It’s a slightly click-baity title, but as we’re still generating more content for our magazines, this one included, why not?
My Sci-fi unpopular opinion is that 2001: A Space Odyssey is nothing but pretentious, LSD fueled nonsense. I’ve tried watching it multiple times and each time I have absolutely no patience for the pointless little scenes which contain little to no depth or meaningful plot, all coalescing towards that 15 minute “journey” through space and series of hallucinations or whatever that are supposed to be deep, shake you to your foundations, and make you re-think the whole human condition.
But it doesn’t. Because it’s just pretentious, LSD fueled nonsense. Planet of the Apes was released in the same year and is, on every level, a better Sci-fi movie. It offers mystery, a consistent and engaging plot, relatable characters you actually care about, and asks a lot more questions about the world and our place in it.
At the same time, they can also be interesting in their own right, especially if you want to see how different things might merge and interact with each other.
Would Captain Kirk be very confused by Doctor Who, or Optimus Prime showing up on his ship, yes. Would it be interesting, but also cause the writers no end of headaches? Also yes.
I think Reason 2 might actually be a fairly good story in and of itself. You have someone who was an extraordinary being in their originating universe, suddenly finding out that they’re just another superhuman in another. That would be an excellent point of character development, and a way for them to be suddenly placed into a completely new perspective.