Top-5 Tuesday- Memorable Sci-fi Characters of the 1800s

If you hadn’t guessed already, I have a special fondness in my heart for good fictional characters. Though sci-fi historically has been a genre more of speculation than of character arcs, the best science fiction stories have been able to develop their ideas as well as their protagonists, antagonists, and side characters. I just discussed one of the most iconic characters in all of science fiction on Saturday, but today we are going to take a look at the characters who connected readers to the earliest science fiction stories.

Let’s get to it!

5. Hank Morgan (A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain)-

An early adventurer through time, Hank Morgan, the titular Connecticut Yankee, bumbles his way through the past, trying to conform the Medieval world to his own standards of civilization. As bad as that sounds, how many of us wouldn’t do the same under similar circumstances?

4. The Time Machine/The Time Traveller (The Time Machine by H.G. Wells)-

Can a time machine be a character? Just take the issue up with your local Doctor Who fan, and I think you’ll be convinced. The Victorian sensibilities and personality of the title character of this book has sparked many an imagination, and inspired many an imitator, especially after it was brought to the silver screen in the 1960s adaptation of Wells’ classic. However, the adventurous protagonist, The Time Traveller, provides the heart of the story and the machine, and evokes a sense of wanderlust for other times in readers.

3.  Captain Nemo (Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne)-

This Indian prince turned mad inventor is the early science fiction equivalent of Captain Ahab from Moby Dick. However, this crazed captain’s vengeful intentions are turned toward the British Empire rather than a white whale. With a thirst for revenge, and remorse over the deaths of his crew, Captain Nemo set a precedent for many a great antihero.

2. Frankenstein and His Monster (Frankenstein by Mary Shelley)-

A classic example of confused name, the sympathetic creation in Mary Shelley’s classic is often tagged with the name of his creator, and when mad scientist Victor is mentioned, images of his monster. Both the tormented young scientist, and his forsaken creature, however, are well-developed characters who earn the investment readers put into their story.

1. Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde (The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson)-

Jekyll/Hyde is a classic and fascinating dichotomization of human nature. Good vs. evil, power vs. weakness, cruelty vs. compassion- these are all things we are forced to wrestle with. Robert Louis Stevenson presents this struggle in a literal way through a character/characters we simultaneously root for and despise.

What do you think? Who else belongs on this list? What are your favorite early sci-fi characters. I’d love to hear from you in the comments! Thanks for reading!

Keep on glowing in the dark,

Elora

Character Analysis, Mr. Spock

It was the opening day of my show when I found out about Leonard Nimoy’s passing. I shared some brief words on social media, that day, then expounded on them on my radio show, SpaceTime, that Tuesday. This post is going to be very similar to what I said on SpaceTime. However, it is my first time organizing my thoughts on paper. So, I hope you enjoy this exploration of the character arc of Spock.

How does a character created for a rejected 1960s television pilot become a respected figure in a 2013 blockbuster? How does a an alien from an early sci-fi show that got cancelled after three seasons become a household name- a part of our modern mythology? I’m sure every creative wants to know.

As impossible as it may seem, we find this transformation in the character of Spock. I’m going to briefly explore Spock’s character arc from “The Cage” to Star Trek Into Darkness, and see what has made Leonard Nimoy’s Spock one of the most loved sci-fi characters of the past fifty years.

When we first meet Spock in the unaired Star Trek pilot “The Cage”, he hasn’t quite grown into the stoic-yet-conflicted, logical first officer we know and love. Beginning in 1966, when he is brought back onto the show with Captain Kirk and Doctor McCoy , he represents the intellectual side of the holistic human portrayed by these three men. I discussed the relationship and conflict between them in this past post.

Though Spock represents one aspect of a complete human, as part of the main trio, he also represents a complete human in and of himself. Though Spock is only half-human, he shows the very human struggle between logic and emotion very clearly. Do I listen to my heart or my mind?

While Captain Kirk has to struggle over who on the outside to listen to- Spock (logic), or McCoy (emotion)- Spock has to choose who on the inside to listen to- his human (emotional) half, or his vulcan (logical) half.

This is a struggle that we as humans can all relate to, and it is the struggle we see all throughout The Original Series.

The Animated Series, as goofy as it is, sees the same basic relationship between the three main characters, and the same internal struggle in Spock. However, we also get a peek into Spock’s early experiences that let to his development in TOS in the episode, “Yesteryear”. (Also, there is a seventy-foot Spock clone out there somewhere, that the reboot series should totally revisit. Just saying).

In The Motion Picture, Spock has made his decision. He is going to purge himself of all emotion through the kolinahr ritual. But he fails. This failure plunges him back into the turmoil he experienced in the original series, and he casts his lot with the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise crew once again. It really seems like he’s happier that way, though.

By The Wrath of Khan, Spock has learned to accept the dichotomy of his existence. He is logical and emotional- Vulcan and Human. He can not dismiss or repress either side of himself. Then, of course, he dies. When his soul is reunited with his body in The Search for Spock, he has to start from scratch.

In the beginning of The Voyage Home, we see a Spock who does not find any relevance in retraining the human part of himself. However, by the end of the movie, he sees the importance of rescuing Chekov from the hospital, even if it is not the most logical move.

