More Adventures in Comic Sci-Fi Romance: Of Tails and Pheromones

Welcome back to another round of my adventures in comic science fiction romance. If you missed the previous posts, click here, here, here, and here.

I started a mini marathon of comic sci-fi romance stories, and now I'd like to discuss my experiences reading two other recent releases I read.

RAGNAR AND JULIET – Lucy Woodhull

Bounty hunting is usually so easy. Flash a little cleavage, mix a roofie cocktail, and Juliet has her man right where she wants him: out cold, ready to be swapped for cash.  Her passions are freedom, trashy clothes, and pie -- not necessarily in that order.

Hunky alien ship captain Ragnar doesn't deserve torture at the hands of the psychotic king who hired Juliet; he liberated one of William the Nefarious' illegal concubines. Juliet can't ignore such a noble act.  She doesn’t trust men, but this one, with the kindest smile she's ever seen, picks away at her resolve to stay aloof and clothed. He's just so... nice! Crazy she can deal with; sincerity is terrifying.

Before she gives in to her irrational urge to get a timeshare with him (and his cute tail), they're caught by the bad guys. Ragnar disappears and abandons her to her disgusting captors -- so much for togetherness. Perhaps he’s not such a saint. Even worse, Nefarious William has nominated her for Concubine of the Evening. This dubious honor does not thrill her, and only a few hours remain before the king’s mind control drugs obliterate her free will.

Sexual slavery might not be fatal, but Juliet would rather die. Of course, the third option (run away to a beach and hump Ragnar silly) is the best, if they can live that long.

***

RAGNAR AND JULIET is a totally transparent comic sci-fi romance in that it doesn’t aspire to be anything other than what it is: goofy, trashy, campy fun in outer space. The cover gives us some pretty big hints regarding the tone and now that I’ve read it, I think it’s a fair representation of the story.

This is one case where going in purely for the comedy really helped. The story was narrow in terms of scope, but that actually works in its favor given the short length. The romance development is on the lite side. Despite the generous helping of action-adventure, it all kind of just snowballed into one big collection of jokes.

EXTRATERRESTRIAL: Teaser Trailer

I first blogged about Nacho Vigalondo's EXTRATERRESTRIAL (2011, Spain) film back in June. This film is being billed as a sci-fi romantic comedy. Here's the setup courtesy of Badass Reviews:

Julio wakes up in bed next to Julia, a stunningly beautiful woman. Neither remember the night before, or each other’s names. As they awkwardly deal with the fallout of a blackout one night stand, they come to realize something way bigger is happening in the world – a four mile wide space ship is hovering over Madrid.

The teaser trailer is now out:





Based on the trailer alone, I'm betting some of the comedy stems from the awkwardness generated by the fact that Julio and Julia are basically complete strangers forced to deal with an extraordinary situation. I'm guessing the invasion part is probably mostly backdrop, but one that allows for the exploration of romance and relationships from a heretofore unexploited angle.

I only read the first two paragraphs of the review because I intend to see this film. However, if you'd like more information, a quick Google search revealed that other reviews have hit the Web.

Joyfully yours,

Heather

Adventures in Comic Sci-Fi Romance: Robots and Alligators Attack!

[This post is the third in a series of features on comic sci-fi romance. Click here for part one; click here for part two.]

"I take my wife everywhere, but she keeps finding her way back."

I’m attempting to re-boot my feelings about comic sci-fi romance. There don’t seem to be too many of them around, but all of a sudden it seemed as though a few started piling up on my Kindle. I’d read a scant couple of books in the past two years, but given the emergence of some new titles, I thought I’d take the plunge and read the new ones I acquired back-to-back.

I decided to approach the books from the comic angle. In other words, I went in with the expectation to be entertained by the comedic aspects first. While I expected at least a modicum of decent SF and romance elements, I decided not to anticipate them as the main draw. Instead, my funny bone led the way.

Below, I touch upon some of my experiences reading the first two books that were in the queue. I included some tags so you can decide if these books are up your alley:

Comic Sci-Fi Romance Books: A Compilation

This week I’m focusing on comic sci-fi romance (read my intro post here). Given that there are more sci-fi romance titles available now compared to a few years ago, I wanted to compile a list of book titles for easy reference.

The list includes books I’ve heard about and/or read. If you know of any other titles that fall into the comic sci-fi romance category, please share the information in the comments and I will add them to the list.

We’re In The Funny: Sci-Fi Romance’s Comic Side

Confession Time: I’m not the biggest fan of comic science fiction. Truly, I’m not sure why because not only am I a big fan of SF, but also there are quite a few entertaining stories of this kind. I enjoy comic SF, but I don’t crave it the way I do non-comic SF stories.

Still, I don’t go out of my way to avoid science fiction stories with a comedic bent. Some of the best SF stories are part comic in nature. As far as comic SF films and television shows go, I have the usual suspects under my belt:

HITCHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY
BARBARELLA
EARTH GIRLS ARE EASY
GALAXY QUEST
MARS ATTACKS
MEN IN BLACK (I&II)
BACK TO THE FUTURE trilogy
MOM AND DAD SAVE THE WORLD
ICE PIRATES
FUTURAMA
RED DWARF
LOST IN SPACE (I’m referring to the 1965 television series here; the 1998 film takes itself seriously)
THE IRRESPONSIBLE CAPTAIN TYLOR

Now that I think about it, I’m wondering to what extent LOST SAUCER, the 1975 Sid & Marty Krofft television series starring Ruth Buzzi and Jim Nabors, contributed to my ambivalent feelings toward comedic SF in general. I watched that show as a kid and even though Buzzi’s addictive laugh kept me coming back, even as a child I knew there was something weird and a quite a bit wrong with the show. It was just so…silly.

LOST SAUCER (scene from “Get a Dorse”)





Oh, yeah, and then there were all those episodes of FAR OUT SPACE NUTS I glommed. Could those shows have left some kind of lasting negative impression on me regarding comic SF? Calling Dr. Freud!