The Geek canon is a canon of books, art, films, television series, games, electronic gadgets, internet sites, or other miscellanea, which have been influential in the shaping of geek culture. They are similar to the more general Western canon in that they help shape the form of thought, conversation, and new creations. A passing knowledge of these works can greatly enrich the experience of those conversing with members of the culture and appreciating new works. Film is a term that encompasses motion pictures as individual projects, as well as the field in general. ... A television program is the content of television broadcasting. ... Look up geek in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For other uses, see Culture (disambiguation). ... The Western canon is a canon of books and art (and specifically one with very loose boundaries) that has allegedly been highly influential in shaping Western culture. ...

It should be noted that by its very nature, the selection of canon is an imprecise endeavor, and varies significantly between communities and subcultures. However, there are a number of works—particularly within books—which can confidently be said to be geek canon.

Overview

The current geek canon is a composite moving target. As generations shift, some works that seemed classics before fade into irrelevance, while others maintain their popularity years after publication. Of the older canon, there are many works which are highly influential, but which might not be very beneficial for new readers to pursue. Usually this is because the ideas of that work have been adapted into most other works. E. E. Smith's Lensman series is a debatable example of this. Smith's work has been highly influential within the science fiction genre. For literature fans, it can be entertaining to see where this comes from, and the relatively quaint and customarily sexist 1930s-styled language and attitudes Smith's characters adopt. However, at this point it is largely a literary interest, and Smith's notable concepts have been so widely adopted over the last fifty years that much of their uniqueness has been lost. Still, there have also been some notable, published attempts at chronicling specific sections of what might be considered geek canon. Science fiction, notably, has had a few encyclopedias compiled, covering the scope of science fiction through time and its influences. Gray Lensman in Astounding Oct. ... The Lensman series is a serial science fiction space opera by E. E. Smith. ... Look up genre in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The 1930s (years from 1930-1939) were described as an abrupt shift to more radical and conservative lifestyles, as countries were struggling to find a solution to the Great Depression, also known in Europe as the World Depression. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... Brockhaus Konversations-Lexikon, 1902 An encyclopedia, encyclopaedia or (traditionally) encyclopædia,[1] is a comprehensive written compendium that contains information on all branches of knowledge or a particular branch of knowledge. ...

Geek canon can contain "current" items as well. Television shows, as they can run for years, become part of the culture while still being in production. Items like this usually become part of the cultural dialog, where sometimes the show itself is a two-way participate. Star Trek has usually been such a show, with Voyager and Enterprise being strong exceptions. Other examples include the action-packed cerebral fantasy drama Farscape, Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the quickly-canceled Firefly. The current Star Trek franchise logo Star Trek is an epic American science fiction franchise. ... The starship Voyager (NCC-74656), an Intrepid-class starship. ... The starship Enterprise (NX-01) Star Trek: Enterprise is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe. ... Farscape (1999 – 2003) is a science fiction television series, featuring a present-day astronaut who accidentally travels through a wormhole to a distant part of the galaxy. ... Joss Hill Whedon (born Joseph Hill Whedon on June 23, 1964 in New York) is an American writer, director, executive producer, and creator of the well-known television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly. ... Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a critically acclaimed American cult television series that aired from March 10, 1997, until May 20, 2003. ... Firefly is a cult American science fiction television series that premiered in the United States and Canada on September 20, 2002. ...

Geek canon includes relatively few particular pieces of art, and leans instead towards general art styles or artists. Stan Lee is one artist often recognized in geek canon, for those geeks immersed in comic books. Another artist familiar to fantasy fans is Alan Lee, whose skilled illustrations can be found in several editions of The Lord of the Rings and who was hired as a conceptual designer on Peter Jackson's film rendition of those books. Stan Lee at the 1973 San Diego comic con Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber on December 28, 1922, New York, New York) is an American writer, editor, Chairman Emeritus of Marvel Comics, and memoirist, who — with several artist co-creators, especially Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko — introduced complex, naturalistic... A comic book is a magazine or book containing the art form of comics. ... Alan Lee 2003 in (New Zealand) Alan Lee (born August 20, 1947) is an English book illustrator and movie conceptual designer. ... This article is about the novel by J. R. R. Tolkien. ... Peter Jackson CNZM (born October 31, 1961) is a three-time Academy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA winning New Zealand filmmaker best known as the director of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, which he, along with his long time partner, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens adapted from the novels...

