Kristine Faith D. Valle

2013-14356

A Reaction Paper on “The Rhetoric of Cancer” by Andrew Graystone

            If one would observe the usual approach to cancer, almost every time, cancer patients and their loved ones are told to fight the battle of cancer. There is a culture prevalent in society that breeds an environment that looks at cancer in a negative light, a plague in life, a disease that we have to get rid of in our bodies. This isn’t surprising given that, cancer, most of the time leads to death. However, in this podcast, the real “battle” of cancer isn’t about casting those bad cells out of our systems but learning to love it, as if it is your own, no matter how much pain and suffering it causes you for this disease is a part of your body, making up the whole. It's pretty funny, the first time I heard it but it made me reflect on what the "fight" to cancer should be about. 

            Ever since this documentary, I never looked at cancer as something that anyone would ever appreciate and most especially, “should” appreciate. I’ve seen my relatives suffer and pass away because of it. I’ve seen how hard it is to sustain your life financially with cancer and the physical and emotional pains it causes to the individual and even their own loved ones. The normal way really, to look at cancer is a disease that everyone must regret at all extents. In the podcast however, Andrew calls it a “gift”, a very important part of his journey that changed who he was for the better. It’s odd to look at it that way, when you have all those dangerous cells, eating away your life; it really seems like a “war zone” in there. Reflecting on it, dealing with cancer as if it was a “battle” or a “war” , just makes it easier for people to have negative emotions of regret, anxiousness, sadness and the like much like in a war. However honorable the reasons why people fight the war, no one truly wins it, and in that arena of bloodshed when people are fighting the “battle”, it’s hard to be humanistic or to be happy. So, why are we treating this disease like a war in our bodies? Andrew Graystone was right when he said that we should learn to love every part of our body because the tiniest details, whether or not it is good or bad, make up who we are, and therefore, all of those are important in our lives.

            One interesting thing to note why I think he looks at cancer in this perspective is because he doesn’t fear death. Oftentimes, people regret this disease because life is a priced thing and we wouldn’t want to lose it but as he states “Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to have cancer, but I warn you that when I die, if any one says that I have lost my battle against cancer, I will personally come back and haunt them.” Oftentimes, we are made to believe that “losing the battle” means dying but I don’t think it is. Here, he says that what makes this disease worth it is his growth as a human being and as a Christian. I believe that this is the best approach in fighting cancer. We have to learn to love it, embrace it and cherish it just like every part of our body. It is a matter of acceptance and courage and this journey, not fight, to cancer will be a worthwhile experience.

Twists and Turns of Time

The idea of travelling through time never ceases to amaze us all and has always played an irreplaceable part in science fiction. For the longest time, revisiting the past and journeying to the future have only been possible in our imaginations and seem as if they’ll stay there. Or will they?

Scientists and pioneers the world over have been exploring the theories behind time travel and have made baby steps in the field. Theories such as the Theory of Relativity by Einstein and the Black Hole Theory by Stephen Hawking show us that time travel may become possible. Now hold on a second, before you pack your things and make your way to the closest research facility, I have some disheartening news for you. The working theories behind time travel are still in their infancy, meaning that a working time machine is still far from reality. But let’s say you were able to create a working time machine and all you have to do to become the first time traveler is to push a little button, there are still some things that may prevent you from taking the quantum leap. Yup, you guessed it, the bane of time travel itself, paradoxes.

                Time travel paradoxes are logical problems that occur when a person travels through time, often causing disastrous changes in reality. Because of the uncertainty of the true nature and mechanics of time travel, a wide variety of paradoxes exist that each present problems in their own unique way. One of the most famous time travelling brain twisters is the Grandfather paradox. The paradox goes like this, if you were a time traveler and you decided to go back in time to kill your grandfather before he gave birth to any descendant, then that would mean you wouldn’t have been born and that you would cease to exist.

Another paradox is the Endless Loop or the Bootstrap paradox where a cause leads to an effect which then leads back to the original cause, creating an infinite loop of events. For example, an accident in a laboratory caused a deadly virus to spread throughout the country, causing a disaster of epic proportions. You decide to send back critical information about the virus and its cure to your past self in hopes that he/she will find a cure. However, your past self turns out to be the person who caused the accident in the first place, causing the epidemic which was only possible because you sent back information from the future. Mind boggling right?

The Hitler’s Murder paradox is another popular tale which presents the fickleness of reality. In this case, you go back in time to kill Adolf Hitler thinking that it will prevent World War 2 and make the world a better place. The paradox states that anything determined will always come to occurrence in one way or another. This means that by you going back in time, you did prevent Hitler from rising but in the process your actions influenced another person other than Hitler, to take Hitler’s position in the timeline or possibly become someone even worse.

One last paradox is the Butterfly Effect which comes from a theoretical example by Edward Lorenz where a hurricane’s formation was caused by a butterfly flapping its wings weeks prior. Basically, the butterfly effect states that even a very small, near insignificant action done in the past may result in a huge change in the present. Imagine you time travel to the past and accidentally make a girl fall in love with you and who decided to never love anyone other than you. The girl turns out to be the mother of the person who will discover the cure for cancer in the original timeline, where you don’t make the girl fall in love with you and where the girl marries someone else and gives birth to the person. This shows that your simple action of accidentally seducing a girl resulted in great consequences in the future.

