What is Astro punk...?

What is the definition of "Astro punk"...?

I know about cyberpunk... and, I know of punk rock...So,

what exactlly is Astro punk...?

[edit on 30-7-2007 by cosmokatt7]

[edit on 30-7-2007 by cosmokatt7]

[edit on 30-7-2007 by cosmokatt7]

Maybe it's like Steam-punk with a heaver science fiction twist.

Or perhaps it's astrologers with a maverick attitude to wards astrology.

Sorry I just don't know.


[edit on 31-7-2007 by DarkMile77]

Hmm, I thought I was pretty familiar with all the 'punk' subgeners of sci-fi writing, but I've never heard of astropunk. I've got a particular affinity for soft sci-fi writing, especially the post/apocalyptic post/cyberpunk stuff, as well as some steampunk. But astropunk . . . perhaps it's not sci-fi related at all. Music?

...While Star Trek is the world of the Spacer(s) ...

with a direct lineage from Asimov and Flash Gordon/Buck Rogers...

..So.. the Klingons would be Astro punk... and (also)

Joss Wedon's Firefly/Serenity....

Get it...?

Originally posted by cosmokatt7


...While Star Trek is the world of the Spacer(s) ...

with a direct lineage from Asimov and Flash Gordon/Buck Rogers...

..So.. the Klingon's would be Astro punk... and (also)

Joss Wedon's Firefly/Serenity....

Get it...?

No sorry I don't get it.

And I think Star Wars as the closer relation to Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon than Star Trek. But thats my personal opinion.

...Star wars was cribbed from all the great science fiction writers... and even from japanimation... Heck, if I could get "him to admit it... I think he even stole from me..

Actually, Forbidden Planet was also a direct precursor to
Star Trek too...

If cyber punk denotes a near future world of altenately high computer tech and societal decay,,, then Astro punk denotes
a future world where technology enhances life... but not the "antiseptic'
world of the "spacers" ..or "Starfleet"...

I think that this topic is interesting enough that cosmokatt should either post us some links on the topic or give us a comprehensive presentation on it.

Seriously. I'm all ears on this one.

...Reality Hurts ..I'm actually looking up some info now...

One thing I'm suggesting is that the visual look of TOS owes

alot to Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, and Forbidden Planet...

..then there are the cultural exprapolations that "astro punk"
suggests also...

Astro Punk (In the beginning...)

"So I don't care just what you say,
Astro punk is here to stay"...

Astro punk combines the visions of a high tech future,with the nostalgia
of the past. In other words Astro punk encapulates a kind of "retro
futura" i.e. the future and the past combine in an esthetic whole...

Perhaps the best or edgiest astro punk combines these element into an almost discortant amalgamation.

So then, Star Trek is astro punk... but, the Klingon Empire
is good/great astro punk.

Also the past projections of our (still yet to be) future become astropunk...

Think of the car styling in the mid-late 1950's... the car tail fins and chrome trim designed to emulate rockets. It's astro punk, man!


I going to say tat astro punk begins with Flash Gordon...
The newspaper strip by Alex Raymond. These are tales of the
far future, but illustrated in a "classical" artististic rendition.

www.msnusers.com...


Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers were the primary visual
inspiration and influence for the S.F. pulp writers of the 1930'3-40's...

They utilized the laser "blasters and "Rocket ships" with FTL (faster than
light) travel...

www.msnusers.com...

www.msnusers.com...

Amid this arena, and foremost among his contempoaries was Issac Asimov. With his peers Asimov help to define the characteristics and
conventions of the Spacer(s) ...




2 B Con't...











[edit on 1-8-2007 by cosmokatt7]

so if someone wrote a story about an ancient civilization with an advanced technology would that be astro punk?

... No... Astro punk is a Western thing...born of the 20th century.

...Once again... I starts with Flash Gordon/ Alex Raymond 1934 ...

But, that's and interesting query...


Maybe we could call that... Ancient Astro punk

Astro punk : the Spacers


"It's a foregone conclusion that astro punk suggests that space is the future of mankind"


They are "the cream of humanity"... smartet, more attractive and 'stronger' than the norm...
They travel in great rocket/spaceships, possess high technology,..and
they most often have robots...

As Asimov envisioned them, they are very distainful of Earthbound Humanity...They see "Earthers" as Neanderthals, and avoid close personal contact...

en.wikipedia.org...(Asimov)



In the Star Trek universe, Spacers..or rather Starfleet is not
nearly so distainful of earth people...After all, for the most part...That's who they are...


Now, the visual look of the Spacers is evident in all the different variations od Star Trek...And this "look" or style is derived from the visual portrayals
of Spacer in pulp S.F. literature, The original Flash gordon newspaper strips...but draws its main inspiration from the Flash gordon Movie serials.


www.msnusers.com...



We can observe the same basic visual look of the characters (Spacers) in Star Trek in all its incarnations... The almost skintight uniforms that display humanity at its physical finest...

www.msnusers.com...

www.msnusers.com...


www.msnusers.com...




On the other hand, the lok or design of the Star trek universe,
especially TOS ,I believe draws inspiration mainly from the 50's
science fiction film Fobidden Planet...
the production design of the backgrounds, the trio of main stars motif...
even the "spacebabe(s)" comes from Forbidden Planet and is echoed (directly) in Star Trek, the original series...


www.msnusers.com...






...While I admit, it can be argued effectively that Star Wars is
astro punk, ...I do follow a particular bias... thus, i'd refer to Star Wars as junk S.F. astro junk along with truly bad Sci Fi shows and films...
like Andromeda.


"I want to believe".. that Astro punk has intrinsic underlying cultural value
and allusions...



