I’m a movie guy. I write reviews, run a film festival, speak on film panels, and have been a judge at numerous other fests. So the Dramatic Presentation Hugo categories are my thing. They shouldn’t be entirely, as far more is allowed than movies and TV episodes, but it is rare for anything else to show up. So OK, let’s deal with those two categories.
Dramatic Presentation, Short Form
The Short Form category… It is a mess. It is extremely annoying. Why? Because what should get nominated NEVER gets nominated. Never. It is a flaw of popular awards that they rely on what is popular, that is, what is easy to be seen by lots of people, and the best works do not necessarily fall into that group.
What should be on the ballot? What should everyone be nominating for Best Short Form Dramatic Presentation in 2016?
- Replika (Directed by Luc Walpoth)
- The Mill at Calder’s End (Directed by Kevin McTurk).
- Dust (Directed by Michael Grier)
The first is a French cyberpunk story of a mother who’s android child is failing and who needs a replacement. It is beautiful, emotional, and intellectual, doing what Ex Machina could not. It is pretty much THE state of the art in cyberpunk/AI cinema. The second is a gothic ghost story with a feeling of Poe and Lovecraft, brought to the screen with puppets. Dust is a quest for a cure in a post-apocalyptic world. All three are brilliant. And you’ve seen none of them. They are the short films on the film festival circuit. That’s where good short films go. They are the best of the best. And the best is supposed to be on the Hugo ballot. But they won’t be. And that is a fundamental problem with the awards. I could nominated them, but what’s the point? How many other film festival attendees vote on the Hugos? It’s sad, but that’s the way of things.
So, within that sad restriction, what should make the ballot this year? I admit a strong desire to put Super Power Beat Down, Batman vs Darth Vader (Alternate Ending version) on the list both because it is quite good, and because it has a much better version of Batman and Superman than what Zack is doing—really, go watch it. But I’ll leave it as an alternate suggestion. As I will also leave the three short films above, just in case somehow someone wants to show them a little love. Instead, I’ll offer what you can, and have seen. And it one case, I’ll escape the video trap that most voters are in. I’ll also keep it at four as I plan to stick in one of those alternatives
- Pseudopod 428: When It Ends, He Catches Her, written by Eugie Foster and preformed by Tina Connolly
- Doctor Who: Heaven Sent
- Doctor Who: The Husbands of River Song
- Rick and Morty – “The Ricks Must Be Crazy”
The first I explained here, but basically it is a chance to give When It Ends, He Catches Her the nom it should have gotten last year, plus it is a really good presentation.
Then there is The Doctor. I doubt I’ll have to defend Heaven Sent. It was the deep and serious episode for the year, and I’ve already seen just about everyone suggesting it be nominated. It’s good that, for a change, the deep and serious episode deserves it. The Husbands of River Song, this year’s Xmas ep, is my favorite episode for the year, and in fact, for the past several years. It was painful for me to watch, as Eugie and I watched Doctor Who together and up to this point, I knew she wouldn’t have minded missing the eps all that much. But this one she would have loved, as did I. Not only was it fun and witty, but ended up having a far more profound point than any strictly serious episodes and programs have managed. I can’t express how important the concept that happily ever after exists, and is also framed by time is to me personally, and to everyone who thinks about it. It’s good to think about the fact that we did indeed live happily ever after.
Rick and Morty is a surprisingly good, and incredibly dark animated series. It had many brilliant moments over the season and multiple episodes came to my mind for nomination, including Auto Erotic Assimilation (about a Hive mind), Big Trouble In Little Sanchez (where the A story pales next to the incredible B story of marriage counseling destruction), and the tragic season finale, The Wedding Squanchers. But The Ricks Must Be Crazy tops them with great A & B stories. In the A, Rick and Morty are miniaturized and go into a battery, where Rick has created an entire civilization just to power his car. In the B, Summer is kept safe by car, that does the most horrific and heartbreaking things I’ve ever seen in a cartoon. The problem with Rick and Morty is that it will probably lose out from people going for different episodes. Besides the others I’ve mentioned, I’ve seen people recommending Total Rickall (dealing with mental parasites). All of them are good.
I expect episodes of The Flash and Supergirl to show up on some nominating ballots, and while those shows are fun, they just aren’t of the quality that should earn awards. Game of Thrones is likely to show up, but while I enjoyed it, no single episode really stands out. It would be better to nominate the entire season in Long Form, but to the best of my understanding, that is no longer possible (it has to do with the creator’s being able to say how a work should be treated).
Dramatic Presentation, Long Form
When I did my ranking of the best Science Fiction features of the year (and later modified it to be best Fantasy and Science Fiction), my number one ranked film was…nothing. I left it empty because nothing deserved the top spot. That would push me toward doing a No Award for the Hugo, but the Hugos are not equivalent to my rankings, and I can worry about final votes later. So, keeping in mind that nothing was quite as good as I’d have liked, and grading on a curve, what do we have.
- The Martian
- Predestination
- Avengers: Age of Ultron
- Ant-Man
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens
The Martian stands out as both being an enjoyable few hours of entertainment and relatively smart, only doing a few things which defy science. Everything else on this list should be called fantasy. The Martian is science fiction. The award needs one true SF nomination.
Predestination is a clever time travel film based on Heinlein’s All You Zombies. It only made it to limited release, but as it is based on Heinlein, and the Pups drool over him, so I think it is likely to get some votes. It also is pretty good.
Age of Ultron and Ant-Man are fun superhero films. Nothing more, nothing less. And I expect Star Wars to make the ballot, although it barely does for me. It was less written than constructed by corporate committee out of previous Star Wars films. Still, in a weak year, it earns its spot.
I expect some are thinking of Mad Max: Fury Road, and it would be my sixth choice, but think about this before nominating it. The Hugos are one of the two major F&SF literary awards. That is, they are about writing. And what about the writing in Mad Max? The entire plot is, let’s drive across a desert and then turn around and drive back. The dialog is sparse because the title character barely speaks. And the only activities in the movie are driving and fighting while driving. Sure the movie was fun to watch, but it is incredibly stupid (just think about how water functions, or look here) and the script is not its virtue. If there was a special effects Hugo, or a combat Hugo, then yes, but there isn’t.
The other likely choice I am skipping is Ex Machina. Films can succeed in many ways (Mad Max wasn’t smart or have much of a script, but in action and FX, it was a winner). Ex Machina doesn’t have a lot of ways. It doesn’t go for action, or fun, or wit. It is trying to be a smart movie. My problem is that it wasn’t very smart. If all you have going for you is being smart, then you can’t have silly things like the key cards, and no weapons when you keep a robot in the house that you know could kill you. You can’t have characters make one stupid decision after another just to keep the plot going.
After that you’d be looking at Jurassic World or Terminator Genisys or Tomorrowland and I don’t think we want a world where those get Hugo consideration.
I’m afraid I didn’t finish Jessica Jones. It was a bit too down for my mood and already too many stupid decisions were being made by the characters, but it had a lot of potential. So if you liked it, I suggest nominating it here as a whole instead of choosing a single episode to put in short form.
My five suggestions under Long Form are all ones I think should make the ballot, but personally I am more invested in the Short Form, and this year, that means Eugie’s story (I doubt you are shocked), and The Husbands of River Song, as its theme really spoke to me.