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Sci-Fi Movies

Gen Z Streaming Stars React to Classic Sci-Fi Movies of the '80s (nytimes.com) 103

Posted by EditorDavid from the Tron's-legacy dept.
The New York Times tried an experiment with four classic science fiction films from exactly 40 years ago: If you were a moviegoer in the 1980s, you were constantly presented with imaginative questions that seemed cosmic and existential. Would humanity someday settle its differences here on earth and learn to travel the stars as a unified species? Or were we destined for a dystopian future with little more to look at than smoggy skies and gargantuan billboards? Did our advancing technology have the ability to literally absorb us or replace us entirely? Might we someday encounter alien life that was intelligent and benevolent? Surely some of these questions would be answered by the far-off future year 2000.

"Blade Runner," "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," "Tron" and "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan," all released 40 years ago, in the summer of '82, have become foundational works, shaping the next several decades of fantasy franchises. But what if this wasn't the science-fiction cinema you grew up with? What if you came of age in a later generation, and knew these movies only as celebrated if somewhat distant influences? Would they still seem exciting, innovative and thought-provoking? Or — to confront another terrifying speculative scenario — would they just seem uncool?

To find out for ourselves, we enlisted four stars of the current day — all born in the 21st century — and asked them each to watch one of those seminal science-fiction films. They shared their reactions and reflections, didn't judge the special effects too harshly and still shed tears when they thought E.T. died.
They showed Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan to Celia Rose Gooding, who plays Uhura in the Paramount+ series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Gooding's response was "the machoism of the men in charge has not changed in the future... these are still two guys trying to see whose ship is bigger."

Meanwhile, the 22-year-old star of Netflix's Cobra Kai, Jacob Bertrand, was watching both Tron and its 2010 sequel Tron: Legacy. "I feel like the new one doesn't hold a candle to the old one.... I was trying to think of how they could have done this with the technology at the time, and everything that I could think of just sounds like so much work. I was like, dude, how are they pulling this off back then? Holy cow, these people were dedicated."

19-year-old Iman Vellani (star of Disney+ show Ms. Marvel) felt that Blade Runner "hit the mark... I feel like everyone of my generation is always searching for some higher purpose or trying to prove they're worthy enough or special enough for the spotlight, or just worthy of more life. I find myself sympathizing with the replicants a lot more, upon rewatch, in a way I did not expect."

And the 19-year-old star of Netflix's Stranger Things, Finn Wolfhard, described E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial as "incredibly sweet."
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Gen Z Streaming Stars React to Classic Sci-Fi Movies of the '80s More

Gen Z Streaming Stars React to Classic Sci-Fi Movies of the '80s

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  • Slashdot (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 13, 2022 @10:40AM (#62786116)

    news for reaction videos

  • Wardrobe (Score:4, Insightful)

    by NagrothAgain ( 4130865 ) on Saturday August 13, 2022 @10:53AM (#62786126)
    We used to laugh at the ridiculous outfits those movies imagined we'd wear in the future. Their idea of fashion was an utterly laighable, coke-fueled nightmare. Then I noticed how popular "crocs" have become and realized they were right all along.

    • The visions of the future in textbooks I saw back in the 80s almost always had people wearing jumpsuits. The fridge horror didn't dawn on me later in life when I realised that these people have been conditioned to the point that all individuality has been removed from them and I might as well been looking at scenes from the movie THX-1138. Everyone, all alike, living a bland euro/white centric existence.

      Maybe it was (hopefully) a fluke by the artist doing the illustrations but it still leaves a bitter taste

      • "The fridge horror didn't dawn on me UNTIL later in life"

      • In fact, this was always the common running thene in these future visions in school textbooks back in the day: 'happy', conforming people, all the same, who follow some undefined and unseen leader like lemmings. I guess the "misfits" get shown the airlock once they are quickly identified. :-\

  • This is the perfect thread for grumpy old farts (myself included) to vigorously wave canes in the air while complaining about, well, anything in a long rambling monologue. Such as:

    1. How everything was better back then
    1a. with reference to CGI
    2. The youth of today/Gen Z
    2a why streaming "stars" need "even" "more" """quotes""" around """""stars"""""
    2b. al of my thoughts a bout reaction videos and the death of entertainment
    3. Get off my lawn

    So... films.

