There’s something arresting about the steady ticking of an old fashioned clock, a finite measure of the seconds slipping by.  So much can happen.  A heart slows to a halt and a life-force shifts beyond the reach of this existence.  Rage builds.  Collusion festers.  The universe freezes and the world tilts as a shocking revelation is laid bare.  The most macabre of nightmare springs to life.  A myriad of ideas that defy common sense and transcend the limits of our reality are spawned.

Stories about elevators that took you to the moon and ramjets that when slung fast enough around the sun, traveled billions of years through time; were always the best fodder for my imagination.  There’s something magical about the idea of those grinding gears and enormous, unnecessarily complex machines.  Maybe it’s the heightened awareness of the improbability of clockwork technology that imbues this unassailable sense of wonder and adventure that some of us never outgrow.

Oddly, I was never familiar with Dr. Who until the new series first began to air. I do remember my mother having mentioned how much she loved the original series. Today, I’m completely hooked and every now and then I get a glimpse of those special stories and concepts that stirred my imagination when I was a child.

Even today, I feel that chill to my skin and my blood hums with the excitement and anticipation every time I encounter something I once only knew to call Clockwork Sci-Fi.  It’s not something that we’ll leave behind so easily, no matter how technologically advanced humankind becomes.  The genre will persist and linger to fuel our wildest imaginings for a very long time.

Oh by the way, if you’re a Trigun fan - I suspect you will agree that nothing screams steampunk like the Gung Ho Guns.