The History of Sci Fi - H.G. Wells - Extra Sci Fi - Part 2
Вставка
- Опубліковано 8 лют 2025
- H.G. Wells brought his socialist perspective to science fiction, creating great works that really ask us to look at where the human condition will take us hundreds of years from now.
Subscribe for more episodes every Tuesday! bit.ly/SubToEC
___________
Play games with us on Extra Play! bit.ly/WatchEXP
___________
Thanks for participating in this week's discussion! We want you to be aware of our community posting guidelines so that we can have high-quality conversations: goo.gl/HkzwQh
Contribute community subtitles to Extra Sci Fi: www.youtube.com...
Talk to us on Twitter (@ExtraCreditz): bit.ly/ECTweet
Follow us on Facebook: bit.ly/ECFBPage
Get our list of recommended games on Steam: bit.ly/ECCurator
___________
Would you like James Portnow to speak at your school or organization? For info, contact us at: contact@extra-credits.net
___________
♪ Music: "Hypothetical" by Surasshu
www.aivisura.com/
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
H.G. Wells used his stories to ask, "if the present state of the world infinitely continues, what will happen?"
Hey let's hope when you get to cyberpunk please look at yukito kishiro's GUNNM, and Ghost in the Shell.
we'd all be dead
Extra Credits Pantheon of literature please do Stan Lee and Jack Kirby also the creators of Superman
Can you guys do an episode on sports games (like madden)? I would ask through Patreon if I had an account
Extra Credits are you guys at Extra Credit only focusing on Sci Fi authors and not writers or directors? If so, I think that a video focusing on the contributions of Lovecraft would be a good choice for the history of Sci Fi series
H.G. Wells was a visionary genious. His description of the possible start of WWII, _written in 1929_ , is terrifying.
Elaborate. I’m interested
@@Barrystue (wow, 4 years... :D ). The book is called "The Shape of Things to Come", and has a new war starting in January 1940, between Germany and Poland, over questions related to Danzig. Poland holds on, and the war ends up dragging country after country after country. Ends only around 1950, with all nations pretty much wrecked. He includes the use of massive city bombing, as well as gas & virus. There's no tank warfare to speak of, at least like Bliztkrieg, which is one of the reasons why the war bogs down. Every nation is in such poor condition that there's a general breakdown of government and living conditions, compounded by a plague. There's a great british movie (Things to Come, 1936) with his own screenplay.
Wells was one of the outspoken opponent to the terms of the Versailles treaty. He, like others, thought the humiliating and crippling terms would only help cause another war. The book is based on these fears, compounded by the strategic and military views at the time of writing (bombers alwats getting past defense, limited use of tanks, fears of gas & virus attack, etc.). He's also writing at a time when the world ecomony was colapsing, which fueled these fears.
(btw I made a small mistake; the book came out in 1933, not 1929. That's around the date where he started to write it, and other works on politics & history)
@João Rita I didn’t realize extra sci-fi existed until a few days ago lol.
But damn, that is pretty scary to think about. What If that was how the war started
@@Barrystue military theory in most countries thought so. Don't forget that, in the UK at least, in 1939/40 gas masks were issued to the civilian population.
@@jlvfr yeah, that still is pretty crazy. Although not as crazy as Bismarck’s predictions, that man had a lot of foresight
I'm really sad you didn't mention the"Food of the Gods", my favorite out of Wells' works. I enjoy it so much because it emphasises a really hard and almost unanswerable dilemma: What if the very existence of a group of people means the inevitable damnation of society as we know it and the decendents of the practically all the people in it? What should be done?
MalloonTarka I also liked that one
By Damnation, do you mean danger? Or exposure of the society's intolerance?
Because recent events show us all as tribes of Lilliputes waging bloody wars about from which end do we open an egg.
Yes, I went back to Swift, because like Wells after him, he was master of Big Ideas.
I think the portrayal of the British Naval Ship heroically sacrificing themselves to protect some fleeing civilians can still be seen as a criticism of militarism, in that it demonstrates that while War is Bad, there's no cause to demonize the soldiers themselves. Those people serving in a nation's army do so in the belief they will be protecting their countrymen. The real sin of War is in the politicians and generals who send those soldiers to die for their own gain.
