TV page of ULTIMATE SCIENCE FICTION WEB GUIDE

TELEVISION
There are 142 television shows' hotlinks here,
limited to 184 shows broadcast in the United States (wherever originated),
and 161 shows listed with no hotlinks currently known to this compiler
for a total of 361 television shows and/or hotlinks
Updated 14 February 1998
Warning: this is 229+ kilobytes of text, and it will be a few weeks before
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slowly for those with slow modems, and not in its entirety for those with
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Copyright 1996,1997,1998 by Magic Dragon Multimedia.

May be posted electronically provided that it is transmitted unaltered, in its
entirety, and without charge.

11 May 1997 exclusive preview: "The Fifth Element"

New! Feature cartoon of the week: Donna Barstow's "Toon In":
a syndicated newspaper cartoon about the TV industry

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ALTERNATE LISTING OF TV SHOWS BY DATE OF FIRST AIRING

|1940s: Science Fiction TV 1940-1949
| 1940s Movies: Science Fiction Movies 1940-1950
| 1940s in Print: Science Fiction Books and Magazines 1940-1950
|1950s: Science Fiction TV 1950-1959
| 1950s Movies: Science Fiction Movies 1950-1960
| 1950s in Print: Science Fiction Books and Magazines 1950-1960
|1960s: Science Fiction TV 1960-1969
| 1960s Movies: Science Fiction Movies 1960-1970
| 1960s in Print: Science Fiction Books and Magazines 1960-1970
|1970s: Science Fiction TV 1970-1979
| 1970s Movies: Science Fiction Movies 1970-1980
| 1970s in Print: Science Fiction Books and Magazines 1970-1980
|1980s: Science Fiction TV 1980-1989
| 1980s Movies: Science Fiction Movies 1980-1990
| 1980s in Print: Science Fiction Books and Magazines 1980-1990
|1990s: Science Fiction TV 1990-1999
| 1990s Movies: Science Fiction Movies 1990-2000
| 1990s in Print: Science Fiction Books and Magazines 1990-2000

ALIENS on-line book of the year: Me Human, You Alien: How to Talk to an Extraterrestrial

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A: TELEVISION: 11

A for Andromeda, BBC, 1961
"Species" was blatantly ripped-off from this reasonably faithful series
adaptation of the Sir Fred Hoyle novel of this name. A radio message
from the Andromeda galaxy, over a million light years away, is picked
up by a radio telescope, and turns out to be the blueprints and
assembly instructions for an alien supercomputer. When the
supercomputer is turned on, it builds a beautiful woman, whose mind
is partly alien.
There was a 1962 sequel, about a second Andromeda computer being
assembled in South America, with pretty much the same production
team, but with Susan Hampshire replacing Julie Christie. The sequel
series' title was "The Andromeda Breakthrough."
??? -- Peter Halliday
??? -- Mary Morris
??? -- Esmond Knight
??? -- Frank Windsor

ALIENS on-line book of the year: Me Human, You Alien: How to Talk to an Extraterrestrial
Alien Girl -- Julie Christie
Producer -- Michael Hayes and Norman Jones
Writers -- Fred Hoyle and John Elliott
The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., Fox, 1993-1994
The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.
Rutgers' FTP Episode Guide
The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. @ avimall.com
The most recent cross-over Western/Fantasy series.
The Adventures of Fu Manchu, Syndicated, 1955-1956, 39 episodes
Attention conspiracy buffs: the hero of this show was the villain, a
Macao-based scientist whose attacks on the West included germ
warfare, smuggling, turning agents into double-agents, undercutting
peace conferences, and eroding the U.S. currency. Explains a lot of
recent history, doesn't it? Fortunately, the forces of democracy were
saved again and again by Sir Dennis Nayland-Smith of Scotland Yard,
Fu Manchu's nemesis for generations. Based on Sax Rohmer's fictional
creations of 1908-1910, there is a politically incorrect tinge of
"yellow peril" racism in these episodes today, which was also common
in the Australian science fiction of its day. Silent movies, and then
sound movies of 1930-1950 preceded this show, as did the radio serial
which began in 1929 -- was it just a coincidence that the Stock market
then crashed?
A TV pilot starring Sir Cedric Hardwicke was produced in 1952,
but was not picked up for either network or syndication. In 1955 Sax
Rohmer sold his media rights to Republic Pictures for $4 million, out
of which the TV pilot was made which resulted in this series.
Christopher Lee starred in several British films of the 1960s, and a
feature film of 1980 starred Peter Sellers -- the last film completed
before his untimely death.
Dr. Fu Manchu -- Glen Gordon
Sir Dennis Nayland-Smith -- Lester Matthews
Dr. John Petrie -- Clark Howat
Betty Leonard -- Carla Balenda (The Mickey Rooney Show 1954-5)
Karamanch -- Laurette Luez
Kolb -- John George
Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers, animated
Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers
Genre: SPACE OPERA: battles between planets and stars
The Adventures of Superman, see "Superman, the Adventures of"
Agamemnon's Babylon 5 Sound Site
Alcoa Presents, ABC, Jan 1959-Oct 1961, host John Newland, occult content,
subtitle (used when syndicated) "One Step Beyond"
Based on documented real-life events, often involving ghosts or
Extra-Sensory Perception (ESP), this atmospheric black-and-white
series looks today like a precursor to "X-Files." The 1978 production
of "The Next Step Beyond" had the same host, 19-21 years older, was
shot in color, and never caught on in the ratings, perhaps because
the old subversive creepiness was gone.
Host -- John Newland (frequent co-star and episode director of The
Loretta Young Show 1953-61, One Man's Family 1950, Robert
Montgomery Presents 1952-54, The Web 1950-7)
ALF, NBC, 1986-1990 (and animated, NBC, Sep 1987-?)
ALF @ avimall.com
What if an alien landed on Earth, and was sucked into a sitcom?
ALF ("Alien Life Form"), a 229-year-old furball with attitude, escaped
the explosive destruction of his home planet Melmac (as did Kal-El
escape the explosion of Krypton to become Superman). ALF crashed into
the Tanner's garage, and became part of their family. ALF disrupted
their banal suburban lifestyle, and made acidic comments about
humanity and the American life style, as "3rd Rock from the Sun."
would, a decade later.
Next-door neighbors, the Ochmoneks, never figured out what was
going on, a sitcom formula perfected in "Bewitched."
Trivia questions and answers:
How long did ALF attend Melmac High School? 122 years.
What did ALF major in at Melmac High School? Software.
What sports did ALF participate in at Melmac High School? He was
co-captain of the Boullabaiseball team.
What jobs did ALF have at one time or another? Assistant Boxleitner,
male model, phlegm dealer.
What are ALF's hobbies? Gerrymandering, snacking on cats.
What is ALF's height? "Fluctuates with weight."
What is ALF's weight? "Till the Sun Shines Nellie."
ALF (voice) -- Gordon Shumway
ALF (puppeteer) -- Paul Fusco
ALF (walking scenes, 1st season only) -- Michu Meszaros
Willie Tanner -- Max Wright (Buffalo Bill 1983-4, Misfits of Science
1985-6)
Kate Tanner -- Anne Schedeen (Marcus Welby M.D. 1969-76,
Paper Dolls 1984)
Lynn Tanner -- Andrea Elson (Whiz Kids 1983)
Brian Tanner -- Benji Gregory
Dorothy Halligan -- Anne Meara (1987 only) (All in the Family 1979-82,
The Corner Bar 1972-3, Kate McShane 1975, The Paul Lynde Show
1972-3, Rhoda 1976-7)
Raquel Ochmonek -- Liz Sheridan
Trevor Ochmonek -- John LaMotta
Lucky -- various cats
Co-Created by -- Paul Fusco & Tom Patchett (Make Your Own Kind of
Music 1971, Open All Night 1981-2)
Alien Nation, Fox, 1989-1990
Alien Nation @ scifi.com
Alien Nation
The Amazing Spider-Man, CBS, 1978
Based on Stan Lee's creation at Marvel Comics, this show revolved
around Peter Parker, nerdy and alienated science major in college who
made a few bucks as part-time news photographer for the Daily Bugle.
When bitten by a radioactive spider, he developed super-powers,
including a sense of danger and great strength and the ability to
climb walls and ceilings. He invented super-gadgets, such as his
web-shooter in wrist-bands, and a costume, to fight evil. But his
life as a teenager became even more uncomfortable and confusing. The
adolescent angst added a note of emotional realism to an otherwise
formulaic story, and made this show a cult-classic among disaffected
science majors. Was Bill Gates ever bitten by a radioactive spider?
Peter Parker/Spiderman -- Nicholas Hammond
Capt. Barbera -- Michael Pataki (Get Christie Love 1974-5,
Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers 1974-5, Phyl & Mikhy 1980)
J. Jonah Jameson -- Robert F. Simon (Custer 1967, M*A*S*H 1973-4,
Nancy 1970-1, Saints and Sinners 1962-3)
Rita Conway -- Chip Fields
Julie Mason -- Ellen Bry (7 episodes) (St.Elsewhere 1982-8)
animated series was previously on ABC, Sep 1967-Aug 1969
Amazing Stories, NBC, Sep 1985-May 1987
Back in the early 1980s, your humble webmaster Jonathan Vos Post
raised some $50,000 to purchase all rights to Amazing Stories
Magazine, arguably the world's oldest science fiction magazine,
founded in 1926 by Hugo Gernsback. I flew to Scottsdale, Arizona to
negotiate the deal from the publisher (who greatly preferred
Westerns, and had a priceless collection of Western art), at the time
when the magazine was edited by an ex-restaurant menu designer, and
laid out on a livingroom floor. There's a strange story of what
happened next, which will eventually appear on the Magazine site of
this domain. The point is, I approached one Venture Capital firm
after another. I showed them copies of "Amazing Stories", my
brilliant business plan, and then said that we could sell the rights
to film and television for more than the purchase rights. At that
point, inevitably, the money-men would day "why would anyone want to
buy the title 'Amazing Stories' for movies or television? Get out of
here!" Well, I was right, and they were wrong. They missed a chance
to do business with Steven Spielberg, who did buy that title...
Executive Producer -- Steven Spielberg
Episode Directors -- Steven Spielberg ("Ghost Train", "The Mission"),
Paul Bartel, Clint Eastwood, Burt Reynolds, Martin Scorsese,
others.
Guest Stars -- Drew Barrymore, Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, David
Carradine, Kevin Costner, Stan Freberg, Mark Hamill, Charlie Sheen, Sam
Waterston, others
Amazing Stories @ scifi.com
Ark II, to be done
Ark II Guide @ avimall.com
Automan, ABC, 15 Dec 1983-2 Apr 1984
A nerdy police computer specialist works on programming computer games
in his spare time. One of his creations, a superhero named
"Automan", somehow jumped out of the computer into reality, launching
the nebbish protagonist into fighting crime at the highest levels.
Automan could walk through walls, and could make almost any computer
do him favors, and could temporarily combine with Walter Nebicher into
a schizoid human/superhero. Lights dimmed when Automan walked
past -- because he drained energy from circuits nearby. When the
city's electrical consumption went up at dawn, Automan faded away.
The two were followed everywhere by Cursor, an animated, well, cursor,
who could outline, animate, and create useful solid objects such as
cars. Walter's boss, the crochety Captain Boyd, hated computers and
software-hip people, so he could not be told about Automan. Neither
could Walter's mentor, Lieutenant Curtis, who used Walters
inexplicable successes to advance his own agenda.
Automan by ftp
Automan @ Ultimate TV
Walter Nebicher -- Desi Arnaz, Jr. (I Love Lucy 1953, The Lucy Show
1968-71)
Automan -- Chuck Wagner
Lt. Jack Curtis -- Robert Lansing (87th Precinct 1961-2,
The Equalizer 1985, The Man Who Never Was 1966-7, Twelve O'Clock
High 1964-5)
Captain Boyd -- Gerald S. O'Loughlin (Our House 1988, The Rookies
1972-6, Storefront Lawyers 1970-1, Wheels 1979)
Roxanne -- Heather McNair (Cover Up 1984-5)
The Avengers, ITV (Great Britain, 1960-68) and then in the United States on ABC,
28 March 1966-15 Sep 1969 -- {to be done} (and revived in 1976)
The series actually began in 1960 as "Police Surgeon" starring Ian
Hendry. Newman followed the escapist super-agent popularity of James
Bond by restructuring the show in 1962 and renaming it "The Avenger."
The show is listed here because of the wonderful 1965-66 era
when the science fiction fiction themes took center stage.
John Steed (1962 an after) -- Patrick MacNee
Cathy Gale -- Honor Blackman (in sexy black leather, as judo expert)
Cathy Gale (1965-68) -- Diana Rigg
Cathy Gale (1968) -- Linda Thorson
Creator -- Sydney Newman ("Dr. Who" creator, later)
Producer -- Julian Bond
Writer -- Julian Bond
Script Supervisors -- Brian Clemens and Albert Fennell

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B: TELEVISION:16

Babylon 5, Syndicated, 1994-Present
Babylon 5 Guide @ avimall.com
Superior science fiction series with an overall plot, and not merely
episodic. Based on a decade of development, including feedback
throughout by fans at science fiction conventions. {to be done}
Production Company -- Babylonian Productions
Executive Producer -- Douglas Netter, J. Michael Straczynski
Creator/Producer -- J. Michael Straczynski
Director of Photography -- John C. Flinn III, ASC
Origination Format -- Super 35mm
Film-to-Tape Transfer Facility -- LaserPacific
Color Correction Facility -- LaserPacific
Colorist -- Bruce Pearson
Offline Facility -- Netter Digital Entertainment
Offline Editors -- David Foster, Skip Robinson, Suzy Sternlicht
Offline Editing System Manufacturer -- Avid
Online Tape Format -- Digital Betacam
Audio Editing/Mixing Facility -- EFX Systems
Audio Mixing/Sweetening System Manufacturer -- AMS Neve
Show Telephone Number -- (818) 753-1994
Batman, ABC, 12 Jan 1966-14 Mar 1968
Batman #1
Batman #2
Based on Bob Kane's creation at Detective Comics in 1939, Batman's
media presence expanded to Superman's show on radio, and in a couple
of movie serials of the 1940s. The TV show uneasily combined the
straight-ahead story with a 1960's "camp" attitude, that put the show
in top 10 Neilsen ratings in the 1965-66 season.
Bruce Wayne/Batman -- Adam West
Dick Grayson/Robin -- Burt Ward
Alfred Pennyworth - Alan Napier
Aunt Harriet Cooper -- Madge Blake
Police Commissioner Gordon -- Neil Hamilton
Chief O'Hara -- Stafford Repp
Barbara Gordon/Batgirl -- Yvonne Craig (1967-1968)
Catwoman -- Julie Newmar, Lee Ann Meriwether, Eartha Kitt (guest
villains)
The Penguin -- Burgess Meredith (guest villain)
The Joker -- Cesar Romero (guest villain)
The Riddler -- Frank Gorshin and John Astin (guest villains)
Egghead -- Vinent Price (guest villain)
King Tut -- Victor Buono (guest villain)
Themesong -- Neal Hefti
later animated Batman-Superman Hour, CBS, 1968-1969
By the way, "Wayne Manor" as it appeared on this original Batman
series was actually a mansion in Pasadena, most recently on display
Friday 24 January 1997 in a preview of the Pasadena Junior
Philharmonic Committee's 33rd Annual Showcase House of Design. For
more information, telephone (818) 799-6063.
Battlestar Galactica, ABC, 17 Sep 1978-17 Aug 1980; also as Galactica 1980, ABC, 1980
Battlestar Galactica Guide @ avimall.com
Rutgers' FTP Episode Guide
With a huge budget (for its day) of a megabuck per hour, and the
biggest PR budget of its season, this show so thoroughly tried to rip
off the "Star Wars" franchise that ABC was sued. Special effects --
lasers, spaceships, robots, etcetera -- for both stories were created by the
brilliant John Dykstra.
Set in "the 7th millennium" A.D., the mile-long Galactica was
the only battlestar to survive attack by the deady Cylons and the
turncoat Count Baltar, which nearly rendered human beings extinct.
Galactica and its fleet of 220 more modestly-scaled spacecraft set out
towards escape on a mythical planet -- called Earth.
Lorne Greene (Actuality Specials, Bonanza, Code Red, Griff,
Kraft Music Hall's "How the West Was Swung", Lorne Greene's New
Wilderness, Philip Morris Playhouse, Roots, Star Stage) was the
Moses-like Commander Adama, aided by his fighter-squadron leader son
Apollo (whose brother was killed by Cylons in the establishing
episode), pilot/playboy Starbuck (a name from "Moby Dick"), and a
large cast.
When the show returned after 11 years in hiatus, Lorne Greene
was the only original cast member. They had reached Earth, somehow in
roughly our present, still pursued by Cylons (a cross between Fred
Saberhagen's "Beserkers" and Dr. Who's "Daleks"). Capt. Troy and Lt.
Dillon went down to Earth to seek help from the Pacific Institute of
Technology -- a parody of my alma mater, the California Institute of
Technology -- to get ready for galactic war. United Broadcasting's
rookie newswoman Jamie Hamilton sensed a story here. The plot was
thickened by renegade Galactica councilman Xavier and sickened by
14-year-old genius Dr. Zee.
Commander Adama -- Lorne Greene
Capt. Apollo (1978-79) -- Richard Hatch
Lt. Starbuck (1978-79) -- Dirk Benedict
Lt. Boomer (1978-79) -- Herb Jefferson, Jr.
Athena (1978-79) -- Maren Jensen
Flight Sgt. Jolly (!978-79) -- Tony Swartz
Boxey (1978-79) -- Noah Hathaway
Col. Tigh (1978-79) -- Terry Carter
Cassiopea (1978-79) -- Laurette Spang
Count Baltar (1978-79) -- John Colicos
Sheba (1979) -- Anne Lockhart
Capt. Troy (1980) -- Kent McCord
Lt. Dillon (1980) -- Barry Van Dyke
Jamie Hamilton (1980) -- Robyn Douglass
Dr. Zee (1980) -- Robbie Rusk, Patrick Stuart
Col. Sydell (1980) -- Allan Miller
Xavier -- (1980) -- Richard Lynch
Special Effects -- John Dykstra
Music -- The Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra
Battlestar Galactica
Battlestar Galactica: The WWW Page
Genre: Space Opera
Beauty and the Beast, CBS, 25 Sep 1987-1990
Beauty and the Beast @ avimall.com
Fritz Leiber created this genre of "urban fantasy", and talented
writer/editor/producer George R. R. Martin brought it to life for
adoring TV audiences. New York lawyer Catherine was brutalized by
thugs and left to die in Central Park. She was saved by Vincent, a
beast-man more sensitive than Alan Alda, with a leonine face and a da
Vincian intelligence. Nursed to health in caves and tunnels beneath
New York City, Catherine returned to the surface (like Proserpine
returning from Hades) but she and Vincent had fallen in love.
They remained connected by ESP, which was useful because her new
position in the D.A,'s office put her in frequent danger. Edie did
research for her; Father was a reclusive genius who had raised Vincent
and was de facto king of the "Tunnel World"; Kipper and Mouse were
two tunnel world people who reported to Father.
This show had an amazingly literate take on good, evil, art,
science, and society. George R. R. Martin has won major awards for
his writing, and has edited a very successful series of collaborative
novels about flawed superheroes in a complex alternate history.
There are stories about his TV pitches and pilots which are
astonishing, and we may tell some of them later on this web site...
Asst. DA Catherine Chandler -- Linda Hamilton
Vincent -- Ron Perlman
Father -- Roy Dotrice
Deputy DA Joe Maxwell -- Jay Acavone
Edie -- Ren Woods
Kipper (pilot only) -- Jason Allen
Kipper -- Cory Danziger
Mouse (1988-90) -- David Greenlee
Bewitched, ABC, 17 Sep 1964-1 July 1972
Bewitched
Well-conceived, well-written, well-directed, and well-acted,
this series earned a handful of Emmy Awards, and was ABC's biggest
hit ever until that time, hitting #2 in the ratings among all TV shows
in its 1st season.
Samantha was a beautiful witch who married mortal advertising
executive Darrin in the establishing episode, and promised to abandon
her nose-twitching magical powers. Her family never approved of the
marriage or the non-magical lifestyle, including her father Maurice,
mother Endora, prankster Uncle Arthur, and befuddled Aunt Clara, each
and every one a warlock or witch.
Other characters included fading witch/housekeeper Esmerelda,
Darrin's boss Larry Tate (partner of Ad Agency McMann & Tate) and
Larry's wife Louise, laid-back but suspecious neighbors the Kravitzes,
Samantha's identical cousin Serena, and Samantha's first child
Tabitha who was "born" on the high-ratings 13 Jan 1966 episode,
followed by son Adam "born" 16 Oct 1969 but not a regular until
1971-72.
Samantha Stephens/Serena -- Elizabeth Montgomery
Darrin Stephens (1964-69) -- Dick York
Darrin Stephens (1969-72) -- Dick Sargent
Endora -- Agnes Moorhead
Maurice -- Maurice Evans (occasional)
Larry Tate -- David White
Louise Tate (1964-66) -- Irene Vernon
Louise Tate (1966-72) -- Kasey Rogers
Tabitha Stephens (1966-72) -- Erin Murphy, Diane Murphy
Adam Stephens (1971-72) -- David Lawrence, Greg Lawrence
Abner Kravitz -- Goerge Tobias
Gladys Kravitz (1964-66) Alice Pearce
Gladys Kravitz (1966-72) -- Sandra Gould
Aunt Clara (1964-68) -- Marion Lorne
Uncle Arthur (1965-72) -- Paul Lynde (occasional)
Esmerelda (1969-72) -- Alice Ghostley (occasional)
Dr. Bombay (1967-1972) -- Bernard Fox
Producer/Director -- William Asher (real-life husband of Elizabeth Montgomery)
Beyond the Planet of the Apes, NBC, September 1975-September 1976, animated,
see Planet of the Apes.
Genre: "Bambi's Children": animals who can think and talk
Beyond Westworld, CBS, 5 March 1980-19 March 1980
In the 1973 feature film "Westworld" robots (including Yul Brynner),
for no clear reason, killed guests and wrecked a future amusement
park. Yul Brynner was the only cast member to reprise his role in
the film's sequel, "Futureworld." These two films spun off the
television series "Beyond Westworld" -- which was cancelled after a
mere three low-rated episodes.
"Westworld" was the future amusement park, owned and operated by
"The Delos Corporation" -- which had the corporate culture that might
result if Microsoft bought Disney and Boeing. Guests to the theme
park interacted with robots which were virtually indistinguishable
from humans, allowing the humans to live out their secret desires.
C3P0 meets Fantasy Island.
Mad scientist Simon Quaid (co-inventor with Joseph Oppenheimer of
the robots) programmed the robots to take over the world, in a
social-engineering scheme that few voters would approve. John Moore,
as head of Delos Security, aided by love-interest Pamela Williams,
were all that stood in the way of Quaid's megalomania.
Killer theme parks were better done, later, by Crichton in
"Jurassic Park", and even better in the "Dream Park" trilogy of
novels by Steve Barnes and Larry Niven.
John Moore -- Jim McMullan
Simon Quaid -- James Wainwright
Joseph Oppenheimer -- William Jordan
Pamela Williams -- Connie Sellecca
Foley -- Severn Darden
Roberta -- Ann McCurry
Biker Mice from Mars, animated
Biker Mice from Mars
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures, Fox, 1992
Based on the surprisingly enjoyable pair of feature films about the
good-natured but dimwitted teenagers from San Dimas who find
themselves seriously out of their depths in time travel adventures.
The Bionic Woman, ABC (Jan 76-May 77) then NBC (Sep 77-Sep 78), 14 Jan 1976-2 Sep 1978
The Bionic Woman @ scifi.com
It all began with the novel "Cyborg" by Martin Caiden. "Cyborg"
begat "The Six Million Dollar Man" which begat "The Bionic Woman."
Jaime Sommers (The Bionic Woman) was originally a character in
the television series "The Six Million Dollar Man." She was the
fiancee of Steve Austin [see database entry for "The Six Million Dollar
Man"], but they separated after Steve turned astronaut and Jaime
completed her university education and hit the pro tennis circuit.
When she had a near-fatal skydiving crash, the same doctors
(including Dr. Rudy Wells) who made Steve Austin into a super-powerful
"Cyborg" (CYbernetic ORGanism, half human, half machine) did the same for her.
Steve did not know, however, as she began teaching students at an
army base near her home town of Ojai, California.
They led parallel lives, both participating
in secret missions for OSI (Office of Scientific Information), and
sometimes even worked together -- but as a side effect of her accident
and/or coma, she did not remember him nor their romance. He hung out
near her, in hopes of rekindling the torch, with him even living at
her step-parents' (Elgins') ranch.
Oscar Goldman was Jaime Sommers' manager at OSI. When the series
moved to NBC, Jaime acquired a bionic dog, the German Shepard "Max."
Again and again, in the final season, the enemy was not the usial spy,
kidnapper, or drug-lord, but extraterrestrial beings from one part of
the cosmos or another. The writers became confused about what
sub-genre of science fiction they were supposed to be writing.
Jaime Sommers/The Bionic Woman -- Lindsay Wagner
Oscar Goldman -- Richard Anderson
Dr. Rudy Wells -- Martin E. Brooks
Jim Elgin (1976) -- Ford Rainey
Helen Elgin (1976) -- Martha Scott
Producer -- Kenneth Johnson
Blade Squad, Fox, Fall 1998
Cops on rollerblades in the future. Two-hour pilot will air in
September 1998, and will become series if ratings are good...
Blake's 7, BBC (aired in USA on KOCE), 1992-1993
Buck Rogers, ABC, 15 Apr 1950-30 Jan 1951
Buck Rogers Guide @ avimall.com
A novel became a comic book, a Mutual Broadcasting System radio serial
(1932-1936 and 1939-1947) and a film serial starring Buster Crabbe,
and then, at last, a television show -- which itself was updated
three decades later.
Buck Rogers saved the universe over and over, using hardware
standard in pulp-magazine space opera. His base was the world capital
of Niagra, and his allies included the chaste-but-sexy Wilma, the
Einsteinian Dr. Huer, and the courageous Martian Black Barney.
An attempt to cash in on the success of "Captain Video", this
juvenile television series was transmitted live. Due to budget
limitations, although most of the action was set in the far future
and referred to interplanetary adventure, most of the action was in
the laboratory set, purportedly in a cave hidden behind Niagra Falls.
Buck Rogers (1950) -- Kem Dibbs
Buck Rogers (1950-51) -- Robert Pastene
Wilma Deering -- Lou Prentis
Dr. Huer -- Harry Sothern
Black Barney -- Harry Kingston
Producer -- Babette Henry
Writer -- Gene Wyckoff
Genre: Space Opera
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, NBC, 20 Sep 1979-16 Apr 1981
This major update of the 1950-51 TV series (see above) was a network
attempt to cash in on the success of "Star Trek" and on the lesser
success of "Battlestar Galactica" (itself ripped off from "Star
Wars"), with some of the same campy attitude as the television "Batman."
Six months before the television premier, the pilot was released
under the same title on the big screen.
Captain Buck Rogers, astronaut, was in cryonic suspended
animation aboard an interstellar spaceship from 1987 until 2491,
accumulating 504 years of back pay plus interest, a matter which no
lawyer ever addressed, suggesting that in some ways society really
did progress.
The deep-frozen Bucksicle was discovered by Draconians under the
command of sexy-but-evil Princess Ardala and Killer Kane, who both
assumed him to be a spy. Unfortunately, the Earth Defense
Directorate (based in New Chicago) agreed with their assessment,
albeit they did not approve of the Draconian's never-ending plans to
conquer Earth.
Buck was helped by chaste-but-sexy Wilma Deering, promoted since
the old series into the more politically-correct Commander of
Terrestrial Defenses. He also became buddies with Dr. Huer, a cross
between Albert Einstein and Carl Sagan, who presented Buck with a
robot named Twiki and a talking computer named Dr. Theopolis, who was
often a necklace-like fashion accessory to Twiki.
Although the Draconians were never able to take over our planet,
the more powerful force of striking actors delayed the second season
for several months. The new season shifted the venue from Earth to a
huge starship "Searcher" to find humans who'd survived some vaguely
referred-to "great holocaust." Admiral Asimov was purportedly a
direct descendant of the great real-life author Isaac Asimov, who had
long-since created "the Three Laws of Robotics" and the notion that
dysfunctional robots might refused to believe that they were created
by imperfect humans, a recurring sub-plot involving "Crichton" (a
construct even more annoying than Twiki) who refused to acknowledge
the "fatherhood" of Dr. Goodfellow. Hawk was also searching, for
other members of his bird-man species.
It is hard to say if the cocky attitude of the actors played
against the big-budget special effects, or whether scripts that took
the concepts more seriously might have deepened the show's impact.
Capt. William "Buck" Rogers -- Gil Gerard
Col. Wilma Deering -- Erin Gray
Dr. Huer (1979-80) -- Tim O'Connor
Twiki -- Felix Silla
Twiki (voice) -- Mel Blanc
Twiki (voice, temporary) -- Bob Elyea
Dr. Theopolis (voice) (1979-80) -- Eric Server
Princess Ardala (1979-80) -- Pamela Hensley
Kane (1979) -- Henry Silva
Kane (1979-80) -- Michael Ansara
Hawk (1981) -- Thom Christopher
Dr. Goodfellow (1981) -- Wilfred Hyde-White
Admiral Asimov (1981) -- Jay Garner
Crichton (voice) (1981) -- Jeff David
Lt. Devlin (1981) -- Paul Carr
Genre: Space Opera
Bullwinkle Show, The, NBC, 24 Sep 1961-16 Sep 1962
included here because of Moonmen episodes and time-travelling
Mr.Peabody
Bullwinkle J. Moose, Dudley Doright, Mr. Peabody -- Bill Scott
Rocky Squirrel, Natasha fatale -- June Foray
Boris Badenov -- Paul Frees
Aesop -- Charles Ruggles
Sindely Whiplash -- Hans Conreid
Sherman -- Walter Tetly
Narrator of Fractured Fairy Tales -- Edward Everett Horton
Narrator of Bullwinkle segments -- William Conrad
The Burning Zone, UPN, Fall 1996
The Burning Zone @ cdsnet

