Edward German

Start of Transcript: Introduction: Hello everyone, and welcome to The 1950s science fiction podcast. I hope that you have listened to and enjoyed episode one of the show. In episode one, I talked about 50s sci-fi radio dramas and how great they were. Today I will discuss the science fiction programs broadcasted on Television during the decade. The broadcast TV industry got started just after World War Two and started to grow. There were experiments in TV transmissions conducted during the 1930s; however, the war put a stop on any further development of the technology. Once the war was over, the commercial TV industry got started, then TV sets went on sale. By the middle of the 50s, most major cities had at least one TV station operating. The 1950s saw the extortionary growth of the new medium much the same way we saw the internet boom back at the turn of the 21 century. More and more TV sets went on sale during the 50s, by the end of the decade, TV sets were commonplace in America.

Start of Transcript: Hello everyone, and welcome to my new podcast on 50s sci-fi. I hope that my introduction episode was audible to you. There is a written transcript at this link if you were not able to understand the recording. I am still working on some podcasting issues so, I do ask for your indulgence. I will work on the overall quality of the podcast as I continue.

Transcript: Hello everyone, I want to introduce you to my brand new podcast, the 50s science fiction podcast. This show will be all about my favorite sci-fi-fi TV shows, movies, and literature from the decade of the 1950s. Why the 50s you ask? Well, I grew up watching sci-fi movies on cable TV growing up during the 70s, everything from drive-in monster movies to classic A-list films that were screened in theaters back in the 50s then syndicated later on. I will talk more about that latter, however, with the advent of the internet in the 21 century, I have discovered more gems that I either never got to see or never knew about until later.

The Time Travelers is a science fiction movie released by American International Pictures on October 29, 1964, and was directed by Ib Melchior. The motion picture is about a small group of scientists who are conducting experiments in a lab during the present day. When one of the group steps thru a portal that displays an alien landscape, the others follow afterward only find themselves trapped in a barren world. There are no major stars in the cast only character actors whose experience includes movies and TV. The movie was shot on a very low budget and as a result, low-grade special effects were used. The running time was 82 minutes and was billed with a double feature.

In Search Of is the title of an American produced TV show specializing in the Paranormal, Conspiracy Theories, and other mysteries. The series was produced by Alan Landsburg and was syndicated from 1977 to 1982. The series was in a half-hour time slot with a total running time of 23 mimes with the remaining time for commercials. There were 144 episodes made during its production. The show was hosted by Lennard who was best known to TV audiences as Mr. Spock from the sci-fi series Star Trek. Nimoy was chosen to replace Rod Serling who had passed away before production. The TV series was started as a continuation of previous documentaries that used the In Search Of title and were produced by Lansburg. The first one was called In Search Of Ancient Astronauts and was broadcasted in 1973. The program was based on the non-fiction book, Chariots of the Gods by Erich Von Daniken.

Gold Key comics was started in 1962 as in house publisher by its parent company Western Publishing. During its run from 1962 to 1984, Gold Key had printed out comics from a wide verity of TV and movie tie end titles. Among the genes would include science fiction, horror, espionage, adventure, and family fare. However, they made a good portion of their sales of comics from popular TV shows from the period. Some titles published were Star Trek, The Man from UNCLE, The Twilight Zone, Adam-12, and My Favorite Martian along with other TV series. One of the most striking things about Gold Key was they continued to publish a TV related comic long after the series had ended thus creating more fans of whichever series.