SFC Newsletter

This Week in Science Fiction Classics is published every Thursday. The newsletter includes a classic sci-fi brief, trivia, links to science fiction resources and products. The newsletter is free and the content is fun.

SFC Newsletter

The Quiet Fear at the Heart of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”

A look at how “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” uses conformity, comfort, and fear to warn against surrendering conscience, showing why classic science fiction treated individuality as fragile and worth defending.

SFC Newsletter

How The Six Million Dollar Man Grounded Science Fiction

How The Six Million Dollar Man made science fiction feel practical by grounding futuristic technology in everyday America, disciplined authority, and a working man hero audiences trusted.

SFC Newsletter

Ender’s Game and the Machinery of Command

Explore the publication of Ender’s Game and how the novel examines training, command, and moral responsibility in late Cold War science fiction, where victory is engineered long before battle begins.

SFC Newsletter

How Spock Taught Sci-Fi Television to Think

A classic look at Spock’s arrival and how logic, restraint, and intellect reshaped television science fiction during the cultural upheaval of the 1960s.

The Men of Science Fiction

How Isaac Asimov Made the Future Understandable

Isaac Asimov, born January 2, 1920, shaped classic science fiction through clarity and reason. Explore how his ideas, robots, and empires made the future understandable.

SFC Newsletter

Dr. Who and the Mechanical Spirit of Classic Science Fiction

A classic science fiction look with quiet authority. Explore Doctor Who and the mechanical imagination of mid-century sci-fi, plus a subtle alien design made for fans who value restraint and style.

SFC Newsletter

Classic Sci-Fi From Jules Verne to the Space Age

An exploration of classic science fiction from Jules Verne to the early space age, showing how reason, discipline, and responsibility shaped the genre before spectacle took over.

SFC Newsletter

What Makes Star Trek Endure

A look at the discipline and steady leadership that shaped classic Star Trek and helped create a future built on order, duty, and purpose.

SFC Newsletter

Facts About The Return of Doctor X

A look at “The Return of Doctor X” and the legacy of the mad scientist in classic science fiction, plus a featured Radiographic Alien Head T-shirt for fans of bold and mysterious designs.

SFC Newsletter

Doctor Who and the Birth of Modern Science Fiction TV

Discover how the 1963 debut of "Doctor Who" reshaped science fiction on television with a thinking hero, bold ideas, and the timeless spirit that still defines classic sci-fi storytelling today.

SFC Newsletter

How “Close Encounters” Changed First Contact

Discover how “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” transformed alien contact in science fiction, replacing fear with wonder through its unforgettable language of light, sound, and human faith.

SFC Newsletter

From Marooned to Mars When Sci-Fi Got Real

A look back at “Marooned” (1969), the film that brought realism to science fiction. Its tense space rescue and NASA detail marked the moment when cinematic space travel became truly believable.

SFC Newsletter

The Dual Life of The Incredible Hulk

Explore the dual nature of The Incredible Hulk, where Bill Bixby’s scientist and Lou Ferrigno’s creature reveal the timeless struggle between human reason and unleashed power.

SFC Newsletter

The Age of the Unseen

A reflection on The Invisible Man (1933) and classic science fiction’s deeper theme—the unseen forces of knowledge, responsibility, and conscience that define the boundaries of human progress.

SFC Newsletter

Fahrenheit 451 and the Fight Against Forgetting

Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451” warned of firemen who burned books. Today, “The Last Archivist” imagines digital firewalls erasing truth, echoing Bradbury’s timeless warning.

SFC Newsletter

Lost in Space and the Dates We Passed

Lost in Space launched the Jupiter 2 on October 16 1997. We look back at that date and other science fiction futures to see how bold predictions compare with the real years we lived through.

SFC Newsletter

The Birth of the Federation in Classic "Star Trek"

Discover the story behind Federation Day in "Star Trek," the founding of the United Federation of Planets, and why this imagined holiday continues to inspire fans with its vision of peace and unity.

SFC Newsletter

The Cosmic Courtroom in Classic Science Fiction

A look at how classic science fiction has placed mankind on trial, from 1950s films to the arrival of Q in Star Trek: The Next Generation, exploring what these stories reveal about morality, technology, and our future among the stars.

SFC Newsletter

Luke Skywalker and Superman in Classic Science Fiction Heroism

Mark Hamill and Christopher Reeve were born one year apart on September 25. Their portrayals of Luke Skywalker and Superman captured two different visions of heroism that shaped science fiction in the late 1970s and 1980s.

SFC Newsletter

The Hero’s Journey On Screen with Luke Skywalker and Superman

Celebrate the shared birthday of Mark Hamill and Christopher Reeve, two icons who brought Luke Skywalker and Superman to life and carried timeless ideals of courage and sacrifice into modern science fiction cinema.

SFC Newsletter

Alien Nation and the Rise of the Science Fiction Procedural

Explore the 1989 FOX series Alien Nation, its bold mix of sci fi and police drama, the short run that sparked lasting fan interest, and why this experiment remains a classic of late 80s television.

SFC Newsletter

More Than a B-Movie, "The Blob" is a Legend

On September 12 1958 The Blob premiered in theaters introducing Steve McQueen and becoming a cult classic of Cold War science fiction.

SFC Newsletter

When September Belonged to Science Fiction

Discover how Worldcon’s late summer tradition shaped science fiction history with a spotlight on the 1971 Boston gathering Noreascon I.

SFC Newsletter

Lock In and the Long Journey of the Disembodied Mind

John Scalzi’s 2014 novel "Lock In" marked a fresh take on the science fiction idea of life apart from the body, linking a grounded mystery to a tradition that stretches back nearly a century.

SFC Newsletter

The Summer Metalstorm Hit Theaters

Released in August 1983, "Metalstorm The Destruction of Jared-Syn" brought desert science fiction and 3D adventure to theaters in a bold attempt to start a new kind of cinematic universe.