Doctor Who - The David Tennant Years. An Episode Guide (On Screen) (On Screen)
by . Jamie Hailstone
When David Tennant took over as the Tenth Doctor in 2005, the rejuvenated science fiction series was still in its infancy, having just completed its first series. Under the direction of showrunner Russell T. Davies, Doctor Who had burst back onto our screens after a lengthy absence and while it was more popular than ever, there was always a question of how audiences would react to one of the show's central concepts - the regeneration of the lead character itself. Fortunately, the casting of Ten...
This edited collection brings together an introduction and 13 original scholarly essays on AMC's The Walking Dead. The first group of essays addresses the pervasive bloodletting of the series: What are the consequences of the series' unremitting violence? Essays explore violence committed in self-defence, racist violence, mass lawlessness, the violence of law enforcement, the violence of mourning, and the violence of history. The second half of the collection explores an equally urgent question:...
Star Trek, from the beginning, has empowered women, creating feminist icons. Deep Space Nine's Nana Visitor looks at how – and the enduring, ongoing impact. Nana Visitor played Major Kira Nerys on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, evolving her into one of the franchise’s – and pop-culture history’s – most formidable female characters. But Visitor wasn’t first; other Star Trek actresses paved the way. In the new book, A Woman’s Trek, Visitor speaks with and pays tribute to those who came before her....
Since its inception in 1992, the Sci-Fi Channel (later rebranded as Syfy) has aired more than 500 network-produced or commissioned films. Campy and prolific, the network churned out one low-budget film after another, finally finding its zenith in the 2013 release of Sharknado. With unpretentious charm and a hearty helping of commodified nostalgia, the Sharknado franchise briefly ruled the cultural consciousness and temporarily transformed Syfy's original films from cult fringe to appointment tel...
In Westworld and Philosophy, philosophers of diverse orientations and backgrounds offer their penetrating insights into the questions raised by the popular TV show, Westworld. Is it wrong for Dr. Robert Ford (played by Anthony Hopkins) to "play God" in controlling the lives of the hosts, and if so, is it always wrong for anyone to "play God"? Is the rebellion by the robot "hosts" against Delos Inc. a just war? If not, what would make it just? Is it possible for any dweller in W...
The Digital Dystopias of Black Mirror and Electric Dreams
by Steven Keslowitz
This critical examination of two dystopian television series—Black Mirror and Electric Dreams—focuses on pop culture depictions of technology and its impact on human existence. Representations of a wide range of modern and futuristic technologies are explored, from early portrayals of artificial intelligence (Rossum's Universal Robots, 1921) to digital consciousness transference as envisioned in Black Mirror's "San Junipero." These representations reflect societal anxieties about unfettered tec...
Features 20 removable posters from Goni Montes, taken straight from his cover work on the hit comic book series Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Features 20 removable posters of iconic Mighty Morphin Power Rangers artwork from series cover artist Goni Montes.
Provides a history and criticism of an important disrupting force in early science-fiction television programming. Joanne Morreale highlights the differences of The Outer Limits (ABC 1963-65) from typical programs on the air in the 1960s. Morreale argues that the show provides insight into changes in the television industry as writers turned to genre fiction-in this case, a hybrid of science fiction and horror-to provide veiled social commentary. The show illustrates the tension between networ...
The ultimate unofficial guide to the hit program Charmed, this is both a book of spells and a key to the mysteries of the show. The Book of Shadows celebrates the best of Charmed, from its roots in the ancient tradition of Wicca to insider information on the show's stars. N.E. Genge not only provides fascinating background details for the show's Wiccan elements, but also guides readers in performing their own magic. Fans with a witchy bent will learn about the tools of magic and divination and...
Programming the Future
by Professor Sherryl Vint and Professor Jonathan Alexander
From 9/11 to COVID-19, the twenty-first century looks increasingly dystopian—and so do its television shows. Long-form science fiction narratives take one step further the fears of today: liberal democracy in crisis, growing economic precarity, the threat of terrorism, and omnipresent corporate control. At the same time, many of these shows attempt to visualize alternatives, using dystopian extrapolations to spotlight the possibility of building a better world. Programming the Future examines h...
