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2021-12-27
Sturgeon's Law is an SFC axiom
- Sturgeon's Law: 90% of anything is crap
- Crawford's Corollary: Should you ever find that less than 90% is crap, your standard is too low
- Critic's Corollary: 90% of people lack the taste necessary to determine what is crap
- Critic's Second Corollary: 90% of people criticize 90% of what they see, regardless of whether they can determine what is crap
- De Bono's Addendum: 10% of crap is innovative and influential
Most content from every genre is ephemeral
Time is the great sifter
Wheel of Time is not high quality, but did prove that a long fantasy series could succeed.
Sturgeon's Law Could Have Saved Us From...
Ben
- 80s fantasy novels (not influential, subjective value): Terry Brooks, Dennis McKiernan, David Eddings
- Star Wars expanded universe novels
- Good series gone bad: Wrinkle in Time, Ender, Sword of Truth
- Subgenre mistakes: steampunk and heist films
- Completionist tendencies: Robert Heinlein, Stephen King
Matt
- Flash Forward
- Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
- Continuum, Jericho, Farscape
- Revolution
- The Event
Sturgeon's Law Worked
Ben
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- Curated lists (like Criterion Collection)
- Walden
- Moby Dick
- Citizen Kane
Matt
- Arrested Development
- Battlestar Galactica
- Alias
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- Firefly