I mean of course a socialist would think like that
Sounds like Otto Von Bismarck
It probably would because Bismark would've had a plan.
Bismark always had a plan.
CPU Purple Heart/Neptune how many people with families and children have died on foreign shores. They don’t want to fight, the native population don’t want them to fight but still they do for the profits of people and a system that has denied itself empathy
Malo 2901 Or, sometimes... y'know... *Literal Nazis*
They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
killed a lot of beholders, still can't find it.
quixling badger
A:unoriginal
B:unfunny
C: stale
D:all of the above
just like for the lonely beholder, in spite of it's lack of beauty.
I'm gonna have to pick the D
Its only unoriginal if you've seen it before, and only unfunny if your not ammused.
Its only stale if you left it out too long.
Wadwizard ZOL Very well said dude. I've never even heard this joke so it was the exact opposite of those things for me. I guess humour might be in the eye of the beholder instead?
jon bad Didn't find that, either.
The way most remakes turn the Morlocks into generic monster people & gloss over the absolute failure of the Eloi to do... anything really... is one of the worst betrayals of the source material I've ever seen.
Well yeah. Lot of people, in America especially, view the kind of commentary Wells presented as evil. Intentional or not, they are whitewashing the meaning of the story out to try making it into a simple thriller.
I quite liked the 2002 movie because it did something interesting with the time-travel concept, but I totally get what you mean. You can't really call it Wells' story anymore.
Sera Smiles is there more than one remake? I only know of that one movie with the guy from Iron Man 3
@@Leivve k
Fairly typical for USA. Google the "Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet" movie and it's history.
I recently re-read War of the Worlds and it's just...still amazingly good.
It’s my favourite book.
The most glorious of mustaches...
ItzDerpDavid _ Indeed he was.....Indeed he was
Otto Von Bismarck still's got him beat.
Mark Twain had a better one
Nietzche's ubermustache was so great, it killed god
that's the reason he got nominated
There is no author that I adore more than HG Wells.
Wells had some other really interesting reflections on war, especially 'The War in The Air', which basically describes an imagined World War scenario before either of the real ones unfolded, and 'The World Set Free' which hits on nuclear weapons, nuclear power, deterrence, globalism, and a ton of other concepts which were waayyy ahead of their time
@extrahistory-
Thank you for this concise and fascinating overview of H. G. Wells' science fiction works. I did a research
paper on his works when I was in college in 1979 and I found your video to have a refreshing review of this literary giant, and one of my favorite authors!
I've read four of h.g Wells books
1)the invisible Man
2)the time machine
3)the island of Dr Moreau
4)the war of the worlds
Your video was great.Iam a big fan of SIR H.G.WELLS
H.G. Wells (1866-1946) was a prolific English writer best known for his science fiction novels, such as The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, and The Invisible Man. He was also a prolific non-fiction writer, and his work on topics such as history, economics, and politics was highly influential. Wells was a complex and contradictory figure, but he was one of the most important and influential writers of the 20th century.
*LOVE FROM INDIA*
Little Wars is a fun little game, but the book is fascinating. He covers the entire development of the game, from early ideas to rules, playtesting final rules, and optional more complex rules friends with military experience recommended.
Also he speaks of how leaders should play this, if only to see how mad it would be to risk your nation's future on anything as chaotic as a war.
There used to be a man known as "Duke Siegfried" at the Origins game convention. Origins was a wargame convention before it was a board game convention, and he did the most elaborate wargame tables there. Even into the 2000s he would set up tables 20 feet long by 4 feet wide to play out huge miniatures battles with thousands of figures at times, and he set up multiple tables each convention. Seriously, look up "duke siegfried origins game convention" in your search bar, his work was amazing.
Awesome analysis, as usual, of one of my favorite authors of all time. I' ve tried countless times to introduce people to his work, and I don't think I've ever seen a better overview of his virtues and his legacy than the one you did here!!!
You know what, I'm really glad you talked about H.G Wells and his political message, because I know you're all americans and from what I can see naturally biaised towards liberalism, so it's really cool you take the time to celebrate a socialist and his ideas, because I'm sure it would do a lot for your country if most knew about such ideas and could reflect upon them
Sci fi represented as magic made believable is the best descriptor for "soft" sci fi. It will likely never exist, and yet it feels so real.
