Fantastic Tv: 50 Years Of Cult Fantasy and Science Fiction [Paperback]

Fantastic TV: 50 Years of Cult Fantasy and Science Fiction has a long title but is an easy and quick read. It's divided into content sections dealing with various themes including space and time travel, alien invasion and people with extraordinary powers. The shows dealt with in the book range from the 1950s to 2009. Most are well known, ground-breaking series (both long and short lived) but some are little-known (primarily British) shows that would be known to only those growing up in the UK. Being Canadian, we ended up seeing some of those shows on the CBC but others such as The Tripods, Sapphire & Steel and Blake's 7, I was previously oblivious to. In this way, the book becomes more than just a trip down memory lane but a learning experience as well. The way the author (Steven Savile) researches the history of the shows explored and ties them together by illustrating which shows influenced others that came later was eye-opening. The book has a table of contents at the start which lists all of the shows in their respective categories so that you can jump around and read about your favourites in whatever order you'd like or you can read it linearly. I recommend the linear method (at least within each content chapter) because Savile does lay the groundwork for the most recent shows (which are dealt with near the end of each chapter) by discussing the early shows first. Each chapter and show has accompanying photos (although all of them are sadly in black and white) . The book ends with a round table discussion from some of the writers and creators of the shows discussed. More time is spent on the iconic shows such as The Twilight Zone, Star Trek, Stargate and Dr. Who than lesser known shows but this is because many of these shows had different spinoffs or incarnations that Sevile deals with individually. I consider myself a fan of this genre and was pleased with it's content and thoroughness. There were a few shows I thought should have been included in depth that weren't (such as The Time Tunnel, Land of the Giants, The Outer Limits, Andromeda, Space: 1999, Ghost Whisperer, Medium and The Starlost) and none of Gerry Anderson's puppet shows were mentioned either which I think was an oversight but as the author writes in his forward, "My apologies if I skipped over your favourite show...when it came to the final cut I decided what I had to say about it was covered elsewhere." Fair enough. I look forward to volume two down the road.

First off, I am an avid fan of science television, so this book was a must have for me. And I was pleased to find that many of the shows I have watched and enjoyed over the years (though not all) have found a place in this volume.

I liked how the chapters group different shows together under different themes, like space travel, aliens, superhumans, even the supernatural. This makes it easier to follow the developments of these themes on television over time. I could even think of other programs I would have added to each theme, like Farscape, Quantum Leap or The Dead Zone.

I also liked that the discussions of the shows talked about not only the shows themselves, but also looked at the ideas behind them. For example, part of the inspiration for Stargate SG-1 was the ancient alien concept proposed by Erich von DanikenChariots of the Gods and others, such as Zecharia SitchinTwelfth Planet: Book I of the Earth Chronicles (The Earth Chronicles) and H.P. LovecraftThe Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics). It lets look at your favorite shows in a whole new way.

Most of all, this book reminded me how much I enjoyed these shows and made want to watch some of them again. Others I've begun to look at for the first time. All in all a satisfying read.

FANTASTIC TV: 50 YEARS OF CULT FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION provides a fine illustrated celebration of five decades of science fiction and fantasy series shows, interviewing writers and creators and offering insights into classics from Star Trek and Lost in space to The X-Files and Lost. Add black and white photos throughout and you have an outstanding survey, highly recommended for any television or film library.

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