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C: TELEVISION:9

Captain Future (Winter 1940-Spring 1944):
Sascha Goto's website does not directly deal with the pulp magazine
Captain Future. However, it deals with the animated series called
Captain Future which is based on the pulp magazine.
There will be more information on the pulp magazine as well in the
near future.
Captain Future
This website has information in German and English on television,
books, boardgames, cards, and Spanish versions of Captain Future
spinoffs.
Captain Midnight, syndicated, 1954
This show was also known as "Jet Jackson", in some broadcast areas,
and the hero had one name or the other depending on location.
This series started on radio in 1940, with its super-scientist
fighting crime, and assisted by a clumsy assistant Ikky.
According to e-mail Larry Becker
"The Sid Melton character you refer to as "Ikky" was Ichabod Mudd.
Sid's catchline in the series was to mention his name as,
'Mudd -- with two D's.' Olan Soule was the third principal character,
a scientist named Aristotle Jones.
The kids who watched the show could join the Secret Squadron
(in fact, kid members, albeit actors, were sometimes featured in the
show as a network of individuals helping Captain Midnight).
Note that their code designations were SQ followed by a number.
When the show first came on radio, they were SS something.
With the advent of WWII and Hitler's SS, the designation was abruptly
changed to SQ.
Captain Midnight -- Richard Webb
Ikky -- Sid Melton
Aristotle Jones -- Olan Soule
Captain Video and His Video Rangers, Dumont, 27 Jun 1949-1 Apr 1955
This was a historically significant show, despite the astonishingly
stingy prop budget of $25 per week. Why? Because it was the first
and most successful of three children's science fiction shows that
seduced kids into the axioms of the Space Opera genre, the other two
being "Space Patrol" and "Tom Corbett--Space Cadet." It can be argued
that this created some of the popular support that allowed for a
genuine space program only a few years later. A wonderful book about
these shows is "The Great Television Heroes" by Donald F. Glut and Jim
Harmon.
The government played no significant role in scientific genius
Captain Video single-handedly saving the world out of a sense of civic
duty. By so doing, he not only defeated evildoers such as Dr.
Clysmok, Dahoumie, Heng Foo Seeng, Kul of Eos, Mook the Moon Man, and
Nargola, but also had a chance to field-test his gadgets, including
The Atomic Rifle, the Discatron, the Optical Scillometer, the Radio
Scillograph, and the Cosmic Ray Vibrator (stop giggling, will you?).
His most fiendish adversary was Dr. Pauli, who had his own set of
super-duper hardware, including the Barrier of Silence (later
parodied on "Get Smart"), the Cloak of Invisibility, and the Trisonic
Compensator. The Dumont Network (whose demise alone could end this
popular show) sold to their viewers such premiums as Decoder Rings,
Space Helmets, and plastic copies of Captain Video's weaponry, almost
all of which are highly collectable today.
Late in its life, the show was retitled "The Secret Files of
Captain Video" and they stopped editing in stock footage of Westerns
through the money-saving "Remote Carrier Beam."
Captain Video's spaceship was called the "Galaxy" -- and every
child wished to be Captain Video's sidekick "The Ranger" and ride the
Galaxy to exotic destinations, whether or not the instruments on the
control panel were obviously painted on.
Captain Video (1949-50) -- Richard Coogan
Captain Video (1950-55) -- Al Hodge (formerly the voice of "The Green
Hornet" on radio)
The Ranger -- Don Hastings
Dr. Pauli (1949) -- Bran Mossen
Dr. Pauli (1949-55) -- Hal Conklin
Creator/Producer -- James Caddigan
Producer -- Larry Menkin
Writer -- Maurice C. Brockhauser, and later: Arthur C. Clarke,
Robert Sheckley, and Jack Vance
Music -- Wagner's Overture to the Flying Dutchman
Genre: Space Opera
City Beneath the Sea, NBC 1971
An orphan (pilot for series that never happened, released as TV
movie). Overseas it was released theatrically as "One Hour to
Doomsday." Confusing, unrealistic, impossible, and silly.
??? -- Stuart Whitman
??? -- Robert Wagner
??? -- Joseph Cotten
??? -- James Darren
??? -- Richard Basehart
Creator/Producer/Director -- Irwin Allen
Writer -- John Meredith Lucas
The Collective (Star Trek)
Commando Cody: Sky Marshall of the Universe, Republic/NBC, 1955
Juvenile television series about a superhero fighting both regular
criminals and extraterrestrial super-villain "The Ruler."
Commando Cody -- Judd Holdren
Producers -- Mel Tucker and Franklyn Adreon
Writers -- Ronald Davidson and Barry Shipman
Count Duckula, animated
Count Duckula
Self-conscious parody of superhero/dark fantasy tropes.
The Creature, BBC, 1956
An "abominable snowman" teleplay broadcast later in the US under
various names.
Producer -- Rudolph Cartier (famous for the 1954 production of "1984")
Writers -- Rudolph Cartier and Nigel Kneale
The Curse of Dracula, NBC, 27 Feb 1979-1 May 1979
Somewhat ahead of today's Great Gothic Revival, and its high priestes
Anne Rice, this show gave us Count Dracula "undead and well, and
living in California." The Count taught European History at San
Francisco's South Bay College (Evening Division). After all, he knew
five centuries of History personally.
He violated several ethical, legal, and theological standards by
turning three of his students into vampires, namely Antoinette,
Christine, and Darryl. He was opposed by Kurt Von Helsing, the
grandson of his former enemy, and Mary Gibbons -- daughter of Amanda,
whom Dracula had vampirized earlier.
NBC packaged three serials together as "Cliff Hangers" but only
The Curse of Dracula ran to its end before cancellation drove a wooden
stake through the package.
Count Dracula -- Michael Nouri
Kurt Von Helsing -- Stephen Johnson
Marry Gibbons -- Carol Baxter
Antionette -- Antoinette Stella
Darryl -- Mark Montgomery
Christine -- Bever-Leight Banfield
Amanda Gibbons -- Louise Sorel

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D: TELEVISION: 9

Darkroom, ABC, 27 Nov 1981-8 July 1982
Dark fantasy/occult anthology series.
Host -- James Coburn
Guest Stars -- Steve Allen, David Carradine, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs,
June Lockhart, Esther Rolle
Dark Shadows
Dark Shadows
Melancholy dark fantasy, reputedly the all-time favorite show of
heroin addicts. {to be done}
Genre: Horror
Dark Skies, NBC, Fall 1996
Dark Skies
Dark Skies Guide @ avimall.com
Production Company -- Rosecrans
Executive Producer -- Jim Parriott, Bryce Zabel
Director of Photography -- Steve Vaconelli
Origination Format -- 35mm
Film-to-Tape Transfer Facility -- Digital Magic Company
Color Correction Facility -- Digital Magic Company
Colorists -- Paul Roman, Todd Dusenberry
Show Telephone Number -- (818) 771-1612
David's Home Page (Star Wars)
Deadly Games, UPN, 1995-1996
Deadly Games @ cdsnet
Deadly Games Guide @ avimall.com
Doomwatch, BBC, 1970-?
One set of scientists decide to establish justice over the rest of the
scientific community. The end result is insidiously anti-rational.
??? -- (1st season) Robert Powell
??? -- John Paul
??? -- Simon Oates
Creators -- Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis
Producer -- Terence Dudley
Dr. Who, BBC, 1963-present
Dr. Who in Detail
Dr. Who: Ultimate Doctor Who
Dr. Who Guide @ avimall.com
Rutgers' FTP Episode Guide
Intended as a low-budget juvenile series about a mysterious man (not
strictly human, actually a "Time Lord") who travels in a time
machine "the Tardis" with people who drift anto the story for a
while. The ratings were low until episode #5 (writer Terry Nation)
introduced the evil robotic Daleks, when suddenly the series became a
hit with adults and children alike, and has continued to this day,
albeit through five different stars and a pretty good feature film.
Living proof that low-budget can still mean high quality.
Dr. Who -- William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee,
Tom Baker,
Creators -- Sydney Newman ("The Avengers") and Donald Wilson
Producer -- Verity Lambert (originally)
{to be done}
Dracula: The Series
Dracula: The Series
Based loosely on Bram Stoker's "Dracula."
Genre: Horror
DreamWatch Online

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E: TELEVISION: 4

Earth 2, NBC, 1994-1995
Earth2: A Gaian Hypothesis
Earth2 @ best.com
Earth2 @ pe.com
Earth 2 Guide @ avimall.com
Eerie Indiana, Fox 1995, revived 1997
Eerie Indiana @ pe.com
America's heartland is stranger than you think. Twlight Zone meets
"Blue Velvet."

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F: TELEVISION: 6

Fantastic Journey, NBC, 3 Feb 1977-13 Apr 1977
Fantastic Journey Guide @ avimall.com
Not to be confused with "Fantastic Voyage" (based on an Isaac Asimov
novel), this TV series started with a university's research boat
finding an unmapped island in the Bermuda Triangle. Unknown even to
Gilligan, this island had a weird "time and space warp" which
allowed the comingling of past, present, and future (somewhat as in
Dr. Fred Hoyle's novel "October the First is Too Late").
Dr. Fred Walters went into the space-time warp, where he
encountered four characters lost in time: Varian, a 23rd century
telepath; Liana, from an ancient Atlantis; Scott, a contemporary boy
with psychic powers; and Dr. Jonathan Willaway, an eccentric
scientists from the 1960s who preferred the company of androids.
There was a network of character conflicts between these five,
and what promised to be a lengthy episodic search for the home
space-and-time of each, complete with strange creatures and thrilling
adventures, but the ratings also were becalmed in the Bermuda
Triangle.
Varian -- Jared Martin
Dr. Fred Walters -- Carl Franklin
Scott Jordan -- Ike Eisenmann
Liana -- Katie Saylor
Dr. Jonathan Willaway -- Roddy McDowell
Story Editor -- Dorothy C. Fontana ("Star Trek")
Far Out Space Nuts, animated
Far Out Space Nuts @ west.net
The Flash
The Flash @ avimall.com
Based on the classic comic book superhero. He was an attractive
character to me because, unlike the over-powered under-achieving
Superman, The Flash had a singe super-power -- namely the ability to
move extremely rapidly, from which all secondary abilities were
derived. This was loosely based on the H.G. Wells story "The New
Accelerator."
Flash Gordon, Syndicated, 1953-1954 (39 episodes)
Alex Raymond created the comic strip in 1934, five years after "Buck
Rogers." A year later, in 1935, "Flash Gordon" became a sucessful
radio serial starring Gale Gordon, and then three film serials
starring Buster Crabbe (1936-1940).
Flash Gordon himself was a preppie blond polo-playing Yale
graduate who accompanied Dale Arden and Dr. Zharkov to the planet
Mongo, ruled by the evil Emperor Ming the Merciless. After they
fought Ming to a standstill, they battled Bizdar, the Evil Queen of
Cygnil, the Great God Em of Odin, the Mad Witch of Neptune, and anyone
else who could throw together a modest collection of androids,
monsters, and/or death rays.
In 1979, NBC ran a Saturday morning animated series. The
following year, a rather entertaining big-budget film lost a bundle,
and the franchise has been in limbo ever since.
Flash Gordon -- Steve Holland
Dale Arden -- Irene Champlin
Dr. Zharkov -- Joe Nash
Produced -- in Germany
Genre: Space Opera
Forever Knight, {to be done}
Rutgers' FTP Forever Knight Episode Guide
Friday the 13th:The Series, Syndicated, Oct 1987-?
Confusingly enough, this television series has nothing whatsoever to
do with the feature films of the same name. On TV, the story was
that antiques dealer Lewis Vendredi (French for "friday") made a deal
with the devil to earn a fortune my peddling antique doodads which
would each carry a terrible curse. When Lewis Vendredi died --
presumably as a result of some fine print in his contract -- his
innocent neice Micki inherited the store, and renamed it "Curious
Goods." Assisted by her cousin Ryan and a retired magician, Jack
Marshak, she tried to get the cursed antique thingamajiggies back
from their purchasers, and sequester them in the basement where they
could cause no more hideous deaths. My wife, who once ran a chain of
antique stores in Europe, before she became a famous scientist and
science fiction author, refuses to talk to me about this show. Maybe
that's because of a certain contract signed in blood, nyaaa haaa
haaaa...
Micki Foster -- Robey
Ryan Dallion -- John D. Le May
Jack Marshak -- Chris Wiggans
Friday the 13th:The Series
Fu Manchu, see the Adventures of Fu Manchu
Future Cop, ABC, 1977 {to be done}
Future Quest, to be done
Future Quest

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G: TELEVISION: 8

Galactica 1980, see Battlestar Galactica
Gargoyles, animated, to be done
Gargoyles List @ avimall.com
Gemini Man, NBC, 23 Sep 1976-28 Oct 1976
INTERSECT is another of those government anti-terror agencies and
think-tank paid for by your taxes but far too secret to be covered by
the press. INTERSECT agent Sam Casey was rendered invisible by
radiation from an undersea explosion. But he could be temporarily
visible again, thanks to Abby Lawrence's computer skills and Leonard
Driscoll's management acumen, which yielded a wristwatch-gadget
similar in effect to Bilbo Baggin's Ring, allowing a switch back and
forth between visibility and invisibility, and in that over-use would
be deadly (more than a quarter-hour out of any 24 hours, for Sam).
Let me ask you this: did YOU ever see this show? I wonder why,
hmmmm...
Not really related to the 1958 British series, which was
created and produced by Ralph Smart, starring Lisa Daniely and
Deborah, with voice of Invisible Man by Tim Turner.
Sam Casey -- Ben Murphy
Leonard Driscoll -- William Sylvester
Abby Lawrence -- Katherine Crawford
Creators/Producers -- Harve Bennett and Steve Bochco
Genesis II, CBS, 1973
Pilot for never-produced series by Gene Roddenberry ("Star Trek").
"The Sleeper Wakes" by H.G. Wells declined to "Buck Rogers" which
declines further to this pilot, released as a TV movie. A 20th
century man wakes up in 2133 and is drawn into a human
counter-revolution against mutant oppressors.
??? -- Alex Cord
Director -- John Llewellyn Moxey
Creator/Writer -- Gene Roddenberry ("Star Trek")
Ghost Story, NBC, 25 Sep 1972-22 Jun 1973
Not to be confused with the sitcom "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" (21 Sep
1968-18 Sep 1970) starring Hope Lange and Edward Mulhare, which was
itself based on the 1947 film with Rex Harrison and Gene Tierny, this
was an anthology show. At first, Sebastian Cabot would take us to
"Essex House" and lull us into increasingly scary stories of the
supernatural. Starting with the 5 January 1973 episode, NBC dropped Sebastian
Cabot, retitled the show "Circle of Fear", and ran some episodes with
no ghosts or vampires or witches at all. So it was strangled.
host Sebastian Cabot (as "Winton Essex" in 1972)
Genre: Horror
The Greatest American Hero, ABC, 18 March 1981-3 Feb 1983
The greatest hero in this show was actually the head of the ABC legal
team, who fought off lawsuits from the owners of the "Superman"
copyright. After that, a real Mr. Hinckley tried (30 Mar 1981) to assassinate
President Reagan in order to impress actress Jodie Foster, so scripts
involving protagonist Ralph Hinkley had to be rewritten to be named
Ralph Hanley (or sometimes just "Mr.H").
Anyway, Los Angeles high school teacher Ralph had a Close
Encounter of the Third Kind with extraterrestrials, who gave him a
red flying suit, but the schlemiel lost the instruction book, and had
frequent trouble mastering the art of flight and the other powers of
the suit (invisibility, x-ray vision, telescopic vision, and the
like).
Nobody knew his secret, except Bill Maxwell, his lawyer Pam
Davidson (I told you the lawyers were big in this show), his son
Kevin, and four street-wise students escaped from the "Welcome Back
Kotter" sort of series: Cyler, Rhonda, Rodriguez, and Tony, who were
seen less and less often in the second season, when Ralph and Pam
married (Kevin was from a previous marriage).
This show had a wacky logic all its own, and was a good-natured
spoof of the action superhero genre, which had been tried before
about 15 years earlier in "Mr. Terrific" and in "Captain Nice."
Ralph Hinkley (Hanley) -- William Katt
Bill Maxwell -- Robert Culp (American Profile, The Chevy Mystery Show,
I Spy, The Kaiser Aluminum Hour, Star Tonight, Trackdown)
Pam Davidson -- Connie Sellecca (Beyond Westworld, Flying High, Hotel)
Tony Villicana -- Michael Pare (Houston Knights)
Rhonda Blake -- Faye Grant (V)
Cyler Johnson -- Jesse D. Goins
Rodriguez -- Don Cervantes
Kevin Hinkley (1981) -- Brandon Williams
Theme -- "The Greatest American Hero (Believe It Or Not)" by
Mike Post and Stephen Geyer, singer Joey Scarbury
Great Ghost Tales, NBC, 6 July 1961-21 Sep 1961
A summer replacement was needed for "The Ford Show Starring Tennessee
Ernie Ford", and so NBC produced a series of live episodes with actors
such as Robert Duvall, Lee Grant, Arthur Hill, Lois Nettleson, and
Richard Thomas (1,2,3 Go; Roots: the Next Generations; the Waltons).
The Green Hornet, ABC, 9 Sep 1966-14 July 1967
Listed here because of comics and radio (1936) origin, created by
George W. Trendle. Also, because it had the same production team as
TV's "Batman." Few fans knew that George W. Trendle's first hit, "The
Lone Ranger" actually introduced Britt Reid (The Green Hornet) as the
son of Dan Reid, who in turn was the nephew of the Lone Ranger.
Today, this show is a cult-favorite of Bruce Lee fans.
Britt Reid/The Green Hornet -- Van Williams
Kato -- Bruce Lee
Lenore "Casey" Case -- Wende Wagner
Mike Axford -- Lloyd Gough
District Attorney F. P. Scanlon -- Walter Brooke
Theme -- "Flight of the Bumblebee" by Rimsky-Korsakov arranged and
played by Al Hirt
The Green Hornet @ fxnetworks
The Green Hornet @ uvm

