Why Sci-Fi

When I grew up nothing of sci-fi was watched, not until I had the age of about 14/15. That was also around the time Star Trek was first broadcast and I made a hobby out of zapping.


I grew up with a family very much rooted in reality, not fantasy. No, I should rephrase that (I can see several misleading and incorrect assumptions you can make from that). My parents, were not interested in watching a series about something that was not immediately recognizable to them. It shone through in our upbringing. I watched soaps or realistic drama’s, (Dutch) panel shows, evening fulling entertainment shows in which people did stupid stuff, the news and sport, lots of sports. That was what was watched back home. Star Trek did not qualify. Strangely, British series didn’t qualify either.

It was not really strange British series didn’t qualify. English was not a language that was spoken at home. My mum doesn’t really want to read during watching, my dad was more interested in sports and my borther at the time also was more interested in sports. So that left me alone slowly discovering what else was going on entertainment wise. I spent some hours watching some British or American series in my parents’ bedroom.

I remember one particular British series about fireworkers. I followed that dilligently; I can only remember one story line from it. That’s how it started for me, watching the BBC. I must have been around 15. At that point I wanted to visit London one day. My mum said I only wanted to because of that series. Truth is, I very early on knew I wanted to escape the crippling and controlling village life. Deep in my heart I always knew I was rather a city person.

Monty Python was completely not understood. Both my mum and my brother at some point said: “They’re completely mad, aren’t they?” and my mum claiming she didn’t like that kind of humour, because it was childish. I asked her which humour was grownup; she couldn’t answer. Ironically, I think Monty Pythong has the most grownup humour you can find on the planet.

Lt. Commander Data (from Star Trek)

Problem with my parents is, and through inheritance and upbringing my brother too, they don’t look deep into what it is that’s good about it. For them entertainment is just that: ‘entertainment’. They either like it, or they don’t. They’re not wondering why they like it, or why not. Greatest problem is, because of prejudice, certain art forms are simply not visited. My mum once claimed she didn’t like sci-fi, because it’s not real. As if soaps are real. She also doesn’t know the difference between a soap and a quality drama series. It doesn’t matter to her.

Since this is just about art forms, and since art is mainly for entertainment purposes and very orientated on taste, I can’t force her to watch things. Her life quality might not enhance when watching Star Trek. Though I think if there’s one TV/Film genre that can teach people something about themselves, how we live our lives and treat each other, it is sci-fi. The broad spectrum of possibilities and exploration gives people the chance to look ahead, to look back, to evaluate and to learn. Dreams and fantasies encourage people to develop, start up new things and learn from that. A good drama gives those oppertunities too, but is limited in what is (or what we think is) possible. That’s why I like sci-fi.

That’s why I think so many people like the Doctor. He’s an alien holding up a mirror and showing how and what else is possible. He shows our dreams. He shows what might be abroad (from earth). He encourages us to try it, to develop, to grow and be better than ourselves. He helps us being human, and understand more what it means to be human. That’s much more worth than an adulterer who gets divorced and crashes his car against a tree. That’s not innovative, that’s not new, and apparently, it teaches us nothing, because we keep doing it.

In this post an image of Star Trek’s Lt. Commander Data. Another interesting character with a lot of possibilities, disabilities (emotion wise) holding up a mirror while he goes his android ways exploring what it is like to be human (and have emotions).