Little fidget wheels - poetry in sci fi

Poetry : for the literati or the masses?


During the last big clean-up I found an article called When Holograms Kiss: Poetry and Star Trek . Written back in 1998 by the Australian poet S K Kelen, it looks at episodes of the original Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation as epic poetry. Kelen uses a definition of poetry from the Princeton Encyclopaedia of Poetry and Poetics on Native American poetry to underpin her ideas. Poetry in this context is large, it is close cousin to drama, particularly tragedy, and it examines universal themes.


This left questions to answer.
· Do other Sci fi programs have an epic quality?
· Does sci fi include other, more philosophical poetry?
· What about Shakespeare?


Do non-Star Trek series or films have epic qualities?


The answer to this is: of course! The best sci fi is always close to Greek drama and to the rules of poetry laid down in the Ars Poetica. In this work by the Roman poet Horace we are told to look for content in the works of the Socratics, to base work on
‘whoever knows what he owes his country and friends, what love is due to a parent, brother, or guest, what’s required of a senator or a judge in office, what’s the role of general in war.
You can see these plots in Star Trek but also in Babylon 5 where all kinds of duty are explored, with the prophetic figure of J’Kar leading everyone through the maze.
You can also see them easily in Torchwood where fulfilling your duty may lead to your own death or the death of those you most love. Torchwood’s Small Worlds uses Yeats poem The Stolen Child to explore Jack’s responsibility to an individual child and to humanity, a lose-lose situation that leaves Jack sad and condemned but humanity intact. Jack later takes on the role of a Greek god when he is freed from a prison of solid concrete, walking off naked and supreme.
It’s possible to look at sci fi series that fail the viewer as ones that don’t embrace the epic. Think of Battlestar Galactica at its blackest. The characters machinate and shift allegiances, never reaching the real moments of triumph and failure we need heroes to find and embrace. Adama tries but never really makes it. And whose idea was it to make so many core characters Cylons? The Goodies are the Baddies are the Goodies???
Have a look yourself at your favourite series or movie to see if your heroes (male and female) are being given moral challenges that they rise above or fail outright, in believable ways. Are your characters epic or just mundane? Because it’s the epic that keeps us entranced and lasts for thousands of years.


Does Sci Fi Include Other More Philosophical Poetry?


It sure does. But what’s interesting is how often the same poets keep being quoted:

Christina Rossetti: Goblin Market in Doctor Who: Midnight/ I Have Been this way before in Sliders: Roads Taken.

Dante Aligheri: Il Courtagiano in X-files: 2Shy

Emily Dickinson: Because I would not stop for death in Torchwood: They Keep Killing Suzie.

John Masefield: I Must Go Down to the Sea Again in Star Trek: The Final Frontier

John Milton: Flowers of all hue in The Next Generation: Dark Page

Robert Browning: Paracelsus in X-files: The Field Where I Died

Robert Frost: Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening in Roswell: Cry Your Name


Samuel Taylor Coleridge: The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner in seaQuest DSV Hide and Seek; Kubla Khan in Torchwood: Greeks Bearing Gifts


T.S. Eliot: The Hollow Men in Doctor Who: The Lazarus Experiment


Walt Whitman: Captain, My Captain in Torchwood: They Keep Killing Suzie/ A Song of Myself in Smallville: Crush/ Leaves of Grass in Dark Angel: Brainiac.


William Butler Yeats: The Song of Wandering Aengus in Enterprise: Rogue Planet/ Drinking song in Sliders: Luck of the Drawer/The Stolen Child in Torchwood: Small Worlds


Things to notice here are:

· English and American poets are both quoted, with English poets quoted by American programs and vice versa.
· Women poets are quoted although not as often as men.
· The poets are all very famous and are usually known for being philosophical, with several exceptions.


Is there any alien poetry?


Aliens don’t escape the Muse, particularly Klingons who uplifted love poetry to the highest art.
J’Kar in Babylon 5 writes his musings in poetic form.
Don’t forget Prosteltnik Vogon Jeltz who wrote the worst poetry in the Galaxy.
And there was the Poetman in Lexx: Supernova, really a hologram with attitude. He twisted poetry into its opposite: Life is the sweetest misery before he tried to kill everyone.


