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    <title><![CDATA[Discussion on George R. R. Martin: 8 sci-fi films better than Star Wars ]]></title>
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        <title><![CDATA[Yeah I did go on a bit of rant there didn't I]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-225422-3696474]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[...triggered by Boxfiddler's claim, however, that Enemy Mine was the &quot;best SF film ever&quot; which I had to shoot down.Perhaps if the Message hadn't been so overt I might have been able to enjoy the movie for its pure entertainment value. I never read the rest of Manifest Destiny (Enemy Mine was probably in one of those SF collections that Gollancz publishes every year, and the other didn't make it. Gives insight into what editors consider &quot;good&quot;).]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-225422-3696474]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[chrisbedford]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Wed, 29 Aug 2012 05:29:14 -0700</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[Can't say I agree]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-225422-3694061]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[Especially in terms of it's setting along side the other two better stories in the collection Manifest Destiny. The real part of the novel (and unoriginal to that extent) was racism rewritten as Xenophobia.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-225422-3694061]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[Tony Hopkinson]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Sat, 18 Aug 2012 12:01:59 -0700</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[The only thing the two had in common was the title - nothing in]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-225422-3694042]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[the movie is anything like the book. I love Asimov and love Heinlein as well, plus most of the other Campbell authors.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-225422-3694042]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[Deadly Ernest]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Sat, 18 Aug 2012 05:18:03 -0700</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[Starship Troopers was Heinlein, not Asimov [nt]]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-225422-3694033]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-225422-3694033]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[chrisbedford]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Sat, 18 Aug 2012 04:59:28 -0700</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[Enemy Mine was a complete waste of time]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-225422-3694032]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[OK I know this is now years and years later... but statements like that can't go unchallenged.I never watched the movie because I read the short story / novella and even though it was a long time ago I remember it as shallow, trite, superficial, tediously short on originality, and a thinly veiled piece of preaching on racial harmony and universal tolerance that glossed over all manner of important but annoying details. For instance the two main characters survived all the time it took to get to know each other and then bring up the child, by eating plentiful and easy to catch prey. It rather reminds me of the part in &quot;Thank you for Smoking&quot; where I think it is Rob Lowe's character who says of some detail that should make something technically impossible &quot;No matter - we fix that with one line of dialogue. 'Thank goodness they invented the thingamabob'&quot;. In Enemy Mine there's so much of that it makes you wonder that the author even managed to find enough imagination to think of the basic premise of the story: the snakes that are easy to catch (humans can't live on snake meat alone), the snake skins that are easy to stitch together and make into clothing (curing them how? Using a needle he got from where? Using what thread?), the alien baby fed and raised by a lone human (such a long list of questions here I'm not even going to bother).Science Fiction, in its simplest definition, is fiction that assumes (and requires) a technology that does not exist in our knowledge. &quot;Fiction based on Science&quot; is a somewhat vague way of saying that, but also too loose: if you wrote a story about modern-day engineers researching rocket propulsion in the NASA labs it would fit that definition, even if the entire story contained only existing science. Hell, the TV series &quot;Big Bang Theory&quot; is fiction based on Science, but you could hardly call it SciFi. You don't need it to be &quot;future&quot; to be SciFi, and Star Wars' setting &quot;a long time ago&quot; (by whose timeframe?) doesn't mean it's not SciFi - the story is based on science that *we* don't know, that's all. It also is based on some *other* - er - force but that puts it into the realm of Fantasy (or Speculative Fiction) *as well*, not exclusively.Space Opera, on the other had, is defined as a story that could have been set on Earth, in the present era, if you just took away the special effects, costumes, and alien species. The story of Enemy Mine was *pure* space opera; if the two protagonists had been female pilots in fighter planes and shot each other down over a desert island, you could have told the whole story without resorting to &quot;science&quot;. But then the glaring plot holes would have been more obvious, perhaps. From the point of view of psychological credibility, it doesn't depend on the science; it just uses it as a crutch for its feebly disguised message. The whole story is one long Anvil Moment (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Anvilicious)I don't care how well or badly made the film is. It's based on a story that could or should have appeared in a Boys' Own Adventure Stories collection, made strictly for teenagers. I was about to say that as adults we should be looking for something with more mature appeal, but that got me thinking &quot;but I enjoy watching Pixar movies!&quot;. The thing is, Pixar never has pretensions of being adult in nature - it is presented as pure escapist entertainment, and nothing more. Enemy Mine pretends to be more, and to me looks like a child dressed up in his father's clothes.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-225422-3694032]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[chrisbedford]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Sat, 18 Aug 2012 04:48:23 -0700</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[Oh, yes.]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-225422-3234798]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[If science fiction is defined as fiction based on science, this is one of the best ever.Ever notice how the best movies are made from short stories not novels?Read &quot;The Sentinel&quot; and then watch &quot;2001: A Space Odyssey&quot;.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-225422-3234798]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[Kansan52]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Fri, 29 Jan 2010 08:33:41 -0800</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[A fan but com on....]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-225422-3234744]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[I love Martin's books, but I dont like how long they take to write. He is entitled to his opinion but I cant agree on his list. I love fantasy books and sci-fi movies but I dont see any difference between sci-fi and science fiction. The only thing that matters is that the story holds up and is believable.  How can the Forbiden Planet even be considered? Why not include Plan9 while he is at it. On his list Alien and Aliens, and possibly 2001 are great movies. I dont think they are the greatest of all time. All of them had great ideas and some real cheese.To the person that nominated the Fifth Element? Tell me that you are joking? It sucked. Pointless story, a ton of cheese, and they basically ripped of the cab driver story from Heavy Metal and made it into a dragged out story. Horrible acting, just rewatch it and say yeah this is better than most films. I admit I have to ponder what is the greatest of time, but the reality is that all sci fi was ripped off some other movie or book into an homage to the classics. If I had to pick the best it is soley based on how great the villan is. Without a great villan the hero is worthless.