    There were always vast quantities of shit films. I'm sure

    • Some of that nostalgism is warranted, though. For example (and using one from the story) the original Tron was arguably a better film overall. It had that sense of wonder that people tend to enjoy when having new experiences, and while it obviously looks dated, it still wound up looking surprisingly good — just fuzzy. Most of the CG in Tron Legacy was quite good, but there are still scenes which already haven't aged well. They looked like they were trying not to look too shiny, but failed. The CG in t

      • There really wasn't anything groundbreaking in Tron: Legacy. The CGI was mature enough to make the effects look realistic... but that's the problem. It's INSIDE A COMPUTER; it's not supposed to look like the real world. Original TRON had lightcycles that turned at 90 degree angles with no inertial effects. That made sense for an environment that was supposed to be simulated in an 80's computer. But Tron: Legacy also took place inside that same legacy computer, but the light cycles behaved just like physical

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Wolfrider ( 856 )

          Tron:Legacy's problem was that it had a shit story compared to the original. The previews that I saw were even different from the final movie.

          The original TRON still is a fan-favorite cult classic that still stands up for rewatching.

    • There's one called "Firefox"

      Hey, that one wasn't so terrible. I saw it at the Drive-In and it was Clint Eastwood as a hotshot fighter pilot who has to go steal some Soviet super-stealth plane. It was good stupid fun, but then I was high AF.

  • Machoism? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by oogoliegoogolie ( 635356 ) on Saturday August 13, 2022 @11:05AM (#62786148)

    Trying not to get killed is machoism? Righhhht!
    I guess neither ship was large enough for her enjoyment.

    Gooding's response was "the machoism of the men in charge has not changed in the future... these are still two guys trying to see whose ship is bigger."

    • Re:Machoism? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by irving47 ( 73147 ) on Saturday August 13, 2022 @11:29AM (#62786194) Homepage

      Shouldn't be surprised anyone working on Kurtzman productions is dumb as a rock.

    • Re: (Score:1, Insightful)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Her point was that the conflict could have been resolved another way, without a load of people dying. Kirk never really tries to negotiate a peaceful settlement with Khan, although it is somewhat forgivable since he knows Khan will almost certainly not accept it, and by the time they speak Khan has already crippled the Enterprise.

      If you think back to Space Seed, Khan was in line for a penal colony, but Kirk decided that was a waste of the augment's talents so offered them either a normal life in Federation

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by Phact ( 4649149 )

        If i recall (it's been a while), he didn't blame Kirk for the planet exploding, he was upset that Kirk never came back to check on the Seed he planted.

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          Still a reasonable person would see redress through the legal system, not get all their people and themselves killed in an attempt to murder the person the blame and everyone around them.

          • Re: (Score:1)

            by Anonymous Coward

            "Reasonable person"? That is highly time and place dependent.

            Look at Khan. The man ruled *much of the planet* before he fled Earth. He was a king, an emperor, and he had endless followers bow to his authority, else he could not have conquered squat.

            Such a person *is* the legal redress. He's used to being the single authority. And frankly, through much of history, this is how things have worked! Democracy in its modern form, is extremely short lived, barely more than 100 years old! So what is reasonab

          • You are aware that Khan comes from a time when the legal system was a very different one, I assume? Even if he somehow managed to get the information that this changed, you have to understand that he grew up and was socialized in a time and society that is vastly different. If he was from the 18th century, his reaction would probably not have been to take Kirk to court but to actually challenge him to a duel.

            In the time of the eugenic wars, i.e. the time Khan was from, there was no justice system but one yo

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by jvkjvk ( 102057 )

              And he used his time on the Enterprise and with the data banks to look up whatever he wanted.

              He could have easily seen how the Federation justice system worked, and what the system of laws were.

              So none of that is an excuse, in the "real world" of ST.

              • You never had to deal with a justice system different than the one you grew up in, have you? Because then you'd know that just knowing about a justice system doesn't automatically mean that you consider it a good one.

                • Re: (Score:2)

                  by jvkjvk ( 102057 )

                  I suppose, especially if you feel you have the right to take over/enslave the current Federation but those pesky laws wouldn't allow it!

          • I mean, Khan explicitly isn't a reasonable person. He's explicitly insane.

            Joaquim tries to get through to him, and he talks to him like a frightened child talks to an abusive parent. "We're all with you, sir, but consider this. We are free. We have a ship, and the means to go where we will. We have escaped permanent exile on Ceti Alpha V. You have proven your superior intellect, and defeated the plans of Admiral Kirk. You do not need to defeat him again."

            And Khan's response? He quotes Moby Dick.

