The Science Fiction Makers (2020)
(On Cable TV, January 2021) As a Science Fiction critic on a decade-long hiatus, I haven’t given up my chops when it comes to commenting on histories of the genre. As a result, my expectations ran low for The Science Fiction Makers, a documentary examining the life, works and influences of three less-than-famous writers who contributed to the marginal Christian Science Fiction subgenre: Victor Rousseau Emanuel, C. S. Lewis and Madeleine L’Engle. The film is a follow-up to writer-director Andrew Wall’s previous The Fantasy Makers (which I really have to see now), which studied C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien and George MacDonald as the first part of the “Faith in Imagination” trilogy. To lay my cards on the table right away, I had two major objections to the very premise of The Science Fiction Makers: First, a knowledge of the field of written SF that usually has me bemoaning superficial takes on the genre, and secondly a suspicion toward “Christian SF” that owes more to the American Evangelical Right having co-opted the label. (i.e.: Think Left Behind and then stop thinking.) But The Science Fiction Makers easily met, then defeated my preconceptions: By focusing on writers from previous generations, it’s a documentary that avoids the charged political nature of more contemporary examples, and can see its writers’ careers in their totality. It’s also, to put it simply, a film that knows its stuff and digs deep into its topic matter. I’m reasonably familiar with Lewis and L’Engle, less so with Rousseau, but I was impressed by the way The Science Fiction Makers fit into my understanding of the genre, expanding into what I did not know. It’s also a documentary that resists grandiose claims that so often come with niche topics: Wall here correctly defines his areas of interest, carefully explains how it fits within a bigger scope and then thoroughly explores it. The film illustrates scenes from the life of its three subjects through dramatic re-enactment, but the meat is found in the analysis that accompanies the visuals. The interviews are interesting, and they propose the subgenre as being of spiritual interest more than a political persuasion—again sidestepping some of the most common objections that seasoned SF fans (by and large a non-religious—albeit often spiritual—bunch) may have about the topic of the film. In other words, I’m favourably impressed by The Science Fiction Makers, and I don’t make the claim lightly: I have seen a good chunk of the SF documentaries about Science Fiction writers, have shelves of SF criticism books and have written hundreds of thousands of words on the topic. This documentary is deeper and more thorough than many written pieces, and it even made me feel warm and sympathetic toward Madeleine L’Engle’s work, too often dismissed by readers outside her intended public. I have no problems recommending The Science Fiction Makers to hardcore SF fans and critics—it should especially be of interest to the tough IAFA/ICFA crowd. I’m really looking forward to the third instalment of Wall’s “Faith in Imagination” trilogy.