What About Shakespeare?


Shakespeare wrote both plays and poetry, but his poetry is not quoted nearly as often as are lines from his plays. Why would science fiction writers be interested in his work? Apart from his great plot lines and characterisation, which have inspired writers ever since the 16th Century, Shakespeare cut to the core of human nature. It’s possible to use a quote from the Bard and know that readers and viewers will understand what you mean about the situation on a star ship or for a robot or for visiting aliens..............Shakespeare is the ultimate source in Post Modern reference systems. So, how often does this happen?



Shakespearean Quotes in Films and TV Series:



All the World’s a Stage –
All the Galaxy’s a Stage (Hamlet) Star Trek: The Next Generation: Hide and Q Quoted by Q and Picard.



Angels and ministers of grace defend us (Hamlet) Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home Quoted by Dr. McCoy.



O brave new world, that has such people in it’ (The Tempest) – Star Trek: The Next Generation: Emergence Quoted by Data.


Julius Caesar: Deep Space Nine: Improbable Cause Discussed by Garak.

There’s more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy (Hamlet) Doctor Who: The Unquiet Dead. Quoted by Dickens.


Star Trek and Doctor Who figure large here, perhaps because they like to refer to the wider world of literature. Otherwise there’s not much else.


Shakespeare as a character:


Doctor Who: The Chase - seen on a time and space visualiser.
Doctor Who: The Shakespeare Code - presented as the character The Wordsmith.


Don’t forget the protagonist of The Postman who mangled Shakespeare to make a living, or the Captain of the Dirigible which saved the main characters in Stardust.



Shakespeare’s Characters re-used:
MacBeth—planet from the Star Fox video game series
Miranda – Planet in Serenity .
Oberon Blake’s 7 Breakdown Planet ; New Planet of the Apes Space Station from which the astronaut was launched back in time; Lexx: A Midsummer’s Nightmare King of the fairies/
Titania—planet of the Star Fox video game series.


Shakespearean references as series episode titles:



Alas, Poor Mork, We Knew him Well - Mork and Mindy season 3, 1980
All the Worlds a Teletalk Linkup - Luna season 1,
A Midsummer’s Nightmare – Lexx season 4
A MidGoomer Night’s Dream – ALF animated




Conscience Of The King, The - Star Trek, Season 1, 1966





Much Ado About Babysitting – Sailor Moon, season 2 1996
Much Ado About Dick - 3rd Rock From the Sun season 2 1997
Much Ado about Kitten – Sailor Moon season five, 2001
Much Ado About Musyamon – Digimon – Digital Monsters – season 3, 2001

My sister’s Keeper – Digimon: Digital Monsters season 1, 1999



Once More Unto The Breach - Star Trek Deep Space 9, Season 7, 1998


Romeo and Juliet and Dick – 3rd Rock from the Sun season 2, 1997
Romeo and Joule-Watt - Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad season 1, 1994
Romeo and Glimmer – She-Ra, Princess of Power season 2, 1986
Romeo and Juliet – Carl2 season 1, 2005.
Taming of the Zords – Power Rangers Wild Force season 2, 2002
Tempest – Smallville season 1, 2000
Tempest - .hack//sign season 1, 2000



To Be or Not To Be - seaQuest DSV 1993
To Be or Not To Be Evil – Good versus Evil season 1, 1999


Incidentals:
Shakesblob in Love – Blobheads, 2003
The Shakespeare Code – Doctor Who season 3, 2007

I’ve found no Shakespearean references in game titles, series titles or film titles. It looks like the ease with which a Shakespearean play title or famous quote can be parodied, has made Shakespeare most popular with the naming of TV series episodes, in particular animated series. One explanation for this is that Shakespeare is performed in Japan, making the spoofy titles inter-cultural references.

Finally


Poetry is used in mainstream science fiction to underpin philosophical ideas, particularly in Star Trek and Doctor Who. Shakespeare has the most references to his works, but unhappily is mostly used to create humorous series titles.
Sadly there is no use of Australian poetry that I could find, and there are several poets who lend themselves to such use – Slessor and Dobson spring to mind. There are endless possibilities for poetry to be used in sci fi in all its forms, it’s up to intelligent, inventive creators to do so.