You may be asking yourself, who is this Tammy nerd and why is she telling me what she watches?
Well, truth-be-told, I’m not just any nerd. I wore glasses before Geek Chic became a thing. Now the Kardashians are trying to sound smart and I’m still trying to figure out the difference between them and a Cardassian.
They may own reality television, but they’ve got nothing on me when it comes to talking about the magnificent art of Science Fiction.
Yes, most television these days centers around a real-life car wreck human who goes about his or her daily life being deeply disturbed and somehow winning at life.
This may be entertaining, but it takes away from our human need to belong to a group that is pointed toward doing something great. We all need this. That is why The Martian made bank at the box office. We loved watching Matt Damon’s character problem solve and eventually come out on top.
That’s why there will always be a spot on the A-list for Science Fiction.
Humans want to belong. While comics were initially invented for nerds like me who never quite fit in, we are finding that all the plastic people like the Kardashians coming at us make us all feel inferior. Therefore none of us can compete and all of us are now clamoring for Science Fiction to become mainstream—and it is.
Some of the list are reboots and some of them are newly formed television centered around an epic drama. One thing they have in common is they are all a part of the art of Science Fiction. The real-life train wrecks may have reality television, but they will never own SciFi. Science Fiction searches for a better future, reality television appeases an audience of apathy.
Charmed
The original show first aired in 1998 and centered around three sisters with special gifts who took on foes in order to bring calmness to the world. This trope can be threaded throughout all science fiction and film – even zombie cinema. What is different about this show, is that the mother is murdered in the first episode. In the original show, she died when the sisters were children. This mom disappearing act doesn’t sit so well anymore. Think the reboot of Beauty and how fans wanted to know what happened to Belle’s mom. This all-too-often way of cutting out mom no longer fits into current Science Fiction drama. This series shows on Sundays on the CW.
First Man
There are a million reasons to see a movie with Ryan Gosling, but this one you want to see for an understanding of the brilliant work of Neil Armstrong. It was a singular vision that launched us into space and made him the first man on the moon. If you really want to see a movie about problem-solving, then this movie will do that justice. This is a must-see film and landed into theaters on October 12 and will likely not leave for some time.
The Walking Dead
This may be the last season you get to see Andrew Lincoln. We all remember how he rode into the square and was immediately surrounded by zombies. Know that zombies reflect our own loneliness in a world projected to us to be full of dummies. In reality, we are all unique individuals seeking our own adventures. That’s why the zombie trope will never go away. Who knows if anyone can really top how they do it on The Walking Dead. New episodes air on Sundays on AMC.
The Girl in the Spider’s Web
This epic story lands in theaters on November 9 and is a continuing story of resident badass Lisbeth who also happens to be one of the greatest characters ever created. “Why doesn’t a spider get caught in her own webs,” begs the question in this film. The answer is simple, she is the smartest person and fearless on top of it. With those combined she is the creator of outsmarting villains. This focuses more on current science fact and not fiction. That’s what’s cool about Science Fiction. It gives a lensing into the current world of science and one bright mind can come up with an idea that will eventually be used in the future. Some of her concepts are ideas not put into action yet. That makes it Science Fiction.
Tammy Marshall is an award-winning journalist with more than 20 years of writing. If you really want to get her on a subject, bring up Star Trek. She loves talking about traveling through space and what Gene Roddenberry’s vision did for science. Her hope is to inspire the first person to go to Mars and become the next Neil Armstrong. Her favorite movies are The Martian and Contact. She got to see Neil Degrasse-Tyson and George R.R. Martin. She wishes she could have met Carl Sagan. When she’s not plotting interstellar travel, she’s digging in the dirt. Her vegetables are legendary and her chickens have won awards. When her hands aren’t in the garden, she’s traveling to conventions around the country hoping to inspire the next person willing to go to Mars and aid Elon Musk on his mission.