The new Harry Potter movie is almost out! I have friends who have their midnight tickets for the show and are ready with their wands and costumes. Now before you think I am not a fan, I am very much one. I have been a fan of science fiction and fantasy before it was cool. Back when I was laughed at for liking Star Trek. Playing Dungeons and Dragons. Going to conventions…oh wait, that was just last year.
Seriously, I remember that time when science fiction and fantasy afecinados were laughed and scoffed at. We were bullied. But we stood our grounds and survive. And so it seemed did sci-fi and fantasy. In some ways, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, the new Battlestar Galactica and others have brought the liking of this genre into the “cool” classification. Thank you Big Bang Theory. But, I can liken it to when a neighborhood bars gets ‘discovered’ and now its trendy. I paid my dues. I got the looks because I read Star Trek books and fantasy books. And you know what, I still do. But, in my opinion, people have forgotten those who went before the young lad with the lightning bolt scar or even knew what a hobbit was.
Star Trek was suppose to be a “wagon train to the stars.” There was a TV show called “Wagon Train” about… you guessed it, a wagon train. It took a lot of pitching by Gene Roddenberry to get it done, but he did. And they tackled issues of the day, but you know what? They never spoon feed it to you. They battled prejudice and it was intelligently done. They battled war, technology, pollution, doomsday devices and other problems that the earth was facing. And the third season almost didn’t make it on, if it wasn’t for Bjo Trimble and a letter writing campaign. And then a campaign to name the first space shuttle “Enterprise” and was attended by most of the Trek folk. Then Trek seemed to get confused, in my opinion. With Gene heading to space as the Great Bird of the Galaxy, things changed as the vision was not of the creator. But that’s ok. They still kept it in the genre.
Star Wars in 1977 legitimized science fiction and thank you George Lucas. But then even that has started to changed. The last 3 movies of the series, which were really the first ones made, were the best. Then the last three movies made, which were really the first chapters, weren’t. But there were plenty of marketing and commercialization of them all.
Then the Lord of the Rings movies from the books appeared. The movies were gorgeous. But there was also a very good cartoon movie made in 1977 called The Hobbit which is actually from the first book. And now they are thinking of making The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in 2012 so they can slip it in the group.
What I am saying is that science fiction and fantasy have been around a lot longer than Harry Potter, the Lord of the Rings movies, Twilight or even Star Trek. They were books! And now the new thing is Steampunk. It’s great that we in science fiction and fantasy can always find something old that’s new again. But let’s not forget those who went before us; Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert Adams, J.R.R.Tolkien, Gene Roddenberry, James Blish or Gary Gygax. Where we are today is from them. We stand on their shoulders, and the ones today will have others who were influenced by them in the future. To the next generations and beyond. But let’s always remember who came before, so they won’t be lost to us.
