INASCIFI BLOG

Hi all!

Before I start getting into reviews, info or any other topics related to science fiction, let me first apologize for the lack of updates in this blog for the past few months.

Anyway, I’m happy to report about my recent experience attending a local Indonesian fan community celebrating their 6th Anniversary. Yes, The Indonesian Star Trek Community has turned six years old this year, and 2009 has been a very wonderful year for them. Aside the new movie that came out last May (or June in Indonesia), the community have received lots of support (including from PT Indosat, one of Indonesia’s local telecommunications provider) and had a wonderful birthday party at Pisa Kafe Mahakam (near Blok M, Jakarta Selatan).

I wish I could post pictures and stuff like that, but unfortunately my camera never left my bag. Well, I’ll post some pics from the Indo Star Trek’s facebook page.

Qa’pla! (Success in Klingonese)

Hi, I know it’s been awhile since I’ve written anything significant here in this blog. Things been going on in my personal life, but I promise to post some newer reviews and perhaps new previews related to science fiction. Regards…

Hi, I know it’s been awhile since I’ve written anything significant here in this blog. Things been going on in my personal life, but I promise to post some newer reviews and perhaps new previews related to science fiction. Regards…

Inascifi’s creation was based on the founder (I myself) frustration toward the Indonesian paradigm and view toward the science fiction genre.

I myself felt benefit by the genre in many aspects.

Reading the novel Starship Troopers (by Robert A. Heinlein) helped me understand civics, the nature of human spirit and violent tendency, and the necessity to sacrifice one’s own self for the benefit of others.

The Star Trek franchise gave me a good idea what a brighter and better future would be for mankind once we eliminate poverty and starvation through economic abundance.

The Star Wars saga gave a good story regarding good vs evil and the power of love and redemption.

The Bicentennial Man (based on the novella of the same title written by Isaac Asimov) helped me realize the value of human life, the simple biological processes we experience daily that we’ve often take for granted. The film also conveyed a wonderful message of love between a man and woman, though certain religious folks will find the concept very offensive.

The Stargate franchise, provoked the idea what if aliens who are so technological advanced came down to Earth in 6,000 BC and enslaved the human race. With their advanced technology, they build the Pyramids as their ships’ landing sites, and put themselves as gods upon the primitive humanity.

Quantum Leap, has a story of an altruistic scientist who want to do good in a world so filled with tears and sadness, and through time travel he disguised himself as an ordinary person who happen to be at the right place and right time, and changed history to the better and touch many lives in the process.

These stories… are quite complex and requires a good deal of intelligence to understand, and apparently not many Indonesians seem to appreciate this. Perhaps they do, but just never found the right channel to access news and information regarding ’science fiction’.

I won’t write about the technicality aspects of this film. The film was great in its storytelling and pace, and as reading the graphic novel first gave me a head understanding about this one. I can only say, that being a follower of Christ and knowing who Jesus is personally, having this intimate relationship with the True Living GOD and His Holy Spirit brings immense relief. I’m relieved to see there are no men with superpowers walking like gods among men. I’m relieved that my faith isn’t challenged by the existing by such visible “gods,” although in many places certain ‘false gods’ have appeared and garnered their own following.

A question for Christians, what will they do if superheroes (or men with superpowers) truly exist? Will they condemn them? Judge them as evil or satanic? Just remember what Jesus said about judging.

Matthew 7:1-3 ‘Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.’

Dr. Manhattan is not a god. He doesn’t claim to be one, although his powers are incredibly beyond ordinary, but he’s still a person who has concerns for his fellow men.

In the beginning,

there was ina_sci-fi.

Like many small electronic groups that formed in the virtual world, the community grew and shrank, and almost collapsed.

Then, the founder came up with the idea to shorten the name, to Inascifi.

The idea was to reduced the task of typing underscores ( _ ) and dashes ( - ) signs each time he sent an email to the group, and it worked.

The suddenly! Without warning, the founder’s father found himself being billed a good amount of American Dollars on his credit card. The founder bought the domain, inascifi.com .

