Steam-punk Fans

[DrWho42 13]

To those interested, there will be a marathon on the 2000 TV series: The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne on SciFi Channel at 8.00 EST. :cool1:

Click For Spoiler

What if the novels of Jules Verne were actually based on his real-life adventures? Set in the late 19th-century, Jules Verne is a young man struggling to become a successful writer. His visions of the future are sought by the League of Darkness, a group led by the centuries-old steampunk-cybernetic Count Gregory. Jules meets up with British spy Rebecca Fogg, her arrogant cousin Phileas, and his man-servant Passepartout. Phileas has retired from the spy business after his supervisor and father ended up getting his brother killed. The British Government arranged for Phileas to "win" a lighter-then-air ship, the Aurora, and gain the services of Passepartout, an accomplished tinkerer.

 

Phileas puts the Aurora at the service of his cousin on her missions. With Jules' help, they fight a variety of futuristic (for 1890) and supernatural menaces, ranging from giant underground digging machines to vampires wearing rocket pack to ghosts to aliens to time travel devices. They also occasionally run afoul of the League of Darkness, who have their own plans for ruling the world through technology.

 

Also, at 17 September 2004, the Paramount film: Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow shall premiere.

Click For Spoiler

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

To those who do not know what the frell the "steam-punk" genre is...

 

It happens to be the newer name to the type of science-fiction reflecting the style of the 19th century and/or its views on what the future may have been...

 

(Name seemed to change, when the sci-fi genre: "Cyberpunk" took into form...)

 

For example, what if we continued to use steam-power as the main focus of science and technology? Or the computer age began in 1855...

 

:cool1: Some of this genre can be also called "Alternative History"...

 

Here's the definition if that should help more... :)

 

I count myself a fan of Steampunk fiction, and there are a few other anachronistic sci-fi... Like Stonepunk (science-fiction set in the style of the Stone Age... :lol: ), and a couple others...

 

Anyone else interested in that kind of genre? :)

[Tal 0]

If u want to b really kind u can tape them and send them to me :lol:. I dont hace the sci-fi channel so i cant wratch them:( I've never seen them b4 but im always ready to try new things.

[DrWho42 13]

I do not have very many tapes I can use to record the marathon (and anyways, it's over now :cool1: ), and it would take awhile to get to you....

 

Anyone else interested in this genre?

Click For Spoiler

[WEAREBORG4102 0]

It's quite interesting but have not seen many examples...

[DrWho42 13]

It's quite interesting but have not seen many examples...

248706[/snapback]

 

There are different examples, although non are too popular....

 

For example, the animé series of Steam Detectives, which is set in the alternative future of London... Where steam-power is still being used today, and clouds encompass the skies...

So, due to more darkness, this in turn allows crime to flourish a bit...

 

Then there is the Wild Wild West remake... Where Wil Smith plays James West... The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which is based on the graphic novels... And there are numerous other examples, some not as good as others since it isn't one of those "main-stream" things...

 

Oh, and by-the-way, here's the steampunk version of Star Trek...

Click For Spoiler

[WEAREBORG4102 0]

I've seen Wild Wild West. It's quite funny actually. More of a comedy.

[DrWho42 13]

I found this site from my LiveJournal group... (Which is called: The Clockworkers Guild's Journal).

Steampunk: Victorian Adventurers in a Past that Wasn't

It contains links to other well-known (in its own genre) sites on steam-punk science-fiction. :cool1:

[BakulaBabe 2]

Is there really a genre called "stonepunk"? THAT sounds interesting! I'm also a fan of the series"The Wild, Wild West". :thumbup:

[DrWho42 13]

Ladies, gentlemen, and amoeba, today happens to be the date of: Friday, 17 September 2004.

 

The significance of this date is that this is the first day that they are showing the newest in the breed of "steam-punk"...

Click For Spoiler

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

**To view trailer**

I am looking very forward to this movie, despite my little brother thinking it is taking use of CGI too much... :wacko:

Edited September 17, 2004 by drwho42

[DrWho42 13]

I just saw "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow". I recommend it, highly recommend it to people who like sci-fi in an olden style. :wacko: The setting is an alternative 1939.

 

I think I'll see it again tomorrow...

[Rivendells_king 0]

I want to see it *anjolina jollie :wacko:* but what is the plot

[DrWho42 13]

Well, the movie begans with the sudden disappearances of scientists in the year 1939... A reporter, Polly Perkins, investigates these cases...

 

As the last scientist disappears, a robot invasion occurs in New York, with the skies dotted with mechanical beings in search of various tools and following the orders from their unknown (towards the beginning) leader named: Totenkopf.