All these paradoxes may be too much to take in but these aren’t all of them, there are many others out there that tackle the problems faced by something as complex as time travel. Of course for every problem, there’s a solution. Theories like the multiverse or many worlds theory and the world line and attractor field theory negate the interpretation of time as a single linear line that passes on through a series of causes and effects by stating that many different realities exist and our reality is determined by what choices we make throughout the course of time. This interpretation that “anything that may happen, will happen” gives many possibilities that time may take thus nullifying most time travel paradoxes, giving the time traveler less to worry about.

Nevertheless, time travel is still a very risky thing to do. Aside from leaping over the scientific and technological barrier and dueling the paradoxes, the consequences that your leap through time may pose on our reality are all too real and they just escalate in severity as your actions become more distinct. A time traveler carries the burden of the fact that even one mishap may alter the timeline and reality forever. He/she may start World War III, unleash an epidemic, and other disastrous events. It may even be possible that a time travel accident may cause the entirety of space time and the entire universe to collapse. Despite this, the possibilities of good that time traveling may bring even out the odds. Imagine finding the cure for terminal diseases, discovering scientific and engineering concepts never known before, and solving the mysteries of the past by just weaving through time.

Time travel certainly has the potential to change the world. It can either be the ultimate blessing to human kind or become the worst curse to ever befall humanity. What will it be? Only time will tell.

Trip to the Moon - Reaction Paper

Jules Verne is known for his stories of adventure, pushing the realms of the possible, and defying the limits of the science of his time. One of his works, "A Trip to the Moon", has been adapted into a silent film, and the events of the film are as follows:
A trip to the moon was proposed during the meeting if the Astronomic club. A space ship was built, in the shape of a bullet, and was fired from a canon straight to the moon, containing 6 of the astronomic club members.
The was depicted to be a a barren land full of craters. Upon arrival to the moon, our heroes took out their blankets and went to sleep. Soon they were awoken by snowfall, and sought refuge inside a cavern containing giant mushrooms.
While in the cave they encounter extraterrestrial life. This insect life creature attacked our heroes but was easily subdued by a whack of an umbrella, instantly turning it to dust. More of these creatures came and our heroes where overwhelmed and taken captive.
They were dragged to what seems like the royal palace, where they are subjected to the insect king. One of our heroes managed to escape, and grabbing an umbrella, proceeded to kill the king. In the chaos that ensued, our heroes managed to escape their chains, and made a dash for their space ship. All 5 entered, while 1 of them, pulled on a rope, prompting the ship to fall out of the moon and back to Earth, landing in the middle of the ocean.
Finally, a parade was held in honor of the astronomic club and their return from their trip. In the last part of the film, it was revealed that one of the insect creatures managed to follow them back to earth.

From a modern perspective, the story is hilarious, due to the fact that most of what we know about the moon discounts Verne's imagination as absurd. But if I were to view it from the perspective of someone during the silent film era, I have no doubt that I will be at awe. In the realm of fiction, our natural science need not apply. The film would satisfy the curiosities of the people about the moon, and some might even be inspired to take the trip himself. There is so much that is yet to be discovered that we can't really discount one's imagination on what it would be like to be out there, and to his target audience, Verne did his job well.

Fly Me To The Moon

By 2013-25246

                              Long before sci-fi movies filled with amazing realistic special effects and 3D visuals, Trip To The Moon claimed the spotlight. It is basically a French silent film based on Jules Verne's novels entitled "From The Earth To The Moon." and "Around The Moon." It was released on the year 1902  revolving around heroic astronomers who bravely went to the Moon and fought insect-like aliens inhabitants living on it. After they have killed the leader of the aliens, they hurriedly went back to their capsule and formulated a plan to go back to Earth. In the end, the astronomers were able to safely go back to Earth. Like a typical movie, the film's conclusion was finalized with a happy ending. 

                             If I were to review the film as a teenager living in the 21st century, I will say that I'm not impressed by it. Compared to the likes of Gravity, Ender's Game and E.T., Trip To The Moon is nowhere near that level. First, the special effects were awful. They way they did the cinematography was boring; frame rates were incredibly horrible that's why the film wasn't smooth as the films we have today, the colors were obviously edited and the audio quality is not as high as what we are accustomed to.. Moreover, the plot was cheesy compared to present-day films. Boring as it is, people would think that this film isn't worth it. 

                          Maybe, if I were from that time, I'd be greatly impressed because first, the plot is interesting. Why interesting? 67 years before a human being steps on the moon, the film was able to spark the curiosity of the audience to unveil the mystery of the moon. People during that time don't have any idea on what the moon looks like and if there are 'aliens' inhabiting that lunar satellite. Outer space wasn't that much explored back then. As if the universe are still keeping secrets, the people's knowledge about these heavenly bodies are very much limited. I'd be very much glad to witness technological breakthroughs such as films. I would be very much entertained. 

                             

Futurama : Space Pilot 3000 - Reaction Paper

by 2013-25246

             Futurama's first episode, Space Pilot 3000, aired in 1999. It started with the main character, Philip J. Fry, experiencing a bad day on New Year's Eve of the year 2000. He delivered a pizza without getting paid, his girlfriend broke up with him to be with another man and a thief also stole his bike. After delivering a pizza to someone who works at the cryogenics lab, he decided to welcome the new year there and then he accidentally entered a cryogenics tube  which sets itself for a thousand years. For the next 1000 years, Philip remained frozen.

