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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

ST 2015: A New Mini-Golden Age of Interest in Sci-Fi and Space?

Discussion in 'Sequel Trilogy' started by Echo Base, Sep 9, 2014.

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  1. Echo Base

    Echo Base Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 21, 2013
    This thread is a little self-indulgent so I hope the mods don't lock it... (I won't be insulted if you do though.)

    I have been trying to explain to the youngsters here at work how my generation, as children in the 1980s, grew up in a golden age of science fiction and real-world space exploration.

    Most people today tend to associate the "golden age" of space with the 1960s, due to the space race, the prominence of Star Trek (once it was syndicated), 2001: A Space Odyssey and so on. However, I feel that the period from 1977-1987 presents an alternative golden age.

    1977, was of course, the year Star Wars debuted around the world and I was born a little after that, yet its wake was clearly felt, especially, of course, due to the two sequels. These came out at a time when video players were just becoming commonly available on the market and, whilst my own family could not afford a player, two friends had them (one having a Betamax) and, of course, some of the first videos they obtained were the Star Wars trilogy.

    1987 bookends this era, for me, because it was the year of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. It was the last major *family friendly* science fiction film for a long time that was a huge box office success with maintstream audiences globally. After this, of course, Star Trek V failed badly at the box office and, whilst some of the later pre-Abrams Trek films were fairly successful, they never really captured that mainstream momentum again. I feel, too, subjectively, that many of my generation were probably feeling we were outgrowing these films after that as we headed into high school in the early 1990s.

    In between these bookends of Star Wars and Star Trek IV, there were of course many, many other science fiction films and television shows that tried to capitalise on their success. Some were great (Blake's 7) but most were weak and highly derivative (the original Battlestar Galactica and Buck Rogers on television, the Black Hole and a slew of low-budget Star Wars copycats at cinemas).

    Meanwhile, in the real world in those ten golden years, space news was everywhere. The US space shuttle program was highly publicised globally, Voyagers 1 and 2 were exploring the outer planets for the first time (including Voyager 2's encounter with Uranus in 1986), the SN 1987A supernova made big headlines as it was visible to the naked eye and there was, of course, the return of Halley's Comet in 1986.

    Balancing all of these interesting stories, there was, though, the dark side: Ronald Reagan's constant sabre-rattling and fear-mongering with his real-life so-called "Star Wars" strategic "defence" initiative, the Chernobyl disaster (which was almost like something out of an apocalyptic science fiction story) and of course, the Challenger disaster, which halted the space program for many years. (Incidentally, Star Trek IV was dedicated to the memory of the Challenger crew) so perhaps it is fitting that that film seems to cap this golden era as space exploration largely disappeared from the news for a long time.

    The prequel trology didn't feel like a golden age to me. Perhaps it was because I was at uni and then preoccupied with a stressful first job and trying to establish myself in the world; perhaps it was because they came in the wake of some more modern, highly-hyped but ultimately hackneyed SF films like Independence Day, perhaps it was the less-than-positive critical reception of the films or perhaps my generation was simply the wrong age: feeling too old for Star Wars and not yet feeling any nostalgia for the franchise.

    Now, to finally reach my point: it seems to me that 2015 may be the dawn of a new mini-golden age of interest in visual SF and space exploration in general. My generation, who grew up in the wake of the original films, is starting to reach the stage where we feel nostalgic for the things of our youth. In May, the final part of the Blake's 7 sequel trilogy of books will be published. In June, there will be a huge amount of interest in real life space exploration again as the New Horizons probe becomes the first ever vessel to have a close encountered with Pluto (echoing the Voyager ships' exploration of the other planets of the outer Solar System) and, of course, in December, Star Wars 7 wlll be released.

    There is again, a downside: the increasing militarisation of space (as per the documentary film, Pax Americana and the Weaponization of Space) and the increasing real-world use of drones, military robots and the NSA spying program would have all seemed like science fiction 30 years ago but are terrifying realities now.

    To keep this thread light, though, adding to the feeling of nostalgia about these new films is the fact that we will, of course, be seeing Luke, Han and Leia onscreen together again. This could be good or bad, depending on how well they live up to the expectations of the audience, but either way, it is sure to provoke a huge amount of interest.

    It will, therefore, be interesting to see what films follow in the wake of Star Wars and its sequels and spin-offs. Perhaps this will kill the fashion for superhero films for some time. It will also be interesting to track the amount of interest in space exploration that New Horizons generates. Hopefully they will capture the imaginations of a new generation of youngsters just as our imaginations were captured in the 1980s and further their interests in space exploration, too.

    What do other people think? Do you have any other similar memories of the huge interest in space in the wake of Star Wars from circa 1977-1987 and do you think the new films and real world events will generate simllar interest from 2015 onwards?
     
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  2. Hoggsquattle

    Hoggsquattle Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Feb 7, 2009
    I don't consider Star Wars to be science fiction. I place it more in the fantasy genre.

    Sci-Fi tells it's stories through the use of science and the consequences of scientific advancement.

    Although the GFFA does have it's own science, Star Wars is not about the science, more about the mystical elements.
     
