Further, it is a story full of insights on gender, and we will see that these insights relate to the fundamental message of Abolition of Man ( AoM). Lewis’s Trilogy is thus more than merely entertaining Sci-Fi: “this is a tall story about devilry, though it has behind it a serious point which I have tried to make in Abolition of Man” Lewis states in the preface to THS. In the series, the sinless, unfallen planets of Malacandra and Perelandra endure the arrival of the characters Weston and Ransom from Earth (the Silent Planet), and their fallen ways and proffered temptations (particularly from Weston). The trilogy is set in a series of planetary explorations: first to the masculine-themed Mars (“Malacandra”) in Out of the Silent Planet ( OSP) then to the feminine Venus (”Perelandra”) in Perelandra ( PER), with the finale back on Earth (“Thulcandra” or the Silent Planet) in That Hideous Strength ( THS). Lewis’s ill-named Space Trilogy (‘ill-named’ for reasons that will soon be made apparent) is no exception in this sense. Whether it be the swashbuckling defense of humanity in Captain Kirk or the divide between reason and emotion of a Commander Spock or Data, space seems to (rather oddly) bring out the humanity in its explorers. All good sci-fi series have at their heart some unique observation about man and his place in the cosmos.
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