Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy discussion

We lost Robin Williams...a great comic who got his start in Mork and Mindy, a SF comedy.

Williams did a surprising amount of SF/F work beyond that initial Mork from Ork explosion, though he's not most remembered as a "genre actor".

"Bicentennial Man" probably his best known SF, though I really liked the under-appreciated "The Final Cut" futuristic scifi thriller.

And he did voice work for animation & films such as "Aladdin" and "Robots" and "Ferngully" and "A.I.".

Robin was also a huge fan of fantastical gaming - he named his daughter after one of the greatest fantasy video games of all time, The Legend of Zelda. He also was really into World of Warcraft - enough that other players are petitioning Blizzard to program him into the game as a tribute!

I think no-one else could've pulled off Bicentennial Man other than Williams. For that, alone, he deserves immortality.

I'll skip my usual cheap-shot at Keannu Reeves...as inappropriate. :}

Let us not forget Mrs. Doubtfire, Jumanji, Insomnia, Dead Poets Society, The Birdcage and a multitude of others. They aren't sci-fi/fantastical (well Jumanji is), but they were unquestionably great movies by a great human being. I personally love all those movies I mentioned.

He inspired a lot of people I'm certain. And he did a lot for the troops. May he R.I.P.

I noticed they included Robin Williams in the Memorial list at today's Hugo Award ceremony.

(Each year WorldCon has a brief interlude at the Ceremony commemorating SFF notables who've died since the previous WorldCon. So this year Mary Stuart, Fred Pohl, Jay Lake, Richard Matheson and others less well-known names of artists, editors, critics and fans. And Williams)