Category Archives: Space TV

Solar Sci-Fi, Space TV

Videos: Star Trek’s 50th anniversary

50 years ago today the first episode of Star Trek was broadcast on network TV. Here is a documentary from the Smithsonian about the Star Trek show and cultural phenomenon:

[ Update: See also this new Smithsonian program (its embedding is disabled) about Star Trek and the technologies that it has inspired.]

Fan made versions of Star Trek have greatly improved in production quality and story making over the years. This is especially true of the Star Trek Continues series, whose episodes often include recognizable professional actors.

Here are some episodes in the Star Trek Continues video collection, including Embracing the Winds, just released this week:

Activism, Space TV, SpaceCasts

‘StarTalk’ with Neil deGrasse Tyson starting on Nat. Geo Channel

Neil deGrasse Tyson is bringing his StarTalk Radio Show to television starting next Monday on the National Geographic Channel at 11 pm EDT:

Here is the StarTalk Episode Guide. His first show will include an interview with George Takei of Star Trek fame. In this clip, Tyson talks about Star Trek:

 

Mars, Solar Sci-Fi, Space TV

Red Mars trilogy TV project update: J. Michael Straczynski (Babylon 5) selected as writer

J. Michael Straczynski, creator and chief writer of the Babylon 5 series, has been chosen to write the scripts for the Spike TV serialization of Kim Stanley Robinson‘s famous Mars trilogy books : ‘Babylon 5′ Creator J. Michael Straczynski To Write Spike TV Project ‘Red Mars’ – Deadline.

The books lay out a  scenario for Mars settlement in a realistic, hard sci-fi approach. The primary plot conflict is the battle between those who want to terraform Mars into a place safe for humans to live without protective gear and those who want Mars to remain unchanged.

History, Solar Sci-Fi, Space TV

Video: ‘Men Into Space’ TV series

All 38 episodes of the 1950s space adventure series Men Into Space have been posted on YouTube: Men Into Space, TV Series Before The Moon Landing – YouTube.

Here is the first episode:

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The book Men Into Space by John C. Fredriksen describes the background and making of the series, the actors, the plots of the episodes, and miscellaneous minutia about the series.

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Find links to online resources about this and other space related TV programs in the HobbySpace TV section.

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Living in Space, Mars, Space TV

Reality TV shows proposed for Mars One and Mars Society projects

The plan by the Mars-One project has always held media, especially reality TV shows, as the key to funding their effort to put a human settlement on the Red Planet. It appears that one television production company, Lions Gate is the first to give it a try: Mission To Colonize Mars To Become Reality TV Series – Deadline.com.

For the next several years, the series would be covering the different stages of preparation for the mission, starting with participant selection and the finalists — called candidates — undergoing an 8-year training protocol. The series’ cast will evolve as candidates in the mission drop out and new ones are brought in. “This is a social experiment that focuses on the people that would sign for something like this — they have to agree to participate and be willing to go on a one-way mission, knowing that if you go, you can never come back,” said Roy Bank, who is producing the project as part of his overall deal with Lionsgate TV.

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Robert Zubrin, co-founder of the Mars Society, was recently on The Space Show and he discussed Mars Arctic 365. MA365 involves putting a “crew” on the Mars Society’s Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (FMARS) at Devon Island for a full year rather than just a few months as in previous expeditions. Dr. Robert Zubrin, Thursday, 3-13-14 – Thespaceshow’s Blog

There might be a reality TV show based on this project as well: Mars Exploration Reality Series Shopped By Thinkfactory Media – Deadline.com.

The production company ThinkFactory Media has been developing

an unscripted TV project that would document Mars Society’s year-long Mars simulation in the Canadian Arctic. Thinkfactory had been working with the Mars Society on the project for the past four months. It took the series out to networks last week, with two outlets interested and currently in discussion with the production company. Tentatively titled Mission To Mars, the series is one of two Mars colonization reality projects in the marketplace, along with Lionsgate TV’s untitled series done in collaboration with Lansdorp’s Mars One, the international Mars mission backed by Dutch billionaire entrepreneur Bas Lansdorp.