'LOVING this new coffee table book chronicling the entire Series Of Unfortunate Events production... You can even peel off the label on the cover, but don't 'cuz, you know, my face..!'Neil Patrick Harris The perfect companion to Netflix's adaptation of A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Incomplete History of Secret Organizations is a fourth-wall-breaking deep dive into the hilariously twisted saga and the creative team that brought it to life on the screen. Discover a host of insider secre...
Doctor Who: Whotopia
by Jonathan Morris, Simon Guerrier, and Una McCormack
Welcome to the Whoniverse. First stop: everywhere. Six decades may only be a handful of heartbeats to a Time Lord, but for Doctor Who it's the adventure of several lifetimes. Evolving over 60 years, the world's longest-running sci-fi TV show has gifted us a universe of menacing monsters and unforgettable heroes. You might even call it a 'Whotopia'. Now you can roam free through the Doctor's dimension as never before in this special commemorative book for Doctor Who's diamond anniversary. Join...
Sense8
This collection explores the many ways in which the Netflix series Sense8 transcends television. As its characters transcend physical and psychological borders of gender and geography, so the series itself transcends those between television, new media platforms and new screen technologies, while dissolving those between its producers, stars, audiences and fans. Sense8 united, inspired and energized a global community of fans that realized its own power by means of online interaction and a succe...
This essential reference book details everything the novice needs to know about the genre and everything the well-read fan is calling out for. Lavishly illustrated and expertly informed, it is edited by Tim Dedopulos and David Pringle, editor and co-founder of the internationally acclaimed Interzone magazine, and features forewords by legendary authors Terry Pratchett and Ben Aaronovitch. They have assembled a team of expert contributors to compile a visually stunning, informative and fascinatin...
In unabashed celebration of Captain James T. Kirk's singular fighting skills, Star Trek: Kirk Fu Manual is every Starfleet cadet's must-have training guide for surviving the final frontier. As captain of the legendary U.S.S. Enterprise, James T. Kirk engaged in his share of fisticuffs, besting opponents with a slick combination of moves and guile that remains unmatched. Is there anyone you'd rather have watching your back as you take on Klingons, alien gladiators, genetically engineered superme...
Science fiction is perhaps the most effective genre to explore the concerns of the present whilst reflecting on the possibilities of the future. But what precisely can it tell us about present and future by setting these two timeframes in the same critical space?
Meta Television (Routledge Advances in Popular Culture Studies)
by Erin Giannini
The idea of metatextuality is frequently framed as a recent television development and often paired with the idea that it represents genre exhaustion. US television, however, with its early “live” performances and set-bound sitcoms, always suggested an element of self-awareness that easily shaded into metatextuality even in its earliest days. Meta Television thus traces the general history of US television’s metatextuality throughout television’s history, arguing that TV’s self-awareness is noth...
Shakespeare and Science Fiction (Liverpool Science Fiction Texts & Studies, #71)
by Sarah Annes Brown
In Shakespeare and Science Fiction Sarah Annes Brown investigates why so many science fiction writers have turned to Shakespeare when imagining humanity's future. He and his works become a kind of touchstone for the species in much science fiction, both transcending and exemplifying what it means to be human. Writers have used Shakespeare in a range of often contradictory ways. He is associated with freedom and with tyranny, with optimistic visions of space exploration and with the complete dest...
The Doctor Who Discontinuity Guide (Gateway Essentials)
by Paul Cornell, Martin Day, and Keith Topping
When it was originally published, the Discontinuity Guide was the first attempt to bring together all of the various fictional information seen in BBC TV's DOCTOR WHO, and then present it in a coherent narrative. Often copied but never matched, this is the perfect guide to the 'classic' Doctors.Fulffs, goofs, double entendres, fashion victims, technobabble, dialogue disasters: these are just some of the headings under which every story in the Doctor's first twenty-seven years of his career is an...
Exploring the science in George R. R. Martin’s fantastical world, from the physics of an ice wall to the genetics of the Targaryens and Lannisters Game of Thrones is a fantasy that features a lot of made-up science—fabricated climatology (when is winter coming?), astronomy, metallurgy, chemistry, and biology. Most fans of George R. R. Martin’s fantastical world accept it all as part of the magic. A trained scientist, watching the fake science in Game of Thrones, might think, “But how would it...