The science fiction genre of books and movies, for me, are an interesting conglomeration of the good, the bad, and the downright ugly…. Of course, some might say the same thing about my posts on this blog. Outside of the self-publishing realm, the number of new science fiction books coming to market each year is falling. The economics are simple: there is only a narrow band of readers willing to purchase such novels. Each year the purchase of older, well-established novels outsells the newer offerings. The Dune novels received a boost in sales based on the success of the recent Dune movies offered via streaming services. I will admit that my “library” of read and re-read science fiction largely consisted of classics from Clarke, Herbert, Asimov, Le Guinn and others. I guess the future doesn’t sell.

Yet at the same time, futurist and science fiction cinema does well at the box office. One only has to consider the success of the Marvel franchise which successfully created an entire universe – the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe). As others have noted, the source of these movies are not from novels, but rather graphic novels or, in the older moniker, comics. I’m not sure what that says apart from there is a wealth of creativity emanating from that corner of the literary world. Yet, there is something different. The creativity of the individual has perhaps given way to the brand and market management of the corporate suite evident as the next-gen MCU struggles to find footing.

What brought all this to mind? This year is the 40th Anniversary of the film The Terminator, the James Cameron low-budget film that was the science fiction film that broke into the mainstream in surprising and perplexing ways. 40 years ago our latent fear of a hostile takeover by computers with artificial intelligence was limited to the almost light hearted War Games (AI defeated by a bright but unmotivated high school student and hacker) and other such fare. But The Terminator was different. It was a blend of film noir meets scifi meets our deepest fears.

The Arnold Schwarzenegger T-800 assassination Cyborg is sent back from the AI-controlled future, but a human is also sent back to warn and protect Sara Connor, mother of the future leader of the resistance. The human is cast as a guardian angel with a message for Sarah and us about the T-800: “It can’t be bargained with. It can’t be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop … ever, until you are dead!” The terminator is a hyper-modern incarnation of the Grim Reaper.

Perhaps in a darker moment, such warnings of a future AI takeover of humanity seems less sifi.

In the meantime, like Arnold, I’ll be back with other musings covering Sacred Scripture and whatever happens to capture my attention in the moment.