 

After this, Miss Perkins teams up with "Sky Captain" Joe Sullivan to find this Totenkopf...

 

I won't spoil the entire plotline of the story though. :wacko:

I liked the visual effects very much.

Edited September 18, 2004 by drwho42

[DrWho42 13]

:cool1: Some of this genre can be also called "Alternative History"...

 

Here's the definition if that should help more...

248344[/snapback]

Found a site with a list of some definitions pertaining unto the genres within “steam-punk”... :flex:

Click For Spoiler

• What the heck is this page?

Why, its a page for Steampunk, Scientific Romance, Imperialist Adventure, Voyages Extraordinaires, Gothic horror, silent film, Victoriana and Neo-Victorian enthusiasts. This enthusiasm may take the form of novels, movies, comics, TV series', role-playing games, anime and manga, and any other form of entertainment.

 

• What is Steampunk?

Generically, the term Steampunk is used to include fictional works from the genres of Victorian-Edwardian Science Romance, Gothic horror, Steampunk, Imperialist Adventure, Voyages Extraordinaires and Edisonades.

Specifically, Steampunk is a relatively new genre within Science Fiction set upon imitation or critique of the style, technology, characters and/or themes of Scientific Romance, Imperialist Adventure, Edisonades and Voyages Extraordinaires, often with the inclusion of Gothic horror elements.

There are actually 2 sub-genres of Steampunk: Historical Steampunk, and Fantasy Steampunk.

Recently, Steampunk has begun diversifying out from a genre of Science Fiction to a genuine sub-culture. How this is translation from literature to lifestyle can occur is a subject of ambiguity and debate, but most often it includes interest in Victoriana and Neo-Victorianism.

 

• What is Historical Steampunk?

Historical Steampunk is any work of Science Fiction that satisfies the requirements of Steampunk while being set at some point in Earth's history. This is commonly known as the "alternative history" genre.

Historical Steampunk can then be divided up into further sub-genres, including Victorian Steampunk, Western Steampunk and Mediaeval Steampunk.

• What is Victorian Steampunk?

Victorian Steampunk is any work of modern Science Fiction that satisfies the requirements of Steampunk and is set in the “Long Victorian” period, roughly from the beginning of the Industrial Revolution through the end of the Edwardian era.

Examples include Dinotopia by James Gurney, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comic, and The Difference Engine by Willam Gibson and Bruce Sterling.

• What is Western Steampunk?

Western Steampunk is any work of modern Science Fiction that satisfies the requirements of Steampunk and set in the "wild west" period of North American history or in another setting comparable to the “wild west”.

Examples include Wild Wild West starring Will Smith and Kevin Kline.

• What is Mediaeval Steampunk?

Mediaeval Steampunk is any work of Science Fiction which satisfies the requirements of Steampunk while being set in the Middle Ages (The Fall of Rome to the Renaissance).

Examples include A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain.

 

• What is Fantasy Steampunk?

Fantasy Steampunk is any work of Fantasy fiction which satisfies the requirements of Steampunk, mixing magic and steam power.

Examples include the Castle Falkenstein role-playing game, the anime Escaflowne, and the computer game Arcanum.

 

• What is Scientific Romance?

Science Romance is the name attributed to the pioneer Science Fiction produced in the Victorian (1837-1901) and Edwardian (1901-1912/1914) eras. It includes the work of H.G.Wells, Jules Verne, and Edgar Rice Burroughs.

• What is Gothic horror?

Gothic horror is a style of horror literature which features antique settings (frequently Gothic castles, cathedrals and ruins, from which the name of the literary genre was derived), isolation, family curses, insanity, incest, and often supernatural occurrences and creatures such as ghosts or vampires. The genre actually began in the early 1700s and peaked in 1800, but was in revival in the late Victorian era.

The two best known Gothic novels are Frankenstein by Mary Shelly (an original Gothic novel) and Dracula by Bram Stoker (a Gothic Revival novel).

• What is Imperialist Adventure?

Imperialist Adventures are those Victorian-Edwardian novels which feature usually British explorers and colonialists going to far-flung, exotic, and dangerous locales in search of any variation or combination of treasure, expanded colonialism, lost civilizations and races, and extinct wildlife. These stories routinely lack fantastic technologies, opting instead for the virtues of the Great White Hunters to see them through.

Examples include Conan Doyle's The Lost World, H.Rider Haggard's King Solomon's Mines, and the works of Rudyard Kipling.

• What is Voyages Extraordinaires?

