The best sci-fi isn’t

I was watching 2001 recently, and it doesn’t hold up that well. It’s not just that history and technology turned out differently, but the clothes were straight out of the late ’70s. Even more than movies set in the late ’70s. This is often a problem with sci-fi. Styles are extrapolated from current trends. But trends don’t move in a straight line. They weave and turn and oscillate unpredictably.

Instead, moves have lasting power when they take cues from other genres. Blade Runner is noir, so most things look like they’re from the ’40s. Firefly was a western, so things looked like they came from the end of the 19th century. The first Alien movie saw itself as pure sci-fi, and looks like crap. The second knows it’s a horror, and the set designs show it.

There are differences that can’t be copied from the past. HAL from 2001 looks good, because it (he?) was a completely new thing. New technology will look good as long form follows function. Good sci-fi lets the plot and tone dictate the other details.