Greenflame
Jottings on science, religion, technology, pop culture, photography and faith from the Aotearoa New Zealand
Category: Science Fiction
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Billed as “The Exorcist meets Alien” by AWA Studios, the five-part comic book series Sacrament wrapped up recently. Set in a future where religion of any sort has been made illegal, replaced by a form of militant scientism that requires a “pure faith” in science and human reason, the story centres on a case of…
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Stepping away from vampires and Japanese anime, today’s comic-based films are back in the action-adventure categories of hitmen (Accident Man) and westerns (the star-studded Cowboys and Aliens).
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As I return to a piece of writing that intersects with cyberpunk, dystopias, and visions of the future, I’m reminded of how hard science fiction can be to define. In his short book, Science Fiction: A Very Short Introduction (2011), David Seed sketches out this problem out in his introduction to the book.
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This time we’ll look at two comic-based films based on Japanese manga set on post-apocalyptic contexts. Firstly, Akira directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, set in a future Neo-Tokyo, and then, Alita: Battle Angel, set in a similar environment. Both of these, as well as a slew of other Japanese manga turned into film and television, del…
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I had some follow up comments and emails from the Jesus and Time-travel Stories post with some further suggestions, so I’ve listed those below. I’m also wondering if there might be some stories in comics like 2000AD that I might be missing too.
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This week I had a chance to talk with some colleagues in Australia around theological and religious reflection on science fiction, dystopias, and popular culture. One of the questions that came up were what comics I’d suggest might engage with that topic, so I’ve put together a selection of recent (and some not so recent)…
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Last year the film Assassin 33 A.D. (AKA Black Easter Resurrection) was released. The plot hinges around a terrorist plot to go back in time to 1st century Palestine and assassinate Jesus of Nazareth and the disciples and hence change the course of world history. Of course, a plucky band of young people – including…
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The previous two posts () focused on films with a live-action vibe, albeit often augmented by various forms of computer animated graphics. In this post we’re going to go for a fully animated film, which means that we’ll be going with a big, cuddly robot, some action and emotions, and connections to US and Japanese…
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A dinner table discussion about television shows that scared us witless when we were children prompted this particular post similar in some ways to the Childhood Science Fiction: Television series from a while back now. What follows is my top 5 children’s shows I grew up with in New Zealand that genuinely played with horror…
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The final post on science fiction television influences from my childhood today, and I’ve left the biggest to last: Star Trek. And bonus section on comic book science fiction show crossovers.