Friday, August 9, 2024

ReBook: Fantastic Television (Gerani & Schulman)



Copy Number 2.

I bought Fantastic Television when it came hot off the presses in 1977. Unfortunately I left it under a school desk during a class, and, no surprise, when I rotated to my next class, I failed to... you guessed it.

(A polyester-clad geek running down the hall in a flurry of panic would be disappointed.)

A wave of nostalgia forced me to Amazon.ca to seek a replacement copy of one carelessly discarded book.

(It came from Texas.)

Written by Gary Gerani, with some assistance from Paul H. Schulman, Fantastic Television ― A Pictorial History of Sci-fi, The Unusual and the Fantastic ― From Captain Video to the Star Trek Phenomenon and Beyond, the book's full title, is an intelligent look at old series of note, some of which were then barely 'old'.

When FT fell into my local bookstore I was aware of the overall subject of SF television in cursory terms. I had not yet seen Thriller and One Step Beyond. And the title of "The Outer Limits" was unknown to me ― two years later I would get my introduction, and the series would get a "Wow!" from me.

I understand that the authors took some heat for their 'brazen' opinions, I certainly don't agree with everything they write, but subjectivity is just that. And their perspectives are always well-considered, and never flippant. For those of us who discarded our teen years a long time ago, Fantastic Television is now a nostalgic document, albeit a classy one.


The series given chapter treatment, complete with an episode guide:

The Adventures of Superman (1953 - 1957)
One Step Beyond (1959)
The Twilight Zone (1959 - 1964)
Thriller (1960 - 1962)
The Outer Limits (1963 - 1965)
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964 - 1968)
Lost in Space (1965 - 1968)
Batman (1966 - 1968)
Star Trek (1966 - 1969)
The Time Tunnel (1966 - 1967)
The Invaders (1967 - 1968)
The Prisoner (1967 - 1968)
Land of the Giants (1968 - 1970)
Rod Serling's Night Gallery (1970 - 1972)
Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974 - 1975)
Space: 1999 (1975 - 1977)


Further chapters:

"American Telefantasy"
"British Telefantasy"
"Kid Stuff"
"Made-for-TV Movies"



FANTASTIC TELEVISION
- A Pictorial History of Sci-fi, The Unusual and the Fantastic -
From Captain Video to the Star Trek Phenomenon and Beyond

by
Gary Gerani
with
Paul H. Schulman

Harmony Books
1977

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