bullethead wrote:
There are some things that make it feel a bit dated/cheesy (the dolphin officer, mostly)....
|
I'll never understand why people think that. There's overwhelming evidence that dolphins are sapient beings whose mental capacity may match or even exceed our own in some respects. You'd think SF fans would be thrilled by the idea of real alien intelligences coexisting with us here on the same planet. It's the sort of thing that should inspire awe and wonder in the lover of SF, and it's an idea that's been explored by many respected SF writers over the decades, from Arthur C. Clarke to Larry Niven to Anne McCaffrey to David Brin to Douglas Adams to William Gibson -- and by nonfiction science writers such as Carl Sagan. So I'm always bewildered when I come across the reaction that it's somehow silly or cheesy to portray intelligent dolphins in fiction.