Kudos to Mona Leiter for her superb March 25, 2022, Owl & Ibis – A Confluence of Minds multi-media presentation, “From Gulliver’s Travels to Star Trek – Alternate Realities or a Mirror?” A list of links to the videos she showed and her original narrative follow.
A veteran presenter at O&I, Mona described this, her most recent effort this way:
I really appreciated having the chance to work on this as I covered some of the things that mean the most to me - Star Wars, Star Trek, and Twilight Zone. These movies/shows had a big impact on me and the shaping of who I became. I definitely appreciate the power of story and the ability of speculative fiction to help us reflect on where we have been, where we are, and where we may be headed. – Mona
List of Video Links for “From Gulliver’s Travels to Star Trek – Alternate Realities or a Mirror?”
1. Star Wars Trailer from 1977 (before the movie came out)
a. https://youtu.be/1g3_CFmnU7k
2. Luke Meets Ben (from Star Wars)
a. https://youtu.be/oTV2tS4nRPE
3. The Features of speculative fiction
a. https://youtu.be/LJFBHnFRdHE
4. Frankenstein Part 2 from Crash Course Literature 206
a. https://youtu.be/hRDjmyEvmBI
5. Animated interview with Rod Serling from PBS Digital Studios
a. https://youtu.be/7ywWdT6IL3o
6. Why Twilight Zone is still relevant (5 Episodes that prove the Twilight Zone has always tackled the big issues)
a. https://youtu.be/JjyWpoAiXOA
7. Mike Wallace interview with Rod Serling (Serling on Censorship)
a. https://youtu.be/VQlqjONEsKQ
8. Clip from Star Trek – Let That Be Your Last Battlefield (Star Trek tackling racism)
a. https://youtu.be/vi7QQ5pO7_A
9. Clips from Twilight Zone: Eye of the Beholder
a. The only way I could find to share segments from this, my favorite Twilight Zone episode, was through using these series of clips (a portion of which I did not share in my presentation) Here they are in order:
1. https://youtu.be/5I1QAHq2vek
2. https://youtu.be/-v__P2CP-3o
3. https://youtu.be/9yV2x990Nqk
4. https://youtu.be/TcwzHcrSX1k
5. https://youtu.be/kMG407LE_I4
6. https://youtu.be/WPgGnGTjfHs
7. https://youtu.be/mIhHYwUhkyY
Mirrors Script for “From Gulliver’s Travels to Star Trek – Alternate Realities or a Mirror?”
1. Titles
2. Star Wars Trailer
3. George Lucas and his background
a. As a filmmaker in his late 20s George Lucas hit the big time when he made the 1973 film American Graffiti – a movie based on experiences of his teen years – as the tagline says “Where Were You in 62”. George wanted as his follow-up project, to make a film of Flash Gordon – as he loved watching the 1930s Flash Gordon movie serials on the tv when he was a child of the 50s. But he could not get the movie rights. So he set out to make his own “space spectacular” which became Star Wars - released in 1977.
4. In addition to the Flash Gordon inspiration, Star Wars definitely wore George Lucas’ influences on its sleeve – including Akira Kurosawa films such as Hidden Fortress. Also throughout you can see touches of westerns, swashbuklers, fantasy, and even world war ii – the space battle footage at the finale was staged similarly to world war ii film dogfights.