  3. Han Drolo

    Han Drolo Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 9, 2014
    Once we get a couple Trek series on the air, then we'll talk.
     
  4. KED12345

    KED12345 Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 10, 2012
    Well, New Horizons does flyby Pluto next year...
     
  5. Import_Jedi

    Import_Jedi Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Aug 20, 2001
    Star Wars is science-fantasy...midi-chlorians be damned. :)

    But you are obviously correct that next year is an exciting one for space geeks

    January 2015: NASA's New Horizons spacecraft begins taking long-range images of dwarf planet Pluto

    February 2015: NASA's Dawn spacecraft will be the first probe to visit a dwarf planet when it arrives at Ceres

    May 2015: We will possibly be getting a trailer for SW7 in front of The Avengers 2

    July 2015: More footage of SW7 at SD Comic-Con and then Disney's D23 expo

    July 14, 2015: New Horizons finally flies by Pluto

    Sometime in 2015: Two astronauts will fly up to the International Space Station and stay there for a full year...making them the first crew members to do so (paving the way for manned Mars missions eventually, yadda yadda yadda)

    December 18, 2015: The big day for all of us here in the Jedi Council 7SA :D
     
  6. Don't grab the glowy end

    Don't grab the glowy end Jedi Padawan

    Registered:
    Jul 25, 2013
    In the "not quite 2015 but close enough for the spirit of this thread" category: there's also the movie Interstellar, and the MAVEN and Juno spacecraft arriving at Mars and Jupiter.
     
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  7. Import_Jedi

    Import_Jedi Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Aug 20, 2001

    MAVEN arrives at Mars in 11 days [face_dancing]

    If we're talking about 2016, along with Juno arriving at Jupiter, there's also the launch of OSIRIS-REx to an asteroid, and the InSight lander going to Mars.

    To be on topic, there's Star Wars: Spin-Off Movie #1 and the first sequel to Independence Day. (Oh and some flick that involves Batman and Superman, yadda yadda.)
     
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  8. rumsmuggler

    rumsmuggler Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Aug 31, 2000
    Years back, I was interested in a sequel to Independence Day, but now i'm ambivalent about it.
     
  9. ezekiel22x

    ezekiel22x Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Aug 9, 2002
    I can't see Episode VII stirring up any interest in any real world scientific endeavors, but maybe that's because I grew up with the originals on VHS and mostly missed out on the 77-87 heyday. By the time I was old enough to actually appreciate Star Wars in a manner beyond action figures in the sandbox, I can't say I ever equated Star Wars with real science.

    And as far as superheroes going away for a while, I already thought that would happen around 2006 or so and instead the genre continued to get bigger and bigger. Not sure we'll see any significant change on that front. At best I think Star Wars will match the current impact of the top superhero films rather than outdoing them.
     
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  10. mratm23

    mratm23 Jedi Knight star 3

    Registered:
    May 13, 2014
    Yeah man, we need another Trek series continuing on the original continuity. Not in the Abrams universe where we reboot Next Generation or some BS like that.
     
  11. Echo Base

    Echo Base Jedi Master star 4

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    Jul 21, 2013
    Yeah, it was just the pervasiveness of all things "space" related in the 1977-87 epoch. That was what I was trying to get at in my long original post. I think SW did help fuel it because it brought SF to the masses more than any other previous work had done. A lot of the real world events were coincidences of course (Hayley's Comet's return and the 1987 Supernova would have interested a lot of people anyway) but perhaps it all added up to a "perfect storm" of interest for that decade.

    I think the superhero genre is living on borrowed time now. (I have to confess I haven't seen many of the current crop of films though). All things go out of fashion eventually (musicals and westerns died in the 1970s, SF arguably died off for quite a while after 1987 as per my original post) and I do think the superhero genre will go sooner rather than later, as per that prediction by Spielberg and Lucas a while ago ( http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/steven-spielberg-predicts-implosion-film-567604 )
     
  12. KED12345

    KED12345 Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 10, 2012
    This all does fit in well with my hypothesis JJ Abrams is teaming up with Elon Musk.

    The Falcon 9 rocket is named after the Millennium Falcon, after all (true story).
     
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  13. danmcken

    danmcken Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 7, 2003
    I remember those times ,before the dark times, before loved up vampires and teenage bloody wizards


    Hopefully with renewed interest in the genre we actually get to see Rendezvous with Rama on the big screen
    The new Stargate trilogy reboot/reimagining/thingymebobs are in the works too.
     
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  14. Rabs

    Rabs Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 15, 2014
    The golden age of sci-fi never died for me.[face_not_talking]
     
  15. Echo Base

    Echo Base Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 21, 2013
    I think the dark times actually may even have started with the emergence of Ninja Turtles from the sewers. ;)

    Rendezvous with Rama would be a fantastic film. In fact, it has always saddened me that, in amongst all the chaff, there is a very solid body of very good sci fi literarture that has never been adapted for the screen.
     
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  16. PrincessKenobi

    PrincessKenobi Manager Emeritus star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Aug 12, 2000
    I think this might be better suited for SWC.
     
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