Part 3: My Life In Science Fiction
My Life In Science Fiction: Introduction
Recently I have written Mars Encounter and published my first novel, Intergalactic Sweet Shop. Both of these are Science Fiction stories, a genre I love. I therefore wanted to take the opportunity to write a series of articles on the scifi that has inspired me both as a fan and as a writer. These articles were originally written as blog entries and released in the two weeks before the Mars Encounter novel came out. They have been re-worked here into articles/essays mainly because they proved so popular when first released.
We live on a rock that weighs 5.97237×1024 kg, it is travelling around a dying star at a speed of 30 KM/s. We are located in the unfashionable end on the Milky Way galaxy. This is one galaxy of thousands that populate an infinite universe. Even if you believe in some form of God to believe in that God being entertained by the people of one planet would be foolish. With the sort of numbers we are talking about there must be life out there on other planets.
Is that life intelligent? Would we recognise it as life? Would we ever meet that life and would we want to is questions for another day and probably a more informed mind then my own.
Science Fiction is a genre that holds endless possibilities as a story teller. It’s one where all other genres exist within it as a subset. The only limit of Science Fiction is your imagination. That is why I love it as a genre, because like no other it informs debate, stirs the imagination and causes the reader as well as the author to dream.
The following articles all look at my life in science ficition and the works that have influenced me as a writer. The Scifi looked at include The War of The Worlds, Blakes 7, Red Dwarf and Thunderbirds not to mention many others.
My Life In Science Fiction: The War of The Worlds
This is the first of a series of articles in which I look at the Science Fiction stories which have influenced me as a fan and as an author. These stories have played a part in my sci-fi education along my way to writing Intergalactic Sweet Shop and the upcoming Mars Encounter. The first entry is about the H. G. Wells classic The War of the Worlds.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with this work, The War of the Worlds tells the story of one citizen trying to find to survive a Martian invasion of Earth. The original text was first published in 1897 as a serialised story before being released as a complete volume the following year. It has since then been adapted many times over, sometimes with dire consequences.
The book starts in what was then a small town not far outside of London called Woking. Woking is now a much larger town and is famous for two things, firstly it is the home of the McLaren Formula One team and secondly it is where the aliens landed. I grew up not too far from Woking and although the area is well described in the book it does add something to the story if you know a little about the town and it’s geography. Certainly the location of the major parks and train station all play a part in the story. Woking acts almost as a separate character in the early part of the novel. It’s interesting that modern invasion scifi seems to always focus around capitals or major cities, yet this piece which many regard as the first starts in the suburbs.
These are also features of the text that would be deemed important to a Victorian reader, make no mistake this is a very Victorian story. The sensibilities in which it is told are very Victorian and the values of the piece do shine through. The main protagonist of the story is trying to find his fiancée during the invasion of Earth. He encounters several people, all dealing with the horrific situation in their own ways. It’s an entertaining piece that when viewed through modern eyes which are used to the more pompous period stories offers an interesting twist. It’s interesting when reading it as a piece of Victorian fiction as H.G. Wells was famously a social radical.
!!!SPOILER ALERT!!!
The battle for Earth ends with the Martians dying from bacteria they contracted on Earth. It’s a fantastic way of ending the story. Nowadays action adventures will get more and more intense until a grand finale. The action just ending seems so anti-climatic, as some people say war can feel like. Although it may seem mundane by current standards bacteria really were cutting edge science at the time the novel was first published. For a lot of people it would have been the first way they had learnt about this science. There were also other scientific theories popularised by this text and H.G. Wells’ other work.
The War of The Worlds has been remade several times over rather famously. The Orson Wells radio play which caused mass panic in American cities, the really quite terrible film of 1953 and the amazingly even worse re-make with Tom Cruise, 2005. However one version that did work was Jeff Wayne’s musical adaptation. Well worth a listen as a mix of musical and audio book.
To me War of The Worlds really does set the scene for modern sci-fi. I feel it is the standard that all invasion stories are judged by. My next article is about the cult TV series Blakes 7, so get ready to wobble the sets and break the props.
My Life In Science Fiction: Blakes 7
Continuing my series of articles on science fiction that has inspired me as a fan this second essay is about Blakes 7.
!!!GREAT BIG SPOILER ALERT!!!
Blakes 7 was a cult TV series in the UK in the late 1970’s – early 1980’s. It was fantastic! In the way that only cheap British Sci-Fi can be. Written by Terry Nation (he didn’t really do much other Sci-Fi except for creating the Daleks, you know nothing special) this was a space opera in the truest sense.
