ABSTRACT
What relevance could fantasy worlds of space battles and alien encounters carry for ‘real world’ political questions and guiding themes of international relations in the twenty-first century? This chapter provides a backdrop of the links between imaginative worlds of science fiction and the ‘real world’ topography of geopolitics. Next, a media survey of popular ‘Sci-Fi’ television in recent years (2004-2006) explores intersections with themes central to the emerging politics of outer space (space militarization and privatization) and the broader study of international politics (specifically questions of empire and identity).
