AMC has approved a six-episode documentary series from James Cameron about how the science fiction genre has changed over time, as well as how it’s changed us.
Advertisement
The show, called James Cameron’s Story of Science Fiction, will debut in 2018. Each episode will feature Cameron diving into one of the “big questions” that humanity has explored through science fiction movies and TV shows, like dependence on technology, space exploration and colonialism, and how to comprehend alien life (I’m suggesting these themes myself, James call me). He and others will break down each issue, how it’s been covered in scifi, and where they see the discussion moving forward.
“Without Jules Verne and H.G. Wells there wouldn’t have been Ray Bradbury or Robert A. Heinlein, and without them, there wouldn’t be Lucas, Spielberg, Ridley Scott or me,” Cameron said at TCA. “As a filmmaker who specializes in science fiction, I’m interested in exploring the struggles and the triumphs that brought these incredible stories to life and seeing how art imitates life, as well as how science fiction imitates and sometimes informs science.”
Advertisement
It’s actually pretty exciting to see what Cameron does with this series. Say what you will about the man, but he knows and loves scifi with every core of his being. Cameron has gone from cursing the evils of technology (Terminator) to praising the gifts of nature (Avatar). He’s given us aliens who yearn to destroy (Aliens) and ones who seek to understand (The Abyss). Hell, he even made Dark Angel, a short-lived dystopian scifi series that I still maintain was way ahead of its time. Story of Science Fiction is definitely in good hands.
[Deadline]