“Y··O··R··D··”
The first real science fiction series on American television. I was just a wee sprout, but sat wide eyed through each episode! And I’ve been kinda weird ever since! 
“Science Fiction Theatre” was a syndicated science fiction anthology series. It was produced in the United States by Ivan Tors and Maurice Ziv.
Hosted by Truman Bradley, a 1940s film actor and former war correspondent, each episode introduced stories which had an extrapolated scientific, or pseudo-scientific emphasis based on actual scientific data available in the 1950s. The program concentrated on such concepts as space flight, frozen dinosaurs, robots, telepathy, flying saucers and time travel.
It ran from 1955 to 1957, with a total of 78 half hour episodes. It was also known as ‘Beyond The Limits’ in second run syndication during the 1960s and alternatively as ‘Science Fiction Theater’.“Science Fiction Theatre” was a forerunner of similar shows, such as The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits.
Season 1 Episode 5
Pretty goofy, but for its time – not too bad. Sample this episode and decide for yourself. Most of the ‘science’ is downright ancient by our standards… but still…
BTW: This episode has been ‘colourised’.
Great stuff. I’m hooked. Some excellent actors, great writing. Love it.
Comment on January 30, 2013 @ 12:00 am
There are lots of SFT episodes on YouTube. Actor Kenneth Tobey as a military officer at the North Pole reminds me of his starring role in “The Thing (From Another World)” [1951]. Directed by Howard Hawks (although ‘Christian Nyby’ is credited), the rapid-fire dialogue is delightful and the film holds up quite well IMHO (7.3 @ IMDB).
“An intellectual carrot! The mind boggles!”
Love the opening theme to SFT!
Comment on January 30, 2013 @ 4:43 am