2 B Con't...




[edit on 2-8-2007 by cosmokatt7]

[edit on 2-8-2007 by cosmokatt7]

What.......The.......Heck are you guys talking about? Is this some kind of code language so "They" don't know the conversation? Seriously i'm kinda lost. Wait not not kinda all i got out of this whole thing is that neither starwars or startrek is astro punk but astro punk doesn't like earth dwellers.

What the Heck is Astro Punk?

I think astropunk is a secret movement to overthrow the Illimanati,and for the mass of humanity use their technology to leave the earth---
In a couple of hundred years.

LOL amazingly that makes more sense to me than all the rest of it.

Originally posted by bassistchris
LOL amazingly that makes more sense to me than all the rest of it.

...And I say,,, "Nare de' welll, to the nay sayers"....

I'll be writing another section , later today...

Astropunk : Spacers, Settlers, Robots, Androids, and Cyborgs ... (oh, my!)


Space opera


The example of Flash Gordon gave the pulp writers of the 1930's and 40's inspiration to create a certain type of fiction. We know it naow as Science
Fiction or Sci fi...

A particular school od S.F. that became very popular is often called
"Space opera"... Asimov, Heinlein, and others embraced it.

Now, in the world of the 21st century, Space opera is somewhat passe.
Yet, Astropunk could be called the "son' of Space opera.

Astropunk incorporates themes of the far future, high technology...yet, a way of life, and a nostiliga for the past... All this, coupled with political commentary... This is astropunk, inLiterary terms...

I nominate Steve Perry and The Matadora Trilogy as a prime
example...

Space opera established the "motifs" that we now recognize in Science Fiction films... Spaceships, blasters, long range communications devices.

and the like...



Spacers and Settlers


Especially, in the fiction of Asimov, we see a marked demarcation between ( Frequent) space travellers and, planetbound Humans .

In Asimov's fiction, the Spacers were able to create their great society because robots did the hard labor and menial tasks that man preformed in the past.

Robots and Androids


As these robots were developed over time, Men created "Human form" robots. These we now popularlly call androids.

Acknowledging the "Frankenstein syndrome", (out of control technology)
Asimov postulates The Three Laws of Robotics...

1. a robot may not injure a human being, or through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

2. a robot must obey orders given to it by a human being, except where such orders would conflict with the First law.

3. A robot must protect its own existance, as long as such protection does not conflict with the first or second law,


These 3 laws were programmed and incoded in an A.I. device, that
Asimiv named the positronic brain .

You might recognize this term from Lt. Cmdr. Data of St:TNG
you might also recognize it from the recent Will Smith movie: I, Robot ,loosely based on the book by the same name from Asimov.

www.msnusers.com...


www.msnusers.com...




Basic Asimov

For and overview of the works of Asimov, I recommend the original

Robot Novel Trilogy

1. the Caves of Steel

2. The naked Sun

3. The Robots of Dawn


I also recommend....


The Foundation Trilogy

1. Foundation

2. Foundation and Empire

3. Second Foundation








2 B Con't...

I don't know anything about Astro punk but at least the stuff that it's involved with whether its androids or anything relevant to science fiction I'll be hooked on it. I don't know why I can't get any access to the links ya posted up(maybe it's an eror in my side ), keep up the good work and hopefull we'll be able to get down to the meanin' of astro punk .

Astropunk : Cyborgs



The word cyborg was first widely used in popular culture, after the publication of Cyborg by martin Caidin.. This book was also the basis of the TV show The Six Million Dollar Man and its spinoff
The Bionic Woman .


www.msnusers.com...



www.msnusers.com...




www.msnusers.com...




Not surprisingly, the author of this book, Caidin, actually worked for NASA for a time. Actually, the research into the effects of spacetravel
seem a logical place for the development of replacements for human body parts. After all...

"Space...It's a dangerous place!"




Probably, the most famous cyborgs of recent times , in modern culture are The Borg of Star Trek... Not too creative( thoes writers) are they?
The Borg are constantly seeking to assimilate all species that they encounter... especially Humans.

Introduced in the Star Trek series The Next Generation , they seem
to have become a favorite villian. In my opinion, they have always seemed somewhat "cyberpunk" .




www.msnusers.com...








Now, in Battlestar Galactica,
we have robotic Cylons , and human appearing Cylons....

Are they cyborgs?...Biobots?... Androids?...

Take your pick...



www.msnusers.com...






Summation


...So, at its best astropunk draws on the rich , ancient traditions of Earth. yet, it relys on the high space tech of the future... While, also
dealing with the politics of human being ...



Astropunk films

Buckaroo Banzai

Blade Runner

Space hunter: Into the forbidden Zone

Star Wars (Haw!)



Astropunk TV

Battlestar Galactica

Farscape



Astropunk books

Dune (series) Frank Hurbert

The Matadora Trilogy Steve Perry

The Man who Never Missed
Matadora
The machiavelli Interface





[edit on 4-8-2007 by cosmokatt7]

Ok if I read it right Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon are Astro-Punk. Right ?

Well since I still love both I guess thats make me a fan of Astro-Punk, or maybe not.


As far as I remember Asimov was always considered Hard Science Fiction because what he wrote was more plausible then the technology of say Star Wars.

And I think it is being forgot that the stories of Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, Star Wars, and Firefly are filled with men and women of action. Not scientist that think there better then the rest of us just because they were smart.

Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon were just men who kept there cool in extraordinary situations.

Also it should be noted that at one point or another Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, Star Wars, and Firefly have been referred to has space westerns. A genera that has been given the cold shoulder by the fans of Star Trek , Asimov, and Clark.

Its sad that the Star Trek fans have forgotten that Star Treks early episodes were space westerns.

One more bit of info. Star Wars, Flash Gordon, and Buck Rogers also belong in the category of Space Opera.





[edit on 5-8-2007 by DarkMile77]