When paralyzed by Fear of the Future, fans of SCI-FI can turn to their Heroes for Inspiration and Guidance. Storytellers well know that the Underdogs of this world need HOPE — because it helps them Survive, giving them a reason to go on — in the face of Adversity.
History reminds us that the Ruling Majority can be WRONG. Sooner or later, Empires built on Deception fall apart. It happened in Ancient Rome and Nazi Germany. And, given that the “Dark Side” of human nature is prone to repeat itself, we also find it in futuristic Science Fiction.
To overcome Fear, SCI-FI Heroes remain “True to Self”, listening to their Inner Voice.
Avatar — (2009)
Avatar is an epic SCI-FI film co-produced, co-edited, written, and directed by James Cameron. The cast includes Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez and Sigourney Weaver. It is the first installment in the Avatar film series.
Storyline
Set in the mid-22nd century, humans are colonizing Pandora, a lush habitable moon of a gas giant in the Alpha Centauri star system, in order to mine the valuable “unobtanium”, a room-temperature superconductor mineral. The expansion of the mining colony threatens the continued existence of a local tribe of Na’vi, a humanoid species indigenous to Pandora. The term “Avatar” refers to a genetically engineered Na’vi body — operated from the brain of a remotely located human that is used to interact with the natives of Pandora.
Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) is a former U.S. Marine (until he was discharged after an injury left him paralyzed from the waist down). After learning that his identical twin brother Tom has died, Jake agrees to replace him in the Avatar Program on Pandora — in spite of the fact that he has had zero training — because it gives him an opportunity to experience how it feels to walk again.
Lost in the Pandoran rainforest, Jake is attacked by a group of viperwolves when Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), a Na’vi, saves him. Jake turns against the Program’s military leadership (Stephen Lang) after sympathizing with the Na’vi and mating with Neytiri. He remains “true to self”, and leads the Na’vi in a battle to drive the “human invaders” off Pandora. After the battle, Jake’s consciousness is permanently transferred into his Avatar via the Tree of Souls.
[IMPORTANT NOTE: Native Americans have criticized Avatar for its portrayal of the Na’vi people as “racially stereotyped” and “culturally inaccurate”. Some activists consider it dangerous revisionist history and cultural appropriation. The backlash centers on the way the film portrays colonizers clashing with Native cultures. Some question why a white man like James Cameron is telling their story.]
Oblivion — (2013)
Oblivion is an American post-apocalyptic action-adventure SCI-FI, starring Tom Cruise in the main role alongside Morgan Freeman, Olga Kurylenko and Andrea Riseborough. The film pays homage to 1970s Sci-Fi, and is a “love story” set on a future Earth desolated by an Alien war.
Storyline
In the year 2077, Tech 49 Jack Harper (Tom Cruise) is one of the last drone repairmen stationed on Earth. According to Jack, the planet was nearly destroyed sixty years earlier, during a war against a race of Alien invaders known as Scavengers (“Scavs”). The Scavs destroyed the moon, causing massive earthquakes and tsunamis, and then launched their invasion.
They were defeated by the use of nuclear weapons, which left most of the planet irradiated and uninhabitable. The few surviving humans migrated to a colony on Titan, which is powered using energy harvested on Earth by giant ocean-borne power stations that generate fusion power from seawater. From Tower 49, a base standing above the remains of the northeastern United States, Jack and his partner and lover Victoria “Vika” Olsen (Andrea Riseborough) work as a team to maintain the autonomous drones that defend the power stations from the few remaining Scav bandits. They receive their orders from Sally (Melissa Leo), their mission commander, who is stationed on the “Tet,” a massive tetrahedral space station that orbits the Earth. Jack flies recon and repair missions to the surface, while Vic supervises from Tower 49. The two expect to leave Earth and join the other survivors on Titan in two weeks.
Although Jack and Vic had their memories wiped five years prior for security purposes, Jack has recurring dreams about meeting a mysterious woman at the Empire State Building in a time before the war, which occurred before he was born. Additionally, Jack keeps a secret retreat in a forested area he sometimes visits. He remains “True to Self” holding onto his memories and dreams at the core of his identity.
