{"id":49388,"date":"2016-09-09T15:37:16","date_gmt":"2016-09-09T19:37:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=49388"},"modified":"2016-09-09T15:37:16","modified_gmt":"2016-09-09T19:37:16","slug":"the-five-best-science-fiction-series-of-the-1960s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=49388","title":{"rendered":"The Five Best Science Fiction Series of the 1960s"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"StarTrekbluray\"<\/div>\n
1. Star Trek<\/em> <\/a>(1966-69) \u2013 Gene Roddenberry\u2019s brainchild is certainly the most successful series in the history of sci fi television, spawning five spin-off TV shows (don\u2019t forget the animated one) and three film series\u2026thus far. That\u2019s pretty good for a TV show that wasn\u2019t a big hit when it first aired. But Trek<\/em> earns its spot at No. 1 because of the rich futuristic world created by Roddenberry. He may not have originated some of the innovative concepts (e.g., teleportation, a federation of planets), but he wove them together to create a believable future of hope and humanity. And, despite William Shatner\u2019s occasional forays into the hammy side of acting, the cast helped create immensely likable characters that carried some of the weaker episodes.<\/div>\n

2.\u00a0The Outer Limits<\/a><\/em> (1963-65) \u2013 Leslie Stevens and Joseph Stefano (who wrote the screenplay for Psycho<\/em>) were the creative talents behind the best sci fi anthology of the 1960s (maybe of all time). The concept was that each show would stay within the confines of the science fiction genre and feature a \u201cbear\u201d\u2014Stefano\u2019s nickname for a scary monster. The scripts weren\u2019t as consistently strong as The Twilight Zone<\/em> and the show\u2019s budget often worked against some of the high-end concepts. But when The Outer Limits<\/em> was good, it was very good\u2014with several classic episodes like \u201cDemon With a Glass Hand\u201d, \u201cSoldier\u201d (both penned by Harlan Ellison), \u201cThe Inheritors\u201d, \u201cThe Zanti Misfits\u201d, \u201cThe Architects of Fear\u201d, and \u201cZ-z-z-z-z\u201d.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0The Invaders<\/a><\/em> (1966-67) \u2013 Larry Cohen (It\u2019s Alive<\/em>) is credited for creating this series, but it bears a strong resemblance to executive producer Quinn Martin\u2019s earlier hit The Fugitive<\/em>. The premise of The Invaders<\/em> is simple: architect David Vincent (Roy Thinnes) learns that aliens are planning to take over the Earth, but no one will believe him. He travels from place to place trying to thwart the aliens and convince people to believe him. It doesn\u2019t help that the aliens glow orange and disappear when they die, thus destroying all evidence (in some episodes, aliens commit suicide to avoid capture). The first season of 17 episodes contains most of the series\u2019 high points. In season 2, Vincent linked up with a group of other alien fighters called \u201cThe Believers\u201d and the show faltered a little. But at the top of its game in episodes like \u201cThe Mutant\u201d and \u201cThe Organization\u201d, The Invaders<\/em> was quite good.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea<\/a> (1964-68) \u2013 Television critics harped on Irwin Allen\u2019s series for its \u201cmonster of the week\u201d approach, but that criticism actually applies only to the last two years of the show. During its first two years, Admiral Nelson (Richard Basehart) and the crew of the submarine Seaview battled enemy spies and natural disasters as well as outer space aliens and monstrous denizens of the deep. Even when things got a little silly (e.g., an evil puppeteer), the always reliable Basehart was on hand to lend credibility to the proceedings.<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0Doctor Who<\/a> (1963-1989, 2005- ) \u2013 The longest-running sci fi series in the history of television has evolved from a low-budget serial directed at kids to a sophisticated series aimed at a broad audience. The Doctor is a Time Lord, who travels through time in a machine called the TARDIS (an acronym for Time and Relative Dimensions in Space). When William Hartnell, the actor who originated the role of Doctor Who, decided in leave in 1966, the writers came up with an ingenious revelation: as a time lord, Doctor Who could \u201cregenerate\u201d himself when near death\u2026thus paving the way for the character to be played by another actor. (Note: Peter Cushing played Who in two theatrical films.)<\/p>\n

Honorable mentions: The Jetsons<\/em>, Jonny Quest<\/em>, My Favorite Martian<\/em>, Lost in Space<\/em>, and Stingray<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1. Star Trek (1966-69) \u2013 Gene Roddenberry\u2019s brainchild is certainly the most successful series in the history of sci fi television, spawning five spin-off TV shows (don\u2019t forget the animated one) and three film series\u2026thus far. That\u2019s pretty good for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9691,"featured_media":29680,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[5993,5676,5983,5978,5979],"coauthors":[3819],"class_list":["post-49388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-staff-notes","tag-doctor-who","tag-star-trek","tag-the-invaders","tag-the-outer-limits","tag-voyage-to-the-bottom-of-the-sea"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Five Best Science Fiction Series of the 1960s - MovieFanFare<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Do you agree with this list of the best sci-fi shows of the 1960s?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=49388\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Five Best Science Fiction Series of the 1960s - 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