Being a relatively modern culture, geek canon tends to be more inclusive than the tradtional Western canon of modern art styles such as movies and electronic gaming. Books and art still form a strong base, but the stereotypical prejudice in academia against such modern forms as art is very rarely seen within geek culture.

Works which are commonly included in the canon include works of fiction such as poetry (including epic poetry), music, drama, literature from many different Western (and more recently non-Western) cultures, and novels. Many non-fiction works are also listed, primarily from the areas of religion, science, philosophy, economics, politics, and history. The Chinese poem Quatrain on Heavenly Mountain by Emperor Gaozong (Song Dynasty) Poetry (from the Greek , poiesis, making or creating) is a form of art in which language is used for its aesthetic qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its ostensible meaning. ... The epic is a broadly defined genre of poetry, and one of the major forms of narrative literature. ... Part of a scientific laboratory at the University of Cologne. ... Socrates (central bare-chested figure) about to drink hemlock as mandated by the court. ... Face-to-face trading interactions on the New York Stock Exchange trading floor Economics is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of commodities. ... Politics is the process by which groups make decisions. ... History studies the past in human terms. ...

Books

Science fiction settings and topics are generally well-respected among geeks. Some of the most famous include cyberpunk novels such as Neuromancer by William Gibson and Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, and books about futuristic topics like space exploration and expansion, such as the Foundation Series by Isaac Asimov, Ringworld by Larry Niven and the Dune series by Frank Herbert. A common theme throughout geek canon literature is the use of knowledge and intelligence to overcome obstacles and make the world a better, or at least more interesting, place to live. Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... Berlins Sony Center in Potsdamer Platz reflects the global reach of a Japanese corporation. ... Neuromancer by William Gibson is the most famous early cyberpunk novel and won the so-called science-fiction triple crown (the Nebula Award, the Philip K. Dick Memorial Award, and the Hugo Award) after being published in 1984. ... William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948, Conway, South Carolina) is an American-born science fiction author resident in Canada since 1968. ... Snow Crash is a science fiction novel written by Neal Stephenson and published in 1992. ... Neal Town Stephenson (born October 31, 1959) is an American writer, known primarily for his science fiction works in the postcyberpunk genre with a penchant for explorations of society, mathematics, currency, and the history of science. ... Astronaut Buzz Aldrin on the surface of the Moon. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Dr. Isaac Asimov (c. ... Ringworld is a Hugo and Nebula award-winning 1970 science fiction novel by Larry Niven, set in his Known Space universe. ... Laurence van Cott Niven (born April 30, 1938) is a US science fiction author. ... Dune is a science fiction novel written by Frank Herbert and published in 1965. ... Frank Patrick Herbert (October 8, 1920 – February 11, 1986) was a critically acclaimed and commercially successful American science fiction author. ...

Fantasy literature is also often popular among geeks, the primary example being The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. The reason for this popularity is that Tolkien asserts a new way of thinking world-creation in the concept known as sub-creation. Fantasy literature is fantasy in written form. ... This article is about the novel by J. R. R. Tolkien. ... Tolkien redirects here. ... A rendered conworld, as would be seen from space by an observer. ...

Humorous works popular among geeks include the science-fiction based The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Terry Pratchett's fantasy parody, the Discworld series. The cover of the first novel in the Hitchhikers series, from a late 1990s printing. ... // This article is about the novels. ...

