{"id":2776,"date":"2011-03-17T09:10:19","date_gmt":"2011-03-17T14:10:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scifisaturdaynight.com\/?p=2776"},"modified":"2011-03-17T09:10:19","modified_gmt":"2011-03-17T14:10:19","slug":"the-history-of-science-fiction-illustrated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/scifisaturdaynight.com\/?p=2776","title":{"rendered":"The History of Science Fiction Illustrated"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Brooklyn artist Ward Shelley has illustrated a 54\u201d x 30\u201d timeline entitled \u201cThe History of Science Fiction\u201d covering literature, movies and television. The piece was created in 2009, and begins with the circumstances leading to the birth of science fiction, all the way to what Shelley refers to as Mainstream Styles. Other genres such as horror and sword and sorcery break away from their Gothic novel roots and into their own sections.<\/p>\n

At first glance, you can spend a lot of time scanning the various sections and break-downs of each sub-genre. The timeline begins with the emotions of fear and wonder, and quickly divides into legend, mythology and philosophy. As more off-shoots of fiction begin to emerge, you can follow different paths to obvious historical staples such as Jules Verne, and H.G. Wells. When you scan further down the timeline, you can spot important names such as Asimov, Clarke and Heinlein. There is also a nod to prolific science fiction writer Fritz Leiber and author\/screen writer Leigh Brackett.<\/p>\n

The branches that form film and television are smaller when compared to the literature section, but Shelley includes major films such as Forbidden Planet<\/em>, Star Wars<\/em> and Wall-E<\/em>, and has several interesting titles in between. He even includes a section on anime. The television listings include the obvious genre staples like the Twilight Zone<\/em> and Star Trek<\/em>, but you\u2019ll be surprised at what else you find.<\/p>\n

Ward Shelley clearly knows his science fiction history as he is able to fit so many important authors and works of television and film, especially when you consider how wide open the history of science fiction becomes. One thing that makes looking into this huge timeline so much fun is to discover what titles and authors Shelley left out. I could not find Spider Robinson, Firefly<\/em> or Mystery Science Theatre 3000<\/em>. Comic books and graphic novels were also not included. I can\u2019t imagine the time and effort it takes to create a piece of artwork such as this, but it\u2019s a brilliant effort, and according to his web site, this might be made into a poster.<\/p>\n

Ward Shelly\u2019s The History of Science Fiction (ver. 1)<\/a><\/p>\n

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