More Tales Of Time And Space!

I've really had a yen for science fiction lately. Decades ago, I split my time between reading the latest comics and trying to stay current in the science fiction and fantasy fields which were in full bloom at the time. In the 1980's it seemed to me that science fiction took a bit of a hit, especially in the digest magazine arena where I hung out most of the time, so with a family to tend to, I focused on comics. I sometimes wish I'd gone the other direction, but c'est la vie. Anyway, it's sci-fi this month...again! 

The primary mission will be to create and revisit a cavalcade of posts regarding Star Trek. I'm a fan of the franchise, but I mostly love the "The Original Series" or TOS as it's known. As good as the movies have been and the later series too, the magic of the original still speaks to me like nothing else. So I'm taking a wander back through those first three seasons, back when no one knew or much cared about Star Trek save a few devoted souls. I'll also be taking a look at the animated show and the movies which featured the original cast. 

To assist in this effort, I've also picked up some hefty tomes titled These Are The Voyages which give massive behind-the-scenes details about the making of the shows. So, expect a lot of Star Trek stuff on the weekends and later in the weeks. 

Then I want to travel into the distant future and tackle a pretty robust reading assignment and take another look at all the Legion of Superheroes stories contained in the five Showcase Presents volumes which DC published some years ago now. Those delightful Silver Age and Bronze Age stories speak to a population still filled with wonder. It's a series of comic yarns brimming with heroes, both male and female just aching to get the chance to prove themselves and perhaps even save the universe itself. 

As has become custom here at the Dojo, I will be pulling up and revising some vintage posts from years past which fit into the overall monthly theme. I do this because it's pointless to write a review of a movie again and it encourages me to watch some of these vintage beauties all over again. Maybe I'll change my mind about some things. 

The Dojo will also be racing backwards in time to the earliest days of science fiction, before it was even called that. Ralph 124C+ is an oddball but highly successful novel from 1911 by Hugo Gernsback, the man who lent his name to the major awards which are distributed to successful works of sci-fi in any given year. Gernsback was the man who coined the term "science fiction" though apparently he preferred a later term he dreamed up "scientifiction". The latter seems a bit of a mouthful to me. I'm checking out this early novel and will also be looking a wonderful movie from the early 30's called Just Imagine. This is a strange one indeed, just imagine the Jetsons as real-life folks. 

That and whatever else will fit. So I hope you beam up this month as the Dojo goes where many men have gone before, but maybe I'll find something fresh to say about it all. 

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