Science Fiction Television

SFTV’s History - Introduction

1950s SFTV

• Anthology Series

– Less standardization for narrative, but themed

• Space Opera

– Simplistic characters, big plots, big adventure

• Films Serial

– Mini-Series/Movie of the Week

Towards the ‘60s• FIRST:

– SFTV was self-conscious: advertisers, society standing, attracting juvenile audiences

• 1955 & AFTER:– Direct address for adult

audience news worthy– Tackled issues such as race,

gender, and class

Pioneers:

• Shot on film (MGM studio resources)

• Drew from established talent pool

• Imbedded adult anxieties: Cold War, Space Race, Media and Technological overloads

Anthology1959

• Space Adventure (usually with negative outlook)• Dystopian Futures & Alien Societies • Alien Encounters and Invasions (rarely peaceful)• Time and Dimensional Travel• Gadgets, Inventions, and Innovations• Alternate realities

Pioneers:

• Finding New Land, New Home, New Hope

• Exploration and Adventure• Promises:

– Redemption of Humanity– Hope for Future– Technology as Beneficial NOT

dangerous– Promise that Humans are not Alone ALLIES!

Space Opera

1966

• Space Adventure – aids and heroes

• Dystopian Futures – human Saviors

• Utopian Futures – humans usually are still better at one

thing

• Alien Societies – teachers, symbols, reminders

• Alien Encounters and Invasions – usually ending peacefully

• Time and Dimensional Travel• Gadgets, Inventions, and Innovations

– hardly destructive, rather HELPFUL

• Alternate realities

SFTV’s First Golden Age…

Utilizing inspiration from these pioneers, and the

multitude of stories told in adaptations of films and

novels seen as Mini-Series on the small screen Sci-Fi TV kept interrogating the

human condition.1963

1965

…offspring

Technological Threat

Ordinary People –Extraordinary Circumstances

Alien Invasion

Comedy

Buddy - Cop Drama

Exploring Possibilities:- Supernatural- Fantasy- Conspiracy Thriller- Horror- Crime Drama- Comedy

Secrets and Concealment - 1993

PIONEERS: Paranoia Sci-Fi

Paranoid Investigations of “Reality”• Adventures set in realistic present day

settings • Preventing Feared Dystopian Futures

– Needs Human Saviors

• Events that are categorized as STRANGE in realistic environment

• Time and Dimensional Travel – sometimes through memories only

• Gadgets, Inventions, and Innovations – often destructive and causal in

foreshadowed destruction

• Alternate Realities, Universes

Much of Science Fiction today…

• Free and often inconsistent genre mixing

• Exploring and Experimenting with Narrative Boundaries

– Chronologies, cause and effects chains, linearity, character consistency, in-world creation

• Sense of wonder and previous classical forms of sci-fi are persistent

• Interrogations of Human Nature, History, and Future Trajectories of Humanity Remain Central to the Genre