James Cameron's Story of Science Fiction

Lisa Yaszek, Gary K. Wolfe, Sidney Perkowitz, Brooks Peck, Randall Frakes, Matt Singer — 2018

This companion to the AMC’s mini-series features the full interviews plus essays by sci-fi insiders and rare concept art from Cameron’s archives. For the show, James Cameron personally interviewed six of the biggest names in science fiction filmmaking—Guillermo del Toro, George Lucas, Christopher Nolan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ridley Scott, and Steven Spielberg—to get their perspectives on the importance of the genre. This book reproduces the interviews in full as the greatest minds in the genre discuss key topics including alien life, time travel, outer space, dark futures, monsters, and intelligent machines. An in-depth interview with Cameron is also featured, plus essays by experts in the science fiction field on the main themes covered in the show. Illustrated with rare and previously unseen concept art from Cameron’s personal archives, plus imagery from iconic sci-fi movies, TV shows, and books, James Cameron’s Story of Science Fiction offers a sweeping examination of a genre that continues to ask questions, push limits, and thrill audiences around the world.

Reviews

Ryan LaFerney@ryantlaferney

Dec 15, 2022

Over the last 30 years, writer/director James Cameron has made a number of memorable, and successful films, mostly in the realm of science fiction. Recently, Cameron teamed up with the television channel AMC, to create the six-part original series, AMC Visionaries: James Cameron’s Story of Science Fiction. For the show, Cameron’s goal was to sit down with six of the biggest names in science fiction, and get their perspectives on the importance, and the impact of the genre. The show is divided into themes (such as "sci-fi monsters") and brings in some of the most intriguing actors, authors (such as N.K. Jemisin), and critics/scholars to also comment on the show's given theme. The main guests of the series include directors Steven Spielberg (Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T., and my favorite, Jurassic Park), George Lucas (THX-1138, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Star Wars The Prequel Trilogy), Christopher Nolan (Inception, Interstellar), Guillermo Del Toro (Pacific Rim, The Shape of Water), Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner), and actor, Arnold Schwarzenegger (who portrayed the Terminator in Cameron’s film series). To be honest, all the interviews were fascinating expect for Arnold's. I just thought he didn't have too much to say. It is clear, from these interviews, that science fiction and exploration has been his main preoccupation of Cameron's from when he was very young and this show and the companion book has given me a greater appreciation for his technical abilities (even if I don't care for Avatar). Insight Editions’ book reproduces Cameron’s interviews in full, and offers several topical summaries by a number of people familiar with science fiction and this is where the book often shines. These topics include dark futures, artificial intelligence, time-travel, and much more as these summaries/essays go beyond film history and dives into the history of the sci-fi genre as a whole, often surveying the history of sci-fi literature and how it influenced the silver screen. Worth picking up if you're a film buff, sci-fi fan, or conceptual artist. Sadly, my only complaint, is, although I love Lucas, Spielberg, Scott, and Nolan, this really does highlight why we need more diverse viewpoints and diverse directors in Hollywood.