I was 12 years old when I read my first science fiction novel. It was the dashing adventures of circus acts/ space spies Jules and Yvette D’Alembert in the Family D’Alembert series by Stephen Goldin and EE “Doc” Smith.
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The thought of jetting around the cosmos nabbing the baddies and saving the day was tantalising to pre-teen me and established a life-long love of the genre and of science
Through the years I read most of the sci-fi classics. I went through Issac Asimov’s Foundation series, Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers, Arthur C Clarke’s 2001- A Space Odyssey, Frank Herbert’s Dune, moved onto dystopian futures in Orwell’s 1984 and Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 and dabbled in fantasy with Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones and Raymond E Feist’s Magician.
Some of the greatest writers of this genre were, themselves, scientists. Issac Asimov was professor of biochemistry at Boston University, E. E. "Doc" Smith was a food engineer and Carl Sagan was an American astronomer, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist and author of Contact.
On any wet, wintry day you’ll likely find me curled up on the couch with a well-thumbed edition or revisiting an old sci-fi screen favourite.
Yes, you guessed it, my love affair didn’t confine itself to the page. My favourite sci-fi movie: the 1956 classic Forbidden Planet. My favourite sci-fi TV series: Star Trek with the reboots of Battlestar Galactica and Lost in Space close behind.
Science and science fiction have long been close companions. The ideas of iRobot have, in part, become reality with the rise of mechanisation. While Scotty can’t yet “beam me up”, scientists are working on it.
I’ll also throw in a love of The Big Bang Theory. Who knew that physicists and engineers could be so funny? Or that actor Wil Wheaton would still be milking Star Trek ensign Wesley Crusher for laughs two decades after the series ended?
Not only were the books and films entertainment, they seeded in me an interest in science. I’d lie in the backyard at night, gazing towards the stars and wondering what was out there, or look at fossils and wondering where we came from. I still do.
They also brought me into the orbit of friends who would debate the merits of one series against another (don’t get them started on Star Trek) and who would suggest new and interesting worlds for me to explore.
Science and science fiction have long been close companions. The ideas of iRobot have, in part, become reality with the rise of mechanisation. While Scotty can’t yet “beam me up”, scientists are working on it. The tablet that a character was reading (now reality) on his trip to the Moon (not yet there) was in 2001, published concurrently with the film in 1968, years before we were carrying them in our backpacks.
Then mankind went to the Moon – a science-fiction dream made real.
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Ever watched Jurassic Park? Well it seems a lot of people have. Flinders University in 2019 will launch the country’s first Bachelor of Science (Palaeontology). Candidates have cited the dinosaur movie as a reason for their interest.
We flock to the big screen for sci-fi/dystopian adventures: Star Wars, Avatar (four sequels are planned), Star Trek, Back to the Future, Independence Day, Minority Report, ET: The Extraterrestrial, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Aliens, War of the Worlds, Blade Runner, The Martian, Oblivion.
On the small screen, the rise of streaming services has brought us a run of Phillip K Dick story adapations – Black Mirror (Amazon), The Man in the High Castle (Amazon), Electric Dreams (Stan). There is also The Expanse a sprawling sci-fi politico drama and The100, in which humanity returns to Earth after a nuclear armageddon.
At the heart of all good science fiction storytelling isn’t just science, but humanity. The characters became friends, family. We welcome new members while holding close the old. If there was any doubt of this, note the joy at the announcement this week that Patrick Stewart would return as Jean Luc Picard in a new Star Trek series, more than 16 years after he last pulled on the captain’s uniform. Then were was the news that Ethan Peck (grandson of screen legend Gregory Peck) would be the new Spock on Season 2 of Star Trek: Discovery (Netflix in Australia).
Through popular culture we look to the stars for answers to the big questions. Are we alone? If not, are they friendly? (Independence Day says no, ET yes). Is there somewhere out there to go if/when the Earth dies? (Interstellar). Will aliens save/help us (Knowing, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Arrival).
Maybe a budding scientist who picks up their first science fiction novel, or sees their first science fiction film during Science Week will find the answers. May they then boldly go where no one has gone before.
Juanita Greville is a Fairfax journalist
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