            As Fry wakes up, he discovered that New York city has evolved into an extremely advanced and futuristic metropolis after being constantly destroyed by aliens. He sees this 'accident' as an opportunity to start a new life. While exploring the future NYC, he becomes fascinated with the things he see;flying cars are used for transportation, 'out-of-this-world citizens' were roaming around, career chips which determine what job will be assigned to you and so much more. 

           The future depicted in this television series suggests that technology will one day control and dominate human beings. One example is the career chip. It's a technology which assigns a specific job to a person. When Fry undergone an analysis which will determine what career he will pursue, the job of a pizza delivery guy was assigned to him. Such things as suicide booths also exist. On the positive side, the future depicted in the series also implies that the future will enable us to live a relatively easier and much more comfortable life.

"Twilight Zone": Time Enough at Last (1959)

A Reaction paper to Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 8 - Time Enough at Last

2013-17819

              This particular episode of the series "Twilight Zone" with the title "Enough Time at Last" was inspired by the nuclear bomb threats trending during the time the film was released. The episode featured a bookworm who never had time to do the thing he loved the most: reading. But when he survived a nuclear bomb explosion, he suddenly had all the time in the world to read.

I think, if this film were to be adapted today, the catastrophic event that will ensue would not be as physical as a nuclear bomb. I was thinking of a more virtual event. All people, children and adults alike, spend more time on the internet than they think. They post all kinds of things on social networking sites from the food they eat, where they are at that very instant, their pictures at different times of the day, you name it! Every activity a person engages in is sure to be found on his profile.Because of this information overload, it would be easy to find a person's personal information. Other people can track someone down so easily, and they can even find his weaknesses at a click of a button. This can slowly be the next catastrophic event if people don't watch what they post.

All the Time Reaction Paper

Corpuz, Raiza M.

Considering the past and present state of politics, science and technology, art and society, I would replace the protagonist’s addiction to books to addiction to the internet. As of today, browsing the internet eats up most of the time of teenagers. Unlike the film which gave the protagonist all the time in the world to do what he’s always wanted to do, I want my adaptation to be the opposite. I want to show the effects of loss of internet to today’s teenagers. In other words, I want to show what teenagers would do if they had all the time in the world minus the internet.

I know this answer is probably the most used because obviously teenagers (even adults) would react to loss of internet because has largely affected our lifestyle. But aside from this obvious conclusion, I believe that without the internet, people would be forced to communicate directly to other people which would help their social skills, actually go to the library for research which would help the mentally, and so on. Maybe man would be better holistically without the internet, maybe he won’t. For me, change gives rise to both good and bad things. 

Trip to the Moon Reaction Paper

Corpuz, Raiza M. 

If I were present during the first screening of Trip to the Moon, I would think that it is a nontrivial experience considering that at that time, films aren't commonly produced and viewed to the public as it is now. Also, if I were around the first screening of the film, I would be impressed by the quality of the video and its ability to tell a story obviously because there aren't that many films that time and the quality of the past and present films are completely different. For that time, a film like that is more than okay. Actually even at present, the said film has bagged several awards. If it has amused people today, what more during its first screening?

Moreover, considering that this film was released around the year 1902 and that it was 67 years later that man finally set foot on the moon, my vision of the moon would most likely be like the one portrayed at the film. We know that films greatly influence the mindset of people especially about something they don’t know. Also, maybe after watching this during the 1900s, I might actually be inspired to go to the moon and discover what it looks like.

A Reaction Paper on "All The Time"
By: Kristine Faith D. Valle

All The Time was a story the depicted a man, who was the only one left to survive after the explosion of a nuclear bomb, leaving him with nothing. Feeling hopeless, he decides to kill himself but before he can pull the trigger, he finds the Public Library with all the books he wanted to read his whole life, bringing him hope once again that he will survive because he has his passion with him. However, shortly after finding this, his eyeglasses get destroyed, leaving him with absolutely nothing this time. 

All The Time is a film that aimed to portray the devastation of the nuclear weapon through showing us the tragic story of one man who fell victim to its trap in the weirdest way, being left to survive with nothing instead of his life being taken away from him. It was made in the context of a society that was undergoing technological innovation particularly in terms of weaponry. If I were to make an adaptation of this film, I wouldn't make it a short, silent film but create a full blown story with full dialogues and a longer and more detailed plot line that will be similar to "All The Time", showing the life of a normal family who will fall trap to the devastation of the nuclear bomb. In understanding just how severe this weapon is, I believe that showing details would give a more tragic air to the story and would be more personal to the audience since this is a social issue that needs urgent solutions. Lastly, besides making a similar story, a short and silent film regarding other problems such as the environment can also be made.

This film was successful in appealing to the audience because of its interesting yet relevant plot line that talks about an important problem in society and informs the audience how devastating a nuclear bomb can be. A lot of films similar to this have been created and are being created in order to serve as important sources of discourse regarding relevant matters in society.

All the Time (reaction paper)

The episode was made during the time after the invention of the nuclear bomb, specifically during the time span of the Cold War, when the threat of nuclear war with another country was rampant in the United States. The episode wanted to show the devastation and effects that nuclear war might cause to the country in an attempt to raise awareness and spur action within the public.

