Crazy Sci-Fi Girl

I've always been a science fiction nut. I blame it on my sister. Well, I blame a lot on my sister because she isn't here to defend herself, heh heh.

You can tell if you were a sci-fi-crazed nut at a young age if any of the following are true for you:

• You spent hours sewing tribbles out of fake fur while watching Saturday morning cartoons and re-runs of Star Trek.
  
• You remember watching actual Star Trek episodes when they were new, not re-runs.
  
• You had waaaaaaay more tribbles than friends.
  
• You sent postcards to all the TV networks after Star Trek was cancelled, imploring them to reconsider. And only got a response at all from NBC.
  
• You belonged to the Sci-Fi book club in high school -- every six weeks another couple books came in the mail! Yay! Which you had to find some way to pay for! Oh dear!
  
• A high school English teacher asks you to teach a class on Science Fiction for him because you know more about it than he does -- and you're still in high school.
  
• The kids in the class actually take notes on your science fiction lecture.
  
• You saw Star Wars 14 times... in a row.
  

Heh heh. Yup.

Back when I was in junior high and high school it was pretty darned geeky (that was back when "geek" was a pejorative term, not a sexy term) to even know what science fiction was, let alone wallow in it. I didn't really care, as I was thankfully pretty oblivious to social interactions. I just wanted to curl up with a little Isaac Asimov or Robert Heinlein and read. I did feel a little lonely, though, because other than my sister (the blamed one), no one else cared about sci-fi and all. It was a lonely, lonely hobby....

But, I have continued to be a science fiction nut all my life, only now there are tons of us and liking sci-fi is considered a plus, not an oddity. (I'm pretty sure.) Ever since technology finally caught up to sci-fi writers' imaginations, around 1977 with the advent of Star Wars and the creation of Industrial Light and Magic special effects company, there has been an explosion of really good sci-fi in movies and television. No more rubber monster suits! No more fake laser beams painted on the film! No more aluminum pie plate UFOs!

Here are some of my favorite sci-fi TV shows I have enjoyed over the years:

• Star Trek
• Star Trek the Next Generation
• Deep Space Nine
• Star Trek Enterprise (I didn't watch ST Voyager)
• Farscape
• Earth: Final Conflict
• Andromeda
• Babylon 5
• Battlestar Galactica
• Firefly
• Stargate SG-1
• John Doe
• Crusade
• Dr. Who (old & new) (My favorite Dr. is Tom Baker, of course; the scarf alone makes me weak in the knees....)
• The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.
• Land of the Giants
• SeaQuest DSV
• Mystery Science Theater 3000

And then there are sci-fi movies I have enjoyed. Oddly, I had a harder time thinking of sci-fi movies, and had to go to imdb.com to jog my memory... I probably still missed a few. Feel free to email me with a "Duh" if I forgot any! Great sci-fi movies:

• Star Trek movies -- all of them, both original & STNG as well
• Star Wars -- Loved the originals; I didn't like the new round of Star Wars movies, except for that last one....
• Galaxy Quest -- one of my favorite sci-fi spoofs ever!
• Independence Day
• Serenity
• Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
• 2001: A Space Odyssey
• Red Planet
• Close Encounters of the Third Kind
• Metropolis - from 1927
• (E.T. would go here, but I didn't like it!)
• The Matrix movies (tho' I liked the first one best)
• Time Bandits (may not be true sci-fi, but I loved it)
• HG Wells' The Time Machine - both the 1960 version and the 2002 version.
• Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure - this is only borderline sci-fi but I really loved it
• Killer Klowns from Outer Space - lol I think this is the one where they find that listening to Slim Whitman music is the only thing that kills the aliens... it makes their brains explode!
• Back to the Future (all of the movies)
• Terminator (all of the movies)
• Ghost Busters (both of the movies)

Maybe one of these days I'll do similar lists for fantasy TV & movies I like, so that's where I will put Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter and Buffy the Vampire Killer... in case you were wondering why they weren't listed. Science fiction and Fantasy are so often paired together, sometimes people forget that they are two completely separate things. But I like fantasy, too!

Comments

[Tracy]

Oh, the memories. It's nice to see a list that includes Time Bandits, Firefly, and John Doe. I thought I was the only one. Thanks for the list 'o fun.

P.S. She's the Slayer, not Killer. Though most vampires are better off dust, except for my William the Bloody ;-)

[beth Collins]

LOL thanks Tracy! I can count on you to keep me in line! Buffy truly is the Slayer. :D Thanks! Glad you liked the lists!

[Denise]

hehehehe Ahhh Firefly.. I saw the movie before I saw the series.. crazy eh? The sweater in the episode the Message makes me weak in the knees..especially since I am fixin to knit it..quite clever don't ya think?
oh yeah.. 42..

[beth Collins]

I can't believe I forgot The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy!! Thanks, Denise!

[Kimberly]

Oh, been meaning to tell you... Spaceballs: The Movie is one of my faves to watch.
=:8