      • I can see why Khan is pissed. Kirk essentially put him on a prison planet and left him there to rot. If you take away someone's ability to fix a problem (in this case, taking away Khan's ability to leave the planet if things go badly), you are responsible for when such a problem arises. Just like you can't lock someone up in a cell with an automatic food dispenser and leave for good, hoping that the food dispenser won't break because if it does, the person you locked up is doomed to die due to being unable

    • Re:Machoism? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by hey! ( 33014 ) on Saturday August 13, 2022 @09:25PM (#62787376) Homepage Journal

      Actually, Khan's helmsman brings up this very point. They have a ship that can take them anywhere; they are free as anyone can be. Khan responds that Kirk "tasks" him, as if that were a legitimate reason to hazard the lives and freedom of all his followers. And in the event this is proven to be a wrong decision *which Khan irrationally refuses to turn away from*.

      It's easy to see how aspects of Kirk's leadership style might not land so well today. When Khan's ship approaches, Savik warns that regulations require raising shields, only to be ignored by Kirk and patronizingly reprimanded by her mentor, Spock. This is actually a really nice piece of writing, because Kirk and Spock make the *exact same mistake* as Khan: ignoring and dismissing the reasonable advice of a trusted junior officer. The parallelism here isn't in Gooding's imagination, it's right there in the script. We're supposed to compare, then *contrast* Khan and Kirk's leadership style. They both make mistakes, but because Kirk is the *heroic* character, he later owns up to his mistake.

      You can see how a young, ambitious, talented woman would take badly to the character she's going to identify with being ignored and patronized, and not be so quick to cut Kirk some slack just because he later admits in passing that he was wrong. But it's not just modern *women* who have this reaction to older authority figures patronizing characters they identify with. Look at the male reaction to Admiral Holdo's patronizing treatment of Poe in *The Last Jedi*. What's infuriating is her acting so entitled to Poe's unquestioning obedience. Technically she *is* entitled to that, but her clumsy handling of Poe's understandable feelings is clearly poor leadership. This is something the *Last Jedi* script doesn't seem to understand.

      • Re:Machoism? (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Opportunist ( 166417 ) on Sunday August 14, 2022 @01:24AM (#62787728)

        The difference is that Kirk doesn't have something Holdo has spades of: Time to explain. The scene with Kirk needs a quick decision, and yes, it's wrong but it's over in a flash. Holdo and the fleet are running from the First Order for hours. That pursuit literally goes on for almost the entire movie, which is shown to be a long, long time, long enough for Finn and Rose to fly to a planet. Also, Finn doesn't even want her to explain her plan to him, what he asks for is to be told that there is some plan, that there is hope.

        And no, she's not entitled to that obedience. This is a rebel fleet. Every single person on this ship is there because they believe in a cause. They're not conscripted, they are not there because they have to be there. These are volunteers. A crew like this is kept together by faith in their leadership and by faith in their cause. You can't really gang-press them. You can't force them. What do you want to threaten them with? Killing them? They are already dead, fighting a war against insane odds. They know that and they accepted that. If you execute a single one of them, your rule is over, because that faith the others have in you is gone.

        Rebel armies are led with charisma, not with ranks. You're admiral because people believe that you can do it, because they trust you, not because some emperor gave you that title and that now for some reason makes you this. The last thing you do in such a situation is to piss off someone who the rest of your crew would probably see as a hero, especially not without any good reason other than feeding your ego.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by hey! ( 33014 )

          And no, she's not entitled to that obedience. This is a rebel fleet.

          General Washington would be surprised to hear this. A number of Colonial rebel soldiers were court martialed for disloyalty to their commander, including (famously) Benedict Arnold. His own second-in-command was court-martialed and suspended for one year for writing an insolent letter to Washington.

    • Did these celebs see the same movies that we originally saw in the 80's? Did they have the same context?

      Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - Did Celia Rose Gooding watch the entire Original Star Trek series and The motion picture before viewing this? Viewing later movies in the franchise would ruin the surprise.

      Which iteration of Blade Runner did Iman Vellani see? There have been countless recuts that change the feeling and some of the most emotional scenes. In the original Theatrical version, Roy says to Ty

  • Seriously.
    Last I time I looked this was a science and tech site, not some kind of influencer fanboy hangout.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by EvilSS ( 557649 )

      Seriously. Last I time I looked this was a science and tech site, not some kind of influencer fanboy hangout.

      Nah, not anymore. Today it's a site for old people to complain about anything new.

      • If the new is influenza reaction videos, I can see why people complain about the new.

        I mean, seriously, maybe someone can explain this, but what's interesting about reaction videos? Are they supposed to be some sort of instruction videos so people know how to properly react to something because after they no longer form their own opinions now they also need direction how to properly react to something?

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by EvilSS ( 557649 )
          I don't like watching tennis, but I don't bitch and moan about people who do. I remember a time when, if you didn't like something, you just didn't do it and moved on with your day. Now everyone goes online and yells loudly that they don't like it and gets offended that not everyone agrees with them.

