ABSTRACT
In science fiction film, sound information can be cautiously divided between two poles. At one level, there is the allegedly objective exterior soundscape of the presented environment; and on another, there is the subjective interior sonic fields of our perception. Science fiction's imagination of disaster can threaten the existence of individuals, the planet, even the universe itself. Whilst a bond exists in all genres, in science fiction, the fantastic nature of worlds, characters and situations increases the responsibility of sound for their necessary authentication. As Spiegel has noted, the 'cognitive estrangement' which critic Suvin identifies as a characteristic of the science fiction genre is not usually manifested in its spaceships, aliens and off-world colonies. Whilst unfamiliar elements, the puzzling and the potentially dangerous within a narrative dynamic are not limited to science fiction; this genre, as with horror, provides a license for an exponential exaggeration of their scale and scope.