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H: TELEVISION: 11

Hard Time on Planet Earth, CBS, 1989
Hauser's Memory, NBC, 1970
TV movie based on novel by Curt Siodmak. Jewish-American scientist
accidently is injected with DNA from brain of deceased German
scientist, producing two personalities who must share one brain and
body. Theme is developed more fully in the novel by Robert Heinlein
"I Shall Fear No Evil."
??? -- David McCallum
Director -- Boris Sagal
Writer -- Adrian Spies
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
Production Company -- Pacific Renaissance Pictures
Executive Producer -- Sam Raimi, Robert Tapert
Director of Photography -- John Mahaffie
Origination Format -- 35mm
Film-to-Tape Transfer Facility -- Digital Post
Color Correction Facility -- Anderson Video
Colorists -- Kevin Kirwan, Joy Gaston
Offline Facility -- Anderson Video
Offline Editors -- Steve Polivka, ACE; David Blewitt, ACE
Offline Editing System Manufacturer -- Lightworks
Online Facility -- Anderson Video
Online Tape Format -- Digital Betacam
Audio Editing/Mixing Facility -- Digital Sound & Picture
Audio Editing System Manufacturer -- Dawn, Sample Cell, Digidesign,
Studio Vision
Supervising Sound Editor -- Philip Tallman
Audio Mixing/Sweetening System Manufacturer -- Euphonix
Show Telephone Number -- (818) 777-8233
Highlander: The Series, Syndicated, 1992-Present
(Official) Highlander: The Series Season 1
(Official) Highlander: The Series season 2
(Official) Highlander: The Series season 3
(Official) Highlander: The Series season 4
more hotlinks to be added -- huge cult audience now with conventions "Gatherings"
Production Company -- Gaumont Television, Filmline International
Executive Producer -- Peter S. Davis, William Ranzer, Christian Charret,
Marla Ginsburg, Denis Leroy
Director of Photography -- Rick Wincenty
Origination Format -- 16mm
Film-to-Tape Transfer Facility -- Gastown Post
Color Correction Facility -- Gastown Post
Colorists -- Margot Vanderham, Achim Kapitza
Offline Facility -- In-house
Offline Editors -- Lara Mazur, David M. Richardson
Offline Editing System Manufacturer -- Lightworks
Online Facility -- Gastown Post
Online Editors -- Greg Krantz, Fred Richters
Online Tape Format -- DCT
Audio Editing/Mixing Facility -- Post Modern Sound
Audio Editing System Manufacturer -- N.E.D.
Supervising Sound Editor -- Tony Gronick
Audio Mixing/Sweetening System Manufacturer -- AMS Neve
Show Telephone Number -- (604) 873-9033
The Highwayman, NBC, 4 Mar 1988-6 May 1988
Blending fantasy, action, big-rig trucks, and ethnic humor, this
unlikely series was based on a 1987 TV movie, with a truck that could
also turn invisible, which notion was ditched in favor of the more
plausible (?) cab that could transform into a helicopter.
The Highwayman (who had no given name, apparently) was some sort
of federal marshal, who handled secret government cargo, wore
leather, had big muscles, and acted as the law "where ordinary laws do
not reach."
He had a tough Australian partner Jetto (like Crocodile Dundee),
a stylish African-American electronics genius D.C. Montana, and he
took his orders from sexy-but-strict Controller Tania Winthrop.
The Highwayman -- Sam Jones
Jetto -- Jacko
D. C. Montana -- Tim Russ
Tania Winthrop -- Jane Badler
Producer: Glen A. Larson (Knight Rider)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, BBC series, appeared in USA in
syndication on PBS in 1983-1989 and 1993-1995
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy @ rysher
From the wacky novels of Douglas Adams.
Hollyweird, Fox, Winter 1998
Created by Wes Craven and Shaun Cassidy, the pilot being cast as of
Feb 1998 is about two kids from Ohio who relocate to Southern
California, where they start working for a local cable TV show to
solve bizarre and weird crimes, pilot to air November 1998 and will
become series if ratings are good
Homeboys from Outer Space, UPN, Fall 1996
Homeboys from Outer Space @ cdsnet
Jay Leno quipped (27-28 Dec 1996) that this would, in 1997, be
subtitled in "ebonics"
Production Company -- Sweet Lorraine Productions with Touchstone Television
Executive Producer -- Ehrich Van Lowe
Director of Photography -- Walter Glover
Origination Format -- 1"
Film-to-Tape Transfer Facility -- ???
Color Correction Facility -- 4MC
Colorists -- ???
Offline Facility -- Walt Disney
Offline Editor -- Mike Gavaldon
Offline Editing System Manufacturer -- Avid
Online Facility -- ???
Online Editors -- ???
Online Tape Format -- Digital Betacam
Audio Editing/Mixing Facility -- 4MC
Audio Editing System Manufacturer -- Digidesign
Supervising Sound Editor -- Tamara Johnson
Audio Mixing/Sweetening System Manufacturer -- ???
Show Telephone Number -- (818) 560-7915

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I: TELEVISION: 8

I Dream of Jeannie, NBC, 18 Sep 1965-1 Sep 1970
I Dream of Jeannie
listed here because it has astronauts (SF) and Jeannie (Fantasy)
Jeannie -- Barbara Eden
Capt. Tony Nelson -- Larry Hagman
Capt. Roger Healey -- Bill Daily
Dr. Alfred Bellows -- Hayden Rorke
Gen Wingard Stone (1965-66) -- Philip Ober
Melissa Stone (1965-66) -- Karen Sharpe
Gen. Martin Peterson (1966-70) -- Barton MacLane
Amanda Bellows (1966-70) -- Emmaline Henry
Gen. Winfield Schaeffer (1969-70) -- Vinton Hayworth
The Incredible Hulk, CBS, 10 Mar 1978-2 June 1982
From the Comics character created by Stan Lee (1962), research
scientist David Banner was massively irradiated, and ever after
became a semi-articulate Id-like green monster whenever he became
angry enough. Afterwards, he would remember nothing of his
adventures, making this something like a rationalization of alcoholic
blackouts. Investigative reporter Jack McGee stuck to his trail as
he searched for odd jobs and a chance to piece his psyche back
together. Like San Lee's "Spider-Man", this story combined the
superhero format with adolescent angst.
David Bruce Banner -- Bill Bixby
The Incredible Hulk -- Lou Ferrigno
Jack McGee -- Jack Colvin
The Invisible Man, NBC, 1975
The title was changed to "The Gemini Man" (see that) in the second
season. Not really related to the 1958 British series, which was
created and produced by Ralph Smart, starring Lisa Daniely and
Deborah, with voice by Tim Turner.
The Immortal, ABC, 24 Sep 1970-8 Sep 1971
Based on a 1969 TV movie which in turn was based on a novel by Dr.
James Gunn, this was a realistic science fiction chase story.
Ben Richards was a race car driver who had, for no identified
reason, mutant antibodies in his blood which allowed him to fight off
every known disease -- including the effects of aging. Everybody
wanted some of his blood, especially the relentless tycoon Arthur
Maitland and his goon Fletcher. Maitland and Ben's fiancee Sylvia
were only in a few episodes.
The TV movie was directed by Joseph Sargent ("Colussus:The
Forbin Project").
Ben Richards -- Christopher George
Fletcher -- Don Knight
Arthur Maitland -- David Brian
Sylvia -- Carol Lynley
Writer -- Robert Specht
Genre: Immortality
It's About Time, CBS, 1966
Stupefyingly unfunny sci-fi comedy about astronauts hanging out with
cavemen. The kids in my school had a little rhyme, which my son today
still learned by oral schoolyard transmission: "it's about time, it's
about space, it's a bout getting a punch in the face."
Astronaut -- Frank Alefter
other astronaut -- Jack Mullaney
Cave Family -- Imogene Coca, Joe E. Ross, Mike Mazurki, Anne Meara
Creator -- Sherwood Schwartz ("Gilligan's Island")
Director (pilot only) -- Richard Donner (later drerected feature
films "The Omen", "Superman")
Genre: Time Travel
The Invaders, ABC, 10 Jan 1967-17 Sep 1968
Rutgers' FTP Episode Guide
This series combined an obsession with UFOs and the American style of
cold-war paranoia. David Vincent, architect, had seen the landing of
a flying saucer and then, more frighteningly, discovered that THEY
walked amongst us, aliens distinguishable only by the lack of
heartbeat, a surreptitious glow, and little fingers that stuck out at
an angle in what seems today like a disguised homophobia.
He was, at first, alone in knowing this vast secret, and later
joined by a septumvirate of fellow-believers and electronics magnate Edgar
Scoville (starting Dec 1967). UFO conventions circulate photocopies
of an ABC press release that claimed star Roy Thinnes had himself had
a Close Encounter with a UFO. Or so they would have you believe...
David Vincent -- Roy Thinnes
Edgar Scoville -- Kent Smith
Exec. Producer -- Quinn Martin
Producer -- Alan Armer
The Invisible Man, NBC, 8 Sep 1975-19 Jan 1976
The Invisible Man List @ avimall.com
Rutgers' FTP Episode Guide
Based on the H.G. Wells story, but essentially unrelated to the CBS
series of the same name produced in England (4 Nov 1958-22 Sep 1960).
Dr. Daniel Westin -- David McCallum (The Man From U.N.C.L.E.)
Walter Carlson -- Craig Stevens
Dr. Kate Westin -- Melinda Fee
IZAN Home Page (Star Trek)

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J: TELEVISION: 6

Jet Jackson -- see "Captain Midnight"
The Jetsons, 23 Sep 1962-8 Sep 1963, animated,
24 original episodes, 41 new episodes in 1985
The Jetsons
Produced by the same folks who brought you TV's "The Flintstones",
this was a satire on 1960's suburban American culture, with "cognitive
estrangement" (to use critic Darko Suvin's term) of a
science-fictional nature by casting the series in the 21st century.
The eponymous George Jetson worked for Spacely Sprockets, Inc. in an
alienating job (although he was occasionally promoted to Vice
President, it never lasted) for an overbearing boss.
He lived in Skypad Apartments, which had variable altitude
achieved with hydraulic lifts, with his unambitious housewife Jane,
their children, and the semi-talking dog Astro (who later had his own
adventures with Scooby-Doo). Despite atomic flying cars, commuting,
parking, and speeding tickets were a problem. Despite robots and
automated household gadgets, home-making was a drag. Despite
videophones, nobody had anything interesting to communicate, and
despite interplanetary colonization, teenage girls still cared for
nothing but media icons, dance crazes, and dating.
The dark underside of suburban culture -- divorce, drugs, gangs,
suicide, and political homogenization -- never appeared. The satire
lacked the sharper edge of Mad Magazine, but sometimes the limits of
Capitalism and Consumerism were skewered anyway.
George Jetson (voice) -- George O'Hanlon
Jane Jetson (voice) -- Penny Singleton
Judy Jetson (voice) -- Janet Waldo
Elroy Jetson (voice) -- Daws Butler
Astro (voice) -- Don Messick
Cosmo G. Spacely (voice) -- Mel Blanc
miscellaneous (voices) -- Herschel Bernardi, Mel Blanc, Howard McNear,
Howard Morris, Frank Nelson
Producers: William Hanna and Joseph Barbera
Johnny Jupiter, Dumont, 21 Mar 1953-13 Jun 1953
Howdy Doody spinoff about earth as seen through alien eyes, a sort of
children's prototype of "Third Rock from the Sun." A puppet-show set
in a TV studio (self-referential and thus post-modernist) the curious
janitor Ernest P. Duckweather messed with the control panel and
accidently tapped into a TV show from an inhabited planet Jupiter. He
thereafter conversed with puppets Johnny Jupiter and B-12, who were
confused about life on Earth, as they had nothing but TV broadcasts
to go on. Subsequently, Ernest P. Duckweather became a star of
Jupiter TV, but he had nothing but their shows to show him their
culture. I saw a couple of episodes at a neighbor's apartment before
I turned two years old, and it was intriguing and confusing beyond my
ability to explain then or now.
Ernest P. Duckweather -- Vaughn Taylor
His Boss -- Gilbert Mack
Jonny Quest, ABC, 18 Sep 1964-9 Sep 1965, plus new show 1996 {to be done}
Not strictly science fiction, it was at least fiction about a
scientist (Jonny's father Dr. Benton Quest). The publishing editor
of the magazine Quantum Science Fiction Review, himself a
professional scientist, told me that his scientific career was
sparked by this cartoon.
Jonny Quest (voice) -- Tim Matheson
Dr. Benton Quest (1964) (voice) -- John Stephenson
Dr. Benton Quest (1964-65) (voice) -- Don Messick
Race Bannon (voice) -- Mike Road
Hadji (voice) -- Danny Bravo
Producers: William Hanna and Joseph Barbera
The Real Adventures of Johnny Quest, 1996-present, based on the 1964-65
show described above, with 3-D computer graphics in each episode.
Producers: William Hanna and Joseph Barbera
Animation Production: Blur animation house, using Intergraph's
TDZ 3D Graphics Workstations with RealiZm 3D graphics and
Kinetix 3D Studio Max
Journey to the Unknown, ABC, 26 Sep 1968-30 Jan 1969
Produced in England
An explicitly Hitchcockian series without the sublime talent of
Hitchcock himself, this centered on emotional and mental extremes
that can terrify normal people ripped out of normal lives into a
darker world than they knew about. Sometimes hallucinatory in its
dream-logic, few episodes stand out as wholly original.
Exec. Producer -- Joan Harrison (former assistant to Alfred
Hitchcock, and the Producer of his TV series)
Genre: Horror
The Judgment of Jupiter, UPN, 1999
A sly revisiting of Roman mythology, this series is heavily under
wraps right now.
Jupiter Moon, British, 1990s
Jupiter Moon
This is the official site for JUPITER MOON.
The 1990's British science fiction drama serial.
Thanks for this information to:
Nathan Cooke
23 Walter Street
Stockton-on-Tees
United Kingdom
TS18 3PW

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K: TELEVISION: 4

Killdozer, ABC, 1972
TV movie based on Theodore Sturgeon's fine story about an alien
taking over a bulldozer on a desert island. Disappointing.
??? -- Clint Walker
??? -- Carl Betz
??? -- Neville Brand
Director -- Jerry London
Writer -- Theodore Sturgeon adapted his story himself
Kindred: The Embraced
Kindred: The Embraced
The Klingon Language Institute
Kolchak: The Night Stalker, ABC, Friday 13 Sep 1974-30 Aug 1975
Based on highly-rated TV movie with the same name (written by Richard
Matheson and directed by Dan Curtis).
The eponymous protagonist, Carl Kolchak, is a crime reporter for
Independent News Service in Chicago. Each time he investigated a
crime story, usually realistic in its initial phases, he would uncover
a supernatural story behind the story, which his editor Tony Vincenzo
would rarely believe.
Carl Kolchak -- Darren McGavin
Tony Vincenzo -- Simon Oakland
Ron Updyke -- Jack Grinnage
Emily Cowles -- Ruth McDevitt
Gordy Spangler -- John Fiedler
Monique Marmelstein -- Carol Ann Susi
Creator -- Jeff Rice
Executive Producer -- Darren McGavin
Producers -- Paul Playton and Cy Chermak

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L: TELEVISION: 12

Land of the Giants, ABC, 22 Sep 1968-6 Sep 1970
Land of the Giants List @ avimall.com
Land of the Giants by ftp
Seven human astronauts on a short "strato-cruiser" spaceflight from America to London
in roughly the year 1984 pass through a "space warp" and land in a very
Earth-like world where everything is 12 times normal size, especially
adults, children, pets, and bugs. Gilligan's Island meets "Honey, I
Shrunk the Kids", but saved by taking itself seriously and creating a
certain empathy for the people who just want to fix the spaceship and
get home, including millionare engineer Mark Wilson, heiress Valerie
Scott, and 12-year-old Barry. In the world of giants, Inspector Kobrick
of S.I.B. was the security agent in charge of finding and re-finding
the earthlings. Of course, this concept had been done with satiric
glee two centuries earlier by Jonathan Swift.
Pilot/Capt. Steve Burton -- Gary Conway
Mark Wilson -- Don Matheson
Barry Lockridge -- Stefen Arngrim
Co-Pilot Dan Erikson -- Don Marshall
Valerie Scott -- Deanna Lund
Stewardess Betty Hamilton -- Heather Young
Commander Alexander Fitzhugh -- Kurt Kasznar
Inspector Kobrick of S.I.B. -- Kevin Hagen
Chipper -- several dogs
Producer/Creator -- Irwin Allen
Special Effects Supervisor -- L. B. Abbott
Land of the Lost
Land of the Giants by ftp
Land of the Lost @ west.net
Legend, UPN, 1995
Lights Out, NBC, 19 July 1949-29 Sep 1952
Spun off from the hit radio show which began in 1934, there were four
television specials produced by Fred Coe (Goodyear TV Playhouse,
Producer's Showcase, 1955 Emmy for Best Producer of a Live Series) in
1946, and then after three years of development hell, this fine
suspense anthology. Each epsiode opened with an extreme close-up of
a pair of eyes, cutting to a close-up of a bloody hand reaching for
the light switch, and a voice-over of a chilling laugh and the
catch-phrase "lights out, everybody!"
Each episode was shot live. Some were adaptations of classic
short stories, others were developed specially for this series.
Narrator (1949-50) -- Jack LaRue
Narrator (1950-52) -- Frank Gallop
Musical Effects:
Theremin -- Paul Lipman (1949)
Organ (1949-52) -- Arlo Hults
Harp (1950-52) -- Doris Johnson
Began on radio (1934) and 4 specials
(produced by Fred Coe) on TV (1946)
Guest Stars: Boris Karloff, Eddie Albert, Billie Burke, Yvonne
DeCarlo, Raymond Massey, Burgess Meredith, Leslie Nielsen, Basil Rathbone
Logan's Run, CBS, 16 Sep 1977-16 Jan 1978
based on the novel by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson
(author of many of the best episodes of the original Twilight Zone)
and the feature film of the same title. A nuclear war had pretty much
wiped out civilization, somewhere between the late 20th century and
the year 2319. Survivors lived in cities out of touch with each
other, each having evolved its own culture, and each surrounded by
inhospitable desert. Logan lived in the sybaritic City of Domes,
where nobody was allowed to live past his or her 30th birthday.
Logan was a "Sandman" -- special policeman -- who betrayed his
training by fleeing for his life as the big three-zero approached.
He fled with a girl named Jessica and Rem, an android. He sought
a fabled "Sanctuary" but was pursued by Francis, an unrepentant
Sandman.
This was unusually sophisticated fare for TV, both in the
bleakness of the premise, the strangeness but self-consistency of the
cities, and the horrors of the badlands. It was a landmark in the
history of post-nuclear-holocaust fiction, the best recent example of
which is "The Postman" by David Brin, which has been repeatedly
optioned, was once to have been produced by Ron Howard and star Tom Hanks, but is
now to be directed by and starring Kevin Costner and be released in 1997.
Logan's Run
Logan -- Gregory Harrison
Jessica -- Heather Menzies
Rem -- Donald Moffat
Francis -- Randy Powell
Producers -- Ben Roberts and Ivan Goff (the creators of
"Charlie's Angels, who admitted knowing zero about science fiction)
Story Editor -- Dorothy C. Fontana ("Star Trek")
By the way, cult classic movie star/painter/author Mary Woronov
(Eating Raoul) guest stars as "Irene" in the "Capture" episode of Logan's Run.
Mary Woronov was my babysitter as a child, before she fell in
with Andy Warhol and became a star of multiple media. So perhaps
she is one more influence on me regarding fantasy and science
fiction.
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, ABC, 1993-Present
Lois & Clark: Ultimate Guide to Clark Kent's Ties
Rutgers' FTP Episode Guide
Production Company -- Warner Bros.
Executive Producer -- Bob Singer, Eugenie Ross-Lerning, Brad Buckner
Director of Photography -- Kenneth D. Zunder
Origination Format -- super 35mm
Film-to-Tape Transfer Facility -- Foto-Tronics
Color Correction Facility -- Foto-Tronics
Colorists -- Don Pipes, Howard Broderson
Offline Facility -- Warner Bros.
Offline Editors -- David Ekstrom, John Showalter, Anthony Pinker
Offline Editing System Manufacturer -- Avid
Online Facility -- 525 Post Production
Online Editor -- Alex Romano
Online Tape Format -- D1
Audio Editing/Mixing Facility -- Warner Bros. Studios Sound
Audio Editing System Manufacturer -- ???
Supervising Sound Editor -- Mike Lawshe
Audio Mixing/Sweetening System Manufacturer -- ???
Show Telephone Number -- (818) 954-2559
Genre: Supermen
Lost on Earth, USA Network, 4 Jan 1997
Lost on Earth
USA Network has previously brought us "Weird Science" and "Duckman",
both of which have something to recommend themselves. Well, two out
of three ain't bad.
A TV reporter in Albuquerque, David Rudy, is demoted by his
boss-from-hell, after an absurd incident with a chimp. David is
romantically involved with his boss' daughter, and avoids being fired
by agreeing to host a juvenile puppet show. The show turns out to
have puppets which are really extraterrestrials stuck on our planet.
Alien puppets and TV is a mix tried twice that I can think of
off-hand: Johnny Jupiter (1953) and ALF (1986-90), but it doesn't
accomplish what either of those did, let alone the
conceptually-related Mystery Science Theatre 3000. I'm trying to
say something nice, but I can't come up with anything yet. Sorry.
David Rudy -- Tim Conlon (Wild Oats)
boss -- Paul Gleason
boss' daughter -- Stacy Galina
The Lost Planet, BBC, 1954
Adapted from a novel of the same name, this was a television serial
aimed at children. See "Return of the Lost Planet."
??? -- Peter Kerr
??? -- Jack Stewart
??? -- Mary Law
Producer -- Kevin Sheldon
Writer -- Angus McVicar
Lost in Space, CBS, 15 Sep 1965-11 Sep 1968
Lost in Space
Rutgers' FTP Episode Guide
Gilligan's Island meets Swiss Family Robinson. The Robinson family
was en route to the Alpha Centauri solar system, 4.3 light years
away, for a five-year mission, suggesting that the spaceship Jupiter
II could go quite near the speed of light, by technologies never
explained.
Anyway, the evil-for-no-clear-motive Dr. Zachary Smith screwed up
the controls, and tampered with the program of the robot (Robby) left over
from the far-more-mature film Forbidden Planet. Or maybe Dr. Smith
was some sort of foreign agent, trapped with his intended victims.
Almost every episode had the same formula: land on another
planet while trying to get home, encounter a monster, have Dr. Smith
try to cut a deal with the monster that would send him alone back to
Earth, have Robby the Robot say "Danger, Will Robinson", menace June
Lockhart, and have Dr. Smith's fatal flaws of cowardice and greed foil
his plot, leaving us at a cliff-hanger ending.
This show seems to have been a favorite of some of my friends,
but I found it deeply frustrating, as I kept hoping for
something genuinely science fictional to happen, i.e. something with
philosophical depth, but the show stayed relentlessly superficial even
when a few lines of dialogue could have added profundity at no extra
cost.
Prof. John Robinson -- Guy Williams
Maureen Robinson -- June Lockhart (Darkroom, Ford Theatre, The Joseph
Cotton Show, Lassie, Petticoat Junction, The U.S. Steel Hour,
Who Said That?)
Don West -- Mark Goddard
Judy Robinson -- Marta Kristen
Will Robinson -- Billy Mumy (Babylon 5, Space Cases)
Penny Robinson -- Angela Cartwright
Dr. Zachary Smith -- Jonathan Harris
The Robot -- Bob May
The Robot (voice) -- Dick Tufeld
The Spaceship -- Jupiter II
Creator/Producer -- Irwin Allen
Story Consultant -- Anthony Wilson
* There is to be a 1998 film spinoff of the TV series:
Lost in Space: The Movie
The Lost Saucer
The Lost Saucer
The Love War, ABC, 1970
TV movie about alien man (Kyle) who drops out of interstellar war,
settles on Earth, goes native, falls in love with Angie Dickenson
whom he accidently meets on a bus. He ventually tells her his true
identity, and it turns out that she's an alien too, from the other
side of the war, and was there to catch him. I think.
Kyle -- Lloyd Bridges
Sandy -- Angie Dickenson
Director -- George McCowan
Writers -- Guerdon Trueblood and David Kidd
The Lurker╣s Guide to Babylon 5