          • Well, in this case they are thrown in my face for me to comment on it. If someone wrote something about a tennis game here, I'd certainly comment on that, too.

            If you want me to ignore something, don't mention it to me.

  • Sample size of 1 (Score:4, Insightful)

    by petes_PoV ( 912422 ) on Saturday August 13, 2022 @11:16AM (#62786168)
    So 4 people age 20 +/- a year or two each watched one film from 40 years ago. And then told a reporter what they thought. Is this anything more than publicity for the "four stars of the current day" ?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      I find it interesting how tastes and expectations have changed. There have been a lot of things written about this, and some good documentaries like Some Nudity Required.

      It's also interesting how some movies have held up really well. Tron Legacy was disappointing. The soundtrack by Daft Punk is fantastic, but the rest of the film doesn't live up to it. The original though, the look is unique, especially with the re-master that fixes the flickering, and the plot and acting hold up.

      • You can't even deduce how expectations and tastes have changed. All you can say is that four people have certain feelings towards certain movies.

  • It wasn't seen as a serious genre and had to have the cute kid or alien to pander to the kids and sell toys.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by fermion ( 181285 )
      Do alien Addiction.

    • It still isn't seen as a serious genre. Hard sci-fi films were rare in the 80s (and every other decade) and are still rare today. Most of the soft sci-fi has been replaced by superhero movies now.

      • Most of the soft sci-fi has been replaced by superhero movies now.

        And comic book movies were also better in the 80s because it had Flash Gordon which beats any of the tedious MCU franchise hands down for a variety of reasons which I will happily hold forth on at great length.

    • It wasn't seen as a serious genre and had to have the cute kid or alien to pander to the kids and sell toys.

      Blade runner? Terminator? Robocop? Also I challenge you to find a film that does a better job of time travel than Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. Loads more anyway.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by troff ( 529250 )

      Wikipedia has an article called "List of science fiction films of the 1980s".

      Worlds Without End has an article called "The Defining Science Fiction Books of the 1980s" that references an essay by James Wallace Harris almost identically called "The Defining Science Fiction of the 1980s".

      I'm trying to find a polite way to tell you that you're an idiot talking *into* your ass because you've got your head jammed way up there, but truly the nature of your post is so utterly limited I'm afraid you wouldn't have r

    • I can't really agree. Yes, there were these movies, of course, but the 80s were also the last decade of the "philosophical" sci-fi movies. Yes, it was of course exploited as an alien looking backdrop for all sorts of genre, from porno to horror, but there have also been a couple movies that did what sci-fi has often been used for: Asking contemporary questions in an alternative universe.

  • I think "The Road" (2009) is the most realistic futuristic scifi so far: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0... [imdb.com] Enjoy the best lives that humans have ever had. It ain't gonna last.
  • Standards are getting alarmingly low. Weâ(TM)re posting articles about dumb TikTok reaction videos now? Whatâ(TM)s next? Cat pictures?

  • When a movie isn't based around what cgi crap can be thrown at the audience and instead concentrates on the plot, the setting, and, GASP, acting, it's funny how the movie is good no matter what timeframe it's viewed in.

  • OF course! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by christoban ( 3028573 ) on Saturday August 13, 2022 @12:24PM (#62786314)
    It blows my mind the new Star Trek actors (and writers!!) have not watched older Treks at all. Of COURSE that chick would call Kahn a ship measuring contest. She can't understand deeper meaning than some silly pop-feminist platitude since her Trek is chock full of political correctness and neutered men acting like man hating feminists.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      It just occurred to me that I have less and less idea what "feminist" is supposed to mean these days. Other than a virtue signalling flag of convenience, an oath of allegiance everyone's supposed to utter with prescribed regularity.

      On that tangent, the whole "latinx" thing is unintentionally hilarious. While sissy bois and butch dykes are all the rage in certain parts of calart academia, not so among the latino Real Men and latina Real Women. Trying to force their culture into a neutered-and-homogenised "l

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      The old actors didn't either. When he was cast, Patrick Stewart didn't know what Star Trek was. He never watched the original series as far as I can tell, and didn't watch Voyager because he didn't know who Seven of Nine was.

      Marina Sirtis was similar. Star Trek wasn't as big of a deal in the UK until the 90s when cable and satellite TV became widely available.

      There was the same backlash against them too. Especially Sirtis, whose character seemed very "PC" (the 80s word for woke). A councillor on the bridge.

      • I beg to differ about your comment regarding Star Treks popularity in the UK only came about with the advent of cable and satellite TV - Star Trek was regularly broadcast on BBC2 during the 80s and 90s, and Wednesday at 6pm was a permanent slot for Star Trek premiers and repeats (initially TOS and TNG, later including DS9) from about 1990 for most of the decade.

