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Abraham Lincoln in Science Fiction

2/15/2010

5 Comments

 
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It’s President’s Day in the United States.  Originally, called Washington's Birthday, the federal holiday was originally created by the United States Congress in 1880 for government offices in the District of Columbia and expanded in 1885 to include all federal offices and was the first federal holiday to honor an American citizen.  Originally, celebrated on February 22 (Washington’s real birthday), in 1971, the federal holiday was shifted to the third Monday in February by the Uniform Monday Holiday Act. In true government efficiency, this means that the holiday can never actually fall on Washington's birthday.  

Because of the close proximity of Lincoln's and Washington Birthdays, Washington's Birthday holiday would become known as Presidents Day.

In honor of that day, I thought I would highlight top appearances of Abraham Lincoln throughout Science Fiction.


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Marvel Comics Gettysburg Distress

In this exclusive six-page free digital comic, Spider-Man and Captain America travel back in time to witness Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address!” A tribute to the bicentennial of the 16th president’s birth, the story is written by Matt Fraction with art by Andy MacDonald.  It is available for free here.


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Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure

What else can I say about this movie, that featured the time-travelling adventures of "Ted" Theodore Logan and Bill S. Preston, Esquire except:

“Fourscore and... seven minutes ago... we, your forefathers, were brought forth upon a most excellent adventure conceived by our new friends, Bill... and Ted. These two great gentlemen are dedicated to a proposition which was true in my time, just as it's true today. Be excellent to each other. And... PARTY ON, DUDES!”

Here is a clip.

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Downwind from Gettysburg By 0052ay Bradbury

Downwind from Gettysburg is a short story written by Ray Bradbury and originally published in June, 1969 in Playboy.  It was later collected in a 1969 collection of short stories called I Sing the Body Electric!  The story is described as “A rebuilt Abraham Lincoln android repeats deadly history in the future.”  A preview is available here.

The story was later adapted for the Ray Bradbury Theater TV show and starred Howard Hessman. The epsode was described as: “At an animatronic exhibition featuring Ford's Theater and the death of the 16th President, a man named Booth decides to assassinate a robotic Abraham Lincoln.”  This story was inspired by Walt Disney’s Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln (Disney and Bradbury were friends).

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Time Lincoln  #1

Written and art by Fred Perry, cover by Brian Denham.

This one is not even out yet from Antarctic Press. But, it looks cool.   What happens when the Great Emancipator is suddenly freed from the bonds of time to right wrongs throughout history? Taken out of time on the night of his assassination with the help of H.G. Wells's time machine, Abraham Lincoln finds himself waging war upon the forces of evil in the past, present and future! In his last hour, he lived a lifetime!

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Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Seth Grahame-Smith, the author who brought us Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, turns to Lincoln with Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.


Here is the synopsis:

When Abraham Lincoln was nine years old, his mother died from an ailment called the "milk sickness." Only later did he learn that his mother's deadly affliction was actually the work of a local vampire, seeking to collect on Abe's father's unfortunate debts.When the truth became known to the young Abraham Lincoln, he wrote in his journal: henceforth my life shall be one of rigorous study and devotion. I shall become learned in all things--a master of mind and body. And this mastery shall have but one purpose." While Abraham Lincoln is widely lauded for reuniting the North with the South and abolishing slavery from our country, no one has ever understood his valiant fight for what it really was. That is, until Seth Grahame-Smith stumbled upon The Journal of Abraham Lincoln, and became the first living person to lay eyes on it in more than 140 years.Using the journal as his guide and writing in the grand biographical style of Doris Kearns Goodwin and David McCullough, Seth has reconstructed the true life story of our greatest president for the first time--all while revealing the hidden history behind the Civil War, and uncovering the massive role vampires played in the birth, growth, and near-death of our nation.

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Herbie #11

The second story in this comic. features a Lincoln story that breaks the fourth wall.  When Herbie Popnecker's dad tells a warped story about Abraham Lincoln: Lincoln's statue looks at the thought balloon with concern; Herbie climbs into the story to help; Herbie defeats the bear and the Redcoats and puts out the fire; Herbie jumps out and is thanked by Lincoln's statue.


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Superboy #85

In Superboy #85, Clark Kent uses a time viewer (just roll with it) to observe the assassination of President Lincoln.  He decides to go back in time to stop the assassination.  But when he goes back in time to stop Booth, he finds that an adult Lex Luthor is hiding out in that time period.  Luthor prevents Superboy from saving the president

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Flash #210

In Flash 210, Barry Allen One uses his Cosmic Treadmill to travel to 2971 to discover that President Lincoln has been assassinated. Don’t worry, as you can see below, he was only faking and then Lincoln is able to kick some Sesessionist Bootie.

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Star Trek

Finally, we have
Star Trek.  Lincoln was a personal hero of James T. Kirk. In 2269, the USS Enterprise encountered an image of Lincoln in orbit of Excalbia, created by the Excalbians to help their understanding of the Human concepts of "good" and "evil." Though obviously an illusion created from Kirk's mind and the Enterprise memory banks, Kirk insisted on greeting Lincoln with full Presidential honors upon his boarding the Enterprise. In the initial conflict forced by the Excalbians, the middle-aged simulacrum of Lincoln was able to hold his own against the forces of "evil", forcing Kahless "the Unforgettable" and Genghis Khan into retreat. The simulated Lincoln recognized a kindred spirit in the re-created image of the Vulcan patriarch, Surak, and sacrificed his "life" in an effort to save his counterpart. After witnessing Lincoln's second "death", Kirk felt he understood something of what Earth had to endure before achieving "final peace". (TOS: "The Savage Curtain")   For those of you with a good eye, will notice that there are paintings depicting portraits of both President Lincoln and Surak were hung in the USS Enterprise-A's dining room in 2293. (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, which also featured Ambassador Gorkon, whose name was an amalgamation of Gorbachev and Lincoln.)  I should also note that many of the lines of dialogue from this Star Trek episode (especially in Lincoln’s impassioned speech) are incorrectly attributed to the real Lincoln.

I wonder what JJ Abrams could do with this. :-)

Here is a clip.


Did I miss anything?  The following items from this article are available at Amazon.com.

5 Comments
Fred Rhodes
2/15/2010 05:14:31 am

Nice job! I ran across your site will trying to locate a SciFi book I read years ago. In it, a time traveler goes back to Lincoln's time and becomes involved in the events surrounding the assassination. However, just as Booth fires, aliens substiute a simulacrum of Lincoln and take the real Lincoln to their planet to rule them. Ring any bells with anyone? Thanks.

Reply
Toby O'B link
9/4/2013 09:58:45 pm

I'm also looking for a book about time travel and Lincoln with lumpish no-neck aliens with one eye shaped like a glittering pizza. At least that's how much I think I remember.

Reply
Carol Ann Frost
7/29/2014 11:10:43 pm

The story you are looking for may be The Lincoln Hunters by Wilson Tucker. The book was first published in 1958 and republished a couple of times since.

Reply
Jeff
11/5/2018 07:54:34 am

Dear Fred - I read that same book and I've also tried to find the title of it so I could order it again but so far have had no luck. Since you first asked this question, any luck in finding out more info? Thanks!

Reply
Sandra Rushlo
8/15/2017 09:45:53 am

Hi! I'm trying to read the digicomic "Gettysburg Distress" but the link doesn't work for me in any browser! Any hints?? Thanks!

Reply



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