Space Opera Fans discussion

Greetings Space Opera Fans!

Whaddaya all think of this short-film about a galactic hunt for space whales to harvest an exotic matter?

Film link: http://boingboing.net/2015/03/17/the-...

Question #1: are there any Space Opera books people are aware of that feature a Moby Dick themed hunt?

Question #2: we had a discussion going around on another thread about whether a spaceship should be boxy or streamlined. What do you guys think of the bigger spaceship we catch a glimpse of that the small hunting-ships launch off of?

Question #3: What kind of planet might this whale-like creature live on that it can fly/swim through the atmosphere? Gas giant?

Okay ... just something that caught my eye. Enjoy!

Anna

#1, there's Railsea by China Mieville. It's in the vein of Moby Dick. *edit. It's not Space Opera but it's sci-fi of a sort*

#2 That's an awesome ship. I was hoping they would pan out to show it all. Quite pleased when they did.

# A magical planet.

I enjoyed that short. I'm crossing my fingers that a movie like that gets made. The ships were awesome, I don't really care if they hunt magical whales in the movie so long as they have crazy detail to the futuristic spaceships.

At first I was sceptical. Giant "space whales", really? After I saw the short film I think it could be explained reasonably in a scifi environment though. First, the big guys are on a planet and not in space. Second, if they harvest their eggs for FTL travel Dune-style, that may well explain why those things can fly. There might be a anti-gravity component involved.

Impressive visuals, though I think "the future looks grungy" is kind of overplayed. Surely by the time we invent faster than light travel we've invented paint that doesnt chip.

Railsea isn't sci-fi but its totally great! The "ocean" of railroad tracks is one of the most unique concepts I can remember ever reading.

I liked it. Great movie short! Had me believing a whale could fly. And those are big suckers too, able to bite a ship in half.

Bruce Sterlings first novel Involution Ocean deals with whaling in a dust ocean on the waterless world "Nullaqua".

And also the graphic novel Abraxas and the Earthman:
"Abducted from earth by space whalers, Cetologist John Isaac endures physical and spiritual mutation by order of the ship's master, Rotwang. Pressed into the mad captain's hunt for Abraxas, Isaac finds his own destiny in the belly of the monstrous red-horned whale.

The atmosphere looks toxic to me. I would say gas giant.

Brendan wrote: "Impressive visuals, though I think "the future looks grungy" is kind of overplayed. Surely by the time we invent faster than light travel we've invented paint that doesnt chip.

That is what people who lived in the 1800s thought about today. I think it is perfectly reasonable to show entropy and damage on future tech. I also think the future is grumpy. Human history is cyclical, we move from travesty to travesty and I don't think that will change just because we have faster than light starships.

No, the people of the 19th century thought today would look exactly like the 19th century except we'd all be flying. They were extremely wrong and making the same mistake that I think this short does when its projecting the future.

However, I do understand why the filmmakers chose to go with grungy. Grunge is shorthand to us, the modern day audience, that we are looking at society's fringes. So it serves a purpose there.

Fascinating clip. I did wonder why they 'lost' the leviathan though. If it's that far into the future, why didn't they shoot a tracking chip or something similar?

That's the way my mind works, anyway.

Zenn Scarlett is another book featuring 'space faring whales' but it doesn't involve hunting them. I suppose you could also include Julian May's pliocene epic stories as having space faring whales as well (sort of.)

There's also The Wind Whales of Ishmael..

Brendan wrote: "No, the people of the 19th century thought today would look exactly like the 19th century except we'd all be flying. They were extremely wrong and making the same mistake that I think this short do..."

It's pure conjecture to say what stuff will look like hundreds to thousands of years in the future. You're no more right than those film makers in deciding what the future will look like. It's all personal preference as no one can accurately predict the future.

Has anyone read Cachalot? It's on my TBA list and looks like fun. It's about a world given over to surviving cetaceans from Earth, where humans live only on sufferance. I don't know if it involves hunting whales because I haven't read it yet. Anybody know?

Betsy wrote: "Has anyone read Cachalot? It's on my TBA list and looks like fun. It's about a world given over to surviving cetaceans from Earth, where humans live only on sufferance. I don't kno..."

I have a very vague memory of reading this a very long time ago, actually. I had to click on the book title to remind myself about it. It obviously didn't make a big impression, because I can't remember anything about it...