      • Re:OF course! (Score:4)

        by Opportunist ( 166417 ) on Sunday August 14, 2022 @01:43AM (#62787762)

        Stewart is a good enough actor to get away with it, though.

  • What do you think, folks? Feel like giving the New York Times money to tell you what young actors think of old movies, which a lot of those actors do for free on social media?
  • You're going to be the children until you're as old as us millenials now.

  • New study (Score:4, Interesting)

    by nospam007 ( 722110 ) * on Saturday August 13, 2022 @02:21PM (#62786532)

    Millennials don't know who Billy Wilder or Fritz Lang is.
    Film at 11.

    • Oh you don't even know.

      Several folks I know much younger than I flat out refuse to watch anything black and white as being "too old" and not realistic enough special effects (why this is required for dramas I'll never know).

      The sense of curiosity beyond their own belly-buttons is sorely lacking. It's like watching civilization crumbling in slow motion.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by troff ( 529250 )

        ... I don't want mod points to vote you up for your observation and characterisation (with which I agree because I'm in exactly the same "much younger than I flat out refuse" situation)... I want control of the Slashdot system and possibly a church somewhere both for the purposes of elevating you into something approaching sainthood.

        • "I want control of the Slashdot system and possibly a church somewhere both for the purposes of elevating you into something approaching sainthood."

          Thank God I didn't even mention John Wayne.

  • (I was born in 1975) Every time I think about it I think "holy shit, that became relevant much faster than we thought". For us this was science fiction, a far away future and - at that time - a robot where you could not figure out after five minutes of talking to if it's a human or not seemed like scary and purely philosophical thing. I wonder if gen Z sees this the same way.

  • Machoism has not changed... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by peppepz ( 1311345 ) on Saturday August 13, 2022 @02:35PM (#62786558)
    ...but back then you hadn't to be ashamed for having testosterone.

  • The original Star Trek featured a more tolerant and inclusive future and explored very interesting questions, yet Kirk often solved problems with a fistfight

  • Never saw the point in reaction videos (Score:3)

    by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Saturday August 13, 2022 @02:51PM (#62786606)

    I mean, you're watching someone who's watching something else. Why not just watch that "something else" yourself and see how you yourself react?

    Yes, I'm old.

    • Well, with the fad of what's ok and what's not changing every other day now, I guess people now need to be told what's the currently proper reaction to something.

      Don't want to be canceled for reacting wrongly to something, do you?

  • âoeââMeanwhile, the 22-year-old star of Netflix's Cobra Kai, Jacob Bertrand, was watching both Tron and its 2010 sequel Tron: Legacy. "I feel like the new one doesn't hold a candle to the old one.... I was trying to think of how they could have done this with the technology at the time, and everything that I could think of just sounds like so much work. I was like, dude, how are they pulling this off back then? Holy cow, these people were dedicated." âoeââ

    I feel profoundly vind

  • Shouldn't be surprised anyone working on Kurtzman productions is dumb as a rock. https://www.teknomase.com/ [teknomase.com]
  • For its time Star Trek was one of the most inclusive and diverse shows on TV and at the movies. It is sad a Gen Z woker can't see past her man hatred to go beyond those petty comments.
  • Wrath of Khan: Kirk vs. Khan one bigger cock vs. another. I'm laughing so hard. The actors followed the script. A movie is a movie full of make believe fantasy. Either you enjoy if you found it entertaining or not. Some movie were and still are better than movies made nowadays. They were original ideas, not continual reboots we have now. Like critics of the past and now - they definitely weren't always right about what's an enjoying movie that turned into a blockbuster !

    • Yeah, the movie was actually about Kirk realizing that he can't just out-macho Khan, he has to rely on his friends and crew mates, and ultimately, somebody else has to choose to die to get him out of his mess.

      Honestly, WoK is about how mature masculinity, i.e. Kirk relying on his friends and crewmates, beats toxic masculinity, i.e. Khan barking orders and wanting to kill people who piss him off.

      Now, Star Trek Into Darkness could be argued to be more about big swinging dicks.

  • ...the staggering historical ignorance in young people today. More than ignorance it's...obliviousness. they don't even seem to recognize history (defined as anything before them) EXISTS.

    By the 1980s, when I was in high school (when VHS became a thing) probably half or more of the film's I watched were from 40 years before.

  • I really thing the most recent generations (those born in the 90s, for instance) are suffering from a common theme. In practically every genre - especially artistic - what they are doing is a shittier version of it. Especially music and movies.

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