"God, I love science fiction!"

[icepixie]

So they say stealing is the best method of teaching, and I'm starting to think what I can, er, "borrow" for my classes next year. "Aha!" I think. "I took an entire course on science fiction at Kenyon! Granted, it was in the biology department, but still. What can I steal from that?"

Ladies and gentlemen, I think Norgol will be making an appearance in my classroom next spring. Mwhahahaha.

(I was searching for other courses on SF, and I found this course, which teaches literary theory through sci-fi TV and movies. HOLY CRAP, YOU GUYS. I WOULD TOTALLY TAKE A THEORY COURSE IF IT MEANT WE WERE GOING TO WATCH EPISODES OF STAR TREK AND THE X-FILES.)

Speaking of that course, here are things I've been thinking about putting on the syllabus. The concentration will likely be on space travel and alien worlds/cultures, just because otherwise I'd go crazy with the amount out there.

- Bradbury's Martian Chronicles
- Dune
- Excerpts from Margaret Cavendish's The Description of a New World, Called the Blazing-World
- War of the Worlds?
- Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
- Movie version of Contact (the book is arguably better, but if I taught the book it's all we'd get through in a semester)
- Various TV episodes: B5--"Believers" in particular, perhaps--Farscape, Futurama, the "Darmok" episode of TNG, Stargate?, BSG?, X-Files? (TV will feature heavily, I think. Hey, if B is doing an entire class on TV this semester...)
- Serenity?
- Short stories: maybe Willis's "The Soul Selects Her Own Society" for giggles (or Yolen's "Sister Emily's Lightship"? What is it about sci-fi writers and Emily Dickinson, anyway?), uh...my short story-fu is weak. I tend to prefer my reading material in novel-length chunks. There does appear to be a Norton anthology of them, though, so I must check that out over the summer.

I'd sort of like to do Frankenstein, but that doesn't fit my self-imposed theme, and I know most kids read it in high school. (There's some steampunk I'd like to do as well, so I may chuck the subtheme of space opera and alien interaction and just do a mishmash.)

Suggest things to me! If you were a freshman taking this course, what would you like to read? Anything science fiction-related will be considered; don't feel the need to stick to space opera.

*

Speaking of science fiction, I watched more B5 lately. Thoughts:

Oh, IVANOVA. You make me laugh so hard it HURTS.

I watched "By Any Means Necessary" last night, and "Signs & Portents" at dinner today. "Any Means" had the hilarious bit where Sinclair tells her to escort to the brig if they aren't out of C&C in ten seconds, and she starts shouting a countdown and marching on Londo and G'Kar all menancing-like. [I think this is also the episode with, "You will resist, I hope."] And S&P has the following exchange:

Ivanova: "I've always had a hard time getting up when it's dark outside."
Sinclair: "But in space, it's always dark outside."
Ivanova: "I know. I know." *sigh of defeat*

I had to pause the player, I was laughing so hard. (Much of the humor's in the delivery. Claudia Christian is awesome.)

I'm also enjoying the fact that technology in the Bab5 universe obeys the laws of physics much of the time! That's rather exciting. The artificial gravity generators or gravity plating or whatever mojo the Star Trek folks used to keep the budget down always bugged me a bit, and even the first time I watched this show, I recall admiring the use of actual centrifugal force to simulate gravity. (Although I was looking it up last night, and I came across an artist's conception of the interior of a real rotating space station, and whoa. That would mess with my mind like nothing else, seeing plants and buildings and people walking on the ceiling.) They even make an effort at showing how the areas of the station closer to the center of rotation are low gravity! (It does seem to break down on some of the ships, though. I noticed no rotating parts on the raider ship in S&P, but everyone's feet were still firmly on the ground. But E+ for effort on the station!)

The starfuries, weird-looking as they are, are also much more suited to maneuvering in zero gravity than the more airplane-based designs out there. I also think the jumpgates are, you know, more believeable than warp drive--I guess that's why they caught on for every other space opera out there since--and the gates themselves are very nifty when they light up in preparation for making a wormhole. (The wormholes themselves are not as cool-looking, but I've been spoiled by the pretty that are wormholes on Farscape.) Plus, dramatic tension abounds when there are long travel-times between jumpgate locations!

Comments

[wintercreek]

I do not have anything useful to say at this point beyond: "Hi! I would totally take your class!"

But I thought that was worth saying. :)

[nickless.livejournal.com]

I do a unit on War of the Worlds where they read an abridged version of the book (all we have time for or like you said, we'd spend the whole year on just that - but for different reasons *g*) listen to the radio play and watch the (original) movie and compare them. We talk about the adaptations made from one format to the other and the influence of the media and how both of those reflect society at different points in recent history. I don't know how much that fits with your focus, if at all, but there it is... :)

[tarzanic.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, interesting course!

I preferred The Time Machine over War of the Worlds, but the former might not fit your idea as well. I've heard Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick is good, but have not read it yet. Wow, I haven't read scifi in quite a while. I need to go to the library.

By the way, I don't know what would fit for books other than Hitchhiker's Guide, but humor captures my attention much better than many other things these days. Using books and other media that have a sense of humor about them would motivate me in such a class.

Also, Doctor Who or other non-American scifi tv might be nice too. Red Dwarf is fun.

I definitely want to hear more of your planning!

ETA: Oooh, almost forgot a book I am reading currently: Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions.

[gamesiplay.livejournal.com]

If you're looking for short stories: LE GUIN. (Admittedly, she's my favorite sff writer period, so I'm biased, but.) Nobody does alien cultures--or the interpersonal/metaphysical underpinnings of space travel--like Le Guin.

