SCIENCE FICTION TELEVISON (1)

The early history of science fiction television (SFTV) looks back to the competing
medium of film and a narrative model that flourished beginning in the 1910s: the serial.
Marked by its action orientation, low budgets, and cliff-hanger endings, the serial
provided ready and exciting material for television programming in the late 1940s and
early 1950s, particularly since its one- and two-reel formats could easily fit—along with
commercials—into the typical half-hour programming block.

3.1. The Space Opera Form

Perhaps more important, these early crossover programmes, such as the Flash
Gordon serials (1936, 1938, 1940), Buck Rogers (1939), King of the Rocket Men
(1949), and Flying Disc Man from Mars (1951), helped to provide a generic model for
a developing SFTV. The space opera form, marked by its interplanetary settings,
heroic figures, outsized actions, and melodramatic situations and heavily influenced
by the comics and the space adventure novels of E. E. “Doc” Smith, Jack Williamson,
and Edmond Hamilton, would be toned down somewhat to provide the template for a
first generation of SFTV, but that pattern would continue to influence the genre’s
development. From 1949 through 1955, shows like Captain Video (1949–1955),
Space Patrol (1950–1955), Tom Corbett, Space Cadet (1950–1955), Rod Brown of
the Rocket Rangers (1953–1954), and Rocky Jones, Space Ranger (1954) addressed
in a generally formulaic manner an audience presumed to be largely composed of
children. Although these programmes easily deployed a common formula, it was one
that did not lend them a solid identity, for even though they spoke to and of the rising
fascination with science and technology in the post–World War II era, this element had
little substance and was always precariously balanced against their serial-like nature.

3.2. Tomorrowland

Trying to stake out a rather different direction for development while addressing much
the same audience, Walt Disney’s Disneyland series (1954–1983) introduced its
Tomorrowland-themed shows with a group of episodes collectively titled “Man in
Space.” While these shows were animation-heavy, provided a humorous view of
earlier beliefs about space, space travel, and alien life, and even satirized the typical
space opera of the period, they balanced these elements with serious discussions by
some of the key experts of the time, many of whom would become involved in the U.S.
space program. Although these shows were critically praised and attracted
international attention, their mix of science fiction and the hard science of the space
race would produce few imitators, and by 1961 the Tomorrowland segment of Disney’s
anthology show would disappear.

3.3. Anthology Shows

A more adult-directed form of science fiction did appear in the early years of broadcast
television, although it too was in a form that owed much to other media. Anthology
shows like Lights Out (1949–52), Out There (1951–52), Tales of Tomorrow (1951–
53), and Science Fiction Theatre (1955–57) drew heavily on the traditions of both live
and radio drama. In fact, Lights Out began on the radio in 1934, and by 1950 weekly
radio shows like Dimension X and 2000 Plus were providing futuristic tales drawn from
the work of some of the top young science fiction writers of the day. Building upon this
pattern, the anthology television programmes offered live drama, adapted from the
works of both classic science fiction writers like H. G. Wells and that new breed of
authors, including Ray Bradbury and Rod Serling, seeking to make their stories
accessible in various media. Although clearly emphasizing the fantastic, these shows
also benefited from the fact that they fit into a readily recognized television format. In
fact, the live anthology drama was one of the new medium’s most successful types of
programming throughout its first decade, as typified by such long-running and critically
acclaimed series as General Electric Theater, Goodyear TV Playhouse, and
Playhouse 90.
Although none of the fantasy anthologies managed the longevity, popularity, or
acclaim of these more traditional live-action drama shows, the science fiction
programmes were notable for their use of big-name stars, their ability to attract top
writing talent, and, in the case of the semi-documentary Science Fiction Theater, a
much greater concern with real science than any of the era’s space operas ever
exhibited. Perhaps more important, they helped to demonstrate the potential flexibility
of the science fiction narrative, as they ranged across a wide variety of story types
while treating a number of serious and timely themes.

3.3.1. The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits

These early anthology shows are also significant because they opened the door for
two of the most important series in the early history of SFTV. The Twilight Zone (1959–
1964) and The Outer Limits (1963–1965) built upon the legacy of the earlier anthology
efforts, mixing science fiction tales with narratives of horror and the supernatural,
drawing in top acting talent, and attracting major writers. The Twilight Zone quickly
established a reputation for the psychological dimension of its programmes, often
flavoured with an ironic twist. Although The Outer Limits would become noted for
emphasizing monsters rather than ironic or surreal twists, it generally stayed closer to
the science fiction tradition and established a similar record of attracting top writers.
Beyond the quality of their scripts, both series proved noteworthy for their use of
fantastic landscapes to comment upon contemporary American culture. Ranging
across a variety of themes, including alien encounters, space exploration, time travel,
futuristic societies, and even genetic alterations, The Twilight Zone especially
established that those typical science fiction themes could offer an important
perspective on American culture. Appearing at the very height of the Cold War, it
managed to address not only the expected fears and anxieties of that era but also a
broad array of social issues — and rather courageously, given the political sensitivities
of the time. Among them we might particularly include American culture’s generally
conformist values, repressed racism and xenophobia, creeping governmental control,
and problematic gender relations.

