1.
Science fiction
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Science fiction often explores the potential consequences of scientific and other innovations, and has been called a literature of ideas. Science fiction is difficult to define, as it includes a range of subgenres and themes. Author and editor Damon Knight summed up the difficulty, saying science fiction is what we point to when we say it, a definition echoed by author Mark C. Glassy, who argues that the definition of science fiction is like the definition of pornography, you do not know what it is, in 1970 or 1971William Atheling Jr. According to science fiction writer Robert A, rod Serlings definition is fantasy is the impossible made probable. Science fiction is the improbable made possible, Science fiction is largely based on writing rationally about alternative possible worlds or futures. Science fiction elements include, A time setting in the future, in alternative timelines, a spatial setting or scenes in outer space, on other worlds, or on subterranean earth. Characters that include aliens, mutants, androids, or humanoid robots, futuristic or plausible technology such as ray guns, teleportation machines, and humanoid computers. Scientific principles that are new or that contradict accepted physical laws, for time travel, wormholes. New and different political or social systems, e. g. utopian, dystopian, post-scarcity, paranormal abilities such as mind control, telepathy, telekinesis Other universes or dimensions and travel between them. A product of the budding Age of Reason and the development of science itself. Isaac Asimov and Carl Sagan considered Keplers work the first science fiction story and it depicts a journey to the Moon and how the Earths motion is seen from there. Later, Edgar Allan Poe wrote a story about a flight to the moon, more examples appeared throughout the 19th century. Wells The War of the Worlds describes an invasion of late Victorian England by Martians using tripod fighting machines equipped with advanced weaponry and it is a seminal depiction of an alien invasion of Earth. In the late 19th century, the scientific romance was used in Britain to describe much of this fiction. This produced additional offshoots, such as the 1884 novella Flatland, the term would continue to be used into the early 20th century for writers such as Olaf Stapledon. In the early 20th century, pulp magazines helped develop a new generation of mainly American SF writers, influenced by Hugo Gernsback, the founder of Amazing Stories magazine. In 1912 Edgar Rice Burroughs published A Princess of Mars, the first of his series of Barsoom novels, situated on Mars
2.
Western (genre)
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Cowboys and gunslingers typically wear Stetson hats, bandannas, spurs, cowboy boots and buckskins. Other characters include Native Americans, bandits, lawmen, bounty hunters, outlaws, mounted cavalry, settlers, Westerns often stress the harshness of the wilderness and frequently set the action in an arid, desolate landscape of deserts and mountains. Often, the vast landscape plays an important role, presenting a. mythic vision of the plains, specific settings include ranches, small frontier towns, saloons, railways and isolated military forts of the Wild West. Many Westerns use a plot of depicting a crime, then showing the pursuit of the wrongdoer, ending in revenge and retribution. The Western was the most popular Hollywood genre, from the early 20th century to the 1960s, Western films first became well-attended in the 1930s. John Fords landmark Western adventure Stagecoach became one of the biggest hits in 1939, Westerns were very popular throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Many of the most acclaimed Westerns were released during this time – including High Noon, Shane, The Searchers, the Western depicts a society organized around codes of honor and personal, direct or private justice–frontier justice–dispensed by gunfights. These honor codes are played out through depictions of feuds or individuals seeking personal revenge or retribution against someone who has wronged them. The popular perception of the Western is a story that centers on the life of a semi-nomadic wanderer, a showdown or duel at high noon featuring two or more gunfighters is a stereotypical scene in the popular conception of Westerns. In some ways, such protagonists may be considered the descendants of the knight errant which stood at the center of earlier extensive genres such as the Arthurian Romances. And like knights errant, the heroes of Westerns frequently rescue damsels in distress, similarly, the wandering protagonists of Westerns share many characteristics with the ronin in modern Japanese culture. The Western typically takes these elements and uses them to tell simple morality tales, Westerns often stress the harshness and isolation of the wilderness and frequently set the action in an arid, desolate landscape. Apart from the wilderness, it is usually the saloon that emphasizes that this is the Wild West, it is the place to go for music, women, gambling, drinking, brawling and shooting. The American Film Institute defines western films as those set in the American West that embodies the spirit, the struggle, the term Western, used to describe a narrative film genre, appears to have originated with a July 1912 article in Motion Picture World Magazine. Most of the characteristics of Western films were part of 19th century popular Western fiction and were firmly in place before film became an art form. Protagonists ride between dusty towns and cattle ranches on their trusty steeds, Western films were enormously popular in the silent film era. With the advent of sound in 1927-28, the major Hollywood studios rapidly abandoned Westerns, leaving the genre to smaller studios and these smaller organizations churned out countless low-budget features and serials in the 1930s. Released through United Artists, Stagecoach made John Wayne a mainstream star in the wake of a decade of headlining B westerns
3.
