Songfacts®:

• This ode to sci-fi is a track from Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino which is an album set on a moon-based luxury resort. Asked by Pitchfork what is it about the sci-fi genre that appeals to him, Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner replied:
  
  "Science fiction creates these other worlds within which we can explore our own, and I wanted to write something about that idea. So, through reading sci-fi books and watching films like Fassbinder's World on a Wire, I began to access that sort of vocabulary - then suddenly we're talking about virtual reality moon casino experiences."
• Of the album's space theme, Turner told BBC Radio 1's Annie Mac:
  
  "I think it started with the idea of science fiction and how the worlds that are often created in it, the idea of space travel or time travel or whatever it might be, is quite often, by my estimations, used to put out there an idea about the world we're living in. I think firstly I became interested in that idea, and that's what the song 'Science Fiction' explores a little bit.
  
  And then I ended up I suppose making a world of my own after that. And once I'd opened up this sort of box of language related to science fiction, I couldn't help myself. There's a reference to a rocket or something or other every 20 seconds. But I'm only human."
• I want to make a simple point about peace and love
  But in a sexy way where it's not obvious
  
  Mojo asked Alex Turner if the above lyric was about the dilemma of every pop writer who yearns to say something 'meaningful.' He replied: "Yeah, it's not a disclaimer, but I think you have to recognize the vanity of that. It was the only way I could go there. Others are capable of going there in different ways."
• Arctic Monkeys performed the song live for the first on September 7, 2018 during their gig at the Manchester Arena.