You choose to agree with Ridlley yet you say that SF is not dead. I don't disagree with him on the reality part. We are moving so fast that SF has almost become reality. Many films and tv shows not intended to be SF can't resist moving a year or to into the future to extrapolate on existing technology.

Your example of Starship Troopers is a perfect example of why there will be SF films not only because they will sell but because we need them to look into the future and examine our potential choices. SF allows us to learn from history before it occurs.

Of course Westerns were/are fantasized history as were early SF like Buck Rogers and other space operas of the 50's, before it became a serious genre. The huge Blockbuster Cleopatra was a ridiculous romanticized version of history as were most of filmdom's offerings back then

BTW a new version of RoboCop is coming out this week I think. It is a major release with a big time cast. I have no idea how it will compare to the original.

In the end Ridley's comments will have to be judged on the future success of SF productions. The message of historical and SF productions doesn't matter if they don't make money.