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Would You Still Be a Science Fiction Fan?


Funniest Godzilla movie I've ever seen was Son of Godzilla.

latest

Yeah, I love that one!
 
I may as well add in my 2 cents for this. Although I had seen Star Trek TOS as a kid and then the animated, what actually got me into science fiction was books. My earliest was taking the White Mountains books to read when I was 8 years old, and thus having tripod nightmares for a while. Then the L'Engel books and then Asimov, Heinlein, Herbert, and it bloomed into books, TV and movies. So yeah, even if TOS hadn't been there, I'd still be a science fiction fan.
 
I may as well add in my 2 cents for this. Although I had seen Star Trek TOS as a kid and then the animated, what actually got me into science fiction was books. My earliest was taking the White Mountains books to read when I was 8 years old, and thus having tripod nightmares for a while. Then the L'Engel books and then Asimov, Heinlein, Herbert, and it bloomed into books, TV and movies. So yeah, even if TOS hadn't been there, I'd still be a science fiction fan.

Yeah, there were lots of sci-fi books for kids and teens back then: The White Mountains trilogy (which I also devoured), The Runaway Robot, The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet, A Wrinkle in Time, The Forgotten Door, The Star Beast, etc. And most "adult" SF had plenty of crossover appeal to bright youngsters.

(Although I remember some racy parts in After Worlds Collide and Odd John.)
 
Never read any kid or teen SF when I was a kid or teen. Went from Encyclopedia Brown to Verne to Asimov.
 
Never read any kid or teen SF when I was a kid or teen. Went from Encyclopedia Brown to Verne to Asimov.

I was an omnivore. I read everything I could get my hands on, from More Than Human to Danny Dunn and the Invisible Ray-Gun or whatever. Plus, plenty of novelizations and TV tie-in books.

(There was a time when I thought the Get Smart novels were the funniest thing on Earth.)
 
I was an omnivore. I read everything I could get my hands on, from More Than Human to Danny Dunn and the Invisible Ray-Gun or whatever. Plus, plenty of novelizations and TV tie-in books.

(There was a time when I thought the Get Smart novels were the funniest thing on Earth.)
Yeah, I read a lot of stuff, but for some reason not any YA SF. Not sure why.
 
I have no idea when I became a science fiction fan but I think it's safe to say that I would have become a fan even if TOS had never existed. As a kid in the 70s, I enjoyed Star Trek and Lost in Space in re-run and the Planet of the Apes movies. Later in the 70s, it was Star Wars. I fondly remember the Buck Rogers TV show and the Flash Gordon cartoon as well as movies like Logan's Run and The Omega Man. Around the same time, I started watching Twilight Zone and the Outer Limits. I never really got into science fiction literature though. I was more predisposed to to fantasy novels.

Forgot about 50s films such as When Worlds Collide, War of the Worlds, Them, and The Thing
 
Forgot about 50s films such as When Worlds Collide, War of the Worlds, Them, and The Thing

It's funny, but it's only been in the last 10 years or so that I have been catching up on 50s science fiction movies. I love, Earth verses The Flying Saucers, Forbidden Planet, The Day the Earth Stood Still, This Island Earth and of course When Worlds Collide and War of the Worlds. Oh, and the early 60s The Time Machine movie!
 
It's funny, but it's only been in the last 10 years or so that I have been catching up on 50s science fiction movies. I love, Earth verses The Flying Saucers, Forbidden Planet, The Day the Earth Stood Still, This Island Earth and of course When Worlds Collide and War of the Worlds. Oh, and the early 60s The Time Machine movie!
Some of them are surprisingly good. Many are pure dross though. It Came From Beneath The Sea, The Deadly Mantis, and Tarantula are pretty fun.
 
Some of them are surprisingly good. Many are pure dross though. It Came From Beneath The Sea, The Deadly Mantis, and Tarantula are pretty fun.

The one movie I can't watch without cracking up is The Beginning of the End, or something like that, with Peter Graves. Giant grasshoppers are attacking humans.
:guffaw:
 
I have no idea when I became a science fiction fan but I think it's safe to say that I would have become a fan even if TOS had never existed. As a kid in the 70s, I enjoyed Star Trek and Lost in Space in re-run and the Planet of the Apes movies. Later in the 70s, it was Star Wars. I fondly remember the Buck Rogers TV show and the Flash Gordon cartoon as well as movies like Logan's Run and The Omega Man. Around the same time, I started watching Twilight Zone and the Outer Limits. I never really got into science fiction literature though. I was more predisposed to to fantasy novels.
Agree. Even if there never was Star Trek, I still would have been a science-fiction fan. All the series and films you mention here, I was a fan of along with Gerry Anderson's Space:1999(1975-1977) and UFO(1970-1973).
 
Star Trek TOS was the first really serious sci-fi TV show. One might consider Gerry Anderson's UFO to be the next. Without ST-TOS, I'd still be into sci-fi. SOMEONE would have done a similar show at some point. After all, a number of similar shows ensued. We had Space: 1999, which had a similar idea... except it was a moon floating around aimlessly instead of a starship. Of course, Fred Freiberger had to ruin it with that goof-ball 2nd season, which had so much of those "icky 70's show" traits. Then there was Battlestar Galactica. I was really into it. I even made a silly sci-fi short with a friend in high school using BSG props, which I hope to post sometime later this summer (currently being transferred from Super 8mm to digital).

But Star Trek is king. TOS is aging, but man... it sure holds up. I periodically take notice of things I'd not paid much attention to in the past. There was a definite richness to the concept and you can see how the cast was really devoted to it. Despite all the chaos going on behind the scenes during the 2nd season that resulted in a somewhat mediocre 3rd season. Everything from the design of the ships to the musical accompaniment, and of course the guest actors. There's so much to appreciate. I honestly thought I'd eventually fall out of love for TOS... but the opposite has happened.
 
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