American Science Fiction TV: Star Trek, Stargate and BeyondFrom "The Next Generation" and "The X-Files", to "Farscape" and "Enterprise", sci-fi television series in the US have multiplied since the 1980s. Jan Johnson-Smith shows how, in line with national political upheavals, this vibrant and perplexing genre set about expanding the myth of the Western frontier into deep space. She looks at the "sense of wonder" or sublime that infuses much Frontier art and science fiction, and traces a possible historical precedent to the genre in the fabulous and heroic journeys of the Classical epic. She discusses narrative styles and their influences, from the overarching narrative of "Babylon 5" to the episodic formula of "The Outer Limits", considers how experimental series such as "Twin Peaks" challenge conventional structures, and how and why sci-fi television has adopted new technologies. She also explores the juxtaposition of arcane language and technological jargon in modern American sci-fi television, revealing the extraordinarily alien, yet curiously familiar arena it creates. |
From inside the book
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Page 1
... programme guides, technical files, encyclopaedia, alien-English dictionaries and recipe books provide an embarrassment of riches for fans of many series. Yet curiously little has been written about the collective television genre or its ...
... programme guides, technical files, encyclopaedia, alien-English dictionaries and recipe books provide an embarrassment of riches for fans of many series. Yet curiously little has been written about the collective television genre or its ...
Page 4
... programmes as 'all style and no substance' perhaps it is time for us to consider that stories can emerge from more than the plotted action-narrative: mise-en-scène has its own narrative too, and in sf it enjoys a particularly powerful ...
... programmes as 'all style and no substance' perhaps it is time for us to consider that stories can emerge from more than the plotted action-narrative: mise-en-scène has its own narrative too, and in sf it enjoys a particularly powerful ...
Page 8
... programmes like Moonlighting, Twin Peaks and Wild Palms. Therefore, although sf series from the 1950s offer much for study and perhaps deserve their own book, I explore them only briefly in order to provide an historical context for ...
... programmes like Moonlighting, Twin Peaks and Wild Palms. Therefore, although sf series from the 1950s offer much for study and perhaps deserve their own book, I explore them only briefly in order to provide an historical context for ...
Page 9
... programmes linger mostly in the area of the paranormal, and thus distance themselves from mainstream sf, others like Dark Angel, The Visitor, The Sentineland Prey tackle the issue of what it is to be human through the question of ...
... programmes linger mostly in the area of the paranormal, and thus distance themselves from mainstream sf, others like Dark Angel, The Visitor, The Sentineland Prey tackle the issue of what it is to be human through the question of ...
Page 10
... programme to have ever truly competed with Star Trek in the creation of a sustainable and plausible future universe, Babylon 5 is a television epic offering a powerful future history and political intrigue by the bucketful. Its five ...
... programme to have ever truly competed with Star Trek in the creation of a sustainable and plausible future universe, Babylon 5 is a television epic offering a powerful future history and political intrigue by the bucketful. Its five ...
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Common terms and phrases
action actually alien allows American ancient appears articulated associated audience Babylon become called Centauri challenge characters comes command concept concerns consider context continuity create crew cultural Dark Deep Space Delenn demonstrates diegesis Earth effect Enterprise epic episode equally established example existence experience exploration film final forces frontier future genre human idea identified ideology images individual issues John language later light lives London Maquis McQueen means military Minbari narrative nature Nine occurs offers original parallel past perhaps planet political potential present Press problem programmes question races reality reference remarkable says science fiction season sense Shadows Sheridan ship shows Sinclair Star Trek Stargate station story Sublime suggests television tells texts turn universe Vietnam visual Voyager Western whilst wormhole