A Scav signal beacon transmitting coordinates is followed shortly by the crash of an American spacecraft prior to the invasion. Drones come and kill much of the hibernating human crew despite Jack ordering them to stand down. But Jack rescues a woman, Julia (Olga Kurylenko), recognizing her as the woman from his dreams. Julia says her ship-the Odyssey-was a NASA mission, the objective of which she refuses to reveal. She and Jack return to the crash site to retrieve the ship’s flight recorder. They are captured by Scavs, who are revealed to be humans living in an underground stronghold.
Their leader, Malcolm Beech (Morgan Freeman), claims that the Alien invasion was a lie. He tells Jack that drones work for the Aliens & are programmed to kill humans. He also reveals that he brought down the Odyssey, to get hold of its nuclear reactor, which will make the base for his fission bomb that he hopes to use to destroy the Alien command center Tet. He demands that Jack reprogram a captured drone to destroy the Tet by delivering an extremely powerful nuclear weapon. When Jack refuses, Malcolm releases the captives but urges them to seek the truth in the so-called “radiation zone” that Jack is forbidden to enter.
On their way back to the Tower, Jack takes Julia to the ruins of the Empire State Building and asks her who she is. She reveals that she was his wife before the war. His dreams were flashbacks to the day he proposed to her on the Empire State Building’s observation deck. As Jack and Julia share a kiss, Vic watches via her video link to Jack’s ship and, when they return to the Tower, refuses them entry. When she informs Sally that she and Jack are no longer an “effective team,” Sally activates a drone that kills Vic. Before the drone can kill Jack, Julia uses the weapons on Jack’s ship to destroy the drone. Sally requests that Jack return to the Tet and bring Julia, but they flee in his ship instead, pursued by more drones. They crash in the radiation zone, where Jack comes face to face with Tech 52, a clone of himself. He fights the clone, who, upon catching sight of Julia, begins experiencing memory flashbacks, before Jack renders him unconscious. Jack then finds Julia has been seriously wounded by a stray bullet from his struggle with Tech 52. Jack impersonates Tech 52, activating his vehicle and going to Tower 52, where he encounters a clone of Victoria, and steals a med kit to help Julia.
Shocked, Jack and Julia return to Beech, who tells them the truth: the Tet is in fact an Alien artificial intelligence that seized Earth to exploit the planet’s resources, and Jack and Victoria are just two of many thousands of clones of their original versions (astronauts from the 2017 Odyssey mission) that were created as soldiers to carry out the invasion of Earth. Beech reveals that one day he observed Jack “49”, retrieving an inspirational old book from the rubble — and realized that somehow, his “true self” must still be inside, and thought there might be a way to reach him.
“How can man die better:
than facing fearful odds,
for the ashes of his fathers,
and the temples of his Gods.”
— from the classical poem
Horatius
The Tet uses drones programmed to kill humans on sight, thus forcing the survivors to disguise themselves as the Scavs. The Tet now uses clones of Harper and Olsen to maintain the drones and thereby maintain its dominance. When Jack agrees to reprogram the stolen drone to destroy the Tet, Beech eyes him along with Earthly survivors of all ages and says, “Welcome back, Commander!” Leaving the underground stronghold with the reprogrammed drone, they are attacked by three other drones. The drones enter the base and wreak havoc inside, destroying the reprogrammed drone in the process. The humans finally manage to destroy the three drones but are forced to find another way to deliver the nuclear bomb to the Tet. Jack proposes delivering the bomb himself. To throw off suspicion, Julia suggests that she accompany Jack, since Sally had requested that he bring her to the Tet.
During the flight, Jack listens to the Odyssey’s flight recorder, which reveals that he and Victoria (Harper & Olsen) were originally pilots on the Odyssey mission to Titan, which was reassigned by NASA when the Tet was discovered near Saturn. Sally was their supervisor at NASA mission control, with other personnel, including Julia, on board in cryogenic capsules. Upon approach, the Tet drew them in with a tractor beam. Recognizing that capture was imminent, Jack was able to jettison the sleeping crew-members, who orbited for sixty years in suspended animation until Beech sent the signal to recall their craft.
