Why I love Science Fiction, and why I couldn’t live without it

When I was 15 years old my father told me that I lived with my head in the clouds, and that I would never accomplish anything in the real world if my mind was always in a fantasy one.

Ten years later I know him well enough to realise that he was simply trying to be what could be considered a ‘good father’ and not speaking entirely from the heart. Perhaps it had something to do with his own insecurities, but you’re not here to read about his, you’re here to read about mine…

Cue an artistic scene with the hands on a clock turning in reverse, clouds rolling backwards in the sky, leaves falling back onto the branches of trees, and the pages of a calendar flipping in reverse… I can’t pinpoint the exact moment, or even the age that my love for science fiction began, but I know it was early in my development.

I would never sit down to watch a straight-up action film. The gore, violence and thoughtlessness of it all never sat well with me. Hell, when I was a kid, I’d cover my eyes if there were boobs on screen.

But I would love to watch the Predator films, because despite all the violence I was intrigued by a visitor from another world and the unique way it interacted with our own. So while my older brother was watching Robocop for the action and violence, I, later in life, barely remember the pivotal early scene where Murphy was gunned down in a steel mill (I had to look that up). What I remember most is the technology. Sure, the dystopian future of Detroit may have been policed by Ford Taurus’ painted in chalkboard black, but prop quality aside, the technology of this future was riveting! I would play for hours, imagining that I too could extract a weapon from my cybernetic leg to gun down make-believe villains, and that my own vision was augmented by a futuristic HUD.

My maturation in life was influenced strongly by a few factors, one of them being my darling mother who instilled in me chivalry and a sense of right that has served me incredibly well. Another, being school. Of course, I mean the lack of school – because while I never felt comfortable in that controlled and peer-influenced society, my willing extraction from it allowed me to grow to a different design.

Though most of all, it was Star…

Without breaking into a nerdgasmic debate about the pros and cons of Star Trek and Star Wars, they both had a very different influence on my life.

Star Wars was a phenomenon that took science fiction to a very accessible adventure level and helped it attain mainstream status for lots of people. Yes, it certainly did so for me! Thankfully, due to the Special Edition re-release I was able to see the trilogy in the cinema despite only being born in 1984. It drove home an already large love for the films that progressed on to reading all the Expanded Universe novels available at the time, and, I’ll admit, roleplaying with friends. Star Wars entertained the tastes of anybody who enjoyed a film in which good triumphed over evil, the guy got the girl (perhaps to disturbing results in one case) and everyone lived happily ever after…except the Ewoks.

Star Trek, however, was something different. Through its many iterations, it has spent over 40 years building a rich universe inhabited by as many clichés and stereotypes as you can poke a mek’leth at. Reflecting cultural stereotypes and persecutions, the creators always tried to push the envelope of what was acceptable, and as time passed, more was allowed to be broadcast. Star Trek grew and matured, and I matured with it. In actual fact, science fiction has taught me more about social issues and sexuality than a government approved syllabus could ever bestow.

These beginnings have created in me a tendency to prefer anything that has a laser in it rather than a gun, a deep thought piece about the tragedy of loneliness but set on the moon, or a terrifying thriller aboard a space craft. It would appear to be the perfect formula for a stereotypical science fiction fan, with the collectibles; the costumes; the nerdy friends.

So the insecurities, father issues, and the dark side of it all? Well, dear readers. I am a science fiction fan, I couldn’t end it all succinctly in one neat go…

There’s always a sequel…