If I were to write an adaptation or update of the story for modern times, I would make it to show the most prominent threat that humanity is facing right now, climate change and the depletion of resources. I would make the episode where the main problem would be humanity facing drastically changed weather patterns and totally shifted climates as well as the challenge of where to get natural resources now that common sources have now been depleted. To drive my point, I would show the degraded and pitiful lives of the people living in what looks like a post-apocalyptic world where resources and food are extremely scarce and where natural phenomena like weather and climate are virtually unpredictable and are completely out of line. The earth would be depicted as depleted of any usable resources, a world where the bustle of human activity comes to a complete halt, and as a world where other species of plants, animals, and fungi are extinct due to the actions of man.

I would show as much as possible the future adverse effects of our lifestyle and of our actions today in order to raise awareness on how dire our situation really is and to give the public an idea of how troubling the problem is. Most people are highly oblivious to how great this problem is today so this is one of the ways to help people realize that the problem is worse than we think.

A Trip to the Moon (reaction paper)

A Trip to the Moon is one of the first movies ever made. It is a French silent film based off of Jules Verne’s novels namely From the Earth to the Moon and Around the Moon. If viewed from a modern day perspective, the movie would appear very lackluster and unappealing. However, if I were a person during that time period, I would be highly impressed and greatly entertained. This is not only due to a unique plot, but also because of the novelty of using film for the first time.

To begin with, the show’s unique sci-fi inspired plot line and ideas definitely capture the audiences’ interests. The thought of travelling through space to the moon riding on a giant canon shell is as absurd as it is fascinating. It takes us on a journey to a world that we’ve only pondered and imagined about and shows us the wonders that this unknown world contains. It gave us a picture of what it may be like in the surface of the moon; it was depicted to be lush as a rainforest with different and very unique vegetation growing all around. The show also introduced Moon Men, or in other words, aliens that lived on the moon’s surface. All in all, this sense of adventure and science fiction blended in with humor created such a masterpiece which answers the curiosity of the public without losing any entertainment value.

A large part of what makes the show fascinating is the fact that it’s one of the first shows to be actually be recorded on film and shown as a movie. Despite just looking like a play due to the fixed camera angle, there are some things that were only possible in a film like depicting certain scenes like when the craft fell of the cliff and the fade in/fade out of the construction montage. This use of “special effects” adds to the greatness of the film which was already great to begin with.

Trip to the Moon Rxn Paper

2013-41010

       Curiosity had led to man to great ideas that shaped the course of human history like how Newton got curious on why an apple fell off a tree thus resulting to his thoughts about gravity. Another idea which lit the curiosity of the people on fire during the 1900s is about the idea on what is in the moon, what it will be like upon going there, and what will they find. Is the moon really made up of cheese? Such idea led to the production of one of the old science films in their time entitled Trip to the moon.

       Assuming I was present on the first screening of the film, I can say that it will be awesome for me watching it. First of all, such technology then will be very popular and one can aspire of being lucky enough to experience it just like how one in today will want to try the latest phone. The story is good and gives a clear and simple meaning of the plots and specific events that occurred all throughout and it will of course seem very convincible to me because of the present scholars in the film that will make the viewers believe because of the scholars strong influence on the subject matter. Also the people then have not much idea on what really is in the moon whether it has aliens or other civilization making them consider the possibility of what is shown in the film true. The graphics, animation, and other effects were great and incomparable to others considering there were not much to compare. I will be very intrigued on the truth about the moon after I watched it having the many possibilities just like how for example having many ideas now about time travel that it leaves us very curious on its truth.

       Overall, I will be happy after watching it while thinking that I was very lucky to be in this era that I experienced watching it in an advance technology. But thinking ahead, technology will keep to progressing and someday the present one will contribute to be better just like how the simple film then had evolved to many things now like in blu-ray and can be watched on portable gadgets.

A Trip to the Moon reaction paper

Movies have played a major role in the society. Since it is one of the most accessible and cheapest ways of recreation, it reaches people easily. Because of this easy access, it influences the audience effortlessly. Movies aren’t made for nothing. There has to be something in it, may it be informative, romantic or simply for entertainment.

“A Trip to the Moon” is a French silent film about brave astronomers who went to the moon, faced lunar aliens and went home to earth. It is an old fictional film (1902) relatively poor cinematography. This is a teenager’s view from the present time where movies are made with cameras with great resolutions and insane amount of money.

But for a person from their time, it really influences the way he thinks about outer space. If I was that person, I might just believe that it is possible to travel to the moon through a rocket fired from a cannon and that there are extra-terrestrial inhabitants in the moon. Also, during this time, we (people from the past) are not yet very educated with regards to heavenly bodies. We might actually believe that there are gods doing their thing in their planet.

Also, I might actually find it very entertaining because they inserted humor in the film.  Not only was it entertaining, I might see it as a film with great cinematography, editing and visual effects because 1900’s films are better in those aspects than 1880’s films.

Movies of today might have gone through technological advances; vintage movies are still regarded as one of the pillars of the present time. It is still used as reference and is still appreciated in our time. Without it, movies that we watch in big screens, blurays and DVDs today might not be as awesome as they are today.

