The Best Classic Science Fiction Shows

[yevaud]

I nominate UFO as a contender: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8RfzkhqBLY&feature=related

 

[crazyeddie]

I nominate UFO as a contender:

Yes, that was a pretty good show....I watched it regularly.

My personal favorite was the original 1960's series "The Outer Limits"......much more science-fiction-y than The Twilight Zone, better plots, and better acting, in my opinion. Creepy music. Scripts that were often emotionally very moving. Even though they had low-budget special effects, they were convincing and effective. I never got tired of watching them in re-runs. I've tried watching the newer version, but it's just not the same.........

 

[yevaud]

Just to keep consistent, here's a short Youtube video of an Outer Limits episode for the kiddies...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDfZAQQW8Z4

I always like the Outer Limits, better than the Twilight Zone. Edgier and better plots, I thought.

 

[jim48]

Good thread and happy to be here! UFO? Are you serious? It was so bad it was good. The same could be said of Space: 1999. I do wish that there had been a second year of UFO, to be quite honest. Twilight Zone and Outer Limits were on-again, off-again when it came to science fiction. I'm beating around the bush here. Lost in Space is classic because it is the most fondly remembered of Irwin Allen's tv shows. By "classic" I assume pre-1980? The best of the classic is obviously Star Trek, hands-down. There has never been a long running, high rated sci-fi series ever, save for Dr. Who in its many incarnations. Long running but not high in viewership.

 

[Apollo1969]

Space1999, Star Trek & Lost in Space were all great shows for me. They made you think & encouraged my belief that there may be something more to this universe that we live in.

 

[jim48]

Space1999, Star Trek & Lost in Space were all great shows for me. They made you think & encouraged my belief that there may be something more to this universe that we live in.

Lost in Space was part of my childhood when it was on in prime-time. Caught bits and pieces of Star Trek then but it was on past my bedtime. Became a Trekkie in the early '70s when it hit the re-run market. Speaking of re-runs, when Lost in Space went into syndication there was a problem: The first year was in black-and-white. On Saturdays a couple of friends of mine and I would go to a local department store for lunch--great hot dogs!-- buy a model airplane kit then go to the tv set department. We'd each have a small bag of popcorn and sit down and watch Lost in Space, on every tv set. That drove the salesman crazy. There he was trying to sell brand new color console sets and we had all of them tuned to black-and-white Lost in Space re-runs. He'd get every set switched back then get tied up with a customer and we'd switch them all back to Lost in Space. A modus vivendi was finally reached: We were allowed to encamp in front of one console set and watch our show!

 

[ZenGalacticore]

'Outer Limits' and the real 'Star Trek' are definitely on top, IMO. And some of the more sci-fi leaning 'Twilight Zone' episodes were pretty damn good!! They just can't seem to write storys and teleplays like those three shows anymore. I thought the newer 'Outer Limits' sucked alien defecation. I remember a few years ago seeing 'Outer Limits' on the non-detail 'TV Week' of the local newspaper under the Sci-fi channel listing and tuning in only to find that it was the 'new' one. I'd watch about 10 minutes and change it.
Although I've never watched the show, I've heard that the original "The Invaders" was really good. From what I've heard, it only ran one season because the damn network thought it was too intense! (I have no problem believing that any old style network would think that about a good show.)
I mean really, what's wrong with these people? What IS good sci-fi without INTENSITY? Without intellectual stimulation and provocation? I ask you?
You guys probably know already how I feel about it all. I love good science fiction, but it is RARELY done well. I can count on one hand the only truly great sci-fi feature films, for example:

2001: A Space Oddysey

Alien

Logan's Run

That's about it for movies.

