20th Century Science Fiction and Fantasy

From 1900 to '79, Part One

By Wolfen Moonsget
June 8, 2009

For about nine months in "Tart Time Machine", we'd been covering literary works of the 19th century, and their more modern adaptations; we finally started to edge into the 20th century with our editions on adventure literature two months ago. We covered Star Trek just last month. We covered Star Wars a while back, and Doctor Who, Battlestar Galactica, the X-Men, and Spider-Man. This month, we're covering more science fiction and fantasy of the previous century, up to 1979 (as well as later adaptations of those works). This is by no means a comprehensive coverage; as I said, we went over some of this territory already, and some aspects — like Tolkien, Anne McCaffery, Piers Anthony, barbarian stories, and horror anthologies like Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits — will be covered in later editions. So keep an eye out, and we hope you enjoy this month's offerings in the meantime!

I'll start us off ....

There were a number of sitcoms in my childhood that fit the realm of fantasy. I already covered The Munsters and The Addams Family in our editions on classic horror. There was also I Dream of Jeannie, about a genie who served an astronaut, and Bewitched, about a housewife who was really a witch. Women's lib issues aside, Jeannie was funny from a comedy-of-errors standpoint, always being a little too enthusiastic in doing her job, to the point where she would make things worse by not thinking her actions through. And there was the inherent moral warning: be careful what you wish for. As a child, I totally missed the fact that she was a stereotypical scantily-clad dumb blonde and essentially enslaved to a man; I saw her as a woman with strong magic who was perhaps a bit bumbling (and hey, she had her clever moments) who was just trying to make the man she loved happy. Bewitched was a bit better on the women's lib front; husband Darren (either version) was still obnoxiously "in charge" on the exterior, but on the whole, Sam did what she wanted whether he liked it or not, behind his back if need be. And again, the little girl me loved the idea of making her wishes come true with just a twitch of her nose, even with the warning about wishes backfiring from the other show!

Continuing the theme of wish-fulfilment, the drama Fantasy Island, where the enigmatic Mr. Roarke gave visitors a chance to live out their wildest dreams, was another show that captivated me as a child. The stories weren't always happy, but even now I can appreciate the show as a fascinating study of the human heart, how sometimes what we want isn't what we actually need, or is even the worst thing for us, and often when we get what we want, we find we don't want it after all. The remake, which featured Malcolm McDowell as Roarke, seemed to have been meant to be more in keeping with how the original series was meant to go, with Roarke as a more sinister figure. It wasn't a bad show, but lacked the hopeful charm of the original. Maybe because there was no Tattoo ....

If I couldn't make my wishes come true, � la Jeannie's, Samantha's, or Mr. Roarke's powers, I would have settled for super-strength like Wonder Woman's. I spun myself dizzy in my Wonder Woman Underoos many a day. Lynda Carter was a big heroine of my childhood. Personally, I liked the later two seasons of the Wonder Woman series better, when it was more modern and she was a secret agent, as opposed to the army days episodes. I loved how her costume could change into whatever she needed it to be, including a wetsuit. I loved it when bullets ricocheted off of her bracelets. I loved it when she made the bad guys speak truth with her lasso, and when she flew through the sky in her invisible jet. I loved her younger sister, Wonder Girl (aka Drusilla), too, even if she wasn't quite as cool. My memories are hazy, but my fave episode involved aliens with ray guns with multi-coloured laser beams.

I have to admit, I wasn't much of a fan of the Batman TV series when I was a tyke; it was actually too silly for me, and kind of boring. I did gain an interest in it when the first Tim Burton adaptation was released, though: specifically, I became a huge fan of Batman with Catwoman, and Julie Newmar in particular. She was sexy, devious, and tragic at times; any episode featuring her was a winner in my book. Eartha Kitt's and Lee Meriwether's takes on Catwoman lacked the chemistry with West that Newmar had. But even so, I prefer the Selina Kyle of Batman: The Animated Series, who was more of a good guy who would do what was necessary to protect that which she loved, and who has a bit of an Achilles heel when it came to pretty things. And really, on the whole, I liked that series much, much better than its campy live-action predecessor.

It was through that animated series — and the Burton movies — that I finally came to appreciate Batman himself, a "normal" man fighting super-powered beings with the strength of his decidedly mortal mind and body. Even if he has stretched that body and mind beyond what most normal people are capable of. Still, the man alone isn't all that interesting; episodes where his detective work is aimed at more mundane matters aren't quite as captivating. It's when he's up against extraordinary villains with mad science (or even magic) that makes the Bat's tale so fascinating; that, and his own wicked arsenal of scientific marvels. While the Joker in this latest, Christopher-Nolan-directed series, is less fantastical than his predecessors, he still commits bigger-than-life crimes, and Bat's high-tech approach to stopping him made the mission as exciting as ever. Give me Batman over Bond any day. Now if only Nolan would give us his take on Catwoman. Well, provided he wants her and Batman to be in a relationship as much I do.