Zhedrik Chua
2012-15340

Reaction Paper on " Trip to The Moon"
By: Kristine Faith D. Valle

It has always been fascinating to see technological breakthroughs whether it be in the field of science or the arts. From the very onset, our creativity has been tested and new forms of art, stories and the like are being created to be helpful to society in many ways. One of the ways this is manifested is through the field of movies, short films, documentaries and the like that have depicted millions of stories whether fictional or not that have been integral in conveying important messages, ideals, values and the like to society. Thus, I believe that seeing "Trip to The Moon" as a person from the time of 1902, will give me the same reaction as to how I am fascinated by new stories and masterpieces that are created in society at present. However, the level of fascination I would have would be different because at that time, these kinds of innovations are not normal and are truly given much more specialty because of its rarity. Secondly,  when I first saw the film, coming from a perspective of someone living in the 21st century, I was obviously not impressed with the visuals or the quality of the movie since comparing it to the films now which are much more advanced, it is significantly different. This also includes the story line since movies that are renowned nowadays have very detailed story lines with insightful conversations between the characters. However, this perspective would obviously be different from that of someone who saw the film during 1902 when it was first released and I would have been much more impressed than I am now.

Regardless of time period, I believe that this film was truly very entertaining. I was able to appreciate the characters and the story line. It was simple but the message was still successfully conveyed. At the same time, the colors were appealing and the music also helped in enhancing the over all quality of the film. A Trip to the Moon is definitely one of the masterpieces of the earlier times that proved humankind's expertise in the arts.

Le Voyage Dans La Lune

by CALIMLIM, Noli R.

2013-11406

The medium of film-making has been drastically changed when nowadays’ cinema is to be compared to the movies present more than a century ago.  We could have a lot of options in choosing a movie to watch, from realistic terrestrials to computer animated images and from mind-blowing actions to tragic plot. But have anyone ever realize how do today’s editors managed to think of and arriving with this kind of creative ideas? Well maybe, they were just possibly inspired with the stories that existed in the past.

Based on the year the film was first screened, this can be served as one of the historical treasure since it is filled with imaginative thoughts both in the story and the manner it was created. Its utter uniqueness is very evident in relation to other films that had been created at the era. Surely, nobody can ignore the true genius of George Melies as he used his mind to solve technical challenges as well as to produce the effects he prefers.

                Merely 64 years before Star Trek, A Trip to the Moon might be the first sci-fi ever released. Though simplistic, the comedy firm and magical effects was perfectly (at most) executed. Simply, this movie indicates a huge step into the development of the film-making.

A Future Unchanged

Stories on the future and time travel have always fascinated many people, I for one included. The unlimited possibilities of what’s ahead spur our imaginations to perceive what is to come. Futurama, a popular American satirical sitcom, shows us a possible future where science and society aren't on the best of terms. The story starts when Fry, a depressed, teenaged, pizza delivery boy, ends up being accidentally frozen for a millennium in a capsule and wakes up in the future.

The time travel method in the series is cryogenic freezing, it’s where a person is preserved by freezing and eventually revived in the future. However, it is infeasible with our current technology. Cryogenic freezing is still in its infancy and no human has been successfully revived from being frozen. If the method in the series was to be followed, the unprepared person would immediately die with his cells shattered due of the intense cold or be frozen successfully but will be unable to be revived.

 The show depicts science and technology as fields that have advanced so much that a multitude of things we think as science fiction today become reality. Some notable examples are pneumatic transport tubes, interstellar spaceships, laser weaponry, android robots, and automated suicide booths. Aliens have also contributed and influenced the progress of human science and technology in the future and became integrated into human society as well. In the future, humans co-exist with intelligent being such as aliens and robots that surprisingly behave just like humans do albeit with some weird differences. However, I think that society failed to bring out the full potential of science and technology in that era. Instead of investing on inventions that will truly help mankind and further exploration and research, science and technology was used to satisfy very basic and trivial needs like a suicide booth. I consider this as a tremendous waste of time and resources that should have been used for better causes. Additionally, society in that era still hosts the many flaws that our society has today such as violence, crime, and vices.

Hidden behind the veil of jokes and laughter is the truth about us today. Futurama shows us how our society behaves now; it is the honest truth on how dark our society is. Although exaggerated, the show gives us a glimpse on a future if our society degrades even further, a future where science is misused by society.

"Simpsons" in Space

Futurama, an animated show set in the year 3000, premiered on March 28, 1999. The premise of the pilot is about a miserable pizza delivery boy named Fry that accidentally locks himself in a cryo tube which preserves him for a thousand years. He wakes up from stasis, stumbles out of the pod and into the year 2999 on New Millennium's Eve. As he realizes he is now in the future, predictably enough, he rejoices in the fact that everything and everyone from his old life is now gone. We can tell from the time he spent in the tube, the view that he later on sees, and the title sequence the ideas and technology that the creators thought would already be in existence in the future. Some examples would be the domestic use of flying vehicles and a tube network for pedestrian transportation.

Fry then finds himself meeting a so-called Fate Assignment Officer named Leela. Leela is a one-eyed alien girl which of course Fry finds amazing. As her job description says, she informs Fry of his permanent career assignment as a delivery boy which he immediately refuses. Leela tries to implant a career chip into Fry’s hand but he runs away and escapes Leela. So apparently, in the future, fate is now a legitimate thing on which society could refer to in order to figure out which careers would suit them best. The downside of a system like that is that it takes away the “finding yourself” part of your career life. And the fact that it’s enforced by the government only makes it worse.

