# Worst... Sci-fi...Ever... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 15, 2004, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049 "2004-12-15T22:40:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2004, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049/161 "2004-12-17T22:45:12Z")
Remember the RV from Ark 2? Knock off the wheels and it was in Space Academy. Also, that Trek episode was called, “Spectre of the Gun”. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2004, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049/162 "2004-12-17T23:04:05Z")
The Moderator Pontificates: OK, so I’m here five hours and many, many posts after the problem, but… > [@Reality Chuck](#): > > It requires a sense of humor. … . It’s known as “parody.” Look it up **Chuck** , there’s a fine line between “humor” and “insult”, and I think you’ve got one toe over that fine line. This is Cafe Society, it’s about the arts and entertainment, and there’s room for lots of varying point of view. You can insult the art itself all you want – Lord knows, in this thread, we’re talking some pretty awful stuff – but you can’t insult the member for his opinion. Detecting humor in posts is not always as obvious to you as it might be to someone else, and I daresay that you’ve been whooshed in the past, too. We’ve all been there, and it does no good to take on an insulting tone about it. Agreed? ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2004, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049/163 "2004-12-17T23:15:17Z")
What, no love for _[Nukie](http://www.somethingawful.com/articles.php?a=421)_? (Warning: Something Awful is harmful to children and other living things.) > [@Ben "Greasnin" Platt](#): > > It’s a goddamn half-assed rip-off of [“MAC and Me,”](http://www.somethingawful.com/article.php?id=124) which was a quarter-assed ripoff of “E.T.” Every second of this movie is like having a root canal performed on your genitals with rusty dental tools that are also on fire. For the record, that’s bad. _Nukie_ is the kind of film you show a child you want to grow up to become a mass murderer. _Nukie_ is the kind of gift you give someone you never want to see again. _Nukie_ is proof solid that there is no God, and that He hates us with all His might. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2004, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049/164 "2004-12-18T00:51:01Z")
Ok, I’m going out on a limb here, but: What is so terrible about the Spock’s Brain episode? More so than any other TOS episode I mean. I haven’t watched it in a while but it wouldn’t have been on my finalist’s list of Worst Trek Episodes. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2004, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049/165 "2004-12-18T00:56:11Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Ok, I’m going out on a limb here, but: > > What is so terrible about the Spock’s Brain episode? More so than any other TOS episode I mean. > > I haven’t watched it in a while but it wouldn’t have been on my finalist’s list of Worst Trek Episodes. “Brain and brain! What is brain!?” Need I say more? ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2004, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049/166 "2004-12-18T13:46:43Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > _Shadow of the Gun_? > > And you’re right, especially when seen from today’s mindset. It was original and trailblazing then, though. > > Well, except for _Spock’s Brain_. > > And _In the Blink of an Eye_. > > And…um…never mind… It was _Specter of the Gun_, and it has colored my view of the Gunfight at the OK Corral ever since. I’ve always seen the Earps as the villians. I know it’s foolish, but I saw this episode when I was 10 or so… ---
**Author:** ![mike1dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@mike1dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mike1dog)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2004, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049/167 "2004-12-18T15:55:20Z")
Ahem. Soylent Green is people! Soylent Green is people! ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2004, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049/168 "2004-12-18T18:07:16Z")
> [@Left Hand of Dorkness](#): > > You’re not just saying that to make my head explode, are you? No, that’s just a bonus. 😃 > [@Left Hand of Dorkness](#): > > I think the differences between _The Dispossessed_ and _Starship Troopers_ are pretty interesting. Both of them are, I think, fairly polemic works in which the authors put forward a world they find pretty appealing. > > But _Starship Troopers_ stops there. Alternatives to this world are contemptuously dismissed; there’s no eloquent defense at all for the virtues of the noble opposition. THat’s part of why Verhoeven had such an easy time satirizing it. > > _The Dispossessed_ wears its uncertainty on its jacket. Literally: the subtitle is _An Ambiguous Utopia_. And Le Guin, even though she obviously prefers the anarchic society, goes out of her way to show the virtues of the strongly capitalist society. Even more shocking, she shows the pitfalls of the anarchists. The anarchists are so bad that the book’s protagonist, a brilliant scientist, has to flee his home planet in order to get the intellectual freedom he needs to complete his work. > > So yeah, I agree with you: it’s a fantastic book, in no small part because it doesn’t settle the tension between the competing world-views. Folks that read it simply as a polemic are missing its complexity, I think, and the uncertainty that is its central premise. > > Daniel I think you are correct. The reader becomes like Shevek, coming to the two ambiguous worlds “with empty hands”, ready to receive whatever there is as a gift. I never found the world of Starship Troopers appealing (and I have never seen the film), so I read it simply as pulp fiction. I can’t imagine anyone treating The Dispossessed that way. Especially not the pivotal scene, where Shevek is describing watching a man burned in a plane crash die. "That’s where brotherhood begins. It begins in shared pain. And where does it end? I don’t know. I don’t know yet." And all those references to “the wall”. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2004, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049/169 "2004-12-18T19:36:05Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > The _sets_ were OK? The ship looked like the inside of an air duct… How many air ducts have you seen that are that well lit and have computer interfaces everywhere? ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2004, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049/170 "2004-12-18T20:04:14Z")
