History Main / MundaneDogmatic

The Mundane Science Fiction movement has been critized for ignoring that speculation about future science and technology has always been central to sci fi. As well, critics have pointed out that yesteryear's "impossible technology" in sci fi is now reality.

* ''Film/{{After Kang}}'' (2021), about a near-future family that buys a lifelike android, Kang, to be a "big brother" to their adopted Chinese daughter, Mika. Kang helps her learn about her Chinese heritage and helps soothe her anxiety about being adopted. When Kang starts malfunctioning and is sent for repairs, the parents and the child miss him and the important emotional role he played for the family.

The setting adheres to the precepts of the Mundane Manifesto, a system of self-imposed restraints on science fiction devised in 2004 (with author Geoff Ryman as the sole named contributor) which is similar in spirit to the constraints of UsefulNotes/Dogme95 in film. Such settings are usually hard science fictions, but there are exceptions.

%%** ''Literature/TheRollingStones''

* ''Film/Gattaca'' (1997), about a culture that uses genetic testing to determine social status, including access to professions.

The setting adheres to the precepts of the Mundane Manifesto, a system of self-imposed restraints on science fiction devised in 2004 which is similar in spirit to the constraints of UsefulNotes/Dogme95 in film. Such settings are usually hard science fictions, but there are exceptions.

* FasterThanLightTravel: space travel is limited to sub-light speeds and is difficult, time-consuming, and expensive.

* The ''ComicBook{{Tintin}}'' comic-books ''[[Recap/TintinDestinationMoon Destination Moon]]'' and ''[[Recap/TintinExplorersOnTheMoon Explorers on the Moon]]'' feature a deliberately scientifically-realistic (minus some ScienceMarchesOn) depiction of a manned moon mission that preceded NASA's by several years but anticipated several details of it. (Yes, really!) Hergé described his vision for the story as "No moonmen, no monsters, no incredible surprises."

* The ''{{Tintin}}'' comic-books ''[[Recap/TintinDestinationMoon Destination Moon]]'' and ''[[Recap/TintinExplorersOnTheMoon Explorers on the Moon]]'' feature a deliberately scientifically-realistic (minus some ScienceMarchesOn) depiction of a manned moon mission that preceded NASA's by several years but anticipated several details of it. (Yes, really!) Hergé described his vision for the story as "No moonmen, no monsters, no incredible surprises."

* ''Videogame/SpaceEngineers'' takes place in the year 2077 and eschews almost all science fiction favorites like shields and FTL; only ArtificialGravity generators remain, an AcceptableBreakFromReality as magnetic boots would severely limit spaceship interior design. SpaceFriction is absent, with only an arbitrary maximum speed which can be raised but with many unintended consequences[[note]]such as breaking the game's collision detection, causing ships at high speed to simply phase through each other instead smashing with [[WreakingHavok glorious results]][[/note]].

* ''Videogame/KerbalSpaceProgram'' uses only modern or near-future / in-development rocket technology, plus a few abandoned rocket programs like the NERVA nuclear rocket. Aside from some rocket performance skewing [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality for the sake of fun]], the game relies on real physics. The only break from the mundane dogma are the Kerbals themselves, who appear as [[BigHeadMode cartoonishly proportioned]] LittleGreenMen. Various {{Game Mod}}s deviate from the dogma, such as the ''Interstellar'' mod introducing an AlcubierreDrive.
* ''Videogame/ArmoredCore'' Most of the games before the introduction of "primal armor" and related technologies -- while the rest of the technologies shown may not be remotely practical or cost effective today, the first few entries in the series are hard science fiction with none of the technologies present requiring the laws of physics to be altered, and most of them currently possible given sufficient funding. The only fantastic elements are the fact that the technologies showcased are commonplace and treated as cost effective. Needless to say, giant robots are unlikely to be used as the mainstays of armed forces, ESPECIALLY not by non-state private military contractors that don't have the luxury of a large tax base. The mechs and energy weapons shown are all possible with technology currently available or on the drawing board, and realistically have heat issues and have weight limits dictated by the square cube law. The entires in the series that have primal armor and other fantastic elements are softer science fiction that falls more in the applied phlebotinum category.
* ''Videogame/ChildrenOfADeadEarth'' takes place during an interplanetary war in the ColonizedSolarSystem. As one of the hardest science fiction games, there's no aliens, no teleporters, travel takes literal months, and every bit of technology shown has [[ShownTheirWork significant real-world mathematics behind it]] -- which one can play with using the DesignItYourselfEquipment system -- and has either been produced or the theory behind it is known and is in testing, such as nuclear rockets, gigawatt lasers, and railguns.
* ''Videogame/{{Outpost}}'' turns around the colonization of a planet orbiting one of the closest stars to ours after Earth is rendered unhabitable due to the impact of a large asteroid. The game was developed with the help of a former NASA scientist and it shows, with absolutely no FTL or aliens to speak of --well, except a disaster that is an "alien virus epidemic" and one research tree about "alien (aerial, terrestrial, and marine) ecology" even if your world is a Venus-like hell or an airless Moon-like one.

