Made it thru the week

[cornerofmadness]

I can’t believe I’m already through the first week and what a week it was. I will say if my students are all as concerned as they appear to be on email, this is going to be a decent bunch. All the other issues will fall back a bit if I have good students. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. Crosses fingers.

I found MeTv on my new satellite TV. Ancient tv shows, no seriously. Last Friday I recorded about six hours of 60s SF. Some of these things I’ve never even heard of. One of them was Lost in Space which was one of my favorite shows from my childhood. However, I’m not sure I ever saw this one. For one it was in color and later in the series, so maybe it wasn’t in syndication when I was a kid in the 70s. This one was BAD. It reminded me of the 60s Hippies episode of Star Trek only on steroids in terms of badness. This was 1968 but obviously grooving from earlier in the decade where Penny and Will are ‘programed’ to be 60s swingers and to reject the Oldsters (except of course Dr. Smith who was draped with a half dozen 60s medallions and a long mod-wig.) At one point Dad flung his arm over his eyes and ran away from the music like a penny ante vampire from a cross. It was so bad I couldn’t look away.

So I know I have a lot of speculative fiction fans on my list (okay probably most of you are). So what’s your favorite Spec fic Tv show from the 20th century? Star Trek (all of them) and The X-Files for me.

If Frontier fails to show up next week, I’m going to look into ViaSat which is one of the internet’s bundled with Direct (Frontier is another). I do NOT want satellite internet as it goes out too easily. But it is unlimited (Hughes Net, the other alternative is not, at least not in this area). I did notice they do not claim any speeds (at least not as a selling point).

Also happy belated birthday to xina_gee & wildrider

Comments

[duskpeterson]

The SF shows I watched as a kid, in roughly chronological order:

"Ark II." Post-apocalypse tale (and obvious Star Trek knock-off), with really cheesy production values. It was part of the Saturday morning line-up in 1976 (which means, Wow, I was still watching Saturday morning cartoons at age thirteen).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ark_II
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lj8z28Mshw

"Raven." Hard to know what genre to place this in, but it's contemporary Arthurian. I saw it in England in 1977 and adored it because of its delinquent protagonist. I still own the book adaptation.

https://www.cathoderaytube.co.uk/2010/05/raven-complete-series-review.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0pbIr3oLTg

"Doctor Who." Discovered it in 1977 in England; it became one of my primary reasons for visiting England. I don't suppose I have to supply any links for this one. :)

"Blake's 7." Only saw the premiere in early 1978, while I was in England. Never forgot it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blake%27s_7
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXDd1zO9F1I&list=PLAPGcD5LGrp6WZOZyH1y3dkxi2eTxXi74

In high school, I hung out with kids who watched "The Twilight Zone" and "The Outer Limits" at someone's home. From a movie projector. We SF fans were desperate in those years. I preferred "The Outer Limits."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Outer_Limits_(1963_TV_series)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCcdr4O-3gE

Can I count radio? "Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy." Discovered it playing on BBC Radio in, I think, 1980. I recorded the episodes on my cassette player, bought the records, bought the books, and was eventually disappointed by the television show, though the animations of "The Book" were terrific.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFwn_KP9FHA&list=PLIp8e66RJrrJ97Xr1lcxXbEYs7G_MpVVk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuumnjJWFO4

Last of all, "The Lathe of Heaven," PBS's stunning adaptation of Ursula K. Le Guin's novel. Even the author liked it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lathe_of_Heaven_(film)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8VRbaVNvSA

[cornerofmadness]

Cool Ark and Raven I didn't know of (nor did I know the Lathe of Heaven had ever been adapted!)

Blake Seven and the early Who were some of my friends' favorites. I love outer limits and twilight zone and that BBC broadcast of Hitchhiker