TVTimes Encyclopedia of TV Science Ficiton by
Roger Fulton
pbk out June 00
(Boxtree)
at £18.99
The revised edition of the Encyclopedia of TV Science Fiction is a useful, if slightly inconsistent volume, with appeal to hardcore science fiction fans and general viewers alike. At 800-plus pages, it's a big book and pleasantly up-to-date as these things go - though books can't hope to keep up with the web for this kind of information - written in a friendly and sympathetic, but not overly fannish or obsequious tone.
Fulton does a good job at including just about every science fiction and fantasy series and one-off you can think of that has appeared on UK television, including a large number of American series. There are a few curious absences - where are The Hunger and Tales From The Darkside? - but the book chronicles up to
February 2000 and includes shows as recent as Farscape and The Strangerers. What is not clear is how Fulton decided which shows merited full episode guides and which did not. One has the sneaking suspicion that ease of obtaining the information was the deciding factor. That's understandable, of course, but not
entirely satisfying. Does anyone really need yet another guide to Star Trek or X-Filesepisodes? (Though admittedly, it's convenient to have them in the same volume.) I, for one, would much rather have had episode guides to The Wild, Wild West and American Gothic than, say, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and Earth: Final Conflict. But you pays your money and you takes your choice, as the man says. Other criticisms? Eight pages of pointless publicity stills have been inserted into the middle of the book - they do no harm, but they don't add a thing. On the other hand, a brief introduction
to the volume, and the author, would not have gone amiss.
These minor complaints notwithstanding, Fulton has assembled an enjoyable and worthwhile book that has value as both a reference volume and a fun browse. Worth having on your shelf.
(
Jay Russell
- one of the greatest talents the horror industry has produced for some time… (Black Tears))
TVTimes Encyclopedia of TV Science Ficiton by
Roger Fulton