aliens-on-filmScience Museum , London, March 3, 2017 – edited broadcast on Radio 4 on March 9 at 4 pm.

As part of BBC Radio 4’s Mars Week, a panel convened at the Science Museum’s IMAX theatre to discuss the links between science fact and (screen) science fiction, how one informs the other, and what we can look forward to in the future.

It’s always a delight to see scientists and science-fiction purveyors/enthusiasts sit down and have a good old chat about how their disciplines intersect with one another, and this panel was no exception.  Presenters Adam Rutherford and Francine Stock are old hands at this sort of thing, and their guests formed an interesting bunch. Science fiction author and game designer Naomi Alderman was not a woman struggling for words. Astrobiologist and geologist Doctor Louisa Preston was quieter, but no less fun and full of enthusiasm (especially for Tardigrades).  Paul Franklin, as the Oscar winning FX supremo behind Interstellar and other Christopher Nolan vehicles, provided fascinating insight into the process of living up to the expectations of studios, directors and audiences.

Beginning with a fun trivia quiz challenge between Rutherford and the audience to set the tone (Rutherford losing, barely to what were, in fairness, some obscure questions), the night then commenced proper with the obvious question – why Mars? What is it that makes the Red Planet so important to us, and so culturally interesting? The ‘science vs science fiction’ answers to this question alone were fascinating, with Preston waxing lyrical on just how scientifically helpful Mars can be, not only in performing experiments but also as a sort of ‘time machine’ to give a possible glimpse into Earth’s past (or future).  Alderman meanwhile pointed out (and quoted almost verbatim the beginning of) War of the Worlds as one of the earliest examples of ‘alien invasion’ sci fi, taken from our most obvious and closest galactic neighbour.  Franklin talked about the challenges of realising such environments on the big screen, from fulfilling the inevitable standard Hollywood brief (‘make it like nothing you’ve ever seen before’) to working closely with scientific consultants (such as Rutherford himself) to try and nail down as much science as possible in among the fiction.

As the evening wore on, there were several opportunities for questions from the audience, which ranged from whether the panel saw anything in contemporary sci-fi that might indicate future real-world developments (much as old sci-fi is said to have predicted some current tech) to whether Panspermia (the theory of life being transmitted from one planet to another via meteorites) is plausible.  There were also Tardigrades, which I feel I must mention as they seem to provide such delight and be of such importance to the incredibly engaging Doctor Preston.  If you haven’t a clue what they are, or why they are colloquially called ‘Water Bears’, it’s worth tuning in to this programme to hear the good doctor talk about them and their amazing properties.

The discussion also occasionally ranged beyond Mars itself in spite of the title, perhaps inevitably given the venue and the panel assembled. The constant ‘human-esque’ qualities of ‘aliens’ in science fiction, the tensions and difficulties in successfully portraying a race not of this earth and diving into their psyche, drives and emotions, and the physical difficulty/impossibility of making contact with other intelligent species in such a vast and busy universe.  Doctor Preston’s observation that in terms of known lifeforms, single-celled organisms are in the majority, counterpointed nicely with Alderman’s assertion that humanity’s endless search and hunger for intelligent alien life may be most simply understood as loneliness.  Our awareness of being so far advanced as to be able to understand and appreciate the size of the cosmos and our infinitesimal place within it driving a need to find another race to ‘mirror’ us and give us an idea of how – in a universal sense – we are doing.

It wasn’t all stern-faced seriousness though – inbetween the chin stroking and contemplation there was still time for mix tape jokes and comparisons between the Voyager Probe and a Facebook Timeline, and all things considered, an hour and a half of recording (from which at least one Alderman quip will have been cropped given the intended timeslot and audience of the broadcast) literally flew by.  Each panellist was as important to the mix as the others, and the hosts managed them well, directing discussion and questions so as to never lose momentum or spin out into general chatter (always an ever present threat with such mutually interesting and interested minds sat round a table).

Verdict: Well worth a listen to anyone with even a passing interest in the links between science and science fiction – a worthy and engaging panel, a thoroughly engaged audience and a charismatic presentation team.  And Tardigrades, which will probably be your new favourite thing by the end if they aren’t already. 10/10

Greg D. Smith