In a fit of nostalgia, a buddy from the UK ordered the DVDs for a favorite TV series, The Girl from Tomorrow. Apparently, in the year 2500 Chinese characters are used quite often. That prompted him to ask me, “What was the first sci-fi (TV series or movie) to use Chinese characters for general signs?”
I had to admit that I really don’t know. I’ll bet that Blade Runner is in the running, having come out in 1982. That’s one possibility we discussed. We’ve both noticed kanji/hanzi on signs and warning labels in a couple of other SF films and TV series, notably Firefly, but those are of more modern vintage.
So, how about it, anybody know of anything older than BR that uses Chinese or Japanese characters as background or cultural elements, implying that the characters in that world use them as the main or adjunct form of writing? We’re not really looking for, “Oh, look, space stations have Chinatowns too!” but along the lines of it being more mainstream, i.e. non-ethnic characters use it, or the signs are mixed in with other languages.
The ST:TOS episode “The Omega Glory” had some transplanted Chinese villagers in it, but I don’t remember any use of Chinese text.
The Alien series had Japanese text appear on background videoscreens from time to time - the villainous Company was actually named Weylan-Yutani, IIRC - but I’m not sure that Chinese characters ever appeared there, either.
I seem to remember some Chinese in either Johnny Mnemonic or the Matrix series, but those would both have been after Blade Runner and Firefly.
The look of Bladerunner was unique – they really set out to create a very different looking future, and I think they extrapolated from the large Asian population of the West Coast to get that Oriental Lettering-heavy signage. So I think you got it in one.
That said, futures in which Orientals get the upper hand and dominate culture were the poential boogeymen much earlier on. That weas the idea in the Phuilip Nowlan stories that evetually became Buck Rogers – the Bad Guys were Asians who’d conquered the US, and Anthony Rogers (he didn’t become “Buck” until the comic strips) rebelled against them. No aliens needed. Flash Gordon later stiole shamelessly from Buck (but with much better art), and we got the faux-oriental Emperor Ming of the planet Mongo. But as far as I know, none of those conceptions ever followed through with Eastern writing or any genuine Oriental art or concepts.