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Whenever I see something inspired by Clarke, Asimov or Roddenberry, I wonder who is inspiring the kids of today. Which movies or authors? Or will be indebted

Whenever I see something inspired by Clarke, Asimov or Roddenberry, I wonder who is inspiring the kids of today. Which movies or authors? Or will be indebted by the guidance of the early SF authors for the next 100 years? My first guess is Avatar as a grand inspiration, but who are the writers out there standing of the giants before them? Quoting country music usually gets me in trouble, but "Who's gonna fill their shoes?"

incision 13y ago
That's an interesting question. My guess is that the original/semi-original stuff they will be inspired by are games like Halo, Mass Effect, Portal, StarCraft, Bioshock, movies like Avatar as mentioned, District 9 and Inception. Anecdotally, I don't see young people reading much and when they are it's wizards or vampires, not science fiction. As best I can recall, there haven't been many strong or particularly popular books, movies or television series in the genre for a good decade now.
TimSAstro 13y ago
Well, to name my personal favourites: William Gibson. Neal Stephenson. Paolo Bacigalupi. Ian M. Banks (sadly no longer with us as of late). I'm sure I've missed a great deal more fine authors.
dragonwriter 13y ago
> Whenever I see something inspired by Clarke, Asimov or Roddenberry, I wonder who is inspiring the kids of today. Which movies or authors? Even if there were parallels around (and, really, you aren't going to find an Asimov or even a Clarke every generation), the social, economic, and cultural situation of the early 21st century isn't the same as the one of the mid-20th, and doesn't lend itself to the same kind of popular reception for futurism that occurred especially during what might be described as the golden age of the American middle class from the end of WWII through about 1980, and continued later among the people that grew up in that period.
Valid 13y ago
Neil DeGrasse Tyson's remake of Carl Sagan's COSMOS series is getting me seriously excited. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBTd9--9VMI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBTd9--9VMI Not SF necessarily, but still inspiring.

incision 13y ago

That's an interesting question. My guess is that the original/semi-original stuff they will be inspired by are games like Halo, Mass Effect, Portal, StarCraft, Bioshock, movies like Avatar as mentioned, District 9 and Inception. Anecdotally, I don't see young people reading much and when they are it's wizards or vampires, not science fiction. As best I can recall, there haven't been many strong or particularly popular books, movies or television series in the genre for a good decade now.

TimSAstro 13y ago

Well, to name my personal favourites: William Gibson. Neal Stephenson. Paolo Bacigalupi. Ian M. Banks (sadly no longer with us as of late). I'm sure I've missed a great deal more fine authors.

dragonwriter 13y ago

> Whenever I see something inspired by Clarke, Asimov or Roddenberry, I wonder who is inspiring the kids of today. Which movies or authors? Even if there were parallels around (and, really, you aren't going to find an Asimov or even a Clarke every generation), the social, economic, and cultural situation of the early 21st century isn't the same as the one of the mid-20th, and doesn't lend itself to the same kind of popular reception for futurism that occurred especially during what might be described as the golden age of the American middle class from the end of WWII through about 1980, and continued later among the people that grew up in that period.

Valid 13y ago

Neil DeGrasse Tyson's remake of Carl Sagan's COSMOS series is getting me seriously excited. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBTd9--9VMI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBTd9--9VMI Not SF necessarily, but still inspiring.