Science fiction is a genre of speculative fiction, which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universes, and extraterrestrial life. It is related to fantasy, horror, and superhero fiction and contains many subgenres. Its exact definition has long been disputed among authors, critics, scholars, and readers.
Utopian and dystopian fiction are subgenres of science fiction that explore social and political structures. Utopian fiction portrays a setting that agrees with the author's ethos, having various attributes of another reality intended to appeal to readers. Dystopian fiction offers the opposite: the portrayal of a setting that completely disagrees with the author's ethos. Some novels combine both genres, often as a metaphor for the different directions humanity can take depending on its choices, ending up with one of two possible futures. Both utopias and dystopias are commonly found in science fiction and other types of speculative fiction.
Stand on Zanzibar is a dystopian New Wave science fiction novel written by John Brunner and first published in 1968. The book won a Hugo Award for Best Novel at the 27th World Science Fiction Convention in 1969, as well as the 1969 BSFA Award and the 1973 Prix Tour-Apollo Award.
Stargate is a military science fiction media franchise based on the film directed by Roland Emmerich, which he co-wrote with producer Dean Devlin. The franchise is based on the idea of an alien wormhole device that enables nearly instantaneous travel across the cosmos. The franchise began with the film Stargate, released on October 28, 1994, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Carolco, which grossed US$197 million worldwide. In 1997, Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner created a television series titled Stargate SG-1 as a sequel to the film. This show was joined by Stargate Atlantis in 2004, Stargate Universe in 2009, and a prequel web series, Stargate Origins, in 2018. Also consistent with the same story are a variety of books, video games and comic books, as well as the direct-to-DVD movies Stargate: Children of the Gods, Stargate: The Ark of Truth, and Stargate: Continuum, which concluded the first television show after 10 seasons.
Afrofuturism is a cultural aesthetic, philosophy of science, and history that explores the intersection of the African diaspora culture with science and technology. It addresses themes and concerns of the African diaspora through technoculture and speculative fiction, encompassing a range of media and artists with a shared interest in envisioning black futures that stem from Afro-diasporic experiences. While Afrofuturism is most commonly associated with science fiction, it can also encompass other speculative genres such as fantasy, alternate history and magic realism. The term was coined by American cultural critic Mark Dery in 1993 and explored in the late 1990s through conversations led by Alondra Nelson.
Randall Thorne, better known by his pseudonyms RT! and R.T. Thorne, is a Canadian writer, producer and director. He began his career as a music video director for Sean Paul, George Nozuka, Keshia Chanté and Shawn Desman, before directing episodes of television series include Degrassi: The Next Generation, Make It Pop, Backstage and Find Me in Paris. He received three iHeartRadio MMVAs for directing.
The genre of science fiction has been prevalent in the Indian film industry since the second half of the 20th century. Beginning in 1952, the Tamil film Kaadu was made, which was an Indian-American co-production. The 1963 Tamil film Kalai Arasi, 1965 Telugu film Dorikithe Dongalu, and 1967 Hindi film Chand Par Chadayee also have science fiction in their storyline. The Alien was a science fiction film under production in the late 1960s which was eventually cancelled. The film was being directed by Bengali Indian director Satyajit Ray and produced by Hollywood studio Columbia Pictures. The script was written by Ray in 1967, based on "Bankubabur Bandhu", a Bengali story he had written in 1962 for Sandesh, the Ray family magazine.
A dystopia, also called a cacotopia or anti-utopia, is a community or society that is extremely bad or frightening. It is often treated as an antonym of utopia, a term that was coined by Sir Thomas More and figures as the title of his best known work, published in 1516, which created a blueprint for an ideal society with minimal crime, violence, and poverty. The relationship between utopia and dystopia is in actuality, not one simple opposition, as many utopian elements and components are found in dystopias as well, and vice versa.
Liu Cixin is a Chinese computer engineer and science fiction writer. He is a nine-time winner of China's Galaxy Award and has also received the 2015 Hugo Award for his novel The Three-Body Problem as well as the 2017 Locus Award for Death's End. He is also a winner of the Chinese Nebula Award. In English translations of his works, his name is given as Cixin Liu. He is a member of China Science Writers Association and the vice president of Shanxi Writers Association. He is sometimes called "Da Liu" by his fellow science fiction writers in China.
Jeff Teräväinen is a Canadian actor.
Jacques Bermon Webster II, known professionally as Travis Scott, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Throughout his career, Scott has achieved four number-one hits on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, along with a total of over one hundred charting songs. Scott has been nominated for ten Grammy Awards and won a Latin Grammy Award, Billboard Music Award, MTV Video Music Award, and multiple BET Hip Hop Awards. As of 2023, Scott has sold over 49 million certified records in the US alone. Scott's musical style has been described as a "blend between traditional hip-hop and lo-fi" and often characterized as "ambient," with a heavily appraised influence from rappers Kanye West and Kid Cudi. His stage name is derived from the latter's real name, Scott Mescudi, combined with the name of a favorite uncle.
Matthew Mather was a Canadian writer of science fiction. His books have been translated into eighteen languages and sold around the world. He was also a self-publishing author of his works, as well as being published through HarperCollins and 47North among others. He is best known as the author of Cyberstorm which has been bought by 20th Century Fox to turn it into a movie.
Devs is an American science fiction thriller television miniseries created, written, and directed by Alex Garland. It premiered on March 5, 2020, on FX on Hulu.
Osmosis is a French science fiction streaming television series created by Audrey Fouché. The first season, consisting of eight episodes, was released on 29 March 2019 on Netflix. The series stars Hugo Becker, Agathe Bonitzer, Stéphane Pitti, Gaël Kamilindi, Suzanne Rault-Balet, Luna Silva, Manoel Dupont and Yuming Hey.
Princess is an American high-concept art-pop band and performance duo formed in 2004 and reinitiated in 2017 by Alexis Gideon and Michael O’Neill. Their performances and music challenge traditional understandings of art classifications and explore queerness through futuristic video, gender-bending costumes, and vocals and instrumentals drawing inspiration from a variety of musical genres.
The third season of the comedy-drama science fiction television series The Orville, also known as The Orville: New Horizons, premiered on June 2, 2022. It streams on Hulu in the United States and on Disney+ internationally. Filming began in October 2019 but was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and production was ultimately completed in August 2021. This season is the show's only on Hulu, after airing its previous two seasons on Fox, as well as the only one to premiere since the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney in March 2019.
The Vril-Ya Bazaar and Fete was an event held March 5–10, 1891 at the Royal Albert Hall in the British capital of London. It was organized by Herbert Tibbits to celebrate The Coming Race, an 1871 science fiction novel by Edward Bulwer-Lytton. The Royal Albert Hall and others have described the event as the world's first science fiction convention.
Akiel Julien is a Grenadian-Canadian actor. He is known for his role as LaTroy in the teen drama series The Next Step, for which he was a Canadian Screen Award nominee for Best Performance in a Children's or Youth Program or Series at the 6th Canadian Screen Awards in 2018.