The Final Frontier...happened. Alright, ok. Bear with me. Even though Star Trek V isn’t very good, there is an important character moment for Spock- it doesn't even involve gravity boots. His weird half-brother Sybok shows him his greatest pain, a scene which demonstrates the dichotomy between his humanity and his vulcanness. Spock, however, has already come to terms with his deepest pain. He was able to once again reconcile the logic and emotion deep down inside of him.

In Star Trek VI, Spock faces the consequences of his own failure. The young Vulcan officer Valeris, whom he trained to be his successor, turns out to be a warmonger and a spy. Despite this mistake, is Spock still relevant and useful?

It would appear so. In the 2009 Star Trek reboot, Leonard Nimoy’s Spock serves as a mentor and and a counselor to the alternate versions of both Kirk and Spock. His advice to new Spock- to follow his heart and not just his head, not just his head- mirrors the journey Prime Spock took throughout his life.

In Star Trek Into Darkness, Nimoy’s Spock goes against reason, and better judgement, and tells the new Spock how to avoid some of the Khan-related mistakes of his past. The punching and yelling that ensued cannot be blamed on Prime Spock at all.

Logic, emotions, uncertainty, mistakes- these are all things everyone has to sift through and deal with. The thoughtful and nuanced way that Leonard Nimoy portrayed these conflicts in Spock ensure that his character will continue to live long and prosper even after the beloved actor’s death.

Keep on glowing in the dark ,

Elora

kolinahr

Top-5 Tuesday-Things Early Sci-Fi Got Right

Miracle of miracles, I'm posting a Top-5 Tuesday list on a Tuesday! Thank you for your patience during this long and unexpected hiatus. I was in a show, and things got really hectic, but I am glad to be back at it again!

If you can remember back to last time I posted a top-5 list, (if you can’t, I don’t blame you. It was a long time ago), you’ll remember that we pointed and laughed at things early sci-fi got right. Well, pointed and laughed in an analytical and geeky sort of way. This time, we get to be even more geeky, as we explore the top-5 fascinating things that 19th century sci-fi got right!

Now, I had to limit this list to one entry per author, otherwise this would be a Jules Verne fest. Innovative guy, that Jules Verne.

And, here we go.

5. Automatic Doors (H.G. Wells, The Sleeper Wakes)-

In his 1910 novel about a man who wakes up in a futuristic dystopia after sleeping for three-hundred years, he describes a device that sounds an awful lot like a modern automatic sliding door. One of the citizens of the future civilization walks straight into a wall, only to have a portion of the wall slide away, admitting him entrance into the chamber beyond. The first automatic door was installed around half-a-century after the book was published.

4. The Credit Card (Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward 2000-1887)-

Bellamy’s main idea in Looking Backward was the description of a future socialist utopia. However, aside from his political commentary, he also made some fascinating social and economic predictions. He described the modern day credit card down to the minute detail of the buyer receiving one receipt, and the seller keeping the other. In fact, he even called his transaction method, a “credit card”, a term which didn’t become part of the vernacular until the 1950s.

3. The Speed of Light (Camille Flammarion, Lumen)-

Flammarion’s early sci-fi/fantasy novel philosophizes over the nature of light, and the possibility that time and space could be perceived differently at the speed of light than it is at sublight speeds. Lumen was published in 1872, 30 years before Albert Einstein would take up the concept of light in his Theory of Relativity.

2. The Internet (Mark Twain, “The ‘London Times’ in 1904”)-

Yes, Mark Twain. In addition to his beloved stories of childhood adventures, and American life, Samuel Clemens also dabbled in the budding genre of science fiction. The “telectroscope” described in his 1898 short story “The ‘London Times’ in 1904” brought the affairs of the entire world into the homes of ordinary citizens, much as the internet is capable of doing today.

1.The Moon Landing (Jules Verne, From the Earth to the Moon)-

The similarities between Jules Verne’s fictional moon landing, written in 1865, and the actual moon landing in 1969 are almost uncanny. The American astronauts in the French novel From the Earth to the Moon, even use a location in Florida as their launch point. As I mentioned in the last top-5 post, his calculations for the rocket-launching cannon were almost plausible, though the barrel would have had to been much longer to propel the astronauts out of the atmosphere.

So, what do you think of these ‘predictions’? Were they inspirations? Calculated hypotheses? Good guesses? Coincidences? Were there any others you think I should have mentioned? Let me know in the comments!

Keep on glowing in the dark,

Elora

Visions of the Future: The 1840s- With Eyes Wide Open

(Samuel Morse's telegraph)
As in the 1820s and 30s, revolution spread rapidly across the globe. However, these revolutions were not only political, they were also philosophical, social, and technological. As the consequences of new ideas began to infiltrate everyday life, both science and fiction served as a sort of mirror, showing people the darker sides of human nature.

History:

Around 1848, violent revolutions in Europe caused mass migrations into America. Immigrants sought opportunity to advance their standing in life under the banner of freedom and democracy. Meanwhile, back in the old world, radical ideas were causing great unrest and violence. In 1849, a group of radical Russian intellectuals, including author Fyodor Dostoevsky, were arrested and sentenced to death for treason. They were brought before a firing squad, but at the last minute, their sentence was changed, and they were exiled to Siberia.