3.4. Irwin Allen

An additional legacy of these anthology series is the variety of science fiction shows
that followed them in the 1960s. For in ranging over a wide spectrum of subjects and
employing diverse narrative modes, The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits
demonstrated that science fiction was hardly a monolithic story type, certainly not just
the space opera, and that, far from being a niche form, it could effectively address a
broad spectrum of the television audience. Consequently, the 1960s saw the
development of a varied array of science fiction series: shows about extraordinary
explorations of various types (Lost in Space [1965–68], Time Tunnel [1966–67]),
extraordinary technology (Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea [1964–68]), extraordinary
encounters (The Invaders [1967–68], Land of the Giants [1968–70]), comic science
fiction (My Favourite Martian [1963–66]), and even animated assays on the genre (The
Jetsons [1962–63], The Adventures of Jonny Quest [1964–65]).
One of the guiding lights of this variety and arguably the most influential figure in the
SFTV of this period was Irwin Allen, an Academy Award–winning director, writer, and
producer who created four of those series. He adapted Voyage to the Bottom of the
Sea from his own successful film of the same title and then, in quick succession, mined
its scientific adventure formula to produce Lost in Space, Time Tunnel, and Land of
the Giants. In these series Allen, later to be known as the “master of disaster” thanks
to his productions of such key disaster films as The Poseidon Adventure (1972), The
Towering Inferno (1974), and The Swarm (1978), seldom took on the sorts of cultural
issues that were so often the concern of The Twilight Zone; instead, his works had a
more basic human focus, as they consistently explored the various ways people
respond when faced with unusual circumstances. Yet more important, thanks to his
shows’ slightly larger budgets, large casts, and use of film-like special effects, he
brought a big-screen look to SFTV, along with larger expectations for the genre.

