Date

2016-10-24

Featuring

Ben, Matt

Length

52:02

Category

Main Topic

Listen

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

  1. 80s fantasy novels (not influential, subjective value): Terry Brooks, Dennis McKiernan, David Eddings
  2. Star Wars expanded universe novels
  3. Good series gone bad: Wrinkle in Time, Ender, Sword of Truth
  4. Subgenre mistakes: steampunk and heist films
  5. Completionist tendencies: Robert Heinlein, Stephen King

Matt

  1. Flash Forward
  2. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
  3. Continuum, Jericho, Farscape
  4. Revolution
  5. The Event

Sturgeon's Law Worked

Ben

  1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
  2. Curated lists (like Criterion Collection)
  3. Walden
  4. Moby Dick
  5. Citizen Kane

Matt

  1. Arrested Development
  2. Battlestar Galactica
  3. Alias
  4. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
  5. Firefly