this post was submitted on 23 Jun 2023
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Science Fiction

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What's your Sci-Fi unpopular opinion? (kbin.social)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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It's a slightly click-baity title, but as we're still generating more content for our magazines, this one included, why not?

My Sci-fi unpopular opinion is that 2001: A Space Odyssey is nothing but pretentious, LSD fueled nonsense. I've tried watching it multiple times and each time I have absolutely no patience for the pointless little scenes which contain little to no depth or meaningful plot, all coalescing towards that 15 minute "journey" through space and series of hallucinations or whatever that are supposed to be deep, shake you to your foundations, and make you re-think the whole human condition.

But it doesn't. Because it's just pretentious, LSD fueled nonsense. Planet of the Apes was released in the same year and is, on every level, a better Sci-fi movie. It offers mystery, a consistent and engaging plot, relatable characters you actually care about, and asks a lot more questions about the world and our place in it.

It insists upon itself, Lois.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Really? I thought that was basically the universally held opinion at this point. Gene Roddenberry had all sorts of sentimental ideas about what he wanted to do with the show, and it wasn’t until he left that the story really started to ramp up. I can think of so many episodes in season one and two that just shouldn’t have been there at all.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Well, new to me at least

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Here’s a Quora thread I found which explains things quite nicely. Unfortunately I was unable to find a proper article.

https://www.quora.com/Beyond-writing-why-did-Star-Trek-The-Next-Generation-improve-so-much-after-season-2-The-extras-acting-music-and-everything-about-The-Royale-is-just-so-ridiculous-but-then-things-improve-so-much-Why

Roddenberry was definitely a genius, but he made his fair share of stupid decisions, particularly towards the end of his life.