Sci-Fi TV Shows that you're pretty sure only you watched. - Page 8

Greg Cox · January 30 2013, 05:30 PM

Here's an obscure one that I'm guessing very few people have seen: PBS shot a pilot for a live-action kid's show, CONAN THE LIBRARIAN, in which Conan was magically transported to modern times and got a job working as an assistant librarian at a community library. ("I see! Books are the magic of this strange new world. I must learn about books!")

Brian Thompson played Conan and Tyne Daly (!) played his boss, the head librarian. I was going to edit the book tie-in, but, alas, PBS passed on the show. I have no idea if it ever actually aired, but a VHS copy of the pilot was floating around the Tor offices for years . . . .

sojourner · January 30 2013, 05:38 PM

^Was that before or after the scene from Weird Al's UHF?

"Don't you know the duodecimal system?!?" CHOP!

Agent Richard07 · January 30 2013, 05:40 PM

intrinsical wrote:

Pretty sure a couple of you have seen "Being Erica", but its still worth a mention.

One of my favorite shows of all time.

Just got all four seasons on DVD.

Christopher · January 30 2013, 05:41 PM

sojourner wrote:

^Was that before or after the scene from Weird Al's UHF?

"Don't you know the duodecimal system?!?" CHOP!

You mean the Dewey Decimal System, right? If we're talking about libraries?

Greg Cox · January 30 2013, 06:04 PM

sojourner wrote:

^Was that before or after the scene from Weird Al's UHF?

"Don't you know the duodecimal system?!?" CHOP!

This would have been around 1991. I've never seen UHF. I take it they did the same joke?

Best scene in the PBS pilot: a library patron asks Conan where he can find Little Women. Conan's response?

"Tis said that in the fleshpots of fabled Shadizar there are Zamoran wenches no more than three feet tall . . . ."

Or so I recall.

sojourner · January 30 2013, 06:26 PM

Christopher wrote:

sojourner wrote:

^Was that before or after the scene from Weird Al's UHF?

"Don't you know the duodecimal system?!?" CHOP!

You mean the Dewey Decimal System, right? If we're talking about libraries?

Yeah, had a brainfart and couldn't remember how it was spelled, So I let spellcheck take a crack at it.

Greg Cox wrote:

I've never seen UHF.

You poor, deprived human being. Go Now! Watch and be amazed!

Christopher · January 30 2013, 07:23 PM

^Spellcheck is evil.

Silvercrest · January 30 2013, 08:05 PM

After all these pages, I'm still convinced I'm the only one who has seen Marine Boy.

sojourner · January 30 2013, 08:05 PM

Like all tools, spellcheck is neither evil or good. The evil lies with the user.

Kelthaz · January 30 2013, 08:41 PM

Alright, here's an obscure one for you lot. Captain Star. A Canadian/British production that aired 13 episodes back in 1997-1998. I used to watch that show all the time on Teletoon.

DeepSpaceWine · January 30 2013, 10:20 PM

7 Days? Only saw an episode here or there and only because I was waiting for Voyager. It was low-rated, though CW's best ratings are lower than its worst ratings though. For a series on 3 seasons as a lead-in to the network's flagship show, one would think there would have been more mentions of it over the years. I too am curious about people who actually regularly watched it. I wondered if a lot of them weren't online at the time, explaining the lack of chatter?

The Sentinel? Another series tied to Voyager. Mildly interesting, but not enough to get into. Saw many episodes as a lead-in to Voyager. Saw both parts of "Sentinel Too" (Jeri Ryan as a rival Sentinel). I got the ratings for a crapton of UPN & WB shows and sci-fi shows from that time. I should eventually make a site and post them.

BTW, Voyager's companion series on the schedule:
95: Platypus Man & Pig Sty (2 sitcoms)
95-96: Nowhere Man
96-98: The Sentinel
98-01: 7 Days (for a few weeks it was Special Unit 2)

Enterprise had less remarkable pairings:
01-02: Special Unit 2
02-03: Twilight Zone (and a crappy one at that)
03-04: Jake 2.0, then filler
04-05: reruns of America's Next Top Model

The Amazing Spider-Man? Saw some episodes on Sci-Fi Channel. It's hilariously bad, but still watchable. Watched "The Captive Tower" & "Night of the Clones" a few months ago. It takes him forever to climb buildings, he's easy to get the one up on... heh, he's got super powers, but not exactly a superhero physique.

