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Welcome to our newsletter for
March. Topic is movies - Sci-Fi.
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**** If you can't see the images then click here. ****
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Sci-Fi is short for Science Fiction
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What's the difference between "Hard" and "Soft" Science Fiction?
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Hard
Science Fiction pays more attention to accurate details, such as astrophysics.
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Soft
Science Fiction commonly makes political statements, such as making a movie where a
government in the future controls the people.
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Time
travel stories
feature someone going either forward or backward in time.
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Space
travel
stories involve travel from one planet to another.
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Movies
about advanced technology are also a major theme in Sci-fi movies. Click here to watch video.
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Movies
like "Star Wars"
are considered soft science fiction, because they
are focused on making a political statement. For instance, Darth Vader wants to rule the galaxy, but his
plans are foiled by Luke
Skywalker. Click here to watch video.
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Movies
like "2001: A Space Odyssey" are hard science fiction. This type of movie focuses on the realism
of space. For example, there is no
sound in space. When a spaceship blows up, there is only silence –
which is not what you see in many action science fiction movies. Click here to watch video.
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Mythology and religion are forms of science fiction,
because they speculate about what happens when we die, what is in the heavens
and how the world was created.
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Before there were movies,
novels were the first media for science fiction.
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Mary
Shelley
was only 19 years old when she wrote Frankenstein.
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This
story is about what might happen if science tried to compete with nature
and create life. The “New Man” was treated
like a hideous monster, and so he became one. Click here to watch video.
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Jules
Verne
was a famous French science fiction author who wrote stories about traveling
to the centre of the earth and deep sea
exploration.
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His most
famous stories are 20,000
Leagues Under the Sea, which is about a submarine, and Journey to the Centre of the Earth,
which is about a scientist who journeys into the centre of Earth.
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Click
here to watch video.
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H.
G. Wells
was a famous British author who wrote stories about space and time travel.
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His most
famous novels were War of the
Worlds, (Click here to watch video) which is about an alien
invasion, and The Time Machine, (Click here to watch video) which is about a scientist
who builds a machine to travel to the future.
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During
the 20th century, comic books
became popular. They use illustrations and dialogue to tell a story.
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In
the early half of the 20th century, comics were also
known as "Pulp Magazines," Click here to watch video.
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One of
the first Sci-Fi movies made was by a Frenchman, George Melies,
in 1902. "Le Voyage Dans La Lune,"
translates into English, "A Trip To The Moon." Click here to watch video.
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During
the late 1940's and into the 50's, flying saucer hysteria took off.
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UFOs are called “flying saucers” because they
look like saucers – the small plate you use when drinking a cup of
tea. Click here to watch video.
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Utopia: is a city where everybody
lives happily, and there are no social problems
like crime, hatred and injustice.
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Dystopia: is the opposite of Utopia,
where there are large social problems, lots of crime, and a bad government.
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The
most famous movie depicting a utopian and dystopian society is "Metropolis". This was one of the first Sci-Fi movies, and
was directed by German director Fritz Lang. Click here to watch video.
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Paradox: a statement that is seems
contradictory or opposed to common sense, and yet is perhaps true Click here to watch video
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The
Grandfather Paradox: A) You go back in time to when your grandfather
was young and kill him before he meets your grandmother. Therefore, B) Your father then would not
have been born and neither would you. Therefore, C) you could not go back
in time to kill your grandfather, and he would then live.
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Theory
of Relativity: Einstein’s theory that time slows
down for an object as it approaches the speed of light. If a spaceship
travels at 99% of this speed for one year, 7 years will have passed on
Earth. Click here to watch video.
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Zero gravity
is also known as weightlessness. How much you weigh depends on where you
are. If you weigh 100 kg on Earth,
you weigh 16 kg on the moon (because the moon is less dense). In space, you would almost nothing
because there is no large object exerting gravity on you. Gravity is the force that attracts
objects to each other. The denser
the object, the more gravity it exerts on the objects near
it. Click here to watch video.
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Black
Holes: a
centre of mass whose gravitational pull sucks everything into it –
including light. Click here to watch video.
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Ray
Gun: a
common weapon used in older movies, but now is called
a blaster.
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Cyborgs: are half-human and half-
robotic. Click here to watch video.
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Clone: people or animals who have exactly the same DNA. Just like twins, but produced
from the DNA of
the original person. Click here to watch video.
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Portal: a kind of gate
that allows us to go from one side of the universe to the other. Click here to watch video.
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Parallel
universe: a theory that says there is not just one Earth but many. Someone like you, on another Earth could be
living a similar life. Click here to watch video.
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Mutants: when there is a difference in
the genetic structure
of a living thing. Click here to watch video.
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Artificial
intelligence:
computer programs that learn as fast as, or faster
than, humans. Click here to watch video.
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Teleporter: a machine that can send you in
a second from place A to place B. Click here to watch video.
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Light
speed:
traveling at the same speed of light.
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Light
year: the
distance light can travel in one year. "The nearest star to our sun is 4.37
light years from here.”
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Geek
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Someone
who is socially awkward, spends too much time playing PC games, and watches
the same Sci-Fi movies over and over again until
he/she can memorize all the words in the movies.
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Political
statement:
the best way to make a statement about a government, society or human
nature is often through Sci-Fi. Click here to watch video.
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Comic-Con: Fans like to dress up as their
favorite hero and attend conventions.
There, they can meet the creators of comic books, movies and PC games. Click here to watch video.
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Fan
Film Awards:
Star Wars has a competition for young film makers
to make short films relating to Star Wars. Click here to watch video.
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Trekkies: fans who love the TV show
"Star Trek"
will dress up as their favourite characters. Click here to watch video.
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Click here to watch video of the actual TV show "Star
Trek."
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"Which planet are you
from?"
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"You’re not from
this planet, are you?"
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These both mean you are very
strange or you don't understand other people.
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