Shaggy God story
Encyclopedia
A shaggy God story is a minor science fiction
genre
characterized by an attempt to explain Biblical concepts with science fiction tropes. The term was coined by writer and critic Brian W. Aldiss in a pseudonymous column in the October 1965 issue of New Worlds
. The term is a pun on the concept of a shaggy dog story. In its original sense a shaggy God story features a couple of astronauts landing on a lush and virgin world and in the last line their names are revealed as Adam and Eve
.
The creation of the term is often misattributed to Michael Moorcock
. Moorcock edited the issue of New Worlds where Aldiss coined the term in a pseudonymous column. It has been suggested that many assumed Moorcock to be the author of the column. The issue was cleared up in an August 2004 David Langford
column in SFX magazine.
—Brian W. Aldiss, writing as Dr. Peristyle, New Worlds October, 1965.
Brian Stableford
notes in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (2nd ed.) that "a considerable fraction" of stories submitted to science fiction magazines feature a male and female astronaut marooned on a habitable planet and “reveal (in the final line) that their names are Adam and Eve.”
The genre is also listed a cliché in the Science Fiction Writers of America's Turkey City Lexicon: A Primer for SF Workshops and David Langford's July 2004 SFX magazine column on the same.
races, interstellar travel, gene
tic manipulation, the uplift of primitive races and man’s place in the galactic life cycle, in can be argued that the works of Erich von Däniken
and other proponents of the Ancient astronaut theory
are essentially working in the genre.
David Brin
's Uplift Universe
is a series of science fiction works that deal with the idea of advanced intergalactic cultures who identify proto-sentient species and genetically manipulate them into star-faring cultures in their own right (often enslaving them for thousands of years as payment.) In the novels, proponents of the view that humans were uplifted by a galactic culture (as opposed to evolving into sentience) are called “Dänikenites
.”
2001: A Space Odyssey
was called this by film critic John Simon
. One interpretation of David Bowman's entrance in to the EVA pod before entering space (the new Eden) to become a Star Child suggests Adam and Eve and the dawn of new man. Some people interpreted David Bowman transforming into the Star Child as him turning into a god or godlike being. The plot also involves an alien intelligence "creating" modern man by improving upon mankind's hominid ancestors.
Douglas Adams
's The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
, a sequel to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
, parodies the Shaggy God story with a subplot where the planet Golgafrincham comes up with a scheme to rid itself of its useless workers, such as telephone sanitizers and insurance salesmen, by sending them off in a space ark that eventually lands on the prehistoric Earth. The marooned telephone sanitizers, insurance salesmen, and other blissfully ignorant societal rejects end up (it is hinted) driving the indigenous Neanderthal
-like race to extinction and becoming the ancestors of modern Homo sapiens.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
genre
Genre
Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...
characterized by an attempt to explain Biblical concepts with science fiction tropes. The term was coined by writer and critic Brian W. Aldiss in a pseudonymous column in the October 1965 issue of New Worlds
New Worlds (magazine)
New Worlds was a British science fiction magazine which was first published professionally in 1946. For 25 years it was widely considered the leading science fiction magazine in Britain, publishing 201 issues up to 1971...
. The term is a pun on the concept of a shaggy dog story. In its original sense a shaggy God story features a couple of astronauts landing on a lush and virgin world and in the last line their names are revealed as Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve were, according to the Genesis creation narratives, the first human couple to inhabit Earth, created by YHWH, the God of the ancient Hebrews...
.
The creation of the term is often misattributed to Michael Moorcock
Michael Moorcock
Michael John Moorcock is an English writer, primarily of science fiction and fantasy, who has also published a number of literary novels....
. Moorcock edited the issue of New Worlds where Aldiss coined the term in a pseudonymous column. It has been suggested that many assumed Moorcock to be the author of the column. The issue was cleared up in an August 2004 David Langford
David Langford
David Rowland Langford is a British author, editor and critic, largely active within the science fiction field. He publishes the science fiction fanzine and newsletter Ansible.-Personal background:...
column in SFX magazine.
The genre as a cliché
"The shaggy god story is the bane of magazine editors, who get approximately one story a week set in a garden of EdenGarden of EdenThe Garden of Eden is in the Bible's Book of Genesis as being the place where the first man, Adam, and his wife, Eve, lived after they were created by God. Literally, the Bible speaks about a garden in Eden...
spelt Ee-Duhn."
—Brian W. Aldiss, writing as Dr. Peristyle, New Worlds October, 1965.
