Ah the 70's: The Sci-Fi Revival

One thing I love to do is reminisce about my childhood days of old. Growing up I was fascinated by science fiction shows and concepts depicting a better & more exciting life than the one I was currently experiencing.

I remember how my father criticized all my first spaceship drawings and showed me why all my engineering concepts were flawed. I remember distinctly how he showed me that all access hatches were to be placed at the TOP of a rocket to leave space for fuel. I remember the template sheet that he gave me so I could correctly draw lines and circles on all my space craft according to scientific principal. I remember my first Apollo rocket drawing with all three stages and gantry tower on the side. I remember drawing cool astronauts with helmets and airtanks and hoses. I remember beaming in art class as I pointed out that my rocket drawings were all scientifically correct and the rest of the class thinking that I was some anal retentive geek that needed a good pounding. I suffered many a wedgie for my accurate depictions but still thank my dad for his great technical draftmanship. It wasn't my fault that I was RIGHT and all those other rotters were WRONG... okay enough about this line of musing...

Like I said old men ramble get used to it.

The bad thing was that this was back in 1972, and I was only five. Back then teachers and fellow students didn't like you if you showed some glimmer of intelligence over them. As a result I was an ostracized kid and science fiction was my escape. Now back in 1970 there was a man named Gerry Anderson who had produced a riveting drama called UFO that I had watched in religious fervor on a weekly basis. At the time I was three but I STILL remember that show (Not the plotlines but the show itself).

This was unlike anything I had seen on television before. Sure there was Star Trek (TOS) but the production values of this show were some of the best that I had ever seen... caveat: FOR ITS TIME. This show blew Star Trek out of the water with cool space suits, fighter interceptors, mobile troop carriers, a moon base, a fighter launching submarine, and a bad guy UFO that made the coolest sounds. The show really was ahead of its time depicting bad guy aliens coming to our little blue orb to abduct humanity and cut us up as organ donors for their dying race. We being the good citizens of the galaxy would respond systematically & blow em' up real good. At the time I was drawn in by the all the great hardware the show had to offer, but upon review later in DVD format I saw that this show was greatly flawed, scientifically bunk, and dated.

BUT WHO CARES!!! This show is STILL fun to watch because it did predict a better future of hope & optimism. Not to mention those really hot babes in pseudo-futuristic clothing popular during the late 60's & early 70's. This show had filled in the gap that Star Trek had left once it was cancelled.





At this time science fiction was in a death thrall with the only really big choices on the silver screen being the Planet of the Apes series or the disaster movie scenarios like The Andromeda Strain or Phase IV.


Then I discovered The Starlost in 1973. The Starlost was a CANADIAN-produced science fiction television series devised by writer Harlan Ellison (of Babylon-5 fame). The show was handled by Glen-Warren Productions (There you go Chris!!!) and aired on the CBC with limited American exposure. The series starred 2001 actor Keir Dullea, featured scientific consultant Ben Bova, & even had Douglas Trumbell (FX supervisor for 2001, Silent Running and Blade Runner) as executive producer. The Starlost centered around the premise of a giant spaceship called the Ark that had suffered a cataclysm in space and all sections of the ship were hermetically sealed off with each environment developing into different states of human civilization.


The hero and his two travelling companions, would travel through the ship each week and try to find the bridge to correct the ships course and try to fix the social problems of the locals along the way. Sadly this show was cancelled after 16 episodes, due to budget problems and poor ratings. When the last episode aired without notice I tuned in the next week only to find that my Starlost had been replaced by something non sci-fi. I tuned in every week after that but the show had sunk into the depths of cancellation.

After Starlost left the sci-fi dry spell took its toll on me. I would literally comb the channels, flipping through (back in the days when you had to actually get up and turn the knob) looking for ANYTHING with a spaceship in it. There were a few Saturday morning kid shows like Land of the Lost, Ark II, Space Academy... etc but none of them really gelled with me.

Then along came Space: 1999. Produced in 1975, Space: 1999 marked the return of producer Gerry Anderson to the televised airways. This show had it all!!! Some of the best FX... caveat: FOR ITS TIME, cool gadgets and spaceships, a runaway moonbase, aliens, lasers, Barbara Bain & Martin Landau,  all that good stuff. The premise was that the earth's Moon was blown out of orbit during a nuclear accident and that our heroes would deal with all the problems of roaming the galaxy on their involuntary spaceship. Sure the series was HORRIBLY flawed. The moon would travel to different planets on a weekly basis crossing vast distances in only a few short hours, but it rocked!!! The Eagles themselves were the highlight of the show.

Check out the Catacombs for more.

The story had a HEAVY 2001 influence and had some really existentialistic and spooky themes that scared the bejuzzus out of me. But it was GREAT. Sadly this series was also cancelled after two seasons and forty-eight episodes later.

Again I went into the sci-fi doldrums. It wasn't until 1977 when a new film called Star Wars (if you guys really need a link for this one then you've GOT to crawl out from under that rock) busted out of the scene liked a screaming valkyrie from hell that science fiction suddenly became the in thing on movies and television.

Suddenly we were inundated with shows like Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers, Star Trek: Next Gen et al as geeks everywhere celebrated by eating their minstrels... oops... wrong film... anyway we rejoiced muchly as the floodgates opened.

Today science fiction is a staple diet on network television & movies. But let's not forget the forgotten pioneers who blazed the trail... even though they got lost along the way. Light a candle for those shows of yesteryear, and remember even though they're laughable now, I still turn into a bright eyed little kid with every episode I watch.

To the 70's: The Sci-Fi Revival...

Space1970 is an excellent blog related to the above subject matter.