Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

Gary Varner

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desert landscape with sand being shaped into sharp dunes by the wind.

Dune, Part Two: Paul Becomes a Hero — Very Reluctantly

Some departures from the book work better than others. The “reluctant hero” trope simplifies a complex political situation but at a cost

Last time, we discussed the opening of Dune’s sequel, ending with Jessica drinking from the Water of Life. Already, she has experienced a number of changes. At first, they don’t seem to alter the story much; however, once Jessica becomes the Fremens’ Reverend Mother, the alterations start to steer the plot further and further from the book. Introducing a conflict about the Bene Gesserit religion These consequential changes first appear when Paul is waiting for his mother to wake up from a comatose state after drinking the Water of Life. In the sequel, the Fremen are divided about whether or not the Bene Gesserit religion is true. This was not the case in the book. There might’ve been some debate Read More ›

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sandstorm in the desert. Generative AI,

Dune Part Two Succeeds Brilliantly — But Dooms Plans for Part III

The difficulty is that the changes made for the film have warped the core story so much that it’s going to be nearly impossible to follow the source material from here on out.
For example, if the Bene Gesserits are the true power behind the throne, why do they need a Kwisatz Haderach to cement their power? Read More ›
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dramatic sand storm in desert, background, digital art

Dune 1984 Offers A Strong Finish to a Unique Adaptation

I’d go as far as to say that, while not all of David Lynch’s adaptations worked, the film is, overall, better than the book
The rainstorm Lynch introduces at the end, implies, refreshingly, that there was more going on in Dune than just the plans of men. Read More ›
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Sand dunes in Sahara desert, Libya

Dune (1984) vs the Classic Sci-Fi Novel: What Worked, What Didn’t

For some scenes, the film was an improvement on the book; for others, writer David Lynch might better have stuck with the original

Last time we talked about the opening of Dune 1984. The Hollywood Strike has delayed the sequel to the current remake till March but the classic is worth revisiting in the meantime, both for its successes and failures. The 1984 writer, David Lynch, made various changes to the story that gave the viewer a clearer understanding of what was going on than Frank Herbert’s classic 1965 novel did. After the first two scenes, which help establish the situation in the world of Dune, the Reverend Mother flies to Caladan to test Paul Atreides with the painful Gom Jabbar. I’ve agreed with his choices so far. His opening showed the viewer why the Reverend Mother chose to visit Paul when she Read More ›

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Astronauts exploring an asteroid 3D rendering elements of this image furnished by NASA

Where Did Dune 1984 Succeed? Where Did It Fail?

The Hollywood Strike postponed the release of the sequel to the new film version of Dune until March so, for now, let’s have another look at the 1984 version
The decades-old film retelling relied on some risky techniques but they turned out better than we might have expected, given the scope of the plot. Read More ›
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Quantum portal to a world of wonder and mystery, where the laws of nature are strange and unpredictable. wormhole, time travel illustration.

Alien Resurrection Part 4: The Good, the Bad, and the… Bizarre

In a single moment, Purvis becomes one of the most heroic characters in the entire franchise
Alien Resurrection might help you forget Alien 3, and that alone makes it worth watching. Read More ›
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astronaut in space with stars and moon, spaceship under attack, 3d illustration

Alien Resurrection (1997) Part 3: Call Up the Reluctant Robot

Amid the harrowing crew escapes, Call survives being shot because she’s a robot. She somehow has sentience and hates being a robot
No one can pull ideals from a system of numbers. How could a robot decide what is objectively moral when all its decisions are based on a set of probabilities? Read More ›
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Spooky silhouettes of aliens and bright light in background. 3D rendered illustration.

Alien Resurrection, Part 2: Trying to Recover After a Retcon

The writers of the show never seemed to agree on how smart these aliens really are.
A problem for the franchise as a whole is that there’s been no consistent measurement for these creatures’ intelligence. Read More ›
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Scary gray alien walks and looks blinking on a dark smoky background. UFO futuristic concept. 3D rendering.

Alien Resurrection, Part 1: This Movie Pays for the Sins of the Last One

It's better than Aliens 3, but has a host of problems nonetheless.
Ripley remembers enough about her old life to have misgivings about the military raising the Alien Queen, but of course, she’s ignored, and the army moves on to the second phase of their plan. Read More ›
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Abstract flight in retro neon hyper warp space in the tunnel 3d illustration

Alien 3 Review, Part 4

Ripley's curtain call

In the third article, Ripley woke up in an all-male prison after surviving a shuttle crash. A parasitic alien tagged along and implanted an embryo in an inmate’s dog. The embryo breaks out of the animal and begins killing people until everyone figures out what’s going on, then they hatched one of the dumbest plans I’ve ever seen in cinema. After that, Ripley begins feeling sick. She goes to her still fully intact cryobed and scans herself. She finds that the parasitic alien has also planted an embryo inside her. The fact that Ripley had an embryo in her the entire time is ridiculous for a number of reasons. As I’ve mentioned in previous articles, her cryobed wasn’t broken, so Read More ›

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Rising planet

Alien 3 Review, Part 3

Aliens vs. Looney Tunes

In the previous reviews, we talked about how Ripley is once again the sole survivor. Her ship crashed because, somehow, the alien queen she killed in the second movie managed to lay an egg in the five minutes before it died. That egg hatched, attacked Ripley and the other’s cryobeds, and some of its acidic salvia melted its way into the ship’s wiring, causing the spacecraft to crash. To make the situation even more ridiculous, the escape shuttle the cryobeds were moved into crashed as well, and everyone expect Ripley was killed. Ripley wakes up in an all-male prison. Superintendent Harold Andrews is concerned for her safety, so he does his best to keep Ripley in the medical wing. Ripley Read More ›

