Questions about the history of the genre
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0answers
32 views
When did becoming beings of light become a theme in scifi and fantasy?
In the Malloreon of David Eddings, Star Trek, and the game Loom, among many others, there are races of beings who are shown as being highly advanced, who have the goal of becoming beings made of pure ...
2
votes
1answer
96 views
TV anthologies (SF) with variable story length? [closed]
Other than the first two seasons of The Twilight Zone (1985-1989), have there been any speculative fiction television anthologies which had different numbers of stories within a single episode (time ...
5
votes
1answer
168 views
What is the earliest depiction of realistic (hard sci-fi) giant humanoid mechas or robots?
The usual depiction of giant humanoid mecha/robots is very unrealistic. They disregard the square/cube law, inertia, to just name a few violations of the rules of physics.
The most realistic ...
1
vote
0answers
124 views
What in Japanese socioeconomics impacted the creation of スーパーロボット (Super Robot)?
スーパーロボット (Super Robot) has existed since 1956 and evolved through many incarnations. Typically heroic, in contrast to the United States where most movies and shows that featured these titans cast them ...
7
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1answer
241 views
What work of scifi broke the mold of zombies being undead voodoo minions and depicted them as mindless maneaters?
In the beginning, IIRC, zombies were undead creatures created and controlled by voodoo priests or priestesses. What work of scifi was the first to break that tradition by depicting zombies as ...
8
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4answers
438 views
What was the first SciFi work that theorized that Homo Sapiens were seeded on Earth by intelligent aliens?
What was the first SciFi work that theorized that Homo Sapiens were seeded on Earth by intelligent aliens (as opposed to all the other Earth species which evolved separately)?
The earliest one I can ...
9
votes
2answers
347 views
What was the first depiction of China as a future superpower?
There is a recent trend to portray China as the future's next dominating superpower / rulers of the world or other things among these lines. They have been in the news in the last couple of years, ...
0
votes
2answers
121 views
What was the first SciFi book or story co-written by 2 authors before 1957?
What was the first SciFi book or story co-written by 2 or more authors before 1957?
(1957 is simply because I'm aware of one written in that year, so that is a definite early mark).
7
votes
1answer
130 views
What was the first SciFi/Fantasy work to include intelligent beings evolved from Earth dinosaurs?
The theme that dinosaurs (or some other pre-60-million-years-ago reptilian species of Earth) may have evolved into intelligent beings who then had an encounter with men is pretty widely used ("West of ...
6
votes
2answers
161 views
Which work of Scifi/fantasy was the first to depict a person as a hologram?
Star Wars has them. So do the Star Trek and Red Dwarf series. Which work of Scifi/fantasy, written or filmed, was the first to depict a person as a hologram?
13
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6answers
557 views
What was the first sci-fi work that had an intelligent virus/bacteria?
What's the earliest example of an intelligent virus/bacteria? There have been a number of comic-book characters (e.g. Sublime, Hlavac, Despotellis), television versions (e.g. the black oil from the ...
7
votes
2answers
216 views
What was the first SciFi work that had a “biologically different” intelligent race?
What was the first SciFi work that had a an intelligent race that was biologically significantly different from humans?
Not simply "non humanoid", but, say, non-vertebrate (non-humanoid vertebrates ...
12
votes
2answers
360 views
What was Isaac Asimov's first work?
I am wondering if Isaac Asimov's first work was published. Is it a short story or novel? Why he want to wrote scifi. Is it published in a book or in a magazine or elsewhere? When did he write it? If ...
11
votes
2answers
272 views
What work of SciFi or Fantasy was the first to depict small scale removable computer data storage media?
Star Trek TOS was using single handed removable read/write memory media (like the kind William Windom is holding below) before the floppy disk was even invented. Was Star Trek the first, or was a ...
5
votes
4answers
238 views
What kind of creature was the first movie monster to be described as “Undead”?
The undead are everywhere. Vampires. Werewolves. Zombies. Frankensteins Monster. (Edit- OK. According to Dr. Frankenstein "It's Alive!") What kind of creature was the first movie monster to be ...
3
votes
1answer
130 views
First SciFi book/movie that has species ethics deliberately built based on game theory
What was the first SciFi book/movie that has a species or other large group whose ethics is deliberately built based on game theory?
Doesn't have to use the word "Game Theory", as long as the concept ...
9
votes
4answers
1k views
Why so little steam in steampunk?
In the vast majority of discussions of Steampunk work, in art and culture I see more references to clockwork items than steam-powered paraphernalia. It seems as though the term is more or less ...
24
votes
1answer
703 views
Classified project during WWII involving Asimov and Heinlein
During WWII, a group of science fiction writers, Robert Heinlein & Isaac Asimov prominent among them, were involved in a classified project for the US government.
