I have now seen two episodes of The Real History of Science Fiction on BBCA and I want to slap a whole bunch of faces. What bullshit. The whole thing is about movies. So far, the only authors mentioned are Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Frank Herbert, Kim Stanley Robinson, and Ursula K. LeGuin. A good selection, yes, but...do they represent the real history? This is the real history like an ice-cube tray represents an iceberg. The history of science fiction is about The Futurians and the Lunarians and the NESFA and the LASFS and a few other clubs that nurtured the genre and helped encourage authors. The history of science fiction is about editors like Hugo Gernsback (a notorious asshole, but clearly a founding father), John W. Campbell, H.L. Gold, Fred Pohl, Anthony Boucher, Ed Ferman, and others. The history of science fiction is about authors like Robert A. Heinlein and Theodore Sturgeon and Phil Dick and Phil Farmer and Fred Pohl and Joanna Russ and Harlan Ellison and John Wyndham and James Blish and Brian Aldiss and Richard Matheson and Ray Bradbury and Murray Leinster and Ben Bova and Anne McCaffrey and Spider Robinson and David Brin and John Varley and at least a hundred other men and women who invented the tropes that the movies have been ripping off for the past 75 years. Okay, yeah -- not all of us crave the spotlight (I dont) -- but were not also-rans either. The real history of science fiction is a lot more interesting than hearing one more rehash of how Star Wars got made.
Posted on: Sun, 27 Apr 2014 05:29:56 +0000
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