Science fiction, or sci-fi, is a cornerstone in the popular culture world that the Fwoosh is founded on, and without it there would be no He-Man, Avengers, World War Robot, Iron Man, Batman and his wonderful toys, Superman, Halo, Aliens, Predators, Zombies and on and on. Sci-fi is an important part of our hobby.
I once had a college professor describe the difference between science fiction and horror as horror impacting the individual and science fiction impacting everyone. In a horror story there is a main protagonist and a focus of the event that is occurring, be it a flock of birds attacking, an alien chasing a ship’s officer, or a psycho attacking a camp counselor. You have the same in science fiction, but the event is on a global–universal level, it’s not just the protagonist, but everyone else as well.
You can have horror in a sci-fi theme and sci-fi in a horror theme, but the definition remains. The argument was used during a course I took on Hitchcock in university when we were discussing The Birds. On the immediate level, the story starts as a horror theme with the birds attacking Melanie Daniels, but as the story progresses and we listen to radio accounts and personal accounts, we find that the birds are not after Melanie, but are attacking on a global scale. The story shifts from horror to sci-fi.
There is the traditional way of thinking about sci-fi,the other worlds of advanced technology or the far-off galaxies with fantasy creatures. These are easy to categorize and enjoy, they are comfortable. And in that we’ll enjoy a little bit of both definitions as we celebrate our tribute to sci-fi!
In May we saw the release of Battleship, Avengers, Men in Black III, Chernobyl Diaries, and Journey to the Mysterious Island in the movie houses, and in June we’ll see Prometheus, among others. Comics will continue with sci-fi themes in many popular titles, and video games will see the release of sci-fi epic adventures such as Starhawk, Battleship, Ghost Recon Future Soldier, Men in Black, and more. The summer TV season continues with Dr. Who, Fringe, Terra Nova, True Blood, Teen Wolf, Futurama, and many more. And, as always, there are a slew of toys being released for our collecting pleasure.
All rooted in aspects of science fiction! Enjoy this month’s zine and join us again next month for our Batman edition!