It was a blessing in disguised. The Yahoo! provider allowed inascifi.com become a small business website, with many tools and emails and bandwidth space. But the main issue was not with the tools.

It was the tool user. He need time and concentration a large amount of fun in developing the website and community. Added with the burden as a research executive in a marketing research company, reduced his free time and creativity.

The science fiction community’s future was threaten.

< to be continued >

GUYS…

Indonesian Star Trek Community

these Indonesian Star Trek fellows are impressive.

This year they had a gathering in Bandung, another gathering in Jakarta, and many other gatherings before that.

Still, as much I am a Trekker, I still love Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, Firefly and other science fiction related literature/media.

I know there are two Star Wars groups in Indonesia (one dedicated to Jedi, the other to the Sith).

Where are they now?

We’re happy to say that something will happen soon.

Stay in touch!

J.J. Abram’s Star Trek is the one of the biggest buzz in the entertainment industry. Attempting to bring Star Trek back to its original roots, the next film will center on the original Federation starship U.S.S. Enterprise (NCC-1701, with no bloody A, B, C, D or E and J) and how the core crew of the original series came by together.

Having the crew recast was the only option, since two original actors have long since passed away.

DeForest Kelley, who played ship’s doctor Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy was the first member of the original cast to pass away, and the second was James Doohan, who played the Scottish engineer Montgomery ‘Scotty’ Scott.

Nevertheless, the rest of the original actors were way too old to portray their roles, with the exception of Leonard Nimoy who is famous worldwide for playing Mister Spock, the U.S.S. Enterprise’s half-human half Vulcan first officer. Unlike us humans, the Vulcans of the planet Vulcan have an average life expectancy of over 200 years, so having Mr. Spock appear in the 24th century, still alive although very old, is very plausible.

Of course, having the premise ‘how the core crew of the original series (recast by younger better looking actors) came together’ sends the impression “Oh great, just another prequel story. Been there, done that.” Heck, even George Lucas started this whole prequel thing with his Star Wars episodes I-II-III, then apparently it became a trend… there’s Smallville, then there’s Hannibal Rising (origin story of Silence Of The Lambs), Fast and Furious (fourth film of the series, which is actually a midquel = sequel to The Fast And The Furious and 2 Fast 2 Furious, but a prequel to The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift). Oh, don’t forget the re-imagination of Battlestar Galactica.

Yep, even back in 2001 there was a prequel series titled Enterprise (named such way so the viewers can associate the series with Star Trek without using the word Star Trek) which was renamed into Star Trek: Enterprise (which beats the whole purpose of the naming it Enterprise in the first place). Set in 2151-2155, the series takes place 90 years after mankind’s first official contact with the alien Vulcans and before the founding of United Federation of Planets.

Still with the theme of exploring the stars and putting humanity’s mark among the stars, Enterprise (later renamed into Star Trek: Enterprise) was challenged with scrutiny by many hard core fans (and some considered in direct violation with established continuity). Because of low ratings, the show was eventually canceled in the fourth season. In fact, the last episode of the series titled These are the voyages… was considered by many fans and cast members alone the worst episode ever written as a series finale.

Okay, so back Abram’s Star Trek.
Things you really need to know:
1. It is set around the 23rd century, some time before Captain Kirk’s famous five year mission.
2. While some sources stated it as a remake or reboot, writers Alex Kuzman and Robert Orzi of Transformers (2007) fame, went to considerable effort to honor the established timeline and essense. If you want me to spoil things for you, let’s just say that the story does involves Leonard Nimoy back as (a much, much older Mr. Spock).
3. The U.S.S. Enterprise will be very different from the one seen in the original series or movies. One reason of this more-than-cosmetic differences would perhaps be explained in the opening act.
4. Star Trek’s message of a hope for a bright future and peaceful exploration among the stars will still be the core theme.

As a Star Trek fan who lives in Indonesia I can’t help being a bit worried. In fact, very worried. I’m worried because of the assumption Star Trek isn’t as popular here as it is in other countries.
Also, our film distributor companies have a reputation of not showing films that have low market potential (example: Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Star Trek: Insurrection, Star Trek Nemesis). Worst cast scenario, they won’t show it at all. But it might not come to this as I saw the movie poster in Blitz Megaplex last month.