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M: TELEVISION: 22

Man and the Challenge, NBC, 12 Sep 1959-3 Sep 1960
Listed here because it features a research scientist who tests the
extremes of human and equipment capability for volunteers including
astronauts. This falls within the definition of science fiction, in
that it explicitly relates science and technology and their effect on
human beings.
The best episode had three people testing space suits by walking
across Death Valley, where they have a deadly encounter with armed
militia members who assume that they are alien invaders.
Dr. Glenn Barton -- George Nader
Producer -- Ivan Tors
The Man from Atlantis, NBC, 22 Sep 1977-25 July 1978
Faster than a plate of sushi, more powerful than Flipper, more
mindless than "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea", look, down there
under the ocean, swimming in a legs-together undulating dolphin
parody, it's Patrick Duffy as ... The Man From Atlantis!
With webs between his fingers and bright green eyes, he fights a
never-ending battle for the United States Navy and the Foundation
for Oceanic Research. Pass the tartar sauce!
Mark Harris -- Patrick Duffy
Dr. Elizabeth Merrill -- Belinda Montgomery
C. W. Crawford -- Alan Fudge
Mr. Schubert -- Victor Buono
Brent -- Robert Lussier
Jomo -- Richard Williams
Chuey -- J. Victor Lopez
Jane -- Jean Marie Hon
Allen -- Anson Downes
Creator/Producer -- Herb Solow
The Man from U.N.C.L.E., NBC, 22 Sep 1964-15 Jan 1968
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Listed here because, in the James Bond tradition, it sometimes crossed
the line from Spy story to Spy Spoof, to Science Fiction. In
particular, the 1966-67 season had ever more absurd plots, with a
comic-book flavor. The series became more realistic in 1967-68, but
it was too late to stop the series from being replaced by the smash
hit "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" -- or was that a final victory by
THRUSH?
U.N.C.L.E. = United Network Command for Law Enforcement.
THRUSH = the Technological Hierarchy for the Removal of
Undesirables and the Subjugation of Humanity
Napoleon Solo -- Robert Vaughn (the show was originally to be called
"Mr. Solo" but the Jamesw Bond producers objected for some reason)
Ilya Kuryakin -- David McCallum
Mr. Alexander Waverly -- Leo G. Carroll
Lisa Rogers (1967-68) -- Barbara Moore
Creator -- Norman Felton
Producer -- Sam Rolfe and Anthony Spinner
note: David [Edward] McDaniel (16 Jun 1939-?), pseudonym of Ted Johnstone,
wrote several SF-oriented "Man from U.N.C.L.E". novels and
"The Arsenal Out of Time" (Ace, 1967) space opera
Maniac Mansion, Family Channel, 1990-1993, to be done
Maniac Mansion
Manimal, NBC, 30 Sep 1983-31 Dec 1983
Superhero/Fantasy/Police series in which Jonathan Chase has the
hereditary ability to turn himself into any animal. Disguised as an
upper-crust professor of "animal behavioral sciences" at New York
University, he was an ally to the police and a terror to criminals.
His secret identity was known only to African American assistant Ty
Earle (an old Vietnam buddy) and sexy cop Brooke. The special effects
of his transformations were good early television versions of the
"morphing" technique, now so common.
Jonathan Chase -- Simon MacCorkindale
Brooke McKenzie -- Melody Anderson
Ty Earle (pilot) -- Glynn Turman
Ty Earle (series) -- Michael D. Roberts
Caot. Nick Rivera -- Reni Santoni
Mann & Machine -- British, never broadcast in USA?
M.A.N.T.I.S., Fox, 1994-1995
M.A.N.T.I.S. Guide @ avimall.com
The first superhero/science fiction show starring an
African-American, damaged by the network toning down the racial/civil
rights subplots, but otherwise a promising series.
Max Headroom, ABC, 31 March 1987-16 Oct 1987
Max Headroom
Max Headroom Guide @ avimall.com
Rutgers' FTP Episode Guide
Based on 1984 British TV movie starring Matt Frewer and produced by
Peter Wagg, which spread like a computer virus to Cinemax distribution
in the US, and then into Coca-Cola commercials.
Premise: near-future muckraking Channel 23 reporter Edison Carter
is decapitated in a car chase. He is the model for a
computer-generated artificial intelligence created by Channel 23's
research director Bryce. Max Headroom can pop up in any computer
system or onto any network broadcast, while being monitored by
Bryce's assistant Theora and newsroom director Murray, and sometimes
by network head Mr.Cheviot.
Max Headroom competed with, and sometimes was allied with, Blank
Reg and Dominique of a lower-budget and harder-hitting network.
The British series was darker and had a nastier edge in its
depiction of a corrupt dystopian future in the Road
Warrior/Bladerunner category. That makes this the first Cyberpunk TV
series.
Edison Carter/Max Headroom -- Matt Frewer
Theora Jones -- Amanda Pays
Ben Cheviot -- George Coe
Bryce Lynch -- Chris Young
Murray -- Jeffrey Tambor
Blank Reg -- William Morgan Sheppard
Dominique -- Concetta Tomei
Ashwell -- Hank Garrett
Edwards -- Lee Wilkof
Lauren -- Sharon Barr
Ms. Formby -- Virginia Kiser
Genre: Cyberpunk
Men in Black, late 1997 or early 1998
Spin-off from the Columbia movie Men in Black
Men Into Space, CBS, 30 Sep 1959-7 Sep 1960
Men Into Space by Marc Frattasio
Triggered by the Russian launch of Sputnik on 4-5 October 1957, this
explicitly science fictional show had technical support from USAF,
Navy, Army, and various scientific organizations, in an impressive
attempt at authenticity -- making this the first "Hard Science Fiction"
series on television. It featured drama in spacecraft, space
station, Moon Base, and in the vicinity of various planets and moons
in the solar system.
Using marvelous sets, costumes, and background "Matte" paintings by
Chesley Bonestell (Dean of Space Artisist) this series presumed that
men would first go into space on an aerospace plane (perhaps a X-15
atop a Navaho booster), then build a toroidal space station, then use
the space station as a base from which to probe the moon, and finally
to land on the Moon.
In fact, President Kennedy scrapped such plans when CIA reports
suggested that the Russians were going a "quick and dirty" route to
orbit, preparing to send men into space in capsules launched by
modified ballistic missiles. He tasked NASA with an equally crude
but immediate approach. The rest is history. Hence, "Men Into Space"
is history as it SHOULD have been, based on the plans of Werner Von
Braun and his cohorts. We still have not built the National
Aerospace Plane (NASP), we are years behind on space station
construction (set to start in late 1998), and, while we got to the
moon in 1968 (as oppsed to the early 19070's predicted by "Men Into
Space") we went to visit, and never built the moon base, nor did we
boldly go onwards to Mars.
Some critics (see "Future Tense" p.294) found the show "bland and
unexciting" and blamed the low-budget artificiality of the sets.
Col. Edward McCauley -- William Lundigan (only regular cast)
??? -- Joyce Taylor
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
Parent everywhere lament the success of this ultra-low budget
low-quality series revamped and redubbed from a pathetic Japanese
series. Except, of course, for parents who then enroll their kids in
Martial Arts classes, where the kids actually learn some discipline.

Millennium, Fox, October 1996-present, to be done
Millennium, created by Chris "X-Files" Carter, was renewed for a
second season, even though it's ratings were indifferent (80th out of
118 shows on major networks), meaning that it is seen by a mere
10,700,000 viewers each week. Sometimes quality does beat quantity.
Millennium official site, but cool
Millennium @ aol
The best new series of the 1996 season? many think so.
Production Company -- Ten-Thirteen Productions
Executive Producer -- Chris Carter
Director of Photography -- Robert McLaughlin
Origination Format -- 35mm
Film-to-Tape Transfer Facility -- Gastown Post, colorist: Tim Kinoshita/Gastown Post
Color Correction Facility -- Encore Video
Colorist -- Phil Azenzer
Offline Facility -- In-house
Offline Editors -- Stephen Mark, Chris Willingham, George Potter
Offline Editing System Manufacturer -- Avid
Online Facility -- Encore Video
Online Editor -- Bob Minshall
Online Tape Format -- DCT
Audio Editing/Mixing Facility -- West Productions
Supervising Sound Editor -- Mark R. Crokston
Audio Editing System Manufacturer -- Waveframe
Audio Mixing/Sweetening System Manufacturer -- Dolby
Show Telephone Number -- (310) 369-1130
Misfits of Science, NBC, 4 Oct 1985-21 Feb 1986, to be done
Misfits of Science by ftp
Fantasy aimed at disaffected teenagers, with the message that it's
okay to be a freak, especially if you want to fight evil. The
"Humanidyne" Institute" in Los Angeles brought together a
7-foot-4-inch African American (El Lincoln) who could shrink to six
inches, rock musician Johnny B. who can shoot lightning bolts from
his fingers, and telekinetic levitaor former juvenile delinquent
Gloria.
They were led in their crime-busting by junior scientist Dr.
Billy Hayes, against the wishes of Humanidyne" Institute Director Dick
Stetmeyer. Jane Miller was Gloria's probation officer; Miss Nance
was the Institute's useless receptionist.
Dr. Billy Hayes -- Dean Paul Martin
Dr. Elvin "El" Lincoln -- Kevin Peter Hall
Johnny Bukowski ("Johnny B.") -- Mark Thomas Miller
Gloria Dinallo -- Cortney Cox ("Friends" 1996)
Jane Miller -- Jennifer Holmes
Dick Stetmeyer -- Max Wright (ALF 1986-90, Buffalo Bill 1983-4)
Miss Nance -- Diane Civita
Mission: Impossible, CBS, 17 Sep 1966-8 Sep 1973
Mission: Impossible by ftp
Listed here because, in the James Bond tradition, it sometimes crossed
the line from Spy story to Spy Spoof, to Science Fiction. Also, its
cast overlapped that of "Space 1999" (Martin Landau and Barbara Bain),
and featured Leonard Nimoy of the Star Trek franchise. I'm also
biased because one episode was filmed at my alma mater, Caltech, and I
was photographed chatting with Barbara Bain with a photo run in
various Hollywood magazines.
Daniel Briggs (1966-67) -- Steven Hill
Cinnamon Carter (1966-69) -- Barbara Bain
Rollin Hand (1966-69) -- Martin Landau
Barney Collier -- Greg Morris
Willie Armitage -- Peter Lupus
Voice on Tape -- Bob Johnson
James Phelps (1967-73) -- Peter Graves
Paris (1969-71) -- Leonard Nimoy
Doug (1970-71) -- Sam Elliott
Dana Lambert (1970-71) -- Lesley Ann Warren
Casey (1971-73) -- Lynda Day George
Mimi Davis (1972-73) -- Barbara Anderson
Theme -- "Mission Impossible" by Lalo Schifrin (14 weeks on
Billboard's "Hot 100" chart in 1968, plus two albums later.
Monsters, to be done
Monsters by ftp
Moonbase 3, BBC, 1973
Boring attempt at realistic serial about scientists in 2003 in a domed
base on the moon. By the way, you need about 5-10 feet of moondirt
(regolith) piled on top of a dome to block off ionizing radiation.
Producers/Writers -- Barry Letts and Terrence Dicks
Mork & Mindy, ABC, 14 Sep 1978-10 June 1982, introduced Robin Williams
Mork & Mindy @ pe.com
Spin-off from a February 1978 episode of "Happy Days" (15 Jan 1974-
12 July 1984) where an alien from the planet Ork came to Earth and tried
to kidnap Richie Cunningham (Ron Howard). The episode generated so
many letters to the ABC that they created this new series.
Mork did not fit in on Ork, because he alone had a sense of
humor, and so he was semi-exiled to Earth by the leader, Orson. Mork
was supposed to figure out humans, which the Orkans had never been
able to do.
He would report back to Orson at the end of each episode in an
explanatory monologue that would end with the catch-phrase "Nanu
nanu."
Mork soft-landed in a giant egg just outside Boulder, Colorado,
and was taken in by Mindy MConell, who worked at her father's music
store (just as Philip K. Dick worked at a record store in Berkeley
and saw the world through unique persepctives). Mork combined human
and Orkian customs in a wacky but well-meaning way that had him
pegged as just plain nuts. Everybody was worried about Mindy keeping
this weirdo in her attic, except for hip grandma Cora.
The show had great ratings for a season, until ABC foolishly
rewrote it, in blatant disregard for the first law of television:
if it ain't broken, don't fix it. The second season started with a
complete change of supporting cast and an episode in a strange world
of good and evil archetypes. ABC also moved the show from a Thursday
slot to Sunday. The ratings immediately plummeted by over 50%.
The network restored the show to its former Thursday slot,
simplified the confused story line, and brought back Cora and
Frederick McConnell, who had supposedly toured as an orchestra
conductor during his hiatus. The brother-and-sister pair from the
Bronx, the DaVincis, were added (to no good effect). Mindy's cousin
Nelson, an irritating preppie/yuppie came into the show, and
downstairs neighbor (think "Dennis the Menace" Mr. Wilson) Mr. Bickley
had his role expanded. The lunatic Exidor made recurring
appearances, as a friend of Mork who babbled new-age prophecy and led
a cult "The Friends of Venus" made of imaginary invisible members.
Mindy somehow parlayed her journalism classes into employment at
KTNS-TV under Mr. Sternhagen. Ratings partly rebounded.
In Fall 1981, Mork and Mindy were married, and had a surrealistic
honeymoon on Ork. Mork then gave birth to fully-grown Jonathan
Winters, who called Mindy "Shoe" and Mork "Mommy." He grew younger
and younger. Robin Williams and Jonathan Winters were the highpoint
of network comedy, but could not by themselves get ratings back to
what ABC demanded.
Mork -- Robin Williams
Mindy Beth McConnell -- Pam Dawber
Frederick McConnell (1978-79, 1980-82) -- Conrad Janis
Cora Hudson (1978-79, 1981-82) -- Elizabeth Kerr
Eugene (1978-79) -- Jeffrey Jacquet
Orson (voice only) -- Ralph James
Franklin Delano Bickley -- Tom Poston
Remo DaVinci (1979-81) -- Jay Thomas
Jean DaVinci (1979-81) -- Gina Hecht
Nelson Flavor (1979-81) -- Jim Staahl
Exidor -- Robert Donner
Glenda Faye "Crissy" Comstock (1980-81) -- Crisy Wilzak
Mr. Miles Sternhagen (1981) -- Foster Brooks
Mearth -- (1981-82) -- Jonathan Winters
Mr. Merlin, 7 Oct 1981-18 Aug 1982
Arthurian fantasy in a San Francisco garage, this was an odd blend
of "urban fantasy" as pioneered by Fritz Leiber with sitcom formula.
Plots often hinged on (from a software point of view) "bugs" in
magical spells, and on a shadowy group of sorcerers.
Max Merlin -- Barnard Hughes
Zachary Rogers -- Clark Brandon
Leo Samuels -- Jonathan Prince
Alexandra -- Elaine Joyce
The Munsters, 24 Sep 1964-1 Sep 1966
Marilyn Munster Home Page
This was a fairly successful meld of dark fantasy made light, and
sitcom silliness. There was a science-fiction air to the way that
the mundane/pretty niece Marilyn looked strange to the family of
Frankensteinian monster, 350-year-old vampire, and werewolf, while
they in turn looked normal to each other and strange to outsiders.
This was, by the way, the favorite American show of The Beatles, who
enjoyed hanging out with Al Lewis on one American tour (the one where
they played the Hollywood Bowl).
Herman Munster -- Fred Gwynne
Lily Munster -- Yvonne DeCarlo
Grandpa Munster -- Al Lewis
Edward "Eddie" Wolfgang -- Butch Patrick
Marilyn Munster (1964) -- Beverly Owens
Marilyn Munster (1964-66) Pat Priest
Marilyn Munster Home Page
The above homepage is still under construction, but does include:
* links to 8 other "Munster & Monster" pages
* will have lots of info on Pat Priest as marilyn Munster
* will have data on the rest of the Munsters cast
Muppet Show -- should I put an entry here for "Pigs in Space"?
My Favorite Martian, CBS, 29 Sep 1963- 4 Sep 1966
Sit-com about Los Angeles Sun reporter Tim O'Hara rescuing a crashed
Martian who looked human (except for extensile antennae) and had both
telepathic and telekinetic powers, plus invisibility and a mind
filled with advanced technology.
Like all good aliens, he just wanted to fix his spaceship and go
home, while he stayed with Tim in Mrs. Brown's boardinghouse. He
developed a crush on Mrs. Brown, and imagined that Officer Brennan
also had romantic leanings towards her -- which he manifestly did.
The show worked to the extent that Ray Walston's character was
so convincingly portrayed, and failed to the extent that the episodic
sit-com adventures went nowhere.
Uncle Martin/The Martian -- Ray Walston
Tim O'Hara -- Bill Bixby
Mrs. Lorelei Brown -- Pamela Britton
Angela Brown (1963-64) -- Ann Marshall
Mr. Harry Burns (1963-64) -- J. Pay O'Malley
Detective Bill Brennan (1964-66) -- Alan Hewitt
The Police Chief (1965-66) -- Roy Engle
Creator -- Jack Chertok ("My Living Doll")
Producer -- Jack Chertok
My Living Doll, CBS, 1964
Sit-com sci-fi remake of "Pygmalion", about an attempt
to train a robot (AF 709) to become a "perfect woman."
Rhoda Miller/The Robot -- Julie Newmar
Dr. Robert McDonald -- Bob Cummings
Peter Robinson -- Jack Mullaney
Irene Adams -- Doris Dowling
Creator -- Jack Chertok ("My Favorite Martian")
Producer -- Jack Chertok
My Secret Identity, Syndicated, 1988-1991, to be done
Mystery Science Theater 3000, Comedy Central, 1991-1996 , to be done
and the Sci-Fi Channel, 1997

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N: TELEVISION: 6

Should I mention NBC's Saturday Night Live for its Coneheads routine, which
turned into a movie?
Night Gallery, NBC, 16 Dec 1970-12 Aug 1973, to be done
The show that ended Rod Serling's brilliant career (he was felled by a
heart attack in 1975). It was an attempt to revive the "Twilight
Zone" formula, but it didn't take off this time, perhaps because it
was too often fantasy and not often enough science fiction.
Host -- Rod Serling
Creator -- Rod Serling
Producer -- Jack Laird
Nightmare Cafe, NBC, 1992, to be done
The Night That Panicked America, ABC, 1975
TV movie about the 1938 broadcast by Orson Wells of "The War of the
Worlds" by H. G. Wells." Realistic when portraying the insider's view
of radio broadcasting, but banal in portraying the panic of
Americans. At least, by comparison to the stories my mother told me
about the panic in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where she grew up. Just a
girl then, she ran around telling people that this was not a real
news broadcast but only Orson Wells in a scheduled broadcast of the
fiuctional "Mercury Theatre", but my Mom was ignored as people packed
their cars and drove off into chaos.
Director -- Joseph Sargent
No Soap, Radio, ABC, 15 Apr 1982-13 May 1982
should I include this here because of its spoofs on science fiction
films such as "The Day Everyone's Name Became Al"?
Nowhere Man, to be done
Nowhere Man @ abacus.com