Of course, I did also watch Super Friends as a little girl, so I guess I did like Batman a bit before the Burton films. But really, I watched that show much more for Wonder Woman and especially Firestorm, the guy with something of a spilt personality. And in the more recent Justice League, I'm rather fond of the hot-headed Flash, voiced by Michael Rosenbaum — who also played Lex Luthor in the live-action Smallville. Lex was the only reason I watched that show to start with — now I watch for Green Arrow, played quite engagingly by Justin Hartley. Really, even having seen and somewhat enjoyed the Christopher Reeve Superman films, I never much liked Supes; I watched Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman mostly because Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher were charming together. I didn't watch Superboy all that often, and when I did it was because I was flipping channels and stumbled on a story that intrigued me.

I did enjoy The Flash, the TV series starring John Wesley Ship as the title character — quite a bit, really. But I especially loved Mark Hamill on it as The Trickster! Then again, I loved Hamill as the voice of The Joker and Hobgoblin, too — that sort of character suits him.

You know, I've just never been much of a DC girl. I've barely read any of the comics at all, save for the death of Jason Todd and The Dark Knight Returns. It's a shame that the various Iron Man, Avengers, Hulk, and Fantastic Four animated series have generally only been mediocre. Same goes for the film versions of the Fantastic Four, first Hulk, the last of the X-Men trilogy, and any of the Punisher films, although I must confess a certain fondness for the cheesy Captain America movie. I still need to see the second Hulk film, which I'm confident I will enjoy. As for how I felt about other Marvel media representations — the ones on Spider-Man, X-Men, and Iron Man — I have plenty of articles and reviews singing the praises of those around Tart. Oh, and while the first Wolverine movie had problems,I enjoyed it well enough too, particularly because my fave X-Man, Gambit, finally made it to the screen.

Moving on to another Flash, I never saw the early Flash Gordon TV series; my first exposure to the character didn't come until the 1980 movie, which I loved. The scene where Flash undergoes that test, sticking his hand into that tree-thing in an alien version of Russian roulette. Really sticks out in my mind for some reason. That film was also my first exposure to the music of Queen, as my parents played the soundtrack at home over and over. I came to love their music even more than that film, and cried the day Freddie Mercury died. I was disappointed that the recent series didn't actually use the music in the show — I was interested in seeing a modern band do their interpretation. The show did not impress me in the beginning — I zoned out after the first twenty minutes of the pilot. I tried a few other episodes, and likewise was bored by them. Then I caught a marathon of the series shortly before its cancellation, and found myself thoroughly intrigued by the story arc of Terek, the angsty Deviant leader with a secret birthright. So instead of thinking good riddance when the series ended, I actually was bummed!

A big sci-fi show I did watch when I was still a tyke was Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. But I didn't watch it for the hero; seriously, I could have cared less about ol' Buck. I watched it for Twiki, for Wilma (a kick-ass tough gal), and, most especially, for Hawk, the alien human with bird-like traits. Any episode featuring him heavily was sure to be a fave. Also, I have to thank the series for perpetuating (although I don't think originating) the concept of stargates, which was used to great effect years later in one of my fave franchises, Stargate. And the basic premise of Buck Rogers was fun: a man displaced from our time into a far more advanced one.

Perhaps the series was inspired in part by Planet of the Apes, where an astronaut got displaced and found our world being run by evolved apes — although that arguably was inspired by Wells's Time Machine. To be honest, I didn't find that series all that appealing on the whole: I just liked Roddy McDowell, who played the ape Cornelius, a lot. Then again, Burton's remake wasn't really any better; the only real improvement was in the prosthetics, which were incredibly life-like. And again, I liked the apes better than the humans. (In the end, the whole "astronaut caught in an alien world" trope was best used, I think, in a far more recent production, Farscape, starring Ben Browder as astronaut John Crichton.)

Going back to my youth, another show I grew up with was Lost In Space, which I see that I neglected to talk about when we discussed The Swiss Family Robinson. Even so, about the only thing the show had in common with the source material was that the family was shipwrecked — in this case, it was a spaceship — and that they were very adventurous. The family dynamics were a bit different, and there were two key characters that were not comparable to any from the novel: the Robot and Dr Smith. In fact, those two were my fave characters, along with the young boy, Will Robinson. Oddly enough, I actually enjoyed the remake movie, despite the designs and the characters almost all being markedly different. In fact, in many ways I found it more appealing — at least up until they decided to mes with the whole time-dilation shtick. Then it all went to pot.

