It’s only taken me 4 years, but I finally got to see the Science Fiction Museum & Hall of Fame here in Seattle!
I’d been to the Experience Music Project (housed in the same building) several times before, and was pleased to see that one admission got us into both exhibits. Plus, I had a 2-for-1 coupon, because I’m such a cheap-ass.
What an amazing place! We got to see the permanent exhibits: Homeworld, Fantastic Voyages, Brave New Worlds, and Them, as well as a travelling exhibit, Robots. As was to be expected, a great deal of reverance and homage was paid to the early writers of science fiction, your Isaac Asimovs, your Poul Andersons and your Ray Bradburys. Personally, may favorite author is Philip K. Dick, and I was pleased to see him included in the Hall of Fame.
My own introduction to sci-fi started with an old boyfriend who introduced me to Red Dwarf at age 18. Perhaps comedy’s not the best way to start, but whatever it takes, right? When X-Files came around, I was easily sucked in, and gradually went from there. Believe it or not, I’d never actually read anything until maybe 6 years ago.
Since then, I’ve embraced my inner geek and hungrily eat up all the sci-fi I can get my hands on. I’m really happy that smart sci-fi movies are being made, even in the summer when one usually needs to drop their IQ by 20 points to enjoy summer movie fare. The Matrix, anyone?
I must say, I was pretty disappointed to see Doctor Who and Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy excluded. Especially Doctor Who, because we’ve been watching the newer 2005 season and it’s the best thing I’ve watched in a really long time. Maybe I’ll tackle the older series once we get caught up on the current one.
I asked the gift shop clerk what/who decided what makes it into the exhibits. He echoed what I’d pretty much surmised: because this museum started out as bits of Paul Allen’s private collection, it’s fairly safe to say that Mr. Vulcan is not necessarily a fan of Doctor Who or HGttG. Now that I think about it, aside from the early classic novels, the museum’s offerings had a distinctly American feel: Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Men in Black, etc. Don’t misconstrue, I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with American sci-fi. However, the British stuff tends to explore more subtle themes than our typical stateside kill bad monsters stories. Themes of loneliness and alienation, Big Brother and mandatory breeding/sterilization/behavior modification, and even the struggle to save face and keep plodding along while the world around you is going to hell, I guess we don’t see much of this in American stories. Buut I still have a lot to read and watch!