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ACT I, typed text on a vintage typewriter, screenplay title heading. On old paper with ink. writer's idea

Alien 3 Review, Part 2

An attack on motherhood and logic

Last time, we began with the opening scene, and already, the entire franchise is ruined. In this review, we’ll discuss why. I would recommend reading the previous article for clarity, but for now, I’ll simply list the sequence of events. The alien queen, somehow, managed to lay an egg inside the room where the cryobeds were kept in spite of the fact that she’d never been outside the hull of the ship. The egg hatched and the parasitic alien damaged Newt’s cryobed, then for no apparent reason, abandoned its attempt to latch onto Newt, and latched onto Ripley instead. But here’s the thing. Ripley’s bed wasn’t damaged in anyway. So, how did it break into the bed? Both the ship Read More ›

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Outer space background

Alien 3 Review, Part 1

How to destroy a franchise in seven minutes

No sense in burying the lead. This one is awful. But it’s important to understand how and why it’s awful. Alien 3 manages to destroy the entire franchise with remarkable speed. I’ll explain how, as the reviews go on. We start off with a credit sequence, and already things feel off. Ripley and the surviving members of the previous film are still in their cryobeds, but something else is aboard the ship as well: an alien egg. This egg is seen hanging upside down, almost at eye level. Already, we have a plethora of problems, so let’s dive in, shall we? The previous movie, Aliens, established that it takes a queen to lay these eggs. Now, we don’t know exactly Read More ›

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realistic render of the earth seen from space,visible lights of European cities at night.Elements of this image furnished by NASA. 3d rendering

Aliens Review, Part 1

I found Alien to be tolerable, but not worth the hype. So, who’s to say if the second movie will be any better?

Editor’s note: Parts one and two of this series have already been published here and here. The editor apologizes for the oversight and hopes you will enjoy this initial review and read the attending reviews as well. The first Alien film is considered a sci-fi classic, and Aliens, the sequel, is widely regarded as the best movie in the series. But personally, I found Alien to be tolerable, but not worth the hype. So, who’s to say if the second movie will be any better? It starts out with Ripley being found by a scavenger ship, where she is quickly taken back to earth and awakened from her cryosleep. Right away, we have a problem. One of “The Cooperation’s” big Read More ›

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blue sunrise, view of earth from space

Alien Review, Part 3

So, what can be said about Alien? It’s okay.

Previously, we discussed how the crew of the Nostromo had accidentally let an alien enter their vessel, and now, the creature is killing everyone. The Nostromo’s mining mission was a red herring. Its real mission had been to find this alien all along and bring it to Earth. Ash, the crew’s science officer, betrayed them. He knew what the alien was the entire time and did nothing to warn the crew. Really, this was a dumb decision, even for a robot. It would’ve been smarter to tell the crew after Kane had been killed, so they would’ve had a better idea what they were dealing with, and at least, stood a better chance of containing the thing. But space robots Read More ›

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Black egg on a black background. The concept of coloring eggs for Easter. Standing alone egg

Alien Review, Part 2

Herding aliens in space is a bad idea

Read Part 1 of this review first if you missed it: Alien Review, Part 1 | Mind Matters In the previous review, we began discussing the sci-fi classic, Alien, and we left off with one of the Nostromo’s crewmembers, Kane, waking up after being attacked by a strange creature which had essentially glued itself to his face. Now, the creature is dead, and all seems well. Since Kane appears to be alright, and the crew begins eating another meal, preparing to renter cryosleep for their return journey to Earth. But as they are eating, Kane begins to scream in pain. The other’s try to help him, but they have no idea what’s going on. Finally, another alien explodes from Kane’s Read More ›

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alien concept

Aliens Review, Part 3

Ripley saves the day

In the previous review, we talked about how the marines confronted the alien species and things didn’t go according to plan. Ripley had to drive a tank into the complex to rescue the marines, and they tried to call in a ship to take them off the planet. However, the ship crashed, leaving the survivors stranded. To make matters worse, one of the structures providing energy to the complex was damaged during the ship’s crash, and the whole place it set to blow in four hours. Bishop, the marines’ robot, goes to one of the facility’s satellites to call in another ship remotely, while the rest of the survivors barricade themselves in one of the complex’s rooms near the medical Read More ›

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3d rendered medically accurate illustration of a grey alien

Alien Review, Part 1

Is the original movie as impressive as everyone says?

Alien is considered a sci-fi classic. It started a franchise that has lasted for many years, but while the first couple of movies are highly respected, the later films are thought to be underwhelming to say the least. But is the original as impressive as everyone says? The movie starts out with a large multi-storied ship moving through space. This spacecraft looks like an entire city, and as neat as it is to see, this raises a few questions right away. Why is the vessel so large, and how can only a seven people run this craft? We do get some answers. The ship is called the Nostromo. It is a mining ship, and a computer named Mother runs most Read More ›

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young robot looking at baby in a stroller against starry sky, digital art style, illustration painting

Megan Review, Part 3

If you’re looking for a mind-numbing popcorn flick to pass the time, Megan is worth watching. 

In the previous review, Megan began her killing spree, but Gemma quickly figured out there was a problem with the robot and took her back to her lab. Cady was distraught about the loss of her favorite toy, but Gemma still brought the girl to the lab and made Cady talk with a social worker. Afterward, she and Cady had a heartfelt discussion about the loss of the child’s parents. Gemma takes Cady home. Meanwhile, the assistants bring Megan down to the lab, but the robot escapes. Megan makes a B-line for Gemma’s house, but along the way, she encounters Gemma’s employer, David. She quickly kills the boss and his assistant before stealing a car. David was a rather unlikable Read More ›