# Do You Like Retrofuturism?



## Guttersnipe (Oct 13, 2021)

If so, what's your favorite subgenre? Steampunk, dieselpunk, atompunk, etc.? As for me, I can't choose. Feel free to post examples.


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## CupofJoe (Oct 14, 2021)

I am a great fan of the film *Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow*. So I guess I am in the Dieselpunk camp. I love the look of the film. but only just.


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## Foxbat (Oct 14, 2021)

I also like Sky Captain and The World Of Tomorrow. In a way it kind of reminds me of the serials of the 1940s (Spy Smasher, King Of The Rocket Men etc….)

I think Delicatessen is a kind of post-atomic setting so would probably be classed as Atompunk (unless I misunderstand the usage). The City Of Lost Children is definitely Steampunk and I love the visual effect so this genre is probably my favourite.


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## BAYLOR (Oct 14, 2021)

*The Peshawar Lancer* by S M Stirling Alt novel , definitely on the steam punk side of the equation and a rousingly good adventure yarn.

*War of the World Goliath* 2013 film . This ia a steam punk sequel to Well's novel . It's set a few years after, the Martians have come back back for another go at humanity . This is a really cool film !


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## BAYLOR (Oct 14, 2021)

CupofJoe said:


> I am a great fan of the film *Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow*. So I guess I am in the Dieselpunk camp. I love the look of the film. but only just.



This is film fun to watch . II so wish this one had been a hit because,  it would have made a terrific film franchise.


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## Stephen Palmer (Oct 14, 2021)

Steampunk - fun genre, thought provoking, and filled with lots of really nice people.


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## Toby Frost (Oct 16, 2021)

I could write a lot about this, but basically yes, it's great and if Space Captain Smith hadn't been retro, it and its sequels probably would never have got published. I also ended up meeting a lot of nice people through it and going to some very entertaining events, so I can't really complain. 

Like a lot of people, I liked steampunk and that kind of thing before I knew that there was a word for it. These days, I see a lot of internet discussion about whether something is steampunk, dieselpunk or whatever, which I think misses the point: for me, retro works best as an influence, not a simple yes/no answer. Something like _Dune_, in my mind, is full of historical references: the Fremen look Arabic, the noble houses somewhat Victorian, the Saudakar are a 1950s pulp American view of Nazis, the Emperor is a medieval king, and so on. 

It can be easy for retro stuff to get a bit repetitive - sometimes it's like the shuffling of a small pack of cards - but there are some excellent stories and films out there.


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## alexvss (Oct 16, 2021)

I like it! Off the top of my head, my favorite ones would be the *Bioshock* game franchise and the steampunk movie *Steamboy (2004)*.

The first two installments of Bioshock take place in the 1960s, if I remember correctly, and are about an (gone horribly wrong) undersea utopia. They have much more technology than we did in those years. The third installment takes place in a sky-high city, a racist utopia in a world that The US won the boxer war. Their clothes and vehicles look like they're from the early 1900s, but they have technology to keep a whole city flying.

Steamboy is about the battle for a ball that has infinite steam inside of it, thus making it an infinite source of energy. It takes place in the era of steam engines (end of the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth).

As a somewhat honorary mention, I'd say that the steampunk game franchise *Dishonored* is also pretty good.


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## Rodders (Oct 16, 2021)

I never really know what each of the different aesthetics are. I liked the look of Bioshock and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. I’d also like to add the look of Casshern into the mix. This had a similar monochrome look as Sky Captain and the i remember the robots looking very old fashioned.

What about some of the Holodeck episodes in Voyager that had a kind of Flash Gordon look? (I never really appreciated ST: Voyager, so I forget the character and episode.)


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## Astro Pen (Oct 16, 2021)

I lean more to cyberpunk though I have had a few dreams in steampunk mode. I haven't written any steampunk (apart from one 75 worder on here) but   I  might get inspired because there is a window of tweed, scientific ambition and brass that I can feel opening. Really it's about the characters.
Somewhere where Gatsby meets Wells. Now there's a thought.


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## Ray Zdybrow (Oct 25, 2021)

Guttersnipe said:


> If so, what's your favorite subgenre? Steampunk, dieselpunk, atompunk, etc.? As for me, I can't choose. Feel free to post examples.


Dunno. I might give Cassette Futurism a try, until NewNewWaveCore kicks off.


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## Stephen Palmer (Oct 25, 2021)

Man, reel-to-reel is where it's really at.


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## Mon0Zer0 (Oct 25, 2021)

I love retrofuturism, but I'm old enough to just think of it as futurism.


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## Vince W (Oct 25, 2021)

I do like old SF but that isn't steam/dieselpunk. I've tried to read some steampunk but they often lose me quickly and I never finish it. I guess I like the aesthetic of those sorts of things but rarely the execution.


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## BAYLOR (Oct 27, 2021)

Toby Frost said:


> I could write a lot about this, but basically yes, it's great and if Space Captain Smith hadn't been retro, it and its sequels probably would never have got published. I also ended up meeting a lot of nice people through it and going to some very entertaining events, so I can't really complain.
> 
> Like a lot of people, I liked steampunk and that kind of thing before I knew that there was a word for it. These days, I see a lot of internet discussion about whether something is steampunk, dieselpunk or whatever, which I think misses the point: for me, retro works best as an influence, not a simple yes/no answer. Something like _Dune_, in my mind, is full of historical references: the Fremen look Arabic, the noble houses somewhat Victorian, the Saudakar are a 1950s pulp American view of Nazis, the Emperor is a medieval king, and so on.
> 
> It can be easy for retro stuff to get a bit repetitive - sometimes it's like the shuffling of a small pack of cards - but there are some excellent stories and films out there.


The Tv show *The Wild Wild West *is a Science fiction western and would fit nicely into the category of steampunk .


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## AltThinking (Dec 7, 2021)

Steampunk definitely !  So much so that I work on retro-transport 3 times a week


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