Asimov and Terminator: Salvation

I recently reread one of my favorite short stories; Isaac Asimov's "The Last Question." [ http://www.multivax.com/last_question.html ]

Please read it before reading this post. It is seriously awesome. Plus, this post may contain SPOILERS!

It is amazingly simple, and simply amazing. The short story is broken up into 7 parts. The story takes place over billions of years. From very near in the future when Man has discovered how to harness the power of the sun to the, for lack of a better term, "end" of the universe. The most satisfying thing about this story is how well written it is, not in the sense of Nabokov having endless numbers of levels of meaning in "Lolita" but in a much simpler almost plain way, Asimov's "Last Question" begs, fundamentally, "Can Entropy be reversed?" Of course, all logic, science and reason would point to "No, dumbass, it can't be!" The characters, ranging from two drunken scientists in the mid-21st century to a collective conscience of 'Man' [an actual disembodied conscience that is eternal, as humanity has since discovered 'immortality'], are all simple, in their own way, and so human. They each have an uncertainty that can only be felt when questioning the unknowable. A sort of nervousness that you get right before a great discovery, an unnerving feeling mixed with a raucous inner joy. The first aforementioned drunken scientists debate after one of them claims that, after their awesome discovery, that energy will be infinite and humanity will be able to go on "forever." The other says that it CANNOT last forever since entropy will take its toll and the stars, planets, and humanity will run down into the unforeseeable, inevitable and dreadful horizon. They debate and ask of their grand computer [MultiVac, which is a supercomputer capable of building its own replacement, anyone who has read the Hitchhiker's Guide books might recognize this when the computer builds Earth] whether entropy can be reversed. The answer, it spouts out among beeps and boops and flashing lights is, chillingly, "Insufficient Data for Meaningful Answer." The scientists, drunk and bored now, just leave. The story continues in much the same way while different eras in humanity's evolution ask of the evolving MultiVac whether entropy can be reversed. Always the same answer is ominously given. Why doesn't it just say no? Well, because of the 7th and last part of the story. Honestly, the part that ultimately ties the story together and one of the more satisfying endings to a short story I've read. You should definitely read it. It's a great story that really makes you question what we call 'God' and I really like the way that humanity is able to overcome and conquer all possible frontiers.

Now, onto another bit of sci-fi-ness. Terminator: Salvation. I went to see that movie this past weekend. It was... disappointing. Especially after watching the first and second Terminators after not having seen them for years. What was kind of funny about the movie was how they threw in little throwbacks to the old movies. Like Kyle Reese with his little string around the shotgun trick. Overall, I thought the movie was choppy, cheesy, and just not that great. The last 30 or so minutes, though, were pretty amazing. The fight between the terminators and John Connor are lots of fun.
That whole scene where Kyle Reese, that little kid, and the Terminator/Human hybrid thing are running away from LA is a little ridiculous. It just felt like the writers were saying "let's just make this a worse and worse situation." "oh, no, a giant, apparently super silent, three story robot trailed by a hovering fighter jet has just showed up outside this gas station." And proceeds to some more gratuitous explosions, to some motorcycle terminators, to more jets, to more three story terminators, etc. RETARDED.
After watching the first two, I remembered what I loved about them. Just how absolutely badass they were. Taking a killing robot from the future with little to no knowledge of human emotions and throwing him like 60 or 70 years in the past is just great. Arnold Schwarzeneggar MADE the first two movies. Even as a bad guy, his ten lines [including: "Fuck you, asshole" "12 gauge shotgun and a Plasma Rifle" and "WRONG"] were all amazing. Arnold talks a lot more in the second one but he has the same robotic dead response to everything. Arnold really was the perfect guy for that role.
What really bothered me about the last two movies, both of which had a few gems of cool in them, was the fact that you didn't have that. Sure, in Terminator 3 Arnold is still Arnold BUT he has lines like "talk to the hand", which is funny, in a gut wrenching way. Also, both Terminator 3 and 4 had absolutely way too much melodrama. Seriously, guys, what the hell?! The third one was that John Connor imposter basically whining the whole movie. The girl who plays his future wife, whatsherface, isn't too bad. At least she's pretty and relatively believable. Overall, though, you have this super terminator [terminatrix? just cause she looks like a chick who, for some reason, after her exo-skelewhatever is gone screams like a banshee], Arnold with awful lines, and a John Connor with mommy issues. How I can sit through that movie without destroying my fondest childhood movies, I cannot ever know. Part 4 was a lot like that, except worst. So.freaking.melo.dramatic. Goddamn, I thought while watching it, this is just bad. The writing was bad, the jumping from plot to plot to plot was choppy and contrived, and even the action, no matter how big the explosions, was just 'bleh.' The last half hour made me go from "this movie totally blows and I should write something on my blog" to "this movie MOSTLY blew and I should write about it on my blog."
I really think there things in there for a good ol' terminator fan but, overall, it's not worth the $10 ticket.