Science FictionWhat if?

Science Fiction

Two Column Notes

Term/Topic/Main Idea Explanation

Science Fiction Authors Definitions

Theodore Sturgeon, author:

“A good science-fiction story is a story about human beings, with a human problem, and a human solution, which would not have happened at all without its scientific content."

Robert A. Heinlein, acclaimed author: Science fiction is,

”…realistic speculation about possible future events, based solidly on adequate knowledge of the real world, past and present, and on a thorough understanding of the nature and significance of the scientific method."

Sam Moskowitz, biographer:

"Science fiction is a brand of fantasy identifiable by the fact that it eases the 'willing suspension of disbelief' on the part of its readers by utilizing an atmosphere of scientific credibility for its imaginative speculations in physical science, space, time, social science, and philosophy."

Rod Serling, The Twilight Zone

“Fantasy is the impossible made probable. Science Fiction is the improbable made possible.”

Science Fiction Starts• The first contemporary novel to be considered

a part of the ‘Science Fiction’ genre was Frankenstein written by Mary Shelley.

• The author used a scientific rationale to persuade the reader that her story took place in the realm of the possible but touched upon the improbable.

Frankenstein Continued

• Frankenstein was the first English novel in English to deal with the possibility that the scientific community might create an entity that could destroy humankind itself.

• Mary Shelley did not wish the story to be considered ‘supernatural’. Scholars believe this is why she made the main character scientific in nature…

Science Fiction vs. Fantasy• In Science Fiction, there needs to be some

possibility that the events could possibly happen.• In Fantasy, the author can use far-fetched

assumptions. ie; unicorns, three-legged creatures etc.

• It is a common science fiction convention that authors should not contradict known scientific fact (e.g., humans flying without on their own without the use of devices), but may do what they wish with commonly-accepted scientific theory (e.g., humans flying to distant planets in a space shuttle).

Imaginary worlds

Speculative

“What If”

Literature of Ideas

Incorporates scientific ideas, theories or

technologies

Current trends in science and society are

extrapolated into future scenarios

May involve extraterrestrial beings

or settings

Incorporates magical and/or

mythological ideas

Set in imaginary times and places

May involve supernatural beings and

fantastic settings

Major Themes in Science Fiction

• What does it mean to be human?• What is our place in the universe?• What are the limits of science and/or

technology?• What is the potential of science for good? For

evil?• What might the future look like?• What if history had happened differently?

Science Fiction Sub-Groups

• Space, Space Travel, Planets– (ie: Star Wars, Star Trek)

• Time travel– (ie: Back to the Future)

• Changes to man brought about by science(ie: The Incredible Hulk)

• Supernormal powers/talents (ie: Superman, Spiderman, Batman)

• Battle with alien life forms (ie: Signs) • Alternate Universe (ie: Star Wars)

Science Fiction Sub-Groups

Science Fiction Conventions

• Setting – Future, Past, or alternative time lines – historical past that contradicts known facts of history – Outer Space– other worlds– Utopia or Dystopia

• Stories that involve discovery or application of new scientific principles– Time travel – Psionics (eg. telepathy, telekinesis, etc), – Nanotechnology– Faster-than-light travel

Some Common Conventions• The future • Parallel universes• Alternate history • Scientific predictions of the future • Space warfare and Alien invasion (eg Independence Day)• Cloning• Telepathy and Telekinesis• Alien languages (e.g. Klingon from Star Trek) • Dystopias and utopia • Galactic empires• Hyperspace • Warp drives and Wormholes• Space stations • Time travel

Time Travel

• Stories have antecedents (prior events) in the 18th and 19th centuries.

• Often complicated by logical problems such as the grandfather paradox (a man travels back in time and kills his biological grandfather before the latter meets the traveller's grandmother. As a result, one of the traveller's parents (and by extension, the traveller himself) is never conceived. This means that he can’t have travelled back in time after all, so the grandfather is still alive, and the traveller is conceived, allowing him to travel back in time and kill his grandfather).

