A
Animorphs
(1998-99)
Canadian television adaptation based on the book series of the same name by K. A. Applegate featuring five teenagers with the ability to morph into animals who use their powers to save the Earth from alien invasion.
B
Battle of the Planets
(1978-80)
American adaptation of the Japanese anime series Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (1972) featuring the five young members of G-Force who protect Earth from the planet Spectra and other attacks from beyond space.
Battlestar Galactica
(1978-79)
American television series created by Glen A. Larson, which follows the surviving humans as they flee in the Battlestar Galactica and other ships in search for a new home while being pursued by the Cylons.
Battlestar Galactica
(1978)
Re-edit of the pilot television story “Saga of a Star World” that was released theatrically.
Battlestar Galactica
(2003)
American miniseries that formed the first part of the Battlestar Galactica remake based on the 1978 television series, and served as a backdoor pilot for the 2004 television series.
Battlestar Galactica
(2004-09)
A re-imagining of the 1978 television series in which the Twelve Colonies have been at war with an android race of their own creation, the Cylons who launch a sudden sneak attack. Under the leadership of Commander Adama and President Laura Roslin, the Battlestar Galactica leads a small fugitive fleet of survivors into space in search of a fabled thirteenth colony known as Earth.
The Big Pull
(1962)
A BBC science-fiction series concerning an alien invasion of Earth. During the time of early space exploration, Earth is attacked by an invisible force, which takes over humans in pairs; one disappears, one dies. The disappeared one emerges under alien control. Fear grows when the time between each attack halves, and the number of victims doubles
Brainstorm
(1983)
American science fiction film starring Christopher Walken and Natalie Wood (in her final film role), following a research team’s efforts to perfect a system that directly records and replays the sensory experiences and emotional feelings of a subject, and the efforts by the company’s management to exploit the device for military ends. After a researcher records her death from a heart attack, her colleagues join forces to retrieve the information and play it back.
Buck Rogers
(1939)
Film serial produced by Universal Pictures starring Buster Crabbe as the eponymous hero which had appeared in magazines and comic strips since 1928. After crashing at the North Pole Lt Buck Rogers and Buddy Wade they place themselves in suspended animation until they are rescued but they are not found until 500 years in a world ruled by the ruthless dictator, and a “Hidden City”, run by Dr. Huer and his military counterpart, Air Marshal Kragg, resisting the criminal rulers of Earth.
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
(1979)
Feature film pilot produced by Glen A Larson and starring Gil Gerard in the title role. Based on the comic strip character created in 1928, NASA astronaut Captain William “Buck” Rogers is piloting the space shuttle Ranger 3 when he is accidentally frozen for 504 years. Revived from his cryogenic sleep by Draconian Princess Ardala who plans to invade Earth, Buck teams up with Colonel Wilma Deering and Dr Huer to stop her.
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
(1979-81)
American television series from Glen A Larson which follows the exploits of NASA astronaut Captain William “Buck” Rogers who had been cryogenically frozen after a freak accident in 1987 and revived 500 years later.
C
Counterstrike
(1969)
British television series from the BBC starring Jon Finch as an alien living on Earth – posing as a journalist named Simon King – attempting to prevent an alien invasion.
D
Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 AD
(1965)
The second of two films based on Doctor Who, starring Peter Cushing as human inventor Dr. Who who, along with his granddaughter Susan and niece Louise, and hapless constable Tom Campbell, travels forward in time to London in 2150 where the Daleks have invaded Earth and are about to explode a bomb at the Earth’s core.
Dark Season
(1991)
British television serial by Russell T Davies featuring the adventures of three teenagers and their battle to save their school and their classmates from the actions of the sinister Mr Eldritch.
Defying Gravity
(2009)
Series set in the year 2052 following eight astronauts from four countries on a six-year space mission through the Solar System, during which they are monitored from Earth via a real-time communication system.
Doctor Who
(1963-89)
The “classic era” of the longest British television science fiction series following the adventures of a Time Lord called “the Doctor”, who travels in time and space in the TARDIS accompanied by a number of companions, and combating a variety of foes while working to save civilisations and help people in need.
Doctor Who
(1996)
A television film attempting to revive Doctor Who following its suspension in 1989. Intended as a pilot for a new American-produced TV series, it introduced Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor and marked the final appearance of Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor. Although a ratings success in the UK, the film did not fare well on American television and no series was commissioned.
