Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1660117 in Books
• Published on: 1998-12-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 688 pages

Customer Reviews

This book has too many omissions.
A hastily-updated version of an older book originally published in Britain, it lacks guides for dozens of shows such as Beyond Reality, Tales from the Darkside, Goosebumps, Friday the 13th, Probe, Starman, Misfits of Science, etc. Even when shows are covered, they often consist only of a list of episode titles, e.g. Tekwar, Forever Knight, Captain Power, Wild Wild West, VR.5, Are You Afraid of the Dark, Hercules and Xena. Sometimes the listing is woefully incomplete: the book covers only 10 of the 65 episodes of Ray Bradbury Theater and only 13 of the 96 episodes of One Step Beyond. And you can forget it if you're looking for episode info on old shows such as Space Patrol, Rocky Jones Space Ranger, Flash Gordon, World of Giants, Commando Cody, or Way Out. Even some shows currently running on the Sci-Fi Channel, such as Boris Karloff's Thriller, are not covered. If you're willing to spend a little more, get Alan Morton's "Complete Directory" instead.

If you love SF, especially TV SF, you will enjoy this book.
I'm a life-long fan of Science Fiction who was raised with TV as my primary grow light, and as such, I gotta tell you that THE SCI-FI CHANNEL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TV SCIENCE FICTION, by Roger Fulton & John Betancourt, it is pretty cool. It contains lots of information about all those great--and even not-so-great--Science Fiction, horror, and fantasy TV shows that we SF fans all love and cherish, including some stuff on obscure, nearly forgotten shows like NBC's short-lived SF comedy QUARK. There are also program guides for a lot of the shows listed, with air dates and short episode synopses.

While I really like the book and think it is a must for any serious fan of SF, there are, alas, a few shortcomings--but only a few. For one, it does not contain an entry for BORIS KARLOFF'S THRILLER, which is surprising not only because the show is an American classic, but also because the show itself is currently broadcast on the very network that is sanctioning this book. Also, fans of certain less-popular but relatively recent shows may be disappointed to find that the entry for those shows do not include an episode guide (e.g., THE FLASH or THE ADVENTURES OF BRISCO COUNTY, JR.). I must also mention that there are a few mistakes in the book's Table of Contents, but this is only a minor annoyance and is easy to surmount.

In short, if you love SF, especially Television SF, you will enjoy this book.

An incomplete "complete guide"
While the book jacket calls this "The SCI-FI Channel Encyclopedia of TV Science Fiction," it is more a product of England's TVTimes. It is a very good resource for British SciFi and, for the price, is worth owning for that reason alone. However it is more notable for what it omits than what it includes. Space limits a point by point critique, but two things became apparent almost immediately. First, it does not have an index. While, like most encyclopedias, it is in alphabetical order, with out a comprehensive index it is impossible to cross reference information. Second, It has many glaring omissions. No work can be total, but the history of TV Sci-Fi is not that long. In the whole realm of TV shows, few are Sci-Fi, so a complete list should not be that hard to assemble. The authors have made a good try, but where they fall short is questionable. If "Journey to the Unknown" is classified as Sci-Fi, why is "Thriller" omited? If Sci-Fi comedy such as "Captian Nice" and "Holmes and Yoyo" listed, where is "My Living Doll," "Mr. Terrific," or "It's About Time"? Why didn't the "Star Lost" make it to the "41 obscure Shows. . ." list at the end of the book? The inside jacket says that, "no true SF fan should be without this up-to-date reference guide." In reality, any true SF fan will find this book cute but annoying. And any casual TV fan looking to add to their reference library would do better buying "The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows." It tends more to deliver what is promised