Science:

(Louis Agassiz)

In 1840, acclaimed natural scientist Louis Agassiz was the first to propose an ice age in earth’s past. 1944 saw the first usage of Morse’s telegraph. This was when he sent his famous Biblical message, “What hath God wrought”, (which comes from Numbers 23:23). In 1847, photography was first used in war, giving civilians a grisly look into the horrors of the Mexican-American war.

Stories:

Edgar Allan Poe was still a very influential romanticist author in the 1840s, and wrote several proto-science fiction/horror stories. One of these is the grisly tale “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar”. This tells the story of a hypnotist who puts someone into a hypnotic trance just before he dies. It seems to be a precursor to many cryogenic suspension stories, and explores themes of life, death, and the attempted perpetuation of life.

James Fenimore Cooper, the American romanticist of The Last of The Mohicans fame, delved into the newborn science fiction genre with his novel The Crater, in which shipwrecked sailors discover a civilization in a crater on an island previously unknown to the outside.

Yet another romanticist, Nathaniel Hawthorne, wrote a short mad-scientist story, which explored man’s obsession with physical appearance.

Worldview:

If you couldn’t tell, most of the sci-fi of the 1840s came from the worldview of Romanticism. However, during this decade, a new philosophy was devised that would completely change the landscape of society in the middle of the 20th century.

In 1848, the German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels created the Communist Manifesto, which outlined their ideas of a perfect society, based on a completely equal society, and a complete rejection of any religion but atheism.

Science was changing. Philosophy was changing. The world was changing. In this time of upheaval and chaos, science fiction writers were still asking questions basic to humanity: how can we prevent death? What happens when we tamper with the human body? What is out there beyond the world that we know?

Keep on glowing in the dark,
Elora

Top-5 Valentine's Day- Things Early Sci-fi Got Wrong

I hope you see this list of sci-fi concepts from the 19th century that were wrong as a symbol of my deep and lasting affection for all of you readers. Thanks for reading, and feel loved.

Sci-fi is a genre of speculation, not certainty. Looking back at sci-fi from even thirty years ago, like Back to the Future II, we can point and laugh at things that didn't end up happening. Of course, there are also a lot of very fascinating things that science fiction does get right.

Today, however, we are going to point and laugh (in an analytical sort of way) at the things that nineteenth century didn’t get right. To clarify, the names listed beside each concept are not necessarily the inventors of the concepts. Rather, they are the creators who popularized them in science fiction.

Let it begin!

5. The Rocket Cannon (Jules Verne)-

In his 1865 novel From the Earth to the Moon (also known as something I can’t spell or pronounce in French), Jules Verne tells the story of a gun club whose members decide to launch a vessel out of a giant cannon into space. Interestingly, his calculations for the rocket cannon are almost plausible, but aren’t quite practical for manned space travel.

4. The Moon’s Atmosphere (George Tucker)-

The moon’s atmosphere appears in far more works than just Tucker’s 1827 space satire, but since we talked about it in a previous post, I thought I would use it for this example. For all the people of the time knew, the moon could have had a perfectly breathable atmosphere, but further study has shown that what little atmosphere the moon has is only comparable to the outer fringes of the earth’s atmosphere, and is not at all sufficient to sustain caricatures of earth civilizations.

3. Martian Canals (H.G. Wells)-

The Martian canals were actually a subject of scientific study from the end of the 19th century until the beginning of the 20th century. However, increased astronomical study and technology have proved these presumed remnants of Martian civilization to be little more than optical illusions. Still, they made for a pretty believable origin story for angry extraterrestrials who want to conquer earth.

2. American Socialist Utopia in the Year 2000 (Edward Bellamy)-

The late nineteenth century was the time when socialist ideals were really beginning to make an influence on culture. In Looking Backward, socialist Edward Bellamy foresaw the United States of America in the year 2000. While it can be argued that American government is increasingly socialist, fifteen years after Bellamy’s proposed society was set to exist, I think we can safely say that The United States is either completely socialist, or all that utopian.

1. The Reanimation of a Dead Human Brain (Mary Shelley)-

Life and death have been one of the central issues of human philosophy since we were kicked out of the Garden of Eden. Therefore, it makes sense for us to postulate about bringing life back into dead tissue by scientific means, as Victor Frankenstein did in Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel. However, the human brain is so complex, that the amount of damage caused by prolonged, well, death, would render it unusable. There’s your happy tip for the day.

On the next top five list, we’ll talk about things 19th century sci-fi actually got right. In the meantime, there will be a post about 1840s sci-fi! Yay! Also,you can tune in to my radio show, SpaceTime on Moody Campus Radio at 7 PM central time on Tuesdays. This Tuesday, February 17th, I’ll be talking about the 50s, 60s, and 70s in sci-fi history (I’m moving through sci-fi history much faster on the show than on the blog), as well as Back to the Future III! Thanks for reading. As always, please leave comments.

Keep on glowing in the dark,

Elora