The setting adheres to the precepts of the Mundane Manifesto, a system of self-imposed restraints on science fiction devised in 2004 which is similar in spirit to the constraints of UsefulNotes/Dogme95 in film. Such settings usually fall rather high on the MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness, but there are exceptions.

* The majority of Creator/RobertReed's novels and short stories follow most or all of the mundane dogma and are generally [[MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness fairly scientifically hard]]:

* ''Videogame/ChildrenOfADeadEarth'' takes place during an interplanetary war in the ColonizedSolarSystem. As one of the [[MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness hardest]] science fiction games, there's no aliens, no teleporters, travel takes literal months, and every bit of technology shown has [[ShownTheirWork significant real-world mathematics behind it]] -- which one can play with using the DesignItYourselfEquipment system -- and has either been produced or the theory behind it is known and is in testing, such as nuclear rockets, gigawatt lasers, and railguns.

* ''Film/{{Moon}}'' has been described as "like ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'' except it actually makes sense." It was screened at NASA's Space Center in Houston at the request of one of the professors there, due to its realistic depiction of helium-3 mining.

* ChrisMarker’s ''Film/SansSoleil'' (1983) is an experimental travel documentary that mixes in some fiction;. It juxtaposes images of Japanese horror film, a beauty pageant, intoxicated homeless men, guerilla warfare, and an Icelandic volcano (some of which are color-modified with a video synthesizer) all over a synthesizer score and philosophical narration about memory, as the narrator reads letters from a fictional person.

The setting adheres to the precepts of the Mundane Manifesto, a system of self-imposed restraints devised in 2004 which is similar in spirit to the constraints of UsefulNotes/Dogme95 in film. Such settings usually fall rather high on the MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness, but there are exceptions.

* ChrisMarker’s ''Film/SansSoleil'' (1983) is an experimental trace documentary that mixes in some fiction;. It juxtaposes images of urban Japanese horror film, intoxicated homeless men, guerilla warfare, and an Icelandic volcano (some of which are color-modified with a video synthesizer) all over a synthesizer score and philosophical narration about memory, as the narrator reads letters from a fictional person.

* ChrisMarker’s ''Film/SansSoleil'' (1983) is an experimental trace documentary that mixes in some fiction; it juxtaposes images of urban Japanese people, guerilla warfare, and an Icelandic volcano (some of which are color-modified with a video synthesizer) all over a synthesizer score and narration about letters from a fictional person.

* ''Film/Gattaca'' (1997), about a culture that uses genetic testing to determine social status.
* Chris Marker’s ''Film/SansSoleil'' (1983)
* ''Film/ChildrenofMen'' (2006), which depicts a blighted, dystopian near-future Earth in which a no one can bear children anymore. In the film, an authoritarian government tyrannizes the people and the refugees are held in cages and camps.

* Chris Marker’s ''Film/Sans Soleil'' (1983)
* ''Film/Children of Men'' (2006)

* ‘’Film/Gattaca’’ (1997), about a culture that uses genetic testing to determine social status.
* Chris Marker’s ‘’Film/Sans Soleil’’ (1983)
* ‘’Film/Children of Men’’ (2006)

The setting adheres to the precepts of the Mundane Manifesto, a system of self-imposed restraints similar in spirit to the constraints of UsefulNotes/Dogme95 in film. Such settings usually fall rather high on the MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness, but there are exceptions.