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O: TELEVISION: 16

Ocean Girl, to be done
Ocean Girl @ disney.com
The Omega Factor, to be done
The Omega Factor
Once A Hero, ABC, 19 Sep 1987-3 Oct 1987
Comicbook hero crosses into real world (as in "Who Framed Roger
Rabbit?") where his superpowers don't operate. The episode starring
Adam West (Batman) never aired.
Captain Justice/Brad Steele -- Jeff Lester
Abner Bevis -- Milo O'Shea
Emma Greely -- Caitlin Clarke
Woody Greely -- Josh Blake
Gumshoe -- Robert Forster
Eddie Kybo -- David Wohl
Rachel Kirk -- Dianne Kay
Gent -- William Griffis
One Step Beyond, see Alcoa Presents
Operation Neptune, NBC, 28 Jun 1953-18 Sep 1952
Navy-related child-oriented live science fiction.
Commander Bill Hollister -- Todd Griffin
Dink Saunders -- Richard Holland
Kebeda -- Harold Conklin
Mersennus -- Dehl Berti
Admiral Bigelow -- Rusty Lane
Thirza -- Margaret Stewart
Trychus -- Humphrey Davis
Otherworld, CBS, 26 Jan 1985-16 Mar 1985
Otherworld Guide @ avimall.com
Otherworld by ftp
Alternate universe series with the Great Pyramid as gateway,
and therefore oddly similar to "Stargate" in some aspects.
Hal Sterling -- Sam Groom
June Sterling -- Gretchen Corbett
Trace Sterling -- Tony O'Dell
Gina Sterling -- Jonna Lee
Smith Sterling -- Brandon Crane
Kommander Nuveen Kroll -- Jonathan Banks
The Outer Limits, ABC, 16 Sep 1963-16 Jan 1965
Exec. Producer/Creator -- Leslie Stevens
Producer -- Joseph Stefano
"There is nothing wrong with your TV set. We are controlling
transmission. We can control the vertical. We can control the horizontal.
For the next hour we wll control all that you see and hear and
think. You are watching a drama that reaches from the inner mind
to ... The Outer Limits!"
Harlan Ellison wrote the two best episodes of this anthology
series, including the masterpiece "Demon With a Glass Hand."
The Outer Limits [new], Showtime and Syndication, 1995-Present
The Outer Limits (unofficial)
The Outer Limits (new official?)
The Outer Limits (official)
The Outer Limits Guide @ avimall.com
Rutgers' FTP Episode Guide
Production Company -- Trilogy, MGM, Atlantis
Executive Producer -- Richard B, Lewis, Pen Densham, John Watson
Director of Photography -- Rick Wincenty
Origination Format -- super 16mm
Film-to-Tape Transfer Facility -- Gastown Post
Color Correction Facility -- Gastown Post
Colorist -- Richard Cordes, Achim Kapitza
Offline Facility -- The Bridge
Offline Editors -- Judy Andreson, Brad Rines, Ron Yashida
Offline Editing System Manufacturer -- Lightworks
Online Facility -- Gastown Post
Online Editor -- Fred Richters, Flavid Bidese
Online Tape Format -- DCT
Audio Editing/Mixing Facility -- Sharpe Sound
Supervising Sound Editor -- Jacqueline Christiane
Audio Editing System Manufacturer -- D.A.W.N.
Audio Mixing/Sweetening System Manufacturer -- Amek
Show Telephone Number -- (604) 299-7119
Aliens, Language, and The Outer Limits
Out of the Unknown, BBC, 1965
British science fiction anthology series of high quality albeit low
budget (4,000 pounds/episode in 1st season, 6,000 pounds/episode 2nd
season). Adaptations of stories by first-rate science fiction authors.
Producer -- Alan Bromly
Writers -- adaptations of stories by Isaac Asimov, J. G. Ballard,
John Brunner, Cyril Kornbluth, Robert Sheckley, Clifford Simak,
John Wyndam, and others
Outlaws, CBS, 28 Dec 1986-30 May 1987
Another Sci-Fi/Western crossover. In 1899 Sheriff John Grail was
about to capture Harland Pike's gang of bankrobbers in Texas (with
which he himself had been formerly affiliated) when a lightning storm
threw him and the gang into the Texas on 90 years later.
They spent their gold coins to buy the Double Eagle Ranch, and
started the Double Eagle Detective Agency to bring 19th Century
standards of justice to a flabby contemprary southwest. They wore
modern knockoffs of their period costumes, used old-fashioned
weapons, had trouble controlling Harland's brother Billy (read "Billy
Carter"). Despite endless gunfights, none of them were ever
seriously injured. Lt. Maggie Randall was their liaison to the
Houston Police Department, and developed a crush on John Grail.
Sheriff John Grail -- Rod Taylor
Harland Pike -- William Lucking
Wolfson "Wolf" Lucas -- Charles Napier
Isaiah "Ice" McAdams -- Richard Roundtree ("Shaft")
Billy Pike -- Patrick Houser
Lt. Maggie Randall -- Christine Belford
Out of This World, ABC, 1952
An odd combination of science fact (in lecture format) and science
fiction, the SF highpoint came in episode 3 (writer: Robbie
Robertson) with a couple traveling to the Moon for a
vacation/honeymoon. This episode intercut between dramatization and
speculation on lunar environments by a real scientist, Robert R. Cole.
Narrator -- Jackson Beck
Producer -- Milton Kaye
Out of This World, ITV (Great Britain), 1962
Anthology science fiction series, unrelated to the two American shows
of the same name.
Host -- Boris Karloff
Producer -- Leonard White
Writers -- adaptations of stories by Isaac Asimov, Philip K. Dick,
Clifford Simak and other excellent SF authors
Out Of this World, Syndicated, MCA TV, Bob Booker Productions, Sep 1987-1991
Evie's powers, out of place in Northern California, came from her
father Troy from the planet "Antareus", with whom she communicated by
a FTL communicator cube similar to Ursula K. Le Guin's "Ansible"
which, by the way, is not only now the name of a well-respected
fanzine, but is also an anagram of "Lesbian" -- go figure.
Donna Garland -- Donna Pescow
Evie Ethel Garland (at 13) -- Maureen Flanigan
Mayor Kyle Applegate -- Doug McClure
Beano Froelich -- Joe Alaskey
Buzz -- Buzz Belmondo
Troy (voice) -- Burt Reynolds
Lindsay Selkirk -- Christina Nigra (occasional)
Phil -- John Roarke (occasional)
Quigley Handlesman -- Carl Steven (occasional)
Chris Fuller -- Stephen J. Burke (occasional)
Out Of this World
German fan's site dedicated to Maureen Flannigan as Evie Ethel Garland
from this series
Out There, CBS, 28 Oct 1951-13 Jan 1952
Live anthology series consisting of adaptations from short stories by
major Science Fiction authors, aimed at adult/juvenile crossover
audience, using special effects. A now-obscure series that should be
commended for its attention to literature, which was simply ahead of
its time. Teleplays were adapted from short stories by notable
science fiction authors.

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The Phoenix, ABC, 19 Mar 1982-15 Sep 1982
Born as a 26 Apr 1981 movie special, this was reprised as a short-run
series. Bennu was a, emissary from an alien planet with a dying
race, who came to earth in the 4th Century A.D. and was preserved in
an Andean tomb, being somehow revived by modern Inca-hunting
archeologists. His motivation: to find his partner Mira, buried
half-alive somewhere else in the Americas, while protecting the
environment with his necklace-worn amulet. Preminger was the
government agent tasked with capturing Bennu and putting his powers
to work for covert intelligence purposes.
Bennu of the Golden Light -- Judson Scott
Preminger -- Richard Lynch
Pinky & the Brain, animated, to be done
Pinky & the Brain
Planet Earth, ABC, 1974
TV movie by Gene Roddenberry -- the second time he tried to launch a
new series (Genesis II was the first). It had, in fact, the same
plot as Genesis II, with a 20th century astronaut stranded in the
future.
Astronaut -- John Saxon
Creator/Producer -- Gene Roddenberry
Writers -- Gene Roddenberry and Juanita Bartlett
The Planet of the Apes, CBS, 13 Sep 1974-27 Dec 1974
The Planet of the Apes by ftp
A less-successful spinoff of the films, which were adapted from a
novel of the same name by Pierre Boulle. An animated spinoff of the
TV spinoff of the film adaptation of the novel was "Beyond the Planet
of the Apes", on NBC from September 1975 to September 1976.
Galen -- Roddy McDowell (reprise of film role)
Alan Virdon -- Ron Harper
Peter Burke -- James Naughton
Urko -- Mark Lenard
Zaius -- Booth Colman
Producer -- Stan Hough
Genre: "Bambi's Children": animals who think and talk
Poltergeist: the Legacy, Showtime, 1996-Present, to be done
Poltergeist: the Legacy
Production Company -- Trilogy, MGM, PMP
Executive Producer -- Richard B, Lewis, Pen Densham, John Watson
Director of Photography -- Brenton Spencer
Origination Format -- super 16mm
Film-to-Tape Transfer Facility -- Gastown Post
Color Correction Facility -- Gastown Post
Colorist -- Sue Chambers, Ernie Moser
Offline Facility -- The Bridge
Offline Editors -- Eric Hill, Rick Martin, Stein Myhrstad
Offline Editing System Manufacturer -- ???
Online Facility -- Gastown Post
Online Editor -- Flavid Bidese, Greg Krantz
Online Tape Format -- DCT
Audio Editing/Mixing Facility -- Sharpe Sound
Supervising Sound Editor -- Anke Bakker
Audio Editing System Manufacturer -- D.A.W.N.
Audio Mixing/Sweetening System Manufacturer -- Amek
Show Telephone Number -- (604) 299-7119
Genre: Horror
The Powers of Matthew Star, NBC, 17 Sep 1982-11 Sep 1983
The Powers of Matthew Star Guide @ avimall.com
Most High School students feel alienated, but Matthew Starr of
Crestridge High really was, as Crown Prince of planet Quadris, exiled
to Earth to do his homework on telekinesis and telepathy. He fought
monstrous and robotic goons from the tyranny that outsed his Dad,
while pretending to be the adopted son of Walt Shepard, whom Lou
Gossett Jr. almost made plausible as combination Science
Teacher/Football Coach, otherwise the least likely plot element. And
I speak as a graduate of Caltech, where the football team had higher
IQs than weights (in pounds). The series was supposed to premiere in
September 1981, but was delayed a year due to Peter Barton's being
seriously burned during filming. The show lost its focus about
halfway through, when Matt developed transmutation and astral
projection, while fighting spies for Major Wymore, and still somehow
having time to hang out with buddy Bob and try getting past first base
with Pam.
Matthew Starr -- Peter Barton
Walt Shepard -- Louis Gosset, Jr.
Pam Elliott (1982) -- Amy Steel
Bob Alexander (1982) -- Chip Frye
Major Wymore (1982) -- James Karen
The Prisoner, ITC (Great Britain) and CBS, 1 June 1968-11 Sep 1969 (and rerun 1969)
Rutgers' FTP Episode Guide
Deservedly a cult favorite, this was one of America's greatest orginal
television dramas, in part because it was filmed in England, and was the
brainchild of the charismatic Patrick McGoohan, who created, starred,
produced, and wrote some episodes (American science fiction/opera/poet
genius Thomas M. Disch wrote most of the rest). It was a
quasi-spinoff of Patrick McGoohan's character John Drake in the British
(1965-66) series "Secret Agent", (for which Johnny Rivers had a pop hit with
the Phil Sloane & Steve Barri theme song "Secret Agent Man" --
"they've given you a number, and taken away your name").
Rather like James Bond meets Kafka in John La Carre
neverland. The main location, "the village", was Portmeiron, a North
Wales resort on Cardigan Bay, where Bertrand Russell, George Bernard
Shaw, and Noel Coward used to relax. This is most appropriate, as the
intelligent scripts combined the twisted mathematical logic of
Bertrand "Principia Mathematica" Russell (once jailed for antiwar
activism), the vegetarian iconoclast playwright Shaw, and the zany
musical ironies of Noel Coward -- Disch's choreography of "Dem Bones"
had to be seen to be believed.
The Prisoner/Number 6 -- Patrick McGoohan
The Butler -- Angelo Muscat
Number 2 -- different in each episode
Producer -- David Tomblin
The Prisoner
Probe, ABC, 7 Mar 1988-29 June 1988
A series too literate for television, thanks to co-creator Isaac
Asimov (who was active in both Science Fiction Writers of America,
Mystery Writers of America, and Mensa). Austin James, from a base of
operations called "the batcave", was a scientific genius -- a cross
between Isaac Asimov himself, Science Officer Spock, and Sherlock
Holmes.
Each episode's plot was based on an actual scientific fact or
theory. Austin and secretary/sidekick Mickey (the Dr. Watson to
Austin's Sherlock Holmes) would solve each crime by analysis of clues
in the laboratory part of the warehouse/batcave. Police arrested the
perpetrator every time, invariably surprising the criminal who
thought that he was too clever for the cops to nab.
If you enjoyed this show, I strongly recommend that you buy any
of the mystery novels of Isaac Asimov. He told me, in the blueroom at
NBC before we did the NBC-TV Today Show together, that "Muder at the
A.B.A." was his personal favorite -- it deals with a murder at a
convention, and has wicked insights into science fiction fandom,
literary agents, book deals, and the like.
Isaac Asimov [see the Ultimate Mystery/Detective Web Guide] also
wrote a series of "Black Widow" mystery stories, about crimes solved
by a waiter at a weekly restaurant gathering of authors.
Austin James -- Parker Stevenson
Mickey Castle -- Ashley Crow
Created By -- Dr. Isaac Asimov [see Authors page] and Michael Wagner
(Hill Street Blues story editor)
Project U.F.O., 19 Feb 1978-30 Aug 1979
Jack Webb, master of realistic police drama (Dragnet, Adam 12)
absorbed himself in the Air Force's "Project Blue Book" analysis of
unidentified flying objects, and dramatized the reports that just
couldn't be covered up or dismissed. Kind of a "X Files" ahead of its
time, this show also had a gritty authenticity that some viewers took
to be straight documentary. Hard-core UFO believers point out that
the series was produced by Colonel William T. Coleman, who was the
genuine Project Blue-Book head, and was therefore a cover-up disguised
as fiction but all too true. Hmmmmmm.
Major Jake Gatlin (1978) -- William Jordan
Captain Ben Ryan -- Edward Winter
Staff Sargeant Harry Fitz -- Caskey Swaim
Libby Virdon -- Aldine King
Executive Producer -- Jack Webb
Producer -- Colonel William T. Coleman
Pursuit, ABC, 1972
TV movie directed by Michael Crichton (the author who later directed
"Westworld" and "Coma", and co-created "E.R."). A politician who goes
nuts plans to blow up a political convention in San Diego with nerve
gas. Well, it might have saved us from Bob Dole's campaign....
??? -- Ben Gazarra
??? -- E. G. Marshall
??? -- Joseph Wiseman
??? -- William Windom
??? -- Martin Sheen
Writer -- based on the novel "Binary" written by Michael Crichton
under the pseudonym "John Lange." Chrichton wanted to write the
screenplay too, but did not.

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Q: TELEVISION: 9

The Q Continuum (Star Trek)
Q.E.D., 23 Mar 1982-27 Apr 1982
Does Q.E.D. stand for "Quod Erat Demonstrandum" (a phrase used at the
end of a mathematical proof, meaning "what was meant to be
demonstrated") or -- as they whisper at Caltech -- "Quantum
Electrodynamics?" This shortlived show was "The Wild, Wild West"
meets H.G. Wells' England (1912). It is thus a cousin of both The Adventures
of Brisco County, Jr. and of Dr. Who. The usual mad scientist bent on
global conquest -- Dr. Kilkiss -- was always thwarted by American
Professor Quentin E. Deverill, an amateur detective who could throw
together astonishing gimmicks, and his Cockney butler/chauffeur, for
an Arthur Conan Doyle flavor (Deverill = Sherlock Holmes, Kilkiss =
Moriarty, Phipps = Dr. Watson).
Quentin E. Deverill -- Sam Waterston
Phipps -- George Innes
Charlie Andrews -- A. C. Weary
Dr. Stefan Kilkiss -- Julian Glover
Jenny Martin -- Caroline Langrishe
Quantum Leap, NBC, 1989-1993, to be done
Rutgers' FTP Episode Guide
Quantum Leap
I really ought to put more here about this excellent and very popular
show, whose fans are called "Leapers." The protagonist is thrown
from one historic period to another by a malfunctioning time
machine. In each episode, he must find, with the help of his
sex-obsessed friend in the future and a supercomputer in that same
future, the purpose for his leap, that is: what good deed he must do
to change the past into the actual past that led to his future. Once
he does his good deed, he vanishes from that era and leaps to another.
The deeper paradoxes of Time Travel are not dealt with. But see
my related page:
TIME TRAVEL: List of 65 movies about time travel, last updated 6 March 1997
Quark, NBC, 24 Feb 1978- 14 Apr 1978
Quark by Ralph Luethy
Quark by ftp
This was the parody of space opera -- especially "Star Wars" -- for
TV, as Mel Brooks waited too long to try the same notion for film in
"Space Balls." The mixture of sex, Woody Allen type brainy jokes, and
slapstick/physical comedy never quite jelled, but many fans swore that
it would have if the network had only been patient.
Adam Quark -- Richard Benjamin
Gene/Jean -- Tim Thomerson [male/female "transmute"]
Ficus -- Richard Kelton [half man, half vegetable]
Betty I -- Tricia Barnstable [the original]
Betty II -- Cyb Barnstable [the clone - or vice versa?]
Andy the Robot -- Bobby Porter
Otto Palindrome -- Conrad Janis
The Head -- Alan Caillou
High Gorgon -- (???) occasional
Zoltar the Magnificent -- (???) occasional
Zorgon the Malevolent -- (???) occasional
year -- 2222 A.D.
space station -- Perma One
Creator/Writer -- Buck Henry ("Get Smart!", "Saturday Night Live")
The Quatermass Experiment, BBC, 1953, 6 episodes (40 minutes each)
In Great Britain, this was seen in 1953 on television as a six-part
serial, but in the United States it was only seen after Hammer Films
adapted the episodes and two sequel series into feature films, which
were released in the US (and broadcast at obscure times) as "The
Creeping Unknown", "Enemy from Space", and "Five Million Years to
Earth."
A brilliant cross-over between science fiction and horror, it
was aimed at adults but was even more effective on children who got to
see it despite the BBC warning "thought to be unsuitable for children
and persons of a nervous disposition."
An astronaut comes back to Earth having been unknowingly
infected by an extraterrestrial life form. The series was
transmitted live using 1936 TV cameras each with only a single lens,
which prevented rapid cuts from one camera to another, although some
special effects sequences were pre-filmed inserts.
Astronaut -- Duncan Lamont
Professor Quatermass -- Reginald Tate
Producer -- Rudolph Cartier
Director -- Rudolph Cartier
Writer -- Nigel Kneale
Quatermass II, BBC, 1955
The second of the three Quatermass serials (see "The Quatermass
Experiment"). The British government was being taken over from
within by extraterrestrials who had previously set up a remote rural
base camp in England or Scotland. Eventually the Hammer film
adaptation was shown in the US as "Enemy from Space."
Professor Quatermass -- John Robinson (Reginald Tate was deceased)
Producer -- Rudolph Cartier
Director -- Rudolph Cartier
Writer -- Nigel Kneale
Quatermass and the Pit, BBC, 1958
The third and best of the three Quatermass serials (see "The Quatermass
Experiment"). Earth was starting to be invaded by insectile aliens
five million years ago. The site of the first Martian spaceship has
been a location for supernatural events ever since London was
founded. When this site is accidently excavated for commercial real estate
construction, the invasion picks up where it left off. This was a
marvellously well-thought-through story, with scientists actually
analyzing stuff, and the martians having a self-consistent but
decidedly non-human characterization and social structure.
Eventually the Hammer film adaptation was shown in the US as
"Five Million Years to Earth."
In a 1977 interview by Paul Madden ("Future Tense", p.294) Nigel
Kneale said "In the Quatermass serials, I always used what was going
on at the time as a basis for the stories... in the late 1950s London
was being rebuilt after the war and so a number of huge cavities were
being dug... unexploded bombs were always being found and sometimes
old Roman ruins would be exposed. And I thought -- what if they
found something else far beyond that? What if they uncovered a
spaceship? And this led to Quatermass and the Pit."
Professor Quatermass -- Andre Morell
Producer -- Rudolph Cartier
Director -- Rudolph Cartier
Writer -- Nigel Kneale
The Questor Tapes, NBC, 1974
The third try by Gene Roddenberry since Star Trek to launch a new
series (#1 was Genesis II, #2 was Planet Earth). An android named
Questor tries to figure out the reason he exists. Philosophically
speaking, this is an "ontological" drama. In literary tradition, it
draws on the Golem myth, Mary Shelly'd Frankenstein, and the fiction
of Philip K. Dick.
Questor -- Robert Foxworth
Creator/Producer -- Gene Roddenberry
Director -- Richard A. Colla
Writers -- Gene Roddenberry and Gene Coon

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R: TELEVISION: 11

The Ray Bradbury Theatre, HBO and USA, 1985-1987
Rutgers' FTP Episode Guide
The Ray Bradbury Theatre Guide @ avimall.com
Filmed in Canada and New Zealand to save money, immortal writer ray
Bradbury showed a strong hand as producer of sometimes stunning,
sometimes poignant, sometimes nostalgic, occasionally surprising
dramatizations of some of the finest short stories to ever be screened
The Real Ghostbusters, to be done
Based on the hit movie with the hit song.
ReBoot, the first all-computer-graphics animated series; to be done
Red Dwarf, BBC series in USA syndication on PBS, 1989-1995, to be done
Red Dwarf Guide @ avimall.com
Rutgers' FTP Episode Guide
Return of the Lost Planet, BBC, 1954
Adapted from Angus McVicar's novel of the same name, this was a television serial
sequel aimed at children. See "The Lost Planet."
??? -- Peter Kerr
??? -- Jack Stewart
??? -- Mary Law
Producer -- Kevin Sheldon
Writer -- Angus McVicar
RoboCop--The Series, Syndication, 1994-1995, to be done
Robotech, to be done
Rocky and his Friends, see The Bullwinkle Show
Rocky Jones, Space Ranger, syndicated, 1953
This was the first science fiction television show to be entirely
pre-filmed (instead of televised live, like "Captain Video", "Space
Patrol", "Buck Rogers", "Tom Corbett") and therefore it was the first
to use quality sets, location shoots, and decent special effects.
Rocky Jones -- Richard Crane
Rod Brown of the Rocket Rangers, CBS, 1953
Space opera for children, set in the 22nd century, and based on
"Rocket Rangers" who combat "interplanetary evil."
Rod Brown -- Cliff Robertson
??? -- Bruce Hall
??? -- Jack Weston
Genre: Space Opera
Rod Serling's Night Gallery -- see Night Gallery

