Referential Media

A collection of things that are related to Wandering Star's larger vision. These are not law, just sources of inspiration.

The following list is for printed media. This can also include authors and their bodies of work.

• H.P. Lovecraft - The Call of Cthulhu, The Thing On the Doorstep, The Dreams in the Witch House, and Other Weird stories, The Cthulhu Mythos (1924-1941) - An American author who achieved posthumous fame through his works of horror fiction. He was virtually unknown and published only in pulp magazines before he died in poverty, but he is now regarded as one of the most significant 20th-century authors in his genre. Most of his work is public domain, and can be read on Wikisource.

• Cobra (1978-1984) - A Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Buichi Terasawa. Set in the far future, the series tells the story of Cobra, who lives an adventurous life until his enemies begin to hunt him down. Cobra surgically alters his face and erases his own memory to hide from his foes and have a normal life. Eventually, he regains his memories and reunites with his former partner Lady Armaroid. Publications for manga, anime and other media have compared the series to Star Wars and Barbarella, and the main character's attitude to James Bond.
  • Cobra is also host to an extensive series of anime and OVA adaptations, and even a couple of video games.
• Outlaw Star (1996-99) - A seinen manga series written and illustrated by Takehiko Itō and his affiliated Morning Star Studio. The plot follows protagonist Gene Starwind and his motley crew of an inherited ship dubbed the Outlaw Star, as they search for a legendary, outer space treasure trove called the “Galactic Leyline”.
  • Outlaw Star had a 26 episode Anime adaptation in 1998.

The following list is for music, either singles, or albums.

The following lists are for movies, films, short movies, cartoons, or anime.

• Aliens (Franchise) - A science-fiction horror franchise centred on a film series that depicts Warrant Officer Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) and her battles with an extraterrestrial lifeform, commonly referred to as “the Alien” or “Xenomorph”. Produced by 20th Century Fox, the series began with Alien (1979), directed by Ridley Scott. It was followed by three sequels, released in 1986, 1992 and 1997. A prequel series directed by Scott is in development, beginning with the 2012 release of Prometheus, and continuing with the 2017 Alien: Covenant.
• Blade Runner (1982) - An American neo-noir science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott. It is an adaptation of 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick. The film depicts a dystopian Los Angeles in which genetically engineered replicants, which are visually indistinguishable from adult humans, are manufactured by the powerful Tyrell Corporation. The use of replicants on Earth is banned. Those who defy the ban are hunted down and killed (“retired”) by special police operatives known as “Blade Runners”.
• Fifth Element, The (1997) - An English-language French science fiction action film directed and co-written by Luc Besson. The film's central plot involves the survival of planet Earth, which becomes the responsibility of Korben Dallas (Bruce Willis), a taxicab driver and former special forces major, after a young woman (Milla Jovovich) falls into his cab. Dallas joins forces with her to recover four mystical stones essential for the defence of Earth against an impending attack.
• Mad Max (1979) - An Australian dystopian action film directed by George Miller, produced by Byron Kennedy, and starring Mel Gibson as “Mad” Max Rockatansky. The film presents a tale of societal collapse, murder, and vengeance set in a future Australia, in which a vengeful policeman becomes embroiled in a feud with a vicious motorcycle gang. Principal photography took place in and around Melbourne, Australia, and lasted six weeks. The film became the first in a series, giving rise to the sequels Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981), Beyond Thunderdome (1985), and Fury Road (2015).

• Firefly (2002) - An American space western drama television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon. The series is set in the year 2517, after the arrival of humans in a new star system and follows the adventures of the renegade crew of Serenity, a “Firefly-class” spaceship. The ensemble cast portrays the nine characters who live on Serenity.

