Tomorrow's Worlds: The Unearthly History of Science Fiction

[Ace-T]

Tonight on BBC 2 at 9.45pm is the start of a series looking at science fiction themes of space, aliens, time travel and robots.

Web site here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01yqk7d

Enjoy!

[boxst]

Well, it has a DeLorean so worth a look

[Eric Mc]

Very good.

No mention of any of the Gerry Anderson series though, which was a bit surprising.

[jmorgan]

Dull as dish water. Sorry.

[jingars]

jmorgan said:

Dull as dish water. Sorry.

Wasn't nearly as good as Sandbrook's three-parter on the Cold War. I had hoped for better.

The accompanying on-line only content is quite good; the first part where the actors describe in greater detail some of their stories has some interesting anecdotes; in particular Keir Dullea talking about how the "blown airlock" scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey was filmed.

Also really liked the second on-line only item Invasion Of The Fans; it showed genuine warmth towards the subject, rather than seeking to mock the participants.

[Eric Mc]

Thanks for that link. I hadn't realised there was some extra stuff.

[jmorgan]

I shall catch up on that.

But I was bemused why Dune got a mention but Avatar was more in depth, planet hugging saving the world theme etc.

[Eric Mc]

I think it just sometimes depends on how much usable footage you get from the interviewees.

Keir Dullea got quite a bit.

I noticed that in the "You might also like..." suggestions is a celebration of Gerry Anderson. I wonder has someone mixed up Gerry Anderson (the Northern Ireland radio presenter) with the TV and film maker of the same name?

[jmorgan]

Dune is a tough one. It is an epic series of books before the son got involved but the scope for it I thought surpasses others but then I suppose it is my view. I am going to watch the others. The lead up to Alien and links I thought was OK, I did not realise Dan O Bannon was one of the few Members in Dark Star. Had that on VHS.

[JonRB]

I've really, really enjoyed this series. I saw the last one last night and was a little sad that it was only a 4-parter. I think it could have gone much further on what is a very broad subject.

I'd have loved to have been at Jodrell Bank for the screening of 2001. Having Hal's eye projected onto the main dish sounds totally epic.

The two hour long film on Gerry Anderson that they showed people watching looked interesting. I wonder if the BBC will be actually screening that at a later date?

[Eric Mc]

Anderson does deserve a serious study.

I think Britain's high standing in the world of cinematic special effects owes a lot to the work he was doing in the early/mid 1960s.

[MartG]

JonRB said:

The two hour long film on Gerry Anderson that they showed people watching looked interesting. I wonder if the BBC will be actually screening that at a later date?

Straight to DVD http://www.amazon.co.uk/Filmed-Supermarionation-DV...

[Project C]

It was very much TV/Film biased as most of things seem to be, I suppose talking about books isn't good telly.

[JonRB]

MartG said:

Straight to DVD http://www.amazon.co.uk/Filmed-Supermarionation-DV...

Excellent. Thanks for that.

[Eric Mc]

Project C said:

It was very much TV/Film biased as most of things seem to be, I suppose talking about books isn't good telly.

It was a bit. Of course, the BEST and most imaginative sci-fi has always been in books.