scifi tv
The best science fiction television from every decade.
Rewatching... Doctor Who: The Faceless Ones - Part 1
Saturday 8 April 1967 This one gets off to a cracking start with the TARDIS materialising on an airport runway just as a plane is taking off. There's lots of airport-related hustle and bustle, a grumpy Commandant, uniformed staff, police motorcyclists... This is so unusual for Doctor Who - really 'urban'! The Commandant has received a report about the obstruction on the runway, which has left him less than delighted, and he's sceptical when told it's a police box. I'm not sure if the Doctor and friends legging it across the runway to avoid the plane was the best idea. Wouldn't it have been better to get back inside the TARDIS and dematerialise again? Still, I'm glad they didn't as this is shaping up to be an exciting episode.
By Nick Brown9 years ago in Futurism
Rewatching... Star Trek: The City At The Edge Of Forever
"I see you've noticed the ears." Thursday 6 April 1967 Straight into the action again this week, as the Enterprise is going through some turbulence. Suddenly there's a bang and a flash at Sulu's control panel and he ends up on the floor unconscious. This looks like it's going to be a Sulu episode.
By Nick Brown9 years ago in Futurism
Weird Scientific Theories Proposed in Science Fiction
Science fiction can be wacky, especially when weird theories about existence get thrown into the mix. Some sci-fi prides itself on its grounded adherence to scientific law. Hard sci-fi, as it is sometimes called, obeys the laws of theoretical physics (think the Mars Trilogy, Moon, or, recently, Arrival). Other times, writers play fast and quick with the laws, don't explain what is happening, and hope that the audience will suspend disbelief so they can join them on a wild ride. Sometimes, audiences don't mind this (do we really understand how the Death Star can blow up a whole planet? Or care?), but sometimes writers try to justify what's happening with "science." The weird sci-fi theories these writers create range from sound and plausible to so abstract and bizarre that the audience just sits back, slack jawed, and asks "What the hell am I watching?"
By Bethany Tiamat9 years ago in Futurism
Original 'Westworld' Movie Vs HBO Series
HBO's Westworld has become one of the biggest science fiction shows in recent memory—so big, in fact, that many forget that it is a reimagining of a small 1970s film. Michael Crichton's directorial debut, following the success of the film adaptation of his novel The Andromeda Strain achieved cult-classic status in the science-fiction starved early-70s.
By Anthony Gramuglia9 years ago in Futurism
Rewatching... Doctor Who: The Macra Terror – Part 4
"Confusion is best left to the experts." Saturday 1 April 1967 Jamie is trapped by giant crabs (the Macra of the title) and if that's not enough he has to contend with poison gas as well. The gas is what keeps the Macra active and at the moment the supply is being maintained, under the control of Control, by Officia the official. He's actually in charge of sending people into the mines. Nobody's keeping an eye on the Doctor and Polly though, which is lucky as it enables them to mess about with the controls and stop the gas flow, thus rendering the Macra docile and saving Jamie.
By Nick Brown9 years ago in Futurism
Rewatching... Star Trek: The Alternative Factor
Thursday 30 March 1967 This one starts out very promisingly. A quite gripping prologue in which the Enterprise passes through some kind of magnetic field, and as Spock puts it, reality momentarily "winks out". We get some classic Enterprise turbulence acting this week, as the crew on the bridge do some synchronised staggering as the ship lurches back and forth. I don't think I've seen much of that (if any) in the series so far. Spock also reports that at the exact moment of this 'winking out', a man suddenly appeared on the previously lifeless planet below them.
By Nick Brown9 years ago in Futurism
The No-Kidding Coolest Planets in Science Fiction
Warning: This list of coolest science fiction planets will probably offend someone. Odds are 99-to-1 I left off someone’s favorite fiction world, so sorry ‘bout that but please keep the hate to a minimum. I’m still on my meds from the Reddit Rage about my Greatest Protagonists post.
By Matt Cates9 years ago in Futurism
Rewatching... Doctor Who: The Macra Terror – Part 3
Saturday 25 March 1967 Crabs are unlikely creatures to use as an enemy, even in a sci-fi fantasy series. I can only see glimpses, so it's difficult to tell how convincing they are but it's hard to imagine something so rigid and bulky being particularly threatening. And crabs are not the speediest of creatures so I presume one could just walk away from them briskly. But ok, these are space crabs so maybe they move like lightning. And they're rather large. Of course in the 21st century version of this programme we'll see animal-based aliens all the time: space rhinoceroses, space wasps, space pigs, space whales, space cats, space giraffes...and indeed a return of the Macra, but in 1967 this is a bit of a novelty. Ok, maybe not space giraffes.
By Nick Brown9 years ago in Futurism
“Tapestry” Provides a 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' Lesson on Misperceived Failures
I have a friend who is well placed in the corporate world and pulls down more money than any of my classmates from Plattsburgh. But as he runs in his circles among the well born and highly situated, he dreads revealing the base origins of his higher education. Given the chance, I think he’d rectify this untidy part of his life and pull this loose thread on an otherwise successful portfolio. But he might just undo the tapestry of his life as Jean-Luc Picard learned in one of my favorite episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
By Rich Monetti9 years ago in Futurism
The Scale of Hardness in Science Fiction
Some years ago, I had the idea of grading science fiction according to the degree of scientific realism. It was very obvious to me that, for example, the Discovery One spaceship in 2001 A Space Odyssey was far more realistic than the Star Destroyers, X-Wings, and Tie-Fighters of Star Wars.
By M Alan Kazlev9 years ago in Futurism
Rewatching... Star Trek: Errand Of Mercy
"...we Klingons play to win" Thursday 23 March 1967 There's this race of aliens called the Klingons, and Kirk doesn't like them. They're warlike and brutal; Starfleet has just advised that negotiations with them have broken down, and ordered the Enterprise to fly to a planet called Organia and protect the inhabitants.
By Nick Brown9 years ago in Futurism
