Lucky Starr and The Rings of Saturn - Themes

Themes

Lucky Starr and the Rings of Saturn was written between December 1957 and February 1958, in the immediate aftermath of the launch of Sputnik I by the Soviet Union, and Asimov comments thereon in chapter 8, by having Starr talk about the superiority of Sirian robots:

"These robots are a human achievement. The humans that did the achieving are Sirians, yes, but they are human beings, too, and all other humans can share pride in the achievement. If we fear the results of their achievement, let's match it ourselves, or more than match it. But there's no use denying them the worth of their accomplishment".

Twice in the Lucky Starr series, in Lucky Starr and the Pirates of the Asteroids and Rings of Saturn, Earth finds itself on the brink of war with the Sirians as the result of Sirian aggression. On both occasions, Starr uses his formidable intellect to avert the war, on grounds that a true war would mean ruin to both worlds. Again the analogy to the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union is obvious.

Rings of Saturn is the only novel in the series in which the Sirians themselves appear as characters, as opposed to Sirian robots or Earthmen working for the Sirians. In chapter 10, a Sirian character contrasts his own society with that of Earth:

"We have kept our descent pure; we have not allowed the weaklings in, or those with poor genes. We have weeded out the unfit from among ourselves so that we are now a pure race of the strong, the fit, and the healthy, while Earth remains a conglomerate of the diseased and deformed . . . .

"To the Outer Worlds, Councilman Starr, Earth is a terrible menace, a bomb of sub-humanity, ready to explode and contaminate the clean Galaxy. We don't want that to happen; we can't allow it to happen. It's what we're fighting for: a clean human race, composed of the fit."

Starr, speaking for Asimov, retorts:

"Composed of those you consider fit. But fitness comes in all shapes and forms. The great men of Earth have come from the tall and the short, from all manner of head shapes, skin colors, and languages. Variety is our salvation and the salvation of all mankind".