VI.

Radio and Television

One of the most successful science-fiction programmes on radio in the 1930s was the serial Buck Rogers (1932-1947). In 1938 the realism of a broadcast production of Wells’s The War of the Worlds by the American actor and director Orson Welles aroused panic among some listeners, so realistic was its announcement of a Martian invasion of the Earth. Later such programmes as Dimension X (1950-1951) and X Minus One (1955-1958) dramatized short stories.

Two American television programmes from the 1950s are the science-fiction serials Captain Video (1949-1955) and Tom Corbett, Space Cadet (1950-1955). In later years, Superman and other comic book heroes were featured, while programmes popular with adults included The Twilight Zone (1959-1964; revived 1985-1987), The Outer Limits (1963-1965), Lost in Space (1965-1968), Land of the Giants (1968-1970), The Immortal (1970-1971), and Star Trek (1966-1969); and in Britain Doctor Who (1963-1989). Star Trek, one of Paramount Studios’ most successful productions, created a large fan movement and inspired several subsequent syndicated series, including the sequel Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994), which in turn inspired two spin-off series, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1999) and Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001). Science-fiction television programmes of the 1970s and 1980s included the British series Survivors (1975-1977) and Blake’s 7 (1978-1981), and the American shows Battlestar Galactica (1978-1980) and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979-1981). A popular science-fiction television series of the 1990s was The X-Files (1993-2002), about paranormal activity.