Science Fiction Serials

Science Fiction Serials PDF Author: Roy Kinnard
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476604134
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 223

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Book Description
Destination Moon; George Pal’s 1950 Technicolor epic, is generally cited as the first noteworthy science fiction film. Usually ignored or casually dismissed in genre histories are the serials, the low-budget chapterplays exhibited as Saturday matinee fare and targeted almost exclusively at children. Lacking stars and top-notch writers or directors, the serials went largely unnoticed and unacknowledged by either critics or by the film industry. Yet serials were financially important to the Hollywood studios, and were often free to exploit risky or outlandish subjects that producers of “distinguished” movies would not touch. Influential serials such as The Phantom Empire (1935) and Flash Gordon (1936) finally brought science fiction themes to the big screen. Those serials and 29 others are exhaustively covered in this work, which provides complete cast and credit information along with plot descriptions and historical commentary for each serial. Video distributors (if available) are also listed.

Dune

Dune PDF Author: Frank Herbert
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0143111582
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 722

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Book Description
NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE directed by Denis Villeneuve and starring Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Jason Momoa, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Chang Chen, Charlotte Rampling, and Javier Bardem A deluxe hardcover edition of the best-selling science-fiction book of all time—part of Penguin Galaxy, a collectible series of six sci-fi/fantasy classics, featuring a series introduction by Neil Gaiman Winner of the AIGA + Design Observer 50 Books | 50 Covers competition Science fiction’s supreme masterpiece, Dune will be forever considered a triumph of the imagination. Set on the desert planet Arrakis, it is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, who will become the mysterious man known as Muad’Dib. Paul’s noble family is named stewards of Arrakis, whose sands are the only source of a powerful drug called “the spice.” After his family is brought down in a traitorous plot, Paul must go undercover to seek revenge, and to bring to fruition humankind’s most ancient and unattainable dream. A stunning blend of adventure and mysticism, environmentalism and politics, Dune won the first Nebula Award, shared the Hugo Award, and formed the basis of what is undoubtedly the grandest epic in science fiction. Penguin Galaxy Six of our greatest masterworks of science fiction and fantasy, in dazzling collector-worthy hardcover editions, and featuring a series introduction by #1 New York Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman, Penguin Galaxy represents a constellation of achievement in visionary fiction, lighting the way toward our knowledge of the universe, and of ourselves. From historical legends to mythic futures, monuments of world-building to mind-bending dystopias, these touchstones of human invention and storytelling ingenuity have transported millions of readers to distant realms, and will continue for generations to chart the frontiers of the imagination. The Once and Future King by T. H. White Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein Dune by Frank Herbert 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin Neuromancer by William Gibson For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

American Science Fiction TV

American Science Fiction TV PDF Author: Jan Johnson-Smith
Publisher: Wesleyan University Press
ISBN: 9780819567383
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
Science fiction TV and the American psyche.

Science Fiction Television

Science Fiction Television PDF Author: M. Keith Booker
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313052131
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
Science fiction series have remained a staple of American television from its inception: classic programs such as The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, and Star Trek, along with recent and current series including Babylon 5 and Stargate SG-1, have been some of the most enduring and influential of all television shows. In this chronological survey, author M. Keith Booker examines this phenomenon and provides in-depth studies of the most important of these series. Science Fiction Television traces the development of the genre as a distinct cultural phenomenon within the context of broader developments in American culture as a whole. In the process, it offers a unique and informative guide for television fans and science fiction fans alike, one whose coverage is unprecedented in its scope and breadth. A must-read for anyone interested in its subject or in American popular culture, Science Fiction Television is a perceptive and entertaining history of one of television's most lasting forms of entertainment.

The Encyclopedia of Fantasy

The Encyclopedia of Fantasy PDF Author: John Clute
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780312198695
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 1110

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Book Description
Like its companion volume, "The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction", this massive reference of 4,000 entries covers all aspects of fantasy, from literature to art.

Raft

Raft PDF Author: Stephen Baxter
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 057512797X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 173

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Book Description
Stephen Baxter's highly acclaimed first novel and the beginning of his stunning Xeelee Sequence finally enters the SF Masterwork series! A spaceship from Earth accidentally crossed through a hole in space-time to a universe where the force of gravity is one billion times as strong as the gravity we know. Somehow the crew survived, aided by the fact that they emerged into a cloud of gas surrounding a black hole, which provided a breathable atmosphere. Five hundred years later, their descendants still struggle for existence, divided into two main groups. The Miners live on the Belt, a ramshackle ring of dwellings orbiting the core of a dead star, which they excavate for raw materials. These can be traded for food from the Raft, a structure built from the wreckage of the ship, on which a small group of scientists preserve the ancient knowledge which makes survival possible. Rees is a Miner whose curiosity about his world makes him stow away on a flying tree - just one of the many strange local lifeforms - carrying trade between the Belt and the Raft. And what he finds will change his world...