Jack enters the Tet, where he is met by a sentient tetrahedral structure that had adopted the persona of Sally. Jack opens the sleep capsule to reveal Beech; Julia simultaneously emerges from another sleeping capsule at Jack’s secret forest retreat. The two men trigger the nuclear bomb and destroy the Tet at the cost of their own lives. The destruction of the Tet also deactivates the remaining drones around the world, just moments before they were able to slaughter the survivors at the Scavs underground base.
Three years later, Julia is living with her young daughter in the forest retreat on the recovering Earth. A group of survivors arrive there, and Tech 52 emerges from the group. A voice-over by Tech 52 reveals that his previous encounter had re-awakened memories of Julia, and he had searched for her since the Tet’s destruction. Having the same latent memories as Tech 49, he then reunites with “his” family.
Extant — (2014)
Extant is an American SCI-FI drama TV series created by Mickey Fisher and, as executive producer, Steven Spielberg.
Storyline
Astronaut Molly Woods (Halle Berry), with the ISEA (International Space Exploration Agency) is assigned a 13-month solo mission aboard space station Seraphim. She returns home to her family and tries to reconnect with everyday life, troubled by “flashbacks” from her mission (seeing her dead former lover while on the space station) that she cannot explain.
Her experiences in space and home lead to events that ultimately will change the course of human history — when she discovers that she has inexplicably become pregnant (while alone in space) despite years of infertility … and begins a frantic search for answers. Meanwhile, her inventor husband John (Goran Visnjic), a robotics engineer, is on the verge of a major breakthrough with his greatest creation, their ten-year-old android “son” Ethan (Pierce Gagnon), a prototype called a “humanich”.
Molly remains “True to Self” insisting that she did not hallucinate while in space — and learns that she cannot trust people behind the Space Program. (She tracks down Kryger, the astronaut who preceded her on the space station, and he reveals disturbing details of his own solo mission that the Agency is keeping secret.) ISEA Director Alan Sparks (Michael O’Neill) has apparently been lying to her, hiding a secret plan — and placed her in harm’s way — to bring Extraterrestrial life back to Earth.
After Sparks attempts to quarantine Molly, she and her family seek refuge on a remote island with her estranged father, Quinn. When the agency closes in on their whereabouts, Ethan is exposed to grave danger. John begins to doubt Molly’s mental state when the validity of her pregnancy is questioned.
Molly uncovers footage that may reveal the real reason the ISEA chose her for the solo mission. Convinced the Agency has taken her baby, she is determined to find out where. Meanwhile, Kryger is held hostage in an attempt to recover the incriminating video he stole from the ISEA. When Molly learns that her baby is alive, she sets out to devise a plan to intercept it. When she finally comes face-to-face with her offspring, she realizes she may be the only one who can stop the coming danger that threatens all life on Earth.
Finally, season one comes full circle — as Molly returns to space in an attempt redirect the Seraphim away from Earth and protect the world’s population.
With an excellent cast and intriguing premise, Extant is definitely worth your time — especially the first season, which resolves itself enough to stand alone. Be sure to check it out!
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story — (2016)
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is an American epic SCI-FI film produced by Lucasfilm and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is an immediate prequel to the original Star Wars (1977).
Storyline
Research scientist Galen Erso and his family hide on the planet Lah’mu when Imperial weapons developer Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) arrives to press him into completing the Death Star, a superweapon capable of destroying planets. Galen’s wife Lyra is killed in the confrontation while their daughter Jyn (played as an adult by Felicity Jones) escapes and is rescued by rebel extremist Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker).
Fifteen years later, cargo pilot Bodhi Rook defects from the Empire, taking a holographic message from Galen to Saw on the moon Jedha. Rebel Alliance intelligence officer Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) learns of the Death Star and Bodhi’s defection from an informant. Jyn is freed from an Imperial labor camp on Wobani and is brought to the Rebels’ base on Yavin IV, where Rebel leader Mon Mothma convinces her to find Galen so the Alliance can learn more about the superweapon. Cassian is covertly ordered to aid Jyn but to kill Galen rather than extract him.