Btw, I liked 'Space 1999' too when I was a kid and could probably still enjoy it today. But the premise was pretty stupid. The Moon is ripped out of its orbit and every episode it arrives at another solar-system? That moon must be traveling awfully fast. Say, well, the speed of light? (Obviously, only on 'moontime' could the Alphans get to a new system every episode.)
But it had likeable characters and good drama. I think many in my generation were glad that there was at least ONE sci-fi space-exploration show on the tube at that time since they had cancelled everyone's fav, Star Trek!!!! We were desparate by 1976 for ANY space adventure.

Oh, how could I forget under the feature films: The Planet of the Apes! I loved it as a kid and a teenager, but again, really lame premise. They return to Earth 2,000 years in the future, and these astronauts don't realize that, um, they have returned to Earth. (The constellations and the arrangement of stars, as seen from Earth, don't change a whole hell of a lot in 2,000 years.) The Big Dipper, eg, will still be there from Earth's perspective 2000 years from now. And they could just look around and tell they were in North America. Like gee, this forbidden zone sure does look like parts of Utah and Nevada. Hmmmm...

Okay. I'll lighten up. It's only a movie. And I'm a real fan of just about anything that Rod Serling ever worked on.

 

[yevaud]

Twilight Zone you say...?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ8Mp_08rwk&feature=related

 

[MeteorWayne]

Twilight Zone far and away the best. Rod worked on the mind, with no need for high tech monsters, or flashy CGI graphics.
The mind is where true scince fiction lies....

 

[jim48]

As I'm sure most of you know both Twilight Zone and Outer Limits have been re-made, Twilight Zone a few times. Each actually had some good episodes but what helps the originals is being filmed in black-and-white, particularly the creepy photography of the first season Outer Limits. Also, no fancy, whiz-bang special effects, though Outer Limits occassionally had some interesting work. I thought Space: 1999 was a waste of time and a ridiculous concept. The Invaders? A Quinn Martin production. Debuted in January of 1967 at the height of '60s UFO mania. A flash-in-the-pan show, like so many on ABC back then. Started out strong but was gone after a season and a half. Outer Limits music showed up here, as it did on another ABC show, The Rat Patrol. I can't comment on The Invaders because I've only seen bits and pieces over the years, never a full show from beginning to end. I know that the star believed in UFOs and attended some UFO conferences at the time.

 

[yevaud]

Another "Classic" that springs to mind is Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. It definitely had it's moments.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hakLADv--ms

 

[summoner]

BSG original, I couldn't wait for Sunday nights to watch this.

 

[ZenGalacticore]

Twilight Zone far and away the best. Rod worked on the mind, with no need for high tech monsters, or flashy CGI graphics.
The mind is where true scince fiction lies....

I totally agree with that! Same goes for almost any good thriller, drama, etc. But especially sci-fi. They have really gone to town and beyond with the special effects in action and sci-fi flicks these days, to the point of over-kill and irritation.(Understatement.) Like those Jolie/Pitt hitman movies or 'Mr and Mrs Smith', freakin' effects overkill.
I've always said that special effects are the salt and pepper on the prime rib, but not the meat itself. George Lucas USED to say something similar to that, but not any more! That's practically all his latest 'Star Wars' episodes were, CGI. Horrible acting outdone only by worse direction and storylines. BALDERDASH!!

IMO, 'Outer Limits' worked on the mind too, although probably not as sublimely as Serling. I wonder how much Serling was influenced by Lovecraft or Hitchcock? Or vice-versa in the case of Hitchcock.?

I loved 'Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea' when I was a kid. Haven't seen a full episode in years though. I remember one that scared the beejees out of me. It was the one where they had the humanoid sea-monster/alien on board and it was terrorizing the crew.(Can't remember if anybody got killed.) It was like 'The Thing' and 'Alien' underwater. Great TV!

 

[jim48]

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea is available on Hulu. The first year was less a monster show than Cold War spy stuff. I never saw it in prime time because it was up against two of my Dad's favorites: Hogan's Heroes and the first half of the Ed Sullivan Show. Hulu just started running Year 2 of Voyage, the color shows. It got silly fast but there were still a couple of good spy episodes. They won an Emmy award for the mini-sub launching from Seaview visual effects. That was a pretty cool shot! Land of the Giants replaced Voyage on Sunday nights on ABC. That was the weakest of Irwin Allen's shows, IMO, although the second year theme by John Williams rocks!

