HGWells Second most influential person of Sci-fi

[Anthony]

"SFX magazine recently counted down the 50 greatest science fiction and fantasy pioneers of the past 150 years and H. G. Wells' came in at second place behind Star Wars director George Lucas.

Behind Wells' in third place was Gene Roddenberry creator of Star Trek and in forth was Steven Spielberg director of E.T and the upcoming War of the Worlds production."

View the scans from the magazine below ;D ;D ;D ;D

www.eveofthewar.com/news/4576

Sorry about the size of the images, 56k people will be overwhelmed.

[timeship2]

This is another example of how skewed these polls are. Do you notice that apart from HGWells they are all TV/Movie producers. I wonder if the only reason HGWells made it that high was because of the upcoming War of the Worlds movie? ie they are that high because they are what people are most likely to remember. I don't say they don't deserve to be reasonably high on the list but when I think of "50 greatest science fiction and fantasy pioneers of the past 150 years" I tend to think more of Science Fiction writers than Movie/TV producers but that's just me. I wonder how far up the list Jules Verne, Isaac Asmov, Arthur C Clarke came?

[Anthony]

Well over the past 150 years the main sci fi influences have been from film and tv, and by the way it wasnt made from a poll but a group of experts and from research. Heres the list anyway.

1) Lucas (Which is fair enuf)
2) HGWells'
3)Roddenberry (Creator of Star Trek which is one of the biggest sci fi things ever)
4) Steven Spielberg (Creator of many succesful Scifi films including Minority Report, Et and Close Encounters.
5)Stan Lee (Marvel Comic MASTER)
6) Ed Catmull and Steve Jobs (Creators of Pixar)
7)Chris Carter
8) Terry Nation (Daleks creator)
9)Gerry Anderson
10)Tim Burton
11)Philip K d*ck
12) JRR Tolkein
13) Stanley Kubrick
14)Sydney Newman
16)HR Giger
17) Osumu Tezuka (Kicked off Manga and Anime
18) Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski (Matrix)
19) James Cameron
20) Douglas Adams (Hitchhikers Guide)
21) Arthur C Clarke
22) M Night Shyamalan
23) Stan Winston (special effects genius)
24) Jack Kirby
25) JK Rowling
26) John Carpenter
27) Isaac Asimov
28) Peter Jackson
29) Russel T Davies
30) Sam Raimi
31) JM Straczynski
32) Nick Landau
33) Terry Pratchett
34) John Whyndham
35) Stephen King
36) Bram Stoker
37) Gary Gygax
38) Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster (superman creators)
39) Ridley Scott
40) Jules Verne
41) William Gibson
42) Rob Kane
43) Pat Mills
44) Fritz Lang
45) Neil Gaiman
46) David Lynch
47) Ray Harryhausen
48) Micheal Moorcock
49) George A Romero
50) Marry Shelly

God that took ages to type. That sounds quite fair to me.

[timeship2]

Thanks for the list Anthony,

Nice to see Arthur C Clarke beat his rival Isaac Asimov ;D

I wonder why they rated Douglas Adams higher than Arthur though? Don't get me wrong I am a great Fan of Douglas Adams, but I'd love to know the reasoning behind that one as Arthur wrote the original story behind the landmark 2001 for a start.

[Anthony]

Hitchhikers Guide inspired a lot of these intergalactic sci fi comedys so i suppose thats why. Hitchhikers Guide did well also in the Big read BBC thing coming third i think in the best books ever.

[Cylinder]

LMFAO at Russel T Davies at 29 ;D His version of Doctor Who not even out yet so still could be awful. Never considered Queer as Folk to be SCI-FI milestone before unless gays are monsters from Zog ;D

[Anthony]

He has wrote Dr Who books aswell

[Cylinder]

Anthony said:

He has wrote Dr Who books aswell

which very few people have read. Stephen King and Pratchett have sold tens of millions and they are lower in the poll.