Science Fiction Serials

Science Fiction Serials PDF Author: Roy Kinnard
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476604134
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 223

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Book Description
Destination Moon; George Pal’s 1950 Technicolor epic, is generally cited as the first noteworthy science fiction film. Usually ignored or casually dismissed in genre histories are the serials, the low-budget chapterplays exhibited as Saturday matinee fare and targeted almost exclusively at children. Lacking stars and top-notch writers or directors, the serials went largely unnoticed and unacknowledged by either critics or by the film industry. Yet serials were financially important to the Hollywood studios, and were often free to exploit risky or outlandish subjects that producers of “distinguished” movies would not touch. Influential serials such as The Phantom Empire (1935) and Flash Gordon (1936) finally brought science fiction themes to the big screen. Those serials and 29 others are exhaustively covered in this work, which provides complete cast and credit information along with plot descriptions and historical commentary for each serial. Video distributors (if available) are also listed.

The Star Trek Compendium

The Star Trek Compendium PDF Author: Allan Asherman
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781852864729
Category : Star Trek (Television program)
Languages : en
Pages : 182

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Book Description
Revised and updated to include material from Star Trek VI - The undiscovered country.

The Sci-fi Channel Encyclopedia of TV Science Fiction

The Sci-fi Channel Encyclopedia of TV Science Fiction PDF Author: Roger Fulton
Publisher: Warner Books (NY)
ISBN: 9780446674782
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 668

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Book Description
Provides episode listings, cast and credits for both classic and obscure science fiction TV shows from the last fifty years

The Essential Science Fiction Television Reader

The Essential Science Fiction Television Reader PDF Author: J.P. Telotte
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813172969
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 365

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Book Description
Once confined solely to literature and film, science fiction has emerged to become a firmly established, and wildly popular, television genre over the last half century. The Essential Science Fiction Television Reader provides insight into and analyses of the most important programs in the history of the genre and explores the breadth of science fiction programming. Editor J. P. Telotte and the contributors explain the gradual transformation of the genre from low-budget cinematic knockoffs to an independent and distinct televisual identity. Their essays track the dramatic evolution of early hits such as The Twilight Zone and Star Trek into the science fiction programming of today with its more recent successes such as Lost and Heroes. They highlight the history, narrative approaches, and themes of the genre with an inviting and accessible style. In essays that are as varied as the shows themselves, the contributors address the full scope of the genre. In his essay "The Politics of Star Trek: The Original Series," M. Keith Booker examines the ways in which Star Trek promoted cultural diversity and commented on the pioneering attitude of the American West. Susan George takes on the refurbished Battlestar Galactica series, examining how the show reframes questions of gender. Other essays explore the very attributes that constitute science fiction television: David Lavery's essay "The Island's Greatest Mystery: Is Lost Science Fiction?"calls into question the defining characteristics of the genre. From anime to action, every form of science fiction television is given thoughtful analysis enriched with historical perspective. Placing the genre in a broad context, The Essential Science Fiction Television Reader outlines where the genre has been, where it is today, and where it may travel in the future. No longer relegated to the periphery of television, science fiction now commands a viewership vast enough to sustain a cable channel devoted to the genre.

Science Fiction, Ethics and the Human Condition

Science Fiction, Ethics and the Human Condition PDF Author: Christian Baron
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 331956577X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 246

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Book Description
This book explores what science fiction can tell us about the human condition in a technological world, with the ethical dilemmas and consequences that this entails. This book is the result of the joint efforts of scholars and scientists from various disciplines. This interdisciplinary approach sets an example for those who, like us, have been busy assessing the ways in which fictional attempts to fathom the possibilities of science and technology speak to central concerns about what it means to be human in a contemporary world of technology and which ethical dilemmas it brings along. One of the aims of this book is to demonstrate what can be achieved in approaching science fiction as a kind of imaginary laboratory for experimentation, where visions of human (or even post-human) life under various scientific, technological or natural conditions that differ from our own situation can be thought through and commented upon. Although a scholarly work, this book is also designed to be accessible to a general audience that has an interest in science fiction, as well as to a broader academic audience interested in ethical questions.