Sci fi is everywhere you look, but it wasn't so long ago that an obsession with tech and far flung worlds came with certain hazards.

Oh, okay, Welcome to watch Mojo.

Siri's How geek culture became pop culture.

Once niche and ridiculed geek culture has exploded into the mainstream.

How did so much changed?

Join us as we look at how Pulp fiction, comics, video games, anime and nerd heroes became pop culture staples.

Modern science fiction has its roots in the works of celebrated writers like Mary Shelley, Jules Verne and H G.

Wells, but it was actually the now relatively obscure pulp magazines of the 19 twenties that shaped the genre and fandom as we know them today.

One of the most influential was Hugo Garnes backs Amazing Stories, the first magazine dedicated exclusively to sci fi.

Debuting in 1926 it inspired and eventually featured the tales of the genre's Big Three Arthur C.

Clarke, Robert A.

Heinlein and Isaac Asimov.

Crucially, the magazine also printed the addresses of readers in a letter column, allowing them to mail each other directly.

Soon.

Sci fi enthusiasts were sharing their passions in unofficial publications that came to be known as fanzines.

Thus, Pulp magazines actually gave birth to fandom.

I did not know that, however, the pope's weren't exactly Sina's high art, even the word pulp derived from inexpensive wood pulp papers, whereas more prestige magazines were printed on glossies and slicks, so they were niche from the get go.

Nevertheless, Sci fi continued to mature through seminal dystopian works and a renewed emphasis on scientific research.

As the genre gained momentum, it's reach was broadened through films and film serials.

And in the fifties, this golden age culminated in a string of relatively high production films now considered classics.

This is Ah, no offense, but you are a robot, aren't you?

That is correct, sir, For your convenience, I am monitored to respond to the name Robbie.

By the sixties, however, small publishers had been pushed out of the market, and the golden age of science fiction was over.

A new generation of more experimental writers began picking up the torch.

Ultimately, though, it was a little TV show called Star Trek that took the jar where no fan had gone before its five year mission to explore strange new worlds to seek out new life and new civilizations to boldly go where no man has gone before.

Originally hitting the airwaves in 1966 Star Trek was the brainchild of Gene Roddenberry, who drew inspiration from Westerns and Gulliver's Travels.

The Siri's quickly accumulated a cult following known as Trekkies and Trekkers.

Alas, the show's fan base was niche.

And following a ratings nosedive in Season two, rumors spread that NBC was ready to pull the plug.

You better come on back down Draco's Put the bag on your captain.

Why would he put a bag on our captain to save the show?

Ah, fan named Be Joe Tremble helmed, then unheard of letter writing campaign.

Frankly, in our wildest dreams, neither John nor right thought it was going to succeed.

We really didn't.

But the trick is you don't tell the others.

NBC renewed Star Trek for another season, but it's new.

Friday time slot at 10 p.m. Meant the writing was on the wall.

Although the starship USS Enterprise crew signed up for a five year mission, the Siri's only lasted three seasons.

Regardless, Tremble and her fellow Trekkies proved that a small yet devoted fan base could make a difference.

The show's impact and legacy extended far beyond the original Siri's.

Three years after its cancelation, fans gathered at the Statler Hilton for Star Trek lives, the franchise's first major convention.

Although fan conventions had been popping up since as far back as the 19 thirties, they Onley really gained traction in the sixties and seventies.

They represented the next step in fandom, bringing people together to express their mutual passions.

In person, I found fandom, uh, itself by going to the conventions and meeting up with all of these other crazy people who did the same crazy things that I liked.

Nonetheless, thes fans remained part of a select group.

While outsiders continue to poke fun, particularly at cause play elements, dedicated fans were still seen as the butt of the joke.

It would take a universal hit to change the general public's perception.

Fortunately, sci Fi was going to bold new places on the big screen as well.

By 1968 critics started seeing the genre in a new light, thanks to 2000 and one, A Space Odyssey and Planet of the Apes.