You don't even know how much joy you gave me by revealing that you are going to do an episode on S. Lem (even if it's only about "Solaris" that was mentioned in previous episodes, but he surely deserves more attention!)... and how you portrayed him :)
I believe it was Asimov who said that Wells was the greatest writer of science fiction, and if any seemed to reach higher, it was only because they stood on his shoulders. Either that, or he was quoting Heinlein.
MalloonTarka Deep
Kudos for the great illustrations throughout this series. A really great mix of the classic Extra Credits style, with a more realistic spin in-between.
Chill with the series my reading list just keeps increasing exponentially
we're sorry :o
Ymal Reyes Can't wait for summer break as I will read sci-fi till my eyes fall out!
Wow that's really cool to learn that HG Wells was into table top gaming. Thanks for that bit of knowledge. It's no wonder I love this channel.
Excellent production as always. That's the joy of sci fi: Its ability to entice readers to look through a different lens, to create a new way to look at the world in a broader, more varied view.
Each Extra Sci fi video is always well-made. Will you guys end up creating Extra Sci Fi merchandise in the future? It's honestly become the masterpiece of this channel.
I LOVE EXTRA CREDITS. I knew you had to do H.G Wells at some point and I love war of the worlds
The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one... but still they come.
No one would of believed in last year's in the 19th centry...
@@dalekemperor4407That this Earth was being observed keenly by intelligence greater than man's
Just when you think, "I've seen and heard so many stories about this subject, this video will probably be boring." I learned today, right this moment, that H. G. Wells published a rule book for tabletop gaming.
This channel is *solid gold.*
I didn't know about Little Wars. Huh, you learn something new every day.
I must say congratulations to introducing me to these great sci-fi works. It really has made me thought about my first project on creating my own fictional world. Mainly in doubt that it might turn into a science-fantasy junk world like Star Wars that will only be seen as dumb fun as opposed to being an intellectual world where people can think on it for deeper meaning in a non pretentious way as I would like. I can imagine many other sci-fi creators experiencing the same dilemma.
Thanks for mentionning Little Wars, and thanks to H.G. Wells for his contribution to tabletop games as we know them today :)
Little Wars does have a couple of interesting quirks for being made by the pacifist socialist Wells. First, creating a game system to represent great battles seems like a good way to exercise that innate human instinct for murder and glory in a safe, harmless way, falling into the same field of endeavor as sports or video games. Second, Wells' anti-nationalist leanings reflect themselves in the rules system, where soldiers are considered to be equally capable no matter which side they fight on. In Little Wars, when two soldiers meet in battle, both of them die; the only way to tilt a battle in your favor is through artillery (represented by little spring-loaded cannons that fired dowels, knocking soldiers over). "The soldiers fighting the war are all the same kind of man, equal in valor and sacrificed by their commanders, while unfeeling machines mow them down" is a view of war that fits well into a socialist ideology.
Okay, that is beautiful.
HG Wells was a true hero of Sci-Fi, even time travelling to the 1970s to defeat Jack the Ripper.
One Hg wells word: ironclads. TANKS
*Land Ironclads. The Ironclad already saw combat in the American civil war before Wells was born.
You can’t think of HG Wells without thinking of War of the Worlds. And you can’t think of that without those violin chords sending shivers down your spine. If you know you know.
Just so you guys know. Absolutely loving the artwork for this series.
You guys are pure gold.
Wells' novel, "The World Set Free", published in 1914, gives the reader the FIRST glimpse of atomic warfare. His radioactive element, Carolinum, is described as the most destructive weapon man could use in warfare, and combined with AERIAL CONTROL (aircraft), would give the nation who has it the greatest leverage over anyone else! This is 1914, folks!
No fucking WAY. H.G Wells was one of the bases upon D&D was built? Holy christ! @_@
H G Well's The Time Machine and War of the Worlds are my first sci-fi
Loving your Sci Fi series so far. For a later topic will you discuss how superheros fit in/ don't fit into sci fi? I feel that superheros, while having many sci-fi elements are in fact closer to mythology than sci fi.