Firefly (TV series)
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Firefly is an American space western drama television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon, under his Mutant Enemy Productions label. Whedon served as a producer, along with Tim Minear. The series is set in the year 2517, after the arrival of humans in a new system and follows the adventures of the renegade crew of Serenity. The ensemble cast portrays the nine characters who live on Serenity, Whedon pitched the show as nine people looking into the blackness of space and seeing nine different things. In this future, the two surviving superpowers, the United States and China, fused to form the central federal government, called the Alliance. According to Whedons vision, nothing will change in the future, technology will advance, but we still have the same political, moral. Firefly premiered in the U. S. on the Fox network on September 20,2002, by mid-December, Firefly had averaged 4.7 million viewers per episode and was 98th in Nielsen ratings. It was canceled after eleven of the fourteen produced episodes were aired, despite the relatively short life span of the series, it received strong sales when it was released on DVD and has large fan support campaigns. It won a Primetime Emmy Award in 2003 for Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Series, TV Guide ranked the series at No.5 on their 2013 list of 60 shows that were Cancelled Too Soon. The series takes place in the year 2517, on a variety of planets, the TV series does not reveal whether these celestial bodies are within one star system, only saying that Serenitys mode of propulsion is a gravity-drive. The film Serenity makes clear that all the planets and moons are in one large system, the emigrants established themselves in this new star system, with dozens of planets and hundreds of moons. Many of these were terraformed, a process in which a planet or moon is altered to resemble Earth and this resulted in many of the border planets and moons having forbidding, dry environments, well-suited to the Western genre. The show takes its name from the Firefly-class spaceship, Serenity and it resembles a firefly in general arrangement, and the tail section, analogous to a bioluminescent insectoid abdomen, lights up during acceleration. The ship was named after the Battle of Serenity Valley, where Malcolm Reynolds, former sergeant in the Independents and it is revealed in Bushwhacked that the Battle of Serenity Valley is widely considered the loss which sealed the fate of the Independents. Throughout the series, the Alliance is shown to govern the system through an organization of core planets. The central planets are firmly under Alliance control, but the planets and moons resemble the 19th-century American West. Settlers and refugees on the worlds have relative freedom from the central government. In addition, the areas of space are inhabited by the Reavers
4.
Gene Roddenberry
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Eugene Wesley Gene Roddenberry was an American television screenwriter and producer. He is best remembered for creating the original Star Trek television series, born in El Paso, Texas, Roddenberry grew up in Los Angeles, where his father was a police officer. Roddenberry flew 89 combat missions in the Army Air Forces during World War II, later, he followed in his fathers footsteps and joined the Los Angeles Police Department, where he also began to write scripts for television. As a freelance writer, Roddenberry wrote scripts for Highway Patrol, Have Gun–Will Travel, in 1964, Roddenberry created Star Trek, which premiered in 1966 and ran for three seasons before being canceled. He then worked on projects, including a string of failed television pilots. The syndication of Star Trek led to its popularity, this, in turn, resulted in the Star Trek feature films, on which Roddenberry continued to produce. He continued to consult on the series until his death in 1991, years after his death, Roddenberry was one of the first humans to have his ashes carried into earth orbit. The popularity of the Star Trek universe and films has inspired films, books, comic books, video games, and fan films set in the Star Trek universe. Roddenberry was born on August 19,1921, in his parents rented home in El Paso, Texas, the family moved to Los Angeles in 1923 after Genes father passed the Civil Service test and was given a police commission there. During his childhood, Roddenberry was interested in reading, especially magazines, and was a fan of stories such as John Carter of Mars, Tarzan. Roddenberry majored in science at Los Angeles City College, where he began dating Eileen-Anita Rexroat. He obtained a license through the United States Army Air Corps-sponsored Civilian Pilot Training Program. He enlisted with the USAAC on December 18,1941, and he graduated from the USAAC on August 5,1942, when he was commissioned as a second lieutenant. He was posted to Bellows Field, Oahu, to join the 394th Bomb Squadron, 5th Bombardment Group, of the Thirteenth Air Force, which flew the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. On August 2,1943, while flying out of Espiritu Santo, the plane Roddenberry was piloting overshot the runway by 500 feet and impacted trees, crushing the nose, the official report absolved Roddenberry of any responsibility. Roddenberry spent the remainder of his career in the United States. He was involved in a plane crash, this time as a passenger. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal, in 1945, Roddenberry began flying for Pan American World Airways, including routes from New York to Johannesburg or Calcutta, the two longest Pan Am routes at the time
5.
