The curious thing about science-fiction authorFrederik Pohl is that his stories were never turned into movies. It’s not thathe disliked the medium. As Michael R. Page writes in Frederik Pohl (Universityof Illinois Press), the author eagerly recalled the first science-fiction moviehe ever saw, the otherwise forgotten Just Imagine (1930), saying “therevelation that it existed blew my mind.”
Pohl’s lack of engagement with Hollywood isstrange given his prominence in science fiction, not only as a fiction writerbut as a critic, editor and literary agent whose clients included Isaac Asimov.Page identifies Pohl as a dominant personality in post-World War II sciencefiction “as the genre emerged form the pulp ghetto to become a leading pulse ofAmerican (and global) culture.”
Despite his lack of exposure on film ortelevision, it’s likely that Pohl’s ideas influenced screenplays. In his novelWolfbane (1958), he imagined entities similar to the Borg in “Star Trek.”Through much of his writing, Pohl satirized contemporary society and imaginedfuture worlds of overcrowding and dwindling resources dominated by corporationsand other consent-manufacturing entities.
Pohl came from the early subculture of science-fictionfandom with its conventions and fanzines. Page finds a quote from Roger Ebert: “Itwas in the virtual world of science-fiction fandom that I started to learn tobe a writer and a critic.” Ebert probably read a good deal of Pohl’s work.
