Escape Artists
The Arcade => Polling Place => Topic started by: Ocicat on April 28, 2010, 05:53:24 PM
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We're at the final! It's down to just these two, though it's far from surprising to me. These books were the top two group seeds when I made the original eight groups. Still, this matchup almost didn't happen. In last weeks semifinal, if just one person who voted for Dune had gone for Frankenstein instead, the result would have flipped.
This poll will run for two weeks, so everyone can voice their opinion about which is the Escape Artists Forum's favorite Science Fiction novel. And to give anyone who hasn't read both of these a chance to. Is there anyone who hasn't read both of these books?!?
They have both gone through quite a bit to get here. Not counting the group round:
Dune has defeated Ringworld, Foundation, and Frankenstein.
Hitchhiker's has defeated Starship Troopers, Ender's Game, and Flowers for Algernon.
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Dune is going down. (sez me)
*edit*
Apparently everyone else disagrees. But you're wrong. You're ALL WRONG.
*edited again*
I see justice has triumphed. Carry on.
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I'm right there with you Talia.
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Again, I think everyone here knows my position on the matter.
I liked Dune.
but...
HITCHHIKER'S FOR THE WIN!
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I voted for Dune.
Hitchhiker's has its merits. It is an intelligent, whimsical, sometimes hilarious read, but, in many ways it is highly overrated.
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I voted for Dune.
Hitchhiker's has its merits. It is an intelligent, whimsical, sometimes hilarious read, but, in many ways it is highly overrated.
To be fair, so is Dune. (Not sandworm-ist).
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Wow. Good show so far!
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Neither is among my favorities. Bus as I lost in about every vote in the quaterfinals, that is not a surprise...
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hehe, well done (regardless of lack of intention!)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v319/queensowntalia/haha.jpg)
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Folks. Seriously. We're voting on the best SCI-FI novel here. (OK, OK, I'm paraphrasing the question: "Which book do you like best?")
Both are clearly fabulous. I love both; I have them on my bookshelf and have re-read both many times.
Both have been made -- both with greater or lesser success -- into screen adaptations.
But only one is clearly sci-fi.
IMNSHO.
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Folks. Seriously. We're voting on the best SCI-FI novel here. (OK, OK, I'm paraphrasing the question: "Which book do you like best?")
Both are clearly fabulous. I love both; I have them on my bookshelf and have re-read both many times.
Both have been made -- both with greater or lesser success -- into screen adaptations.
But only one is clearly sci-fi.
IMNSHO.
Well HGttG has spaceships aliens and (depressed) Robots. All clearly Sci-Fi Tropes. so I voted for what is IMNSHO the Sci-fi novel.
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Well HGttG has spaceships aliens and (depressed) Robots. All clearly Sci-Fi Tropes. so I voted for what is IMNSHO the Sci-fi novel.
I'm going, one day, to write and post a long rant about why we shouldn't identify genres with particular story elements like aliens and robots. Having aliens doesn't make Hitchhiker any more sci-fi than having vampires makes Twilight horror.
That said, I actually do think that The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is science fiction. It has started out of a parody of science fiction - much of it deliberately relies on pseduo-science that is absolutely impossible. Elements like the infinite improbability drive are making explicit fun of the ridiculous pseduo-science that a lot of science fiction thrives on. Does this make it science fiction? Probably. But the fact is, I think it works mostly on the meta-level.
This was a tough choice for me. Both are novels I admire and both were influential and formative in my teens. Hitchhiker, perhaps, moreso, overall. But, and this is what made me go for Dune - my earliest encounters with Hitchhiker focused almost entirely on the social commentary and absurdist humor. It was only several years later that I understood the science fiction elements of the novel as anything but a colorful backdrop. When I first read Hitchhiker in my teens, my thought was "hah! people are so ridiculous". When I first read Dune at a similar age, it made me grasp how large and awe-inspiring the future may be. If the question was which was the better overall, more entertaining, or more personally important novel to me, I would have gone with Hitchhiker. But Dune is nigh incomparable, in my eyes, in elevating science fiction to an epic level, and after some soul-searching I had to go with it.
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Well HGttG has spaceships aliens and (depressed) Robots. All clearly Sci-Fi Tropes. so I voted for what is IMNSHO the Sci-fi novel.
I'm going, one day, to write and post a long rant about why we shouldn't identify genres with particular story elements like aliens and robots. Having aliens doesn't make Hitchhiker any more sci-fi than having vampires makes Twilight horror.
