Questions tagged [history-of]
For questions about the history of the genre: the origin and evolution of ideas in speculative fiction. Example topics include the first work of speculative fiction with a particular property, or the origin of a term or trope.
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Where did the drill tank's conical drill come from?
Drill vehicles in reality:
Source: Dallas City News
Look very different than in fiction:
Source: TurboSquid
Which work of fiction popularized this distinctive conical shape and spiral flange?
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Which was the first sci-fi story to feature nanobots?
Several books and movies feature Nanobots, like G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009), Big Hero 6 (2014) , Transcendence (2014) , but it's hard (or impossible?) to find any movie or book mentioning the ...
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What is the earliest work of SF to mention a concern about time travel causing unintended space travel
Answers to the off-topic question How does time travel take into account the rotation/revolution of the Earth? mention several stories in which this issue is discussed. Asimov's The End of Eternity ...
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Which was the first sci-fi story to feature energy weapons? [duplicate]
Energy weapons are featured in tons of science fictions, Star Wars, Terminator, V, etc. but I asked an AI to tell me which was the first story to feature and it told me it's unknown, when it should be ...
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What's the oldest story about a (world) population with repeat mass death of the eldest members above a steadily decreasing age limit?
This accepted answer of 1967's Population Implosion for a story "Every time a child is born, the oldest person in the world dies" made me think of the game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 where ...
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What was the first instance of a story being written about a city being miniaturized so that it could be stolen?
The concept of a city - or other large habitable area analogous to a city - being purposefully miniaturized and then taken without the consent has appeared numerous times in various medium across the ...
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When were Superman's parents first portrayed as having sinister intentions for Kal-El on Earth?
(Spoilers ahead!) Early in Superman (2025), we see a touching message from Superman's biological parents, Jor-El and Lara, delivered via a hologram while he's healing:
Jor-El: We love you more than ...
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Which was the first story to feature the idea of men and women separated in different civilizations and in constant space war?
In Macross: Do you remember love? (1984), Giant humanoid-looking men and women (Zentraedi and Meltrandi) were separated in different civilizations and at a continuous space war with each other, ...
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What was the first movie on robots taking over the world?
With the advent of AI, we are all the more interested in what AI can do or cannot do.
Usually, cinema attempts to mirror human endeavors and the society in general.
I am particularly interested in ...
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What was the first depiction of Klingons using cloaking devices?
The earliest example I saw of a Klingon ship using cloaking technology was Kruge's ship in The Search for Spock (I don't know if this is relevant, but I've read the antagonists for that film were ...
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What was the first SFF movie to influence later books in the same franchise?
I was working on my never-ending mega answer for "Night Watch" series, which got me to remembering how the later books in the series ironically mentioned the movie based on the first book (...
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What is the first sci-fi story where a person can travel back in time, not instantaneously, but at a rate of 1s per second?
In most sci-fi stories, time travel is depicted as instantaneous or nearly instantaneous, regardless of how far back someone travels. However, I’m curious about the first instance where time travel ...
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Were energy absorption and reflection abilities part of Mr. Fantastic's powers before Marvel Rivals?
In the video game Marvel Rivals, as seen at 00:20 in this gameplay video, Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards) absorbs several energy shots from Peni Parker's armored suit for a few seconds before ...
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Is the 2013 film Oblivion substantially like anything previously published?
https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/19/movies/oblivion-with-tom-cruise.html
“Oblivion,” which is based on an unpublished graphic novel Mr. Kosinski wrote and used to pitch the studio, is that it’s been ...
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First instance of the use of immersion in a breathable liquid for high g-force flight?
This answer to I saw this article online that mentioned animal testing for immersion in water for applications in astronauts. What plans might require this? in Space Exploration SE includes:
I don't ...
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Where was it first established that Clayface was weak to electricity?
In Creature Commandos Season 1 Episode 5 "The Iron Pot," Eric Frankenstein fights Clayface and struggles until they both get electrocuted by live wires.
During their fight, Clayface had the ...
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First science fiction story with music causing behavioral changes
This question of mine prompts me to wonder what the first SF story with music deliberately or inadvertently affecting human behavior for a scientific reason (no magical musical spells). I can think of ...
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First use of an invincible monster with a "core"
I realized when watching an anime recently that there is a common trope of a powerful monster that can regenerate until you destroy its "core". What is the first use of this in fiction?
I'm ...
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What inspired Edgar Allan Poe's submarine?
There is a February 1845 story by Edgar Allan Poe, The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade, in which he recites a long litany of natural wonders, which are explained in his footnotes to the text, ...
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When did Batman first break his "never hit a lady" rule in the comics?
I was reading Batman Vol. 1 #409 (1987), when I came across something interesting that got me wondering about Batman's history with female opponents.
There's this scene where Batman breaks up a heist ...
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What is the first work of fiction to feature a vampire-human hybrid or dhampir vampire hunter as a protagonist?
I'm looking for the earliest example in fiction of a vampire-human hybrid or dhampir protagonist who is a vampire hunter or slayer. I've noticed this recurring theme or trope in several works:
The ...
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Was the Terminator the first robot of that nature in science fiction?
Note: The eyes of the Terminator I think were real but he did not rely on them, although interestingly they would have blocked his electronic eyes, so I wonder how that worked.
A robot disguised as a ...
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Earliest example of space travel involving interdimensional 'shortcuts'
In many sci-fi or sci-fantasy works (Star Wars, Babylon 5, Earth: Final Conflict to name a few), space travelers go to far off systems by moving through some other dimension, reducing a trip that in '...
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Space UN – non human focalpoints
There's a trope in science fiction in which there's a race/species (usually the protagonists of the story that achieves inter galactic travel). They head out in to the wider galaxy (sometimes ...
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Which was the first story to feature humans achieving immortality through science and technology advancements?
In 1956's Isaac Asimov's "The Last Question", in the future, humans were able to travel and colonize other galaxies and they also achieved immortality through science and technology ...
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