[sings] It’s the end of the world as we know! It’s the end of the world as we know it! It’s the end of the world as we know it… and Michael Stipe’s just as terrified as the rest of us! [/sings]
But fear not Mr Stipe! And indeed the rest of you, because while the planet is surely about to be munched down like an old Twix by Mr Pointy Hat, or whatever apocalypse is so hot it’s actually on fire right now, there is still a way we can save some of the things! The mighty Jay Eales, of the equally mighty Factor Fiction (which has just put out a collection of The Girly Comic , its utterly great female protagonist anthology comic at http://www.factorfictionpress.co.uk/index.html ) asked this question of a group of comics pros at Alt Fiction recently, but I think it bears expansion. I think the secret to our success lies in not just saving the greatest comics but the greatest geek fiction for the future! For the children! FOR SCIENCE! So without further ado, here’s this weeks’ question:
The heat death of the world is upon us and you have one single slot in the library that will be saved to form the basis of culture when humanity rises again. What geeky thing do you put in there and why?
Kell: Firefly . The crew of Serenity were all just regular folk – like us – trying to find their freedom and purpose in life, and in that pursuit they become heroes. That's something we need more of in our society. There’s great valuable lessons to be learned by this sci-fi show as it teaches us about the need for freedom so we can live our lives the best way we know how in order to find happiness, and to make a positive impact on our world. Not only would there be freedom and diversity in ideas, but juggling geese would be an Olympic sport and we’d all dong ma Chinese.
Laura: Well, it's not exactly “geeky” per se, but I’d take Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 because I enjoy it and it contains lessons one should never forget. It's also short and thus small, so I wouldn't take up too much room.
Troo: I'll put the entire DVD collection of Merlin in there, as I'm tickled with the idea that someone in the future might think it's a documentary.
Matt: This is probably an obvious one, but I'm going to go with the Buffy box-set. If you want something capable of reigniting culture’s charred embers, then why not something that balances drama, humour, action and sexiness in equal measure? Not only that, but if one fantastical literary trope should survive the apocalypse, it's vampires.
Alasdair: Well my first answer was this…
The entire Michael Bay back catalogue, on a single self-playing, indestructible DVD. Because I want to see how we re-learn to make films in a hundred years’ time with nothing but circling slow motion shots and occasionally disappointing Linkin Park songs on the soundtrack.
But Troo’s brilliance clearly trumps mine and that’s a much better piece of post apocalypse comedy, well played, Group Captain Troobles, well played☺.
So instead I’ll go with a possibly controversial choice: Cormac McCarthy’s The Road . It’s an incredibly harrowing story of a father and son heading for the coast in the years following a global catastrophe. They barely have food or water, they have precisely two bullets which the father will use to kill them if one of the feral, cannibalistic groups society has degenerated into overtakes them and they’re both dangerously frail and perpetually terrified. But they do have each other.
It’s a difficult, tragic read that will stay with you for a long time after it’s done, but ultimately it’s a story above hope and love and how they both endure, and the places they can both eventually lead you. That strikes me as something that the next run we take at civilisation might need to remember.
So that’s the future of humanity sorted out, yay! Next week we go on to infinitely more important matters such as what profoundly unloved by all but us movie franchises would we like to see revived? Still holding out for Jumper II ? Or Crossworlds II ? How about that next Howard The Duck movie huh? Join us next week when we ask and answer the question:
"What flop movie franchise, which clearly had sequels lined up, would you have liked to see continue?"
Until then , computer! Take me to the weasels!
See you in seven.