I don't disagree with you, but those are generally some things that are easily identified with SciFi. The point I was trying to convey with it, and you agreed with me, is that Hitchhiker's is SciFi. Too often I notice a trend of if it is humorous, or the like, then it can't be taken seriously as being a part of genre fiction. Both novels are SciFi, but at the same time Hitchhiker's is also satirical. I would also say that to a large extent Dune is an Adventure story. They can fit into more than one genre. I don't like seeing books or stories get dismissed because they don't fit into preconceived opinions of what is or isn't SciFi, or Horror, or Fantasy, or whatever genre is being discussed. Most "Urban Fantasy" (God I hate that genre name, but...) is merely romance authors writing stories with characters that traditionally fit into the Horror/Fantasy genre such as Vampires, Were-(animal of choice)s, Witches, etc. That said, I still enjoy some of it. Some of it is awful. personally I think the awful stuff would be awful irregardless of the setting. Twilight appeals especially to ideals of teenage romance. I enjoyed the books, not so much the first movie, and have no desire to see the rest. I am not a teenager by any stretch since i am in my fourth decade on this planet. I also enjoyed the Harry Potter books. I guess what I am trying to say is both books are SciFi, they also both fit into other genres. Which is better is a personal opinion. I happen to prefer Hitchhiker's it's looking more like I am in the minority now, as the poll progresses. Such is life, doesn't make either any less or more enjoyable for me. To each their own, just don't be so ready to dismiss things. Same reason we get arguments about which podcasts some of the stories fit in.
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Folks. Seriously. We're voting on the best SCI-FI novel here. (OK, OK, I'm paraphrasing the question: "Which book do you like best?")
Both are clearly fabulous. I love both; I have them on my bookshelf and have re-read both many times.
Both have been made -- both with greater or lesser success -- into screen adaptations.
But only one is clearly sci-fi.
IMNSHO.
Wait wait wait wait. You're going to try and play the "It's not really this genre" card? In the words of Michael Bluth, "Oh, come on!"
Wait until you get future fantasy or space fantasy month at PodCastle! (I'm kidding, mostly. Although I think it'd be kind of awesome.)
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I have to agree with eytanz.
Hitchhiker's Guide is amazing social commentary (which in my opinion is a big part of SciFi) and really FUN.
But Dune is ...Epic...
For me, that's says it all.
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:(
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:(
It put up a good fight, but then Dune pulled a fast one and then Shang Tsung was like, "FINISH HIM" and Dune went "FATALITY! SANDSTORM! ULTIMATE SUFFERING!"
It was cool. You should have seen it.
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:(
It put up a good fight, but then Dune pulled a fast one and then Shang Tsung was like, "FINISH HIM" and Dune went "FATALITY! SANDSTORM! ULTIMATE SUFFERING!"
It was cool. You should have seen it.
Was chuck norris involved? Its no real fight without Chuck.
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:(
It put up a good fight, but then Dune pulled a fast one and then Shang Tsung was like, "FINISH HIM" and Dune went "FATALITY! SANDSTORM! ULTIMATE SUFFERING!"
It was cool. You should have seen it.
Was chuck norris involved? Its no real fight without Chuck.
meh, Mr Rodgers can beat Chuck.
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:(
It put up a good fight, but then Dune pulled a fast one and then Shang Tsung was like, "FINISH HIM" and Dune went "FATALITY! SANDSTORM! ULTIMATE SUFFERING!"
It was cool. You should have seen it.
Was chuck norris involved? Its no real fight without Chuck.
meh, Mr Rodgers can beat Chuck.
Only after he's beaten up by like 30 other heroes and supervillains first, though
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:(
It put up a good fight, but then Dune pulled a fast one and then Shang Tsung was like, "FINISH HIM" and Dune went "FATALITY! SANDSTORM! ULTIMATE SUFFERING!"
It was cool. You should have seen it.
Was chuck norris involved? Its no real fight without Chuck.
meh, Mr Rodgers can beat Chuck.
Only after he's beaten up by like 30 other heroes and supervillains first, though
Hey Mr Rodgers had to survive to get to that point himself. Face it, Mr Rodgers is tougher than Chuck Norris ;)
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Hmmm. So I've been thinking about what I said before about only one of these books being sci-fi...
I think I'm wrong. Now I need to explain to myself why. :)
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Still a week left of voting. The results are getting closer again...