• Cowboy Bebop (1998) - A television series animated by Sunrise. The twenty-six episodes (“sessions”) of the series are set in the year 2071, and follow the lives of a bounty hunter crew travelling on the Bebop (their spaceship). Cowboy Bebop explores philosophical concepts including existentialism, existential ennui, and loneliness - all accompanied by a Yoko Kanno soundtrack.
• Space Dandy (2014) - A science fiction comedy anime series produced by Studio Bones. The series follows the misadventures of Dandy, an alien hunter who is “a dandy guy in space”, in search for undiscovered and rare aliens with his robot assistant QT and his feline-like friend named Meow.
• Vision of Escaflowne, The (1996) - A 26-episode Japanese anime television series produced by Sunrise Studios and directed by Kazuki Akane. The series focuses on the heroine, Hitomi Kanzaki, and her adventures after she is transported to the world of Gaea, a mysterious planet where she can see Earth and its moon in the sky.

The following lists are for computer, video games, tabletop games, visual novels, or other interactive experiences.

• Earth Defence Force (Franchise) - A series of third-person shooter video games. The series is published by the Japanese company D3 Publisher as part of the Simple series, and developed primarily by Sandlot Games. The player assumes the role of an EDF soldier during an over-the-top alien invasion in each of the games. Primarily a console series, the latest release Earth Defence Force 4.1: Shadow of New Despair bucked the trend, and is available on PC.
• Hotline Miami (2012) and Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number (2015) - A pair of top-down shooter video games by Jonatan Söderström and Dennis Wedin, collectively known as Dennaton Games. The game was published by Devolver Digital. Set in 1989 Miami, the plot consists of two protagonists, Jacket and Biker, who have been receiving phone calls instructing them to commit massacres against the local Russian Mafia. The games blend top-down perspective with stealth, extreme violence and surreal storytelling, along with a soundtrack and visuals influenced by 1980s culture. The second instalment acts as both the sequel and prequel, showing the background and aftermath of the first game.
• Overwatch (2016) - A team-based multiplayer first-person shooter video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment. Essentially a hero-based shooter, Overwatch assigns players into two teams of six, with each player selecting one of 24 pre-defined hero characters with unique movement, attributes, personalities, and abilities whose roles are divided into four categories: Offense, Defense, Tank, and Support. Players on a team work together to secure and defend control points on a map and/or escort a payload across the map in a limited amount of time.

The following list is for artists or pieces of artwork. For artwork by members of the community and more, check out the Creativity Forum.

• Roger Dean (b.1944) - An English artist, designer, and publisher. He is best known for his work on posters and album covers for musicians. The covers often feature exotic, fantasy landscapes. The artists for whom he did the most art are English rock bands such as Yes and Asia. His work has sold more than sixty million copies worldwide.
• H.R. Giger (b.1940 - d.2014) - A Swiss surrealist painter, whose style was adapted for many forms of media, including record-albums, furniture and tattoo-art. Best known for airbrush images of humans and machines linked together in a cold 'biomechanical' relationship. Later he abandoned airbrush work for pastels, markers, or ink. He was part of the special effects team that won an Academy Award for design work on the film Alien.
• Jean “Mœbius” Giraud (b.1938 - d.2012) - A French artist, cartoonist and writer who worked in the Franco-Belgian bandes dessinées tradition. Giraud garnered worldwide acclaim predominantly under the pseudonym Mœbius and to a lesser extent Gir, which he used for the Blueberry series and his paintings. Mœbius also contributed storyboards and concept designs to numerous science fiction and fantasy films, such as Alien, Tron, The Fifth Element and The Abyss.
• Syd Mead (b.1933) - An American “visual futurist”, industrial designer and a neofuturistic concept artist. He is best known for his designs for science-fiction films such as Blade Runner, Aliens and Tron. Of his work, Mead was once moved to comment: “I've called science fiction 'reality ahead of schedule.'”
• Simon Stålenhag (b.19??) - A Swedish Neo-Futurist artist, the blending of everyday life in 70s Sweden with highly advanced technology. The contrasting elements of his paintings create a strange, anachronistic, and at times uncanny portrayal of the world. He has a gallery website, and a tumblr.