Doctor Who
(2005-)
The successful revival of the longest British television science fiction series following the adventures of a Time Lord called “the Doctor”, who travels in time and space in the TARDIS accompanied by a number of companions, and combating a variety of foes while working to save civilisations and help people in need.
Dr Who and the Daleks
(1965)
The first of two films based on Doctor Who, starring Peter Cushing as human inventor Dr. Who who, along with his granddaughters Susan and Barbara, and Barbara’s boyfriend Ian, is accidentally transported to another planet by his latest invention, a time and space machine called Tardis. The planet is the home of the humanoid Thals and the mutant Daleks who have been at war for centuries.
E
Edge of Darkness
(1969)
British television political crime drama serial revolving around the efforts of policeman Ronald Craven to unravel the truth behind the murder of his daughter Emma. Craven’s investigations soon lead him into a murky world of government and corporate cover-ups and nuclear espionage, pitting him against dark forces that threaten the future of life on Earth.
Emerald Soup
(1963)
British children’s science fiction television series set in a small rural community, where a group of local children discover a laboratory constructed in the vicinity that is conducting secret radiation tests. The children attempt to stop these tests before any damage can be done to the environment.
The Empire Strikes Back
(1980)
American epic space opera film, based on a story by George Lucas, that is the second film in the Star Wars film series (albeit the fifth chronologically) and the sequel to Star Wars (1977). Set three years later, the Galactic Empire pursues Luke Skywalker and the rest of the Rebel Alliance. While Darth Vader pursues Luke’s friends – Han Solo, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, and C-3PO – Luke studies the Force under Jedi Master Yoda
Event Horizon
(1997)
Science fiction horror film set in 2047, and starring Laurence Fishburne and Sam Neill. A missing spaceship, the Event Horizon, spontaneously appears in orbit around Neptune. Searching the ship for signs of life, a rescue crew learns that the ship was a test bed for an experimental engine that opened a rift in the space–time continuum and left our universe entirely, allowing a malevolent entity to possess the ship.
F
The Final Countdown
(1980)
American alternate-history science-fiction war film about a modern nuclear-powered super-aircraft carrier that travels through time to the day before the attack on Pearl Harbour. It stars Kirk Douglas and Martin Sheen.
Flash Gordon
(1936)
Film serial produced by Universal Pictures starring Buster Crabbe as the eponymous hero based on the comic-strip character created by Alex Raymond in 1934. It presents the story of Gordon’s visit to the planet Mongo and his encounters with the evil Emperor Ming the Merciless.
Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars
(1938)
Film serial produced by Universal Pictures starring Buster Crabbe as the eponymous hero based on the comic-strip character created by Alex Raymond in 1934. When a mysterious beam of light starts destroying the Earth’s atmosphere, Flash Gordon, Dr. Zarkov, and Dale Arden swing into action, believing that it could be coming from the planet Mongo. However, they discover that the ray is originating from Mars.
Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe
(1940)
Film serial produced by Universal Pictures starring Buster Crabbe as the eponymous hero based on the comic-strip character created by Alex Raymond in 1934. Ming the Merciless unleashes a deadly plague on the Earth, known as the Purple Death because of a purple spot left on victims’ foreheads. Flash, Zarkov and Dale travel to Mongo in search of a cure.
Flash Gordon
(1980)
Emperor Ming the Merciless of the planet Mongo declares that he will destroy Earth by remotely causing natural disasters. On Earth, New York Jets football star “Flash” Gordon meets travel agent Dale Arden on a small plane. Mid-flight, the cockpit is hit by a meteorite but Flash takes control and manages to crash land, finding ex-NASA scientist Dr. Hans Zarkov, who believes the disasters are being caused by an extraterrestrial source pushing the moon towards Earth, and has secretly constructed a spacecraft that he plans to use to investigate. He lures Flash and Dale aboard and takes them to Mongo to negotiate with their attackers.
Future Fantastic
(1996)
British documentary television series, narrated by Gillian Anderson, looking at how science and science fiction complement each other, and how ideas and technologies from the past are helping to shape our future.
G
Galactica 1980
(1980)
Spin-off from the original Battlestar Galactica television series in which the Galactica and its fleet of 220 civilian ships have finally discovered Earth, only to find that its people are not as scientifically advanced and that the planet can neither defend itself against the Cylons nor help the Galactica as originally hoped. Therefore, teams of Colonial warriors are covertly sent to the planet to work incognito with various members of the scientific community, hoping to advance Earth’s technology.
