The "Golden Age" and the Pulps (the 1920s to the 1950s)
"Stupid humans"
Plan 9 From Outer Space, 1959
With
the appearance of the science fiction pulp magazines in the 1920s, the
genre started developing a public image, and it wasn't a particularly
good one. Sitting on the shelf with the likes of true crime stories were
Weird Tales (founded 1923), Amazing Stories (1926), Science
Wonder Stories (1929) and Astounding Stories (1930). All these
magazines were founded by Hugo Gernsbach (from whom we get the sci-fi
award the Hugo). These magazines provided a testing ground for many new
writers in the field, though Gernsback was not highly regarded and was
often referred to as "Hugo the rat" because of his tightness
with money. The magazines, often with lurid covers, were not considered
very highly at the time, but a lot of the big names in classic sci-fi
got their start in the pulps. Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Theodore
Sturgeon, A.E. Vogt (born in Manitoba) and John W. Campbell, to name a
few, got their start with Gernsback (Landon, 1997).
Some
of the early stories are quite good. The accuracy of the science varies
widely, but many are quite inventive and are still a good read today.
Unfortunately, a large number are of inferior quality and in my opinion,
contribute to the generally low regard sci-fi is still held in today.
Many stories are just westerns with jetpacks, rayguns and aliens. The
portrayal of women is generally appalling, even in the better written
tales.
Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg collected a great many of the mid- to late-period stories from the magazines in a series of books called Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF Stories. The series ran to 25 volumes, collecting stories from 1939 to 1963 presenting the best of the pulps.
At the movies, a series of B grade sci-fi serials appeared in the1930s. Viewed today, the Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers films are hilariously bad (and available at most Vancouver Public Library branches). The classic technological masterpiece of this period is German director Fritz Lang's expressionistic, anti-technology fantasy Metropolis (1927).
"Because of death. Because all you of Earth are idiots."
Plan 9 From Outer Space, 1959
(one of the best worst films of all time)