Jyn, Cassian, and reprogrammed former Imperial droid K-2SO travel to Jedha, where the Empire loots kyber crystals to power the Death Star. In Jedha City, Saw and his partisans are engaged in an armed insurgency against the Empire and Jyn and Cassian get caught in the crossfire. Aided by blind spiritual warrior Chirrut Îmwe (Donnie Yen) and his mercenary friend Baze Malbus, Jyn makes contact with Saw, who is holding Bodhi. Saw shows her the message in which Galen reveals he has secretly built a vulnerability into the Death Star. The schematics are located in an Imperial data vault on the planet Scarif.
Onboard the Death Star, Krennic orders a test fire, which destroys Jedha City. Jyn and her group take Bodhi and flee the moon, but Saw remains there to die. Imperial governor Grand Moff Tarkin congratulates Krennic before using Bodhi’s defection as a pretext to take control of the Death Star. Bodhi leads the group to Galen’s Imperial research facility on the planet Eadu, where Cassian hesitates to kill Galen. Rebel bombers then attack the facility. Galen is wounded and dies in Jyn’s arms before she escapes with her group on a stolen Imperial cargo shuttle. Krennic is summoned by Darth Vader to answer for the attack on Jedha City. Krennic seeks his support for an audience with the Emperor, but Vader instead force-chokes him and orders him to ensure no further problems occur.
Jyn proposes a mission to steal the Death Star schematics, but the Alliance Council feels there is no chance of victory. Frustrated at their inaction, Jyn remains “True to Self”, leading a small squad of volunteers, which Bodhi dubs “Rogue One,” to raid the vault. Using the stolen Imperial shuttle, they gain access through the planet’s shield. Jyn, Cassian, and K-2SO infiltrate the base while the others attack the Imperial garrison as a diversion.
The Alliance learns of the raid from intercepted Imperial communications and deploys their fleet in support, leading to a space battle against the Imperial fleet. K-2SO sacrifices himself so Jyn and Cassian can retrieve the data. Chirrut is killed after activating the switch to allow communication with the Rebel fleet, and Baze is killed shortly afterward. Bodhi is killed by a grenade after informing the Rebel fleet that it must deactivate the planetary shield to allow the transmission of the plans. Rebel Admiral Raddus uses a Rebel ship to crash two Imperial Star Destroyers into each other; the wreckage destroys the shield generator. Jyn obtains the schematics but is ambushed by Krennic, who is shot and wounded by Cassian. Jyn transmits the schematics to the Rebel command ship moments before the Death Star arrives above Scarif, commanded by Tarkin. He orders the Death Star to destroy the citadel, killing everyone, including Krennic, Cassian, and Jyn.
The Rebel fleet prepares to jump to hyperspace, but many ships are intercepted by Darth Vader’s Star Destroyer. Vader boards the Rebel command ship and kills many troops trying to regain the schematics, but a smaller ship escapes with the plans. Aboard the fleeing ship as it enters hyperspace, Princess Leia Organa declares that the schematics will provide hope for the Rebellion.
Jyn Erso’s tenacity, resourcefulness, and unwavering spirit exemplify the potential for strong female characters to drive Science Fiction to exhilarating heights. Rogue One serves as a testament to how female leads can redefine expectations and bring fresh perspectives to the world of SCI-FI.
Everything Everywhere All At Once — (2022)
Everything Everywhere All at Once is an American absurdist comedy-drama film that incorporates elements from Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Martial Arts. Michelle Yeoh stars as Evelyn Quan Wang, a Chinese-American immigrant who, while audited by the IRS, discovers that she must connect with parallel universe versions of herself to prevent a powerful being from destroying the multiverse.
Storyline
Evelyn Quan Wang (Michelle Yeoh) is a middle-aged Chinese immigrant who runs a laundromat with her husband, Waymond (Ke Huy Quan). Two decades earlier, they eloped to the United States and had a daughter, Joy (Stephanie Hsu). In the present day, Evelyn is enduring multiple struggles: the laundromat is being audited by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS); Waymond is attempting to serve her with divorce papers in an effort to spark a discussion about their marriage; her rigorous father (referred to as Gong Gong, Cantonese for “grandfather)”(James Hong) is visiting for her Chinese New Year party; and she has a strained relationship with Joy, who is battling depression and has a non-Chinese girlfriend, Becky, whom Evelyn is reluctant to accept.
