Author Archives: Damien Walter

Relax – The Matrix Resurrections is going to be great

Phew. Matrix Resurrections is going to be great.

This is the shot in the trailer where I knew it. There’s so much that works here. Not swapping out your 54 year old leading actress for a younger model, is just a start. This is a gang of older, wiser creatives than the bunch who got rushed into the early sequels. Everything in this trailer says self-reflective, smart, a clever play on the original…with upgraded CGI.

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Is science fiction our modern mythology?

In August 2021 I was invited to speak at the 20th Indian Science Fiction Conference, on the theme of science fiction as modern mythology. Scifi as myth is the core thesis of my critical writing on the subject, and of my course in Advanced Scifi and Fantasy storytelling. It’s a thesis that does of course get pushback from some people. So in this episode of the Science Fiction podcast I take a deep dive into why mythology is the best lens through which to understand scifi.

Discuss this idea on the Science Fiction community – https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197/

Get the Science Fiction podcast free on your choice of app : https://damiengwalter.com/podcast

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Why is the Prime Directive so important?

As the United States withdraws from Afghanistan, leaving behind it chaos and despair, the Science Fiction podcast looks at why the Prime Directive is such an important idea – both in Star Trek and in reality.

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The true meaning of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 A Space Odyssey

It’s more than a little ironic that the motion picture widely called the greatest science fiction story ever told was made by an artist who hated science fiction. Stanley Kubrick thought science fiction was a failure at myth making, and set out to make a new myth for the modern world, and the only great science fiction movie.

Watch the full video essay on YouTube: https://youtu.be/NNE9vxLUGpE

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JRR Tolkien vs. Jeff Bezos

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There Is No Antimemetics Division – an interview with Qntm

It’s logical that the best science fiction being written today has its origins online and in collaborative forums. There Is No Antimemetics Division began life as part of the SCP Foundation wiki, a collaborative writing project with thousands of participants.

There Is No Antimemetics Division – https://amzn.to/3AcTDPx

Discuss the book on the Science Fiction community – https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197/posts/1218266291928956/

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DUNE: the 7 levels of meaning in Frank Herbert’s science fiction masterpiece

Dune is a weird story in all senses of the word. It is on one hand a story about men in rubber suits who drink their own pee – an aesthetic that has deterred more than a few readers. It is on the other hand a story that has lasted in our culture for six decades, surviving multiple questionable adaptations, as we now await the latest from Denis Villeneuve. In this episode of the Science Fiction podcast we ask – why?

Watch the full video essay on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Syp8_P_thkw

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The cognitive science of science fiction – an interview with John Vervaeke

John Vervaeke is one of the world’s most esteemed cognitive scientists, and a colleague of Jordan Peterson at the University of Toronto. He was born into a fundamentalist Christian family, and experienced an awakening to science after reading a science fiction novel – Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny.

I interviewed John Vervaeke in October 2020 to explore the cognitive science of science fiction. We dig into the modern mythos of Star Wars, why scifi fans like to dress as their icons, the “bleed” from RPGs into real world experience, and the relationship between science fiction and Vervaeke’s concept of the meaning crisis.

Watch the interview on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7SjhQbeS6s

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What is science fiction?

Look at a list of the 20th century’s most important artistic and cultural movements and you won’t find science fiction listed. Why not? We need a better definition of science fiction to help reclaim it…from itself.

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FOUNDATION Isaac Asimov’s prophetic vision of future humanity

Watch the full video essay on YouTube: https://youtu.be/464fJwepx1U

Follow the full course in Advanced Scifi and Fantasy : https://damiengwalter.com

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The Marvel Metanarrative: how to tell giant stories

Watch the full video essay on YouTube: https://youtu.be/uzf4kyDYF5I

Follow the full course in Advanced Scifi and Fantasy : https://damiengwalter.com

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