Voyages Extraordinaires is less of a genre than an attitude taken to Scientific Romance, Imperialist Adventure and even Steampunk stories. Originally the designation was used for the works of Jules Verne, both fiction and non-fiction, and is now applied to any period story where the emphasis is on exploration and extraordinary or fantastic voyages to impossible or heretofore unvisited places. Sometimes these may include overtly Steampunk elements, like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and From the Earth to the Moon, and other times they may not, like Around the World in 80 Days and Journey to the Centre of the Earth.

• What are Edisonades?

Edisonades, named for inventor Thomas Edison, are an American equivalent to the Imperialist Adventure. The hero of an Edisonade is usually a young male who invents some fantastic weapon and/or transportation device which allows him to explore some territorial frontier, overcome obstacles (which usually include non-white races) and make his fame and fortune, exemplifying 19th century American virtues of ingenuity and entrepreneurialism. Steampunk technologies play an essential part in these stories, while they are generally absent in Imperialist Adventures and optional in Voyages Extraordinaires.

Examples include the Franke Reade series of penny dreadfuls.

 

• What are silent films?

Silent films are all movies made prior to 1930/31, afterwhich soundtracks could be added to film.

• What are anime and manga?

Anime is the name given to Japanese cartoons, manga the name given to Japanese comics. Though cartoons and comics, anime and manga cover material aimed at widely differing age groups and interests. In Japan, cartoons and comics are understood as a medium, not a genre (when you think of cartoons, do you think of Disney?).

• What are role-playing games?

Role-playing games (aka: RPGs) are a kind of game in which you create a character to play in an imaginary world (either fantasy, science fiction, or a version of this world; encompassing any genre from swords and sorcery to James Bond and Indiana Jones) described and governed by a "game master" (the person running the game) and rolls of dice. The game is usually played by people sitting around a table with a bunch of paper and dice in front of them describing what their character does, and the game master replying with what happened. These people are from all walks of life, and a good 99.999999% are not Satanists who drink blood, summon demons, or rape and eat children. Dungeons and Dragons is probably the most well known (abiet misunderstood) RPG ever.

 

• What is Victoriana?

Victoriana is anything - trinkets and souvenirs, art and architecture, crafts and manufactured goods - which are from or recall the style of the Victorian era and it's aesthetic values.

• What is Neo-Victoriana?

Neo-Victorianism is a recent aesthetic movement which attempts to fuse Victorian style with modern aesthetic values and technologies. Examples might include Victorian-style cordless phones, Victorian suits and dresses accented with Gothic or Rivet style, CD-players that resemble old time radios, or furniture with Victorian design elements.

 

• Who created Steampunk?

There are roughly three main theories about the origin of Steampunk, none of which actually contradict the others.

The first is that Steampunk was essentially created when Walt Disney released his live film adaptation of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Though made in the 1950s, the film intentionally retained its Victorian setting and Vernian inventions, as well as retro-recreating modern technologies like atomic power.

In 1979, K.W. Jeter released the novel Morlock Night, being a modern sequel to H.G. Wells' The Time Machine, which is regarded as the first Steampunk novel according to the second theory.

The third cites The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. Both writers received acclaim as Cyberpunk authors, and transposed their dystopian visions onto a Victorian past where analog mechanical computers were actually built. Steampunk acquired it's name by playing with the term Cyberpunk. The following page provides an etymology and earliest citation for the term "Steampunk":

http://www.wordspy.com/words/steampunk.asp.

• What is Steampunk's relationship to Cyberpunk then?

The resolution to this question usually depends on the source one is reading. The more widely held idea, which I hold to myself, is that Steampunk comes mostly from Cyberpunk roots but has branched out so that Cyberpunk-type stories are only one facet of Steampunk. The Scientific Romance side of Steampunk is generally more popular and accessible, and so it tends to eclipse the strict Cyberpunk view. This strictness would be the opposite view, where Steampunk is itself a subgenre of Cyberpunk, and should be limited to include only those darker and dystopian Cyberpunk-type stories.

 

• Is there anything between Mediaeval Steampunk and Victorian/Western Steampunk?

As a matter of fact, there is. Sailpunk, which could alternately be known as Clockwork Punk or Renaissance Steampunk, occupies the time from the Renaissance through the Reformation and Baroque periods to the Enlightenment... A period in history known as the Early Modern era. The Early Modern era would see the work of Leonardo DaVinci and the creation of the Guttenberg Press. The terminology is usually different for Science Fiction of this period because steam was not a major power source. The lighter designs of clockwork and DaVinci are more typical. Examples of Sailpunk would include The Adventures of Baron Munchausen   directed by Terry Gilliam and the Jack of All Trades   TV series starring Bruce Campbell.

[Mofo Jones 0]

I've got this book by Gibson and Sterling called "The Difference Engine" that would probably count as Steampunk. 19th century primitive computer...room sized...I need to read this one again.