
#46 – Science Fiction Today – A Reader's History of Science Fiction
In the final episode of Season 1, we explore the state of the science fiction genre in the present day. Book recommendation: The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin Worlds Without End's list of sci-fi classics Worlds Without End's customizable list N. K. Jemisin on the Broken Earth trilogy Edit: corrected links. Other books discussed: The Lady Astronaut series by Mary Robinette Kowal The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells
Like books, movies and television also went through a golden age in science fiction in the 1950s. In this episode we explore the trends in the visual medium at the time and how they compared to print.
Movie recommendation: The Day the Earth Stood Still.
“movies and television also went through a golden age”
Yes, but this is a reader’s history!
Interesting aspects on the original Day the Earth Stood Still that I had not thought of.
In regards to 2001, I think it was in “Lost Worlds of 2001” that Clarke said the effects version of Saturn was so incredibly realistic that they were concerned the audience wouldn’t believe it, so they sent Discovery to Jupiter instead.
The effects people for “2001” (Douglas Trumbull?) would later use the Saturn they developed in “Silent Running”. Wikipedia page just reports the “2001” set had ‘technical difficulties’ with Saturn, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Running