 

[nimbus]

Good Versus Evil.

 

[dragon04]

I gotta go with the original Outer Limits. I was a kid when it first went into syndication.

From the music at the beginning clean through the end of every episode, that show scared the Bejesus out of me. I watched some of those Youtube clips the other morning. 40 years later, I found myself getting chills up my spine, and even though it was a bright sunny Saturday morning, I couldn't help but look behind me. Like an autonomic response.


It was delicious.

 

[crazyeddie]

I gotta go with the original Outer Limits. I was a kid when it first went into syndication.

From the music at the beginning clean through the end of every episode, that show scared the Bejesus out of me. I watched some of those Youtube clips the other morning. 40 years later, I found myself getting chills up my spine, and even though it was a bright sunny Saturday morning, I couldn't help but look behind me. Like an autonomic response.


It was delicious.

I recall reading that the third episode to be broadcast, "The Architects of Fear", the monstrously-altered scientist, played by Robert Culp, was considered so hideous that some stations issued a warning not to allow children to view it, and the creature's eyes were blocked out.

It's hard to understand how the show suffered from such poor ratings, given how edgy it was compared to The Twilight Zone, but it's hard to account for the public's taste when it comes to science fiction. Here's an interesting blurb from Wiki:

In a 2002 Salon.com review of the original series, Mark Holcomb wrote that The Twilight Zone and Star Trek were more popular in part because they played things more safely than The Outer Limits, choosing to "never stray far from the rationalism that drives most American entertainment". Holcomb writes:

Their [referring to The Twilight Zone and Star Trek] human characters are fallible, impulsive creatures uniquely adept at screwing up, but every emotion, relationship and deeply held conviction they display remains in place at the end of virtually every episode. However comforting this may have been, it tended to refute the everyday experience of the viewing audience.

"The Outer Limits" wouldn't, or couldn't, cater to such needs. Stevens and Stefano had something much less conciliatory in mind for their show, and thus set it squarely in a universe ruled by labyrinthine pressures and transient pleasures, where meaning and morality were in constant flux and human beings fought desperately – sometimes heroically – to keep pace. This starkly recognizable yet distinctly off-kilter milieu made "The Outer Limits" television's most unabashedly modernist work.

 

[SpeedFreek]

How about Blake's 7? Can that be considered a classic? I loved it myself, but I was young when it was broadcast.

 

[dragon04]

I recall reading that the third episode to be broadcast, "The Architects of Fear", the monstrously-altered scientist, played by Robert Culp, was considered so hideous that some stations issued a warning not to allow children to view it, and the creature's eyes were blocked out.

That was one of my very favorite episodes.

It's hard to understand how the show suffered from such poor ratings, given how edgy it was compared to The Twilight Zone, but it's hard to account for the public's taste when it comes to science fiction.

You got me. It set my personal standard for what Sci Fi should really be and to this day, I can't think of another program that had such a wide-open throttle on the scary stuff.

The show had A-List talent as well. In addition to Bob Culp, there was William Shatner, Donald Pleasance, David McCallum and Cliff Robertson just to name a few.

 

[vogon13]

I can hardly fathom this, but a friend of mine insists the lowest rated episode of Lost In Space rated higher than the highest rated episode of Star Trek. (original broadcasts, according to Nielsen)

I concede Star Trek's enormous following did not materialize till syndication in the mid 70s, but canceling both shows at the 3 year mark seems weird with such disparate ratings.

