THE
UNMUTUAL WEBSITE
"FANTASTIC TV" PRESS RELEASE
50 YEARS OF CULT FANTASY
AND SCIENCE FICTION
Steven Savile
PLEXUS PUBLISHING Ltd, 25 Mallinson Road, London, SW11 1BW
The days of the short story are long gone, but the great pulp science fiction magazines of the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s have been replaced by a much more direct and vital form of entertainment – genre TV.
Fantastic TV is an illustrated celebration of five decades of science-fiction and fantasy series, featuring interviews with the writers and creators of many of the shows included, and offering a unique insight into the impact of genre TV from
those who brought their visions to era-defining life on the small screen. Taking in ’60s classics like Star Trek, Lost In Space, and The Twilight Zone, as well as more recent additions to the fantasy canon such as The X-Files, Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Lost, this book provides an incisive overview of those programmes that have inspired devotion – and even obsession – in their viewers over the years.
The interviewees’ reminiscences and the author’s affectionate appreciations pay homage to the importance and visionary uniqueness of all the shows covered, explaining how they relate to the world of genre fiction and the long-running
history of science-fiction television, and illuminating how these series persist in influencing the writers and artists of today. Fantastic TV is a personal and perceptively-written tribute to the televisionaries who made broadcast history,
changed the face of popular culture, and created legacies that continue to resonate with audiences around the world.
Cult TV shows are the lifeblood of modern popular culture. From Lost and Buffy
the Vampire Slayer in the USA to the UK’s Doctor Who, science fiction
and fantasy genres have never been as popular as they are today.
Each classic TV show has its own cult audience – from an antique series
like the original Outer Limits to the recent ‘re-imagining’ of Battlestar
Galactica, which was acclaimed by both Time magazine and the American Film Institute
as one of the TV series of the year.
Fantastic TV: 50 Years of Cult Fantasy and Science Fiction is the first book
to cover all of the modern TV viewer’s favourite SF/fantasy shows; from
the black and white dawn of the TV age to last week’s ratings winners.
All the showsthat inspire passionate devotion are discussed here.
Author
A lifelong genre fan, Steven Savile has written franchise fiction in the Doctor Who, Torchwood, Primeval, Starga t e, Guild Wars, Warhammer, Star Wars and Jurassic Park series, as well as adapting the cult comic Slainé, and in 2009 won the International Media Tie- In Writer’s Scribe Award for his bestselling novel based upon the cult UK science-fiction series Primeval: Shadow Of The Jaguar. He won the Writers of the Future Award for his novella, Houdini’s Last Illusion. His debut thriller, Silver, has been translated into 14 languages.
PUBLICATION: June 2010 SIZE: 230 x 170 mm
EXTENT: 272 pages ILLUS: 130 b&w photos
CATEGORY: Television/History PRICE: £14.99
ISBN(13): 978-0-85965-420-3 PAPERBACK ORIGINAL