As he is walking around New New York, he decides to call his one living relative from the current time period and lines up for what he thinks is a queue for a telephone booth. While waiting, he meets a robot named Bender who then utters one of the most iconic lines of the series: “Bite my shiny metal ass.” Later, Bender pays for the “telephone booth” which was now revealed as a suicide booth. A very inefficient one if you ask me. I mean, it doesn’t even have sensors inside to scan for life forms after the procedure is done. And it’s that flaw that let’s Fry and Bender leave unscathed. The two head to a bar to drink but are quickly tracked down by Leela and a couple of officers. The chase leads to a Head Museum which displays the preserved heads of some of the most famous people who ever lived. There they meet Leonard Nimoy’s head which was actually voiced by Mr. Nimoy himself which I thought was really cool. What happens next is pretty ridiculous. When they finally get caught, the two officers whip out these hilts that then activate like light sabers from Star Wars but are actually just solid light batons.

Fast forward to when Leela decides to quit her job and be on their side, she, along with Fry and Bender, finally find Fry’s many times nephew, Professor Farnsworth. Fortunately, he owns a delivery space ship which the four of them use to evade the authorities just in time to welcome the new millennium.

Although it’s set in the year 3000, a lot of things still haven’t changed. What I like about Futurama though is that it takes current cultural issues and puts a small futuristic twist to it in order to bring the issue forward to its audiences. I think the pilot did a decent job of introducing the show but I did find some parts of it felt rather forced. Still, the show is watchable every time I catch it on TV.

Franz Ybud

2008-21932

Futurama 1st Episode Reaction Paper

2013-41010

The first episode of the series Futurama was about a man named Fry who was a delivery boy. He was already sick of his life where he was stuck with a job he doesn’t like, a girlfriend who was with somebody else, and even his bicycle was stolen right after he parked it. On the new year’s eve for the year 2000, he accidentally put himself in cryogenic machine where he was frozen for a thousand years leaving his old life behind ruined along with that era having only one very far relative left. There starts his journey as he sees on what the future is like and the changes that happened from his time.

            The show has a different approach about time travel. It is unlike the usual thing that comes to mind when hearing the words time travel where one will think of a time machine where a person may travel across time, traveling back and forth to the past or future which gives rise to the non-ending what ifs and paradox. The time travel portrayed in Futurama is different and simple but it is only a one way ticket because he can only go forward and cannot return to the past. Instead of the ideal that time will be stopped and travel through it, he stopped himself as he let time pass making him in a distant future. If that is the concept of time travel to be followed then we can consider our daily lives time travelling because we travel in time every moment as the second passes by and the only difference with Fry is that he traveled a lot more not to mention a thousand years more than all of us.

            The future in that world showed a great advancement in science and technology given the many examples like transport tubes, independent robots, preserved living heads, interaction with alien life forms, DNA matching technology, and many other things where most are mainly ideal until today. It gave the viewers an idea on what the future may seem to be like from the current trends of today by showing the many technological advancement but it would have been also better if it featured how to face current world problems like famine, global warming, energy source, and others.

Futurama: Space Pilot 3000 (1999)

By Calimlim, Noli R.

2013-11406

Futurama’s first episode, Space Pilot 3000, was first aired on March 28, 1999 which technically a time where advancement and improvement of technology was surely evident. This year was part of the decade when Dolly the sheep was cloned, Hubble Space Telescope was launched, World Wide Web and HTML were created, Microsoft’s Windows 95 and 98 were introduced to the market, the first SMS text message was sent and a lot more development. The way how science in 1990s revolutionizes astronomy, biology and other branches of it and the fast trend how technology advancement controls people’s life to be more efficient shows no doubt why would be the concept of “time-travelling” might enter a creator’s mind (during the mentioned period) and introduce it to public through fiction cartoon sitcom like Futurama.

This episode tackles time-travelling by letting a noise maker knocks back Philip Fry’s face, causing him to accidentally fall backwards into a cryogenics tube as he enthusiastically toast to another lousy millennium. The tube sets itself for a thousand years as Fry becomes frozen. While he is in deep slumber, New York City experienced drastic changes such as the invasion of destructive mysterious spaceships. The reconstruction of it into a primitive Medieval-era kingdom, only to be destroyed again by more floating armed ships. As soon Fry awakens, he sees that the city has become an extremely futuristic metropolis that leads him to deduce that he is in the future.

From a comedic point of view, this episode might take future and science as a perfect and ideal living. At first, we may only acknowledge the advance technologies shown such the floating vehicles, transport tubes, DNA Probulators, the existence of robots even the walk of an alien among people. But then, although indirectly implied, most life as shown in the future was doomed because of science. The presence of Suicide Booths implies that most people (or robot) were not satisfied with their living as programmed in their career chips, “You gotta do what you gotta do!” This dissatisfaction was also shown as Bender lines up next to Fry to use the said booth and as Leela removes her own chip and joins Fry on the run.

Basically, Science and Technology may progress exponentially but then changes should be direct proportional to as humans manage to be highly satisfied with it.

Works Cited

"1990s in Science and Technology." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Dec. 2013. Web. 13 Jan. 2014.

"Space Pilot 3000." Theinfosphere.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Jan. 2014.

