# Recommend some retro sci-fi to a huge futurama fan **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 29, 2003, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-retro-sci-fi-to-a-huge-futurama-fan/198331 "2003-08-29T00:59:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-retro-sci-fi-to-a-huge-futurama-fan/198331/21 "2004-06-15T14:46:48Z")
> [@](#): > > Oh, and “Voyage of the Space Beagle” is a hoot. Can’t remember offhand who wrote it. I _think_ that was Eric Frank Russell. I’d also recommend some Stanley G. Weinbaum. I love that stuff too. Guess we’ve got old-fashioned taste when it comes to the future. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-retro-sci-fi-to-a-huge-futurama-fan/198331/22 "2004-06-15T14:51:52Z")
> [@Evil Captor](#): > > Oh, and “Voyage of the Space Beagle” is a hoot. Can’t remember offhand who wrote it. [AE Van Vogt](http://vanvogt.www4.mmedia.is/voyageof.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-retro-sci-fi-to-a-huge-futurama-fan/198331/23 "2004-06-15T14:58:57Z")
> [@Hodge](#): > > [Barbarella (1968)](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0062711/). Jane Fonda’s sex-kitten-in-space epic has to be seen to be believed. Not particularly good but strangely compelling due to its psychadelic production design and unusually high cheese factor. “An angel doesn’t _make_ love; an angel _is_ love!” ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-retro-sci-fi-to-a-huge-futurama-fan/198331/24 "2004-06-15T15:24:50Z")
> [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#): > > See my sig for a sample! Blast! The Qadgopians have perfected their invisibility ray! ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-retro-sci-fi-to-a-huge-futurama-fan/198331/25 "2004-06-15T16:43:26Z")
[**The Martian Tales of Edgar Rice Burroughs**](http://www.tarzan.org/barsoom.html) [**The Jetsons**](http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/watch/tv_shows/jetsons/) ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-retro-sci-fi-to-a-huge-futurama-fan/198331/26 "2004-06-15T17:20:42Z")
_Duck Dodgers In The 23rd 1/2 Century!!_ On Cartoon Network. Hee-hee. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-retro-sci-fi-to-a-huge-futurama-fan/198331/27 "2004-06-15T17:28:28Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > _Duck Dodgers In The 23rd 1/2 Century!!_ I believe that’s twenty-_fourth_ and a half century, for goodneth thakes… ---
**Author:** ![gentle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/eb8c5e/32.png) [@gentle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gentle)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-retro-sci-fi-to-a-huge-futurama-fan/198331/28 "2004-06-15T20:19:58Z")
> [@SolGrundy](#): > > It’s always Heinlein this and Phillip K Dick that, and they’re fine writers but tedious and not that much fun to read. Are you kidding? You’re right about Heinlein, but PKD is one of the weirdest and funniest in the genre. What, may I ask, have you read? Classics include _Ubik_ (pure psychedelia; where else will you find the protagonist arguing with his apartment door?), _A Scanner Darkly_ (where even suicide can be funny), _Valis_ (ditto; hilarious all the way through), the much-underrated _Galactic Pot-Healer_ (how often do you read about a fat, whale-sized god whose crushing weight has him fall through several floors by accident?), and a bunch of short stories. PKD’s trademark deadpan humour and sense of cosmic irony is found throughout. > [@](#): > > He … vigorously strode to the apt door, turned the knob and pulled on the release bolt. > > The door refused to open. It said, “Five cents, please.” > > He searched his pockets. No more coins; nothing. “I’ll pay you tomorrow,” he told the door. Again he tried the knob. Again it remained locked tight. “What I pay you,” he informed it, “is in the nature of a gratuity; I don’t have to pay you.” > > “I think otherwise,” the door said, “Look in the purchase contract you signed when you bought this conapt.” > > In his desk drawer he found the contract; since signing it he had found it necessary to refer to the document many times. Sure enough; payment to this door for opening and shutting constituted a mandatory fee. Not a tip. > > “You discover I’m right,” the door said. It sounded smug. > > From the drawer beside the sink Joe Chip got a stainless steel knife; with it he began systematically to unscrew the bolt assembly of his apt’s money-gulping door. > > “I’ll sue you,” the door said as the first screw fell out. > > Joe Chip said, “I’ve never been sued by a door. But I guess I can live through it.” ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-retro-sci-fi-to-a-huge-futurama-fan/198331/29 "2004-06-15T23:58:47Z")
> [@gentle](#): > > Are you kidding? You’re right about Heinlein, but PKD is one of the weirdest and funniest in the genre. I feel exactly the opposite about these two authors. I bought a book of short stories by Phillip K. Dick a few years ago and almost snored a hole right through it. Then a few months back I checked out _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_ by Heinlein and couldn’t put it down. ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-retro-sci-fi-to-a-huge-futurama-fan/198331/30 "2004-06-16T00:11:34Z")