[sleepingcbw.livejournal.com]

the "Darmok" episode of TNG

FTW.

Anyway: dude, Ender's Game.

[rowdycamels.livejournal.com]

Ladies and gentlemen, I think Norgol will be making an appearance in my classroom next spring.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Ooh, definitely Bradbury! I loooove "The Green Morning" from The Martian Chronicles!

Hitchhiker! Of course! Because it has so many things to say about sci-fi! And Futurama, for the same reasons!

Have you read any H.P. Lovecraft? Very excellent, but more horror-that-happens-to-be-sci-fi than real sci-fi.

Speaking of which, somebody mentioned Doctor Who Yes! Specifically, "Silence in the Library" (the latest one Moffat wrote) or "Midnight." Both non-Earth-centric!

I haven't seen Serenity yet (arg, must Netflix!), but definitely something Firefly-ish would be good, as an example of mixing genres.

Have you seen Hyperdrive (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperdrive_(TV_series))? It's not uniformly awesome, but it's sci-fi satire (hits Star Trek pretty hard), and has many lols. Also, points for non-American.

Robert A. Heinlein's Have Spacesuit, Will Travel is Old Skool YA sci-fi, cute and thoughtful and a quick read.

[alto2.livejournal.com]

Ivanova rocks. But we knew that. ;)

Yes, you should watch Red Dwarf (how the hell have you not already??). Especially the first two series. (They beefed up the budget/effects after that and I never liked it as much afterwards.)

The Left Hand of Darkness is great for alien cultures--the details and mythology she uses to build/back them up/foreshadow are amazing (and were the subject of my long paper last summer).

I've only read two Philip K. Dick novels but they both deal pretty heavily with the idea of reality/unreality. I think I liked Ubik slightly better, but The Man in the High Castle is about a world in which we didn't win WWII, and what happens to the US culturally (we get broken into several pieces that are ruled by the assorted winners, sort of like Berlin was after the war)

How about Brave New World? Not alien culture so to speak, but if future = alien, it could work, especially since it contrasts that future with the "present" so nicely.

I've only just started A Canticle For Leibowitz, but the basic premise is that there's been a nuclear holocaust, and centuries later, someone comes upon this shopping list left by a guy named Leibowitz, and it becomes the central/founding document of this monk-like religious brotherhood. Definitely the basis for some commentary that couldn't be done otherwise, along with some history of the 1950s ("Fallout Shelters and the Fears That Created Them" or some such!).

How about A Wrinkle in Time? Very much a product of its time (Cold War), but short and a commentary on human nature that probably wouldn't work any other way.

Hmm. Not sure if The Golden Compass would work, though elements of it sure are alien. And it definitely contrasts with our own society, if you want to emphasize that. (If you think I'm looking through my grad school bibliography for things that might work, you'd be right!)

Zelazny? Lord of Light? Humans who have figured out how to "reincarnate" into new bodies (Cylons, anyone?) and take on the roles and attributes (via technology) of the Hindu pantheon, re-creating that culture and limiting the growth of technology for their followers because "they're not ready for it"--read: they might steal our power. Until the Buddha comes along... lots of great myth stuff, especially because Sam, aka the Buddha, is such a fabulous trickster hero. And yes, it's QUITE funny.

Well, I seem to be at the end of my list. Dunno how much of that might really apply, but there it is for whatever it's worth.

[vallentine.livejournal.com]

One of my new favorite sci-fi books is "The Forever War" by Joe Haldeman. It starts in the 1990s and ends roughly 500 years later (if I'm remembering correctly) so it traces advances in science, space travel, technology and an interstellar war between humans and an alien race. It tracks one character who, by virtue of a LOT of near lightspeed travel, ends up living for all these hundreds of years. [It's also one huge Vietnam allegory but you can take or leave that aspect in class.]

[wildtiger7.livejournal.com]

I love Ray Bradbury - I did a year-long project on him in high school, it was a lot of fun. And I second The Left Hand of Darkness - that is an *awesome* book.

I am far more fond of science fiction short stories than I am of non-sci-fi short stories. I think they do a better job of pointing out aspects of human nature by using alien cultures to highlight or contrast certain aspects of humanity. A particular favorite is "The Road Not Taken" by Harry Turtledove which explores what humanities' reaction would be if we encountered a culture that was less advanced that ours with one glaring exception. I think it would fit your theme well.

"The Streets of Ashkelon" by Harry Harrison highlights the problems with trying to evangelize a species without bothering to try and understand them first.

“Double Dare” in The Cube Root of Uncertainty by Robert Silverberg. I love this story, it is about how humans can accomplish what they thought was impossible if they think they have to. It involves aliens.

“The Screwfly Solution” by Raccoona Sheldon (pen name)
How an alien species takes over Earth without having to fire a shot.

“Cloak of Anarchy” by Larry Niven
Why government matters. Though I don't think this one fits your theme of aliens and space travel.

I hope that helps!

[pellmelody.livejournal.com]

Wow. I'd be ALL over that course!!

What might be interesting in that course is if they have a discussion on the difference between science fiction and sci-fi in literature, TV and movies.

Science fiction isn't necessarily about aliens, robots, or ships blowing up. Twilight Zone, Night Gallery and Outer Limits are examples. It is usually character driven, not action or plot driven. Star Trek has come close to science fiction (particularly with DS9), but it is still in the same league as Star Wars and both are sci-fi.

Babylon 5 is science fiction, though, at times, it veers into sci-fi territory, mostly with "fluff" or humor aspect. BSG is also science fiction. Completely.

[tarzanic.livejournal.com]

Just remembered if you're [still] looking for short stories or novels, you may want to check the Hugo Award winners (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Award).