Ahira's Hangar

1977 was a strange year--some important things happened historically; The famous NYC blackout, the overthrow of the 'Gang of Four in China', Elvis' death and the founding of Apple Computers but basically it was very sad (except for Sci-Fi and Fantasy). Indeed even the internet was starting to emerge from it's infancy from PLATO based online gaming to MUD1. Most of the movies sucked (except for two I'll talk about later) and the music was horrible with Striesand, Manilow and Boston topping the charts. About the only bright spots were Fleetwood Mac's Rumors and The Beatles' Live at the Hollywood Bowl. Oh yeah Laverne & Shirley was the most popular TV show in the US--**gag**. I was going to a college I couldn't stand and was at war with the world and my parents. So it was sorta a sad and miserable year in general...

I do have vivid memories of sports though: long haired, potsmoking, vegetarian, Greatful Dead loving Bill Walton winning the NBA title with the Blazers. The Yankees coming back from a 2-0 deficit to the Dodgers to win 4 in a row (which, btw, I predicted and which, btw, Peter Anderson still owes me $400 for). And dam Dallas coming back in the 2nd half to win the Super Bowl over Denver which accounts for the scar on my upper lip where I went through a plate glass window (it's a long story )

Still the question begs: why do we owe so much to 1977 as Sci-Fi and Fantasy fans? Events in both genres rocketed Sci-Fi into general public exceptance and, probably, saved the Fantasy market in the US.

Sci-Fi 1st: These two movies came out: Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Need I say more? . As far as literature is concerned The Berkely Press' major release of Dune captipulted it from cult classic to major masterpiece. Many other classics came out that year such as Pohl's Gateway, Dick's A Scanner Darkly and Priest's mindblowing Dream of Wessex.

Three factors that saved Fantasy were going on that same year: The height of Ballentine Books' US release of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings initial popularity, the release of some of the more important books in Moorcock's 'Elric' series (Black Bane and Stormbringer) and, oh yeah, the publication of three books you might be familiar with: Lord Foul's Bane, The Illearth War and The Power That Preserves by Stephen R. Donaldson!! Not to mention the intitial release of The Silmarillion, McKillip's Riddle Master of Hed triology, Brook's The Sword of Shanarra, McCaffery's Dragonsinger and Bach's Illusions. Oh did I mention that prototype roleplaying games such as Dungeons and Dragons were beginning to gain immense popularity?

That's enough: I'm totally geeked out now! *****
Before, you are wise; after, you are wise. In between you are otherwise.
Fravashi saying (from the formularies of Osho the Fool) <i>Edited by: danlo60 at: 9/1/06 6:35 pm
</i>

It was also the year I was born.

--A ____________________________________

A sense of the sardonic preserves a man from believing in his own pretensions. -The Sayings Of Maud'Dib<i></i>

I was in middle school back then. I remember disco as being popular? ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
<i></i>

Thank gods I missed it.

--A ____________________________________

A sense of the sardonic preserves a man from believing in his own pretensions. -The Sayings Of Maud'Dib<i></i>

I was living in Israel in 1977. "Does the walker choose the path, or the path the walker?"<i></i>

Disco was pretty disgusting when you got up close and personal to it--I stayed miles away. *****
Before, you are wise; after, you are wise. In between you are otherwise.
Fravashi saying (from the formularies of Osho the Fool) <i></i>

perhaps time to move this to Gen. Sci Fi...(ah, my avatar is showing... ) *****
Before, you are wise; after, you are wise. In between you are otherwise.
Fravashi saying (from the formularies of Osho the Fool) <i></i>

I recently watched Close Encounters of the Third Kind again, and I have to say, the magic is still there, the sense of child-like wonder. There are some things about the movie that I can better appreciate now, and there are things that I grasped only intuitively as a child but could not articulate.

Basically I like how Spielberg contrasts the child's view of the alien visitors with that of the adults. A child sees in the aliens wonderful new friends to play with, the parent sees a threat to her child, and the government sees a threat to the status quo. (Well, I guess it's a threat to the parent's status quo, too.)

Perhaps both Close Encounters and Star Wars represent a europhic optimism or idealism that was special to the late 1970s which we'll never see again. Of course, Saturday Night Fever and the whole disco movement was also an indisputable part of that euphoria, so disco-haters naturally pray that the late '70s will never be resurrected. But I liked the Bee Gees, so there! Anyway, the joy that Close Encounters and Star Wars gave me as a child has stayed with me.

A more interesting question might be: have Close Encounters and Star Wars been bad influences on pop culture, sci-fi and Hollywood?

Was Close Encounters guilty of legitimizing all the UFO conspiracy theories out there? It was meant to be a hopeful movie, but I could imagine all kinds of UFO junkies coming out of the woodwork to claim Spielberg's movie tells "the truth" about gov't cover-ups or something.

And Star Wars? Was it guilty of damaging the reputation of "serious" science fiction by reducing things to big space battles and mystical mumbo-jumbo? Again, it was meant to be a hopeful movie like Close Encounters was, but I guess Star Wars offends those who feel "true" science fiction is about cautionary tales of the futures, not about guys swinging laser swords around.

<i></i>

I don't think Star Wars hurt the reputation of "serious" Sci Fi, perhaps it occulled it for a while. The way I think it helped was in fleshing out a galactic milleiu (sp) for the masses. Serious Sci Fi fans at the time understood how to use their imaginations that take in wide galactic spectrums, such as Cordwainder Smith books, the Foundation series and Dune. I guess what I mean by that is rich universe crafting as opposed to limited space adventures, lumbering spacecraft and, say, Mars. The masses could now appreciate the detail of life teeming through the universe at least visually which, in turn, futher enhanced their reading.

Star Wars was also, unfortunately, a vicious double sword in that regard. It bombared us with visual overstimulation and alot of folks remain addicted to that stimulation whether they know it or not. And computers, DVDs, TV, etc..., obviously cater to that. Sci Fi literature was bound to suffer from that to some degree-I just think we lost alot of potential readers to the "laziness" of technological innovation. Perhaps it prepared some better for this new "hi-tech" world.

Before the movie came out I was just starting to scrape the surface of connectives, wormholes, "folded" space and quantum mechanics. Yes I thought warp drive was very cool, but in a way the initial run of Star Terk still appeared very "tounge-in-cheek" ala Adam West's Batman. It was on a little screen and you could still imagine a tiny model of the Enterprise zipping away on a string. The impact of Star Wars' hyperspace on a huge screen simply blew my head apart. Now the politics of Star Wars and all it's computer imaging can be discussed forever.

Back to literature for a minute that alternate, at least, of space travel helped me more readily accept concepts like traveling through Brin's Uplift universe, Zindell's manifold, Simmons' WorldWeb and Donaldson's Gap. It also made me look back on how the Navigators in Dune fold space/time with a new appreciation. I could ramble on endlessly--it was a romp, it was fun, classic architypes of good vs evil. It was, in a way, representitive of "a new hope" where the "good guys" had a chance of winning.

Nowadays it seems like that "hope" is getting stomped on pretty hard, but that's political discussion. ramble, ramble... *****
Before, you are wise; after, you are wise. In between you are otherwise.
Fravashi saying (from the formularies of Osho the Fool) <i>Edited by: danlo60 at: 10/6/06 10:29 am
</i>

Great post danlo. Yeah...people want special effects these days...and they better be good ones.

--A ____________________________________

A sense of the sardonic preserves a man from believing in his own pretensions. -The Sayings Of Maud'Dib<i></i>