The Time Machine is my favorite H G Wells book.
Oh wow... I think you guys are the first people to actually bring up little Wars. Like, the only reason I know about it is because it was brought up in a history of wargaming and I happened to get my hands on a copy. The game isn't very good now, since it requires you to destroy any of the figures involved, but it was still nice that you brought it up.
Little wars is such a good book I strongly recommend it it's half story half rules with a very useful and surprisingly modern insight in to what war is
I saw his book and bought it! i usually don't read book. Might as well start with the somewhat recommendation on this series. :D thanks extra credits.
Wells was a socialist and helped influence the roots of war gaming? I love the man even more now! Also do Phillip K Dick and Kurt Vonnegut sometime down the road please.
He also supported eugenics.
a lot of people supported eugenics back then.
Eat the Rich: Jean-Jacques Rousseau Cool that you mentioned Cordwainer Smith. This is a legitimate Science Fiction channel.
Thank you so much.
Man i like this series.
If you're going to mention Lem (and judging from the art in this and earlier episodes), please mention "The Cyberiad". I think it's one of the most incredible of his works and it's worth mentioning. Other than that, love your content, keep up this good work (but don't forget about Extra History)
Little bit OT, but I feel that the music in extra sci fi is influenced by Phantasy Star Online on the DC. Anyone else notice that? Great series BTW. Keep up the amazing work
I love this series. Please keep brining us more scifi vids.
"Soft science fiction" is _exactly_ what you should call the less-rigorous works focused less on technical details and more on societal implications. The term originally came not from failing to adhere to scientific realism, but to focusing more on the "soft sciences" like psychology and sociology (whereas other common sci-fi focused on details of hard science or...um...wacky and wild adventures without much interest in either kind of science).
I need to show this video to every single person saying that Science Fiction and Fantasy literature never talk about any really important subjects.
My favourite sci-fi author
I hope this episode touches on the fact that there’s no proof at all that the War of the Worlds broadcast actually caused a panic, and that story was almost certainly newspapers trying to get people to be afraid of radio.
I saw that lineup of writers and was disappointed to see Huxley missing. Great episode regardless.
I love HG Wells I’d argue he’s just as influential as lovecraft if not more so.
Great to see a mention of Cordwainer Smith - possibly my favorite Sci Fi Author.
Much as I love HG Wells, I'm more glad that you've taken note of both of the Warhammers. I should think that the likes of Total Warhammer and Vermintide are to thank for that, considering your Warhammer License video.
Fun fact, by the way. There's a War of the Worlds miniature game, All Quiet on the Martian Front, I believe it's called. Fun stuff from what I hear.
Well, there's two out of my three favorite sci-fi authors checked off the list, all I'm waiting for now is a little Ray Bradbury retrospective.
yes i saw the references but if you dont dont give Douglas Adams an episode I WILL FEED YOU TO THE TOTAL PERSPECTIVE VORTEX
RIP Weena ;(
What I liked about "The Time Machine" is how the protagonist has to theorize and explore the strange word he found himself in, has to revise his theories and never really gets confirmation; There are no infodumps
Farewell Thunderchild.
Farewell Thunder Child
I literally could only here "Farewell Thunder-Chi- - -ld!" ( - = i)
Thank you for DnD HG Wells
HG Wells wrote it, Jeff Wayne mate it a masterpiece
Great people, you MUST do Hyperion. The most underrated - and most amazing sci-fi work to this day. Please!
Give this momentum!
Hey extra credits, you may be interested in that with your mention of tabletop wargaming, of Fred T Jane. The book Jane's Fighting Ships (which is still used as a naval reference today) was written as a supplement to his tabletop naval game in 1898. He also dabbled in Sci-Fi, but nowhere near to the extent of Wells.
Also, you may want to mention Well's relationship with Churchill, given that alot of Well's ideas did end up existing in a roundabout way with his involvement....
I absolutely love the Time Machine. The two races if that story inspired the alternate domains in one of my own stories.
Great video
While the term has come to be a fairly broad overarching term for sci-fi and fantasy, it sounds like he was possibly the reason why we call it speculative fiction. Verne took what he believed was possible and told stories about how cool it would be, but Wells started from something that didn't necessarily have any basis in reality and then built stories by exploring it.