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-225422-3234744]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[jkaras]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Fri, 29 Jan 2010 07:42:56 -0800</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[RE: George R. R. Martin: 8 sci-fi films better than Star Wars]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-225422-3234678]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[Hm - I'd put the 60's film &quot;Seconds&quot; on that &quot;Better than Star Wars&quot; list - an amazing, low-key, low-budget and chilling sci-fi film.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-225422-3234678]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[birdtoes@...]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Fri, 29 Jan 2010 06:38:34 -0800</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[More importantly George...]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-225422-3234690]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[Great list and all, but maybe you can finish writing Dance with Dragons before you make up movie lists!]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-225422-3234690]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[kentontator]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Fri, 29 Jan 2010 06:14:06 -0800</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[Tyrion is the man]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-225422-3234666]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[I wanna know what happens to all the characters...I hear in his next book he is leaving out Arya again ]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-225422-3234666]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[kentontator]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Fri, 29 Jan 2010 06:08:40 -0800</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[RE: George R. R. Martin: 8 sci-fi films better than Star Wars]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-225422-3234642]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[Being older than many of your readers, I tend to lean towards fewer special effects and more thought production. My only beef with your list is that 'The Day The Earth Stood Still' should be higher.Rich]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-225422-3234642]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[rtaylor@...]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Fri, 29 Jan 2010 05:47:03 -0800</pubDate>
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    <item>
        <title><![CDATA[Runaway]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-225422-3187628]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[Some choices not mentioned already I'd pick:RunawayKrullMatrix (all 3)TrancersMillenium12 Monkeys]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-225422-3187628]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[jcommunications@...]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:15:18 -0700</pubDate>
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    <item>
        <title><![CDATA[How about...]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-225422-2392425]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[Fevre Dream?]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-225422-2392425]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[Ed Woychowsky]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Sat, 29 Dec 2007 21:55:22 -0800</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[agreed .. it is fantasy]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-225422-2392254]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[The deifinition i used in a similar thread, to determine the difference between sci-fi and fantasy:If it can be related to the existance of a planet Earth in the future - sci-fi.If not - fantasy.Star wars cannot be related to a planet Earth in the future and even claims to be set in the past, therefore it is fantasy.Les.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-225422-2392254]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[SObaldrick]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Sat, 29 Dec 2007 13:33:25 -0800</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[FANTASY genre  not sci-fi!!]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-225422-2391771]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[as any reputable film historian -and George Lucas himself - will tell you, Star Wars belongs to the fantasy genre, not science fiction.It was intentionally Lucas's variation on enduring myths, more in line with Lord of the Rings than Star Trek.Lucas simply swapped swords and sandals for spaceships and laser guns; in some cases he didn't even swap the swords.We don't deem the Doors classical musicians just because they used organ in their songs.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-225422-2391771]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[enquiries@...]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Fri, 28 Dec 2007 10:33:14 -0800</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[RE: George R. R. Martin: 8 sci-fi films better than Star Wars]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-225422-2294049]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[&quot;Better&quot; is, of course, subjective. I like GRRM, but he's forgetting something undeniably too important to forget. Star Wars is not sci-fi. If GL was trying to pull off Sci-fi with Star Wars, it is undeniable that he would have done so.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-225422-2294049]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[merzion@...]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Fri, 03 Aug 2007 14:20:52 -0700</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[RE: George R. R. Martin: 8 sci-fi films better than Star Wars]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-225422-2273741]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[Agree about most on list but not order.Alien &amp; Aliens would be at bottom of list if on list at all.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-225422-2273741]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[poorrichard2005@...]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Fri, 06 Jul 2007 19:00:53 -0700</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[Alien is a Classic Horror Film; Forbidden Planet is Classic Sci-Fi]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-225422-2267020]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[When I think of &quot;Alien&quot;, I think of the battle between the hunter(Alien) and prey(humans) in the film. It could just as easily taken place in the sewers than on a spaceship. So to me it is a great horror film.Good sci-fi raises interesting what if questions that can arise when humans are confronted by new technologies. If we look at &quot;Forbidden Planet&quot; it also has a monster but it is secondary to the question raised by the film. What will become of a society when science provides it with god-like powers? Will it destroy itself or evolve and prosper?]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-225422-2267020]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[pdesrivieres@...]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Wed, 27 Jun 2007 11:27:22 -0700</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[It's all about SFI-FI]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-225422-2264396]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[To me the &quot;best Sci-Fi films&quot; means the films with the best Sci-Fi.Star Wars may be very popular and entertaining, (I enjoy watching it) but its sci-fi concepts are pretty flawed.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-225422-2264396]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[alex.kutuzov@...]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Sun, 24 Jun 2007 23:27:41 -0700</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[Read Sandkings?]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-225422-2264394]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[I take your point about Aliens, but sometimes you have to include good Sci-Fi that is very, very well put together.Try reading the novella &quot;Sandkings&quot; by George RR Martin. It is just good Sci-Fi, but one of the best because it is very, very well written.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-225422-2264394]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[alex.kutuzov@...]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Sun, 24 Jun 2007 23:10:48 -0700</pubDate>
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