 

[jim48]

See my thread 40 Years Ago NBC Killed Star Trek. Everyone was surprised when Lost in Space wasn't picked up for a fourth year. I'm surprised then #3 network ABC didn't snap it up. Yes, the Outer Limits was lucky to get young Turks like Shatner, Culp, Landau, et al. The first one I saw as a kid shortly after the show went into re-runs was the first episode with Cliff Roberston, "The Galaxy Being", in which he accidentally beams an alien in via radio waves and the thing wrecks the town! That one still holds up well today. I still say that the black-and-white photography helped both Twilight Zone and Outer Limits. I also recommend The Twilight Zone Companion, the definitive book on the series by Marc Scott Zecree.

 

[mlauzon]

I've read through all the posts, and no one has mentioned the classic Doctor Who....

 

[nimbus]

some stations issued a warning not to allow children to view it, and the creature's eyes were blocked out.

One of the alien characters from the original Star Trek had a similar gaze that froze me in fear and cold sweat back when I was six years old or so. A big lightbulb head and feline eyes. It was standing in the transporter room and the body language was like the predatory stillness of creatures absolutely polarized on their target.

 

[crazyeddie]

One of the alien characters from the original Star Trek had a similar gaze that froze me in fear and cold sweat back when I was six years old or so. A big lightbulb head and feline eyes. It was standing in the transporter room and the body language was like the predatory stillness of creatures absolutely polarized on their target.

Are you referring to Balok, from the episode "The Corbomite Maneuver"? Which, incidentally, is my 2nd-most-favorite episode of TOS after "City on the Edge of Forever":

 

[crazyeddie]

See my thread 40 Years Ago NBC Killed Star Trek. Everyone was surprised when Lost in Space wasn't picked up for a fourth year. I'm surprised then #3 network ABC didn't snap it up.

Here's some interesting snips from Wikipedia:

Although it retains a following, the science-fiction community often points to Lost in Space as an example of television's perceived bad record at producing science-fiction[citation needed] (perhaps overlooking the series' deliberate fantasy elements), comparing it to its supposed rival, Star Trek. However, Lost In Space was a mild ratings success, unlike Star Trek, which received very poor ratings during its original network TV run, often not placing any higher than 60th place, while Lost in Space finished season one with a rating of 32nd, second season in 35th place, and the third and final season rating 33rd.

Star Trek creator Gene Roddenbery insisted that the two shows could not be compared. He was more of a philosopher, while understanding that Irwin Allen was a storyteller. When asked about Lost in Space, Roddenberry acknowledged, "That show accomplishes what it sets out to do. Star Trek is not the same thing."

It is unclear why Lost in Space was cancelled. Several theories have been suggested:

The show had ratings to ensure a fourth season, but it was expensive. The budget for season one per episode was $130,980, and for Season Three, $164,788. During that time, the actors' salaries increased, in the case of Harris, Kristen and Cartwright, nearly doubling. There is other evidence that at least a part of the cost problems were the actors themselves, for example director Richardson saying of Williams requiring that there be frequent closeups of him:

"This costs a fortune in time, it's a lot of lighting and a lot of trouble and Irwin succumbed to it. It got to be that bad."[6]

Also, the cost of the set itself was extremely high for its time, about $600,000.00. The producers had, in fact, spent far more money on the Jupiter II than Gene Roddenberry had spent on the starship Enterprise. For example, the Robot suit cost $30,000.00. A full-scale wooden mock-up of the Jupiter II (used on those rare occasions when the ship actually landed properly) cost $70,000.00, as well as taking up an awful lot of studio space. The landings themselves were very costly, which is why Gene Roddenberry came up with a "transporter."

Furthermore, the "control room" set was technically superior, using transistors, as opposed to the Enterprise bridge, which used vacuum tubes. Although more realistic-looking and more energy-efficient, these sets were very costly. As a result, Irwin Allen had to struggle to play catch-up during the entire run of the series.

Indeed, I believe that between the 2-story interior deck sets, the 40-inch "flying" model used in a number of episodes , and the full-scale wooden mockup used in only two episodes, the Jupiter II was the most expensive single "prop" in television history.