American Science Fiction: Film and Television (review)

Crossing over from the pulp fiction, comic books, radio and cinema serials of the 1920s and 1930s to feature film and television, American sf has a long history as a popular genre that spans a variety of media. However, it was the 1950s that saw the genre firmly established on American screens, marked by the unprecedented number of sf feature films produced during this period and, along with the post-war expansion of television in the US, the arrival of sf television serials and anthology series. The 1950s is therefore an appropriate era for Lincoln Geraghty to begin what he calls his 'critical history' of this screen genre in America, taking the reader through to present-day examples of sf in cinema and television. Indeed, Geraghty justifies his historical frame with reference to pressing social and cultural concerns ignited by key historical events, beginning with the early Cold War years and leading through to the so-called war on terror. In this regard, in accordance with a number of academics working in the area, he sees the genre as important in the mediation of contemporary social, cultural and political anxieties. Individual chapters therefore place his chosen 'case studies' within specific historical and cultural contexts and his readings aim to forge links between actual events and the recognisable themes played out within this screen genre across film and television.

In many ways, this is a timely book that responds to the recent upsurge in big-budget, television sf series and serials and the special significance of the genre in a world faced with millennial anxieties, the events of 9/11 and the recent recession. Geraghty's choice of case studies certainly covers many of the films and programmes familiar to aficionados and more casual viewers, as well as examples currently featured in High School, 6^th Form College and undergraduate level electives and modules. Therefore, as a preliminary overview aimed at both the general reader, college and early undergraduate student this book is a useful and concise addition to the field.

Writing a broad introductory text, particularly when dealing with such a prolific genre, is a difficult task that demands tenacious research and tough choices in terms of the scope of the investigation. Nevertheless, Geraghty succeeds in marshalling his material into logical, sequential chapters that suggest a clear interpretative and historical structure. However, Geraghty was obviously constricted by the relatively short length of this book. Taken as an academic text, some of the weaknesses of this book can be explained by these constraints. Consequently, certain themes and contextual issues raised in successive chapters are fairly sparsely covered, which might be frustrating for academic researchers seeking new insights or more thoroughly developed arguments. With this in mind and given the short length of the book, I wondered if the 'grey-boxed' sections - on specific films and series, from Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Siegel US 1956) and The Twilight Zone (US 1959-64) to Transformers (Bay US 2007) and Battlestar Galactica (US/UK 2003-9) - really worked. At times I felt that these partitioned narrative synopses and analyses might have been more usefully integrated into the chapters themselves. In addition, I felt that the author missed the opportunity presented here to discuss the relationship between film and television. Although comparison is implied in the layout of individual chapters and in the range of case studies, I would have liked to have seen more direct engagement with the differences and/or similarities between film and television examples. Also, in a book that follows a genre across media platforms, it would have been useful to provide a fuller theoretical exploration and framework in the introduction, outlining how the author understands medium specificity, how the relationship between film and television intersects with genre, and how this relationship has developed over time.

Where the book most certainly succeeds is in provoking interest in the study of this genre and encouraging readers to follow up with further reading and research in terms of some of the ideas...