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Sabrina, the Teenage Witch
Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, ABC, 1997
"Sabrina, the Teenage Witch" is now the centerpiece of ABC's
child-oriented Friday night programming, having been promoted from the
8:30 to the anchor 9:00 p.m. slot, and it has a great deal
working in its favor. My 8-year-old likes the show, and when I've
been stuck with watching it, I rather enjoyed it too. Here's why.
As kid-TV goes, "Sabrina" has a real superstar: Melissa Joan Hart.
Melissa Joan Hart previously starred in the 1991-1994 Nickolodeon
hit "Clarissa Explains It All" which my son, myself, and even my
sophisticated wife enjoyed. Melissa Joan Hart's mother is one of the
Executive Producers of "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch" and one might
reasonably infer that the new show was constructed as a vehicle for
Mom's talented daughter.
Melissa is a sweet, spunky, cheerful young teen -- but with an
edge to her character which expreses itself in realistic disdain for
a younger brother (in Clarissa), in a subtle rebelliousness against
the adult world, and in a pragmatic but often bungling scheming
sneakiness. She carries all of these aspects into the new role,
where she is supported rather than thwarted by adults, in the persons
of the equally blonde, equally magical Aunt Hilda and Aunt Zelda. Men
in this show are virtually powerless. The cute, eager-to-please but
dim-bulb boyfriend is typical of the sisterhood-is-powerful feminist
subtext. Adolescence itself is thematic, as Sabrina discovers on her
16th birthday that she has witchly strengths, when she finds herself
levitating in her sleep, so there is an equation here that
power = magic = sexuality.
And yet Sabrina is as ill-prepared to deal with the adult world
as any teenager, and her magic usually backfires in instructive ways.
The lesson to kids is "don't try to be what you are not", mixed with
"watch out for what you wish for -- you might just get it!"
As Robert Lloyd points out in "Go Girls -- Sabrina and Alex Mack",
L.A. Weekly, 24 January 1997, p.32, "As is not uncommon in modern
juvenile fiction and film -- think [Roald] Dahl, think [Daniel] Pinkwater,
if you're lucky enough to know the 'Snarkout Boys' books -- both shows
celebrate the marginal, embrace the eccentric and prize the individual.
'I like weird, I love weird, I bask in the glow of weird'
exults Sabrina's best friend, Jenny (the delightful Michelle Beaudoin)....
'Sabrina, the Teenage Witch' and 'The Secret World of Alex Mack' are of course,
beneath the [special effects], just shows about growing up. But that's an
Olympian struggle, after all, in which these principles prevail
ultimately not by science nor by spells -- most of Sabrina's go wrong
by working All Too Well -- but by wit, and thoughtfulness and
conscience and compromise."
To keep parent hooked, and to allow kids to stay awake until
9:30, the show has roped an amazing range of guest stars. In the
first three weeks alone, we've seen Brady Anderson (Baltimore Oriole's
star), Coolio, Brian Austin Green, Deborah Harry, Penn & Teller, Sally
Jesse Raphael, Randy Travis, Jack Wagner, and Raquel Welch.
"Sabrina, the Teenage Witch" is a character from the successful
and well-established "Archie" comic book franchise. Disclaimer: your
humble webmaster's father, Samuel H. Post was the editor of "Archie
for a year or so, and produced a live-action sitcom pilot that was
displaced by the animated "Archies" show.
This show is trying hard to please, and hoping to become the new
"Bewitched!"
Production Company -- Viacom Productions
Executive Producer -- Nell Scovell, Paula Hart
Cast:
Sabrina -- Melissa Joan Hart (Clarissa Explains It All,
Touched by an Angel [guest], Twisted Desire [TV movie])
Aunt Hilda -- Caroline Rhea (Pride and Joy)
Aunt Zelda -- Beth Broderick (The Five Mrs. Buchanans,
Bonfire of the Vanities)
Harvey (friendly but dim boyfriend) -- ??
Jenny -- Michelle Beaudoin
Cat (warlock punished for trying to conquer Earth) -- cat
Guest Stars -- Brady Anderson (Baltimore Oriole's star), Coolio,
Brian Austin Green, Deborah Harry, Penn & Teller,
Sally Jesse Raphael, Randy Travis, Jack Wagner, Raquel Welch
Director of Photography -- Ron Vargas, ASC
Origination Format -- 35mm
Film-to-Tape Transfer Facility -- Modern Videofilm
Color Correction Facility -- Modern Videofilm
Colorist -- Dan Judy
Offline Facility -- ???
Offline Editor -- Stuart Bass, ACE
Offline Editing System Manufacturer -- Avid
Online Facility -- Modern Videofilm
Online Editor -- ???
Online Tape Format -- Digital Betacam
Audio Editing/Mixing Facility -- Modern Sound
Supervising Sound Editor -- Wilson Dyer
Audio Editing System Manufacturer -- ???
Audio Mixing/Sweetening System Manufacturer -- ???
Show Telephone Number -- (818) 760-5135
Sailor Moon, exteremely popular and sophisticated Japanimation, to be done
Salvage I, ABC, 20 Jan 1979-11 Nov 1979; Sci-Fi Channel, 1992-Present
Using a recycled "Vulture" rocket, Harry Broderick quested for
gold-plated satellites and collectible moon junk, when he wasn't
jetting from the Los Angeles-area "Jettison Scrap & Salvage Co." to
suck oil from abondoned wells, pluck diamonds from volcanos, or
retrieve missing B-52s from the jungle (and what exactly was the CIA
smuggling in those B-52s from South America to South Central L.A.
anyway, eh?).
Harry Broderick -- Andy Griffith
Skip Carmichael, ex-NASA dude -- Joel Higgins
Melanie Slozar -- Trish Stewart
Mack -- J. Jay Saunders
Klinger (FBI) -- Richard Jaeckel
Hank Beddoes -- Lee De Broux
Technical Advisor -- Isaac Asimov (unconfirmed)
Sapphire & Steel, {to be done}
Rutgers' FTP Episode Guide
Saturday Night Live, NBC, 11 Oct 1975-present -- hey, how about those Coneheads?
Science Fiction Theater, Syndicated, April 1955-1957 (78 anthology episodes)
Spaceflight, frozen dinosaurs, robots, telepathy, flying saucers ...
these and more were the subjects of documentary and pseudodocumentary
episodes, of variable authenticity and fictionalization, partly
depending on who was science advisor of the week. At its best, this
was very good. At its worst, it was flat-out boring.
According to "Future Tense" (p.293) Ivan Tors said in a 1956
interview "One of the traps into which such a series may fall is
complete dependence on science for interest. This is avoided at the
story conference by excluding the scientists at the start.... after
the story is developed it is up to Dr. Maxwell Smith, the program's
technical advisor, and the other research people to suggest some
scientific fact upon which the story can be hung."
Narrator -- Truman Bradley (an actual news commentator)
Producer -- Ivan Tors (later to do Daktari, Flipper, Gentle Ben, and Sea Hunt)
Guest stars -- Gene Barry, Howard Duff, William Lundigan,
Basil Rathbone
Sci-Fi Entertainment (Trek, X-Files, Star Wars)
Science Fiction Gallery (Film/TV)
Sci-Fi Central (Film/TV)
The SciFi Site (Film/TV)
SCTV Network 90 -- Should I mention SCTV's Joe Flaherty's burned-out
Dracula-host "Count Floyd" on the spoof of low-budget kiddie shows
"Monster Horror Chiller Theater?" Aaaaahwoooo! cough cough...
SeaQuest DSV, NBC, 1993-1996, to be done
SeaQuest DSV: Lucas' SeaQuest DSV 4600 Page
Rutgers' FTP Episode Guide
Search, NBC, 13 Sep 1972-29 Aug 1973
A knock-off of Mission Impossible, this almost becomes science
fiction when it takes its high-tech spy gadgets seriously -- the
implanted radio transcievers, microminature TV cameras, telemetry
doing astronaut-type real-time monitoring of physiological stress
levels, and Mission Control organization of "The Probe Division of World
Securities." Too bad it did not have "Q" from James Bond, or the fun
level of "I Spy'" Cosby, or the over-the-top spoofiness of The Man
from U.N.C.L.E., to make its good casting break through.
Hugh Lockwood -- Hugh O'Brian
Nick Bianco -- Tony Franciosa
C. R. Grover -- Doug McClure
Cameron -- Burgess Meredith
Gloria Harding -- Angel Tompkins
Dr. Barnett (1972) -- Ford Rainey
Dr. Barnett (1973) -- Keith Andes
Miss Keach (1972) -- Ginny Golden
Ramos -- Tony De Costa
Kuroda -- Byron Chung
Griffin -- Albert Popwell
Carlos -- Ron Castro
Murdock -- Amy Farrell
Harris (1973) -- Tom Hallick
Miss James (1973) -- Pamela Jones
The Second Hundred Years, ABC, 6 Sep 1967-19 Sep 1968
The first Cryonics series, Luke Carpenter froze in Alaska in 1900 and
thawed out in 1967, with a 33-year-old body at chronological age 101,
who could not get used to the culture of the mid-to-late-20th century.
Plausible premise, marred by sitcom formula.
Luke Carpenter/Ken Carpenter -- Monte Markham
Edwin Carpenter -- Arthur O'Connell
Colonel Garroway -- Frank Maxwell
Marcia Garroway -- Karen Black
Nurse Lucille Anderson -- Bridget Hanley
Genre: Immortality
Second Noah, [US/British production aired in US], to be done, 1997
Production Company -- MT2 Services, New World Television
Executive Producer -- Pamela K. Long
Director of Photography -- Michael Fash, BSC
Origination Format -- 16mm
Film-to-Tape Transfer Facility -- Encore Video
Color Correction Facility -- Encore Video
Colorist -- Chris Jacobsen
Offline Facility -- ???
Offline Editor -- Karl Jacobsen, Michael Belling, Nancy Forner
Offline Editing System Manufacturer -- Avid
Online Facility -- Encore Video
Online Editor -- Brian Baxter
Online Tape Format -- DCT
Audio Editing/Mixing Facility -- Todd AO
Supervising Sound Editor -- Patrick O'Sullivan
Audio Editing System Manufacturer -- ???
Audio Mixing/Sweetening System Manufacturer -- ???
Show Telephone Number -- (310) 887-3800
The Secret Empire, NBC, 27 Feb 1979-1 May 1979
One of the stranger Western/Sci-Fi halfbreeds, this cuts back and
forth between black-and-white 1888 Cheyenne Wyoming and underground
extraterrestrial city Chimera (filmed in color).
Marshall Jim Donner -- Geoffrey Scott
Billy -- Tiger Williams
Millie -- Carlene Watkins
Jess Keller -- Peter Breck
Maya -- Pamela Brull
Princess Tara (Feb-Apr) -- Diane Markoff
Princess Tara (Apr-May) -- Stepfanie Kramer
Eperor Thorval -- Mark Lenard
Roe -- Peter Tomarken
Hator -- David Opatoshu
Yannuck -- Sean Garrison
The Secret Files of Captain Video -- see Captain Video and His Video
Rangers
The Secret World of Alex Mack
The Secret World of Alex Mack, Nickelodeon, 1996, juvenile
Children can enjoy, and learn from, the new Nickelodian series "The Secret
World of Alex Mack" which airs Tuesday snad Thursdays at 8:00 p.m.,
and learn in particular that it is okay to be different, and that you
must earn what you desire.
The hook at the start of each show is Larisa Oleynik, as Alex Mack,
narrating "I was just an average kid until an accident changed my
life."
The accident (typical of comic book superheroes) is dunking in
an experimental chemical that gives her the power of telekinesis (she
can levitate and thrown objects without touching them), force-field
generation, the ability to (Zeus-like) throw electrical bolts and
fireballs from her fingertips, and the "Terminator" morphing ability
to collapse into mobile liquid metal, flow where she will, and
reconsitute. "I guess I'm not so average anymore," she admits, and
then each episode begins.
As in the somewhat similar "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch", Alex
discovers in each episode that her "awesome powers" will not help her
with the social or academic pressures of school, nor with her failures
in the dating scene, nor with her being in the shadow of a
super-bright older sister (nicely played by Meredith Bishop), nor with
the situational complications caused by her strange group of peers,
nor by the evil corporate power of a local industrial chemical
factory (parallel to Mr. Burns' atomic plant in "The Simpsons) with
the cheerfully chilling slogan "Progress At Any Cost."
Alex and her friends are fated to be the outcasts in their
suburban subculture, ignored by adults, insulted by the popular clique
at school, and plagued by anxiety. As Robert Lloyd points out in "Go
Girls -- Sabrina and Alex Mack", L.A. Weekly, 24 January 1997, p.32,
"As is not uncommon in modern juvenile fiction and film -- think
[Roald] Dahl, think [Daniel] Pinkwater, if you're lucky enough to
know the 'Snarkout Boys' books -- both shows celebrate the marginal,
embrace the eccentric and prize the individual. 'I like weird, I love
weird, I bask in the glow of weird' exults Sabrina's best friend,
Jenny (the delightful Michelle Beaudoin).... 'Sabrina, the Teenage
Witch' and 'The Secret World of Alex Mack' are of course, beneath
the [special effects], just shows about growing up. But that's an
Olympian struggle, after all, in which these principles prevail
ultimately not by science nor by spells -- most of Sabrina's go wrong
by working All Too Well -- but by wit, and thoughtfulness and
conscience and compromise."
Cast:
Alex Mack -- Larisa Oleynik
[older sister] -- Meredith Bishop
Location:
"Paradise Valley" -- Valencia, California
Novelization: book by Patricia Barnes-Svarney
Shadow Chasers, ABC, 14 Nov 1985-16 Jan 1986
A semi-funny comedy/fantasy knockoff of "Ghostbusters." Professor Jonathon McKensie
was an Anthropologist at the Georgetown Institute of Science, and his
sidekick Edgar "Benny" Benedek was a tabloid reporter for The
National Register. The no-nonsense Dr. Juliana Moorhouse dispatched
the pair on missions to stop havoc caused by curses, ghosts,
graverobbers, and other parapsychological riff-raff.
Professor Jonathon McKensie -- Trevor Eve
Edgar "Benny" Benedek -- Dennis Dugan
Dr. Juliana Moorhouse -- Nina Foch
Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, Syndicated, 1955-1956 (26 episodes)
Mexican location Tarzan knockoff, with a sexy Sheena in leopardskin
leotard, based on the 1930s comic strip by Will Eisner & S. M. Iger,
using male stunt-doubles in female wigs. Irish McCalla was in
B-movies in the 1950s and 1960s, and then became an acknowledged
serious sucessful painter, a true story stranger than fiction.
Sheena -- Irish McCalla
Bob -- Christian Drake
Chim -- Neal the Chimp
She-Wolf of London, Syndicated, 1990-1991, to be done
Sigmund & the Seamonsters, to be done
The Six Million Dollar Man, ABC, ABC, 18 Jan 1974-6 Mar 1978
Based on the novel "Cyborg" by aerospace wizard Martin Caidin, whose
novel "Marooned" became the film which inspired the actual US-USSR
Apollo-Soyuz mision, the first time the Americans and Russians
cooperated in manned spaceflight beore today's Shuttle/Mir
peacemaking.
Colonel Steve Austin -- Lee Majors
Oscar Goldman -- Richard Anderson
Dr. Rudy Wells (1974-75) -- Alan Oppenheimer
Dr. Rudy Wells (1975-78) -- Martin E. Brooks
Barney Miller -- Monte Markham (occasional)
Producers -- Lionel E. Siegel and Kenneth Johnson
The Sixth Sense, 15 Jan 1972-30 Dec 1972
ESP/parapsychology/psychic/telepathy/occult adventure
Dr. Michael Rhodes -- Gary Collins
Nancy Murphy (Jan-May) -- Catherine Ferrar
Sliders, Fox, 1995-Present, to be done
Universal's Official Sliders Page
Sliders Guide @ avimall.com
Sliders Episodes Credits by David Henderson
Sliders stuff @ best.com
Carl Evander's Sliders Page
An entertaining episodic series about uncontrolled travel through
alternative universes, a science fiction concept pioneered by {to be
done}
This weekly show, recently renewed for a third season (due to a
deluge of letters from fans to Fox), features the physics grad
student Quinn who invented the device, his mentor Professor Arturo, his friend
and semi-romantic interest Wade Wells, and ex-Rhythm & Blues star Rembrandt "Crying Man" Brown.
In each episode, they "slide" to a different alternative history
Earth where, for example, America became Communist, or Dinosurs are
still alive, or women hold all political power. They struggle for
survival, do good deeds, and try to find their way back home (as every
wandering hero since Odysseus has done).
There are some parallels to the TV series "Quantum Leap", and
many variations on an idea well-known in science fiction literature:
ALTERNATE WORLDS or "Allohistory."
Quinn Mallory -- Jerry O'Connel
Professor Arturo -- John Rhys-Davies
Wade Wells -- Sabrina Lloyd
Rembrandt Brown -- Clevant Derricks
Captain Maggie Beckett -- Kari Wuhrer
Executive Producers: David Peckinpah, Alan Barnette, Tracy Torme
Co-Executive Producers: Paul Jackson, Tony Blake
Producers: Mychelle Deschamps, Richard Compton
Created By: Robert K. Weiss, Tracy Torme
Something Is Out There, NBC, 1988, to be done
Something Is Out There (X-Files)
Something Is Out There Guide @ avimall.com
Rutgers' FTP Episode Guide
Space, CBS, 4 July 1987-25 July 1987
9-hour re-edit of 13-hour mini-series (April 1985) of James Michener's novel
"Space."
Norman Grant -- James Garner
Elinor Grant -- Susan Anspach
Penny Hardesty Pope -- Blar Brown
Stanley Mott -- Bruce Dern
Rachel Mott -- Melinda Dillon
Leopold Strabismus (Martin Scorcella) -- David Dukes
Dieter Kolff -- Michael York
Liesl Kolff -- Barbara Sukowa
Randy Claggett -- Beau Bridges
Debbie Dee Claggett -- Stephanie Faracy
John Pope -- Harry Hamlin
Senator Glancey -- Martin Balsam
Finnerty -- James Sutorius
Tucker Thomas -- G. D. Dpradlin
Cindy Rhee -- Maggie Han
Funkhauser -- Wolf Kahler
Marcia Grant -- Jennifer Runyon
Skip Morgan -- David Spielberg
Space: Above and Beyond, Fox, 1995-1996, to be done
Space: Above and Beyond Guide @ avimall.com
Big budget Space Opera with good special effects and occasionally
powerful drama.
Space Cadet: see Tom Corbett -- Space Cadet
Space Cases, Nickelodian, 1995-Present, to be done
Space Cases Guide @ avimall.com
Unfortunately co-created by Billy Mumy (Lost in Space) this is surely
the worst live-action science fiction juvenile today.
Space: 1999, ITC (Great Britain)/Syndicated, produced 1974-1976, 48 episodes,
released Sep. 1975
Space: 1999 Guide @ avimall.com
Rutgers' FTP Episode Guide
Despite the highest budget for TV sci-fi ever (about 1/3 of a million bucks per
episode) and Martin Landau plus Barbara Bain (both of Mission
Impossible) plus some cool sets and effects, talking computers,
Star-Wars lasers, "Queller Drive" spaceships, "Camelot Locator" beams,
and Rudi Gernreich unisex costumes, nothing could rescue a
scientifically lame premise (nuclear waste explosion knocks moon out
of orbit) and poorly-conceived aliens with no motivation (giants
squids, people-eating contraceptive foam, prostitute robots of Planet
Piri.
To begin with, a "radioactive waste explosion" could not knock
the moon (with its inhabited lunar base) out of Earth orbit. But
even if we grit our teet and accept this preposterous concept, how
does the Moon thereafter encounter one solar system after another --
is it travelling faster than the speed of light, or what? This is
exactly what goes wrong when non-science fiction writers try to create
science fiction.
Commander John Koenig -- Martin Landau
Dr. Helena Russell -- Barbara Bain
Prof. Victor Bergman (1975-77) -- Barry Morse
Maya (1976-77) -- Catherine Schell
First Officer Tony Verdeschi -- Tony Anholt
Captain Alan Carter -- Nick Tate
Paul Morrow -- Prentis Hancock
David -- Clifton Jones
Sandra - Zienia Merton
Creators -- Gerry and Sylvia Anderson (see "Thunderbirds")
Producer (1st season) -- Sylvia Anderson
Producer (2nd Season) -- Fred Freiberger ("The Wild, Wild West", and
the 3rd and final season of the orginal "Star Trek")
Special Effects -- Brian Johnson (the best thing about the show)
Space Ghost, to be done
Space Ghost Coast to Coast, to be done
Space Patrol, ABC, 9 Jun 1951-1 Jun 1952
Classic juvenile, launched in California as a daytime local, picked
up by ABC as a Saturday/Sunday daytime series, but briefly slotted
into 6:00-6:30 p.m. "prime time", this cheesy space-travel time-travel
30th Century series featured genuine World War II Army Air Corps ace
Ed Kemmer as Space Patrol Commander Buzz Corey who kicked villainous
butt for the glory of the United Planets of the Universe, along with
his audience-identification sidekick Cadet Happy, the sexy daughter of
the United Planets Secretary General, and various gadgets for sale to
viewers, such as the Paralyzer Ray Gun, the Brainograph, and a 30-foot
model spacecraft "Terra" that toured America and was given away to a
sweepstakes-winning fan, who was nearly destroyed by the concentrated
jealousy beams of a million disappointed kids.
Like "Captain Video", "Buck Rogers", and "Tom Corbett, Space
Cadet" this was transmitted live, but unlike the three predecessors,
it had a relatively gigantic budget -- $2,500 per week!
Space Patrol Commander Buzz Corey -- Ed Kemmer
Cadet Happy -- Lyn Osborn
Carol Karlyle -- Virginia Hewitt
Tonga -- Nina Bara
Major Robbie Robertson -- Ken Mayer
United Planets Secretary General -- Norman Jolley
Mr. Proteus -- Marvin Miller (later on "The Millionaire")
Prince Baccarratti/Black Falcon -- Bella Kovacs
Created by Mike Moser
Producer/Writer -- Mike and Helen Mosier
Genre: Space Opera
Space Precinct, Syndicated, 1994-1995, to be done
Space Rangers, CBS, 1993, to be done
Space Rangers Guide @ avimall.com
Rutgers' FTP Episode Guide
Space Striker, to be done
Spawn, HBO, 16 May 1997
Spawn -- the Movie
Hero dies in combat in Vietnam, and comes back to half-life
seeking revenge (hey, it worked for "The Crow"). The undead
antihero can change shape, is internally conflicted between the
dark motive of revenge and the glimmering decency of wanting to
save the people he loved. He is blocked by his nemesis, the
evil "Violator."
The Spike Jones Show, NBC (1954) then CBS, 2 Jan 1954-25 Sep 1961
Listed here because of Bill Dana's role as Jose Jimenez, reluctant
hispanic astronaut, who was a favorite character of the real Mercury
astronauts.
Starblazers, to be done
Rutgers' FTP Episode Guide
Star Cops, to be done
Rutgers' FTP Episode Guide
The StarLost, Canada/syndicated, 1973
Harlan Ellison created this series, which botched his production so
completely that he had his name taken off the credits. A giant
spaceship has several cultures of people on board who have forgotten
that they are on a spaceship. Robert heinlein created this plot in
the excellent novel "Universe" and Brian Aldiss gave it a new twist
in "Non-Stop."
??? -- Keir Dullea ("2001")
??? -- Gay Rowin
??? -- Robin Ward
Starman, ABC, 19 Sep 1986-4 Sep 1987
Starman Guide about 250 Kbytes @ avimall.com
Television sequel to 1984 film
Paul Forrester/Starman -- Robert Hays
Scott Hayden -- C. B. Barnes
George Fox -- Michael Cavanaugh
Starring Boris Karloff, ABC, Sep 1949-Dec 1949
starting with 27 Oct 1949 episode name changed to "Mystery Playhouse
Starring Boris Karloff."
Host -- Boris Karloff
Star Trek, NBC, 8 Sep 1966-2 Sep 1969
Star Trek: The Original Series Guide about 250 Kbytes @ avimall.com
Captain James Tiberius Kirk -- William Shatner
Mr. Spock -- Leonard Nomoy
Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy -- DeForrest Kelley
Yeoman Janice Rand (1966-67) -- Grace Lee Whitney
Sulu -- George Takei
Uhuru -- Nichelle Nichols
Engineer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott -- James Doohan
Nurse Chsristine Chapel -- Majel Barrett
Ensign Pavel Chekov (1967-69) -- Walter Koenig
Star Trek: The Next Generation, Syndicated, 1987-1994
Star Trek: The Next Generation Guide @ avimall.com
Captain Jean-Luc Picard -- Patrick Stewart
Commander William Riker -- Jonathan Frakes
Lt. Geordi La Forge -- LaVar Burton
Lt. Tasha Yar (1987-88) -- Denise Crosby
Lt. Worf -- Michael Dorn
Dr. Beverly Crusher -- Gates McFadden
Counselor Deanna Troi -- Marina Sirtis
Lt. Cmdr. Data -- Brent Spiner
Wesley Crusher -- Wil Wheaton
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Syndicated, 1993-Present
Star Trek: The Next Generation Guide @ avimall.com
Production Company -- Paramount Pictures
Executive Producer -- Rick Berman, Peter Lauritson
Director of Photography -- Jonathan West
Origination Format -- 35mm to Digital Betacam
Visual Effects -- Film to D1
Film-to-Tape Transfer Facility -- Unitel Video, CIS
Color Correction Facility -- CIS, Editel
Colorist -- Larry Field, Steve Bowen, Don Lee
Offline Facility -- In-house
Offline Editor -- Steve Tucker, Michael Westmore Jr., Jonathan Ramirez
Offline Editing System Manufacturer -- Avid
Online Facility -- ???
Online Editor -- ???
Online Tape Format -- Digital Betacam
Audio Editing/Mixing Facility -- Modern Sound
Supervising Sound Editor -- Mace Matosian
Audio Editing System Manufacturer -- ???
Audio Mixing/Sweetening System Manufacturer -- ???
Show Telephone Number -- (213) 956-5682
Star Trek: Voyager, UPN, 1995-Present
Star Trek: Ultimate Star Trek Site
Star Trek: Ultimate Trek Page
Star Trek: WWW (online since 1994)
Star Trek: Voyager Guide @ avimall.com
Production Company -- Paramount Pictures
Executive Producer -- Rick Berman, Jeri Taylor
Director of Photography -- Marvin Rush
Origination Format -- 35mm to Digital Betacam
Visual Effects -- Film to D1
Film-to-Tape Transfer Facility -- Unitel Video
Color Correction Facility -- Unitel Video
Colorist -- George Cvjethicanin
Offline Facility -- In-house
Offline Editor -- Bob Lederman, Tom Benko, Daryl Baskin
Offline Editing System Manufacturer -- Avid
Online Facility -- ???
Online Editor -- ???
Online Tape Format -- Digital Betacam
Audio Editing/Mixing Facility -- Modern Sound
Supervising Sound Editor -- Bill Wistrom
Audio Editing System Manufacturer -- Synclavier, Fairlight
Audio Mixing/Sweetening System Manufacturer -- Solid State Logic
Show Telephone Number -- (213) 956-5682
Steven King's The Golden Years, CBS, 1991, to be done
Strange Luck, to be done
Strange New World, ABC, 1975
TV movie which was almost surely one of Gene Roddenberry's attempts
to launch a new series after Star Trek (#1 was Genesis II, #2 was
Planet Earth, #3 was The Questor Tapes) and yet Roddenberry's name
appears nowhere in the credits. As with Genesis II and Planet Earth,
the plot revolves around an astronaut from our century interacting in
the future with peculiar societies.
Astronaut -- John Saxon
Producer -- Robert E. Larson
Director -- Robert Butler
Writers -- Ronald F. Graham, Walter Green, and Alvin Ramrus
The Stranger Within, ABC, 1975
TV movie about a woman who becomes pregnant under impossible
conditions. When she gives birth, the baby is healthy -- but is a
Martian.
Woman -- Barbara Eden
Director -- Lee Philips
Writer -- Richard Matheson (based on his 1953 short story
"Mother By Protest")
Street Hawk, ABC, 1985, to be done
Superboy, Syndicated, 1988-1992, to be done
Supercar, to be done
Superfriends, to be done
Superman: News flash! 27 October 1996: LOIS LANE'S MAKEUP ARTIST HARRY THOMAS DIES
Superman, the Adventures of, Syndicated & Network daytime,
July 1951-Nov 1957 (104 episodes)
"Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a
locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings at a single bound!
Superman, strange visitor from another planet, who came to Earth with
powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men! Superman, who
can change the course of mighty rivers, bend steel in his bare hands,
and who, disguised as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great
metropolitan newspaper, fights a never-ending battle for truth,
justice, and the American way!"
George Reeves had created the role of Superman in the low-budget
1951 feature film "Superman and the Mole People" (produced by Robert Maxwell
and Bernard Luber). The series had pretty good ratings, partly
because of the stories and acting, and partly because of the visual
quality achieved by pre-filming (as opposed to live telecast). From
the third season, the filming was in color.
Superman/Clark Kent -- George Reeves
Lois Lane (1951) -- Phyllis Coates
Lois Lane (1953-1957) -- Noel Neill
Jimmy Olson -- Jack Larson
Perry White -- John Hamilton
Inspector William Henderson -- Robert Shayne
Jor-El (Superman's dad) -- Robert Rockwell (in "Superman on Earth",
the establishing episode)
Lara (Superman's mom) -- Aline Towne (in "Superman on Earth",
the establishing episode)
Bad Guys -- Ben Welden, Herb Vigran, Tris Coffin, Billy Nelson (all
semiregular, in varying roles)
Producer (1st series) -- Robert Maxwell and Bernard Luber
Producer (2nd series) -- Whitney Ellsworth (who made it too childish)
The Adventures of Superman @ avimall.com
The Adventures of Superman @skypoint.com
Genre: Supermen
Super Force, Syndicated, 1990-1992, to be done
Survivors, BBC, 1975
A plague wipes out 52,000,000 people in six weeks of terror in Great
Britain, leaving only some 7,000 survivors. In the series, we follow
one small group of survivors as they attempt to prosper in a
post-technological nation. This is similar to "The Day of the
Triffids", the cosmic disaster novels of John Wynham, and the
inimitable fiction of J. G. Ballard. The series falls flat in making
the survivors far too comfortable, and celebrating (rather than
warning against) the prospects of a future without technology. This
is a hippy head trip, not real science fiction. Even "The Stand" by
Steven King does the job better.
Genre: Dystopia
Swamp Thing, USA, 1990-1993, to be done
Swamp Thing Guide @ avimall.com
Based on, but not as clever as, the comic book.

