Patton Oswalt Talks the Last 25 Years of Science Fiction
Photo by Frazer Harrison / Getty Images
The SYFY Network turns 25 this month, and to celebrate the cable channel has asked some of the biggest stars and fans of genre fiction to talk about the last quarter century of pop culture. One of those fans is stand-up great (and proud Emmy man) Patton Oswalt, whose nerd bona fides are beyond reproach. Throughout his career Oswalt has established himself as a passionate voice for sci-fi, comics and the larger spectrum of geek culture. As you’ll see in his answers to SYFY’s survey, he’s still as knowledgeable and opinionated about this stuff as ever.
Oswalt’s next stand-up special, Annihilation, will be out on Netflx on Oct. 17. Later this year he can be heard as the voice of Happy the Horse in the SYFY series Happy!, which is based on the comic from Grant Morrison and Darick Robertson, and premieres on Nov. 29. He’s also a member of the newly formed SYFY Advisory Council, which, per a press release, “features diverse leading voices in the genre, from creators to influencers to on-screen stars and more, to provide guidance for the network as it embraces its renewed commitment to science fiction and fandom at large.” Other names on that panel alongside Oswalt include Grant Morrison, Geoff Johns, Carlton Cuse, Luc Besson, Jamie Broadnax of Black Girl Nerds, and more. And if you want to learn more about SYFY’s 25th anniversary, you can check out the new podcast SYFY25: Origin Stories, a 15-part series hosted by Adam Savage of Mythbusters and featuring some of the most storied figures in the speculative fiction business, including Neil Gaiman, Rick Baker, Frank Oz, Jonathan Frakes and more. And if you want to relive what’s probably still SYFY’s most beloved show, there’s a Battlestar Galactica marathon running the weekend of Sept. 22-24, which coincides with the actual anniversary on Sept. 24.
While you’re getting ready for those surefire gems to grace your television box and pod-playing machine, read through Oswalt’s SYFY survey, and learn about his favorite shows, most beloved characters and why invisibility sucks as a superpower. There’ll be more surveys just like this one from other stars and creators over at SYFY’s website next week.
The one thing you geek out over the most: Post-apocalypse science fiction.
The first thing you remember geeking out over: Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars
The science-fiction / fantasy creator you most respect: Harlan Ellison.
Your geeky guilty pleasure: Superhero movies. Even when they’re completely awful, they tend to be awful in fascinating and entertaining ways. And they say waaaaay more about what we desire as humans than we might want them to.
The current state of science-fiction in three words: Action over actuality.
The biggest genre game-changer of the last 25 years: Alien—introducing the aspects of capitalism and social class into science fiction.
The best quote from anyone in the genre, real or fictional: “There are only three science fiction plots: What If, If Only, and If This Goes On”—Isaac Asimov
The best genre movie of the last 25 years: Unbreakable.