I moderated the steampunk panel at Apollocon. When Chris Roberson brought up the idea that any vision of the future from the past ought to qualify as steampunk, I brought up the counter-example of 50s-style futures. I mean sure, they’re anachronistic and all, but they’re hardly steampunk.
"So what’s Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow?" asked someone in the audience.
"That’s internal-combustion-engine punk," I replied. "Which will be just as anachronistic in a few years."
I’ve been putting some thought into it. With the imminent demise of gas-locomotion, it’s about time to think about the visions of a gasoline future that we’re going to be nostalgic about before the decade is through.
A Brief Combustion Punk Catalog:
Mad Max
Knightrider
Airwolf
Crash (both)
Deathrace2000
Iron Eagles (the entire series)
Blue Thunder
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
The Fast and the Furious
Anything with a talking motorcycle or motorcycles with weapons attached.
Here’s the combustion punk manifesto: WOOOHOOO!
On a secondary note, my co-worker Johnny Motard wondered why all sci-fi genres are appended "punk" and all music genres are appended with "core." So I propose that the next sci-fi genre be "((something)) core."
