to/41DazgK Worst scifi novel amzn.to/3S045FO Most overrated scifi writer amzn.to/3NIchI9Iain McGilchrist on the Mythos and the MachineScience Fiction with Damien Walter2024-01-21 | 00:00:00 Introduction 00:01:50 Is Iain McGilchrist a scifi fan? 00:07:05 Iain McGilchrist's work and philosophy 00:17:34 Reason vs Rationalisation 00:22:30 Kubrick's 2001 and the hemispheres 00:27:14 Why do we take everything literally now? 00:34:41 The myths that form us 00:43:22 How do we reconnect to the mythos? 00:49:36 Campbell, Jung and the synthetic mythos 00:55:27 Creativity and the hemispheres 01:03:27 Is the right hemisphere the source? 01:07:00 The mythos and the machine 01:15:27 AI and administration 01:24:42 Is myth the true reality? 01:39:24 What does a better balanced future look like?
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Greatest scifi novel amzn.to/3GZgL9r First scifi novel amzn.to/41DazgK Worst scifi novel amzn.to/3S045FO Most overrated scifi writer amzn.to/3NIchI9DUNE : the heresy of Frank HerbertScience Fiction with Damien Walter2024-01-06 | 00:00 Frank Herbert 1 03:52 David Lynch 04:35 Kyle MacLachlan 05:48 Sean Young 06:06 Patrick Stewart 06:40 Brian Herbert 06:57 Frank Herbert 2 08:13 Carl Jung 09:05 Denis Villeneuve 09:46 Jason Momoa 11:08 Timothee Chalamet 12:05 Zendaya 13:19 The Heresy
Greatest scifi novel amzn.to/3GZgL9r First scifi novel amzn.to/41DazgK Worst scifi novel amzn.to/3S045FO Most overrated scifi writer amzn.to/3NIchI9Is Star Wars science fiction?Science Fiction with Damien Walter2023-06-11 | The Science Fiction community on Facebook have been arguing for a week straight about the status of Star Wars as science fiction…or not. So here is my ultimate and final answer (almost) to the question.
00:00 Is Star Wars science fiction? 01:12 Bolly Wars 02:53 Obsessive Categorisation Disorder 04:08 Science fiction is fiction with science in 07:08 Hyperspace Theory 09:45 Any sufficiently advanced technology...
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Greatest scifi novel amzn.to/3GZgL9r First scifi novel amzn.to/41DazgK Worst scifi novel amzn.to/3S045FO Most overrated scifi writer amzn.to/3NIchI9Denis Villeneuves NeuromancerScience Fiction with Damien Walter2023-02-19 | When William Gibson used the word "Modem" in Neuromancer, he didn't know what a "Modem" was. I think that's why Neuromancer is such an enduring work of science fiction. Because Gibson isn't a science fiction writer. He's a science fiction poet.
The audio commentary on Denis Villeneuve's Neuromancer is now live on the Science Fiction podcast feed
Greatest scifi novel amzn.to/3GZgL9r First scifi novel amzn.to/41DazgK Worst scifi novel amzn.to/3S045FO Most overrated scifi writer amzn.to/3NIchI9Lord of the Rings and fascist fantasyScience Fiction with Damien Walter2022-03-06 | Fascism lures people in with a fantasy of return to older, better times. A golden age before the modern world. Nazi Germany had the fantasy of the Third Reich and the Ubermensch. Today the Russia of Vladimir Putin has a fantasy of a Eurasian Empire and the Return of the Tsar.
Critics of Lord of the Rings sometimes compare JRR Tolkien's fantasy to the fantasies of fascism. Is Lord of the Rings a fascist fantasy? Or did Tolkien create a mythos beyond the understanding of his critics?
00:00 An alternate history of England 03:59 Welcome to the Science Fiction podcast 07:17 The rise of a fascist fantasy 10:09 Is LotR a fascist fantasy? 11:54 Premodern, Modern, Postmodern 13:45 The pre-modern fantasy 17:15 The synthetic fantasy of fascism 21:51 The fascist fantasy in 2022 27:22 The Return of the King 33:22 The bit people who are angry at the title should listen to first 34:23 The modern vision of scifi 38:51 The postmodern vision of transhumanism 43:22 A mass retreat to the premodern 47:24 LotR as integrated mythos 52:33 LotR as a call for WISDOM 56:16 LotR as path into the Unreal
Read my top science fiction to rewire your consciousness amzn.to/3gQqfGRA science fiction history of World War 3Science Fiction with Damien Walter2022-02-26 | Humankind had it within our grasp to become a K1 civilization, the first stage of the Kardashev scale. But we allowed K1 to slip through our fingers. As the scientist Carl Sagan argued, much of 20th century history can be understood as the effort, and failure, to achieve K1. Today that failure has returned us to the threat of World War 3, as Russia invades Ukraine. How did we miss our chance at K1? And how can we still become a K1 civilization?