[Anthony]

I agree it is a bit stupid

[FALLINGSTAR]

I'd agree with most of that but where the hell is American author Frank Herbert of DUNE fame.

Also I think it's appalling that kiddie writer J.K. Rowlings even on there amongst so many greats, let alone ahead of Peter Jackson.

I'd also have put Dalek designer Raymond Cusick joint with their creator Terry Nation as he's really the man who gave us the Daleks as we know them.

[Topaz]

Hmmm. As is common with these things, the weightings seem to favor people who've done popular work recently. M Night Shyamalan ranks above Asimov, Verne, and Shelly, for instance, and the Wachowski brothers rate above Clarke? This is not to say that these 'younger' works weren't wonderful, and they may also be influential over time, but they've hardly had a chance to radically change things yet. Only time will tell on that score.

I personally would've put Tolkien into the top-ten part of the list, for the almost single-handed development of the fantasy category as a commercial venture with The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I doubt any single author has been as influential in that genre as he has.

It's also a pity that Harlan Ellison didn't even make the list, as he's had so much influence (as a writer and technical consultant) on so many of the successful SF television series. That's a major omission, in my book.

Nice to see Wells getting his due, however!

[Anthony]

M Night Shyamalan and the Wackowski Brothers have both created certain types of films that have influence many other writers and directors already.

Shyamalan has reinvented Hitchcock for the 21st century and put the twists back in films.

The Wackowski Brother have mixed many elements of SCI FI including Asimov and have created there own almost unique brand. Like Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings, THe matrix also has a massive fan base so it must be an influence to some.

Shyamalan the Wackowski brothers have already made a massive mark in sci-fi and fantasy so i recon it seems right where they are.

[the Donal]

Recent exposure IS a large factor of these polls (the music ones would be most distressing if they were to be taken at all seriously). I actually think that George Lucas is a fair choice- not only for Star Wars, but for ILM and Lucas Arts- he made many things possible through pushing forward the boundaries of technology.

However, what about-
Douglas Trumbull- far more influential than Stan Winston (IMO..)- he made Close Encounters, ET, Blade Runner etc look as good as they did.

Syd Mead- huge visual influence- Blade Runner, Tron, 2001 (I think) and countless others

Jean Giraudy (Moebius)- fantastic visual artist- see the Fifth Element

Iain M Banks

Stephen Hawking (yes, he writes science fact, but it really does have a knock on effect)

Roger Dean

Rodney Matthews

George Orwell

Stephen Donaldson


It is, though, a very personal thing and possibly better broken up into media- books, movies, visual design, art & comics etc. The rankings may then work out a little 'fairer'.

Or you could just not bother and go on liking what you like anyway!!!
;D

[the Donal]

Er...that's Stan Lee dude!

Help! Overload! Too many Stans!

I'm not sure I can stan' this much longer!!! ;D

[Topaz]

Anthony said:

Shyamalan the Wackowski brothers have already made a massive mark in sci-fi and fantasy so i recon it seems right where they are.

Oh, I don't argue that they've had significant influence, but this poll was all about having major influence over the course of time.

I - personally - don't believe that their overall influence yet matches that of Clark, Asimov, et al. It may end up being so in the future if they continue to contribute at the rate they have, but it's a bit premature to put them in the category of the 'old masters' quite yet. IMHO, of course.

[Anthony]

I agree there Topaz

[Gnorn]

These kind of polls allways are very biassed. Like all 'popularity' polls. Just take a look at the IMDB top movies list. A lot of those movies only are in there because the target audience has internet access.

It's like judging a movie (or computer game like Halo 2) as 10 out of 10, five stars, gold, or whatever topspot measurment they've got, before it is released, just because of all the hype surrounding it.

-Gnorn

[Anthony]

It wasnt decided via a poll from the masses.

[Cylinder]

Anthony said:

I think its fair that Stan Winston is fifth because he created X-Men, Spiderman, Hulk, DareDevil, Fantastic 4 and all of Marvels superheros.

PMSL

[Anthony]

I misread what he said, and i meant Stan Lee.