The non-fiction book Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution by Steven Levy is unusual in that it is both a part of the canon and a work which describes geek culture and other elements of the canon. Twenty years after being first published, it is still in print. Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution (ISBN 0385191952) is a book by Steven Levy about the hacker culture. ... Steven Levy is an American journalist who has written several books on computers, technology, cryptography, the Internet, cyber security and privacy. ...

The book The Hacker's Dictionary was the book of hacker slang printed by a publisher. It was the compilation of several hackers dictionaries from MIT, Stanford, and DECUS. The current incarnation is the Jargon File. The Jargon File is a glossary of hacker slang. ... The Jargon File is a glossary of hacker slang. ...

Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, by Douglas Hofstadter, is a book on the philosophy of incompleteness, a grand tour of ideas difficult to categorise which is also a work of the canon. GEB cover Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (commonly GEB) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Douglas Hofstadter, published in 1979 by Basic Books. ... Douglas Richard Hofstadter (born February 15, 1945) is an American academic. ... The interior of the Pantheon in the 18th century, painted by Giovanni Paolo Panini In the 18th century, the Grand Tour was a kind of education for wealthy British noblemen, wherein the primary educational value was exposure to the cultured artifacts of antiquity and the Renaissance as well as the...

Art

M.C. Escher's paradoxical art is very popular among geeks. H. R. Giger's style of art has also been influential. Hand with Reflecting Sphere (Self-Portrait in Spherical Mirror), 1935. ... Birth machine Hans Ruedi Giger (IPA: ) (born at Chur, Grisons canton, February 5, 1940) is a Swiss painter best known for his design work on the film Alien. ...

Music

Some of the well known artist in geek rock include They Might Be Giants, Jonathan Coulton, and Liam Lynch They Might Be Giants (commonly abbreviated to TMBG) is an American alternative rock duo consisting of John Linnell and John Flansburgh, collectively known as the two Johns or John and John. Known for their experimental pop music, they have been popular on college campuses and earned a reputation for intellectual... Jonathan Coulton is an esoteric folk rock singer. ... Liam Lynch Liam Lynch (born September 5, 1970) is a musician, puppeteer, and director. ...

Film

Canon films include 2001: A Space Odyssey, "Logan's Run, Sneakers, Office Space, the Star Wars and Matrix series, Tron, Blade Runner, Hackers and WarGames. Logans Run is a novel by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson, published in 1967 describing a dystopian future society in which the population is kept young by euthanizing everyone who reaches a certain age. ... Sneakers is a 1992 heist film directed by Phil Alden Robinson (Field of Dreams), written by Robinson, Walter Parkes and Lawrence Lasker, and starring Robert Redford, Dan Aykroyd, Ben Kingsley, Mary McDonnell, River Phoenix, Sidney Poitier, and David Strathairn. ... Office Space is a 1999 comedy film written and directed by Mike Judge. ... This article is about the series. ... The Matrix series consists primarily of three films, The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. ... Tron is a 1982 Walt Disney Productions science fiction movie starring Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn (and Clu), Bruce Boxleitner as Alan Bradley (and Tron), Cindy Morgan as Lora (and Yori)and Dan Shor as Ram. ... Blade Runner is an influential 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott from a screenplay written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, loosely based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick. ... Hackers is a 1995 film that follows the misfortunes of the young hackers Dade Murphy (Crash Override/Zero Cool, played by Jonny Lee Miller), Kate Libby (Acid Burn, played by Angelina Jolie) and their friends. ... This article is about the 1983 US movie. ...

Television

Geek canon television shows include the television series Star Trek (particularly the original series), Babylon 5, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", Firefly, Farscape, and Doctor Who. The current Star Trek franchise logo Star Trek is an epic American science fiction franchise. ... Babylon 5 is an epic American science fiction television series created, produced, and largely written by J. Michael Straczynski. ... Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a critically acclaimed American cult television series that aired from March 10, 1997, until May 20, 2003. ... Firefly is a cult American science fiction television series that premiered in the United States and Canada on September 20, 2002. ... Farscape (1999 – 2003) is a science fiction television series, featuring a present-day astronaut who accidentally travels through a wormhole to a distant part of the galaxy. ... Doctor Who is a long-running British science fiction television programme (and 1996 television movie) produced by the BBC about the adventures of a mysterious time-traveller known as The Doctor, who explores time and space with his companions, solving problems and righting wrongs. ...

