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When J.R.R. Tolkien penned his epic masterpiece "The Lord of the Rings," he probably never envisioned the path that fantasy, and even science-fiction, would take.

Tolkien?s Middle Earth was a self-contained world that expanded with the turning of every page. C.S. Lewis?s "Chronicle of Narnia" would follow in a similar, yet less expansive path. It would take until the 1960s for science-fiction to catch up, with Frank Herbert?s "Dune" matching Tolkien?s ambition and depth.

Still, the title of Master World Builder has to go to Tolkien.

In my Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature course, we discuss the concept of "world building" at length. Tolkien?s Middle Earth has crossed into multiple formats, including movies, video games, animated films, and even from inspiring the role playing game phenomenon. The modern entertainment industry, in print and popular media, has seen its share of noteworthy worlds, or in some cases, universes, that have followed a similar evolutionary path. While Tolkien?s Middle Earth may be the granddaddy of them all, these other worlds deserve mention, for reasons good and bad.

The Star Trek universe: For a television series that didn?t last its first season without cancellation, the Star Trek franchise has been an unstoppable pop culture machine for the better part of five decades. Eleven feature films, five television series (six if you count the animated one), hundreds of novels, a handful of video games, and countless conventions later, it is safe to say that Star Trek has boldly gone where no one, not even Tolkien, had gone before.

The Star Wars universe: The Star Wars universe is to Generation X what Star Trek is to baby boomers. It is a culture-defining phenomenon.

While no amount of therapy can make a person forget the made-for-television Ewok movies or the ultra-annoying Jar Jar Binks, Star Wars merchandise still populates the shelves of toy stores year round. Not a year goes by that a three-foot tall Darth Vader doesn?t grace my door on Halloween, asking for candy.

The Buffyverse: "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" was a failed movie that became a hit television series, a rare feat indeed. Whedon?s sense of humor and style have shown some staying power, and Buffy?s universe expanded into the spinoff series "Angel."

Comic books, adolescent novels and video games have followed.

I doubt that the Buffy phenomenon can stand the test of time that Star Trek, Star Wars and Middle Earth have. Whedon has inspired a cult like following, but this relatively small cadre of fans has not helped him strike gold with another breakout hit ? yet.

The Planet of the Apes universe: Five feature films, a television series, an animated series, comic books, trading card ? you name it. If you grew up in the 1970s, the world was going ape.

Sadly, Tim Burton?s reimagining was a failure, and this series remains a nostalgic part of the past ? not a current player. I fear that Planet of the Apes may forever be fixed in time: with its civil rights and anti-Vietnam war themes, it may not translate well to today?s viewers.

The Dune universe: Occasionally, I meet a person who has actually read all of the Dune novels. But far more often, I get complaints that readers simply could not get past the third or even the second novel.

The fourth book, "God Emperor of Dune," leaps 1,500 years into the future, and the world just gets further removed from the story of Paul Atreides which drives the first two books. The 1984 film adaptation is laughably awful, and a pair of SciFi Channel miniseries that covered the first three books were good but not great.

Frank Herbert?s death ended the Dune series at six books. The franchise was unattended for a number of years before Herbert?s son Brian and co-writer Kevin J. Anderson expanded the Dune universe by eight books. But Dune purists know that quantity does not equal quality. Dune is one series where the old adage ?less is more? may apply.

The Terminator universe: Has it really been almost 25 years since Arnold Schwarzenegger chased Linda Hamilton around the streets of Los Angeles? Time sure flies when deadly cyborgs are chasing you.

Sadly, the growth of this world has been pretty slow; the upcoming release of "Terminator: Salvation" will make four films in a quarter century.

Viewers didn?t embrace the third film in the series, ?Terminator: Rise of the Machines,? like they did its predecessors. The expansion of this universe into television has been a struggle. Ratings for the series are quite poor, and the series, predictably, lacks the quality of the films on which it is based.

Homework

"Dune," "Dune Messiah" and "Children of Dune" by Frank Herbert. If you can make it through all three of them, that is.

Dan Compora is an associate professor at the University of Toledo, and contributes SciFi 101 twice monthly for Airlock Alpha. He can be reached at drdan@airlockalpha.com.