“Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the star ship Enterprise.”
For many science fiction fans, those words bring back memories. For me, it was of the Next Generation and Picard. As I grew up, Star Trek: The Next Generation came on at 4pm, so right as my brothers and I got home from school it was on. We were faithful followers and avid fans. Truth be told, for the longest time I enjoyed it more than Star Wars. Still, both sets of my parents raised me on a steady diet of science fiction and fantasy. I grew to enjoy the intrepid explorers and innovative solutions to problems. Science fiction is a medium while gets the love of nerd crowds doesn’t get the respect in deserves for being a truly innovative genre that inspires.
This man saved that ship more times than humanly possible.
While science fiction not only is fun to read, watch, and explore, it has the added benefit of pushing the bounds of our thinking of what it possible. Without Star Trek, Star Wars, and the various other science fiction shows, people wouldn’t have been inspired to create things like our iPhones and all their wonderful apps. These stories create ideas that outside would have been laughted at but within the genre are expected. Yes, sometimes the physics are given a pass due to phlebotinum or some other technobabble. Sci fi tries to explain everything with actual science. Yes, sometimes it involves something more magic-like (we all would like to think the force is real, but until science gives us indication otherwise, we’ll just have to accept the force isn’t real). The point is, with everything able to be explain by science, it makes it feasible to actually create the item. So your cell phone is more than the people in the original star trek could have ever imagined.
Science fiction is just fun. Ok? It is just fun. Do you play Halo? Have you ever played Halo? Did you enjoy it? Good. It is science fiction. Yes, it is a first persons shooter but in terms of narrative and genre of story it is science fiction. Everything in the universe is described in terms of science. So yes, the hard science fiction out there can be pretty nerdy. But a lot of it is fun and actiony. So just enjoy it without worrying about how things are done if you need to.
The game and soundtrack are epic. And science based.
There isn’t much more to say. Science fiction is a good way to enjoy worlds that aren’t possible. They can confront issues in the current world by allowing some distance for the reader to examine them through a different lens. Equality in the original Star Trek was huge. Want to really stick to the man? Put a black woman in a place of power. Roddenberry did it (though he also shortened the skirts too so he wasn’t completely progressive.)
For me, sci fi is just a nice way to enjoy a different universe and see how someone can imagine the future
