independence day

Fathers and daughters have a special relationship in the movies, sentimentalized to the extreme in movies like the original Father of the Bride, with Spencer Tracy doting on Elizabeth Taylor. That movie came out in 1950, just as the first great decade for science fiction cinema was getting started. Every monster / space flick of the era seemed to feature a brainy but befuddled scientist with a beautiful daughter, waiting to be kissed by the police officer / brave citizen / gun-toting hero. The fathers were protective; the daughters needed to be protected.

As the decades have passed, the idea of "Daddy's Little Girl" hasn't progressed very much. Women have played more warriors and have safeguarded their own daughters, but when it comes to the father / daughter dynamic, very few relationships have been portrayed with much subtlety or depth. For a mainstream comparison, take a look at Martin Campbell's Edge of Darkness, in which Mel Gibson plays a Boston police detective seeking vengeance for the murder of his daughter. The film is a tight thriller featuring an abundance of dramatic flavor. What drives the narrative forward, however, is Gibson's memory of his lost adult daughter as a little girl, the darling child with shaving cream on her face, shaving with a comb in imitation of her loving father.

Here are the top sci-fi fathers and daughters, the highlights and low lights of the genre's least appreciated family relationship.

1. Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
Darth Vader doesn't have any kind of relationship with his daughter as his daughter -- he thinks she's the enemy -- but it's the mere threat that he will have one that whips Luke Skywalker into a frenzy. Surely the blood shared by Darth and Leia informs the entire series.

As if the thought of one Independence Day sequel wasn't enough to wet your pants, Roland Emmerich now says he plans to make two. While it seems like his Independence Day sequel answer changes with each interview he gives, this latest bit of madness is perhaps the most fascinating. Essentially, Emmerich told MTV that he wants two do two movies with a large story arc and that they will pick up right where the original left off.

As far as what to call it, Emmerich threw out the ridiculous title ID4-Ever parts I and II. Personally I think the guy is just off his rocker and having fun with everyone. Seriously, there's no way in hell Will Smith is returning to make two Independence Day sequels. Maybe one, but never two. They'd have to pay him a billion dollars or more to return to this franchise. Could I see another Independence Day in theaters. Yes, totally. And it'd make a killing, too. But there's only so many ways aliens can come down to earth and blow things up. Where else do you go with that?

[Welcome to Sci-Fi Science, a new weekly column that takes an alternating look at the real science behind sci-fi and the every day strangeness that often sends us scrambling for a textbook.]

I recall a few years back walking out of a shop at dusk and being met by a sky that was a putrid orange color as far as the eye could see. It was a barely describable hue that had blanketed the entire horizon and the reason I remember it so well is that, for a second, I was convinced that some manner of Lovecraftian Elder God was rising from his slumber in the netherworld betwixt ours and His. I still don't know what caused that weird optical illusion, but it certainly wasn't the only cloud formation to ever inspire thoughts of invaders from beyond.

Just two weeks ago citizens all over Moscow tilted their heads upwards and broke out their cellphones to snap pictures and record videos of what looked alarmingly like a UFO in the sky. It was a bright halo of light that lorded over the city like an eye from space, though meteorologists have a different explanation for why the sky suddenly looked like the saucer invasion scene from Independence Day. Surprisingly, it does not involve swamp gas. From the Daily Mail, "Several fronts have been passing through Moscow recently, there was an intrusion of the Arctic air too, the sun was shining from the west – this is how the effect was produced."

Though no one asked for a sequel to Independence Day (because didn't Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum use a computer virus to rid us of those damn aliens the last time?), that's not stopping special effects superhero Roland Emmerich from wanting to churn one out for the hell of it. Only problem is ... it's going to take a lot more than an arm and a leg to get Will Smith back in an alien fighting mood.

While speaking to Emmerich about 2012, Latino Review learned that there's a script and a story for Independence Day 2, but right now 20th Century Fox is delaying it because they can't come to terms with Emmerich, writer-producer Dean Devlin and Will Smith -- all of whom want to make sure they're paid, like, a trillion dollars for this thing. According to Emmerich, Fox wanted them to make the sequel without Will Smith, but the writer-director insists he star in it. "I said Will is essential for us, for this movie and actually for the audience too. And, so, it's in limbo and lately the studios are fighting. Like gross players, and Will is a gross player and is probably the only gross player right now who's worth his gross. So we'll see what happens. I would love to do it," Emmerich noted.

Unfortunately for those who feel like a good laugh today, Emmerich did not divulge any story details except to say that it's "a very really good great story, a very cool one." I'm not even going to begin to ask you to understand that quote because it makes as much sense as the ending for Independence Day did. Seriously? A f**king computer virus? How will they destroy the aliens this time around -- by un-friending them on Facebook?

What does Tyler Perry have to do with science fiction? The playwright / actor / filmmaker has not yet ventured into our beloved genre, but the arrival of his next movie, I Can Do Bad All By Myself, made me think about the loyal audience that he's developed. It's an audience -- African-American, religiously-inclined -- that has been severely under served by Hollywood, and so Perry set out to create material that would connect with that audience.

A sci-fi version of Perry has not yet emerged, and so African-American actors and characters remain rare in science fiction films. The upcoming television season will feature Gabrielle Union in ABC's sci-fi series FlashForward, Ving Rhames will appear in Surrogates with Bruce Willis later this month, and Zoe Saldana will star in James Cameron's Avatar later this year. For now, let's look back at the top 10 African-American sci-fi characters -- including those who are not identified by their race in the film. (Please note: Chris Tucker as the constantly screeching Ruby Rhod in The Fifth Element did not make my list.)

1. Laurence Fishburne as Morpheus in The Matrix
Playing one of the great teachers of the silver screen, Fishburne as Morpheus tries to guide Neo (Keanu Reeves) to the truth, gently yet firmly. He's on an important, urgent mission, but he cannot overplay his hand or he risks losing everything, far more than Neo -- or the viewer -- can initially imagine. How does he do it? Morpheus implores, "Free your mind," and jumps. Neo can only say, "Whoa."