Brian Stableford
Brian Stableford
Brian Michael Stableford is a British science fiction writer who has published more than 70 novels. His earlier books were published as by Brian M. Stableford, but more recent ones have dropped the middle initial and appeared under the name Brian Stableford...
notes in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (2nd ed.) that "a considerable fraction" of stories submitted to science fiction magazines feature a male and female astronaut marooned on a habitable planet and “reveal (in the final line) that their names are Adam and Eve.”
The genre is also listed a cliché in the Science Fiction Writers of America's Turkey City Lexicon: A Primer for SF Workshops and David Langford's July 2004 SFX magazine column on the same.
Minor List of Adam and Eve stories
- Robert Arthur "Evolution's End" (1941)
- Nelson S. BondNelson S. BondNelson Slade Bond was an American author who wrote extensively for books, magazines, radio, television and the stage....
"Another World Begins" (1942) - C.S. Lewis PerelandraPerelandraPerelandra is the second book in the Space Trilogy of C. S. Lewis, set in the Field of Arbol...
(1943) - A. E. van VogtA. E. van VogtAlfred Elton van Vogt was a Canadian-born science fiction author regarded by some as one of the most popular and complex science fiction writers of the mid-twentieth century: the "Golden Age" of the genre....
"Ship of Darkness" (1947) - Charles L. HarnessCharles L. HarnessCharles Leonard Harness was an American science fiction writer. He was born in Colorado City, Texas and grew up just outside it, then later in Fort Worth. He earned degrees in chemistry and law, and worked as a patent attorney in Connecticut and Washington, DC from 1947 to 1981...
"The New Reality" (1950) - Hank JansonHank JansonHank Janson is both a fictional character and a pseudonym created by the English author Stephen Daniel Frances. Frances wrote a series of thrillers by, and often featuring, Hank Janson, beginning with When Dames Get Tough...
The Unknown Assassin (1956) - The Twilight ZoneThe Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)The Twilight Zone is an American anthology television series created by Rod Serling, which ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964. The series consisted of unrelated episodes depicting paranormal, futuristic, dystopian, or simply disturbing events; each show typically featured a surprising...
episode "Probe 7, Over and OutProbe 7, Over and Out"Probe 7, Over and Out" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. Its plot is a Shaggy God story.-Synopsis:...
" (1963) - Women of the Prehistoric PlanetWomen of the Prehistoric PlanetWomen of the Prehistoric Planet is a 1966 film. It was featured in the first season of Mystery Science Theater 3000 in 1989.-Plot:A spacefaring crew from an advanced civilization is preparing to return home after an extended voyage...
(1966) - Larry NivenLarry NivenLaurence van Cott Niven / ˈlæri ˈnɪvən/ is an American science fiction author. His best-known work is Ringworld , which received Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards. His work is primarily hard science fiction, using big science concepts and theoretical physics...
's novel Protector (1973) See Pak ProtectorPak ProtectorPak Breeders and Pak Protectors are two forms of fictional life in Larry Niven's Known Space universe. The Pak first appeared in "The Adults," which appeared in Galaxy in 1967; this story was expanded into the novel Protector by Larry Niven... - Space: 1999Space: 1999Space: 1999 is a British science-fiction television series that ran for two seasons and originally aired from 1975 to 1977. In the opening episode, nuclear waste from Earth stored on the Moon's far side explodes in a catastrophic accident on 13 September 1999, knocking the Moon out of orbit and...
episode "The Testament of ArkadiaThe Testament of Arkadia"The Testament of Arkadia" is the twenty-fourth and final episode of the first series of Space: 1999. The screenplay was written by Johnny Byrne; the director was David Tomblin. The final shooting script is dated 5 February 1975, with a revised final shooting script dated 25 February 1975...
" (1976) - The Golgafrinchans from Douglas AdamsDouglas AdamsDouglas Noel Adams was an English writer and dramatist. He is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which started life in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a "trilogy" of five books that sold over 15 million copies in his lifetime, a television...
' "The Restaurant at the End of the UniverseThe Restaurant at the End of the UniverseThe Restaurant at the End of the Universe is the second book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction trilogy of five by Douglas Adams. It was originally published by Pan Books as a paperback. The book was inspired by the song "Grand Hotel" by British rock band Procol Harum...
