The New Face Of The Sci-Fi Thriller
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The New Face Of The Sci-Fi Thriller

As if surviving the zombie apocalypse and time traveling wasn't enough.

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The New Face Of The Sci-Fi Thriller
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Most forms of entertainment have followed a similar trend throughout the past 15 years in what type of science fiction thrillers they delivered to the public. In the early 2000s, zombie apocalypse thrillers blew up the market as people from all over craved more stories of how the dead rise up to attack the living. Later, thrillers based on time and interdimensional travel started to pop up rapidly, and along with them, alien life forms. Now, as the media is starting to get crammed full with new series and storylines using these elements, I have a prediction of where we can see this trend moving in the near future, and that is on the path of Cthulhu.

Although a zombie apocalypse has been a concept for several decades now, only in the past 15 or so years has the world started truly getting obsessed with the idea and delving into deeper concepts other than, “zombies eat human brains.” “28 Days Later,” “Shaun of the Dead” and “Resident Evil,” I believe, were the beginning of what created the zombie craze. “28 Days Later” dove deeper into the apocalypse being an actual disease and what effects it has over time on civilization going through each process, infection through devastation. It set the bar high for what a zombie survival horror movie should be. “Resident Evil,” though, started as a video game series in 1996, came out with a movie adaptation in 2002 that, for a while, was the headline movie when talking about a zombie apocalypse action thriller. “Shaun of the Dead,” on the other hand, took a zombie apocalypse down the path of a comedy and was so successful that it sparked a string of other comedy apocalypses, most notably, “Zombieland.”

Time travel movies have been around for years now, too, but only recently have TV shows and video games started consistently adding time travel into their plots. Stephen King’s “11.22.63” novel was recently turned into a Hulu original TV series in early 2016, along with "DC’s Legends of Tomorrow" hosting the time traveling Rip Hunter. NBC is even set to host a new show called “Timeless” where characters go back to 1937. “Life Is Strange” is a game that came out in 2015 where the entire plot is based around the main character’s ability to rewind time. In that series, travel between different timelines and in alternate universes and dimensions was also brought up. Several other titles are beginning to follow these same in-game mechanics such as the new Xbox One title “Quantum Break.”

Time travel and alternate timelines/dimensions seem to be an increasingly popular concept to add into a story. Not only is it almost always a great way to further the plot, but people seem to never get enough of it, and there are near infinite possibilities when you add them into a plot. As a writer, you can take things almost anywhere you want because there are an infinite number of possibilities as each decision splits into a different timeline.

However, with all trends and fads, the people will eventually lose interest and move on, and Cthulhu Mythos might be the next path they walk down. There are good reasons why Cthulhu should take over the mainstream science fiction world in the near future.

First off, Cthulhu is a fictional being first created in H.P. Lovecraft’s work, “Call of Cthulhu,” in 1928. If you are unfamiliar with the god-like creature, it is described as a mix between a giant octopus, a man and a dragon that stands hundreds of meters tall with wings and countless tentacles protruding over its body. From my understanding of Cthulhu, it is essentially a timeless being of a god-like status that has three sons who then break down into smaller and smaller factions of tentacle like gods, creatures and beings. Cthulhu dates back billions of years before the formation of the Earth itself, and has influences all throughout the universe. Stories are still created to this day in the Cthulhu Mythos by various authors, including Stephen King. One of the main focuses in the Cthulhu Mythos is a connection between our world and the more demonic world of Cthulhu with portals linking the two worlds, allowing beings from that realm to cross over into ours or the other way around.

Though not many movies, TV shows or video games incorporate the Cthulhu Mythos yet, an increasing interest in the Mythos is starting to form. I hear about the Mythos more and more often as the months go by, and I see more and more fan stories being created around the Mythos. Being a timeless being of a different plane of existence, it seems only a logical step forward from the undead and time and interdimensional travel as it seems like a genuine combination of the three.

Also, a popular game series that has already incorporated all three of these popular trends may be pushing forward into this realm already. The company Treyarch who is responsible for the “Call of Duty: Black Ops” series has hosted a side game throughout their series called “Call of Duty Zombies,” or, originally, “Nazi Zombies.” “Call of Duty: World at War,” their 2008 title and the predecessor to Black Ops, started with the game mode, “Nazi Zombies,” where gamers were able to fight legions of the undead. Moving forward to their 2010 title, “Call of Duty: Black Ops,” the developer incorporated time travel into the universe as the main characters time traveled from 1945 Germany to the 1960s and then further back and forth through time. In the next installment in “Call of Duty: Black Ops 2,” the Zombies game mode focused mainly around a destroyed world and otherworldly realms of existence which turned into interdimensional travel by the end of the last map.

Now, in the current 2015 title, “Call of Duty: Black Ops 3,” along with the undead, time travel and interdimensional travel throughout alternate universes, a lot of hints are pointing towards Cthulhu entering the universe. Already, several tentacle beings have been introduced into the series. Margwas are three headed tentacle monsters players must fight periodically in the first map “Shadows of Evil (SOE).” The “Shadowman” is a tentacle creature who poses as a human to trick the characters into helping his “Overlords.” Throughout SOE, as players progress through completing the story, there are two more hints towards Cthulhu: four statues are placed in crates around the map that look strangely similar to Cthulhu itself, and a giant tentacle creature will engulf the sky, and players must eventually kill it. In the most recent installment of the game, when players survive to Round 50, the outline of a tentacle beast the community is calling “The Distant Monster” can be seen stalking around the map in the background and can be heard growling occasionally. The gaming community that follows this series is highly convinced that all these new additions, along with the characters meddling throughout many different universes, are becoming a huge hint towards a final confrontation with Cthulhu himself. This game series has seemed to stay on top of the evolving trend all throughout the past decade, and it seems to me like they are picking up on the possible new one early on.

Though the world doesn’t seem to be quite done with time and dimensional travel, its time is well due to end, and Cthulhu seems like it’s in the wake to rise to fame in the near future. Only time will tell what the future of the entertainment industry holds for us, but I believe it would be a smart move to start expanding the Cthulhu Mythos further as the years progress.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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