* Gattaca (1997), about a culture that uses genetic testing to determine what roles a person can play.
* Chris Marker’s Sans Soleil (1983)
* Children of Men (2006)

* FunctionalMagic (including any pseudoscientific PsychicPowers)

* ''Series/RedDwarf'' might generously be said to fit into this, at least conceptually. The titular vessel is a heavily-automated five-mile-long mining ship, more than capable of holding and processing enough resources to keep both itself and a small crew going indefinitely; it has a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bussard_ramjet ramscoop]] to allow for interplanetary or interstellar travel; there's explicitly no FTL and no aliens; travelling to and from the ship happened rarely and required bulky spacesuits and cramped shuttles. However, by the second episode the ship had broken the light barrier "because it had been accelerating for too long", and within a couple of years such soft sci-fi staples as time travel, dimension-jumping, teleportation, and psychic powers had become commonplace, and everyone wears their regular clothes when on an excursion. The joke switched very quickly from "how realistic the ''Red Dwarf'' is" to "how low-tech and boring it is compared to everything else they ever encounter''.

* ''Series/RedDwarf'' might generously be said to fit into this, at least conceptually. The titular vessel is a heavily-automated five-mile-long mining ship, more than capable of holding and processing enough resources to keep both itself and a small crew going indefinitely; it has a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bussard_ramjet ramscoop]] to allow for interplanetary or interstellar travel; there's explicitly no FTL and no aliens. However, by the second episode the ship had broken the light barrier "because it had been accelerating for too long", and within a couple of years such soft sci-fi staples as time travel, dimension-jumping, and psychic powers had become commonplace. The joke switched very quickly from "how realistic the ''Red Dwarf'' is" to "how low-tech it is compared to everything else they ever encounter''.

* ''Series/RedDwarf'' might generously be said to fit into this, at least as far as the first season (and novel) is concerned; the titular ship does explicitly not have FTL travel [[note]]though it did break the light barrier in the second episode due to accelerating constantly for three million years, it does travel between solar systems fairly easily, and it does have magic artificial gravity[[/note]]. The ship has a distinctive [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bussard_ramjet ramscoop]] that could theoretically allow the ship to continually refuel itself while it travels, and as a heavily automated mining ship the size of a city it has ample resources to sustain both itself and a tiny crew indefinitely. The first season in particular is noted for embracing the mundane in direct opposition to flashier sci-fi series, as the crew try to come to terms with being stranded alone three million years into deep space on a half-derelict ship; however, by season two the show starts to slide down MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness, and by a couple of years later such soft sci-fi staples as time travel, dimension-hopping, and psychic powers had become commonplace.

* ''Series/RedDwarf'' might generously be said to fit into this, at least as far as the first season (and novel) is concerned; the titular ship does explicitly not have FTL travel [[note]]though it did break the light barrier in the second episode due to accelerating constantly for three million years, it does travel between solar systems fairly easily, and it does have magic artificial gravity[[/note]]. The ship has a distinctive [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bussard_ramjet ramscoop]] that could theoretically allow the ship to continually refuel itself while it travels, and as a heavily automated mining ship the size of a city is has ample resources to sustain both itself and a tiny crew indefinitely. The first season in particular are noted for embracing the mundane in direct opposition to flashier sci-fi series, as the crew try to come to terms with being stranded alone three million years into deep space on a half-derelict ship; however, by season two the show starts to slide down MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness, and by a couple of years later such soft sci-fi staples as time travel, dimension-hopping, and psychic powers had become commonplace.

* The first couple of seasons of ''Series/RedDwarf'', when the lack of FTL was explicitly discussed as the reason why Lister would never get back to Earth and very few non-mundane events happened. Later on things got softer.

* [[SpaceDoesNotWorkThatWay Fundamental inaccuracies regarding space]]

* Most work by Creator/AlastairReynolds. All of his work averts SpaceDoesNotWorkThatWay, as he worked for the European Space Agency as an astronomer, and has a doctorate in the same subject.