Sci-fi Genre (Middle years)

Golden age positivity

A lot of science fiction in the 1950s had a sense of wonder to it. Thinking about the future was thrilling! Humans were bravely exploring new worlds, building amazing tech, or avoiding alien invaders in flying saucers. Just living the sci-fi life.

With sci-fi wonder comes sci-fi name dropping. Check out the amount of 'space' terms packed into the snippet below, especially considering all they do is travel from one spot to another. Even the name ‘Lucky Starr’ has a 1950s sci-fi vibe!

Lucky Starr and John Bigman Jones kicked themselves up from the gravity-free Space Station No. 2 and drifted toward the planetary coaster that waited for him with its air lock open. Their movements had the grace of long practice under non-gravity conditions, despite the fact that their bodies seemed thick and grotesque in the space suits they wore.

Lucky Starr and the Oceans of Venus(1954)

A family in spacesuits on Mars.

Here’s an example, using the same ‘packed with sci-fi wonder’ style as the snippet, but using this image as a starting point. 

Dash and Astrid Planett slipped on their envirosuits, checked their daughter’s oxyregulator and set off in the shuttlecraft to the top of Arsia Mons. Looking out across the Martian mining colony - the glittering domicile, transportation tubes and dig site - they marvelled at the progress everyone had made in such a short time. The family settled on their all-terrain weighted rug, opened their vacuum-sealed rations, and enjoyed a well-earned picnic. 

Now it’s your turn.

Write an adventurous scene, using the picture as a starting point. Give your heroes 1950s space names, cram in sci-fi wonder and make it sound fantastic, but believable.
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