Saturday Fantasy Reader is an ongoing series that looks at a selection of works in Sci-fi, Fantasy or Horror that explore hope or fear in uncertain times. Each episode sheds light on a selection of titles, curated under a loose theme. These are not so much required reading, as much as they are recommended check-it-outs.

We saw it fitting to start our series with John Donne’s infamous quote from Devotions upon Emergent Occasions. Written while he recovered from a serious illness, the quote which comes from Meditation XVII, pinpoints a crucial idea driving Saturday Fantasy: we are all in this together. The following works examine various scenarios in which individuals cope with the unknown worlds around them.

We’ll start off with Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, published in 1932 and set in London 2540 A.D. (or 632 A.F., After Ford). The novel eerily anticipates many developments currently existing today, like reproductive technology, answers in a pill, and sleep-learning. His vision of a future society although polished and shiny possessed dark undertones fueled by fear.

Island is Huxley’s utopian counterpart to his most famous work, the 1932 novel Brave New World, and it was also his last novel. In this novel, Huxley explored ideas of society from a more hopeful lens.

LOST is a massive, complex narrative. But back in Season 1, before we really had a chance to realize all of that, 48 survivors of plane crash found themselves stranded on a mysterious island, in uncertain circumstances, coping to find ways to survive: their pasts, the present, and eventually their futures. The narratives strove for depth, and were told in a very compelling format. Television never seemed the same afterwards.

Speaking of finding yourself on a “mysterious” island: H.R. Pufnstuf, the 1970s kids show produced by Sid and Marty Krofft, told a fairy tale of good versus evil, and centered on a shipwrecked boy named Jimmy, who rides on a mysterious boat to kooky Living Island, home of dancing trees and singing frogs. The premise was out-there, featuring highly imaginative characters and plot lines, leaving it open for criticism as a drug-induced fantasy.

To close out our set, we have the very tantalizing and stimulating 1973 French animation Fantastic Planet (or La Planète Sauvage). Set on a far away planet with a highly evolved race of beings called Draags who have advanced technology and spiritual developments, and keep human being savages called Oms as domesticated pets. The film explores social relations and hierarchies through beautifully surreal imagery created by the French writer and artist Roland Topor. At this time, a remake of the film is in development to be released in 2010.

The Complete Passage from John Donne’s Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, Meditation XVII:
“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were: any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”

Next Episode: The Kids Are Alright