It looks at the creation of the atomic bomb by Robert Oppenheimer and others, the Cold War, and the many varieties of science fiction expression in all media.
The story of science fiction is of scientific development, of spectacular technological achievements and amazing inventions - a mythic story of onward development by vital and purposeful individuals and nation states. There is a counter history of science fiction, that of two great apocalypses - the initial terrifying catastrophe of the First World War, which changed our world utterly. and a second catastrophe, the invention and subsequent dropping and detonation of two atomic bombs on the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, by science fiction reading scientists.
The works discussed range from the work of H G Wells, Ursula le Guin, Octavia Butler, Kurt Vonnegut, J G Ballard and Arthur C Clarke to recent superhero feature films and the inspiring work of Kim Stanley Robinson, who seeks to combat climate change in his remarkable book The Ministry for the Future.
A new War of the Worlds may be being fought in our time, taking place between humankind and the planet itself, with weapons of fire, heat, pollution, floods and storms, leading to large numbers of people journeying not into space, but to more temperate surroundings on this earth. This is creating a new kind of science fiction, fear of a general dystopia, of mass and forced migration and the reappearance of the end of the world as a preoccupying theme.
Richly illustrated and with a specially written orchestral score, this powerful series will inspire, shock, engage and entertain, with its evocative description of visions of the future expressed in the greatest works of science fiction.