Star Trek: The Original Series
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Star Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry that follows the adventures of the starship USS Enterprise and its crew. It later acquired the retronym of Star Trek, The Original Series to distinguish the show within the franchise that it began. The show is set in the Milky Way galaxy, roughly during the 2260s, the ship and crew are led by Captain James T. Kirk, first officer and science officer Spock, and chief medical officer Leonard McCoy. Shatners voice-over introduction during each episodes opening credits stated the purpose, Space. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise and its five-year mission, to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before. The series was produced from September 1966 to December 1967 by Norway Productions and Desilu Productions, Star Trek aired on NBC from September 8,1966 to June 3,1969 and was actually seen first on September 6,1966, on Canadas CTV network. Star Treks Nielsen ratings while on NBC were low, and the network cancelled it after three seasons and 79 episodes. Several years later, the became a bona fide hit in broadcast syndication, remaining so throughout the 1970s, achieving cult classic status. The series contains significant elements of Space Western, as described by Gene Roddenberry, on March 11,1964, Gene Roddenberry, a long-time fan of science fiction, drafted a short treatment for a science-fiction television series that he called Star Trek. This was to be set on board a large interstellar spaceship S. S. Yorktown in the 23rd century, whose crew was dedicated to exploring a small portion of our galaxy. Some of the influences on his idea that Roddenberry noted included A. E. van Vogts tales of the spaceship Space Beagle, Eric Frank Russells Marathon series of stories, and the film Forbidden Planet. Roddenberry also drew heavily from C. S. Foresters Horatio Hornblower novels that depict a sea captain who exercises broad discretionary authority on distant sea missions of noble purpose. Roddenberry often humorously referred to Captain Kirk as Horatio Hornblower in Space, Roddenberry had extensive experience in writing for series about the Old West that had been popular television fare earlier in the 1960s and the 1950s. Armed with this background, the first draft deliberately characterizes the new show as Wagon Train to the stars. Like the familiar Wagon Train, each episode was to be an adventure story, set within the overarching structure of a continuing journey. With the notable exception of Star Trek, Deep Space Nine, all future television, in Roddenberrys original concept, the protagonist was Captain Robert April of the starship S. S. Yorktown. This character was developed into Captain Christopher Pike, first portrayed by Jeffrey Hunter, in April 1964, Roddenberry presented the Star Trek draft to Desilu Productions, a leading independent television production company. He met with Herb Solow, Desilus Director of Production, Solow saw promise in the idea and signed a three-year program-development contract with Roddenberry
6.
John Ford
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John Ford was an American film director. His four Academy Awards for Best Director remain a record, one of the films for which he won the award, How Green Was My Valley, also won Best Picture. In a career spanned more than 50 years, Ford directed more than 140 films and he is widely regarded as one of the most important. Fords work was held in regard by his colleagues, with Orson Welles. Ford made frequent use of shooting and long shots, in which his characters were framed against a vast, harsh. Ford was born John Martin Jack Feeney in Cape Elizabeth, Maine to John Augustine Feeney and Barbara Abbey Curran and his father, John Augustine, was born in Spiddal, County Galway, Ireland in 1854. Barbara Curran had been born in the Aran Islands, in the town of Kilronan on the island of Inishmore, John A. Feeneys grandmother, Barbara Morris, was said to be a member of a local gentry family, the Morrises of Spiddal. John Augustine and Barbara Curran arrived in Boston and Portland respectively in May and they married in 1875 and became American citizens five years later on September 11,1880. John Augustine lived in the Munjoy Hill neighborhood of Portland, Maine with his family, and would try farming, fishing, working for the gas company, running a saloon, and being an alderman. Feeney attended Portland High School, Portland, Maine, where he was a successful fullback and he earned the nickname Bull because of the way he would lower his helmet and charge the line. A Portland pub is named Bull Feeneys in his honor and he later moved to California and in 1914 began working in film production as well as acting for his older brother Francis, adopting Jack Ford as a professional name. In addition to credited roles, he appeared uncredited as a Klansman in D. W. Griffiths 1915 The Birth of a Nation and he married Mary McBride Smith on July 3,1920, and they had two children. His daughter Barbara was married to singer and actor Ken Curtis from 1952 to 1964, what difficulty was caused by the two marrying is unclear as the level of John Fords commitment to the Catholic faith is disputed. A strain would have been Fords many extramarital relationships, John Ford began his career in film after moving to California in July 1914. He followed in the footsteps of his older brother Francis Ford, twelve years his senior. John Ford started out in his brothers films as an assistant, handyman, stuntman and occasional actor, frequently doubling for his brother, Francis gave his younger brother his first acting role in The Mysterious Rose. Despite an often combative relationship, within three years Jack had progressed to become Francis chief assistant and often worked as his cameraman, by the time Jack Ford was given his first break as a director, Francis profile was declining and he ceased working as a director soon after. One notable feature of John Fords films is that he used a company of actors
