Big Dumb Object
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A term used in discussing science fiction, "Big Dumb Object" (BDO) refers to any mysterious object (usually of extraterrestrial or otherwise unknown origin and of absolutely immense power) in a story which generates an intense sense of wonder just by being there; to a certain extent, the term deliberately deflates this. Probably coined by reviewer Roz Kaveney[1], the term was not in general use until it was included in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction as a joke by Peter Nicholls[2].
J.G. Ballard's short story, "Report on an Unidentified Space Station" (1982) may be regarded as an exploration of the metaphor of the BDO: in each successive report, the artifact's estimated size increases, people become lost within it.
[edit] Appearances
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- Arthur C. Clarke's monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey
- Michael Crichton's Sphere in Sphere
- Peter F. Hamilton's Sleeping God in The Night's Dawn Trilogy
- The Ultimate Evil from the film, The Fifth Element
- John Varley's Gaea from the "Gaea Trilogy".
- The Nothing from the film "The Neverending Story".
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Kaveney, Roz, 1981, Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction, issue 22.
- ^ Nicholls, Peter, 2000, Big Dumb Objects and Cosmic Enigmas: The Love Affair between Space Fiction and the Transcendental, in Westfahl, Gary (ed), Space and Beyond: The Frontier Theme in Science Fiction, Greenwood Press, p. 13. "... I decided to write an April Fool's entry. I would pretend that a phrase I’d always liked, originated by the critic Roz Kaveney but not in general use, was actually a known critical term. I would write an entry called "Big Dumb Objects" in a poker-faced style, suggesting an even more absurd critical term to be used in its place, "megalotropic sf.""
