Gary Varner

Gary Varner is a Science Fiction and Fantasy enthusiast with a bachelor’s degree in Theater Arts, and he spends his time working and raising his daughter who he suspects will one day be president of the United States. For more reviews as well as serial novels, go to www.garypaulvarner.com to read more.

Archives

AI: Artificial Intelligence Review Part 5

_{“Nobody knows what ‘real’ really means.”}_{Gary Varner
April 11, 2026}

Spielberg needs to depict David in this obsessive way because, otherwise, he might find himself having to justify why the father doesn’t try to save David or why Martin doesn’t grow attached to him over time.

AI: Artificial Intelligence Review Part 4

_{The real message of the movie is “nobody knows what ‘real’ really means.”}_{Gary Varner
April 4, 2026}

The forest scene itself is just shy of three minutes, and the actors both do a wonderful job selling the scene, but in the end, I couldn’t buy it.

AI Artificial Intelligence Review Part 3: Out of the Pool and Into the Woods

_{What kind of robotic programmers give an android consciousness but then forget to stress the importance of air?}_{Gary Varner
March 28, 2026}

He’s going to pull on your heartstrings to obfuscate from that all-important question: what is the definition of “real,” or to put it more directly, is endowed value real?

AI: Artificial Intelligence Review Part 2

_{A couple has a son in a coma, and it seems unlikely that the child will wake up.}_{Gary Varner
March 21, 2026}

The idea of picking a robot child to replace a real son is very disturbing, but disturbing or not, the parents aren’t allowed to have another child to begin with.

AI: Artificial Intelligence Review Part 1

_{Both the film and the short story question the definition of “real,” not reality}_{Gary Varner
March 14, 2026}

When the scientist proposes creating a robot child who can love, the audience is bound to be asking the obvious question: Is that possible?

2010: The Year We Make Contact Review Part 5

_{The crew watches Jupiter grow smaller until it explodes, sending shockwaves through the ship.}_{Gary Varner
March 7, 2026}

As long as the aliens’ technology is advanced beyond humanity’s comprehension, then there’s no real way to pick apart how they turned the gas planet into a star.

2010: The Year We Make Contact Part 4

_{The decision is made to keep all the details from HAL.}_{Gary Varner
February 28, 2026}

If the robot figures out that he isn’t returning to Earth with the crew, he might object to the plan and decide to continue the mission himself, just like he’d done with Bowman’s crew.

2010: The Year We Make Contact Part 3

_{Secrets, circuits, and a killer logic loop.}_{Gary Varner
February 21, 2026}

When Chandra finds the hidden order, he also finds Floyd’s message, which Bowman had discovered after turning off HAL

2010: The Year We Make Contact Review Part 2

_{The plot is well structured, there are few, if any, plot holes.}_{Gary Varner
February 14, 2026}

Making a story easy to follow isn’t just a matter of artistic preference; it’s tied to the suspension of disbelief and an audience member’s investment.

2010: The Year We Make Contact Review Part 1

_{When explaining the mystery becomes the real mistake}_{Gary Varner
February 10, 2026}

For the fans of 2001, the mystery is the point, and for those more devoted to secular causes, the concept of aliens as divine beings is the point.

Can AI Save Theaters?

_{A YouTuber’s micro‑budget thriller just went the distance against Disney’s latest heavyweight.}_{Gary Varner
February 7, 2026}

The A-list actor has become a thing of the past. Hollywood decided to focus on adapting franchises rather than promoting their actors, and because of this, most of the few A-list actors who remain have been grandfathered in. They are survivors of an old era.

2001: A Space Odyssey Review Part 8

_{Final thoughts on the movie}_{Gary Varner
January 24, 2026}

For one thing, I disagree with the philosophy behind it. I don’t think evolution is true, and I certainly don’t think that death is a necessary part of life.

2001: A Space Odyssey Review Part 7: Space Baby

_{The idea of a floating baby with a force field around it is ridiculous.}_{Gary Varner
January 17, 2026}

The movie ends with the baby staring at the earth, leaving the audience to either wonder what’s going on or what’s going to happen next.

2001: A Space Odyssey Review Part 6

_{Is Bowman a victor for reaching the stargate or has he been caught in a trap?}_{Gary Varner
January 10, 2026}

Clarke seems to be going for something more religious: technology gives mankind the means to become God, and our alien overlords will be there to help once mankind is worthy.

2001: A Space Odyssey: It Comes Down at Last to Bowman vs. HAL

_{In Part 5, we see that both Clarke and Kubrick treat AI as a potential threat to humanity but for different reasons}_{Gary Varner
January 3, 2026}

A critical question for assessing the future of AI is, why did the space agency give HAL almost total control of the ship.

2001: A Space Odyssey: The Brief Story of Heywood Floyd

_{In Part 4, we look at what the middle story — meeting the Monolith on the moon — is doing}_{Gary Varner
December 27, 2025}

We don't really get to see enough of HAL 9000 when he is actually a help to the space travelers, which reduces the impact of his turn.

Space Odyssey 2001: Were Clarke and Kubrick at Odds?

_{Part 3: The ambiguity in 2001 is not the result of artistic muddiness but the middle ground for an unspoken conflict between the two writers}_{Gary Varner
December 20, 2025}

One thing is for certain. In the iconic Dawn of Man sequence, the Monolith is conveying information. The question is how.

Space Odyssey 2001: Decisions To Make About That Monolith

_{In Part 2 of my series on the sci-fi great, I want to consider where the Monolith fits in the hard vs. soft magic systems that make for sci-fi stories}_{Gary Varner
December 13, 2025}

Letting the question of who sent the monolith remain a mystery was probably a wise dramatic choice on the part of the writers.

2001: A Space Odyssey Was a New Type of Science Fiction

_{The film is perhaps best understood as three completely different stories whose only connection is the monolith}_{Gary Varner
December 6, 2025}

The greatest measure of a film’s success is the test of time. Something about this film works even though it breaks conventions.

How To Write a Time Travel Story That Keeps Making Sense: Part 2

_{In this sixth and final installment, I show how narrowing a rather than escalating it, avoids unwanted paradoxes}_{Gary Varner
November 29, 2025}

Escalation is where the Terminator franchise went wrong. The writers kept enlarging their world until it became contradictory.