Arvin at Blitz Megaplex, Mall of Indonesia. Jan 26 2009.

Still, it would be the best interest if the subtitling guy do not screw up the film’s translation into Bahasa Indonesia.

Heck, I’ll volunteer myself to make that translation/subtitling if the person involved is inexperienced with Star Trek.

-Arvin N. Chandra

Okay…

I’ve written about five (hopefully) good (if not great) films that will be coming this year.

Here’s some thoughts I have regarding those titles:

1. Star Trek.

After four years disappearing from the airwaves and six years from the big screen, Star Trek is back. But a good question would be, which Star Trek is this? From the sources I’ve gathered around, I can say a few things. First, this new Star Trek is not a simple remake… starting a new Trek franchise from scratch. The guys behind this film are putting good effort in respecting 40 years of established Star Trek lore. Although it risks a lot of alienating old fans, in many ways I can imagine it will bring new fans as well. Second, this coming summer will be a real competition. Noticed that these next four titles are all releasing within 3 months? Right during holiday season. So to be honest, I hope that Star Trek really tops them all.

Oh yeah, Indonesia also have its own Indo-Star Trek chapter. They’re located on http://www.indo-startrek.org/

In respect for the other titles:
2. X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Wolverine is awesome. No doubt. Hugh Jackman is the perfect cast for Logan. And after the rather disappointing third flick (X-Men: The Last Stand), the guys decide to bring it a bit back behind. We get to see an origin story of Wolverine. Please know that in the comic universe itself, Wolverine’s origin has been rather recently fleshed out… and the way film media treat the source material tend to be… either good, or really really… ugh. Good example: Batman Begins (2005), Spider-Man (2002), Iron Man (2008). Bad examples: Batman Forever (1995), The Spirit (2008) the Smallville series (2001-present, although it’s a TV series instead of a film). From the trailer I’ve seen… Wolverine has potential to be a real action pack and violent movie. But hey, so was Punisher: War Zone (2008). (I still don’t get why many don’t like 2003’s The Punisher).

3. Terminator Salvation. I’ve got mixed feelings for this one. The premise is quite simple… man vs machine in a post apocalyptic future. We got a man destined as mankind’s savior. We got killing machines. There’s probably no Schwarzenegger on this one, but hey… at least there’s no Keannu Reeve (Neo) or Hugo Weaving (Agent Smith.. or Megatron), but what? We got Christian Bale as JOHN CONNOR? Isn’t this a bit… a.. hmm… overcast? Bale is so successful in the Batman franchise! Why is he into the Terminator franchise? As the sixth (or is it seventh) person to play John Connor?
Note: The first John Connor to appear is the future scarred Connor in the opening segment of T2:Judgment Day. Then there’s also the teenage John Connor played by Edward Furlong. Then there’s the young adult 20-some John Connor played by Nick Stahl in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. Then there’s the teenager John Connor played Thomas Derek in the Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (which conveniently disregard the continuity of T3)… as well one or two child actors playing John in flashbacks. Okay… brief rundown: “This is not the future my mother warned me about. In this future, I’m not sure we can win.” The future has changed… can John Connor follow his destiny to save mankind from Skynet?
This is my second most anticipated movie of this year.

4. G.I.JOE: The Rise of Cobra. An action film based on an old cartoon serial, of an elite American task force fighting the global terrorist group Cobra… where no blood has never been spilled, nobody ever apparently die… and … goodness, the animations and morality back then was so simplistic. But hey, it was the 1980’s. Now, Step Up’s actor Channing Tatum is playing Duke? Funnily, I sort of accidentally read the movie script… and it was awesome! Hope this movie rocks!

5. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Hmm… the plot for this movie is very tightly sealed. I couldn’t find much about this, except we’ll have more Autobots and a lot more Decepticons… and humans. Shia and Megan are back… which should be a good thing. Cool vehicles-transforming-into-robots… check. Exploding buildings with cool visual effects… check. Big Bad Villain making a Huge Comeback…. errr W.H.A.T.?