Finalist for the "Hugo Award" science fiction commentary UP master

The left of the picture shows the "Science Fiction Fans Boomer" team of the UP main station B shortlisted for the "Hugo Award" BestFancast unit, and the right of the picture is the working environment of the "Science Fiction Fans Boomer" team and the opening of its commentary video. Photo courtesy of the interviewee

On the afternoon of March 29, local time, the finalists for the 2024 Hugo Awards were officially announced. It is worth noting that the UP main "Science Fiction Fans Boomer" of China's B station was shortlisted for the "BestFancast" unit of the 2024 American Hugo Awards.

The Hugo Award is one of the most prestigious awards in the field of science fiction literature, awarded by the World Science Fiction Association, and is known as the Nobel Prize in the science fiction industry along with the Nebula Award. The "BestFancast" unit shortlisted for "Science Fiction Fans Boomer", that is, "Best Fan Performance", can be understood as "Best Science Fiction Audio and Video We-Media".

The UP main "Science Fiction Fans Boomer" is a team composed of 3 people: Boomer, Liu Lu, and Liu Chang. The founder, Boomer, has updated the commentary of science fiction works on station B since 2017, and the account has published more than 1,600 videos so far, with nearly 2 million fans.

Young Chinese science fiction fans, who have insisted on explaining and disseminating high-quality science fiction works for 7 years.

Boomer's fans expressed their congratulations, and some netizens commented that Boomer was "the first UP master of Station B to follow". This is a touching story about "love": choosing and sticking to what you love, getting unexpected affirmation.

Hobby guidance, with the mentality of giving it a try, become the UP master of science fiction interpretation

Boomer is an engineering student who grew up watching sci-fi cartoons such as "The Lost Universe", "Men in Black", and "Transformers: Beastman". In 2017, she made the account "Science Fiction Fans Boomer" entirely out of hobby. "At that time, it was the rise of short videos, I liked watching movies and sci-fi, so I made this number with the mentality of trying, and I didn't think about what it had to be, and the result was not bad. ”

She said frankly that because she is not studying choreography, directing and communication-related majors, it is difficult to do every step from topic selection, manuscript selection, recording, video production, publishing to account operation.

In the beginning, Boomer did a quick video that lasted only two to three minutes. The first video explains a suspenseful sci-fi movie "Deep Space Amnesia". The film tells the story of the last human immigration spaceship traveling in space, the crew waking up from sleep but losing their memory, and finding that the cabin is full of monsters, and the hero and heroine are trying to survive in a desperate situation.

On the first attempt, Boomer's video garnered millions of views.

Soon after Boomer began to try to be a science fiction commentator, Liu Lu joined in to plan the topic selection and be responsible for copywriting. In 2021, Liu joined the team and broadened the scope of topics, such as focusing on science fiction topics.

In terms of topic selection, Boomer mentioned that it generally takes 2-3 hours to watch a movie, but it is "relatively expensive" to read through a science fiction novel, and it can take two or three days to read it at the earliest, and if it is a long novel, it takes even more time. "We will be more cautious when choosing science fiction topics, and we will start with some classics and works with science fiction concepts that are more impressive. ”

When the Boomer team chooses film and television topics, they generally choose from two directions, one is that the work itself has a particularly high degree of attention and is a recent "hit", and the other is that the science fiction concept is very attractive. In addition, the team will also refer to the recommendations of netizens in the comment area.

Sci-fi films, TV series, documentaries, novels ...... the commentary of "Science Fiction Fans Boomer" covers a diverse and rich genre of science fiction works.

Boomer believes that interpreting science fiction movies is the easiest, interpreting documentaries requires supplementing a certain amount of knowledge, and interpreting novels and TV series is the most difficult.