American animated shows not directed at all age groups such as The Simpsons, Family Guy, and Futurama could all possibly be considered geek canon, although these are fairly popular in general. More recently, Adult Swim on the Cartoon Network has made some notable original productions that have garnered the attention of some geeks. Simpsons redirects here. ... Family Guy is an American animated television series about a nuclear family in the suburb of Quahog (IPA or ), Rhode Island. ... Futurama is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening (creator of The Simpsons) and David X. Cohen for the Fox Network. ... The Adult Swim logo The Parental Advisory warning that appears every hour before and during each showing of the Adult Swim block. ...

Anime became popular among geeks starting in the 1980s with seminal titles such as Star Blazers and Robotech. Other, more recent titles such as Cowboy Bebop and Neon Genesis Evangelion can also be considered geek canon. The main cast of the anime Cowboy Bebop (1998) (L to R: Spike Spiegel, Jet Black, Ed Tivrusky, Faye Valentine, and Ein the dog) For the oleo-resin, see Animé (oleo-resin). ... 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... Space Battleship Yamato (or, alternately, Space Cruiser Yamato) is the English title for the Japanese science fiction anime series 宇宙戦艦ヤマト, created by Leiji Matsumoto. ... Robotech is a popular science fiction and anime franchise that was launched by an 85-episode animated television series about three successive extraterrestrial invasions of Earth. ... Cowboy Bebop ) is a Japanese anime series created by Sunrise and directed by Shinichiro Watanabe, later continued onto a motion picture and manga series. ... Original run October 4, 1995 – March 27, 1996 No. ...

Role-playing games

Interest in pen & paper roleplaying games has long been a subculture within geeks. Dungeons and Dragons is considered the classic template for such games, with other contenders such as Shadowrun and White Wolf's World of Darkness vying for attention. This article is about traditional role-playing games. ... The original Dungeons & Dragons set Dungeons & Dragons (abbreviated as D&D or DnD) is a fantasy role-playing game (RPG) published by Gary Gygax and David Arneson in January 1974. ... Shadowrun is a cyberpunk-urban fantasy cross-genre role-playing game, set in the years 2050, 2053, 2060 or 2070 (depending on the game edition) following a great cataclysm that has brought use of magic back to the world, just as it begins to embrace the marvels (and dangers) of... The World of Darkness (or WoD) is the name given to two distinct fictional universes developed by White Wolf Game Studio. ...

Internet Sites

By it's very nature, the world wide web attracts geeks in general. To be a part of the Geek Canon, though, a site needs to be of a specialized nature. For example most of the now famous sites such as Google, Flickr, YouTube (now a Google subsidiary), Google Earth (once known as Keyhole) and Myspace were the exclusive territory of geeks. It is ironic that most geeks would not be caught spending much time on such sites now as they have become so popular. To be a part of the Geek Canon a site must be new, and very 'niche' or specialized. Perhaps this could be summed up with the following explanation: A candidate for the Geek Canon would be a site like Klingonsearch.com (no link as this is only as an example) - a dedicated Klingon Search engine, of interest mainlly to geek fans of Star Trek. A mainstream Star Trek site, that is contributed to by hundreds, if not thousands of fans could never be part of the true Geek Canon; i.e. it has to be small and specialized. Google, Inc. ... Flickr is a photo sharing website and web services suite, and an online community platform, which is generally considered an early example of a Web 2. ... YouTube is a popular free video sharing web site which lets users upload, view, and share video clips. ... Google Earth is a free-of-charge, downloadable virtual globe program. ... MySpace is a social networking website offering an interactive, user-submitted network of friends, personal profiles, blogs, groups, photos, music, and videos. ... The current Star Trek franchise logo Star Trek is an epic American science fiction franchise. ...