S
Saturn 3
(1980)
British science fiction film starring Kirk Douglas, Farrah Fawcett and Harvey Keitel, in which a homicidal robot threatens the scientists on Saturn’s third moon.
Star Trek (The Original Series)
(1966-69)
After a pilot episode, “The Cage” in 1965, a second pilot was commissioned, this time with a new crew commanded by Captain Kirk. This led to three seasons featuring the voyages of the starship Enterprise, its five-year mission…
Star Trek (The Animated Series)
(1966-69)
After its cancellation, Star Trek’s fanbase grew in syndication. Gene Roddenberry developed a continuation of the show in animated form.
Star Trek
(2009)
A reboot featuring the characters of the Original Series but set in an alternate universe.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
(1979)
After an aborted attempt to produce a new live-action show in Star Trek: Phase II, which would have followed the Enterprise crew on a second five-year mission, Paramount decided to bring Star Trek to the big screen in answer to the enormous success of Star Wars.
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
(1982)
Star Trek: The Motion Picture had been an expensive disappointment to the studio but the franchise was allowed a lower-budget second bite with this sequel that featured Khan Noonian Singh, a genetically enhanced man Kirk et al met during the first season episode “Space Seed”. Its success allowed the film series to continue.
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
(1984)
At the end of the second film, Spock had died saving the ship. Leonard Nimoy, who played Spock had wanted to cut ties with Star Trek but was enticed back on the condition he could direct.
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
(1986)
At the end of the third film, the Enterprise had been destroyed in attempt to rid themselves of some Klingons, leaving them with a Bird of Prey and a long trip home. On the way back, an alien probe is seemingly attacking the Earth but it is seeking to communicate with humpback whales that had been hunted to extinction. Kirk and crew have to travel back in time to 20th century Earth to bring back a pair of whales and to save the planet in the 23rd century. Nimoy directed again, and this became the most successful of the series.
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
(1989)
Upset that Leonard Nimoy had been able to direct two movies, he wanted his go in the director’s chair. He helped write it too. The Enterprise is sent after renegade Vulcan Sybok – who turns out to be Spock’s half-brother who seeks a starship on which to travel to the mythical Sha Ka Ree where creation began. The “god-like” creature they encounter wants to escape the planet. It was not a success and is constantly ridiculed for its representation of “God”.
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
(1991)
Originally pitched as a sequel depicting the Enterprise crew while they were at Star fleet Academy, Nicholas Meyer – who directed Star Trek II – took on a story suggested by Leonard Nimoy about a potential truce between the United Federation of Planets and the Klingons after a moon of the Klingon homeworld explodes removing the ozone layer and the protection it offered. It was a success but saw the original series cast literally signing off at the end.
Star Trek: Beyond
(2016)
In the third film of the reboot, the Enterprise is sent on a rescue mission but is ambushed and have to stop the detonation of a bioweapon and an attack on the Federation.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
(1993-99)
The success of the Next Generation led to the commissioning of a new series set in the same universe. Set on a Bajoran space station commandeered from the Cardassians by the Federation Commander Benjamin Sisko has to protect a nearby wormhole and access to the Gamma Quadrant.
Star Trek: Discovery
(2017-)
Taking place a decade before the events of the Original Series, this series follows the crew of the USS Discovery on its adventures,
Star Trek: Enterprise
(2001-05)
Originally titled simply Enterprise, this series served as a prequel to the original series, with Scott Bakula as Captain Jonathan Archer commanding the first starship Enterprise on a mission of exploration in a time prior to the formation of the United Federation of Planets.
Star Trek: First Contact
(1996)
Jonathan Frakes, who plays Commander Riker in the Next Generation directs his shipmates in a story concerning the Borg travelling back in time to alter the future. The Enterprise follows them into the vortex – into their past – before humanity’s first encounter with alien life after Zefram Cochrane’s historic warp drive flight.
Star Trek: Generations
(1994)
Now that the cast of the original series had retired from making Star Trek movies, the baton was passed to the Next Generation crew as Captain Kirk is pulled into the mysterious Nexus and Captain Picard joins forces with him to stop Dr Soran from re-entering the Nexus through the energy ribbon he created. to do so, Soran intends to destroy a star that will kill millions of people on a nearby planet.