It's funny, I am a conservative-Christian and am conservative politically, but Wells is still one of my favorites.
Chainmail reference! I still have my white box D&D. My 1st edition DMG is no longer exactly a hardback. Good times. Yes I am old.
Absolutely loving the series, and I know this is still far away.... but PLEASE tell me you'll do a Lovecraft episode at some point. I will grovel and beg if I have to lol
Please pass my compliments to the art team! They are amazing at the drawings! Don't forget the researchers as well!
Forgotten author next time? E.E. "Doc" Smith? H. Beam Piper? L. Sprague de Camp? Lord Dunsaney? The SF works of Edgar Allen Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle?
The world needs to remember Doc Smith.
Dunsany would be great, he's more of a fantaisiste, though.
jakarnilson MP Shiel came to mind for me.
Shiel does remind me that I had asked if EC could compare Shelly's other SF work, the Last Man, with her more acclaimed work. And it also made me remember Hodgson, who's SF and cosmic horror was not only influential to Lovecraft, but also a source for Japanese cinema...
jakarnilson Haven't read much Shelley, and the only Shiel I read was the Purple Cloud. Particularly evocative where Adam starts burning London for the hell of it.
I just binged this whole series. My favorite episodes were the William Gibson episode any reading suggestions besides the ones discussed?
I was going to say that if you talked about Wells without Little Wars it would be a sad day.
...but I am biased towards that book since I examined it as part of a project chronicling the genealogy of war gaming and tabletop rpgs in college.
I think H.G. Wells might very well have understood the place for games in a peaceful society.
You guys artwork is really improving
coolest THING EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Really nice coverage of H.G. Wells work! Please do something similar on Frank Herbert and Dune! Focus on ecology :D
you know...I once saw a cartoon of the Wells trip to the future. I can't remember the name But it really haunted me as a teen
This is a really good video, as well as a great topic.
A fun observation about War Of The Worlds I made when I read it as a teenager: Wells' description of the Martians in the second book sounds an awful lot like a description of the Spider Mastermind in Doom. Looks like ID Software took some inspiration from the greats.
Damn, this is good! I loved those illustrations! x')
well with the amount of mentions of Herbert I can rest assured that its getting an episode soon
I hope to see a video about H.P. Lovecraft
These videos are great!
Overdue shout out to Robert Rath. I loved his Escapist article on the Battle of Hoth.
Just 5 hours ago, I made a book review on “The War of the Worlds” for school. This is the craziest coincidence.
I love H.G. Wells! Hell, War of the Worlds is my favorite book!
I love his voice. It's strange but I love it.
*BISMARK WAS WALPOLE ALL THE TIME*
I love me a socialist! I'm stoked for you to cover Le Guin omg
I suddenly have a massive respect for H.G. Wells.
I was hoping you'd mention Little Wars. You didn't disappoint, Extra Credits.
The spider mastermind looks alot like kraang from teenage mutant Ninja turtles
im already waiting for your first episode on Lem.
I hear Ender's Game, another great book in the already big list of great sci fi books i hope you guys will cover XD
I'll be honest, I thought most of his stories were fluff. I had no idea The Time Machine and The Invisible Man had such political undertones. You've opened my eyes. o_o
4:58 Oh sweet! Stanisław Lem and Ursula Le Guin are coming!
Frank Herbert is cool too.
Who is with me that they should remake the world of the worlds film, set in the correct period? 2005 film was good, but I think they should try again in a different setting. It’d make for a unique film.
I say we set it during the Roman Empire! Just to see what would happen!
I think you're on to something Mikail!
well, another adaptation is currently in the works by the BBC, a mini-series which is supposed to be set in the Victorian era
www.theverge.com/2017/5/4/15551306/bbc-the-war-of-the-worlds-tv-series-peter-hartness
I belive the BBC are making a 3 part series based in victorian England
A super low-budget indie version that used the book as a script was released the same year as the Spielberg version, funnily enough.
It's 3 hours long and pretty terrible but it's there if you want it. It's "The War Of The Worlds" directed by Timothy Hines.