#genesis and void

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Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968)

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1899 / A MADMAN DREAMS OF TURING MACHINES

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ALIENS (1986), dir. James Cameron

Surgically removed before embryo implantation. Subject: Marachek, John J., died during the procedure.

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Donna Haraway, “A Cyborg Manifesto”

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Clifton Collins Jr as Tendo Choi in PACIFIC RIM (2013), dir. Guillermo del Toro

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H. G. Wells, The Invisible Man (1897)

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I so hope Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese continue to make mystery-scifi shows. It's a fascinating, fabulous, infinitely expansive, thought-provoking, borderline mystical genre — at least when done well.

(The only other show in this genre that comes to mind, offhand, is The OA. In terms of films: perhaps La Jetée, although it's so short as to almost be a fable, albeit not in the moralistic sense; perhaps Pi, although it is at least as much a thriller as a philosophical work.)

[mervynbunter]

The science-fiction genre has long been inflected by Jewish influences, whether audiences realize it or not. Take this past month’s blockbuster Dune, adapted from the famed Frank Herbert novel. The film’s main character, Paul Atreides, is a messianic figure who goes by many mystical names, including one that undoubtedly confused many moviegoers: “Kwisatz Haderach.” The reason this term sounds like nonsense in English is that it’s not English. It’s Herbert’s rough transliteration of the traditional Jewish term kefitzat haderech (קפיצת הדרך), which means the “shortening of the way” or “leaping of the path.” The messiah, in other words, is the one who propels humanity forward to its ultimate destination.

The Incredible True Story Behind TV’s Strangest Space Jew