Take as example of this assertion "Red Planet."
Here is a sci-fi flick that should have been, without hesitation, a great science fiction film.
Yet, it isn't.
Why?
There is The Question.
"Red Planet" is the sort of effort that should have, done properly, called forth the likes of John W. Campbell, Jr. and Isaac Asimov, by way of Golden Age publications like "Astounding" magazine.
It doesn't. It didn't. And that goes, once more, to ask The Question:
Why?
"Red Planet" is traditional science fiction. Honestly, pulp. Nuts-and-bolts sci-fi (of the legitimate kind, that is. Not the dreck Hollywood continues to offer, with such titles as "Screamers.") Straight-forward meat-and-potato storytelling.
Which means, given the track record of science fiction in the 20th century, it should work, it should be brilliant.
But it doesn't, it isn't.
There are many reasons for this is. None of which have to do with high-tech effects, incidentally.
The story takes place in the year 2025, when humanity has ruined Earth to the point of no return. Of course, humanity, being the self-serving lot it is, has gone off looking for a new planet to ruin, and has decided upon Mars.
After ample poking and poking and more poking in the form of robot space probes it is decided Mars is the place to be. So a number of algae are launched to Mars, where they seem to thrive, and the red planet turns green.
It's alive!
But. . .
The algae seems to have disappeared. Not withered. Not withering. Not dying or dead. Disappeared. Gone. As in: Ain't there no more.
So a crew of scientists are sent to check this out.
Here's the thing: The discovery of the missing green stuff comes on the heels of a troubled voyage through the stars: The ship, run by Bowman (Carrie-Anne Moss), has ripped and bounced through a cosmic ass-kicking (let's call it, for Golden Age sake, a gamma ray storm). Predictably this means a lot of equipment on board is no longer working. Which means the Mars lander, descending to the surface, has trouble. And that means some of the equipment on board the lander is dumped.
Which means, of course, certain doom.
But wait, there's more:
Also on board the lander is AMEE, a robotic tracker/warrior that seems to live for Murphy's Law: What can go wrong will. (If for no other reason than to drive the plot in "Red Planet".)
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