Science Fiction Film, Television, and Adaptation: Across the Screens

In this volume, contributors consider intermedia adaptation, using science fiction television programs and films as their point of reference. Their analyses are organized into four sections: basic adaptation dynamics, case studies of film to television adaptation, case studies of television to film adaptation, and issues in contemporary sf adaptation. The first of these sections emphasizes the early dynamics of SF adaptation'”the structural influence of film serials, the struggle to "adapt" cinematic techniques to television, and the effort to import film's sense of spectacle, through sets and special effects. The second section examines three cases studies of efforts to adapt the science fiction film to the newer medium of television, including studies of a rather spectacular failed adaptation with the series Logan's Run (1977-78) and of arguably the most successful of such adaptations, Stargate SG-1 . The third section reverses that focus, as its case studies emphasize the growing power and influence of television by focusing on the increasing impulse to mine television for film adaptations. This section concludes with a discussion of how the failed television series Firefly was transformed into the successful film Serenity (2005), and references The X-Files movie. The final section looks at specific issues involved in the adaptation of science fiction film and television today: the blurring of boundaries that occurs with the television "pilot movie," the difficulty of matching audience expectations when adapting an extremely long-running series like the British Doctor Who, and the new pressures and possibilities that the digital regime brings into play.