00:00 From 0 to 1 on the Kardashev scale 06:34 The spectre of Word War 3 10:07 Science fiction is the only place where WW3 ever happened 13:49 "The history of humankind is the history of the attainment of external power" H G Wells 20:20 The Golden Age, Atompunk and K1 optimism 23:54 A science fiction history of World War 3 33:13 The hysterical fear of K1 37:03 The consequences of failing to transition to a K1 civilization 40:16 Nuclear power was a missed link in the transition to K1 43:21 K1 as a guiding principle of progress
Read my top science fiction to rewire your consciousness amzn.to/3gQqfGRAdam Roberts on the legacy of H G WellsScience Fiction with Damien Walter2022-02-11 | “It’s trying to thread that needle between the wonder and the splendour in this mythology without being beguiled into actual fascism.” ~Adam Roberts
Adam Roberts is a professor of nineteenth century literature, a prolific essayist and critic, and one of our best science fiction writers. Our interview traces a path between two powerful forces in science fiction – the mythic stories of transcendence and self fulfilment that animate much of today’s most popular sci-fi storytelling, and the mundane and ordinary lives that ground our reality.
We touch on the shifting perception of science fiction in academia, questions of worldbuilding and the endless argument to define science fiction, the new optimism of hopepunk and solarpunk, HG Wells long fascination with eugenics, the balance between stereotype and archetype in storytelling, and professor Roberts answer to the question of where science fiction began. It’s a great insight into the thinking of a great SF author.
00:00:00 A mistrust of myths 00:01:51 An interview with Adam Roberts 00:04:39 The professor's productivity tips 00:08:11 The nineteenth century and science fiction 00:11:03 Has the academic perception of science fiction shifted? 00:14:29 The worldbuilding question 00:19:16 Why do we keep arguing about the definition of science fiction? 00:23:39 We spend more money on Star Wars than space travel 00:32:12 Melding the literary and the sci-fi 00:42:49 The process of writing science fiction 00:48:03 Translating Joyce and algorithmic writing 00:59:50 Hopepunk and Solarpunk 01:11:22 The Community vs. the Individual 01:18:03 The Heroic and the Quotidian 01:28:02 A segue to Wellsian scholarship 01:35:01 Emmanuel Kant and the Fermi paradox 01:44:24 Tolkien and the English mythos 01:49:47 Stereotype vs Archetype 01:57:14 When does science fiction begin?
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Read the novels of Adam Roberts amzn.to/3LjUfZQThe problem with reactionary reviewers like the Critical DrinkerScience Fiction with Damien Walter2022-02-05 | The Critical Drinker blames the failure of new Star Wars movies on the "deconstruction" of traditional heroic storytelling. It's a typically reactionary position that is ignorant of amazing storytellers who base their stories on deconstruction like Alan Moore, Iain M Banks and Terry Pratchett. It's clear that the Critical Drinker is not a critical thinker. But the problems with reactionary reviewers go much deeper.
00:00 Culture is not your friend 04:45 The critic vs the reviewer 08:59 The Critical Drinker is not a critical thinker 10:15 Gamergate and video game addiction 13:08 Reactionary reviewers celebrate addictions 15:36 Star Wars is the Big Mac of culture 19:07 The Hero's Journey is a tribal war story 21:24 The British deconstruction of scifi and fantasy 31:47 Only the critical thinker can escape the power of culture
Read my top science fiction to rewire your consciousness amzn.to/3gQqfGRThe Rhetoric of Story : 7th FoundationScience Fiction with Damien Walter2022-01-27 | The Rhetoric of Story began with a simple question - what is a story? For over a decade I had been researching story and storytelling. In 2016 I created a series of seven lectures as I travelled through significant sites to the history of story in Britain, France, Sicily and Bali. These talks became the Rhetoric of Story, my first course, which as I write in early 2022 has over 35,000 students worldwide.
As my first video production these recordings have some poor quality audio at times, for which I apologise.
This ad-supported version of the Rhetoric of Story is free to watch. Please share it with your fellow storytellers.
Follow the full course, ad free damiengwalter.comThe Rhetoric of Story : 6th FoundationScience Fiction with Damien Walter2022-01-26 | The Rhetoric of Story began with a simple question - what is a story? For over a decade I had been researching story and storytelling. In 2016 I created a series of seven lectures as I travelled through significant sites to the history of story in Britain, France, Sicily and Bali. These talks became the Rhetoric of Story, my first course, which as I write in early 2022 has over 35,000 students worldwide.
As my first video production these recordings have some poor quality audio at times, for which I apologise.
This ad-supported version of the Rhetoric of Story is free to watch. Please share it with your fellow storytellers.
