British Sci Fi

October 13, 2005 @ 10:24 am

Hitchhiker's Guide to the GalaxyHas anyone noticed a theme in British science fiction? I am referring to what I call "hitchhiker" syndrome. The Brits never seem to build their own space fleet (ala Star Trek), rather they end up hitching a ride with someone else. This applies to Arthur Dent catching a ride with Ford Prefect, Teri catching a ride with Doctor Who, and What's His Name from Red Dwarf.

I guess it mimicks real life with British astronauts going to space on NASA rockets, but does it also speak to some insecurity in the British psyche? Or do the Brits simply recognize the absurdity of space travel and want no part of its operation beyond the status of unwitting passenger?

As you can tell, I'm hard at work right now. ;)

Replies: 7 Comments

I think it has more to do with the fact that in the UK there are no huge lines of clear Florida coastline, no plains of white sand in New Mexico, or otherwise large areas of flat, mostly sunny, mild climate locations for the Brits to build their own version of NASA. Can you just imagine them trying to re-enter the atmosphere over the British Channel with their fog and mostly Ann Arbor-like weather? I don't think so....

Allison said on October 13, 2005 @ 1:55 pm

Wait, who in Red Dwarf are you calling a hitchhiker? Rimmer? He's not hitchhiking on purpose. :( Neither is Cat for that matter. And the whole thing was Lister's fault in the first place, wasn't it?

srah said on October 13, 2005 @ 3:42 pm

Yeah, England doesn't really have any part of it that's just begging to be blown up like New Mexico is. I can never keep the Red Dwarf characters straight, but wasn't Rimmer sort of swept into space involuntarily? That's sort of like hitchhiking. At least it wasn't his space ship.

Nick Baker said on October 13, 2005 @ 9:46 pm

in later seasons of red dwarf they were on the smaller ship... but they had the right to be there! oh. wait. srah just said that. m.

miranda said on October 13, 2005 @ 10:00 pm

Rimmer didn't have a physical body to hitchhike with!

srah said on October 14, 2005 @ 6:36 am

they were all crew members, lister was in some sort of suspension as punishment, and the cat was the mutation of the cat that lister brought on board and was being punished for... then there was a radiation blowup nad everyone was killed. luckily they had a hologram program that let people be around after death, but Rimmer was the only file left unharmed in the explosion. *nerd* .m

m to the chill said on October 14, 2005 @ 7:37 am

That's the pot calling the kettle black! I think I've stepped into a quagmire of fandom that I wasn't fully prepared for with my Red Dwarf commentary. Suffice it to say, I've seen more of BBC's Robot Wars than Red Dwarf.

Nick Baker said on October 14, 2005 @ 3:56 pm