At a tense meeting with IRS inspector Deirdre Beaubeirdre (Jamie Lee Curtis), Waymond’s body is taken over by Alpha-Waymond, a version of Waymond from the “Alphaverse.” Alpha-Waymond explains to Evelyn that many parallel universes exist (the “multiverse”) because every life choice creates a new alternative universe. In the Alphaverse, the now-deceased Alpha-Evelyn developed “verse-jumping” technology, which enables people to access the skills, memories, and bodies of their parallel selves by performing bizarre actions that are statistically unlikely. The multiverse is threatened by Jobu Tupaki (Alpha-Joy), whose mind was splintered after Alpha-Evelyn pushed her to verse-jump beyond her endurance. Jobu experiences all universes at once and can verse-jump and manipulate matter at will. Jobu has created a black hole-like “Everything Bagel” that forms a toroid singularity that could destroy the multiverse.
Evelyn is provided verse-jumping technology to fight Jobu’s minions, who are converging on the IRS building. She uncovers other universes in which she made different choices and flourished, such as becoming a kung fu master and film star. She also learns that Waymond intends to file for divorce. Alpha-Waymond believes that Evelyn, as the greatest “failure” of all Evelyns in the multiverse, possesses the untapped potential needed to defeat Jobu. Gong Gong is taken over by Alpha-Gong Gong, who instructs Evelyn to kill Joy to prevent Jobu from using her to access Evelyn’s universe. Evelyn refuses and decides to face Jobu by acquiring powers through repeated verse-jumping. Alpha-Gong Gong, convinced that Evelyn’s mind has been compromised like Jobu’s, sends soldiers after Evelyn. While they fight, Jobu locates and kills Alpha-Waymond in the Alphaverse. As Jobu confronts Evelyn in her universe, Evelyn’s mind begins to splinter, causing her to collapse.
Evelyn uncontrollably verse-jumps alongside Jobu across bizarre and diverse universes. Jobu discloses she does not intend to fight, but that instead, she has been searching for an Evelyn who can see, as she does, that nothing matters. She teleports Evelyn to the Everything Bagel, divulging that she wants to use it to allow herself and Evelyn to truly die. Upon looking into the Bagel, Evelyn is initially persuaded, and behaves cruelly and nihilistically in her other universes, hurting those around her.
Just as Evelyn enters the Bagel with Jobu, she pauses to listen to Waymond’s pleas in her universe for everybody to stop fighting and to instead practice kindness, even when life is senseless. Evelyn has an existentialist epiphany (remaining “True to Self”) and decides to follow Waymond’s absurdist and humanitarian advice, utilizing her multiverse powers to fight with empathy and bring happiness to those around her. In doing so, she repairs her damage in the other universes and neutralizes Alpha-Gong Gong and Jobu’s fighters. In her home universe, Evelyn reconciles with Waymond, accepts Joy and Becky’s relationship and divulges it to Gong Gong, while Waymond convinces Deirdre to let them redo their taxes. Jobu decides to enter the Bagel alone as, simultaneously in Evelyn’s universe, Joy pleads Evelyn to let her go. Evelyn tells Joy that even when nothing makes sense and even though she could be anywhere else in the multiverse, she will always want to be with Joy. Evelyn and the others save Jobu from the Bagel, and Evelyn and Joy embrace.
Sometime later, with the family’s relationships improved, they return to the IRS building to refile their taxes. As Deirdre talks, Evelyn’s attention is momentarily drawn to her alternative selves, before she grounds herself back in her home universe.
“True to Self” SCI-FI shows how Heroes face Adversity — by listening to their “Inner Voice”. It helps them to remember Who they are and hold on to Beliefs they hold dear. It Empowers them to overcome Fear by fending off Lies from people who cannot be trusted (because they have “given in” to the “Dark Side” of human nature).
May we all feel Inspired … to do likewise.
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(click image link to view YouTube video)