An Interview With The Closet SciFi Geek: 28 August 2006

Stephanie Brail has been putting her thoughts up on Science Fiction (.. News And Reviews For Cool Nerds) for a while now, which is always an interesting read; I thought I’d get to the bottom of just why she’s a Closet SciFi Geek.

What gave you the idea of setting up your blog on Science Fiction?

I had gotten one of those online movie rental accounts, and started catching up on a lot of science fiction shows and movies. The problem was, once I was done watching something, I was itching to discuss it, but I didn’t have anyone to talk to about it. My friends are mostly not interested in this stuff, with a few exceptions. So I started Closet Sci-Fi Geek so I could decompress and debrief after viewing something that interested or intrigued me.

How would you sum up your attraction to Science Fiction?

I am a very imaginative, creative person, and science fiction (as well as fantasy) brings you to whole other worlds. Sci-fi expands the brain. It shows you what is possible. It helps us to reach for new horizons, as well as warns of potential pitfalls in our current path.

It’s also just plain fun.

From reading your blog, I came to the conclusion you are very much a watcher of scifi, rather than a reader or listener - is this true?

Right now, it is more true than not, but that has not always been the case. As a child, I sucked up science fiction and fantasy books like candy. But back then (and I’m not that old), cable was new, and my family didn’t have a VCR much less HBO. The quantity and quality of science fiction available in visual form today far surpasses what was available when I was a child, so perhaps I would have watched more than read back then if things had been different. Who’s to say.

When I got to college, I was concerned about fitting in with my literary friends and became a bit of an anti-sci-fi snob. I started reading “literature” and put the pulp fiction aside. The irony is that now, there’s a trend where writers are combining more “literary” forms with science fiction themes, such as The Time Traveler’s Wife (which alas, I wasn’t that thrilled about). I just started reading Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrel, which is another “high-brow” fantasy book.

I don’t think these new sci-fi literature books are necessarily better than traditional sci-fi and fantasy, though. They just make the writing more pretentious, sometimes.

So, while I do still read these days, because I have so much going on in my life, it’s a lot easier and quicker to review things I’m watching. I’m also reading more than just sci-fi, such as non-fiction books, so my sci-fi book reviews on the blog are fewer and much farther between.

I also play video games, which I feel is an extension of sci-fi. I don’t play them as much as I’d like, because they are time consuming, but I do have a male buddy I meet with on a sporadic basis, and we go to town on the Xbox (we like playing Star Wars Battlefront). I especially like it when a boyfriend enjoys playing video games with me, since that’s much more fun and interactive than just renting a video for your evenings at home.

I think there’s a stigma associated with admitting that oneself is into scifi (and fantasy), do you admit offline that you actually run a blog about it?

Yes, but it surprises people. I don’t fit the standard idea of what a sci-fi fan should look and act like. First of all, I’m female. Second, I don’t look like a nerd (though I did in high school).

I did actually date a guy once who thought it was strange that I played video games and I was female. He wasn’t quite sure what to do with that. Well, he should have just relaxed and had fun with it, but you know, some guys still have a hard time being friends with their lovers. It’s a strange thing, you know. It’s too bad, since they are
missing out.

You tend to talk quite a bit about retro scifi; films etc which appeared years ago, and you give retrospective views on them - do you think scifi has improved over the years?

Yes and no. I believe some of the best science fiction writing was done for the original Star Trek. None of the new Trek shows can match the original series in terms of social impact or memorability.

Special effects have improved, obviously. But that does not always lead to a better looking film. If you take a look at films like Silent Running or 2001, you will see amazing, beautiful cinematography, all done on models. I think model work is still, in some cases, superior to CGI and gives a depth and detail that is just lost with computer-generated images.

I also find that space battle scenes aren’t necessarily as fun or exciting to watch these days. Too much is going on. They’ve got 50 zillion ships all flying around, shooting at each other, and you can’t even see which ship the hero is driving. Sometimes, less is more.

If you were to pick just one scifi movie, which would be your favourite and why?

That would have to be Star Wars (the original). Now, Star Wars isn’t necessarily the best science fiction film ever made, and given a nudge I might even say I like Empire Strikes Back better. But I think Star Wars is the iconic, perfect space opera. I saw it in the theater for the first time in 1977 when I was just seven years old. I grew up with Luke Skywalker and Obi Wan Kenobi. No space mythology before or since has so captured our hearts and our imagination like Star Wars.

And Han Solo has to be the best sci-fi character put on the screen, ever.

Another, more recent film that had tremendous impact on me was The Matrix. Unfortunately, the second and third films kind of screwed the whole franchise up. I would have been happy with just the original.

What is your favourite icecream?

From childhood, black raspberry ice cream from Friendly’s, which is a restaurant chain on the east coast. I can’t even get it here in California.

That’s it! Thanks for your time, Stephanie.

As well as http://closetscifigeek.com Stephanie also blogs over at http://feelgoodgirl.com.