She took the recent "Life Cutting" as an example, this drama itself is a suspense drama, which will bury a lot of foreshadowing and contain a large number of side plots. "According to our usual practice in the past, we deleted all the branches and stripped out the main story to present to everyone, but the branches of "Life Cutting" are more complex and not suitable for deletion, so it is very difficult to explain such a story. ”

Boomer mentioned that the story structure of the science fiction comedy "Orwell" like the previous commentary is very simple, and the difficulty of explanation is relatively low.

When it comes to interpreting science fiction, Boomer concludes that the better the novel, the stronger the sense of picture presented to the audience, "When I read the novel, I naturally finished the picture in my head."

Make a Wish Online: More high-quality Chinese science fiction novels have been adapted into film and television works

As a sci-fi fan, Boomer's favorite sci-fi writer is Liu Cixin, and the film director is Christopher Nolan. She used to love Nolan's "Interstellar" and "Inception" the most, and now she occupies the first place in her heart with "Creed".

"Whenever I've seen a lot of stuff and I'm about to fall into boredom and numbness, Nolan's work gives me a refreshing feeling in terms of creativity and presentation – it can still be done like this!"

The Hugo Awards, which will be announced at the 82nd World Science Fiction Convention in August this year, are the one with the largest number of Chinese science fiction works: Wang Jinkang's "Mercury Sowing" and He Xi's "Life Don't Meet" were shortlisted for "Best Novella"; Gu Shi's "Introduction to the Reprint of '2181 Overture'" was shortlisted for "Best Short Novella"; Han Song's "Voyage Without Answers" and Baoshu's "Three Foods of Food" were shortlisted for "Best Short Story......

It is worth mentioning that "Science Fiction Fans Boomer" once released commentary on "Life Never Meets" and "Mercury Sowing". In Boomer's view, Wang Jinkang's works have a very grand world view and novel science fiction settings, while He Xi's works will reveal very delicate emotions. Like "Life Never Meets", readers will be immediately moved by the Chinese-style romantic tragedy revealed in it. ”

Now Boomer is a full-time UP owner, and she describes her daily state as very "homely", using the computer, watching TV, watching mobile phones and recording every day. "It's basically like this every day, and recently I've realized that it's not good, and I've forced myself to add some outdoor activities — but in the end, I'm muttering and swearing, going out for a walk, and coming back to watch sci-fi movies and TV shows. ”

In terms of running a new media account, Boomer jokes that she likes to "surf" everywhere, and she believes that the best way to operate is to use it, experience it, and communicate with everyone anytime, anywhere.

As a veteran sci-fi fan, Boomer is full of confidence and expectation for the future of Chinese sci-fi.

Boomer loves to watch the sci-fi Spring Festival Gala hosted by the Future Affairs Administration, and is especially interested in "sci-fi scenes that are more in line with our Chinese scene".

She gave an example, the previous science fiction Spring Festival Gala mentioned interesting ideas about the Spring Festival. "It's not a spring festival in space, but a spring festival in time, proposing a way to travel through time channels, for example, on the day of the Chinese New Year, you can see your deceased relatives, you can see your childhood or future self. ”

This kind of sci-fi story with a very young flavor is very attractive to Boomer, just like watching the sci-fi movie "The Wandering Earth".

Boomer said that there are often people who are not optimistic about Chinese science fiction, but those people have not really understood those very creative science fiction novels.

"Some of the novels I have read have particularly touched me, and I feel a chill in my back, and I really want to adapt it into a short film if I have the ability! But the film and television adaptation of the novel has to cross two thresholds, one is the adaptation itself, and the other is to achieve the ideal visual effect, both of which are not easy. ”

Boomer feels that the previous hit of "The Three-Body Problem" showed a good trend, and more people paid attention to China's truly high-quality science fiction works.

Boomer personally wants to see "Mercury Sow" made into a film and television series. "I made a wish online," she said. ”

Source: China Youth Daily

Editor: Zeng Jiayi

Editor-in-charge: Gao Yang Review: Du Hongli Final review: Zou Yan