Science Fiction Theatre

General

From 1955 to 1957, Science Fiction Theatre, a semi-documentary television series, explored the what if's of modern science. Placing an emphasis on science before fiction, television viewers were treated to a variety of complex challenges from mental telepathy, robots, man-eating ants, killer trees, man's first flight into space and time travel. Hosted by Truman Bradley, a radio/TV announcer and 1940s film actor, each episode featured stories which had an extrapolated scientific or pseudo scientific emphasis based on actual scientific data available at the time. Typically, the stories related to the life or work of scientists, engineers, inventors, and explorers, the program concentrated on such concepts as space flight, robots, telepathy, flying saucers, time travel, and the intervention of extraterrestrials in human affairs. With few exceptions, the stories were original concepts based on articles from recent issues of Scientific American, issues of which can be seen on Bradley's desk in a number of episodes.

The first season was filmed on 35mm Eastmancolor negative, which was then not considered the best color available for television, often fading over time due to vinegar deterioration. Syndication packages for a second season were renewed at an 80 percent retention ratio, borderline for color production. In March 1956, producer Ivan Tors agreed with Frederick Ziv to produce the program in black and white to offset production expenses in return for a second season.

Like the syndicated Out There and Tales of Tomorrow anthology series before it, Science Fiction Theatre was a predecessor to later science-fiction anthology shows such as The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits.

The show had no fixed cast other than the host, although a number of actors appeared in multiple episodes in different roles. Michael Fox (7ep.), Dick Foran (4ep.), Marshall Thompson (7ep.), Dabbs Greer (3ep.), Arthur Franz (5ep.), Whit Bissell (3ep.), Judith Ames (6ep.), and Bruce Bennett (5ep.) appeared in more episodes than most. The show also featured stars such as Basil Rathbone, Kenneth Tobey (2ep.), Victor Jory, Gene Barry (2ep.), DeForest Kelley (3ep.), Phyllis Coates and Vincent Price (2ep.). Edmund Gwenn (2ep.) and Ruth Hussey (2ep.) were the highest-paid actors for the series, earning $2,500 each for a three-day filming, followed by Gene Lockhart (2ep.), Don DeFore, and Howard Duff who were paid $2,000 each. Most actors were paid between $150 and $500 depending on the size of their role.

Intro and outro

Each episode was introduced by a stirring brass, string, and woodwind fanfare (now established as having been composed by David Rose, using the pen name of Ray Llewellyn due to union and contractual restrictions at the time), while the camera panned over a science laboratory. Then, Truman Bradley showed a simple scientific experiment which was related to the topic of that week's show. Bradley's demonstrations were often staged, but yielded results consistent with the outcome of true experiments. He was always careful to point out that the story presented was fictional: that "it did not happen".

The pilot episode was filmed in July 1954, but Bradley's on-screen duties were not filmed until September 11, which also included off-screen narration for the pilot and the second episode produced, "Y-O-R-D-", which did not go into production until December 1954. Bradley's duties included visits to the studio for hosting assignments, often filmed in batches of two, three and four episodes in a single day. On February 28, 1955, for example, Herbert Strock directed Bradley for all the pick-ups and off-screen narrations for episodes three, four and five. Bradley returned to the studio two weeks later for pick-ups and off-screen narration for episodes six and seven. After the first two episodes were filmed, an oversight was discovered: Bradley wore a different tie on September 11, 1954 and December 1954. Afterwards, Bradley followed instructions to wear the same suit and same tie for every episode moving forward.

Because of the limited budgets and intense production schedules of ZIV episodic television shows, most of the scientific, and not-so-scientific apparatus appears again and again as props with many different functions. A few of the electrical gadgets such as the computerized chess game, were fake—magnets inside the chess pieces with a technician under the table to move the pieces. One anti-gravity device featured in the episodes "Beyond" and "Y-O-R-D" was a primary device for a key scene in Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956). Posters, paintings and electronic gadgets appeared that were used previously as props in producer Ivan Tors' The Magnetic Monster (1953), Riders to the Stars (1954) and Gog (1954). The Bendix Aviation Corporation supplied computer equipment seen in the episode "Survival in Box Canyon". Garco the Robot, used to publicize the Rocky Jones, Space Ranger television series, and featured prominently in a 1957 Disneyland episode, was featured in the episode "Time is Just a Place".

Broadcast

The program never aired over a network. All 78 half-hour episodes were syndicated across the country in package deals of 39 episodes each. This meant the program could air on Saturday evening over a television station in Kalamazoo, Michigan, while the program aired on Wednesday evenings over a station in Newark, New Jersey. Every station featured regional sponsorship and depending on the price tag, Truman Bradley was hired to film commercials for those local spots as inserts. The program was re-titled Beyond The Limits for later syndication in the 1960s.

From 1996 to 1998, Science Fiction Theatre aired weekly on Friday evenings over the Sci-Fi Channel on cable TV. The picture quality was above average and the same provided to PBS stations in the 1980s. While PBS aired the program uncut and unedited, Sci-Fi Channel aired the episode in abbreviated form (21 and one half minutes instead of 26) to make more room for commercials.

Influence

In the 1985 film Back to the Future, Science Fiction Theatre is mentioned as George McFly's favorite television program, from which Marty McFly gains the idea to dress up as an alien in order to scare George into asking his mother Lorraine to the school dance.