> [@gentle](#): > > Are you kidding? You’re right about Heinlein, but PKD is one of the weirdest and funniest in the genre. What, may I ask, have you read? Classics include _Ubik_ (pure psychedelia; where else will you find the protagonist arguing with his apartment door?), _A Scanner Darkly_ (where even suicide can be funny), _Valis_ (ditto; hilarious all the way through), the much-underrated _Galactic Pot-Healer_ (how often do you read about a fat, whale-sized god whose crushing weight has him fall through several floors by accident?), and a bunch of short stories. PKD’s trademark deadpan humour and sense of cosmic irony is found throughout. Or to paraphrase, “You don’t know Dick.” All I’ve read is “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” and _Ubik_, and couldn’t get through either without glazing over. It’s possible I just wasn’t in the right mood; I think I got into it right after reading a bunch of Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett. ---
**Author:** ![gentle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/eb8c5e/32.png) [@gentle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gentle)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-retro-sci-fi-to-a-huge-futurama-fan/198331/31 "2004-06-16T01:52:13Z")
> [@SolGrundy](#): > > Or to paraphrase, “You don’t know Dick.” All I’ve read is “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” and _Ubik_, and couldn’t get through either without glazing over. It’s possible I just wasn’t in the right mood; I think I got into it right after reading a bunch of Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett. _Sheep_ is pretty much Dick’s bleakest, gloomiest work; no surprise there. I’m surprised you didn’t get _Ubik_, though, which I’m sure Adams must have read at some point. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-retro-sci-fi-to-a-huge-futurama-fan/198331/32 "2004-06-16T02:09:45Z")
Dick, like a lot of authors, wrote things that never seem to be mentioned, like _The Zap Gun_ and another I have somewhere in my book collection but can’t remember the name of of the moment, but to describe it would probably spoil the entire book, especially the ending. I’m a little surprised no one has mentioned Wells and Verne. Their stuff is really retro. Although I suppose they’re not quite what the OP was looking for. Personally, Burroughs and Smith bore me. I tracked down a couple of reprints in used book stores (yes, I made sure to get the first volumes) and neither really managed to capture my attention. I never made it all the way through Smith, and though I made it all the way through the first Barsoom book, I haven’t exactly been itching to read the rest. I’m not quite sure why, as in my previous reading list are a ton of authors, and I get _F&SF_, _Analog_, and _Asimov’s_ every month. ---
**Author:** ![gentle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/eb8c5e/32.png) [@gentle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gentle)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-retro-sci-fi-to-a-huge-futurama-fan/198331/33 "2004-06-16T02:34:40Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > I feel exactly the opposite about these two authors. I bought a book of short stories by Phillip K. Dick a few years ago and almost snored a hole right through it. Then a few months back I checked out _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_ by Heinlein and couldn’t put it down. Hardly a valid comparison. Dick was not a great short-story writer. Also, while he wrote about a hundred short stories, I consider only a handful of these to be classics, although in many cases brilliant philosophical ideas are disguised in shoddy, pedestrian writing. Notable PKD stories and their premises: [ul] [li] Roog (1953) (dog perceives household’s garbagemen to be aliens)[/li][li] Imposter (1953) (during intraplanetary war, man is captured and accused of being an android created by the enemy and given fake memories and the belief that he is human)[/li][li] Second Variety (1953) (in a post-nuclear war, enemy uses robots disguised as innocent civilians to infiltrate and destroy human territory)[/li][li] Autofac (1955) (in world decimated by war, autonomous underground factories develop self-preservation skills against surviving humans)[/li][li] Explorers We (1959) (shades of _Solaris_ as space explorers return to Earth)[/li][li] The Days of Perky Pat (1963) (workers in a bleak off-world colony obsess about Barbie-doll-like constructs and virtual worlds)[/li][li] The Little Black Box (1964) (government outlaws burgeoning underground pseudo-religion based on virtual-reality suffering; idea later used for _Do Androids Dream?_)[/li][li] We Can Remember it for You Wholesale (1966) (firm sells fake memory implants for vacation purposes, is surprised by customer’s existing memories)[/li][li] Faith of our Fathers (1966) (anti-hallucinatory drugs may reveal the true form of government leaders)[/li][li] The Electric Ant (1969) (man discovers he is an android; begins to hack his own mind)[/li][li] The Pre-Persons (1974) (abortion of preteens is legal)[/li][li] A Little Something for Us Tempunauts (1974) (time travelers investigate their own death)[/li][li] I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon (1980) (man on many-year-long interstellar trip wakes when ship’s cryogenic chamber malfunctions)[/li][/ul] Most of these are available in the collection [The Best of Philip K. Dick](http://www.geocities.com/pkdlw/best-of.html). ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-retro-sci-fi-to-a-huge-futurama-fan/198331/34 "2004-06-16T03:40:16Z")
Dick writes like some sort of depressed mentally ill person who didn’t take his meds. His stories are boring paranoid fantasies. Am I real? Am you real? Am the world real? Is everything I’ve ever believed a lie? It’s OK for freshman philosophy bs sessions, but it sure makes for a boring novel. Dick is also a hijack. His stuff is anything but retro. You want retro, try A.E. Van Vogt’s stuff, esp. Weapon Shops of Isher. For short stories, look for old Groff Conklin anthologies. Brian Aldiss’ “Billion Year Spree” collection also has some good old stuff, and some modern stuff written in the tradition of the good old stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-retro-sci-fi-to-a-huge-futurama-fan/198331/35 "2004-06-16T03:50:07Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > I’m a little surprised no one has mentioned Wells and Verne. Their stuff is really retro. Although I suppose they’re not quite what the OP was looking for. I’m lukewarm on HG Wells but Jules Verne just happens to be one of my favorite authors. You’re right though, they’re both a little _too_ retro for this thread. Give me death rays! Give me robots! Give me movies with death rays and robots! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-retro-sci-fi-to-a-huge-futurama-fan/198331/36 "2004-07-07T10:19:29Z")
Wow, I just watched _Forbidden Planet_. It took place on another planet, had a flying saucer, death rays, a robot, and Leslie Nielson. It was quite possibly the best movie I’ve ever seen in my life. Anything else out there like it? ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-retro-sci-fi-to-a-huge-futurama-fan/198331/37 "2004-07-07T17:44:51Z")
> [@HPL](#): > > If you play computer games, try out “Fallout”. Set in California after a Nuclear Apocolypse, but everything is very retro. Computer chips have Vacuum Tubes, the Interface has Vaccuum tubes, the weapons are very retro-scifish. Also mutants, robot maids, etc. It’s a great game in it’s own right. I had forgotten about Mr. Handy. Now I’ve got to go back and play that game. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-retro-sci-fi-to-a-huge-futurama-fan/198331/38 "2004-07-07T23:44:39Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > Wow, I just watched _Forbidden Planet_. It took place on another planet, had a flying saucer, death rays, a robot, and Leslie Nielson. It was quite possibly the best movie I’ve ever seen in my life. > > Anything else out there like it? Not that I know of. But where do you go from there? An intelligent robot that can synthesize just about anything! Incredible power! Technological telekinesis! “Monsters from the id!” People ripped to shreds! Impenetrable metal. That invisible monsters can penetrate! \ Did you notice the far overhead shot where they’re walking on a ramp on a tour of the Krell machine? There’s a similar shot in the _Babylon 5_ episode “A Voice in the Wilderness part 1”. \ ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2004, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-retro-sci-fi-to-a-huge-futurama-fan/198331/39 "2004-07-08T00:03:57Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > Did you notice the far overhead shot where they’re walking on a ramp on a tour of the Krell machine? There’s a similar shot in the _Babylon 5_ episode “A Voice in the Wilderness part 1”. I’ve never seen Babylon 5. I want to check it out though because I’m a big fan of J. Michael Straczynski’s comic book work. He’s a great writer. I’ve also heard that Forbidden Planet was a big inspiration for the original Star Trek series. I really want to check that out too but it looks like I can either pay $85 for the DVD set next month or pay about $12 an episode on VHS. I’m not sure if it’s worth the gamble. I’ve never seen a single episode of any of the incarnations of Star Trek nor have I seen any of the movies. I’d hate to spend all that money to find out I hate it. ---
**Author:** ![Hodge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Hodge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hodge)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2004, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-retro-sci-fi-to-a-huge-futurama-fan/198331/40 "2004-07-08T01:32:59Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > Wow, I just watched _Forbidden Planet_. It took place on another planet, had a flying saucer, death rays, a robot, and Leslie Nielson. It was quite possibly the best movie I’ve ever seen in my life. Great isn’t it? Reading back through this thread I’m glad to see that I mentioned it. I really think it’s one of the great unsung classics of the genre. For a post-modern take on the genre, I’m surprised nobody mentioned _Mars Attacks!_. It’s a wonderful tribute/send-up of those hoary old Sci-Fi B movies of the era. Don’t let the candy-coloured veneer of badness fool you, Tim Burton knew exactly what he was doing. This movie would make a great triple bill when matched up with _Plan 9 From Outer Space_ directed by Ed Wood, one of the most infamously awful SF movies ever made and Tim Burton’s _Ed Wood_ a paen to its namesake, Bela Lugosi, and movie-making in general. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-retro-sci-fi-to-a-huge-futurama-fan/198331.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-retro-sci-fi-to-a-huge-futurama-fan/198331.md?page=3)