Futurama S01E01 - Space Pilot 3000

2013 - 17819

Futurama starts with the main character, Fry, having a particularly bad New Year's Evening. He had to work, which isn't that bad, but it is for a pizza delivery guy. While Fry was on a delivery, he stumbled on his girlfriend hanging out with another man. He walked up to her to say hi but she broke off their relationship instead. He went on with his job, but when he reached his destination, his bike got stolen. And what's worse was the delivery was just a prank call. He spent the rest of the last night of year 1999 in a cryogenics lab where he accidentally entered a freezing chamber set to be on for another 1000 years.

Fry wakes up to the first day of the year 3000. The civilization he woke up to was quite similar to the Community in the 1993 novel by Lois Lowry, "The Giver". In Community, there are Elders who would look for a person's strengths and weaknesses to give him an appropriate job. The future in Futurama had the same concept. They analyzed Fry with some sort of contraption and deduced  that the profession Fry should have would be... delivery boy. Afraid of his destiny, he escapes and encounters different types of technology that were not yet available back in his time. Traveling tubes, suicide booths, robots, head preservation, light sabers, you name it, they were all there like in any other typical science fiction show.

The show tackles the topic of time travelling in a unique way, probably the most possible way. Cryogenics, the process of freezing cells to preserve them, is now possible in our present time. I believe that it won't be long until this method of time traveling can become true. But, this method of t is not the same as the other, more complex ones. For one, it is irreversible. Once you go to the future, you will not be able to go back to your original time line. Second, you can only go to the future, the past is unfortunately not on the route of this train. Third, it was time travelling only for you. Other people will go about their normal daily routines. It's just as if you slept for a very long time and woke up to another time.  

Futurama - Reaction Paper

Futurama is a science fictional cartoon series with the main character Philip Fry, who gets a second chance in life by inadvertently going inside a time machine and travels 1000 years into the future. Hoping for a better life, he finds himself being assigned to the same job, as a delivery boy and decides to run away from it. After being awakened from the cryogenic statis, Fry meets a one-eyed alien girl whose job is to reintegrate him to modern society.

            It is evident that in the future, people were programmed to do specific tasks, which disallows them to make choices for themselves. It was seen how Fry, Turanga, and Bender try to change that by defying the law and escaping their fate on earth. While running away, he discovered other things that the future can offer. In a transportation tube fry met bender, apparently benders wants to die, but because fry has no intention of passing away yet. They survived the booth and leela removed her chip, she also confessed that she hates her job.

            It can be said that in the future our lives would be easier and much more comfortable but with a lot of things that could change your faith as showed on the pilot series of futurama. Relying purely on technology and computre assessments isn’t the way of human nature

Futurama: Pilot Episode Rxn Paper

               Futurama is a science fiction cartoon series with Philip Fry as the protagonist. He is a pizza delivery boy who is sick of his life. On New Year’s Eve, after delivering pizza in a cryogenic laboratory, while trying to understand why his life was so miserable, he accidentally got into a cryogenic tube that froze him for 1000 years.

                Waking up from a thousand year slumber, he was amazed to see how advanced the future is: flying mobiles, buildings with “creative” architectural designs and a woman with one-eye that would assess him, Leela. The computer-determining career assessment, it was shown that Fry’s job would be a delivery boy, again. When Leela was about to install the career chip in him, he refused to “do what you gotta do”. He clearly doesn’t want to be a delivery boy again because he doesn’t want to be a loser according to him. He promised that his second chance would not got to waste.

                While running away, he discovered other things that the future can offer: transportation tube and suicide booth. Fry met Bender inside the booth. Apparently, Bender wants to die, Fry wants to phone his great great great nephew. But because Fry has no intentions of dying, they both survived the booth. They became friends and shared how much their life sucks. Together they ran away from Leela and found themselves in a deserted underground place. This place turned out to be from Fry’s time.  Leela cornered Bender and depressed Fry. He told Leela that he will accept the delivery boy job. To his surprise, Leela removed her chip. She confessed that she, too, knows what it feels like to be lonely and that she hates her job.

                It can be inferred in the pilot episode that the future promises us advanced technology and a relatively easier life. But it does not assure us that it would give us a contented life. It basically showed the other side of the coin: that amidst all these higher grade automation, people doesn’t seem to find their happiness. Doing a job permanently based on computer assessment isn’t something to be thankful of.   

 Zhedrik Chua

2012-15340

Futurama Sitcom Reaction Paper

Corpuz, Raiza M.

Futurama is a science fiction cartoon about Philip Fry a New York City delivery boy who accidentally slipped into a cryogenic pod that froze him for a thousand years. Several invasions by extra-terrestrial beings with advanced machineries caused the rise of different civilizations in New York City. Finally Philip reawakens to a modern New Year’s Eve of 2999. Not at all uncomfortable that he is transported a millennia to the future, he considers his situation as a start of a new life. Apparently, he has nothing important left in his past and a new life is what he was really asking for.

