David SF Wilson is the director of “Sonnie’s Edge,” one of the most popular episodes of the Netflix series Love, Death + Robot. Wilson believes that computer animation has a lot of untapped potential when it comes to serious science fiction.
“Animator directors are like directors in slow motion,” Wilson said in Episode 514 of Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy audio file. “You use a ton of control in the animation, because it takes a lot of time and you can be super specific about what you want.”
Love, Death + Robot takes short stories by top authors like Alastair Reynolds, Peter F. Hamilton and Neal Asher and adapts them to short films with atmosphere. Wilson would love to see the series more than take a page from the show. “When Episode 3 came out, they showed some new short films – and some old ones – in a movie theater,” he said. “It made me say, ‘Why aren’t there animated movies like this?’ I’m on my mission for the next 5 years to bring something similar to the screen somewhere. It deserves it.”
Featured animation tends to focus on family-friendly fare rather than serious, dark science fiction. One reason for that could be lingering memories of the 2001 movie Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, it was a commercial and critical failure. “Final Fantasy came out years ago, and it’s not advocated by anyone as a test case for what that should look like,” Wilson said. “But I think we’re getting closer to the point where I hope we can get a shot there.”
He pointed at Death like a franchise begging to be turned into an animated movie. “I didn’t like the previous installments of that franchise,” he said. “The next version should not be live action. It should be a cartoon. It has to be R rated and aggressive, and like nothing you’ve ever seen in that space before. “
Listen to the full interview with David SF Wilson in Episode 514 of Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy (above). And check out some highlights from the discussion below.
David SF Wilson on Star Wars: The Old Republic Summary:
We have been given a lot of freedom. They said, “Basically, the Sith are coming back, and we wanted some stories that showcase the looting of Coruscant.” And I said, “OK. Can I write anything I want? ” And they were like, “Yes, but you have to feature a bounty hunter, and there must be some Sith, etc.” “OK, no problem.” And I went and wrote that trailer, and it was the first time we did. There is a character in it called Darth Malgus, who didn’t exist until I wrote him in that script and we put him in that trailer, and now there are books and statues of him. I still fooled myself that there was a corner of the Star Wars universe somewhere that didn’t exist until I put it down the page.
David SF Wilson on “Sonnie’s Edge”:
I put this presentation together for what I wanted to do with the short “Sonnie’s Edge”, and then we had a Skype session with [“Sonnie’s Edge” writer] Peter F. Hamilton. I shared my screen and showed him what I was going to do. I couldn’t see Peter at the time I was leading him through, and when I finished and finished my presentation, there was a man staring at me with this ear-to-ear grin. He was very excited. That made my year. He actually saw it in a movie theater in London — at the premiere, alongside Alastair Reynolds — and he sent me the most amazing email. He said, “I haven’t experienced such a feeling since I was a kid in the theater Star Warsand the Star Destroyer rumbled overhead. “
David SF Wilson on Delta-v:
Delta-v This is a very meaningful project Daniel Suárez, to me. It’s basically the story of how we became a species of space traveler, which I think is an important aspect of who we are and what we will be someday… Science Fiction has inspired some of the biggest technological leaps our species has ever made, and I believe that as storytellers, we shouldn’t be riding around following the Bezoses and Musks are building rockets, we should inspire them about what we want to do. That is the content of the series. I could go on for hours on Delta-v and how we are not where we need to be with space exploration. If I could click my finger, it would be one of those projects I’d love to see happen.
David SF Wilson on Parts Summary:
Ubisoft called and they said: “Your trailer is depressing. You need to change it”. Specifically, there is a suicide in it, and the head of Ubisoft said: “It makes me uncomfortable.” I said, “Do you understand the irony of what you are saying? The entire trailer is about how we choose to turn our backs on something uncomfortable or difficult because we don’t want to face it. The emotional experience you are having is the main point of the trailer. “In defense, they listened to me sing the soapbox for about five minutes, and then they said, “You sound like a pretty passionate person. We’ll let you go.”
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