The year got off to a sci-fi start with the inauguration of the first non-white President of the United States (not counting Warren Harding). Amazingly, the Earth did not get hit by an asteroid, terrorists did not detonate a nuclear warhead on US soil, nor did an ancient prophesy come to pass. (Free story idea: an exorcist is called to the White House because every time the first lady passes Thomas Jefferson’s portrait, a ghostly voice is heard to say, “Day-um!”)Whether on bookshelves or screens big or small, it seems people couldn’t get enough of vampires in ’09, and the leaders of the pack (or whatever you call a bunch of vampires) were Twilight, which could be called the adolescent version of True Blood, or the latter, which could be called the adult version of the former. When not following the exploits of the undead we were following the resurrected, with three of the biggest big screen hits based on old TV shows or cartoons: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Star Trek and GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra. (Oh well, one out of three…)The biggest surprise of the year was Paranormal Activity, a feature made for less than a week’s catering costs of any of the other features. The most controversial hit of the year was District 9, criticized for its “negative” portrayal of some of its characters. (Yet nobody was outraged by Mudflap and Skids. Where’s the justice?) Other treats for ’09 were more animated, led by Up and Monsters vs. Aliens and the more critically-acclaimed (but not quite as box-office friendly) Coraline and Where the Wild Things Are.And they’re still counting the take on Avatar, which as of this writing is past the $1 billion mark, making it the fourth-highest-grossing film of all time. After just three weeks.In 2009 we said goodbye to several genre figures:o Ricardo Montalbán, Mr. Roarke of Fantasy Island, "Grandfather Valentin" from the Spy Kids films, and Khan Noonien Singh from Star Trek (the Original Series and the second movie);o Patrick McGoohan, co-creator and star of the original version of The Prisoner;o David Carradine, Frankenstein in the original Death Race 2000 and Kwai Chang Caine from the television series Kung Fu;o John Updike, author of The Witches of Eastwick;o J.G. Ballard, probably better know for film adaptations of two of his non-SF novels, Crash (the other film of that title) and Empire of the Sun;o Philip José Farmer, best known for his Riverworld series;o Phyllis Gotlieb, considered the mother of Canadian Science Fiction;o Dan O’Bannon, co-creator of two SF classics, the cult film Dark Star (co-written and directed by then student filmmaker John Carpenter) and with Ronald Shusett, another cult film, Alien;o Michael Jackson, whose film work was often in the realm of the fantastic, from narrating the E.T. storybook, singing the theme song from Ben to his roles as Disney’s Captain EO, the Scarecrow in The Wiz, and the boyfriend-turned-zombie in the groundbreaking long-form music video Thriller.
So what’s in store for 2010? More vampires, the last of Harry Potter, The Book of Eli, something that we hope will surprise and delight us, something that we hope won’t suck too bad.And just maybe, something from one of you!
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