From the same era as the original Lost In Space, as well as a bit earlier, came a plethora of freaky sci-fi movies, which I watched on the weekends on Son of Svengoolie (which has been resurrected as just Svengoolie), which featured a funny Dracula-like host. He showed mostly horror films, but a few sci-fi films as well. I remember Them!, about giant alien ants. There was Tarantula, about a giant spider — any other time, spiders freak me out, but with that movie, I felt sorry for it and wanted it as a pet! And he showed a couple of Gamera movies and one of the Godzilla movies, films in which I always rooted for the "monster". I eventually saw more of each of the Japanese monster movies airing on their own; as I kid, I loved Gamera best, but now I like them both equally. (I was disappointed in the American version with Matthew Broderick; I love Broderick, but the film had all of the bad writing and none of the charm.) At any rate, years later, during my college days, I would find new joy in those cheesy old movies I used to watch on Son of Svengoolie, this time on Mystery Science Theatre 3000.

Speaking of robots — or rather, robotics in general — I know I watched The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman, two related shows about humans with bionic implants, but I hardly remember them. About all I do remember is that distinctive sound effect from whenever their bionics were in use. I had high hopes for the remake of Bionic Woman, but it left me vastly disappointed, the concept full of plot holes and the main character dull. The only thing I really liked was the conflicted villainess, Sarah Corvus, brilliantly played by Katee Sackhoff.

I never read any of Dr Isaac Asimov's Foundation books, but I must give the man props for the Laws of Robotics, a trope that has become something of a law in may a sci-fi story that includes robots. And I have to give him props for creating a magazine for science fiction stories that has launched many a popular author's career. And I have to thank him profusely for writing the story on which the fantastic film I Robot, starring Will Smith, was based.

Asimov was one of many writers, both of sci-fi and fantasy, that my dad talked about profusely at the dinner table the whole of my childhood. Some of them I've already mentioned in this column; others, we'll be getting to later. I will admit, though, that as far as books go, my tastes lean very heavily towards fantasy rather than sci-fi, so I have missed many of the "classics", such as the works of Heinlein, Hubbard, or Herbert, either. (What is up with all the "H"-names, anyway?) In fact, I never was able to get into even the film adaptations of the Dune books. I've read and enjoyed a few Ray Bradbury stories, but never exactly fell in love with any of them, except maybe "The Veldt" — what a deliciously evil tale! But then, my father didn't care for Bradbury, so one of these days I'll try him again. I did rather enjoy Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, as well as George Orwell's 1984 (that latter in spite of the fact that both my parents hated it) — maybe because they dealt primarily with the connections between people and social commentary less than the actual technology, and didn't have big action sequences.

The Alien franchise will, oddly, always have a spot in my heart for scaring the tar out of me. As a kid, I preferred the second movie — better effects, more action, and I liked the android and the little girl — but as an adult, I've come to appreciate that the first one is more psychologically scary. Alas, the third and fourth films and the Alien Vs Predator franchise just don't hold a candle to the originals. I do love that you can go through the Nostromo and see Ripley and a couple of Aliens on The Great Movie Ride, at Disney World!

But as I said, my preference in reading is fantasy, which is why it's probably no surprise that, when Disney released The Black Cauldron, their adaptation of the first two books of Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain, I hunted the series down and gobbled it up in a few days. Now, at the time, I loved the movie, but I while I adored Gurgi and appreciated Eilonwy as a plucky princess, I still loved the books far more. I've reread the books and rewatched the movie within the past year; the books perhaps aren't quite as good as I remember, but the movie suffers far more in comparison to my memory. Not that I hate it, per se, but it's definitely dropped in ranking. (I do think that Eilonwy needs to be included in Disney's "Princess" line, though — she is a princess, after all, and a far pluckier one, a better role model, than the likes of Snow White!) Anyway, while I love Taran in the books, don't get me wrong, and Eilonwy too, Prince Ellidyr is my fave character from the series; those who read my work with any regularity know what an angst-fiend I am, especially when tied to the theme of redemption, and he fits the bill nicely. I just wish we'd gotten to see more of him.

Now, until "Part Two" of this month's edition comes out, here are some "20th century sci-fi and fantasy" — related old editions of "Tart Time Machine" to enjoy in the meantime:

March 05: Following a Battlestar Corrina Lawson and Rebecca Salek discuss the old and new versions of the series Battlestar
Galactica with me.

May 05: Long, Long ago .... the first in a two-part St=
ar Wars edition of this column.

Not Quite So Long Long Ago .... the second part.

Days of Fangrrl Past the Tarts talk about growing up with the X-Men.

Revisiting Oz We talk about the various incarnations of L Frank Baum's World of Oz.

I talk about my love for The Tomorrow People in this edition and this one.

Then there's the editions we just had on Star Trek, here and
here. Enjoy!

And here, we share our love for Doctor Who.

You should also see these editions of our "Who On Earth" column, in which we talk about Doctor Who:

Tarts and the Doctor Tart Rebecca Buchanan posed questions to us about our feelings on the franchise.

Wolfie and the Doctor Wolfie's answers to the questions Rebecca posed in the previous article.

And then there's this pre-"Tart Time Machine" article I did on growing up with the ol' web-head, Spider-Man: Obsession or Cultural Icon? ....