Fan Boys

Okay...maybe I am a fanboy.
As a kid, I used to love the Silver Surfer.
I also used to like Grendel (No, not the one from Beowulf) - but this chick.

I once went to visit one of my friends at his college dorm.
The guys on his hall would often argue over whether to watch Thunder Cats or Voltron.
Voltron would always be my choice because of one episode -
Voltron had traveled to the end of the Universe and had the choice of going to the other side to paradise - or returning to battle evil (but with more power and abilities).
I had never thought of the Universe as having an end - so this "kid's cartoon sparked an interest.

But pound for pound, the most thought provoking "kids" cartoon had to be Robotech.
Characters were of various races and sexualities.
Was Yellow Dancer a gay guy or a tall woman?
Was Claudia (LaSalle) Grant's relationship with Roy Fokker the first animated inter-racial couple?
How was it that Claudia could be six feet tall and only weigh between 106-130 pounds?
And how did the Invid create the Universe and Mankind?
And who created them?

There are always paradigm shifting moments in popular culture.
For some it was Star Trek. The terminology and science was limited to what was thought to be possible at that time.
For another generation it was Star Wars. Since the environment of the movies roughly paralleled Earth, the concept of a parallel existence came into play.
And later, it was The Matrix. The series went completely to the future by going back to the past.
The Matrix is a great example of movies bringing things (or theories of such things) into being because they bring them to a greater consciousness.
Why doesn't Neo have to flap his arms in order to fly? Because Superman didn't have to a generation earlier.
But if one could fly, why would they even have to take the initial leap? Because Superman did that too.
The Matrix is a good photo of our understanding so far.

Since one has to imagine something before they are able to do it, these comics, cartoons and movies set the pattern as to what actual scientists will be working on in the future.
Or the level of our understanding of how the world (and Universe) actually works.
This language of possibilities communicates concepts and ideas.
These may be our "I am" moments - revealing to us what our next evolutionary steps will be.