My mother didn't like science fiction. She didn't even like the Star Wars franchise, a bit blasphemous during the era in which I was born. By the time I was able to walk, I was my dad's "date" to anything science fiction (kid-friendly science fiction, of course) - Star Trek, Star Wars, Starman, Stargate, Tron. We would watch Earth 2 and Deep Space Nine while my mother cooked dinner and washed dishes. My younger brother, Steve, who became an enthusiastic X-Files and Twilight Zone fan, was eventually included in the fun. Steve was in elementary school when he was initiated into the Sci-Fi Nerd-dom. My father took the two of us to Jurassic Park. Unfortunately, Steve kept insisting that he had to go to the bathroom every time a Velociraptor appeared on the screen, and my dad missed about 85% of the movie.
In college, I occasionally watched Mystery Science Theater 3000 and kept up on The X-Files when I visited my family during holiday breaks. But for the most part, my "close encounters of the sci-fi kind" were limited in my early twenties.
Then I met my husband Dan. Where I have inspired in him a broader appreciation for all things musical (specifically, all things musical theater), he has re-inspired in me a love for all things science fiction. I have a sneaking suspicion that he somehow sensed my latent sci-fi passion, and this is one of the reasons he married me.
"A girl who likes sci-fi!" Dan probably thought after he took me to Star Trek Nemisis. "What a catch!"
Then he proposed.
Now that we are an old married couple, our weekends usually consist of watching V, Fringe, Eureka, and Warehouse 13 on the DVR. Every once in a while, my husband will exclaim, "He was on Star Trek Enterprise!" or "That's so-and-so from Voyager!" It is at those moments that I realize we watch way too much television.
Some of my sci-fi experiences have touched me deeply, maybe even changed my life although that sounds awfully melodramatic.
I cried through the entire final season of Lost. And I must not leave out my strange attachment to Battlestar Galactica (a.k.a. BSG - the most recent series, although I am certain we'll get around to watching the 70's version soon). We had been watching Caprica, the prequel to BSG, but sadly it was canceled this season which elicited tears from me once again.
I watched 2001: A Space Odyssey with Dan a few years ago. It was my first time - I was a Space Odyssey virgin - and now I find myself half expecting a soothing male voice to come out of my computer from time to time and introduce himself as HAL.
Of course, Dan's influence on my sci-fi obsession isn't limited to movies and television. Since we have been married, I have read the C.S. Lewis Space Triology and have re-read Madeleine L’Engle's Wrinkle in Time Quintet. Somewhere on my (very long) must-read-before-I-die list is Brave New World and The Handmaid’s Tale.
Recently in Seattle, Dan and I bought tickets to visit the Science Fiction Museum and Experience Music Project (EMP/SFM). Remember, I'm a music teacher, and I just love the EMP. But guess who had a hard time tearing herself away from the Sci-Fi Museum that afternoon?
"Becky, we'd probably better go," Dan said, "or we won't have enough time to eat dinner before the show tonight."
"But look! It's the little robot from Buck Rogers!"
This just in: EMP/SFM is currently featuring a Battlestar Galactica Exhibition. I might have to make another trip to Seattle soon. Now that's sci-fi nerd dedication for you.
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