Science Fiction Fandom
The Future is Now
SCIENCE FICTION FANDOM is a series of TV shows showing activities at various Science Fiction Conventions (Cons) that have taken place in the Boston, Massachusetts, USA area. The show was created for, and originally broadcast on Malden Access TV, but is available for broadcast on other cable access stations. The shows below are in Real Player format. A broadband connection is needed to view them.
22. January 2008
Brother Guy on Ice
Presentation at Boskone 44. Brother Guy Consolmagno, SJ, PhD
presents a slide show of his 1996 trip to
Antarticia to search for meteorites. Brother Guy is an astronomer
assigned to the Vatican Observatory.
He is also the curator of the Vatican Meteorite Collection
23. February 2008
Debate: Star Wars vs Star Trek: Looking
Deeper
Debate panel at the 2008 Arisia con. Description from the Pocket
Program:
"This panel is one of the new debate panels at Arisia. It is
built around the question of which series had a more profound
impact on society at large and fannish society in particular. As
with all such debates, the question is unanswerable, but it
gives us a wonderful way to deeply explore a very interesting
question."
Panel members:
Star Wars side: Ian Randal Strock (www.sfscope.com), Hugh Casey,
MaryAnn Johanson (moderator),
Star Trek side: Jeff Warner & Jim Zavaglia.
Also available as a stereo mp3 file
24. March 2008
Will 2008 Be The Year When eBooks Make
It?
Panel discussion at Boskone 45. eBooks are Electronic-Books ..
books without paper (dead tree books).
eBooks have been around in various forms for years, but are
gaining in popularity. You can now buy
dedicated eBook readers, but at this point they are still fairly
expensive. Just what is needed for eBooks
to be a success?
Panel members: Don D'Ammassa, Charles Stross, Darlene Marshall
and Ellen Asher.
Also available as a stereo mp3 audio
file.
25. April 2008
The Rise of Modern Science
Panel discussion at Boskone 45. Description from the program
schedule: "What happened in the Middle Ages which
lead to the rise of modern science? Why did it happen first in
Europe and not elsewhere? How did science grow if the
Middle Ages were really an "age of faith" without
reason?"
Panel members: Michael F. Flynn, Brother Guy Consolmagno, and
John Farrell
Also available as a mp3 audio file
26. May 2008
Non-Genre Films that Fans Love
Panel discussion at ARISIA 2008. Description from the
program schedule: "There's nothing fantastic about MEMENTO,
but it somehow feels like science fiction. What other realist
movies are especially attractive to fans of SF and fantasy?
What are the qualities that make them feel like genre?
Panel members: Julie Tenney, Sonya Taaffe, Eric M. Van & Adam
Lipkin.
Also available as a mp3 audio file
Click for list of movies discussed on the
panel
27. June 2008
THE LIVING DEAD
June is ZOMBIE MONTH at Science Fiction Fandom !! Part
1: a panel discussion at ARISIA 2008.
Description from the program scheudle. "Forty years after
George Romero gave us
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD his zombies still walk among us
in remakes, new films from Romero himself, and
astonishing recent movies from others ranging from SHAUN OF
THE DEAD to 28 WEEKS LATER.
Why is the SF/horror subgenre so enduring? What are its classics
and which are merely athe walking dead?"
Panel members: Michael A. Horne, Garen Daly, Tim Lieder, Adam
Lipkin
Also available as an audio mp3 file
28. June 2008
Mind If We Pick Your Brraains? The Zombie
Panel
June is ZOMBIE MONTH at Science Fiction Fandom !! Part
2: a panel discussion at BOSKONE 45.
Description from the program directory: "Suddenly the undead
are all around us. Last year a top-selling comic featured
a zombie Spider-Man. Brad Pitt and J. Michael
Straczynski are said to be bringing to life a movie of Max
Brooks's zombie
apocalypse novel World War Z. The spring Zombie Walk to
Harvard Square gets bigger every year.
If you know anything about this, please help us answer a few
questions. Where did this zombie idea come from?
Why such staggering popularity? What do zombies really want? Hey,
why are you looking at us like that?"
Panel members: Seanan McGuire, Sonya Taaffe, John Langan, Michael
Swanwick & Bob Eggleton.
Also available as an audio mp3 file
29. July 2008
What is LARP, and Why Would I Want To Do
It?
Panel discussion at ARISIA 08. LARP is Live Action Role
Playing. Panel members give us a look into the LARP world,
what it is, how it is usually done, and where to find local
(Boston area) events.
Panel members: Anna Bradley, Chad Bergeron, Mark Waks, John Bacon
& Michael Ventrella.
Also available as an audio mp3 file.
For more information on the BOSKONE
science fiction convention click
here.
For more information on the NOREASCON4
convention click here
For more information on UNITED FAN CON click
here
For more information on ARISIA '07 click here
If you are a fan of Farscape or Firefly
/ Serenity you may enjoy listening to the
podcasts:
The ScapeCast: http://www.scapecast.org
The Signal: http://www.serenityfirefly.com
For more information on the show, SCIENCE FICTION FANDOM, contact the producer, Richard Amirault ( ramirault_at_verizon_dot_net )