The sixth element of the Rhetoric of Story is the key to telling stories at longer lengths and greater complexity. Without a clear structure, novels and plays are unlikely to hold the attention of an audience for any length of time. Structure is bigger than any single writer or storyteller. We always employ structures that have been, at least in part, evolved by the storytellers who came before us. Ideas introduced in the lecture include:
- story structures evolve over time and are shared by many different stories. - three Act Structure – Exposition, Complication, Resolution. - essential events – Inciting Incident, Midway Turning Point, Crisis / Climax / Resolution - alternate structures : Five act structure, Kishōtenketsu, TV serial, 3 act structure in novels. - Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth. - it’s OK to steal story structures! (In fact it should be compulsory)The Rhetoric of Story : 5th FoundationScience Fiction with Damien Walter2022-01-25 | The Rhetoric of Story began with a simple question - what is a story? For over a decade I had been researching story and storytelling. In 2016 I created a series of seven lectures as I travelled through significant sites to the history of story in Britain, France, Sicily and Bali. These talks became the Rhetoric of Story, my first course, which as I write in early 2022 has over 35,000 students worldwide.
As my first video production these recordings have some poor quality audio at times, for which I apologise.
This ad-supported version of the Rhetoric of Story is free to watch. Please share it with your fellow storytellers.
We continue the Rhetoric of Story with the fifth element – events! What are stories made of? Not words, not pictures, but events. And what are events made of? More events.
- stories are made of events. - our mind pays close attention to events, times when reality does not meet expectation. - events are linked by chains of cause and effect. - once you know the events of a story, it can be told on any scale. - stories are fractal, they contain other stories, and are part of bigger stories. - events are described within stories as scenes.The Rhetoric of Story : 4th FoundationScience Fiction with Damien Walter2022-01-24 | The Rhetoric of Story began with a simple question - what is a story? For over a decade I had been researching story and storytelling. In 2016 I created a series of seven lectures as I travelled through significant sites to the history of story in Britain, France, Sicily and Bali. These talks became the Rhetoric of Story, my first course, which as I write in early 2022 has over 35,000 students worldwide.
As my first video production these recordings have some poor quality audio at times, for which I apologise.
This ad-supported version of the Rhetoric of Story is free to watch. Please share it with your fellow storytellers.
The fourth element of the Rhetoric of Story – conflict! Why can’t we all just get along? And even if we did, why stories would still always contain conflict. The important ideas introduced in this lecture include:
- conflict arises inevitably because al humans have their own, conflicting desires. - conflict is compelling, our mind pays close attention to all kinds of conflict in life and in story. - physical and social conflict are all around us, but internal conflict is an essential part of great storytelling. - at the heart of all conflict are the effects of fear, represented in stories as the antagonist. - while conflict hooks our attention, we rely on the storyteller to show us how conflicts are resolved and peace achieved.The Rhetoric of Story : 3rd FoundationScience Fiction with Damien Walter2022-01-23 | The Rhetoric of Story began with a simple question - what is a story? For over a decade I had been researching story and storytelling. In 2016 I created a series of seven lectures as I travelled through significant sites to the history of story in Britain, France, Sicily and Bali. These talks became the Rhetoric of Story, my first course, which as I write in early 2022 has over 35,000 students worldwide.
As my first video production these recordings have some poor quality audio at times, for which I apologise.
This ad-supported version of the Rhetoric of Story is free to watch. Please share it with your fellow storytellers.
This lecture in the Rhetoric of Story introduces the third of seven foundational elements of storytelling – the Other. The key ideas introduced in this lecture are:
- how do stores that travel through time? - as humans we are fascinated by the relationships between people. - archetypal relationships repeat again and again in society and in stories. - when stories echo our inner psychological conflicts they trigger powerful emotions.The Rhetoric of Story : 2nd FoundationScience Fiction with Damien Walter2022-01-22 | The Rhetoric of Story began with a simple question - what is a story? For over a decade I had been researching story and storytelling. In 2016 I created a series of seven lectures as I travelled through significant sites to the history of story in Britain, France, Sicily and Bali. These talks became the Rhetoric of Story, my first course, which as I write in early 2022 has over 35,000 students worldwide.
As my first video production these recordings have some poor quality audio at times, for which I apologise.
This ad-supported version of the Rhetoric of Story is free to watch. Please share it with your fellow storytellers.
This lecture in the Rhetoric of Story explores the second of seven foundational elements of storytelling – self. The key ideas introduced in this lecture are:
- every story has at its heart a hero, a protagonist, a central character – a self. - we make sense of the world by telling a story about it and placing our self at its centre - to know the world, we have to know our self - the self is motivated by a great desire - desires can be conscious and unconscious - a great desire leads to great motivation - we are fascinated by how people become someone new