Computer games

Computer games usually qualify by being the first of a genre, early in a phase of computing history, or by being the seeds of a community of players. Games which meet this classification include Civilization, Elite, Netrek, NetHack, Zork, Ultima, Final Fantasy, Bard's Tale II, Myst, and the Space Quest series. Civilization, or Sid Meiers Civilization (which is the games official name), is a turn-based strategy game created by Sid Meier for Microprose in 1991. ... Elite is a seminal space trading computer game, originally published by Acornsoft in 1984 for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron computers and subsequently ported to many others. ... Netrek is a free to play open source software cross platform multiplayer hybrid multi-directional shooter and real time strategy game for up to 16 players. ... NetHack is a single-player roguelike computer game originally released in 1987. ... Zork universe Zork games Zork Anthology Zork trilogy Zork I   Zork II   Zork III Beyond Zork   Zork Zero   Planetfall Enchanter trilogy Enchanter   Sorcerer   Spellbreaker Other games Wishbringer   Return to Zork Zork: Nemesis   Zork Grand Inquisitor Zork: The Undiscovered Underground Topics in Zork Encyclopedia Frobozzica Characters   Kings   Creatures Timeline   Magic   Calendar... It has been suggested that Mongbat (Ultima) be merged into this article or section. ... For the first installment in the series, see Final Fantasy (video game). ... The Bards Tale II: The Destiny Knight is 1987 computer game. ... Myst (or MYST) is a graphic adventure computer game designed and directed by the brothers Robyn and Rand Miller. ... Space Quest is a series of six science-fiction computer games that follow the adventures of a hapless janitor named Roger Wilco, as he campaigns through the galaxy for truth, justice and really clean floors. Initially created for Sierra On-Line by Mark Crowe and Scott Murphy (who called themselves...

First-person shooters

First-person shooter (FPS) computer games that meet this classification include Half-Life, Doom, Quake, and Halo. The replayability of many of these games was quite high, as each sprouted very large mod communities devoted to customizing and extending the games. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Half-Life For a quantity subject to exponential decay, the half-life is the time required for the quantity to fall to half of its initial value. ... Doom (or DOOM)[1] is a 1993 computer game by id Software that is among the landmark titles in the first-person shooter genre. ... Zombies attacking the player. ... Master Chief emerges from smoke and rubble that litters an African plain in Halo 3. ... 2004 Banshee car modification for Grand Theft Auto: Vice City - replacement of original Banshee. ...

John Romero's Daikatana is a peculiar consideration for geek canon. The game is sometimes referred to as the worst FPS of all time. It was developed amid a thriving game community, rather than having a community erupt around it. It received considerable recognition due to the creation of Ion Storm (later ION Storm, Dallas) by John Romero, which was theoretically made to allow him a free hand in creating games. After daring advertisements, public bravado, perhaps the most dramatic development history of any game to that point, and a great deal of hype, the game received underwhelming critical reviews and a pointed backlash. A recent competitor for the most-infamous title is Duke Nukem Forever, the butt of perpetual vaporware jokes. Alfonso John Romero (born October 28, 1967) is a well-known game designer, programmer, and developer in the video game industry. ... For the fictional type of sword, see Daikatana (sword). ... A solar wind is a stream of particles (mostly high-energy protons ~ 500 keV) which are ejected from the upper atmosphere of a star (in the case of a star other than the Earths Sun, it may be called a stellar wind instead). ... Duke Nukem Forever (DNF) is a yet-to-be-released first-person shooter video game being developed by 3D Realms, and is the next game in the popular Duke Nukem series. ... Vaporware is software or hardware which is announced by a developer well in advance of release, but which then fails to emerge, either with or without a protracted development cycle. ...