> [@BMalion](#): > > **Event Horizon** , was a steaming floater. Disagree on one point. The ship was rather cool looking…and the intial plot set up was quite nice. Too bad they screwed it up. I really wanted to like it. And I have to ask: Why does evil from beyond our universe speak Latin? ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2004, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049/171 "2004-12-18T20:10:28Z")
> [@ITR champion](#): > > Was anybody else pissed off by the number of episodes on the original Star Trek where the crew found some planet which for some silly reason (or maybe no silly reason) was based on some period in human history. You know, even if a book of Chicago prohibition-era mobsters did get transported to another planet, I find it doubtful the inhabitants of that planet would feel compelled to rearrange their society so as to conform to what was said in that book, and how would they read the book anyway? It may not make sense…but I’ve always had a fondness for that particulary episode, if nothing else because it answers the eternal question: What would happen if the writers ran out of ideas and decided to borrow the sets and costumes from **Guys and Dolls** to make an episode? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2004, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049/172 "2004-12-18T20:14:39Z")
> [@HPL](#): > > It may not make sense…but I’ve always had a fondness for that particulary episode, if nothing else because it answers the eternal question: What would happen if the writers ran out of ideas and decided to borrow the sets and costumes from **Guys and Dolls** to make an episode? You know, I would PAY to hear Shatner sing “Luck Be A Lady”. Truly I would. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2004, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049/173 "2004-12-18T21:50:00Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > It was _Specter of the Gun_, and it has colored my view of the Gunfight at the OK Corral ever since. I’ve always seen the Earps as the villians. I know it’s foolish, but I saw this episode when I was 10 or so… Heh. Me too. ---
**Author:** ![Ninja\_Pizza\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f04885/32.png) [@Ninja\_Pizza\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ninja_Pizza_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2004, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049/174 "2004-12-19T02:02:01Z")
In my mis-spent youth, I read quite a bit of christian sci-fi. There’s a bunch of brain cells I miss. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2004, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049/175 "2004-12-19T02:55:56Z")
> [@HPL](#): > > It may not make sense…but I’ve always had a fondness for that particulary episode, if nothing else because it answers the eternal question: What would happen if the writers ran out of ideas and decided to borrow the sets and costumes from **Guys and Dolls** to make an episode? I love that episode. I do! It’s the only one I have a recording of. “Right, Spocko?” “Er, riiiight.” ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2004, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049/176 "2004-12-19T03:00:47Z")
> [@Ninja Pizza Guy](#): > > In my mis-spent youth, I read quite a bit of christian sci-fi. There’s a bunch of brain cells I miss. I’m assuming that it’s Christian sci-fi besides Lewis… Are we talking Peretti here? :eek: Although I’d classify him more as Christian fantasy. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2004, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049/177 "2004-12-19T03:16:36Z")
I’m trying to remember an overly long sci-fi novel I was unable to finish. It did not allow itself to be read. Maybe someone could come up with the title if I describe it. The parts I was able to read were about a guy who creates a new metal alloy, and he wanted to use it for things like bridges and railroad tracks but the government made him distribute it to everyone, so there were plenty of coffee pots and golf clubs made with his new metal but not enough for his own selfish plans. I remember an unikely romantic subplot, too. Any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![Ninja\_Pizza\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f04885/32.png) [@Ninja\_Pizza\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ninja_Pizza_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2004, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049/178 "2004-12-19T03:31:23Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > I’m assuming that it’s Christian sci-fi besides Lewis… > > > [@Ninja Pizza Guy](#): > > > > In my mis-spent youth, I read quite a bit of christian sci-fi. There’s a bunch of brain cells I miss. > > Are we talking Peretti here? :eek: Although I’d classify him more as Christian fantasy. I don’t remember any authors. The only plot I can remember right off the top is a trilogy (IIRC) where the “space brothers” were coming to some un-named planet, bringing with them advanced science and medicine, and spreading some vaguely new-agish philosophy/religion. Of course, it turns out the “space brothers” are either demons/devils/fallen angels or worshippers of same (I can’t remember which), and only the incredible courage of a few previously-mocked “true believers” (they’re never identified as christians, but that’s what they were) saved the day. Calling the characters 2D and the plot thin would be entirely too generous. ---
**Author:** ![Ninja\_Pizza\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f04885/32.png) [@Ninja\_Pizza\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ninja_Pizza_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2004, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049/179 "2004-12-19T03:33:28Z")
:smack: When nesting quotes, it’d be really keen to nest them _right!_ ---
**Author:** ![SandyHook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2004, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049/180 "2004-12-19T03:41:23Z")
Last year some time I watched “Robinson Crusoe On Mars.” In my defense I had been drinking and was home alone. It had all the worst aspects of the old Buck Rogers special effects plus, as he was mostly alone, little dialoge. I will now prepare my acceptance speach, when do I get the prize? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-sci-fi-ever/280049.md?page=10)