• An example is The Time Machine (1960 version or 2002 version).

Alternate History

• Stories are based on the premise that historical events might have turned out differently.

• They may use time travel to change the past, or may simply set a story in a universe with a different history from our own.

• Good examples are the Back to the Future films.

Apocalyptic

• Concerned with the end of civilization through nuclear war, plague, or some other general disaster or with a world or civilization after such a disaster.

• Apocalyptic generally concerns the disaster itself and the direct aftermath, while post-apocalyptic can deal with anything from the near aftermath to hundreds or thousands of years in the future.

• Good examples of this are the Terminator films.

Superhuman

• Stories deal with the emergence of humans who have abilities beyond the norm.

• This can stem either from natural causes (accidental modification of the body) or be the result of intentional augmentation (purposeful modification of the body).

• Stories usually focus on the alienation that these beings feel as well as society's reaction to them.

• They’ve have played a role in the real life discussion of human enhancement.

• A good example is X-men.

Space

• Emphasizes romantic, often melodramatic adventure, set mainly or entirely in space, generally involving conflict between opponents possessing powerful (and sometimes quite fanciful) technologies and abilities.

• The most significant trait is that settings, characters, battles, powers, and themes tend to be very large-scale.

• The stories typically follow the Homeric (heroic/grand/imposing) tradition, in which a small band of adventurers are cast against larger-than-life backdrops of powerful warring factions.

• Good examples are the Star Wars films.

Jules Verne – The Prophet

In the late 1800’s, Verne, a French author, wrote of fantastic inventions, many of which eventually came to pass.

1870 – wrote 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, a novel about Captain Nemo and his submarine, the Nautilus.

Modern, seagoing submarines had been proposed, but were not developed and built for 30 more years!

Because Verne wrote based on extensions of know science that were reasonable at the time, many of the the inventions that he described – including scuba gear, television, and space travel – eventually came to be.

H. G. Wells – The Social Critic

In the late 1800’s, Wells, and English author, was primarily concerned with society, not the “nuts and bolts” of science fiction.

The only “prediction” Wells made that came true was that aircraft would have important military uses in the future.

Most of the inventions that Wells wrote about, such as time machines, will never exist given our current understanding of physics.

Wells’ novels are considered classics because they are great fiction.

In his 1895 novel, The Time Machine, the Time Traveler visits the future and then returns to report on the cultural split into two races, a social commentary that mirrored the friction between the upper and lower classes in Britain at the time.

Science Fiction in the Movies• Even before talkies, science fiction

made its mark on film:• A Trip to the Moon (1902) by the

Frenchman Georges Melies • Metropolis (1926) by the German

Fritz Lang, the first classic science fiction film

• Frankenstein (1931), with Boris Karloff, followed by endless sequels and remakes,

• Invisible Man (1933), starring Claude Rains, from the novel by H.G. Wells

• Things to Come (1936) from the screenplay by H.G. Wells and based on his novel The Shape of Things to Come. This is the first great sound picture in the field and the first film to show a utopian future that includes the promise of space flight.

• Two prominent serials of the era are Flash Gordon (1936) and Buck Rogers (1939).

Science Fiction in the Movies

Science Fiction in the Movies• An estimated 500 feature films and shorts that can

be classified science fiction were made between 1948 and 1962.

• Science fiction really began to proliferate on film after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. This event prompted a rash of after-the-bomb and alien invasion films.

• 1950s Destination Moon (1950), is a pseudodocumentary based on Robert A. Heinlein's juvenile novel Rocketship Galileo.

• The Thing (1951), based on John W. Campbell's short story "Who Goes There?," features James Arness as a fearsome, defrosted alien carrot; the film was remade in 1982.

Science Fiction in the Movies

• Also in 1960 came The Time Machine, starring Rod Taylor, from the novel by H. G. Wells.