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (1955–56)

Cast: William Lundigan, Ellen Drew, Truman Bradley, Bruce Bennett

Cast: Don DeFore, Marie Windsor, Warren Stevens, Peggy O'Connor

Cast: Richard Arlen, Jess Barker

Cast: Walter Kingsford, Judith Ames, DeForest Kelley, Kenneth Tobey, Louis Jean Heydt

Cast: Marshall Thompson, Gene Evans, Lowell Gilmore

Cast: John Howard, Otto Kruger

Cast: John Howard, Ellen Drew

Cast: Gene Barry, Audrey Totter

Cast: Skip Homeier, John Qualen, Ted de Corsia

Cast: Hugh Beaumont, Barbara Hale

Cast: Otto Kruger, Arthur Franz, Nancy Gates

Cast: William Bishop, Lynn Bari, Charles Evans

Cast: Ruth Hussey, John Archer, John Abbott

Cast: Edmund Gwenn, Donald Curtis, Kristine Miller

Cast: Marshall Thompson, Marilyn Erskine, Ray Collins, Michael Fox

Cast: Basil Rathbone

Cast: Zachary Scott

Cast: Gene Barry, Marguerite Chapman

Cast: Adolphe Menjou, Warren Stevens, Phyllis Coates, Charles Maxwell, John Doucette

Cast: Dane Clark, Beverly Garland

Cast: James Craig, Steve Brodie, Arleen Whelan

Cast: Edmund Gwenn, William Schallert

Cast: Arthur Franz, Doris Dowling, Dabbs Greer, Judith Ames

Cast: Virginia Bruce

Cast: Macdonald Carey, Jean Byron

Cast: Marshall Thompson, Ray Collins, Margaret Field

Cast: William Talman, Virginia Grey, Craig Stevens

Cast: Kent Smith, Osa Massen

Cast: Bill Williams, Barbara Hale, Morris Ankrum

Cast: Keefe Brasselle, Walter Kingsford, Christine Larson, Cyril Delevanti

Cast: Richard Eyer, Virginia Bruce

Cast: Zachary Scott, Joan Vohs, Peter Hanson

Cast: Dane Clark, Ted de Corsia, Judith Ames, Phillip Pine, Emerson Treacy

Cast: George Brent, Steve Brodie, DeForest Kelley, Jean Byron, Sam Gilmore, Robert Barton

Cast: Bill Williams, Doris Dowling, Biff Elliot, Mack Williams, Kenneth Drake

Cast: Pat O'Brien, Anthony Eustrel, Leslie Gaye

Cast: Howard Duff, Russ Conway, Wheaton Chambers, Christine Larson, Whit Bissell, Edward Earle, Ruth Perrott, Charles Maxwell

Cast: Vincent Price, George Eldredge, John Eldredge, Dabbs Greer, Kristine Miller

Cast: Skip Homeier, Beverly Garland, Philip Ober

Season 2 (1956–57)

Cast: Walter Kingsford, Peter Hanson, Joyce Holden Cast: Dick Foran, John Doucette, Nancy Hale Cast: Bruce Bennett, Harlow Wilcox, Charles Smith Cast: Whit Bissell, Kenneth Tobey, Robert Griffin Cast: Gene Lockhart, Mack Williams, Than Wyenn Cast: Marshall Thompson, Jacqueline Holt, John Eldredge Cast: Victor Jory, Michael Fox, Judith Ames Cast: Ruth Hussey, Peter Hansen, Francis McDonald Cast: Bill Williams, Cyril Delevanti, Brad Trumbull, Sydney Mason, Lonie Blackman, Fred Coby, Jim Sheldon, Helen Jay Cast: Dick Foran, Stafford Repp, Gene Roth, Michael Fox Cast: Marshall Thompson, Virginia Christine, Claudia Barrett Cast: Arthur Franz, Susan Cummings, Bruce Wendell, Voltaire Perkins Cast: Christopher Dark, Diana Douglas, Walter Kingsford, Dabbs Greer Cast: John Archer, Judith Ames, Tyler McVey, Herbert C. Lytton, William Fawcett Cast: Wayne Morris, Frank Gerstle, Harlan Warde Cast: Marilyn Erskine, Brad Jackson, Jo Ann Lilliquist Cast: Skip Homeier, Joan Sinclair, Michael Garth Cast: Bill Williams, Toni Gerry, Lowell Gilmore Cast: Peter Hanson, Ed Kemmer, Virginia Christine Cast: Gene Lockhart, Robin Short Cast: Vincent Price, Jean Byron Cast: Arthur Franz, Diana Douglas, Doug Wilson Cast: Dick Foran, June Lockhart, John Stephenson Cast: Ludwig Stössel, Ray Collins, Charles Victor Cast: Bruce Bennett, Susan Cummings, DeForest Kelley Cast: Donald Curtis, Kristine Miller, Anthony Eustrel Cast: Marshall Thompson, Martin Milner, Gloria Marshall Cast: Bill Ching, Bruce Wendell Cast: Bruce Bennett Cast: Peter Hanson, Whit Bissell, Doug Wilson Cast: Marshall Thompson, Bill Ching, Joyce Jameson Cast: Dick Foran, Jean Byron, Charles Herbert Cast: Marilyn Erskine, Ross Elliott, Julian Rivero, Paul Fierro Cast: Arthur Franz, Aline Towne, Donald Curtis Cast: Bill Williams, Bonita Granville, Keith Richards Cast: Percy Helton, Lisa Gaye, Walter Kingsford Cast: Charles Winninger, Judith Ames Cast: Bruce Bennett, Kristine Miller, Sidney Smith Cast: Peter Hanson, Jan Shepard, Cyril Delevanti

Home media

Timeless Media Group released the complete series on Region 1 DVD on May 12, 2015. While the episodes on the DVD box set are uncut, they include new video transfers using a "one-light" system causing the episodes to appear slightly darker than telecasts of the past two decades.

References

References

1. Grams, Martin. ''Science Fiction Theatre: A History of the Television Program'', Bear Manor Media Publishing, 20202011. ISBN 978-1593936570.
2. "Back to the Future Trivia".
3. "Science Fiction Theatre".