Back to the Future

June 25, 2012 12:31 PM

There were 78 episodes of the anthology Science Fiction Theatre aired on TV from 1955 to 1957. The show's plots were much more heavily-weighted to science than others of the time, although some of the premises appear very far-fetched. Many of the episodes are available on YouTube.

The first season was filmed in color, but the producers were disappointed by the slow adoption of color receivers, and subsequent shows were filmed in black-and-white to save money.

As with other anthology shows of the era, you can see both veteran actors and others who have yet to make their mark, including Basil Rathbone, Adolphe Menjou, DeForest Kelly, Barbara Hale, Vincent Price, Gene Barry, and many others.

posted by Kirth Gerson (9 comments total)

Wow. Thanks!
posted by mondo dentro at 12:32 PM on June 25, 2012

Oh, this is SO cool. Thanks for posting it. It's going to be fun to watch these.
posted by zarq at 1:18 PM on June 25, 2012

I've never heard of this show! Awesome find, thanks!
posted by OolooKitty at 2:00 PM on June 25, 2012

Cool AND/OR fascinating.
posted by Splunge at 2:38 PM on June 25, 2012

Oh, lordy... Y.O.R.D.!!!! I remember watching that and I couldn't sleep for a solid week afterwards- had incredible nightmares. Nevertheless, I was riveted to that series in spite of my folks, who had to deal with the 'mares. It did, in fact, shape my interest in science and that was a plus for the parental units- my dad had been involved with very early radio (spark!) and he soon saw the effect of that show and gave it his approval.
posted by drhydro at 3:00 PM on June 25, 2012

Oh, I've seen this; It was called Beyond the Limits in syndication, and used to show up now and then when I was a boy.

It's cast was pretty much a who's who of what we now know as b-list Hollywood actors in the 50s.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 3:47 PM on June 25, 2012

I'm on my iPod touch, but- if you want to sample one episode, I recommend "Time is just a Place". It's very well done.
posted by wittgenstein at 9:10 PM on June 25, 2012

Good ol' Truman Bradley, the love-child of Boris Yeltsin and Al Franken is just awesome.

Also, here are some scripts for "Scientifiction Playhouse," a parody created by one Dr. Matt McIrvin and added to by some guy named Louis Nick, with an addition episode written by two others. The scripts are an attempt to pastiche Science Fiction Theater, but with added jokes meant for an audience familiar with the Kibology oeuvre. What's Kibology? I cannot explain.
posted by Sunburnt at 2:42 PM on June 26, 2012

..oops, I totally spaced on the last two episodes penned by Jacob "JWGH" Haller. Sorry Jake!

Also, it appears all those non-story links are dead. (Except Europa.)
posted by Sunburnt at 2:46 PM on June 26, 2012