John Doe was on Fox at the same time as Firefly and got much better ratings than it. Still not enough to not get cancelled though. Fastlane was on at that same time too.

Christopher · January 30 2013, 11:00 PM

^Define "superhero physique," though. Spider-Man isn't supposed to be some big muscleman. Some artists have defaulted to that, but originally he was designed to be light and wiry, built like an acrobat.

The funny thing about the climbing scenes in the '70s Spider-Man is how sometimes they didn't even bother trying to hide the winch at the top of the building. I guess they couldn't for safety reasons. But in the near-contemporaneous Japanese live-action Spider-Man series, they sometimes used a sort of split-screen or matte effect to solve the problem, though it wasn't seamless enough to avoid creating new problems.

RJDiogenes · January 30 2013, 11:07 PM

How about Space Patrol? Probably unknown in the US, but a cult classic overseas. There's only seven episodes. A friend of mine in Germany sent them to me, but they're all in German. They look fantastic, though.

Melakon wrote:

^ I should have mentioned I saw all but Supercar and Stingray in first run. And not sure Starlost counts, as all 3 were syndicated in U.S.

Thriller was a little before my time, but I did see Starlost in first run.

Mike Farley wrote:

Greg Cox wrote:

Cliffhangers.

Loved this one. Especially the Dracula segment.

I meant to comment on that, too. I loved Cliffhangers (not surprising, since I love the old serials). I wish somebody would try the idea again. The original only failed because it was on NBC, and pretty much everything failed on NBC in those days.

Greg Cox wrote:

Best scene in the PBS pilot: a library patron asks Conan where he can find Little Women. Conan's response?

"Tis said that in the fleshpots of fabled Shadizar there are Zamoran wenches no more than three feet tall . . . ."

And the mommies complained about Katy Perry.

trekkiedane · January 30 2013, 11:22 PM

RJDiogenes wrote:

How about Space Patrol? Probably unknown in the US, but a cult classic overseas. There's only seven episodes. A friend of mine in Germany sent them to me, but they're all in German. They look fantastic, though.

Raumpatrouille, despite the cheap sets (plastic-beakers n the ceiling and the infamous clothes-iron on the engine control panel) IS a fantastic series with an enormous following; they even cut up the old (black and white!) episodes and made an entire feature-film that ran in theatres in 2003!!! out of it

I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that it has a greater following in Germany than even Star Trek

When I was an itty-bitty kid I watched it with my grandma

[I'm relatively sure you could find English subtitles somewhere on-line.]

Andrew_Kearley · January 30 2013, 11:32 PM

For that matter, what about Space Patrol? The British one, that is.

January 30 2013, 05:30 PM	#106
Greg Cox Vice Admiral Location: Oxford, PA	Re: Sci-Fi TV Shows that you're pretty sure only you watched. Here's an obscure one that I'm guessing very few people have seen: PBS shot a pilot for a live-action kid's show, CONAN THE LIBRARIAN, in which Conan was magically transported to modern times and got a job working as an assistant librarian at a community library. ("I see! Books are the magic of this strange new world. I must learn about books!") Brian Thompson played Conan and Tyne Daly (!) played his boss, the head librarian. I was going to edit the book tie-in, but, alas, PBS passed on the show. I have no idea if it ever actually aired, but a VHS copy of the pilot was floating around the Tor offices for years . . . . __________________ www.gregcox-author.com

January 30 2013, 05:38 PM	#107
sojourner Vice Admiral Location: I'm at WKRP	Re: Sci-Fi TV Shows that you're pretty sure only you watched. ^Was that before or after the scene from Weird Al's UHF? "Don't you know the duodecimal system?!?" CHOP! __________________ Baby, you and me were never meant to be, just maybe think of me once in a while...

