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A ’70s Childhood ‘Monster’
Ts
(Romanian)
I “went” on the road through what would be the “films of the last 50 years” through the films on the “big screen”, although I was often reminded of a real “shadow monster” of the “Science Fiction” childhood, the television series…
A “Monster” (both in size and action) whose “description” I think is appropriate at this point in the “evolutionary course” of this series…
The 1970s represented “Science Fiction,” a manifestation far beyond the fans’ expectations in terms of the consistency and longevity of the “serialized” themes, not to mention the multitude of “touched” subgenres.
The “secret” is represented by what would be the “necessary density of product” for a television “serialization”, which required creative effort, quite regardless of the production budget involved (which for a “feature” film represents a binding additional commitment with a certain value of “selective obstacle”)…
Moreover, the screenwriters constantly produced, “in flux”, on the various themes, genres, and subgenres of “science fiction”, attracting an increasingly constant, increasingly qualitative effort for this literary species, which, “ passes more and more significantly on the television screen”.
But, I’m not going to get into the “secrets” of production, “secrets of the writers”, blah, blah, so I’ll go straight to the “summary” descriptions…
The 70s start relatively “shy” on the “Science Fiction” genre… But…
1970 will surprise with quality science fiction television series such as “Doomwatch” (which will run until 1972, reaching 3 seasons, with a total of 38 episodes of 50 minutes per episode), “Timeslip” (which will “run” until 1971, 2 seasons with 26 episodes of 30 min), “UFO” (70–71, with 26 episodes of 45 min).
In 1971 “The Guardians” stands out (an excellent series, which will reach 13 one-hour episodes), the previous experiments also extending into the period of 1972.
In 1973, various experiences were accumulated, being made a “short series” of only 6 episodes (50 minutes per episode) under the name “Moonbase 3”, “The Tomorrow People” (which will run until 1979 with 68 episodes of 30 minutes), “Starlost” (which will run until 1974, with a total of 18 one-hour episodes), and the already “manifest” Star Trek is also accompanied by an animation, “Star Trek: The Animated Series” (until 1975, with a total of 22 30-minute episodes).
1974 is the year of the series “Planet of the Apes” (14 episodes of 47 minutes) and the hit series “The Six Million Dollar Man” (which will run until 1978, reaching 99 one-hour episodes).
And, since 1975, the accumulated experience began to manifest itself, being the year of the debut of an acclaimed series, under the name “Space: 1999” (which will run until 1977, “reaching” 48 episodes of 50 minutes), then “Survivors” (which would run until 1977, 38 50-minute episodes), “The Changes” (an acclaimed series, but only 10 episodes), “The Lost Saucer” (which would run until 1976, with a total of 16 30-minute episodes), “Sky” (7 30-minute episodes), and returns to the Planet of the Apes theme under the title “Return to the Planet of the Apes” (which would run until 1976, with a total of 13 episodes of 24 minutes).
1976 is the year of the release of “The Bionic Woman” (which would run until 1978, with a total of 58 one-hour episodes), “Ark II” (with 15 episodes of 25 minutes each), and others, less significant.
And 1977 is the year of acclaimed series such as “1990” (which would run until 1978, with 16 55-minute episodes), “Logan’s Run” (which would run until 1978, 14 one-hour episodes), “Quark” (8 episodes), “The Fantastic Journey” (10 one-hour episodes), “Space Academy” (15 30-minute episodes).
1978 is the year of the release of “Battlestar Galactica” (which will run until 1979, 21 episodes of one hour), and which will surprise with “Blake’s 7” (which will run until 1981, 52 episodes of 50 minutes) or “Mork & Mindy” (which would run until 1982, with a total of 94 30-minute episodes), along with continuing the UFO theme with “Project U.F.O.” (which would run until 1979, 27 one-hour episodes), or even “Jason of Star Command” (which would run until 1981, 28 30-minute episodes).
In the late 1970s, in 1979, the old Buck Rogers theme was resumed with “Buck Rogers in the 25th Century” (which would run until 1981, reaching a total of 32 one-hour episodes), but it is also the year of the launch of a quality series called “Sapphire & Steel” (which would run until 1982, 34 30-minute episodes), and also the year of other good series such as “Salvage 1” (19 one-hour episodes), “Quatermass” (4 episodes of 50 minutes), “The Secret Empire” (12 episodes of 20 minutes), “Time Express” (4 episodes of one hour).
At first sight, it doesn’t seem like a big deal… But if you notice the “volume” (of time or other “quantitative” benchmarks) of these productions (where I didn’t mention many other series with “less success”), you will end up to the perception of an overwhelming amount of “science fiction” compared to that present on the “big screen” (not to mention the “amount of scripts”, of “titles”, blah, blah).
Then, as naive as my opinion may seem, the book slowly begins to turn into… Something else…
That something that no longer attracts enough through the “written page” but will demand more and more… More and more comprehensive experiences, which will “cover” the technological boom that will be triggered in the 80s and will manifest itself in the next 20 years (but there are many more episodes until then)…
Finally, like a teaser, we are still discussing times when this “monster” completes its childhood, perfects its “tools” (genres, subgenres, quality, including special effects), “mechanisms”, “audience”, etc…
Merticaru Dorin Nicolae
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