Planets And Civilizations

In a particular kind of sf scenario, an exploratory spaceship arrives at an extra-solar planet and the crew must deduce what is going down on the planet, which species, if any, are intelligent etc. The author must inform us of planetary conditions and must also tell us something about the civilization that sent the spaceship. Thus, there are two complementary creative processes:

in Star Trek, the Enterprise represents the United Federation of Planets;

in James Blish's "This Earth of Hours," the Terrestrial Matriarchy sends a fleet to investigate the planet Calle which turns out to be an outpost of the telepathic Central Empire.

In an upcoming post, we will consider several examples among Poul Anderson's works but right now I must go out for the evening.