1970's (and 80's) Genre TV Panorama

NOW IN COLOR Sci-Fi Heroes by *dusty-abell on deviantART

Wow!

I mean, this has got shows that had a viewership of, like, three. That space station in the upper left corner? That's SID from U.F.O. (and an Interceptor on the right)! Richard Benjamin as Quark (from the short-lived Star Trek parody). The Man From Atlantis. Dr. Who (with Leela, K-9, a Dalek, the Tardis and the Robot (from Tom Baker's first aired episode) and another Robot from "Robots of Death" (a favorite!). Buck Rogers. Battlestar Galactica (including the Cylon Emperor). Both Wonder Women (that is, including the original one-off pilot with Cathy Lee Crosby). Space: 1999. Battle of the Planets (the blue ship on the left). Land of the Giants (Twiki is holding their ship). The short-lived live-action Spider Man and Planet of the Apes series. The one-shot Capt. America (which I'm not certain I've seen). The Six Million Dollar Man, Bionic Woman (with Bionic German Shepherd Max). The Incredible Hulk and David Banner (who ever sees both them at the same time?). Mork from Ork. The Greatest American Hero ... oh, just spotted The Invisible Man (weren't there two different invisible man series in the 70's/80's). Logan's Run (front and center, almost missed it) ... I think that's it.

What else could have been included? How about The Starlost (I've only seen one episode), saturday morning fodder like Ark II, or the original Night Stalker. Or the BBC's Blake's 7. Or the silly but occasionally provoking Land of the Lost. Any other ideas?

A Succinct Definition of Science Fiction

Just a bit bored, redoing the Tapestry 5.0.15 build. Surfing the web during the build, and found Robert Heinlein's all purpose FAQ.

Science Fiction: Stories that would cease to exist if elements involving science or technology were omitted.

This puts Star Trek and Star Wars where they both belong: in fantasy. You could "swap out" phasers for guns, light sabers for magic swords, aliens for demons, planets for foreign cities or countries, and space ships for traditional transportation and not really change the Star Wars story, or most Star Trek episodes, at all. I tend to call this "Sci Fantasy"; most older Space Opera falls into this space as well.

Cryptonomicon and the Baroque Cycle are very firmly in SF however, since both stories are driven by science and technology and even the philosophy of science and technology (and the personalities behind those who invent science and technology).

My thought here is that the movies and television, which nominally have a large bandwidth of information, are actually too narrow to portray science fiction properly. Novels and even short stories, because they can more naturally go inside people's heads and reveal their thoughts, are much more adept at capturing what makes Science Fiction about science and not fantasy. But, of course, it's always on a spectrum ... virtually any story that places actual humans on distant planets beyond the solar system is implausible to a point that borders on fantasy, even if faster-than-light travel is avoided.