Escape into Wonder - My Lifelong Fascination With Sci-Fi
Manxom Vroom’s Growing Up Star Wars column last week got me thinking about my early interest in science fiction.
I’ve been a fan of science fiction and fantasy for as long as I can remember. I’m told that the first book I ever read by myself was Farmer Giles of Ham by J. R. R. Tolkien. This would be at about the age of 7, so round about 1979.
Now those of you old enough will remember than science fiction and fantasy was a much smaller genre back then. This was after all in the dark days before Star Trek: TNG and the sci-fi boom on TV. There were only a small number of books available and an even smaller number of tv shows.
The genre was just much smaller back then and it was far harder to connect with others. There was no internet and I lived in a small village. Basically then I had no way to tell what was good, what was bad or even what was available.
Of course there was Doctor Who. When I was growing up there was always Doctor Who. I’m fairly sure I was watching it earlier than this but my first clear memories are from the 1978-79 season that covers The Ribos Operation through to The Armageddon Factor. Tom Baker undoubtedly defines Doctor Who for me.
And you can’t ignore Star Wars which blasted onto the silver screen around this time. If I had to point to a single movie that dominates my entire childhood, then Star Wars is that movie. Not only did it spawn a host of copy cat movies, but it influenced science fiction on television.
Superheroes were a big part of my childhood too. I subscribed to Hulk Comic a weekly UK publication which printed a mixture of new UK material and US reprints. On strip I remember with great fondness featured Captain Britain and the Black Knight. The title didn’t last long and merged with Marvel UK’s Spider-man title which I think featured mainly reprints. As a result I’m a huge fan of 70’s Spider-man, particularly Ross Andru’s run.
As I got a little older, I became aware of the american sci-fi shows that were being re-broadcast in the UK. Star Trek (the original), Battlestar Galactica (the original and 1980). I started paying attention, hunting this stuff out. I didn’t just watch British SF like Blake’s Seven, Sapphire & Steel and Star Cops, I saw Manimal, Automan, Knight Rider, Street Hawk, The Invaders, The Incredible Hulk. Mainstream or obscure, if it was at all sci-fi related and broadcast in the UK in the 1980s, I probably watched it.
At the same time I was devouring sci-fi tv, I was also reading compulsively. By the time I was twelve I had not only read The Hobbit, but The Lord of the Rings multiple times. There wasn’t a lot of young adult science fiction or fantasy available at the time, so I pretty much just read whatever the library had.
One YA series that does stick in mind is Douglas Hill’s Last Legionary series which was a high action space opera. I would actually be very curious to re-read those books with adult eyes. Other than that it was often adult science fiction that I read, Asimov’s Foundation books being one example. I also read some Harlan Ellison like A Boy and his Dog. “Repent Harlequin!”, said the Ticktockman is a title that still sticks in my mind.
As I entered my teenage years that reading expanded. I became aware of Terry Brooks Shannara series; David Eddings Belgariad; Tolkien’s Silmarillion and Stephen Donaldson’s Chronicles of Thomas Covenant.
Around that time I also discovered Dungeons & Dragons. The idea of being able to create your own story and develop a character was hugely appealing and I was fortunate enough to find a few people in my school who were into the same thing. From Dungeons & Dragons I soon moved on to explore other RPGs including RuneQuest, Middle Earth Roleplaying and Cyberpunk 2020 to name a few. Many of the games I bought I never played, I just enjoyed reading about the worlds and messing around with the character creation systems.
Being older and finally having disposable income at this time I discovered the world of US comic imports and once started buying everything in sight. I remained however, primarily a Marvel zombie based on my earlier exposure.
And the pattern has continued ever since. My tastes have matured a little I think, though I still show something of a preference for fantasy over science fiction. Looking back though it’s pretty clear that my fascination with this whole genre has little to do with scientific wonderment and everything to do with escapism.
Escapism seems to have bad connotations for many, but I don’t see it that way at all. The world can be an amazing place, but without imagination it is very gray indeed. Escapism feeds the imagination. That sense of wonder that I experienced as a child reading The Hobbit or Foundation and Empire; the excitement of seeing Star Wars for the first time; these are things that have influenced my entire life.
2 Comments, Comment or Ping
Manxom Vroom
I have many additional points of similarity with you. My mom was a fan of the original Star Trek series, so I grew up with the show and battered old paperbacks close by. Tolkien was an early discovery for me, as was Michael Moorcock (which is why I chose him for my first post). Piers Anthony was also huge for me, especially his Xanth series. And of course, the Marvel superhero comics (Fantastic Four being my fav).
It’s amazing how this stuff affects you at a young age, how it seems to merge with your DNA and shape the way you think.
Jul 2nd, 2008
Eoghann
Oh Xanth! I forgot to mention that, I read a lot of that series while I was a teenager. Just a plain fun read.
Jul 2nd, 2008
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