"Men Make Their Own History..."

"Men make their own history but not in circumstances of their own choosing."

Whereas SM Stirling's John Rolfe accidentally opened a Gate to an alternative Earth where he founded the Commonwealth of New Virginia, Poul Anderson's Manuel Argos led a slave revolt and founded the Terran Empire. The Empire is incomparably vaster than the Commonwealth. However, this is because Rolfe was a World War II veteran whereas Argos was born in a later age of faster than light interstellar travel: "...not in circumstances of their own choosing."

Further, we are shown several centuries of the Empire but only two generations of the Commonwealth. How vast might the latter later become? At the end of Conquistador, the Commonwealth begins to expand not out into space but sideways onto a third alternative Earth. Since at least one of Argos' predecessors has already traveled between universes, there is the possibility, however remote, of a meeting between Commonwealth and Empire, maybe in a second Anderson-themed anthology? But, meanwhile, we have many already written works to read or reread.

Apparently, hypothetical crossovers are a regular fannish debating topic:

Batman and Captain America fight - who wins?;
the Federation of Star Trek and the Empire of Star Wars meet - which wins?;
etc.

(I have the uneasy feeling that this post has descended from the sublime to the center of a black hole.)

Films

A visit to the cinema can simultaneously update us on several familiar series. The other day:

a showing of Star Wars VII;

trailers for Star Trek, Captain America and X Men;

a poster advertising Batman v Superman.

While watching Star Wars, I tried to imagine that we were instead watching a film dramatization of Poul Anderson's The Day Of Their Return. In fact, imagine a serial adaptation of the entire History of Technic Civilization from "The Saturn Game" to "Starfog." There would have to be two actors for Dominic Flandry because he changes his face by biosculp between his second and third novels. Earlier, I posted suggestions for filming two small parts of the Technic History. See here and here.

The Star Trek and Star Wars series prove that hard sf series like Anderson's Technic History or James Blish's Cities In Flight could be filmed without encountering any insuperable technical difficulties. So let's see it.

(See here and here for discussion of proposed films based on works by Blish.)

Four Series And Poul Anderson

Several times on this blog, I have referred to Isaac Asimov's Foundation, and less often, though in the same vein, to Star Trek, Star Wars and Frank Herbert's Dune. (EE Smith's very badly written Lensman series is perhaps in the same category but let's leave that out of the discussion.)

Star Wars is films with book and comic spin-offs. Star Trek is multi-media but primarily TV and film. Dune moved in the opposite direction. First, it was famous, at least among sf fans, as a long novel with several sequels. Then, it was adapted for both cinema and TV. Of the series mentioned so far (outside brackets), only Foundation has not yet appeared on screen but is well known nevertheless.

Both Asimov and Herbert present a humans-only galaxy but add altered human beings and artificial intelligences. (Asimov has one Galactic Empire story where non-human intelligences flee the galaxy and Foundation And Earth ends with the threat of extra-galactic intelligences.)

All four series present the rise and fall of interstellar civilizations, usually "Empires," with FTL travel. In other words, as I have said before, they do what Poul Anderson's less well known History of Technic Civilization does far better. Thus, a good way to present Anderson's main future history series is to say precisely this.

Compare:

Anderson's Terran Empire with the Galactic Empire(s);
Dominic Flandry with James Kirk;
Merseians and Chereionites with Klingons and Vulcans;
Chunderban Desai with Hari Seldon;
Hans Molitor with Paul Atreides;
the Polesotechnic League with Foundation Traders;
Aeneas with Arrakis;
the sincere religious beliefs of Adzel and Axor with the cynical manipulation of popular religion by the Foundation, Bene Gesserit and Atreides - as well as by Anderson's Aycharaych; 
the Long Night with Asimov's post-Imperial period;
etc.