My take is that dystopian and post-apocalyptic fiction has always been around (from The Time Machine to Pan in Year Zero! to Blade Runner), so what we’re really noticing now is the absence of any other kind of sci-fi, at least when it comes to sci-fi that reaches the mainstream of pop culture.
—Jon Hastings, in response to my post on the fall of optimistic sci-fi. Lots of other good “towards a definition of science fiction”-type stuff in Jon’s post, too.
The difference between Heidi and Kennedy and Tony and Christopher is one of degree, not kind. The young women had a chance to do the right thing but didn’t…. What’s important — for Chase’s purposes — is that they were presented with a moral test and they not only failed it, they didn’t seem terribly aware that it was a test.
—Matt Zoller Seitz, on David Chase’s starless and bible black cynicism as embodied in a pair of bit characters in this week’s episode of The Sopranos. None more black.