" (1980) - Battlestar GalacticaBattlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)Battlestar Galactica is an American military science fiction television series, and part of the Battlestar Galactica franchise. The show was developed by Ronald D. Moore as a re-imagining of the 1978 Battlestar Galactica television series created by Glen A. Larson...
(2004) - Le papillon des étoiles, 2006, ISBN 2-226-17349-8 (lit. The Butterfly of the Stars)
- References to the book of Ezekiel and Genesis imagery in the film KnowingKnowing (film)Knowing is a 2009 American-British science fiction film directed by Alex Proyas and starring Nicolas Cage. The project was originally attached to a number of directors under Columbia Pictures, but it was placed in turnaround and eventually picked up by Escape Artists. Production was financially...
(2009) - Assassins Creed 2
Expansions of the term
Since shaggy God themes can be seen as an effort to harmonize religious accounts about the origin of human beings with science fiction tropes such as alienExtraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...
races, interstellar travel, gene
Gene
A gene is a molecular unit of heredity of a living organism. It is a name given to some stretches of DNA and RNA that code for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. Living beings depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains...
tic manipulation, the uplift of primitive races and man’s place in the galactic life cycle, in can be argued that the works of Erich von Däniken
Erich von Däniken
Erich Anton Paul von Däniken is a Swiss author best known for his controversial claims about extraterrestrial influences on early human culture, in books such as Chariots of the Gods?, published in 1968...
and other proponents of the Ancient astronaut theory
Ancient astronaut theory
Some writers have proposed that intelligent extraterrestrial beings have visited Earth in antiquity or prehistory and made contact with humans. Such visitors are called ancient astronauts or ancient aliens. Proponents suggest that this contact influenced the development of human cultures,...
are essentially working in the genre.
David Brin
David Brin
Glen David Brin, Ph.D. is an American scientist and award-winning author of science fiction. He has received the Hugo, Locus, Campbell and Nebula Awards.-Biography:...
's Uplift Universe
Uplift Universe
The Uplift Universe is a fictional universe created by science fiction writer David Brin. A central feature in this universe is the process of biological uplift.His books which take place in this universe:* Sundiver...
is a series of science fiction works that deal with the idea of advanced intergalactic cultures who identify proto-sentient species and genetically manipulate them into star-faring cultures in their own right (often enslaving them for thousands of years as payment.) In the novels, proponents of the view that humans were uplifted by a galactic culture (as opposed to evolving into sentience) are called “Dänikenites
Erich von Däniken
Erich Anton Paul von Däniken is a Swiss author best known for his controversial claims about extraterrestrial influences on early human culture, in books such as Chariots of the Gods?, published in 1968...
.”
2001: A Space Odyssey
2001: A Space Odyssey (film)
2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 epic science fiction film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, and co-written by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, partially inspired by Clarke's short story The Sentinel...
was called this by film critic John Simon
John Simon (critic)
John Ivan Simon is an American author and literary, theater, and film critic.-Personal life:Simon was born in Subotica, Bačka, County of Bačka, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, later, known as Yugoslavia . He is of Hungarian descent...
. One interpretation of David Bowman's entrance in to the EVA pod before entering space (the new Eden) to become a Star Child suggests Adam and Eve and the dawn of new man. Some people interpreted David Bowman transforming into the Star Child as him turning into a god or godlike being. The plot also involves an alien intelligence "creating" modern man by improving upon mankind's hominid ancestors.
Douglas Adams
Douglas Adams
Douglas Noel Adams was an English writer and dramatist. He is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which started life in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a "trilogy" of five books that sold over 15 million copies in his lifetime, a television...
's The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe is the second book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction trilogy of five by Douglas Adams. It was originally published by Pan Books as a paperback. The book was inspired by the song "Grand Hotel" by British rock band Procol Harum...
, a sequel to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a science fiction comedy series created by Douglas Adams. Originally a radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1978, it was later adapted to other formats, and over several years it gradually became an international multi-media phenomenon...
, parodies the Shaggy God story with a subplot where the planet Golgafrincham comes up with a scheme to rid itself of its useless workers, such as telephone sanitizers and insurance salesmen, by sending them off in a space ark that eventually lands on the prehistoric Earth. The marooned telephone sanitizers, insurance salesmen, and other blissfully ignorant societal rejects end up (it is hinted) driving the indigenous Neanderthal
Neanderthal
The Neanderthal is an extinct member of the Homo genus known from Pleistocene specimens found in Europe and parts of western and central Asia...
-like race to extinction and becoming the ancestors of modern Homo sapiens.