3.5. Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek

Allen’s death in 1991 followed by only a few days that of the other key figure of science
SFTV in this period, one who has arguably wielded the greatest influence over the
form’s development, Gene Roddenberry. A television writer, most often of westerns,
Roddenberry created the concept for Star Trek (1966–69). The resulting adventures
of the starship Enterprise in the twenty-third century would prove only moderately
successful in the show’s initial run but would go on to attract a new and highly loyal
audience in syndication, inspire a series of feature films, spawn an animated series
(1973–75), and provide the seed for a host of even more ambitious spin-offs extending
into the following century.
Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek was a symbol of Kennedy’s progressive and liberal
New Frontier politics, with its meta-narrative now being as famous as the iconic ships,
uniforms, and actors that populated the fictional worlds of the Federation’s future. For
all those who explored space, from the original series (1966 –69) to the retrospectively
historical crew on Star Trek: Enterprise (2001–05), their voyages to places unknown
in which they meet with aliens both hostile and friendly were a constant education.
Freed from the past turmoil of an Earth wracked by war, poverty and inequality, Star
Trek was able to depict a future where humans could fulfil their true potential. Humanity
was on a constant voyage of discovery where it could learn from mistakes of the past
and continue to improve and achieve the utopia first conceived by Roddenberry in
1964. The multicultural crew that sat aboard the Enterprise was representative of all
that the US should live up to: Women would be able to assume positions of
responsibility equal to men, African, Asian, and Euro Americans would be able to live
in harmony after overcoming the divisions of race and racism, and nations once at war
with each other could overcome their petty squabbles for the benefit of humankind.
 While the decade was ushered in with a growing sense of possibility for political
change, Kennedy symbolised a youthful energy to combat the overt militarism of the
previous decade. Therefore, the physical image of the President stood as a symbol
for America’s renewed efforts to achieve its mission of peace through the American
way. Consequently, the physical body in Star Trek, specifically the relationship
between human and alien bodies, became vitally important in visualising the American
project of multiculturalism and education.
The first episode to be aired, “The Man Trap” (1966), was heavily inspired by The
Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits in that the plot involved a mind game in which
things are not what they appear to be. In this story Captain Kirk and his crew are called
to planet M-113 on a routine supply mission when people start to die from extreme salt
deprivation, due to a monster that is not only able to create the illusion of being human
but requires salt for its survival. As the story progresses the Salt Monster has to
change appearance several times in order to get more salt from its helpless victims,
and finally attempts to kill McCoy in the guise of a past lover. In other words, the
monster mimics femininity to seduce McCoy before she strikes and, when Kirk
interrupts this encounter, McCoy is forced to kill the image of the women that he once
loved.
This episode also reveals the tension within the show. On the one hand, the alien is
portrayed as a relatively sympathetic being, the last survivor of a lost civilization, and
yet it is also seen as a dangerous threat that kills without remorse. Furthermore, the
image of beauty that it shows to Kirk and McCoy hides a hideous alien body and
treacherous alien motivations. Its frequent association with femininity is also
significant, and it saps the life from its male victims. As a result, the episode suggests
that femininity threatens to distract heroic masculinity from its five-year mission, to
convert the male explorer into a domesticated conformist.
Certainly, Star Trek used the alien body and the idea of physical difference to explore
contemporary political and social issues. For example, Roddenberry used the alien to
explore issues of civil rights, and its politics here were often fairly radical for the period.
Episodes like the “The Enemy Within” (1966) used the doppelganger motif to point out
humanity’s capability of committing acts of violence. When Kirk is caught in a
transporter accident, his personality is split between two identical versions of himself:
one that inherited his good traits such as compassion and caution, the other inheriting
his more evil traits such as deception, lust and violent aggression. Throughout this
episode, Kirk’s body is depicted in abject ways: the good side is weak and feeble
without the stronger, more vicious Kirk, and the evil side shows signs of madness and
physical instability without the calming influences of the compassionate Kirk. The
moral of the story is that people need both halves to live; allowing one to take over the
other means that we will destroy each other. In order to survive, humanity must learn
to be inclusive: the individual must learn to accept the different parts of itself, and the
society as a whole must learn to accept the different elements from which it is
composed.
Similarly, Star Trek’s “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield” (1969) addresses the
meaning of race with telling self-consciousness by showing two aliens unable to forget
their bigotry However, this episode, although intending to highlight America’s inherent
racism and social segregation based on colour, confirms Star Trek’s liberal humanist
intent through dialogue and alien make-up (the aliens differ in that while both have
bodies that are black on one side of their face and white on the other, one alien is
white on his left side and the other on his right side).
 Using the aliens’ bodies as an allegory for America’s problems, the series implies
that humanity will have integrated and progressed beyond racial bigotry in the far
future. Nonetheless, at the same time, the series also implies that the future will be
one where whites are morally, politically, and innately superior, and both coloured
humans and coloured aliens are either servants, threats, or objects of exotic desire.
The predominantly white crew of the Enterprise see the warring pair of painted aliens
as primitive because they have not progressed like humans — however, what this
sentiment underscores is that the notion of the racial other is still a sensitive subject in
the twenty-third century, particularly when the Federation is run by young, white men.
There are clear contradictions within Star Trek vision of the future, yet there is also
evidence of a strong desire to visualise difference, both physical and cultural, in ways
that challenge the audience to make up their minds for themselves. The series clearly
conformed to generic tropes of science fiction, but within a heavily regulated television
industry and under the constraints of small budgets and artistic practice it had to be
innovative yet familiar in order to attract and maintain an audience. This is best
exemplified in the series’ use of colour in that imaging new worlds week in and week
out could best be achieved by using and reusing sets and make-up techniques in the
representation of alien worlds and creatures. Bold colours and outrageous alien
costumes were just a small part of the particular look the production crew was trying
to establish. Moreover, Star Trek’s use of the body as site for innovation and
regulation through make-up and production design is symptomatic of the
representational strategies employed to fulfil the network’s desire to represent racial
minorities without alienating certain audience demographics. The alien body in Star
Trek was more than just a site for encountering the unfamiliar; it served to visualise
the developing relationship between the science fiction genre and America’s television
networks.
Yet Star Trek’s importance to the development of SFTV rests in more than the
affirmative and liberal vision that it — and Roddenberry — managed to articulate.
Roddenberry set out a formula that has dominated the genre to the present day. The
key injunction offered in its well-known epigraph — “to boldly go where no man has
gone before” — not only readily evoked a new kind of frontier but also easily
differentiated the show from Allen’s Lost in Space, as it pointed to the starship’s
purposefully directed travels through space, with its racially and even species-diverse
crew tasked with exploring and mapping part of the universe as representatives of the
United Federation of Planets. The adventurous exploring, interactions of a wide variety
of characters, and strong sense of purpose or promise would prove to be a significant
evolution of the space opera formula and a legacy to the medium.

3.6. Dr. Who

The pattern also characterized to some extent a much longer-running series that has
had a similar influence outside the US. The BBC-produced series Doctor Who aired
between 1963 and 1989, becoming the longest continuously running science fiction
series in television history. Some measure of its impact can be seen in the several
Doctor Who films, television specials, and spin-off series it has inspired and in its
resurrection in 2005 as a new series. A further measure of that impact is the large cult
following the series has generated, one that closely resembles the “Trekkie” subculture
that the Star Trek franchise has produced. The very investment that so many viewers
around the world have made in these two series strongly argues for their
consequence, and particularly for their ability to speak meaningfully to and for a large
audience.