Not long after being reawakened, he finds himself being assigned as a delivery boy again. Moreover, a chip is injected to everyone that seemingly attaches their occupation to their identity. Future may be depicted orderly and very advanced but it can also be seen as stifling. People’s skills are evaluated and immediately assigned to a field and they don’t have a say on that. There also exists a suicide booth which for me shows that the people living in that millennia already forgot to value their own lives. However beautiful and forward the new civilization is, the people are dissatisfied with it. Machines make their own choices for them and people are forced to compel to the system. This situation is not that different to our present situation although it is not as obvious today. We can see parents forcing their children to take this and that courses because it will help them earn more in the future thus, helping them survive. We can’t help but to cope to the norms of our society because taking a different route is very risky. Philip, Leela and Bender however chose to take that unguaranteed route and accompanied Professor Farnsworth in Planet Express Inc.

Futurama may be science fiction but it also shows how people can react to a change of civilization accurately. Science may advance exponentially, but it also needs to wait for the people cope with the change.

Futurama - Episode 1 - Space Pilot 3000

Futurama is a science fiction cartoon sitcom from the creators of The Simpsons. Futurama tells the story of a boy named Fry, who happens to be a pizza delivery boy around the year 2000s (The series begins at December 31^st of the year 1999).

The pilot episode shows us the life of Fry, working at a job he hates, getting dumped by his girlfriend, and getting his bike stolen. Basically, his life sucks, and he feels stuck and hopeless as the clock strikes to midnight, signifying the dawn of a new millennium.

Fry gets his second chance at life when he accidentally falls in a cryogenic machine, freezing him for 1000 years, and later reviving him at the year 2999. Here we are shown a view of the future (from the imagination of the writers).

Earth is repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt after numerous alien invasions (This happens while Fry is in cryogenic sleep). The future in 2999, however, shows that the earth sustaining different kinds of life: The aliens now walk among us. Advance technologies are shown, such as transport tubes, DNA “Probulators” and suicide booths. Robots are also existent, and in fact, one of the main characters of the series is a robot (Bender).

After being awaken from cryogenic stasis, Fry meets Leela, a “beautiful” alien Cyclopes, whose job is to reintegrate him to “modern society”. One thing to note though, it seems that the even though the future shows us a world of complex technologies, there some aspects of human life that remain the same (at least in the pilot episode). Language has not evolved, as well as mannerisms and interactions. There are drastic changes however, such as Fry’s main conflict in the episode: being branded with a chip that will permanently assign a career to a person. In Fry’s case, he was doomed to become a delivery boy. In the future, a career is assigned to a person, and the person has no say, and has no chance of changing careers. The future for our future people, are set to stone.

Leela is charged to implant the mentioned career chip to Fry, who of course, refuses to go back to a job he hates so much. A chase ensues, where Fry got away, and Leela ends up in cryogenic sleep – for 5 minutes (Thanks to Fry).

The thing that hits me the most about this episode, is that albeit all the wonders that the future has in store for the main characters: Fry, Leela, Bender, there still seems to be a level of frustration, sadness and anger existent. It’s as if these new conveniences have done nothing to increase human happiness in general.

The “happiness” was achieved, when they managed to get out of the “system”. Leela, deciding not to implant to chip in Fry, and removing her own chip, decides to quit her career. Together, they join Fry’s only relative in the future, Professor Farnsworth, and they head off to space. Farnsworth gives them new career chips, and new jobs, and Fry, ironically, ends up being the delivery boy that he wants, but this time, he accepts it with glee. (Maybe it’s not the job, but Fry’s control over his life that is keeping him from a satisfying life.)

I have been a fan of the Simpsons, and to be frank, I expected Futurama to be something similar. Turns out, it was far from it. Futurama is a fish-out-of-water story, with a protagonist set in a world he can barely comprehend, and yet survives. Science and technology can take us far beyond the reach of our own imagination, but the human spirit, though it may evolve, will always be.

STS Reaction Paper on Futurama

Kristine Faith D. Valle

           

            Futurama is a science fictional cartoon series with the main character Philip Fry, who inadvertently goes inside a time machine and travels 1000 years into the future. Hoping for a better life, he finds himself being assigned to the same job, as a delivery boy and decides to run away from it. In this episode, various perspectives related to life are presented. With a mix of humor, Futurama, as reflected in this episode actually provided important insights about the relevance of making your own decisions and living a full life.

            It is evident that in the future, people were programmed to do specific tasks, which disallows them to make choices for themselves. It was seen how Philip, Turanga, and Bender try to change that by defying the law and escaping their fate on earth. They were dissatisfied with their present condition because they did not feel as if they were doing the things that they wanted to do but hence, they were only given tasks which they did not even choose, for the sake of fulfilling a job. They found it very pointless and therefore, decided to escape that despite the consequences of exile. The future, played in the context of Futurama, was presented to be a pessimistic environment wherein people were provided with easy means to take away their life and were not given choices to decide what they truly desire. The mere existence of a suicide booth showed that society valued their lives less in that context as they can easily take away their lives with just a cheap amount of one coin. The depiction of the future in this series presented a paradox. Generally, 1000 years from now, people would always imagine a better society. While society was scientifically and technologically advanced and it was in “order”, happiness of people were sacrificed and thus, the ideal or a “better society” was not achieved.  This reflects another truth regarding science and technology. While developments and innovations in this field provide good to humanity, there are consequences that must be faced in exchange of these benefits.

            Futurama definitely brought me humor while at the same time, presenting relevant truths that are important reflections of our society at present. I’ve only watched one episode, but seeing that already encouraged me to watch more episodes from the series.