Blake is a terrorist/freedom fighter (and the most middle class man you’ll ever see in a Sci-Fi series, it almost as if his ray gun should fire humus) somewhere in the distant future. He plans to bring down the evil Federation (like all truly evil empires in sci-fi you don’t actually see them doing anything bad, it’s all hearsay). He is convicted of some pretty bad crimes some of which include children (which no-one ever asks him about ever again) and put on a prison ship headed for a penal colony. On the way he meets Jena (pretty blonde who doesn’t say much but flirts a lot) and Avon (computer hacking genius who is witty and the real hero of the show). They discover a super fast and elegant alien space craft that has just been left there to float in space. Through some very convenient coincidences Blake and his two friends (the pilot and the computer hacker, or the two most useful people if you wish to steal an alien ship) are put on board and they steal the alien ship! The first place they go is to the prison planet to free the other prisoners, of which only two actually make it to the ship, Vila (witty clown who can break into things that the writers can’t figure out any other way to get them in whilst providing comic relief) and Gan (gentle giant stock character who is crushed to death by a polystyrene beam not long into the series). Whilst on the prison planet they meet Brian Blessed (just to prove the sci-fi cult credentials) who blows up in space whilst wearing whiter then white trainers for some reason.
Blakes 7 was an amazingly fun series that never ever took itself too seriously mainly because it didn’t have the budget for that sort of thing. Several cast changes took place throughout the show, including loosing the title character half way through (not even joking about that). One of the stand out characters was Servalan (who represented the evil Federation) who defines evil female and probably turned several boys gay through fear of her. She was however an incredibly sexy baddie, and had a sort of on/off romantic entanglement with Avon.
Blakes 7 in many ways was the poor relation of Dr Who and it showed. The budget was laughable as was many of sets. It has to been said though the special effects were impressive when you take into account the era in which it was made and size of budget. Some model ships were used more then once for different space ships (like maybe a dozen times in some cases) but the work was impressive. It survived so long because the fans were incredibly forgiving (and even embracing) of it’s floors. The fans were willing to do t
his because of the stories and the core characters which worked on many levels. Seriously worth a look even though this blog may seem very critical of Blakes 7 it did work on some levels and was witty.
There have been numerous attempts to reboot Blakes 7 and to produce sequels. Audio plays have been produced which do capture the essence of the story.
If you haven’t ever seen it before it is worth a look, a fun series that has influenced and number of Sci-Fi writers including me.
My Life In Science Fiction: Red Dwarf
As part of a series of essay’s I look at the TV cult Sci-Fi Comedy Red Dwarf. Set a mere 3 million years into the future Red Dwarf follows the last human alive as he tries to cope with a hostile universe, a humanoid Cat that just wants to stare at himself in the mirror, a guilt ridden mechanoid who’s idea of fun is an all night vacuuming session and the hologram of his dead nerotic bunk mate.
I am a Smeghead. This perhaps is a term you are not familiar with, but if you are a fellow Smeghead you’ll know it well. Smegheads are fans of the show Red Dwarf. A sci-fi comedy series that has influenced me greatly in both my sense of humour and my love of Science Fiction. It has also influenced me as a person, I can’t give you an honest answer to if I love Red Dwarf because I love curry or if I love curry because I love Red Dwarf. Perhaps in another article I’ll talk more about Red Dwarf as a comedy show, but for now I want to look at it purely from the point of view of science fiction.
People often over look Red Dwarf as a sci-fi show, choosing instead to concentrate on the laugh out loud comedy that has made it so popular. However there are two elements of this show when it comes to sci-fi. First is the fun to be had at the genre laughing at itself. Clunky robots, ‘take me to your leader’, boring exposition and low budgets are all a rich source of plots and comedy for this show. Projecting real people into the world of shinny buttons and flashing lights, so space as just that little bit crap is a fun idea. Sci-fi has this ability to laugh at itself in ways that other genres just don’t. You never see anyone point out the Mrs Marple has to be the unluckiest hotel guest every, everyone gets murdered when she’s around. Yet Science Fiction knows it’s a little bit cheesy, a little bit below budget and at times falls way short of what it’s aiming for. With Red Dwarf the shortfalls of science fiction aren’t apologised for or brushed away, they are celebrated. This not only makes the show fun but loveable.
Red Dwarf was written by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor originally, collectively known as Grant Naylor. Unfortunately Grant left the show mid way through it’s run, worried that he was being pigeonholed as a writer. But their collective love for science fiction is at the heart of the show and the reason why the comedy is able to work at all.
