British Science Fiction Television

A Hitchhiker's Guide

By: John R. Cook, Peter Wright

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Paperback | 28 October 2005 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Paperback
304 Pages

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22 x 14 x 2.5

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From Doctor Who to Red Dwarf, Thunderbirds to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, some of the most memorable and cherished British television has been in the area of science fiction.This pioneering book, by leading writers in TV history and science fiction, offers for the first time a detailed national survey of this most well-loved of TV genres and provides in-depth reassessments of these shows, as well as others including Threads, Sapphire and Steel, Invasion: Earth and The Last Train. The volume argues that British science fiction television, too often in the past critically derided for the quality of its special effects compared to American equivalents such as Star Trek--deserves to be taken seriously as a legitimate object of cultural analysis, both in terms of its ambition and ideas and its value in illuminating wider aspects of recent social and cultural history. The book also features a contribution from an acclaimed biographer of the late Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, as well as an exclusive published interview with Thunderbirds creator and producer Gerry Anderson.

Industry Reviews

'British SF TV is often dismissed "as laughably cheap" in comparison with big-budget series such as Star Trek. This excellent volume sets the record straight.' - The Guardian

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Fiction Science Fiction Fiction in Translation and Short Stories Short Stories Non-Fiction Arts & Entertainment Film, TV & Radio Television

Acknowledgements	p. vii
'Futures past': an introduction to and brief survey of British science fiction television	p. 1
Quatermass and the origins of British television sf	p. 21
Tardis at the OK Corral: Doctor Who and the USA	p. 52
Countering the counterculture: The Prisoner and the 1960s	p. 71
The age of Aquarius: utopia and anti-utopia in late 1960s' and early 1970s' British science fiction television	p. 93
The man who made Thunderbirds: an interview with Gerry Anderson	p. 116
Everyday life in the post-catastrophe future: Terry Nation's Survivors	p. 131
TV docudrama and the nuclear subject: The War Game, The Day After and Threads	p. 154
Resist the host: Blake's 7 - a very British future	p. 174
Echoes of discontent: Conservative politics and Sapphire and Steel	p. 192
Counterpointing the surrealism of the underlying metaphor in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy	p. 219
'OK, homeboys, let's posse!' Masculine anxiety, gender, race and class in Red Dwarf	p. 240
British apocalypses now - or then? The Uninvited, Invasion: Earth and The Last Train	p. 263
Further reading	p. 283
Notes on contributors	p. 287
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

British Science Fiction Television

A Hitchhiker's Guide

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

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