Martin Luther King, Nichelle Nichols and ‘Star Trek’

A new year brings new hope and Martin Luther King Jr. was definitely a man of hope and a new vision, especially with his “I Have a Dream” speech. I did a post on King several years back and on how his vision of a better future for all races served a function similar to that of science fiction. I said that this was one of the few things about him that connected with the genre. I underestimated. He had another big connection with science fiction. I’ll show you what that was in a little bit. Also coming up in this post: news about my newsletter in progress and an upcoming “Frankenstein” movie.

Martin Luther King Was a Fan of a Very Famous Science Fiction TV Series

In the post on Martin Luther King that I mentioned above, I said that he did not have many connections to science fiction except for his vision of a progressive future. However, I only found out yesterday while reading over an article at MentalFloss.com that he was a regular watcher of the original “Star Trek” TV series. He believed in the socially progressive vision of the show. He was also a fan of Nichelle Nichols who played Lt. Uhura in the series.

The show was set in a future where Earth has accepted all races and genders as equal. Uhura was a black woman in a significantly ranking career and played by a person whose race has had a history of racial inequality and oppression. So, to King, Nichols was a role model to the black community, a role model that showed anything was achievable regardless of race. King had even met Nichols who discussed the show with him telling him that she was leaving it to perform on Broadway. However, King encouraged her to stay with the series because of the positive role model she portrayed to the black community. That role model was one of progress to a people who had always been downgraded and demeaned by the white majority. In this way, she was a key player in the progress of civil rights even though she wasn’t an activist. She told King she would like to march with him but he told her she was already doing that simply by portraying a role in “Star Trek” that represented what the civil rights movement was fighting for. And that’s so true. There have been so many more lead roles filled by people of colour in film, television and real life now than there ever has.

“Star Trek” has been a vision for social and racial progress as much as it has for scientific and technological progress. In general, good science fiction does this. However, “Star Trek” was one of the first sci fi TV series to do that and the franchise continues doing it through this day.

Lightning News Flashes

Author’s Newsletter: For a long time I had been debating whether to publish an ongoing newsletter and beginning back in December I finally decided to do it. I was hoping to release it by the end of last month but there were several implications with it that I had to take care of. But what better time to release a newsletter than the beginning of a new year! So, I’m aiming to release it by the end of this month. I just need to make a logo for it and get together content for the first issue.

I’ve named the newsletter “Night Creatures’ Call”. In it I’ll talk about my latest projects, upcoming topics for A Far Out Fantastic Site, updates on my Patreon page, and what I do between these activities (my personal life, in other words). I’ll probably have a calendar of events, as well, like any good newsletter should. Also, so you won’t have to make a cyber trip here each week, I’ll have links to the blog post from the past month. You might also see topics not discussed here as much such as movies not adapted from books, TV, comics and genre-related collectibles. If you’re interested in subscribing, you can sign up here.

Want a sneak peak at the newsletter logo when it comes out? How about the concept art for it and so the logo in progress? You can have these by joining my Patreon page with a Portal (tier) 3 membership!

Shudder Releases Trailer For New “Frankenstein” Movie: Earlier in the week, Shudder released the trailer for a new “Frankenstein” movie that it will be streaming beginning February 4: “A Nightmare Wakes”. It’s actually a biography of Mary Shelley that is told around her “Frankenstein” story and so is part bio pic and part horror.

Next weekend I’ll have another Book-To-Movie for you. Do you think “Star Trek”, the original series and/or spinoffs, has demonstrated a call for social progress?

Until next time . . .

Book-To-Movie: ‘The Lawnmower Man’

Credit: Pixabay Warning: This review may contain spoilers. In past Book-To-Movies, we’ve reviewed several movie adaptations of books and short stories by famous science fiction and horror authors. All those films have stuck to the plot of the original work to at least some recognizable degree. But this week’s Book-To-Movie will be the first to review a film that does a poor job of staying faithful to the original plot. The film is 1992’s “The Lawnmower Man” which is based on Stephen King’s short story of the same name. Even so, the movie is a really good one. So then what’s the problem? The problem is that it’s hardly an adaptation and so more its own story simply with the title of King’s short work slapped onto it. ‘The Lawnmower Man’: The Short Story Stephen King’s “The Lawnmower Man” originally appeared in “Cavalier” magazine in 1975 and was then collected into his book of short fiction, “Night Shift” the following year. The story’s protagonist is a middle-aged husband and dad ...

Book-To-Movie: Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Black Cat'

Credit: Wikimedia Commons It's another fourth Monday of the month and so that means it's time for another Book-To-Movie review! In a Book-To-Movie (BTM), we review a work of prose fiction and its movie adaptation. A few years back, we had a BTM for Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Black Cat" and its movie adaptation. However, the movie we reviewed was actually a segment in Roger Corman’s anthology film, "Tales of Terror", which features three of Poe's short stories, including "Black Cat". And I'll tell you now, I liked that version far more than the version that we're going to review today which is the 1934 Universal adaptation starring Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff. I like Corman's version better mostly because it stays more faithful to the original short story than Universal's does. However, even though Universal's "Black Cat", directed by Edgar Ulmer, strays (excuse the pun) far from Poe's short stor...

Book-To-Movie: ‘Journey to the Center of the Earth’

Both the 1959 and the 2008 movies based on Jules Verne's novel, "Journey to the Center of the Earth", feature terrifying monsters such as the ones here in this illustration from an early edition of the book. Credit: Édouard Riou/ Wikimedia Commons Warning: This review may contain spoilers. As I said last post , I’ve postponed the month’s Book-To-Movie review from last week to this week. For those of you who are just tuning into this blog, a Book-To-Movie is when we review a work of prose fiction and its movie adaptation. And this weekend’s review is of Jules Verne’s novel, “Journey to the Center of the Earth” and its movie adaptations. There have been several movies based on this novel that was originally published in Paris in 1864 (as “Voyage au Centre de la Terre”). However, most of them have been either made for TV or video. Because I believe movies are best when made for the big screen, I am going to review the theatrical films in which there have been two: the 195...

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