Boldly going where no-one has been before

This evening I'm off to see the new Star Trek movie. I've been looking forward to the film for ages, as a fan of the series, the genre and of two of the actors in it, namely Simon Pegg and Zach Quinto. I hope it lives up to the hype, something movies rarely do these days thanks to overzealous PR machines (but my views on the media are for another time).

Anyway, one of the refreshing things about this movie is that it seems to have avoided the usual prejudices of critics and commentators who view science fiction (SF) as the domain of spotty teenage geeks. Whilst no-doubt there are some SF fans who would fall into this stereotype, there are just as many - if not more - who are intelligent, thoughtful adults who enjoy a genre that speaks to the key issues of today through the reference point of tomorrow.

Exhibit one - Alien Nation.
Starting life as a movie starring James Caan, Alien Nation morphed into a 90's TV series that explored life in an early 21st century Los Angeles that has been populated with refugees from a crashed alien slave ship. So far, so SF. However the show, which was criminally cancelled after just one series, was able to use this set up to explore -against a background of racial tensions that led to the LA riots - the issues of racism and the legacy of slavery within US society. Re-watching the show on DVD recently, whilst the effects, costumes and music has dated, the subject matter has not, losing none of its punch given these issues are still sadly with us today.

Exhibit two - Flashforward.
A marvellous novel by the excellent Robert J Sawyer in which the Large Hadron Collider gets turned on at CERN the whole population of the planet simultaneously blacks out for a couple of minutes. During this period everyone gets a vision of themselves some years into the future. Some see no change in their lives, some see new partners & lost loves ones etc. and others see nothing - just an empty black void. From there on in, through the eyes of different characters, we explore what it would really be like if we knew our future (as so many strive to do through astrology or other means) and how we would live our lives if we had such knowledge.

Unfortunately Sawyer remains without a publishing deal in this country, probably due in no small measure to the snooty attitude of those in the so called know towards SF. However a major US TV network has just picked up 13 episodes of Flashforward following a successful pilot so perhaps he will break into the UK via that medium.

I could go on at length with other examples but want instead to close by coming full circle to Star Trek. For all it is lampooned and derided (sometime justifiably) let's not forget just how ground breaking it was in US TV history and popular culture: the first inter-racial kiss on; the first major character who was Russian (at the height of the cold war); the first major character who was Japanese (whilst tensions towards that nation from WW2 still ran deep in society) etc..

So I go to see Star Trek tonight to celebrate the return of one of the defining series of the 2oth century and to wear with pride my love of a special genre, science fiction.