When the television show The Expanse first came out I was hooked! Impressed by the imagery, the gritty realism of the worlds presented, the intricate and complex storyline I devoured the books the show is based on. They are big, thick books too!

I realized in reading these books and in watching the show that I like Science Fiction with some significant science. I do appreciate science fantasy as well, but after seeing some “science fiction” where people have lived their whole lives in a space station drop to Earth and jump out of the landing craft and stare at the sky then wander off,

(REALLY?????) Science fiction was a gloss applied to this story, it was not a science fiction work at all.  I felt offended after being used to The Expanse which seems to take the Science aspect seriously.

Characters are great and an important piece of the storytelling game, but that scientific realism, plausible situations, make all the difference.  In The Expanse, the one factor with a strong “what if”, the fantastic, is the existence of the proto-molecule. Everything else needs to make sense and generally does.

Just saw Arrival!  (Finally!)

It came out in 2016, starring Amy Addams, Jeremy Renner and Forest Whitaker.

Directed by Denis Villeneuve

Arrival was nominated for eight Academy Awards in case you haven’t heard much about it.

I wasn’t sure what to expect, apparently, I have managed to avoid spoilers and so could appreciate the movie as it is, without reacting to the hype.

(Did you notice a lot of hype? I didn’t.)

So, twelve alien ships show up on Earth and …..then what. What do we mere humans do about that?

How do we communicate with whoever is in these ships?

When the movie ended I immediately compared it to Interstellar and 2001. I have not yet read the book/short story it is based on, but it is now added to my reading list.

It is based on the 1998 short story “Story of Your Life” by Ted Chiang.

I think it will be an interesting movie to watch again. Sometimes, once you know the arc, re-watching takes on a whole new dimension.

I still need to see the movies Dr. Strange and Hidden Figures. I did read the book Hidden Figures and look forward to comparing the book to the movie. I have heard such good things about the movie.

As to Arrival specifically, I do love this theme in science fiction. Alien ships show up and wait. Human race freaks out and then….

The story is up to you.