Here’s an extract from the 1992 documentary, Black Sci-Fi, produced and directed by Terrence Francis for Moonlight Films and broadcast on BBC2 as part of the Birthrights series. The documentary focuses on Black science fiction in literature, film and television and features interviews with Octavia Butler, Samuel R. Delany, Mike Sergeant, Steven Barnes and Nichelle Nichols.
Three parts are included in this extract. In the first, Octavia Butler discusses “how her interest in science fiction developed and the genre’s potential for exploring new ideas and ways of being”. In the second part, Samuel R. Delany, Mike Sergeant and Steven Barnes discuss “the stereotypical portrayal of black characters in science fiction literature and cinema, including the predictable fate of Paul Winfield in films like Damnation Alley, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and The Terminator“. And in the thirs part, Nichelle Nichols discusses the significance of her character, Uhura, in Star Trek and Steven Barnes and Mike Sergeant consider how attitudes towards race and skin colour might develop in the (far) future.
[via Will Shetterly]