Isaac Asimov mentioned this ...
3
votes
1answer
99 views
What was the first school of magic mentioned in modern Fantasy literature?
What was the earliest school of magic mentioned in modern Fantasy literature, determined by publishing date? (modern==1880 and later, though I'm tempted to set the era as starting with The Hobbit).
...
3
votes
4answers
166 views
What was the first appearance of Olympic gods as characters in modern SciFi or fantasy?
What was the first appearance of any of the Olympic gods as character(s) in modern (1880+) SciFi or Fantasy outside of ancient greek settings?
I'm talking about them being major characters, ala Neil ...
15
votes
1answer
361 views
Why did the Klingon language flourish?
I've been thinking recently about the development of the Klingon language, and how it started off as a few small phrases developed by James Doohan (Scotty) and was developed into a full language over ...
5
votes
3answers
265 views
Whatever happened to Perry Rhodan?
When I was a mere beardless youth back in the 70's, I'd read from my parents' collection of Perry Rhodan stories. The eponymous Major Rhodan was the hero of a very long series of short novels by a ...
2
votes
1answer
248 views
SF cartoon series with tall hairless humanoids wearing blue-gray armor
I watched it a long time ago. I presume it was aired in 80s or 70s.
Facts: The main characters are humanoid beings. Male and female, and very similar looking to each other. I know they could fly by ...
3
votes
1answer
235 views
When is the idea of 'Time is Currency' first used?
In the novel Strata instead of earning money you earn days, which act as a currency. Instead of paying for food etc with money you pay with 'days'.
In Time is a film with a similar concept where ...
0
votes
2answers
91 views
Wanderers of Time & Next of Kin Cover artist
I was looking through Amazon for a new science fiction to purchase. I came across the book Wanderers of Time by John Wyndham and noticed the cover art looked rather familiar.
So I went to my book ...
5
votes
1answer
238 views
What is the difference, historically, between Unfinished Tales and The History of Middle-earth?
Tolkien's Unfinished Tales and History of Middle-earth are both collections of incomplete works edited by Christopher Tolkien, and cover many of the same topics. UT was published shortly before the ...
7
votes
2answers
327 views
The first walkers?
When was the first 'walker' in Sci-fi or Fantasy?
By walker I mean a robotic vehicle that moves via walking (ambulating with more than two feet) as opposed to moving via wheels.
It seems like it ...
3
votes
5answers
238 views
Who was the first author to rework another scifi/fantasy authors character?
Philip José Farmer is the first modern author that I know of to rework another authors scifi/fantasy character. He rewrote Edgar Rice Burroughs Tarzan character from a first person perspective in two ...
10
votes
3answers
236 views
First use of secret identities in comics?
After reading some comics today and thinking about one of my previous questions, I was wondering "When was the first use of secret identities in Comics?"
The earliest one I can think of is Superman ...
8
votes
1answer
437 views
What was the First Science Fiction Film?
Is Georges Méliès' film A Trip to the Moon the first science fiction film ever made? Or are there any SF films before it? I've searched and researched, on and off since I first saw it in a college ...
6
votes
5answers
437 views
When Was the First Same Sex Relationship in SF or Fantasy on TV or in the Movies?
After a suggestion on this similar question, I've made a change. All the answers for that question were focused on written stories, none on video or film.
So I removed that part of the question so ...
8
votes
3answers
310 views
What's the earliest example in Science Fiction of a robot 100% mimicking a human?
The classic example is, of course, Stephen Byerley from Asimov's "Evidence".
Were there SciFi works featuring robots that are able to be indistinguishable from humans (by sight or behavior) prior to ...
15
votes
5answers
257 views
What is the earliest instance of the use of term “blaster” in sci-fi to denote energy-based weapon?
“Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.” - Han Solo, naturally.
So, by the time Star Wars was released, blaster was an established ...
19
votes
4answers
1k views
Where did the concept of Adamantium come from, and is it used in other Sci-Fi works outside of X-Men?
I'm interested in the alloy that gave us Wolverine's claws. I want to know where the idea came from, how was the name determined? Was it just completely random? Where did the concept come from? Who ...
13
votes
3answers
538 views
What is the origin of the phrase “on the gripping hand?”
Where does the phrase "on the gripping hand" come from and what does it mean in the context of that work?
I'll add that I just finished reading The Mote in God's Eye and this is not the origin of the ...
17
votes
4answers
475 views
What influence did H.P. Lovecraft have on science fiction?
The main focus of Lovecraft's works are indeed... aliens. Lots and lots of aliens. Some visited Earth and lived on it. Some battled between themselves. Some built cities. Some destroyed cities. Some ...