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T: TELEVISION: 35

Tabitha, ABC, 12 Nov 1977-25 Aug 1978
Spin-off of "Bewitched", focusing on Tabitha, grown-up witch daughter
of witch Samantha, who now works for KLXA-TV. This show, how shall I
say it, lacked a certain magic...
Tabitha Stevens -- Lisa Hartman
Paul Thurston -- Robert Urich
Marvin Decker -- Mel Stewart
Adam Stephens -- David Ankrum
Aunt Minerva -- Karen Morrow
Tales From The Crypt, HBO, 1991-1996; Fox, 1994-1996, to be done
Tales From The Crypt cool official site
Anthology of occult and supernatural episodes.
Genre: Horror
Tales from the Darkside, Syndicated, Sep 1984-?
Low-budget series of Twilight-Zonish downer episodes, sometimes with
creepy surprise twist endings.
Narrator -- Paul Sparer
Guest Stars -- Harry Anderson, Justine Bateman, Eddie Bracken, Peggy Cass,
Phyllis Diller, Bill Macy, Jean Marsh, Darrin McGavin, Arnold Stang,
Connie Stevens, Fritz Weaver, Keenan Wynn, others
Genre: Horror
Tales of E.S.P., see E.S.P.
Genre: Extra-Sensory Perception
Tales of the Unexpected, NBC, 2 Feb 1977-24 Aug 1977
Occult and psychological suspense with last-minute twist endings.
Narrator -- William Conrad
Executive Producer -- Quinn Martin
Tales of the Unknown: see Journey to the Unknown
Tales of Tomorrow, ABC, 3 Aug 1951-12 Jun 1953
Sophisticated science fiction based on classic stories by major
authors (H.G. Wells' "The Crystal Egg", Mary Shelley's
"Frankenstein", 2-part of Jules Verne's "20,000 Leagues Under the
Sea" starring Thomas Mitchell and Leslie Nielsen) plus modern stories
("The Monsters" from Mars, "The Dark Angel" immortal, "The Flying Saucer"...).
It was transmitted live, with filmed inserts.
It alternated with other series in
its Friday 9:30-10:00 p.m. slot, and was also aired on radio in early
1953.
Creators/Producers -- George Foley and Dick Gordon
Tarzan, NBC (Sep 1966-Sep 1968) and CBS (Jun 1969-Sep 1969),
8 Sep 1966-10 Sep 1969
Based on the classic work of Edgar Rice Burroughs, who also wrote more
explicit science fiction set on Mars (Barsoom) or inside a hollow
Earth (Pellucidar). Ron Ely was the 14th actor in the Tarzan role.
Tarzan -- Ron Ely (did his own stunts, too)
Jai -- Manuel Padilla, Jr.
Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters From Beverly Hills, USA, 1994-1995, to be done
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, to be done
The comic book begat the feature films and the television series and
the endless merchandising... I hate to say it, but I find the show
strangely comnpelling at times.
Teknoman, to be done
Tekwar, USA, 1995, to be done
They Came From Outer Space, Syndicated, 1990-1991, to be done
3rd Rock From The Sun, NBC, 1996-Present
3rd Rock From The Sun Really cool site!
Content-rich, chat room, trivia contest, info on past shows, much more.
We recommend this site, which shares the flavor of the excellent show:
hip, funny, well-executed, and forcing you to examine your own life
and customs from an unusual perspective, which is one of the keys to
true science fiction.
Production Company -- Carsey-Werner Productions
Executive Producer -- Marcy Carsey, Tom Werner, Caryn Mandabach
Director of Photography -- Ron Browne
Origination Format -- 35mm
Visual Effects -- Film to D1
Film-to-Tape Transfer Facility -- Complete Post
Color Correction Facility -- Complete Post
Colorist -- Trent Johnson, Rich Montez
Offline Facility -- Complete Post
Offline Editor -- Vince Humphrey
Offline Editing System Manufacturer -- Avid
Online Facility -- Complete Post
Online Editor -- ???
Online Tape Format -- Digital Betacam
Audio Editing/Mixing Facility -- Warner Bros. Studios Sound
Supervising Sound Editor -- Todd Grace
Audio Editing System Manufacturer -- Digidesign
Audio Mixing/Sweetening System Manufacturer -- Solid State Logic
Show Telephone Number -- (818) 760-6057
Thriller, NBC, 13 Sep 1960-9 July 1962
True to the eponymous genre title, almost every episode revolved
around an ordinary man or woman with whom the audience can easily
identify being caught up in a frightening or life-threatening
situation. That has been a key to the "thriller" style since John
Buchan's "The 39 Steps" -- the moral universe is turned upside-down,
and the world is suddenly seen to be a darker and more dangerous
place. The central character often wonders whether he or she is being
paranoid, but events then show that he or she was not paranoid enough.
Host -- Boris Karloff
Thunderbirds, ATV (Great Britain), 1965, shown in US in ???, to be done
Perhaps the best of the puppet series created and produced by the
Andersons. A future family performs rescue operations undersea, in
the air, and in space, with really nifty keen vehicles.
There is a 1999 live action film adaptation in the works:
Thunderbirds
Creator/Producers -- Gerry Anderson and Sylvia Anderson
Special Effects Supervisor -- Derek Meddings
The Tick, animated, amusing self-conscious parody of superhero cartoons, to be done
Time Express, CBS, 26 Apr 1979-17 May 1979
"Fantasy Island" meets "The Time Machine" aboard the "Starlight
Express." Possibly based on a particular "Twilight Zone" episode
about an ad exec who gets off a train and encounters his childhood
self in a Carnival. Or then again, possibly not.
Each episode carried passengers back in time aboard a gleaming Time
Express train that rode the clouded skies of time, to give them a
chance to change their pasts by altering some key decision in their
lives. This is, according to modern physicists, one of the things
that can NOT be done, even if you have a time machine. They theorize
that you can participate in the past, but not change it. Be that as it
may, this is really a series related to the science fiction subgenre
of "parahistroy" or "alternate history" where a changed event has
spawned a whole new present in which, for instance, the South won the
American Civil War, or Japan and Germany won World War II, or I
actually completed my Ph.D. and became a Professor and hired a
graduate student to enter all the stuff in this Magic Dragon
Multimedia domain instead of doing it myself.
Jason -- Vincent Price
Margaret -- Coral Browne
Conductor R. J. Walker -- James Reynolds
Engineer Callahan -- William Phipps
Ticket Clerk -- Woodrow Parfey
Genre: Time Travel
Time Trax, Syndicated, 1993-1994, to be done
Time Trax Guide @ avimall.com
Time Tunnel, ABC, 9 Sep 1966-1 Sep 1967
See "Time Express", above, for an explanation that scientists do NOT
think it is possible to change the past. This series respects that
opinion, with a vengeance. Dr. Tony Newman and Dr. Doug Phillips
worked in a ultra-secret government research lab underground in
Arizona, and their laser-powered system threw them into the past
before the system could undergo the proper final configuration audit.
Trapped in history, they could jump from one time to another, but
were unable to get home. Dr. Ann MacGregor and Dr. Raymond Swain kept
trying to save them from the lab, but again and again our heroes
tried to change the outcome of events, such as Abraham Lincoln's
assassination, or the sinking of the Titanic (episode #1) or
Marie Antoinette's beheading, and were always ironically prevented from
so doing. Sometimes they were in the distant past 1,000,000 B.C. or
so, sometimes in early history (the fall of Jericho), sometimes in
meso-American history (Cortez vs. Montezuma), and once in the far
future of 1,000,000 A.D. The past was more commonly used than the
future, because stock footage is cheaper than new production.
Dr. Tony Newman -- James Darren
Dr. Doug Phillips -- Robert Colbert
Dr. Ann MacGregor -- Lee Meriwether
General Heywood Kirk -- Whit Bissel
Dr. Raymond Swain -- John Zaremba
Created by/Producer -- Irwin Allen
Genre: Time Travel
T. J. Hooker, 13 Mar 1982-17 Sep 1987
listed here only for the one episode (Feb 1983) where William Shatner,
as Sgt. T. J. Hooker encounters Leonard Nimoy, as a psychiatrically
disturbed police oficer whose daughter was raped. For this one
episode, these two "Star Trek" stars were reunited.
Tom Corbett, Space Cadet, CBS (Oct 1950-Dec 1950) then ABC
(Jan 1951-Sep 1952) and finally NBC (July 1951-Sep 1951),
2 Oct 1950-26 Sep 1952
Based on the great Robert Anson Heinlein's young adult novel "Space
Cadet" (New York: Scribner's, 1950, with cover art by Clifford N.
Geary), this was CBS's attempt to steal the thunder of the Dumont
Network's "Captain Video" -- and with a higher budget and greater
technical authenticity.
"Dean of American Science Fiction Authors" Robert Heinlein had
achieved a record-setting level of "hard SF" realism in co-authoring
the screenplay for (and acting as Technical Director for) George Pal's
film "Destination: Moon", which was loosely based on Heinlein's young adult
novel "Rocketship Galileo" (New York: Scribner's, 1947), his first,
which is the earliest science fiction novel that I can remember reading.
Heinlein and his second wife Virginia have minimized access to
documents about how actively involved Heinlein was in "Tom Corbett",
but some episodes show his handiwork, such as the reference to
weightlessness being more properly called "Free Fall" -- a term
invented by Heinlein and now widely accepted.
In the national Bestseller "Grumbles from the Grave", by Robert
Heinlein, edited by Virginia Heinlein (New York: Ballentine, 1990) we
read (p.50) "I have written [Scribner's editor] Miss [Alice]
Dalgliesh about the TV scripts [Tom Corbett, Space Cadet]. Did you
read them? If so, you know how bad they are; I don't want an air
credit on that show (much as I appreciate the royalty checks!) and I
am reasonably sure that a staid, dignified house like Scribner's will
feel the same way. It has the high moral standards of soap opera."
By the way, Robert Heinlein's novel "Rocket Ship Galileo" was
supposed to have been followed by at least five sequels, including:
"The Young Atomic Engineers on Mars, or Secret of the Moon
Corridors",
"The Young Atomic Engineers in the Asteroids, or The Mystery
of the Broken Planet",
"The Young Atomic Engineers in Business, or The Solar System
System Mining Corporation",
and I cannot help but speculate that if he had written these
juveniles, their plots would have found their way into Tom Corbett,
Space Cadet, and the series would have been even more popular. But I
digress. To return to the actual plot of Tom Corbett:
Somewhen in the 24th Century, young Tom Corbett ("Tex" in the
novel) entered the Space Academy (of the Interplanetary Patrol, in
Colorado, in the novel) along with verbally-aggressive pal Roger Manning
(Matt in the novel) and cerebral Astro from Venus, with all hoping to
graduate to the Solar Guards.
Aboard the good spaceship "Polaris" they adventured
throughout the solar system, and plot complications were based on the
dangers of meteors or radiation rather than mad scientists or evil
aliens (a fatal flaw in "Captain Video"). We do know that Program
Advisor Willy Ley, a noted ex-German space expert and science writer,
brought "hard science fiction" concepts such as asteroid belts,
artificial gravity, and anti-matter to the series. I discussed this
with Willy Ley when I met him in New York in 1959. We made a $5 bet,
which I promptly lost, but that's another story.
The series only lasted three months at CBS -- probably due to
budgetary concerns or disappointing sales of the now-collectable
merchandise -- and moved to a couple of years at ABC. NBC merely
aired kinescopes of episodes as a summer replacement for Victor
Borge. The show was televised live, like "Captain Video" and "Buck
Rogers", but unlike these competitors, the special effects were also
live.
Although technically a childrens' show, this was a high-water
mark in television science fiction, and a significant precursor to
Star Trek.
Tom Corbett -- Frankie Thomas
Captain Steve Strong (1950) -- Michael Harvey
Captain Steve Strong (1951-52) -- Edward Bryce
Astro the Venusian -- Al Markim
Roger Manning -- Jan Merlin
Dr. Joan Dale -- Margaret Garland
Producer -- Leonard Carlton
Technical Advisor -- Willy Ley (famous German rocket expert)
Writers -- Albert Aley originally, and then: Frankie Thomas, Stu Brynes, Ray Morse
Genre: Space Opera
New: Tom Corbett Web Site by Ed Pippin
Ed's just begun a Space Opera site for the TV SF heroes of the 1950's.
He's started off with his favorite: Tom Corbett.
He'll be adding a TV log from Joe Sarno's SpaceAcademy Newsletter
and has several other pages soon to be added.
Ed found it of interest when read my note (above) about the Heinleins.
He had contacted them in the 60's & 70's and they WERE VERY serious about
putting distance between themselves and the Tom Corbett Character. Ed
doesn't know why, because it has the staying power that Heinlein's young
adult novels had.
Ed has a lead on who wrote the TC newspaper and Dell Comics.
He's also checking out the possible authorship of the Grosset and Dunlap
books..Richard Jessup,the radio and tv scripter?
Check out the web site:
Tom Corbett & Space Opera
The Tomorrow People, (ITV, Great Britain, 1973) then in USA: Nickelodeon, 1994-1995
The Tomorrow People List @ avimall.com
Rutgers' FTP Episode Guide
Juvenile about mutant children with telepathy/teleportation. A sad
decline from the same idea well-executed by Theodore Sturgeon ("Baby
is Three") and Olaf Stapledon ("Odd John").
Creators/Producers -- Roger Price and Ruth Boswell
Tom Smothers' Organic Prime Time Space Ride -- don't be fooled by the title.
Topper, CBS (Oct 1953-Sep 1955), ABC (Oct 1955-Mar 1956),
NBC (Jun 1956-Oct 1956), 9 Oct 1953-14 Oct 1956
Based on characters created by fantasy novelist Thorne Smith who later
appeared in a series of feature films. George and Marion Kirby die
of exposure after being trapped in a ski-trip avalanche. Besides
their two deaths, their attempted rescuer perishes too -- the St.
Bernard Neil. All three somehow return as ghosts from Europe to
haunt the Kirby's American home, which is now the residence of Cosmo
Topper, a stolid banker.
George, Marion, and Neil (who likes a huge snifter of brandy
whenever possible) make a concerted effort to get Topper to unwind and
have fun. Nobody but he can see the ghosts, and so his behavior is
taken to be, at best, eccentric by his wife Henrietta, his co-worker
Mr. Schuyler, and his maid and cook.
In the television series (but not the novel or films) the dog Neil appears;
in Thorne Smith's story, the Kirbys were killed in a car crash rather than on a ski
trip, and hence there was no co-perishing co-haunting dog.
The series was cancelled after a couple of seasons on CBS, and
was seen in reruns for a year on ABC and a summer on NBC.
Another series based on a Thorne Smith novel was "Turnabout"
(1979).
Marion Kirby -- Anne Jeffreys (The Delphi Bureau 1972-3, Finder of
Lost Loves 1984-5, Love That Jill 1958, The Merry Widow on Max
Liebman Presents 1954-6,
George Kirby -- Robert Sterling (Ichabod and Me 1961-2, Love That
Jill 1958, host of The 20th Century Fox Hour 1956-7)
Cosmo Topper -- Leo G. Carroll (The Billy Rose Show 1950-1, The Girl
from U.N.C.L.E. 1966-7, Going My Way 1962-3, The Man from
U.N.C.L.E. 1964-8, NBC Repertory Theatre 1949)
Katie, the maid (1953-54) -- Kathleen Freeman (The Beverly
Hillbillies 1969-71, Funny Face 1971, It's About Time 1966-7,
Lotsa Luck 1973-4)
Mr. Schuyler -- Thurston Hall
Maggie, the cook (1954-1955) -- Edna Skinner
Genre: "Unicorns in the Garden": the fantastic within our mundane world
Total Recall: The Series, syndicated, 1998, Team Entertainment Group is
producing the syndicated TV series based on the 1990 hit movie
1990s Movies: Science Fiction Movies 1990-2000
The Transformers, animated series based on toys first released in Japan, to be done
The Tripods, superior British series, seen in US on ????, to be done
Tripods
Turnabout, NBC, 26 Jan 1979-23 Mar 1979
Sitcom about a man and a woman magically switching bodies. Based on
the novel of the same name by Thorne Smith ("Topper") and the 1940
film of that novel.
Sam Alston -- John Schuck
Penny Alston -- Sharon Gless
Jack Overmeyer -- Richard Stahl
Judy Overmeyer -- Bobbi Jordan
Geoffrey St.James -- James Sikking
Al Brennan -- Bruce Kirby
TV and Sc-Fi Links: Star Trek TNG (Caltech)
The Twilight Zone, CBS, 2 Oct 1959-31 July 1987
Rutgers' FTP Episode Guide
One of the greatest TV shows in history, due to the genius of Rod
Serling and the superb writing of genuine science fiction authors,
all backed by excellent casting of the varied teleplays. I've got
plenty to say about this show, but will defer for now to the listed
hotlinks and the excellent reference book "The Twilight Zone
Companion" by Mark Scott Zichree.
Host -- Rod Serling (1959-1965)
Narrator -- Charles Aidman (1985-1987)
Aliens, Language, and Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone [new], CBS, 1985-1987; Syndicated, 1987-1988
Rutgers' FTP Episode Guide
Kudos to Harlan Ellison for quitting his $5,000/week position as
Creative Consultant when the network censors objected to his
passionate defense of a superb Christmas episode based on the creepy
but ultimately pro-diversity story "Nackles." More about this show
later.
The Twilight Zone Home Page
Twin Peaks, brilliany quirky metaphysical detective fantasy created by
David Lynch ("Blue Velvet", "Dune"), to be done

