The Stranger was an Australian science fiction television series made for children and produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It is notable as Australia's first locally produced science fiction television series and one of the first Australian TV series to be sold overseas.
The first season introduces William Hartnell as the first incarnation of the Doctor, an alien who travels through time and space in his TARDIS, which appears to be a British police box on the outside. Carole Ann Ford is also introduced as the Doctor's granddaughter Susan Foreman, who acts as his companion alongside her schoolteachers Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright, portrayed by William Russell and Jacqueline Hill, respectively. Throughout the season, the Doctor and his companions travel throughout history and into the future. Historical stories were intended to educate viewers about significant events in history, such as the Aztec civilization and the French Revolution; futuristic episodes took a more subtle approach to educating viewers, such as the theme of pacifism with the Daleks.
The adventures of The Doctor, a time-traveling humanoid alien known as a Time Lord. He explores the universe in his TARDIS, a sentient time-traveling spaceship. Its exterior appears as a blue British police box, which was a common sight in Britain in 1963 when the series first aired. Along with a succession of companions, The Doctor faces a variety of foes while working to save civilizations, help ordinary people, and right many wrongs.
Gigantor is an American adaptation of the anime version of Tetsujin 28-go, a manga by Mitsuteru Yokoyama released in 1956. Jimmy Sparks controls a gigantic, powerful robot and uses it to fight crime. It debuted on U.S. television in 1964. As with Speed Racer, the characters' original names were altered and the original series' violence was toned down for American viewers.
Newspaper reporter Tim O'Hara finds a crashed alien spaceship that contains one live alien. Not wanting to be discovered by the authorities, the Martian assumes the identity of Tim's Uncle Martin and begins to repair his spaceship so that he can return to Mars.
The Mighty Hercules is a low-budget animated series based loosely on the Greek mythological character of Heracles, under his Roman Mythology name, Hercules. It was created in 1962 and then debuted on TV in 1963 and ran until 1966 coinciding with the sword and sandal genre of films popular at the time. Each standalone episode runs approximately 5 minutes with opening and closing credits, and in syndication several such episodes are compiled to fill 30-minute timeslots. It has played in re-runs on early morning television ever since, and is a cherished memory from many of our childhoods. The show was based on the myth of Hercules, and featured characters such as Hercules, Newton, Helena, Daedalus, The Sea Witch, and Murtis.
Space Patrol is a science-fiction television series featuring marionettes that was produced in the United Kingdom in 1962 and broadcast beginning in 1963. It was written and produced by Roberta Leigh in association with the Associated British Corporation.
In the year 2000, Dr. Boyton creates a super-robot in his deceased son's image. He calls the robot Astro Boy. Astro Boy can swim oceans, leap over mountains, even fly into space on his own power. However, Astro Boy can't replace his son. Dr. Boyton becomes dissatisfied with the boy robot and disowns him.
Astro Boy is befriended by Dr. Packadermus J. Elefun of the Institute of Science, who guides him through his adventures. Endowed with super strength, rocket-powered flight, a selfless heart and a kind demeanor, Astro Boy fights a never-ending crusade against the forces of evil!
Fireball XL5 is a science fiction-themed children's television show following the missions of spaceship Fireball XL5, commanded by Colonel Steve Zodiac of the World Space Patrol. The show was produced in 1962 by husband and wife team Gerry and Sylvia Anderson through their company APF, in association with ATV for ITC Entertainment. While developing his new show, Anderson thought a brand of motor oil—Castrol XL—had an interesting sound. A phonetic change created the name "Fireball XL", with the "-5" added as the title seemed a bit flat without the numeral.
The show featured the Andersons' Supermarionation, a form of puppetry first introduced in Four Feather Falls and Supercar and used again in their subsequent productions such as Stingray and Captain Scarlet. Thirty-nine black and white half-hour episodes of Fireball XL5 were made on 35mm film: all future Anderson series were produced in colour.
Several Anderson series have been shown in syndication in the US, but Fireball XL5 is the only Anderson seri
The Andromeda Breakthrough is a 1962 British television miniseries, a sequel to the popular BBC TV science fiction serial A for Andromeda, again written by Fred Hoyle and John Elliot. Julie Christie, who played Christine in the prior serial, was unavailable, so she was recast with Susan Hampshire.
Kidnapped by Intel representative Kaufman, John Fleming—along with Professor Madeleine Dawnay and Andromeda, the artificially constructed female humanoid—are brought to Azaran, a small Middle Eastern country. Upon arrival, the group discover a duplicate of Fleming's machine has been built by Intel. After many dangers, Fleming finds both the reason for the original message having been sent and the means to bring the machine under human control.
Out of This World is a British science fiction anthology television series made by ABC Television and broadcast in 1962. A spin-off from the popular anthology series Armchair Theatre, each episode is introduced by actor Boris Karloff. Many episodes are adaptations of stories by sci-fi writers including Isaac Asimov, Philip K. Dick and Clifford D. Simak. The series is generally seen as a precursor to the BBC science fiction anthology Out of the Unknown.
A for Andromeda is a British television science fiction drama serial produced and broadcast by the BBC. Written by cosmologist Fred Hoyle, in conjunction with author and television producer John Elliot, the series aired in seven parts from 3 October to 14 November 1961.
In the not-too-distant future of 1970, a mysterious signal from space arrives with instructions to build a powerful super-computer. Once completed, the evice's motives provokes discourse between scientists John Fleming and Madeleine Dawnay as further instructions are to create a living organism, which Dawnay develops. The entity compels lab assistant Christine to commit suicide, and, upon manifestation, adopts her form, now known as Andromeda.
The first major role for actress Julie Christie (Christine/Andromeda), only one episode survives, along with extracts from other episodes. It has been remade twice: by RAI in 1972 and by the BBC in 2006. A sequel, The Andromeda Breakthrough, aired in 1962.
Way Out was a 1961 fantasy and science fiction television anthology series hosted by writer Roald Dahl. The macabre 25-minute shows were introduced by Dahl's dry delivery of a brief introductory monologue, sometimes explaining a method of murdering a spouse without getting caught.
The taped series began because CBS suddenly needed a replacement for a Jackie Gleason talk show that network executives were about to cancel, and producer David Susskind contacted Dahl to help mount a show quickly. The series was paired by the network with the similar The Twilight Zone for Friday evening broadcasts, running from March through July 1961 at 9:30 p.m. Eastern time, under the primary sponsorship of Liggett & Myers. Writers included Philip H. Reisman, Jr. and Sumner Locke Elliott.
The premiere episode, "William and Mary", adapted from a Roald Dahl short story, told of a wife getting revenge on her husband.
In "Dissolve to Black", an actress cast as a murder victim at a television studio goes through a rehearsal, but the dra