A man becomes a fly ... a blob consumes a building . . . space creatures invade the earth. Such fantastic doings have delighted millions of movie fans for years. But how has the genre developed and changed since the days of Melies and Dr. Caligari? Who are the seminal writers, directors, and cameramen who have created today's SF film? FUTURE TENSE anticipates every question that a lover of cinematic science fiction could want to ask. Technical mastery and special effects, the differences between written science fiction and filmed science fiction, history and lore of the genre — all are covered here along with plot summaries and analyses of the greatest and most notorious films, among them The Thing, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and The Incredible Shrinking Man.