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'The Wild, Wild West' (1965-69)
Forget
that lame movie starring Will Smith and Kevin Kline. "The Wild,
Wild West" was one of the most bizarre TV series of the '60s,
arguably giving birth to the modern "steampunk" subgenre of science
fiction. Robert Conrad and Ross Martin starred as
two post-Civil War Secret Service agents, but in addition to the
standard frontier gunplay, they battled the insane Dr. Loveless and
his arsenal of robots, weather control machines and gadgetry that
was more "Buck Rogers" than John Wayne.
Buy on DVD
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'Star Trek' (1966-69)
The granddaddy of
modern sci-fi television, it's far too easy to
mock "Star Trek" now for the papier-mâché alien
landscapes,
the psychedelic lighting and well-cooked ham William Shatner. But
Gene Roddenberry's classic creation was also the first serious
sci-fi show with recurring characters, all of whom became
beloved
icons. Roddenberry got real genre writers like Harlan
Ellison, Richard Matheson and Theodore Sturgeon to pen scripts,
many of which tackled social and historical commentary. For much
of its three-year run, there was just about nothing better.
Buy on
DVD | |
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'The Time Tunnel' (1966-67)
Irwin
Allen's "The Time Tunnel" starred James Darren as a
scientist whose titular device keeps slinging him back and forth in
time as his peeps back at the lab try to snatch him back. Never a
stickler for the "science" in science fiction, Allen threw out all
the rules on this one, allowing his heroes to hop around in time and
repeatedly try to change history without a moment's thought to the
ramifications. The tunnel itself was an impressive set and special
effect, but the show itself couldn't beat the clock, lasting just 30
episodes.
Buy on
DVD | |
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'The Prisoner (1967)
It only ran for
seventeen episodes, but "The Prisoner" has enjoyed a loyal cult
following ever since. Created by star Patrick McGoohan, it
followed the adventures of a retired secret agent who is
unaccountably transferred to a secure, undisclosed location called
the Village -- a sort of seaside resort for people the government
wants to go away. The Prisoner is only known as Number Six, and many
of the shows centered on his psychological battles with a revolving
cast of Number Twos, as well as his quest to learn the identity of
Number One. Allegorical in nature, The Prisoner was surreal,
inscrutable and utterly fascinating.
Buy on
DVD | |
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'The
Invaders' (1967-68)
A prototype of "The X-Files,"
"The Invaders" starred Roy Thinnes as David
Vincent, the only man aware of an invasion by aliens looking to
escape their dying world by possessing the bodies of human beings.
The short-lived show was often effective and quite paranoiac, helped
largely by Thinnes' excellent performance. "The Invaders" took place
in the present, setting it apart from the futuristic, space-based
shows of the time. A TV movie remake was produced in
1995. | |
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'Land of the Giants'
(1968-70)
Irwin Allen (yes, him again) tried once more
with "Land Of The Giants," surely the silliest of his '60 sci-fi
series. The show found the crew of the "Spindrift" crashing on a
planet where the humanoid inhabitants were twelve times the size of
humans. The show featured Don Marshall as a heroic African-American
(advanced for the time) and a few stabs at moral and social issues,
but lacked the necessary punch to outgrow its ludicrous
premise. It's the only one of Allen's four '60 series that has
yet to surface on DVD.
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Don Kaye has covered
film, video, books and music for outlets like Fangoria, Revolver,
Guitar World, HorrorChannel.com, VideoScope, Billboard, Alternative
Press, Total Movie, Blabbermouth.net, Kerrang! and too many others
he's forgotten. He grew up watching all the shows in this article
instead of playing outside like a normal kid.
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