4 May 2020
STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE George Lucas
Entertainment | 13
THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY
E.T.
BLADE RUNNER
Steven Spielberg
Ridley Scott
Douglas Adams
1977 The world is introduced to galaxies far far away for the first time. This first instalment follows the journey of Luke Skywalker who along with Han Solo and the wizened Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, attempt to free Rebellion leader Princess Leia from the clutches of the Galactic Empire and the Sith lord Darth Vader. The heroes, in league with the Rebel Aliiance, attempt to destroy the Empire’s planet-destroying space station, the Death Star.
1978 Douglas Adams creates his radio science fiction comedy series that airs on BBC Radio 4. In 1979, the first novel with the same title is published.
1982 This film introduces the world to a friendly extraterrestrial who finds itself trapped on earth.
1982 A film that is later regarded as one of the best science fiction films of all time, makes its debut. It is loosely based on Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, and is set in a dystopian future Los Angeles of 2019, in which synthetic humans known as replicants are bioengineered by the powerful Tyrell Corporation to work on off-world colonies. When a fugitive group of advanced replicants led by Roy Batty escapes back to Earth, burnt-out cop Rick Deckard reluctantly agrees to hunt them down.
The first instalment of the “Terminator” film series hits the big screen.
THE HANDMAID’S TALE
1984
James Cameron
1985
Margaret Atwood Robert Zimecks and Bob Gale team up and introduce the world to Marty McFly and Dr. Emmett “Doc” Brown.
ENDER’S GAME
1985
THE MATRIX
1985
1985
THE HUNGER GAMES Image: Marchall Potgieter
The Duffer brothers create a science fiction horror series set in the fictional rural town of Hawkins, Indiana, during the early 1980s. The nearby Hawkins National Laboratory ostensibly performs scientific research for the United States Department of Energy, but secretly does experiments into the paranormal and supernatural, including those that involve human test subjects. Inadvertently, they have created a portal to an alternate dimenstion, “the Upside Down”.
2016 STRANGER THINGS
Inspired by older series such as The Twilight Zone, Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones create a dystopian science fiction series. Each Episode is a standalone episode that is usually set in an alternative present or the near future, often with a dark and satirical tone, although some are more experimental and lighter.
2011 BLACK MIRROR
The first instalment of the “Divergent” series makes its debut. The novel is set in a post-apocalyptic dystopian Chicago. Citizens are organised by their social and personality-related affiliations into five different factions.
2011
In this film about aliens, it is partially presented in a found footage format by featuring fictional interviews, news footage, and video from surveillance cameras. The story begins in an alternate 1982, when an alien spaceship appears over Johannesburg, South Africa. When a population of sick and malnourished insectoid aliens are discovered on the ship, the South African government confines them to an internment camp called District 9.
1999
2009
DIVERGENT
DISTRICT 9
Veronica Roth
Neill Blomkamp
1999
UNDER THE DOME
2008
2008
AVATAR James Cameron
JURASSIC PARK
The Wachowskis debut the first instalment of the Matrix franchise.
FUTURAMA
The first instalment of “The Hunger Games” trilogy and Katniss Everdeen’s story is published.
WALL-E Pixar and Disney
2009
Stephen King
James Dashner’s first instalment of “The Maze Runner” series is published.
Card publishes a novel based off of a short story he wrote in 1977. Set at an unspecified date in Earth’s future, the novel presents an imperiled humankind after two conflicts with the Formics, an insectoid alien species.
Matt Groening
Suzanne Collins Pixar and Disney release a science fiction animated film of a deserted earth and robot love story.
BACK TO THE FUTURE
Michael Crichton
Lilly and Lana Wachowski An American adult animated science-fiction sitcom airs on Fox. It follows the adventures of slacker Philip J. Fry, who is cryogenically preserved for 1000 years and is revived in the 31st century.
Atwood’s awardwinning novel is published. It is later adapted into a film and then a television series.
Robert Zemeckis
Orson Scott Card
A novel is published that depicts the collapse of an amusement park showcasing genetically re-created dinosaurs to illustrate the mathematical concept of chaos theory, and its real world implications. In 1993, the film is released and it becomes the highest grossing film ever at that point.
THE TERMINATOR
2009
Stephen King publishes his 48th novel. It focusses on a invisible glass dome-like barrier that seemingly falls out of the sky, transforming the community into a domed city.
THE MAZE RUNNER James Dashner
2009
This fiction, fantasy film is set in the mid-22nd century when humans are colonising Pandora, a lushhabitable moon, in order to mine the mineral unobtanium.