January 30 2013, 07:23 PM	#112
Christopher Writer	Re: Sci-Fi TV Shows that you're pretty sure only you watched. ^Spellcheck is evil. __________________ Christopher L. Bennett Homepage -- Includes purchasing links for Only Superhuman, on sale now! Updated 12/30/12 with annotations for the novel. Written Worlds -- My blog

January 30 2013, 08:05 PM	#113
Silvercrest Rear Admiral Location: Lost in Moria (Arlington, WA, USA)	Re: Sci-Fi TV Shows that you're pretty sure only you watched. After all these pages, I'm still convinced I'm the only one who has seen Marine Boy.

January 30 2013, 08:05 PM	#114
sojourner Vice Admiral Location: I'm at WKRP	Re: Sci-Fi TV Shows that you're pretty sure only you watched. Like all tools, spellcheck is neither evil or good. The evil lies with the user. __________________ Baby, you and me were never meant to be, just maybe think of me once in a while...

STAR TREK

CSI

ABOUT US

January 30 2013, 08:41 PM	#115
Kelthaz Commodore Location: Toronto, Ontario	Re: Sci-Fi TV Shows that you're pretty sure only you watched. Alright, here's an obscure one for you lot. Captain Star. A Canadian/British production that aired 13 episodes back in 1997-1998. I used to watch that show all the time on Teletoon. __________________ "Who are you?! And how did you get in here?!" "I'm the locksmith. And... I'm the locksmith."

January 30 2013, 10:20 PM	#116
DeepSpaceWine Commander	Re: Sci-Fi TV Shows that you're pretty sure only you watched. 7 Days? Only saw an episode here or there and only because I was waiting for Voyager. It was low-rated, though CW's best ratings are lower than its worst ratings though. For a series on 3 seasons as a lead-in to the network's flagship show, one would think there would have been more mentions of it over the years. I too am curious about people who actually regularly watched it. I wondered if a lot of them weren't online at the time, explaining the lack of chatter? The Sentinel? Another series tied to Voyager. Mildly interesting, but not enough to get into. Saw many episodes as a lead-in to Voyager. Saw both parts of "Sentinel Too" (Jeri Ryan as a rival Sentinel). I got the ratings for a crapton of UPN & WB shows and sci-fi shows from that time. I should eventually make a site and post them. BTW, Voyager's companion series on the schedule: 95: Platypus Man & Pig Sty (2 sitcoms) 95-96: Nowhere Man 96-98: The Sentinel 98-01: 7 Days (for a few weeks it was Special Unit 2) Enterprise had less remarkable pairings: 01-02: Special Unit 2 02-03: Twilight Zone (and a crappy one at that) 03-04: Jake 2.0, then filler 04-05: reruns of America's Next Top Model The Amazing Spider-Man? Saw some episodes on Sci-Fi Channel. It's hilariously bad, but still watchable. Watched "The Captive Tower" & "Night of the Clones" a few months ago. It takes him forever to climb buildings, he's easy to get the one up on... heh, he's got super powers, but not exactly a superhero physique. John Doe was on Fox at the same time as Firefly and got much better ratings than it. Still not enough to not get cancelled though. Fastlane was on at that same time too.

January 30 2013, 11:00 PM	#117
Christopher Writer	Re: Sci-Fi TV Shows that you're pretty sure only you watched. ^Define "superhero physique," though. Spider-Man isn't supposed to be some big muscleman. Some artists have defaulted to that, but originally he was designed to be light and wiry, built like an acrobat. The funny thing about the climbing scenes in the '70s Spider-Man is how sometimes they didn't even bother trying to hide the winch at the top of the building. I guess they couldn't for safety reasons. But in the near-contemporaneous Japanese live-action Spider-Man series, they sometimes used a sort of split-screen or matte effect to solve the problem, though it wasn't seamless enough to avoid creating new problems. __________________ Christopher L. Bennett Homepage -- Includes purchasing links for Only Superhuman, on sale now! Updated 12/30/12 with annotations for the novel. Written Worlds -- My blog

January 30 2013, 11:32 PM	#120
Andrew_Kearley Captain Location: Moonbase Alpha	Re: Sci-Fi TV Shows that you're pretty sure only you watched. For that matter, what about Space Patrol? The British one, that is. __________________ Blog: Anderthon Follow my journey through the worlds of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson Doctor Who - The Complete Adventures