You blow it up.

Even so, nothing could have prepared Hollywood for the cultural phenomenon to come.

E If Jaws invented the summer blockbuster, then Star Wars proved it was here to stay in 1977 George Lucas's epic space opera borrowed heavily from pulp Fiction and film serials.

At the time, Space Opera remained a very niche sub genre.

That all changed when Star Wars broke box office records, much to the surprise of Lucas and 20th Century Fox.

Even more surprising was it wasn't just geeks who made Star Wars a hit.

Its popularity leaked over to mainstream audiences and even the Oscars, scoring seven wins and a nomination for best picture.

Star Wars was a turning point that demonstrated just how big sci fi and fandom could be, with hordes of fans showing up for the Sequels.

Wow, what unending?

Who'd a thought?

Darth Vader was Luke Skywalker's father.

Thank thank you, Mr Paul.

The picture For me, this popularity led to the revival of Star Trek on the silver screen.

Speak way.

Just see the beginning of a new life form.

Yes, Captain witnessed the birth, possibly a next step in our evolution, I wonder, from 1979 on the Enterprise crew continued their voyage is in cinemas.

A torch passed on in 1994 to the next generation.

I'm from what you would consider the future.

This newfound interest in sci fi also led to cult classics like Blade Runner, lighthearted adventures like Back to the Future and special effects extravaganzas like Jurassic Park.

Meanwhile, The Matrix, which owes a lot to the 1984 cyberpunk novel Neuromancer, was integral in making the genre cool.

Suddenly, computers and philosophy could be sexy.

You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.

The same year The Matrix came out, audiences returned to a galaxy far, far away in Star Wars.

Episode one The Phantom Menace.

The hype for this prequel was unprecedented, but the saga was forever changed, thanks to Jar Jar and Medic Laurean's Okay, Star Wars became increasingly divisive going into the two thousands.

I don't like Sam its course and rough and irritating when it gets everywhere.

Fortunately, a new hope was emerging on the small screen.

Television shifted to high quality scripted television.

In the new millennium, Lost was a notable game changer with its ambitious premise and overarching mystery bridging the gap between mainstream TV and cult TV.

Jacob didn't say anything to me about Desmond.

Doesn't sound like you said anything about anything.

It's kind of true.

Dude is worse than Yoda.

I got a bad feeling about this.

One of its creators, J.

J.

Abrams, was tasked with rebooting the Star Trek film Siri's.

The result was the franchises highest grossing entry to date.

Got it?

Arm phasers, fire everything we've got.

Yes, sir, Nostalgia was clearly big business, influencing other studios to green light mawr reboots, remakes, Sequels, prequels and spin offs in the 2000 tens.

For many, no franchise was more nostalgic than Star Wars, leading to Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm for $4.5 billion in 2012.

Abrams subsequently jumped ship from Star Trek to direct Disney's first Star Wars film.

The Force awakens chewing We're Home, the first entry in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, was a critical hit and the biggest domestic box office success ever.

The response to the Last Jedi and Rise of Skywalker was all over the map, however, with some praising them and others saying, Bring back the prequels.

I'm sorry I'm sure you are wherever you stand on Disney's handling of Star Wars, fans seem to agree on one thing.

The man DeLorean is so worth the Disney plus subscription.

Disney Plus is just one of the several platforms currently engaged in the streaming wars.

The entertainment industry was never the same.

After Netflix revolutionized the streaming business in 2007, Netflix went on to produce numerous original programs, including Stranger Things, the ultimate homage to sci fi fantasy and nostalgia.

Wait, hold up the first on Blaster.

In a way, stranger things has brought things full circle.

The geeks who grew up dressing up his Ghostbusters are now the ones producing a majority of the content.

What was once described His niche is the new norm through Star Trek, Star Wars, Stranger Things and others.

Sci fi fans have earned their place of the Cool kids table.