Portal (science fiction)
In science fiction and fantasy stories and films, a portal is a device or a given that enables accelerated travel in space , direct travel to other places ( teleportation ) or travel in parallel worlds and time travel . The concept occurs in various forms, especially in science fiction, with the space-time machine TARDIS from the television series Dr. Who combines all the essential features and works using a time portal. Time portals allow time travel to some extent in combination with travel over long distances, such as the portal of the time watcher in the Spaceship Enterprise episode Griff in the story , the time tunnel from the TV series of the same name and the so-called anomalies in Primeval . Space travel is made possible by portals such as in Stargate (film) and the TV series Stargate - Kommando SG-1 based on it, or in the jump gates for spaceships ( jumpgates ) in the TV series Babylon 5 . This concept is similar to the wormholes that sometimes appear in science fiction, as well as teleportation.
In fantasy novels and films, magical portals often appear, which allow a quick and easy transition into other worlds, which otherwise could only be achieved through almost impossible or time-consuming journeys. The magical wardrobe in the Chronicles of Narnia is a classic example of such a portal, but as a literary trick for entering other worlds, there is already in ancient myths the gateway to the underworld at Hercules in Hades or the Bifröst as a bridge to the world of gods Asgard .
The well-known science fiction author Brian Michael Stableford comments on the literary subgenre of Portal Fantasy as follows in his Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction Literature :
“Portal Fantasy: The parallel worlds of… fantasy were equipped with various kinds of permanent or temporary portals allowing a certain amount of traffic between worlds… SF portal fantasy fits into this taxonomy readily enough, but has a further dimension by virtue of the fact hat sf multiverses and galactic empires often require portals for convenient transportation across their vast stages… such portals pose problems of plausibility in sf stories dealing with parallel words and time travel… sf portal fantasy routinely makes use of dimensional doorways, stargates and timegates located in mysterious alien artifacts became commonplace in the 1950s along with galactic empires and manifolds of parallel worlds. "
Portal Fantasy: The parallel worlds of ... Fantasy were equipped with different types of permanent or temporary portals, which allow a certain amount of traffic between worlds ... SF Portal Fantasy fits easily into this classification, but it has an additional dimension that multiverse and galactic Empires often require portals for convenient transportation through their vast plains. Such portals create problems in SF stories of parallel worlds and time travel. The SF Portal Fantasy regularly uses dimension gates, star gates and time gates, which are located in mysterious artefacts of aliens and which became normal in the 1950s together with galactic empires and the diverse parallel worlds. "
Last but not least, portals form the basis of computer games with a science fiction background. These include the interactive game portal for Amiga computers published in 1986 . The latter should not be confused with the 2007 SF video game portal and its sequel Portal 2 . In the game Lego Dimensions, which uses science fiction and fantasy themes , different levels and expansions of a multiverse are made accessible through portals.
The scientific background for this is the Mach principle by Ernst Mach and the general theory of relativity by Albert Einstein, but also the Einstein-Rosen Bridge by Nathan Rosen .
Literature, film, TV, computer games
- In 1871 Lewis Carroll describes in the chapter "The Mirror House" in his children's book Alice Behind the Mirrors (in the original: Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There ) a mirror that leads to a parallel world .
- In the episode Griff in die Geschichte (original title: The City on the Edge of Forever ) from 1967 of the first season of the US science fiction television series Spaceship Enterprise , the time portal ("Guardian of Eternity") allows access to various Epochs of the past.
- 1968 shows the science fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey (Original title: 2001: A Space Odyssey ) by Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick a portal into a parallel world that the astronaut David Bowman walks through. The film is based in part on Clarke's 1948 short story The Sentinel .
- In the episode The Iconia probes (original title: Contagion ) from the year 1989 of the American science fiction television series Spaceship Enterprise - The next century portals of the Iconians allow access to different places and time periods.
- Do sacred portals exist in the episode ? (Original title: Aliens And Stargates ) from 2014 of the US documentary series Ancient Aliens - Inexplicable Phenomena , the possibility of such a portal in Lake Michigan is discussed. These are based on the theories of pre-astronautics .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Portals review article (s) in The Encyclopedia of Fantasy (1997), accessed January 15, 2018
- ↑ Lori M. Campbell: Portals of Power: Magical Agency and Transformation in Literary Fantasy (Critical Explorations in Science Fiction and Fantasy Vol. 19) MacFarland Books, Jefferson (USA) & London, 2010, ISBN 978-0-7864-4645- 2
- ↑ Time portals by John Clute, David Langford , Peter Nicholls, Graham Sleight: time portal . In: The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction , Third Edition online, 2017.
- ↑ Stargates as portals John Clute, David Langford, Peter Nicholls / Graham Sleight: stargates . In: The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction , Third Edition online, 2017
- ↑ John Clute, David Langford, Peter Nicholls, Graham Sleight: time gate . In: The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction , Third Edition online, 2017
- ^ John Clute and John Grant: The Encyclopedia of Fantasy (1st UK edition), Orbit Books, London 1997, ISBN 978-1-85723-368-1
- ^ Brian Michael Stableford: Portal Fantasy . In: Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction Literature Scarecrow Press, 2004 online pp. 269-270.
- ↑ Portal at sf-encyclopedia.com , April 3, 2015.
- ↑ G. Wolters: Mach I, Mach II. Einstein and the theory of relativity , Berlin 1987: "He influenced A. Einstein, who took up the so-called Mach principle when developing his general theory of relativity". on-line
- ^ Albert Einstein, & Nathan Rosen (1935). "The Particle Problem in the General Theory of Relativity". Physical Review. 48: 73. [1]
- Jump into history
- ↑ Simone Stölzel: Infinite Expanses: Solution-oriented thinking with Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy , Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht , Göttingen 2012, ISBN 978-3-647-40459-2 , p. 133
- ↑ Christopher S. Leslie: Social Science Fiction online ProQuest 2007, page 244
- ↑ Inexplicable Phenomena Ancient Aliens ( Memento of the original from January 3, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Episode Do Sacred Portals Exist? in the series Inexplicable Phenomena Ancient Aliens of the documentation on kabel eins Doku
literature
- John Clute and John Grant: The Encyclopedia of Fantasy (1st UK edition), Orbit Books, London 1997, ISBN 978-1-85723-368-1 online