Comments on: The Rough Guide to Sci-Fi Movies 1 (Rough Guide Reference)

By: Jon V.

Jon V. — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 18:12:53 +0000

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

A well written book with a little TO much truth about Sci-Fi, January 15, 2006

Jon V. (Southern CA) -

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This review is from: The Rough Guide to Sci-Fi Movies 1 (Rough Guide Reference) (Paperback)

I got the chance to look at this book extensively at my local barnes and noble. It does a very well written summary of most of the luminaries of the Sci-Fi genre. There are alot of funny inside jokes that only fans of these films will get. But, it also introduces Sci-Fi to those who aren't familiar with it.

Need a book to explain your obsession with Sci-Fi to your significant other? Heres the book. Complete with funny notes and misc. bits and pieces that will help them catch up to the culture. Who knows? After reading it they might know more than you.

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By: Rodney Meek

Rodney Meek — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 17:19:07 +0000

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

Solid, Not Stellar, July 10, 2006

Rodney Meek (Austin, TX) -

This review is from: The Rough Guide to Sci-Fi Movies 1 (Rough Guide Reference) (Paperback)

This is an interesting guide to...well, sci-fi movies. (It also features a minor digression at the end that covers well-known SF TV shows and other resources.) Chapters deal with the author's personal choices for the 50 classic SF movies, the 50 iconic robots/ships/villains/actors, SF films from countries outside the U.S., and so forth.

Entries are, for the most part, short and to the point, only growing somewhat longer when it is necessary to upbraid George Lucas for his myriad sins, and rightly so. The author is also not afraid to proffer his opinion on which movies have withstood the test of time and which now seem tragically dated or flat-out embarrassing.

On the downside, I found the numerous typos (particularly in people's names) and layout errors to be extremely annoying. For instance, in the entry for the recent "28 Days Later", the actress Naomie Harris (currently appearing in the latest "Pirates Of The Caribbean" movie) ends up being credited as one of the composers, just because the typesetter lazily goofed up and pushed her name out of place. Yes, it's a "rough" guide, but I didn't expect it to be quite THAT rough.

I'd give this an extra half-star if it were possible, but since it isn't, I'll have to round down on this one.

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By: mrliteral

mrliteral — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 16:34:13 +0000

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

Decent if imperfect reference book, September 2, 2006

mrliteral -

This review is from: The Rough Guide to Sci-Fi Movies 1 (Rough Guide Reference) (Paperback)

To someone unfamiliar with the genre, science fiction movies can appear to be a collection of awful movies that rely on little more than cheesy special effects. To some extent, it's true: to paraphrase Sturgeon's Law (he was a sci-fi writer), 90% of science fiction is garbage, but 90% of everything is garbage. There are plenty of lousy science fiction movies out there, but there are also some real gems.

The Rough Guide to Sci-Fi Movies is a decent, though not perfect, reference book about these movies. It starts with a brief history of science fiction literature and then gives a history of sci-fi at the cinema, from the early silent days through the serials of the 1930s to the "golden age" of the 1950s to the darker works of the 1970s to the special effects driven movies of modern times. Essentially, however, the history of sci-fi films can be divided into two periods: Before Star Wars and After Star Wars.

The Guide also provides what the author, John Scalzi considers to be the key 50 movies. As he admits up front, you may disagree with his choices as I certainly did, but many of his choices are solid ones: choices such as Blade Runner, Star Wars, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Star Wars and 2001: A Space Odyssey have to rate on the list of anyone familiar with the genre.

There are also sections on the faces of science fiction, the locations of science fiction and science fiction movies produced around the world, as well as a couple other sections. While not comprehensive, the book doesn't really neglect anything truly significant either. For a reference book, however, we do get a lot of opinion, and for a book that seems to be well put together, there are lots of typographical errors. This is not a great book, but it is good enough (maybe a low four stars) and for an introduction to these movies, it is more than adequate.

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