I've recently become more interested in steampunk culture and fashion and I'm thinking of making up my first steampunk outfit and going to my first comic book convention this summer. For those of you who don't know steampunk is sort of Victorian-era science fiction like the works of H.G. Wells and Jules Verne though the term steampunk wasn't invented until the 1980's. It can also be considered an alternate history where advanced technology was created much earlier but powered by steam or coal. There is also a great emphasis on adventure, science and the romanticism of flight all three of which are common threads in steampunk.
I was wondering though if people had other good examples of steampunk in literature, TV and movies.
The original Wild Wild West television program is a prime example of steampunk, was was the Will Smith movie remake:
Doc Brown's time traveling hover-train from the end of Back to the Future 3 is also a good example of steampunk engineering:
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is another good example of steampunk with the Victorian fashion and anachronistic technology:
Brendan Fraser's character from the Mummy movies fits the steampunk ideal of adventurer though the movies are set near the end or even after the more common steampunk era (lets not forget about the airship in the second one):
A great television show I enjoyed when I was a teenager was the Adventures of Brisco County Jr. which looking back had some steampunk elements. It seemed like a western but it also dealt with time travelers, weird orbs from the future and anachronistic technology.
After Brisco County Jr. went off the air there was another similar show, a wild west show with advanced technology featuring Richard Dean Anderson after MacGuyver but before Stargate SG-1 called Legend. Sadly (or luckily?) it didn't last.
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Then there's Firefly, while not technically steampunk it does have steampunk elements with anachronistic technology and a return to a simpler time of life exemplified by the way they speak, their clothing and some of their traditions and values. Plus space cowboys. Nuff said:
I'd even call the new Sherlock Holmes movies featuring Robert Downey Jr. as being steampunk with the storylines featuring advanced technology and weaponry.
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