Star Trek: Insurrection
(1998)
Jonathan Frakes returned to the director’s chair for this disappointing instalment in which the Enterprise is drawn into a Federation conspiracy in which Picard is ordered to break the Prime Directive which rules that Star Fleet cannot interfere in the development of other civilisations.
Star Trek: Into Darkness
(2013)
The second film in the Star Trek reboot in which Kirk and Spock meet genetically enhanced superhuman Khan Noonian Singh.
Star Trek: Nemesis
(2002)
The Enterprise faces the threat to the United Federation of Planets when a Romulan clone of Jean-Luc Picard takes over the Romulan Star Empire. It was a box office failure and ended the run of Next Generation films.
Star Trek: Picard
(2020-)
20 years after the events in Nemesis (2002), Jean-Luc Picard is deeply affected by the death of Data in that film and the destruction of the Romulan homeworld in Star Trek (2009).
Star Trek: The Next Generation
(1987-94)
With the success of the movies, it was felt Star Trek could return to the small screen. Roddenberry developed this new series, now set in the 24th century, and with a new crew on a new Enterprise, commanded by Captain Jean-Luc Picard.
Star Trek: Voyager
(1995-2001)
When the Voyager, commanded by Captain Kathryn Janeway, seeks out a missing ship piloted by Maquis rebels, it is enveloped by a powerful energy that strands it in the Delta Quadrant. Its crew and the rebels join forces to find their way back to the Alpha Quadrant.
Star Wars
(1977)
Epic space opera film written and directed by George Lucas and is the first instalment of the original Star Wars trilogy, the first of the franchise to be produced, and the fourth episode of the “Skywalker saga”.
T
The Terminator
(1984)
American science fiction film directed by James Cameron starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator, a cyborg assassin sent back in time to kill Sarah Connor, whose son will one day become a saviour against machines in a post-apocalyptic future.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
(1991)
American science fiction action film produced and directed by James Cameron. The film follows Sarah Connor and her ten-year-old son John as they are pursued by a new, more advanced Terminator: the liquid metal, shapeshifting T-1000, sent back in time to kill John Connor and prevent him from becoming the leader of the human resistance. A second, less advanced Terminator is also sent back in time to protect John.
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
(2003)
In the third instalment in the Terminator film series, Skynet sends a Terminator, the T-X, back in time to ensure the rise of machines by killing top members of the future human resistance, which will be led by John Connor. Among the T-X’s targets is John’s future wife, but not John himself, as his whereabouts are unknown. John’s life is placed in danger when the T-X finds him. The Resistance has also sent their own Terminator back in time to protect them.
Terminator: Dark Fate
(2019)
The sixth instalment in the Terminator film franchise acts as a direct sequel to The Terminator (1984) and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), while disregarding all previous theatrical and television instalments as occurring in alternate timelines following the return of creative control to Cameron. Set 28 years after the events of T2, Skynet sends an advanced Terminator, designated Rev-9, back in time to 2020 to kill Dani Ramos, whose fate is connected to the future. The Resistance also sends Grace, an augmented soldier, back in time to defend Dani, while they are joined by Sarah Connor and Skynet’s T-800 Terminator.
Terminator Genisys
(2015)
This film is a soft reboot of the Terminator series, taking the basic story of the original film in another direction. It follows Kyle Reese, a soldier in a post-apocalyptic war against Skynet, who is sent from 2029 to 1984 to avert Sarah Connor’s death. When Kyle arrives in the past, he discovers that the timeline has been altered, and that Sarah has been raised by a reprogrammed Terminator.
Terminator Salvation
(2009)
In the fourth instalment of the Terminator film series the year 2018 and war is raging between Skynet and humanity, as the remnants of the world’s militaries have united to form the Resistance to fight against Skynet’s killing machines.
Trapped in Space
(1994)
An American television movie inspired by Arthur C Clarke’s short story “Breaking Strain” in which an accident on a routine trip to Venus means there is only enough oxygen left for thee people…out of five on board.
W
Watt on Earth
(1991-92)
British children’s television programme, written by the Doctor Who writers Pip and Jane Baker. An extraterrestrial with, by human standards, an odd taste in food, and the ability to transanimateobjectify comes to Earth to flee his evil uncle, Watt is heir to the throne on his home planet, and his uncle has attempted to kill him.
World of the Unknown
(1963)
A BBC documentary looking at science fiction films and their relation to the world of reality, featuring excerpts from War of the Worlds, Forbidden Planet, and The Quatermass Experiment.
Sci-Fi TV UK 