Science fiction has long been a mainstay of television because it can be set anywhere in the world, or any world for that matter. Time ceases to matter as the scriptwriter can alter it at his own discretion, from the dim past to the far future. Flying cars? Hey, this is the year 2307, we’ll have those by then. There are no restrictions as to locale or scientific achievement. If you want to travel through time, you can. If you want to have a man partly reconstructed with electronic limbs, we can do it. A space station five miles long? No problem! Police officers working a beat on a faraway planet? Done! Come, don your space suit and join us for a trip through the wondrous worlds of science fiction television.
The Outer Limits (ABC, September 16, 1963-January 16, 1965) “There is nothing wrong with your television set” advised the deep control voice that opened every episode of this outstanding series. It’s eerie, but whenever “Limits” was on, I never had any problems with my TV, even though other channels sometimes had bad reception. Twilight Zone”, which started a few years before Outer Limits, was often steeped in fantasy rather than the sci-fi that was the solid base of this series that opened the doors of Hollywood for many future stars. It also helped develop makeup procedures which eventually were used on such shows as “Star Trek”. Major writers such as Harlan Ellison created the series’ best shows. A new version of this program ran on Showtime from 1995-2002.
The Time Tunnel (ABC, September 9, 1966-April 7, 1967) This show had an interesting cast that included singer James Darren, character actor Whit Bissell, and Miss America 1955, Lee Meriwether. Dr. Newman (Darren) jumps the gun and sends himself back through time using his team’s time tunnel before it’s been thoroughly tested in order to prove it works. Dr. Phillips (Robert Colbert) goes through the device as well to retrieve his partner, but both scientists wind up stuck in time. The project team is able to see where they are at times, but is unable to bring them back, although at the end of each show they manage to send the two time travelers to a new locale and time to save them from the trouble they are in.
Land of the Giants (ABC, September 22, 1968-March 22, 1970) Set in the then-future of 1983, the crew of a transport spaceship gets marooned on a planet surprisingly like our own Earth except that the humans are gigantic. The population of giants appeared to be living under an unspecified dictatorship, and the government found out about the little humans, setting the local police to the task of capturing them. Some of the giants opposed the government and rendered assistance to the Earth people. Most of the high budget was spent on the manufacturing of oversized props.
The Six Million Dollar Man (ABC, January 18, 1974-March 6, 1978) The times that a mid-season replacement show becomes a hit are still rare, and this was one of the first shows to do so. A made-up division of the CIA, the Office of Scientific Intelligence, takes an injured test pilot whose ship crashed and rebuilds his body into the first cyborg, played by Lee Majors, at the cost mentioned in the title. His right arm, both legs, and his left eye get high tech replacement parts that give Steve Austin greater strength, tremendous running speed, and extremely improved vision. The story was based on Martin Caidin’s book “Cyborg”, and spawned a spin-off, “The Bionic Woman”.
Star Trek (NBC, September 8, 1966-June 3, 1969) Star Trek is an acquired taste which, like fine wine, gets more full-bodied as it ages. In spite of being nominated for an Emmy Award in its first two seasons, it was cancelled during its third season. The show’s premise of a “five year mission to explore strange new worlds” has endured for over forty years. The crew of the Starship Enterprise, led by Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and his Vulcan first officer Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy), has achieved cult status, even with sometimes awful, laughable scripts and special effects that are now badly dated. The highly moral story lines, however, still have great impact today, as do its messages of racial equality and understanding. The show is also famous for showing the first interracial kiss on television.
The Invaders (ABC, January 10, 1967-March 26, 1968) David Vincent (Roy Thinnes), an architect going home after a tough work day, makes a wrong turn and ends up lost in a ghost town. He parks and falls asleep, only to wake up and witness the landing of an alien craft, then uncovers a plot for the invaders to take over Earth. Of course, no one believes him, but he attempts to thwart the invasion on his own, knowing that the aliens can be identified by their lack of emotions and a flaw in the process of making them look human that leaves their little finger immobile. When the aliens died, they flared up and disappeared, leaving no trace of a body and making David’s job harder.
Lost In Space (CBS, September 16, 1965-March 6, 1968) Irwin Allen, who had also brought “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea” to television, took us into outer space with this entry. Originally, it was scheduled to be a dark, serious series, with Dr. Smith (Jonathan Harris) being a spy who sabotaged the Jupiter II spacecraft carrying the Robinson family to a far planet for colonization and got stuck aboard. After the first season, the show went campy, even to the point of being tongue-in-cheek, with Smith becoming a cowardly caricature of his old self and being used as comic relief, most often trading barbs with a glass-headed robot and getting the crew in trouble.
UFO (Syndicated, September 1, 1970-July 24, 1971) In the then-future year of 1980, an alien invasion of Earth is under way. The aliens are kidnapping humans for their limbs and organs. Fortunately for us, they didn’t have a massive invasion fleet, but rather small craft that could only carry a couple of their people at a time. Our number one line of defense against them is SHADO (Supreme Headquarters Alien Defense Organization), with a base on the moon that was home to interceptors which attempted to destroy the starships as they approached. If they got past Moon Base, the next step was a submarine that launched another interceptor against it. A fleet of land vehicles was also available to track down any alien ship that made it to land. The SHADO operations were deep under a movie studio. The aliens apparently lived in a liquid environment, for their helmets were filled with a green fluid. One show advanced the theory that the invaders were actually humans under alien control.
Babylon 5 (PTEN-Fox/TNT, January 26, 1994-November 25, 1998) Possibly the most complicated and beautifully filmed TV series ever, this show followed the crew and residents of Babylon 5, a five mile long space station that became the focus of an intergalactic war in the years 2258-2262. The program made use of crisp, well thought-out scripts and awesome special effects while maintaining gripping story lines of interspecies and same-sex romance, galactic intrigue and politics, and war. The main characters had believable personal problems and several had skeletons in their closets that affected the running story lines. The acting was also top-notch and featured such talent as Patricia Tallman (remake of “Night of the Living Dead”), Billy Mumy (“Lost In Space”), and Walter Koenig (“Star Trek”).
Space Precinct (Syndicated, October 3, 1994-July 24, 1995) So, what’s it like to be a cop in space? Ex-NYPD detective Patrick Brogan (Ted Shackelford) moves his wife, son, and daughter to Demeter City on the planet Altor, a transitionary world inhabited by various species of alien and native people, as well as humans. Picture “Law and Order” with a cast made up mostly of extraterrestrials and you’re close to what this show was all about. Like UFO, it was the brainchild of Gerry Anderson, but American broadcasters didn’t understand the premise of this show, which had very good acting and decent scripting. The aliens in the cast wore full makeup and prosthetics that made them as mobile and believable as the humans, right down to facial structure movement. Unfortunately, in the U.S. it was considered too adult for the kids but not prime time material, so it was relegated to the midnight-4 A.M. slot in most markets, leading to its demise.
As computer generated graphics continue to lower production costs, we may see even more science fiction series in television’s future. Some of the recent attempts failed badly, such as “Surface”, but this season’s “Heroes” on NBC has done well. With a possible Hollywood actor’s strike by the beginning of next season, reality shows are on the cusp of becoming a necessity, but the studios may opt for shows done in three-dimensional computer animation, of which science fiction could be a big part, using non-union voice talent to bypass the strike and produce new shows that don’t require “name” actors, thereby saving tons of money.