The other way I want to look at Red Dwarf is as more traditional sci-fi. Part of the social role of science fiction since the second world war (although it did it before as well) has been to get across scientific theory to a wider audience, one that perhaps ordinarily didn’t engage with the scientific community. Red Dwarf uses comedy to get across what can at times be quite complex ideas of physics, meta-physics and futurism. Ideas such as black holes, time travel, parrell universes, time running backwards, computer immersion, travel at speed of light, holograms, artificial intelligence and the place of God have all been explored throughout the shows history, often before making it to other media. People often over look the role Red Dwarf has played in communicating science theory but particularly in the UK and the US it has helped to reach a wider audience.
Red Dwarf is increadibly important to me as a person. When I was growing up I loved this show and still can recite most episodes from memory. It was the first ‘grown up’ show I was a fan of, a the first post-watershed comedy I ever watched. Before Red Dwarf I didn’t know TV could be so witty. I grew up wanting to be Dave Lister, the loveable space bum. I wanted to be as cool as the ultra-vain Cat, I felt as guilty as Kryten and I knew I was a neurotic as Rimmer. I still value people who are as quick with the one liners as Holly the ships corrupt super computer could be.
I feel it’s also important to mention how Red Dwarf has influenced me as a writer. The first scripts I ever read weren’t Shakespeare but Red Dwarf episodes. The first true novels (rather then children’s books) I ever read were Red Dwarf books. Certainly I feel I can see areas of structure and characterisation in my work that were influenced by Red Dwarf novels such as Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers and especially the last novel, Backwards. I use short chapters, different character point of view and the view of the narrator, all areas which you see in Red Dwarf’s books. Red Dwarf has influenced me in a number of areas and in ways that no other science fiction franchise ever has and for that I am truly grateful.
My Life In Science Fiction: Thunderbirds
In the latest of my series of articles on Science Fiction that has inspired me I want to look at what was probably the very first Sci-Fi series I ever got into, Thunderbirds.
The word Thunderbirds means different things to different people but it is one of the very few Sci-Fi franchises that transcends generations, particularly in the UK. My dad watched it as a kid in the 1960’s before I discovered it on my own in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s when it was repeated on BBC2. Like most young boys of my generation it is how we discovered science fiction, afterall we didn’t have Doctor Who to turn too!
Thunderbirds is a puppet series that tells the story of five brothers who save the lives of people in trouble. Each brother has his own craft that he uses to try and help those in need. Scott had a super fast rocket plane designed to get to the scene first, FOR NO USEFUL REASON WHAT SO EVER!!! It was a complete waste of time as he always had to sit around and wait for Virgil to show up in the slower Thunderbird 2 which had all of the equipment in. Thunderbird 3 was a rocket ship flown by Alan. Thunderbird 4 was a submarine controlled by Gordon and Thunderbird 5 is a space station that was manned by John who would monitor the Earth’s radio transmissions for cries for help.
Each episode would see International Rescue (the organisation that owned and ran the Thunderbirds) called out to rescue someone who was obviously destined to hurt themselves and who probably shouldn’t have been allowed out on their own. The Thunderbirds would be launched from their secret tropical island base. This launch sequence was AMAZING and involved swimming pools rolling back and palm trees folding down to make way for the massive machines. Every single time in my life I have driven down a road with palm trees on either side I have been disappointed that the trees haven’t collapsed as I have driven past. Unless you too were a fan of Thunderbirds you cannot understand this level of disappointment. However every time I have driven down a road like this I have seen someone else driving the other way, equally disappointed.
Learning that not every Rolls Royce was painted pink and hand machine guns coming out of the front grill was another disappointment in growing up. FAB 1 was the car driven by Parker on behalf of Lady Penelope, an undercover agent working for International Rescue, although she never seemed to bother keeping it that much of a secret. She also an important character to look at. She was actually quite a powerful female role-model for the 1960’s. She worked as a journalist for a upper class magazine (Tatler or Vogue sort of thing). She was also quite an action hero in her own write, not just the bit of skirt for the male characters to rescue (although that did happen at times). The character of Lady Penelope is one that has changed with each new apdoptation to suit the times. However she has kept many of the original tropes which is a tribute to the writing and charactisation of the original.
Thunderbirds was a fun show but it did also help push kids towards Science Fact. Each of the five brothers was named after one of the Mercury Seven astronauts for example. Every kid I knew had a favourite Thunderbird, mine was Thunderbird 3. You knew you were the unpopular kid if you had to play John in Thunderbird 5 in the playground.
Part of th
e fun of Thunderbirds for me as a child was discovering that my Dad had also been a fan of it when he was a kid. This fun was increased even further when years later my nephew became a fan of the show as a small boy. Three generations of the same family enjoying the same ‘kids’ show. And now there is the new animated series which is obviously also made with the same fun and excitement as the original.