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U: TELEVISION: 5

UFO, ITC/Syndicated, Produced 1970 (26 episodes), released Fall 1972
UFO Guide @ avimall.com
Set in the then-future 1980, the premise was that an international
military command was set up to defend Earth from Unidentified Flying
Objects. This New World Order strike force was SHADO -- Supreme
Headquarters, Allied Defense Organization. Produced in England, this
series mocked American priorities by giving the commander, Edward
Straker, a cover identity as a movie producer. John Brosnan ("Future
Tense", p.299) notes that this first non-puppet series by Gerry and
Sylvia Anderson had "a cast [that] seemed to be trying to imitate
puppets, particularly Ed Bishop...)
Commander Edward Straker -- Ed Bishop
Colonel Alec Freeman -- George Sewell
Captain Peter Karlin -- Peter Gordeno
Lt. Gay Ellis -- Gabrielle Drake
Colonel Paul Foster -- Michael Billington
General Henderson -- Grant Taylor
Creators/Producers -- Gerry and Sylvia Anderson ("Thunderbirds")
The UFO Incident, NBC, 1975
TV movie that looks like a rip-off of "Close Encounters of the Third
Kind" but actually began before that feature film. John G. Fuller
had written a purportedly nonfiction book about a married couple who
were abducted by aliens in a UFO. The book was entitled "The
Interrupted Journey." James Earl Jones bought media rights to the
book, intending to package a feature film, but after being turned down
by every major film studio, he re-sold the book rights to
television. The next year, "Close Encounters" went into
pre-production, and James Earl Jones (already known about Hollywood
for his interest in space movies) was cast as the voice for Darth
Vader in "Star Wars."
Mr. ??? -- James Earl Jones
Mrs. ??? -- Estelle Parsons
Director -- Richard a Colla ("The Questor Tapes")
Writers -- S. Lee Pogostin and Hesper Anderson
(from book by John G. Fuller)
Ultraman, to be done
U.N.C.L.E. -- syndicated title for "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." (see entry for
that name) and "The Girl from U.N.C.L.E."
Undersea City, BBC series in USA on UPN 1995

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V: TELEVISION: 9
V, NBC, 26 Oct 1984-5 July 1985
Two popular miniseries became a weekly series. "V" abbreviates
"Visitors" -- the aliens who offered to barter their high technology
for terrestrial minerals. Or so their PR firm said. A handfull of
sceptics uncovered the malignant nature of the Visitors as the aliens
systematically took over the earth and liquidated almost all
resistance. Beneath their humanoid features, they were really
carnivorous lizards, who considered humans little more than walking
sushi. The good guys drive off the baddies with a bacterial red dust,
reminiscent of the germs that defeated H.G. Wells' Martians.
The weekly series started with a Nuremberg-like trial of the
captured Visitor leader Diana -- many parallels between Visitors and
Nazis recur throughout the series. Diana escapes and conquers earth
again, thanks to the Vichy collaborators -- umm, I mean Scientific
Frontiers Corp. which manufactures the red dust, and is led by immoral
Nathan Bates. TV anchor Mike Donovan -- who had broken the story on
the Visitors' evil nature -- leads the resistance, with the help of
scientist Julie, plus Elias and Ham. Their headquarters was the Club
Creole. They were aided by a turncoat Visitor Willie, and a woman
named Robin who had had an affair with an alien and given birth to a
semi-alien baby, a preposterously absurd idea to anyone who has a clue
about evolutionary biology. The impossible halfbreed ages rapidly to
become Elizabeth, the key to the Visitors' destruction, along with
Nathan Bates' son Kyle, and a vistor faction leader named Lydia.
Charles, Lt. James and Martin were Visitor officers sympathetic to the
humans -- you know, nice Nazis. Peace between humans and Visitors is
somehow achieved on Earth, while Elizabeth and an infatuated Kyle
head for the Visitors' home world, to foment what, we never find
out. Willie "goes native" and decides to stay on Earth.
Mike Donovan -- Marc Singer
Dr. Julia Parrish -- Faye Grant
Diana -- Jane Badler
Nathan Bates -- Lane Smith
Robin Maxwell -- Blair Tefkin
Elizabeth (teenaged) -- Jennifer Cooke
Ham Tyler -- Michael Ironside
Elias -- Michael Wright
Willie -- Robert Englund
Kyle Bates -- Jeff Yagher
Lydia -- June Chadwick
Howard K. Smith -- himself (opens each episode with newscast)
Sean Donovan -- Nicky Katt
Mr. Chiang -- Aki Aleong
Charles -- Duncan Regehr
Lt. James (1985) -- Judson Scott
Martin/Philip (1985) -- Frank Ashmore
Genre: Space Opera
Vampires, Fox, Fall 1997
live-action and animated series by Happy Zone Enetertainment, a Los
Angeles joint venture between MSH Entertainment and New York's
Abrams/Gentile Entertainment.
Venus On The Half Shell, Nickelodeon, 1998
A promising science fiction comedy cobbled together from a dozen of
the fictitious novels of Kilgore Trout, himself an invention of Kurt
Vonnegut.
V.E.N.U.S. on the Hard Drive, Fox, Midseason 1997 (announced May 1997)
Two young men discover a computer intelligence, and the software comes
to life as a "cyberwoman."
Viper: (1994-1996) (to be done)
Viper @ avimall.com
The Visitor, Fox, Fall 1997 (announced May 1997), Friday nights leading to
Millennium:
The team behind "Independence Day" produced this science fiction
series, which stars John Corbett as a man who visits the Bermuda
Triangle and returns with strange powers and abilities.
The Visitor -- John Corbett (the DJ on "Northern Exposure")
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, ABC, 14 Sep 1964-15 Sep 1968
Based on Irwin Allen's 1961 feature film of the same name, which
itself was heavily derived from Jules Verne's "20,000 Leagues Beneath
the Sea", this depended on the "Seaview" submarine and its crew the
same way that "Star Trek" depended upon the "Enterprise" and its
crew. The Seaview had a glass nosecone, similar to the breast-domes
of Barbarella's spacesuit, allowing great viws of undersea wonders by
all, said wonders being both earthly and extraterrestrial.
Retired Admiral Harrison Nelson had dreamed up the Seaview --
making him a sort of Hyman Rickover -- who now runs the top secret
Nelson Institute of Marine Research at Santa Barbara, a cross between
the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, JPL, and Naval Intelligence.
It was set in the then-future 1970s. Seaview had a sister ship,
"Polidor", which sank in episode #3. Harrison Nelson's chief
assistant, and Seaview Commander, was promoted to Commander Lee Crane,
and (in season #2) to Captain. In the real-life 1970s, the brainy
assistant to Rickover was one Jimmy Carter, who wrote a Naval
Postgraduate school thesis on the detection of targets by towed
underwater arrays of microphones. This real-life Jimmy Carter once
saw a UFO after a few more drinks than usual at the Officers' Club,
and swore that he'd tell all on becoming president, but I digress.
In season #2, more hardware was added, such as the two-man "Sea
Crab" minisub, and the "Flying Fish" a submarine which could fly
(didn't Tom Swift, Jr. have something like that?). A surfer-dude Stu
was added to the cast, and the show held onto a large audience share
regardless of how preposterous the villians were in each episode,
including an amusingly over-the-top Professor Multiple (Vincent
Price) and his living puppets. Other bad guys included blobs, ghosts,
lobster-men, mummies, pirates, robots, and intelligent seaweed. What,
no "revenge of the samuri sushi?"
Admiral Harrison Nelson -- Richard Basehart
Commander/Captain Lee Crane -- David Hedison
Lt. Commander Chip Morton -- Robert Dowdell
Chief Petty Officer Curley Jones (1964-65) -- Henry Kulky
Chief Sharkey (1965-68) -- Terry Becker
Stu Riley (1965-67) -- Allan Hunt
Kowalsky -- Del Monroe
Crewman Patterson -- Paul Trinka
Crewman Sparks -- Arch Whiting
Doctor -- Richard Bull
Created By/Producer -- Irwin Allen
Voyagers, NBC, 3 Oct 1982-31 July 1983
Voyagers Guide @ avimall.com
Juvenile/educational science fiction about two time travellers making
sure that historical events happen as they're supposed to (ripped off
from Poul Anderson's "Time Patrol"). When his Way-back, I mean "Omni",
breaks down, Time Cop Phineas Bogg's history book is eaten by
Manhattanite Jeffrey Jones' dog. Fortunately, young Jones knows lots
of history, and kids in the audience were encouraged to go to the
library to find out more. Not a bad idea, if it ever worked.
Phineas Bogg -- Jon-Erik Hexum
Jeffrey Jones -- Meeno Peluce
VR Troopers, even worse imitation of Power Rangers if that's imaginable, to be done
VR Troopers @ avimall.com
VR-5, to be done
VR-5 Guide @ avimall.com

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W: TELEVISION: 12

Warner Brothers Animation: Animaniacs, Freakazoid, Pinky & the Brain
War of the Worlds, to be done
War of the Worlds @ avimall.com
Way Out, CBS, 31 Mar 1961-14 July 1961
A less-popular lead-in to "The Twilight Zone", this anthology show was
hosted by Roald Dahl, now known to millions of kids for the films
"Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang", "Willy Wonka's Chocolate factory", and
"James and the Giant Peach."
Host -- Roald Dahl
Weird Science, to be done
Spun-off from the feature film shot at my alma mater, Caltech.
Two college kids have created a perfect woman, who challenges their
social life through lack of understanding of human society.
Production Company -- St. Clare Entertainment
Executive Producer -- John Landis, Leslie Belzberg, Robert Lloyd Lewis,
Tom Spezialy, Alan Cross
Director of Photography -- Richard Rawlings Jr.
Origination Format -- super 35mm
Visual Effects -- Film to D1
Film-to-Tape Transfer Facility -- Modern Videofilm
Color Correction Facility -- Modern Videofilm
Colorist -- Rick Dalby
Offline Facility -- In-house
Offline Editor -- Leon Seith, Craig A. Colton
Offline Editing System Manufacturer -- Avid
Online Facility -- Modern Video
Online Editor -- James Spach
Online Tape Format -- DT2
Audio Editing/Mixing Facility -- Larson Sound
Supervising Sound Editor -- John Kincade
Audio Editing System Manufacturer -- Sonics, LarTec
Audio Mixing/Sweetening System Manufacturer -- Otari
Show Telephone Number -- (818) 777-6007
Werewolf, Fox, 11 July 1987-???
Grad Student Eric Cord is bitten by suicidal werewolf buddy Ted, thus
becoming a wereworlf himself, unless and until he can kill "the
source of the bloodline" -- Captain Janos Skorzeny. Skorzeny is
eventually dispatched, but is a false lead -- Eric must find and
destroy the 2,000 year-old wolfman Nicholas Remy. And I thought I
had a tough time in grad school...
Eric Cord -- John J. York
Alamo Joe Rogan -- Lance Legault
Janos Skorzeny (1987-88) -- Chuck Connors (occasional)
Nicholas Remy (1988-) -- Brian Thompson
Dr. Stephen Kaplan, Parapsychologist -- himself
WHAT IF: real SETI science meets science fiction on TV
What If, Discovery Channel, Tuesday 14 Jan 1997 at 10 pm and 1 am (Pacific
Time), and rebroadcast the following weekend. The entry here is
mostly about the middle part of a 3-part"alternate history" miniseries
running 13-15 Jan 1997.
The 1st episode is about a big quake hitting Los Angeles.
The 2nd episode is about SETI (the Search for Extraterrestrial
Intelligence), and more about that below.
The 3rd episode is about what would have ahppened if Martin
Luther King had become President of the United States of America.
Now, about that SETI episode. It was written, produced, and
directed by Englishman Mark Harrison, for a British production
company working for the Discovery Channel. It's a mostly
fictional story about SETI (the Search for Extraterrestrial
Intelligence) succeeding, with no real scientists in the
fictional part. Then there's an afterword, separated from the
fiction, with short interviews of scientists Seth Shostak, Frank
Drake, and Thomas R. McDonough, Ph.D..
Most of it was filmed in the San Francisco area. Tom McDonough
consulted on the script, suggesting scientific ideas to make the
plot work, and correcting errors. Tom McDonough has previously
been Technical Advisor on science and science fiction media
productions such as the film "The Philadelphia Experiment."
CARL SAGAN Eulogy by protege Tom McDonough
The Wild Wild West, CBS, 17 Sep 1965-7 Sep 1970
James Bond meets Gunsmoke. James T. West (not to be confused with
James T. Kirk) was a secret agent for President Ulysses S. Grant, in
real life the military genius who boozed his way through the White
House, surrounded by corrupt aides, went bankrupt, and wrote the best
Presidential autobiography ever -- for the money. James T. West's
focus was the alarming number of revolutionary, radical, criminal, and
anarchist groups constantly plotting to take over America.
Assisted by Secret Service Agent Artemus Gordon, master of
disguise, they travelled by special railroad car equipped with the
tools and materials needed to make a vast array of gadgets and gizmos.
James T. West's nemesis was the brilliant but irrevocably evil Dr.
Miguelito Loveless. Sometimes rose from anachronistically daffy to delightful.
James T. West -- Robert Conrad
Artemus Gordon -- Ross Martin
Miguelito Loveless -- Michael Dunn
Producer (1st season) -- Fred Freiberger
Producer (all other seasons) -- Michael Garrison
Wine of India, BBC, 1970
TV movie by Nigel Kneale, similar to Larry Noven story
"Organlegger." In the world of 2050, people are required to be
euthenized, so that the upper class can be immortalized by organ
transplants.
Writer -- Nigel Kneale
The Wizard, CBS, 9 Sep 1986-7 July 1987
Simon McKay was a professional toy inventor, but as a hobby, he
created devices to help the handicapped, assisted the government
spymasters, and helped the downtrodden with ingenious gadgets and
kindliness. Government agent Alex Jagger was supposed to keep an eye
on him, and act as bodyguard as they circled the globe on a
combination of charity and intrigue.
This was the promising show starring David Rappaport, the
four-foot-tall actor with a heart of gold, witty and exuberantly
talented. After this show failed to be renewed, David Rappaport was a
continuing character on "L.A. Law." Divorced, abandoned by his
girlfriend, and repeatedly jerked around by the network (which kept
promising him another series, and then breaking its promise), David
Rappaport committed suicide. One could say that he really died of a
broken heart.
I, webmaster Jonathan Vos Post, was uncredited co-author/rewriter
of the most popular episode ever, written by Stephen Barnes. This
episode was a twist on Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics,
involving a robot who loses consciousness and awakens with a bloody
arm -- and a dead man on the floor. I created the motive, the means,
and the resolution, and got nothing out of this except for the
character in that episode named "Dr. Post." My wife (who really does
have a Ph.D.) spotted David Rappaport poolside at the Roosevelt Hotel
in Hollywood during a Science Fiction Writers of America Nebula Awards
banquet, engaged him in conversation, and sent him over to talk to the
fiction editor of Omni Magazine (Ellen Datlow) and others.
SFWA President Charles Sheffield invited David Rappaport to give
a keynote address at the awards banquet. He improvised the most
intelligent and entertaining talk I've ever heard given to this group.
To this day, I wonder if his agent ever forwarded the invitations we
mailed to him, in an effort to cheer him up during the bleak final days
of his life.
Simon McKay -- David Rappaport
Alex Jagger -- Douglas Barr
Tillie Russell, Housekeeper -- Fran Ryan
Wizards and Warriors, CBS, 26 Feb 1983-14 May 1983
Swords and Sorcery, perhaps inspired by the success of the TSR game
"Dungeons and Dragons", with a soupcon of Monty Python and the Holy
Grail.
Prince Erik Greystone -- Jeff Conaway
Marko -- Walter Olkewicz
Prince Dirk Blackpool -- Duncan Regehr
Princess Ariel -- Julia Duffy
Wizard Vector -- Clive Revill
King Baaldorf -- Tom Hill
Wizard Tranquil -- Ian Wolfe
Geoffrey Blackpool -- Tim Dinigan
Justin Greystone -- Jay Kerr
Queen Lattinia -- Julia Payne (who did not like being called "That
Royal Payne on the set)
Bethel -- Randi Brooks
Cassandra -- Phyllis Katz
Oriental Guard -- Lonnie Wun
Genre: Heroic Adventure
Wonder Woman, ABC (Dec 1976-July 1977) and CBS (Sep 1977-Sep 1979),
18 Dec 1976-11 Sep 1979
Based on the comic-book of Charles Moulon in the 1940s... {to be done}
Yeoman Diana Prince/"Wonder Woman" -- Lynda Carter
Major Steve Trevor/Steve Trevor, Jr. -- Lyle Waggoner
General Blankenship (1976-77) -- Richard Eastham
Corporal Etta Candy (1976-1977) -- Beatrice Colen
Joe Atkinson (1977) -- Normann Burton
Eve (1977-79) -- Saundra Sharp
Voice of I.R.A. (1977-79) -- Tom Kratochzil
World of Giants, syndicated, 1959
A cheesy attempt to squeeze extra profit from the huge props left over
after the filming of "The Incredible Shrinking Man." Assumes that
radiation can shrink people. Obviously it shrunk somebody's brain.
Government secret agent -- Marshall Thompson
Agent's non-shrunk partner -- Arthur Franz
Producer -- William Alland (many Universal horror/SF films of 1950s)

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X: TELEVISION: 4

Xena: Warrior Princess, to be done
to be done
Popular spin-off of "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" starring Lucy Lawless, now with a
devoted following that attends conventions. Most of the location
shooting is done in New Zealand.
Production Company -- Pacific Renaissance Pictures
Executive Producer -- Sam Raimi, Robert Tapert
Director of Photography -- Donald Duncan
Origination Format -- 35mm
Film-to-Tape Transfer Facility -- Digital Post
Color Correction Facility -- Anderson Video
Colorists -- Kevin Kirwan, Joy Gaston
Offline Facility -- Anderson Video
Offline Editors -- Robert Field, Jim Prior
Offline Editing System Manufacturer -- ???
Online Facility -- Anderson Video
Online Tape Format -- Digital Betacam
Audio Editing/Mixing Facility -- Digital Sound & Picture
Audio Editing System Manufacturer -- Dawn, Digidesign
Supervising Sound Editor -- Richard Ford
Audio Mixing/Sweetening System Manufacturer -- Euphonix
Show Telephone Number -- (818) 777-8233
Genre: Feminist Heroic Fantasy
The X-Files, Fox, 1993-Present
X-Files: Ultimate X-File Link Page
reasonably comprehensive
Terminal X
reasonably comprehensive
The Lone Gunman (X-Files)
X-Files: Guide1 @ avimall.com
X-Files: Guide2 @ avimall.com
Rutgers' FTP Episode Guide
Production Company -- Twentieth Century Fox Television/Ten-Thirteen Productions
Executive Producer -- Chris Carter
Director of Photography -- John Joffin
Origination Format -- 35mm
Film-to-Tape Transfer Facility -- Encore Video, Gastown Post
Color Correction Facility -- Encore Video, Gastown Post
Colorist -- Andrea Dixon/Gastown Post, Phil Azenzer/Encore Video
Offline Facility -- In-house
Offline Editors -- Heather MacDougall, Jim Gross, Michael S. Stern
Offline Editing System Manufacturer -- Avid
Online Facility -- Encore Video
Online Editor -- Bob Minshall
Online Tape Format -- DCT
Audio Editing/Mixing Facility -- West Productions
Supervising Sound Editor -- Thierry Jacouturier
Audio Editing System Manufacturer -- TimeLine
Audio Mixing/Sweetening System Manufacturer -- Neotek
Show Telephone Number -- (310) 369-1130
The X-Men, to be done

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Y: TELEVISION: 2

The Year of the Sexual Olympics, BBC, 1968
Social satire about a voyeuristic future where watching sex on
television is the major way that time is spent. Some people think
that this might be the future of the World Wide Web, but not YOU,
because you must be literate to be reading this web site, right?
Producer/Writer -- Nigel Kneale
Genre: Sex
Yesteryear, Nickelodeon, 1998

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Z: TELEVISION

Zardoz: The Series, UPN, 1997

Science Fiction TELEVISION: where to go for more
check out Science Fiction TV web sites including:

Strange Fun A slick and quirky website that
covers Science Fiction Film reviews, Science Fiction television
reviews, Comics, Star Trek, peculiar graphics, and promises to
enlighten us about "Hong Kong action, Japanese anime, Hindi musicals"
or whatever else tickles the webmasters' fancy.
As of 12 Jan 1997, Science Fiction film reviews (with ratings,
cast list, and stills) include:
Bogus
Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story
The Island of Dr. Moreau
John Carpenter's Escape from L.A.
Mars Attacks
101 Dalmatians
Space Jam
Star Trek: First Contact
There is also a weekly column on science fiction television by Ken
Shapiro, and Science Fiction Video reviews (with ratings, cast list,
and stills) including:
The Arrival
Casper
The City of Lost Children
Crumb
Dragonheart
Independence Day
James and the Giant Peach
Rumble in the Bronx
Toy Story
Twister
Opinionated, pulling no punches, witty, and graphically cool, this is
a web site to watch. Who knows what it might grow into, or perhaps
mutate would be a better term...

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MOVIES: list of lists, 21 links, last updated 8 February 1997
NEW: SNEAK PREVIEWS OF SCIENCE FICTION/FANTASY/HORROR FILMS OF 1997

CLONE: NEW: 14 hotlinks to films about clones, genetic engineering, and human duplication

SPACE: list of 123 annotated hotlinks to films about space travel

TIME TRAVEL: List of 65 movies about time travel, last updated 6 March 1997

For more comprehensive information, see references such as: "The Complete Directory to Prime Time Newtork TV Shows, 1946-Present" by Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, New York: Ballentine, 1988 and "Future Tense: The Cinema of Science Fiction" by John Brosnan, foreword by Harry Harrison, New York: St.Martin's Press, 1978 also, much data on 17 recent shows is based to some extent upon "1997 TV Post-Production Guide" , compiled by Michelle Oh, Film & Video: The Production Magazine, Vol.14, No.1, Jan 1997. For subscription information on this fine magazine, write to 8455 Beverly Blvd., Suite 508, Los Angeles CA 90048, or phone (213) 653-8053

SEND YOUR INFORMATION/URL/LINK to THE ULTIMATE SCIENCE FICTION WEB GUIDE. We will review your information and add it to this list if appropriate.

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