Saturday, May 25, 2013

Geek Pride Day

May 25th, 1977. The day geek life changed forever.

Whether you're a Star Wars fanatic or think George Lucas was a hack*, that day changed our modern world. Science fiction became a part of everyday culture. Action figures and playsets sold by the millions. One movie inspired a generation of thinkers, not for its scientific accuracy (Star Wars is more science fantasy than science fiction), but because it triggered the imagination of a generation.

Star Wars wasn't alone. The 70's turned out to be a breeding ground for the future. Three years earlier, Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax rocked the gaming industry with the small press, white box Dungeons & Dragons. In 1978, Richard and Wendy Pini brought their fantasy epic, Elfquest, to the public--one of the first commercially successful independent comics since the Comics Code Authority destroyed small press in the 50's. 1973 brought us the first viable desk-top computers, the Xerox Alto, IBM's SCAMP, the Wang 2200 and prototype Hewlett Packard. In 1975, the microchip allowed the offspring of these industry computers into people's homes.