• Stanley Kramer made another foray into science fiction in 1964 with Dr. Strangelove;

Love the Bomb. This dark comedic satire of nuclear war features Peter Sellars.

• Fahrenheit 451 (1966) stars Oskar Werner in François Truffaut's film of the Ray Bradbury novel.

Science Fiction in the Movies• In 1977 the debut of Star Wars sparked a

revitalization of science fiction. • Due to the huge success of this film, the

market for and interest in science fiction as film and literature skyrocketed into the stratosphere again, rejuvenating and expanding the entire field.

• Star Wars (1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983) comprise the middle trilogy of a projected three-trilogy cycle of films by George Lucas, based in part on Joseph Campbell's The Hero With a Thousand Faces.

• Blade Runner (1982) is Ridley Scott's stylish film of Philip K. Dick's novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? A director's cut (1992) clarified the nature of the film's major character and raised many of the same issues Shelley posed in Frankenstein,

• Who are more monstrous – those we create…or those who perform the creation?

• The Road Warrior (1982) is the second and best of the Mad Max films about a post-nuclear-holocaust world.

• E.T., the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), another blockbuster from Steven Spielberg, was reissued with new footage for its 20th anniversary in 2002.

• The Terminator (1984) is a James Cameron film featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger as a machine of the future initially designed as an assassin; the sequel Terminator 2 (1991) picks up where the first film left off. A third film, T3: Rise of the Machines, was released in 2003.

Science Fiction in the Movies

• Total Recall (1990), another Schwarzenegger vehicle, is loosely based on Philip K. Dick's short story, "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale."

• Edward Scissorhands (1993) is an homage to the premise created by Frankenstein.

• Timecop (1994) became a sci-fi television series as did Stargate (1994).

• Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994) was directed by and stars Kenneth Branaugh as Victor. Robert de Niro plays the Monster.

• Independence Day (1996), a wildly-patriotic Sci-fi film, some say turned out to be eerily prophetic in the wake of events that would occur on 9/11.

Familiar Science Fiction

Star WarsStar Trek2001: A Space

Odyssey Independence Day I, RobotMen in BlackTerminatorThe Matrix Jurassic Park

Some Popular charactersThe Alien

• Life forms (often especially intelligent life forms), that are of extraterrestrial origin.

• Can be good (like ET) or evil and want to invade Earth.The Cyborg

• An organism that has both artificial and natural systems• Often portrayed with physical or mental abilities far exceeding a human

counterpart (military forms may have inbuilt weapons).• Can be good or evil. Terminator 2 has both

The Mutant • An individual, organism, or new genetic character arising or resulting from an instance of

a sequence change within the DNA of a gene or chromosome of an organism resulting in the creation of a new character or trait not found in the typical form of an organism.

• Can be good or bad. X-men has bothThe Esper

• An individual capable of telepathy and other similar paranormal abilities• Can be good or evil• Has featured in Blade Runner and Star Trek

Hive-mind • A group mind/ego (a single consciousness occupying many bodies)• Can be good or evil• Has also featured in Star Trek and the Jedi's in Star Wars could be considered similar.

An Introduction to Science Fiction

Read the questions in the table below and come up with a possible answer. The first one is done for you to give you the idea.

Question: What would happen if… Speculation …

humanity learns the secret to star travel? We would eventually find worlds like our own… and aliens… and declare war on them.

a liquid, found in the core of the Earth, contains alien DNA?

we can clone human beings?

scientists discover the aging gene?

the world runs out of oil?

a deadly strain of airborne virus is accidentally released?

whale song is translated into the most complex language ever discovered?

An Introduction to Science Fiction

Look carefully at your responses from the previous chart.

Now, answer the following questions…

1. What do your responses say about the way humans behave?2. What are your major concerns about the future of humanity and/or our planet?

3. Do you think your concerns will change as you get older? Why/Why not?

4. Do you think young people fifty years ago would have had the same concerns as you do now regarding the future of the planet? What’s changed?