The Man From Atlantis and Logan's Run are the only two from this list I haven't seen. The rest are classics of both Sci-fi AND television.
Did You Love Other Vintage Sci-Fi Shows?
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The Man From Atlantis and Logan's Run are the only two from this list I haven't seen. The rest are classics of both Sci-fi AND television.
You're not kidding about THE IMMORTAL, a series I viewed last year, being a FUGITIVE retread. No less than three IMMORTAL episodes completely rip off FUGITIVE episodes, lifting entire plotlines. Jack Turley recylced his FUGITIVE script "Nicest Fella You'd Ever Want to Meet" as "The Rainbow Butcher", basically just changing the names of the characters. "Man on a Punched Carrd" uses the exact same premise as the FUGITIVE episode "The 2130", about a supercomputer being employed to predict the movements of the running man. The beginning of THE FUGITIVE's "The End is But the Beginning" and THE IMMORTAL's "Dead Man, Dead Man" are practically identical, although the two stories do take divergent paths from then on.
Here's the most puzzling question about THE IMMORTAL. Unlinke Richard Kimble or David Banner, Ben Richards isn't on the run from the law. Why the hell doesn't he contact the FBI and report his pursuers for attempted kidnapping??
To answer your question ToddPence, I always figured that since Richard's pursuers were all rich men, they had greased whatever palms needed greasing to allow them to operate with impunity. Or Richards was afraid that the government people would find out why he was running, in which case he'd only be trading one set of problems for another.
Buck Rogers is still my favorite. I don't know why. Central casting, like ms. Peel in tight hot pants with great guest star character actors, especially all the evil ones we love. Space 1999 only after the show loosened up with the hot shape shifter. The powers of Mathew Star. Shazam!. One Step Beyond, The Outer Limits. Tales from the Dark Side. don't know if that's vintage yet.
So many good shows...
Lost In Space - A guilty pleasure. Not good sci-fi at all, but a lot of fun. Dr. Smith and The Robot? Can it get any better than that.
Space:1999 - I was struck by the overall design of the series. Clean, yet colorful. Maya was cool. So was Tony. Season 1 was good and I struggled with the series until the end.
Battlestar Galactica (1978 series) - Still my all time favorite. What a great group of people to be marooned with. Nothing but fun from beginning to end. Lorne Greene will always be Adama and Starbuck will ALWAYS BE Dirk Benedict!!!! The series inspired me to become a designer.
Doctor Who (Jon Pertwee) - The guy was a force of nature. He was a true hero who always knew what to do and it was always the right thing. His messages on the environment and how people need to be more considerate of each other opened my mind. And never forget Roger Delgado who took the meaning of the word "Villain" into a whole nother realm.
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea - While I watched it as a kid, I am only now beginning to appreciate it. One of the best, most intelligent science fiction shows ever made. Especially Season 1.
Lost In Space - A guilty pleasure. Not good sci-fi at all, but a lot of fun. Dr. Smith and The Robot? Can it get any better than that.
Space:1999 - I was struck by the overall design of the series. Clean, yet colorful. Maya was cool. So was Tony. Season 1 was good and I struggled with the series until the end.
Battlestar Galactica (1978 series) - Still my all time favorite. What a great group of people to be marooned with. Nothing but fun from beginning to end. Lorne Greene will always be Adama and Starbuck will ALWAYS BE Dirk Benedict!!!! The series inspired me to become a designer.
Doctor Who (Jon Pertwee) - The guy was a force of nature. He was a true hero who always knew what to do and it was always the right thing. His messages on the environment and how people need to be more considerate of each other opened my mind. And never forget Roger Delgado who took the meaning of the word "Villain" into a whole nother realm.
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea - While I watched it as a kid, I am only now beginning to appreciate it. One of the best, most intelligent science fiction shows ever made. Especially Season 1.
Like cannibals finding each other on line.
I found Lost in space unwatchable because of the incidental music. It was horrid and the antithesis of Trek even though I think some of the same composers wrote for it, it was just way off and too dissonant and jarring and not right. I couldn't relax and get into the story of giant alien vegetables needing condensation with that music.
I found Lost in space unwatchable because of the incidental music. It was horrid and the antithesis of Trek even though I think some of the same composers wrote for it, it was just way off and too dissonant and jarring and not right. I couldn't relax and get into the story of giant alien vegetables needing condensation with that music.
Agreed. The first seven episodes of LOST IN SPACE had stunning scores that left an indelible mark and nudged me toward of lifetime interest in film music. Even the worst later episodes can hold my attention when they're tracked with the early music.
On the other hand, later episodes with original scores had music not so good. Just compare Gerald Fried's STAR TREK scores to what he did for LOST IN SPACE. His LIS material contains extremely faint echoes of the ST music, weaved into a lot of meandering and mush. The later LIS stories just did not inspire composers to greatness.
That's the logical answer. Considering the nature of agencies such as the FBI (and any other you can name) in the early 1970s, who in their right mind would trust them with a secret as amazing / important as immortality? Ben Richards would have placed a noose around his neck.
While The Immortal TV series borrowed The Fugitive template, the original TV movie was a very different animal, using pathos to rip away the assumed thrill of learning that Richards will live forever, with the chase element only occuring in the last act of the film.
The TV movie was not a page-for-page adaptation of the James Gunn novel which inspired it, but the changes worked for the format.
Unlike characters before (Richard Kimble) and after (David Banner), pilot movie Richards also has a relationship he elects to end because of his situation, adding self-inflicted pressure his TV counterparts did not experience; in the pilot of The Incredible Hulk, Banner's colleague/love interest died in the pilot, while we know what happened to Kimble's wife.
I loved the Immortal pilot movie, but it's hard to imagine how the series would have developed differently - other than having more original scripts instead of refilming Fugitive episodes. I didn't mind the action quotient, but with Howie Horowitz in the driver's seat, it became nothing but fist fights, dune buggy chases and endless running. I will say the series had some of the best fights in TV history, but that's not what people were looking for after the TV movie. It was very much like V in that regard: amazing pilot movie/mini-series gave way to a pretty brainless action series.
As a boy in the '70s, I enjoyed both the two television movies and Kolchak:The Night Stalker (1974-1975) television series. It captured my young imagination.
Agree Anji on your thoughts regarding these series.
It's somewhat disconcerting that shows from the 70s that I first saw in my mid-to-late 20s are now considered vintage.
Before Star Trek existed, I got into visual sci-fi with (in chronological order) "Men into Space", "The Twilight Zone", "Fireball XL5", "The Outer Limits", "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea", and "Lost in Space". The Irwin Allen shows only interested me for their hardware and effects (and Marta Kristen). Outer Limits aired when I was 12, the creature makeup masks (some by John Chambers and Wah Chang) spoiled me, and I considered Trek's aliens less than impressive.
XL5 was one of Gerry Anderson's early SuperMarionation shows, and still influences me today. The special effects were by Derek Meddings, who moved on to James Bond films and Superman.
It's too bad Ray Harryhausen never did a sci-fi tv series.
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