Obscure/forgotten Sci-Fi series

[L. Arkwright]

Awww Tabitha, I read all the posts thinking haha no ones mentioned Manimal and second to last Blam there it is. Automan used to wear a suit like a guy from Tron and I remember his car only turned at 45 degree angles.
Hmmm, would Streethawk count as a sci fi show?
There was a more modern remake of Quatermass made. It starred Sir John Mills played the lead and Simon McCorkindale of Manimal fame (See how crafty I am, can ya see the link)

 

[ray gower]

I remember Automan!

It sits in the best forgotton pile with Land of the Giants and Lost in Space.

He was supposed to have the deductive abilities of Sherlock Holmes, the Scientific abilities of Einstein and a lot of rubbish like that (like Doc Savage in a tin suit) but the intelligence came from his Penfold sidekick. It wasn't 45 degree turns, they were 90 degree, 'because that is how they do it in computer games.'

The Quatermass revival wasn't bad by any means, but a lot of the mystery of the originals seemed to have been lost.

Was Streethawk the one where the chap mumbled things like Power of the Bear or Eyes of an Eagle. Or am I thinking of something different?

Perhaps we ought to add the sixties Superman and Batman series too?

 

[triffid]

Originally posted by ray gower
Was Streethawk the one where the chap mumbled things like Power of the Bear or Eyes of an Eagle. Or am I thinking of something different?

I think that was maybe the old Phantom cartoon, he used to say things like that. Streethawk was about a guy called Jessie Mach who had a bike version of KITT from Knight rider, except it couldn't talk. It always used to make me laugh the way the bike could take 90 degree corners at 800 miles an hour after activating turbo boost .

Does anyone remember the following TV series.....

SKY - An alien is stranded on Earth and hides in an old woodland area to escape his pursuers. The main characters eyes were completely black and he could affect the weather with his psychic abilities.

NOAH'S CASTLE - England, the near future. There is a food shortage of major proportions and a law is passed that anyone hording food will be shot. The show followed the fortunes of one family that had a massive secret stash of food in their basement, Mike Reid played the villan out to get his hands on their supply.

KING OF THE CASTLE - A boy takes a journey in an elevator in his tower block and he ends up in a strange twisted parallel universe. To get back to his own world he had to complete a number of quests.

 

[L. Arkwright]

I remember Sky. He was a time traveller or something like that. He had come to the wrong age and needed to get to somewhere so he could leave. (Lol, I know that seems vague but hey, im almost 35, the old memory isnt what it used to be)
Got a couple here. I remember a tv show that went out on sunday afternoons. It was set in a future England where there had been a civil war (the same kinda thing as Cromwell) and the guy who played Blake from Blakes 7 was in it. He played the father of a young boy who for some reason needed to be protected. It turned out he was the young king of England and the powers that be where after him. At one point he got caught and was brainwashed and turned into a killing machine programmed to kill the king. You can see how the fun started when it turned out HE was the king.
Another was a show called LUCAN. It was about a boy who had been raised in the wild and he got his name by trying to copy his teacher who would say to him, "You can, you can" The boy would repeat by saying "loo can" Maybe not classed directly as sci fi though. He would roam about the country getting into all sorts of scrapes and then we would have flashbacks of him as a child in the wild and how he got out of it.

 

[Dave]

Lucan?

Was LUCAN about the boy raised by wolves so he was a sort of wolf-boy (a modern-day Mowgli from 'Jungle Book') or I am I thinking of something else? That was good, but it didn't last very long at all.

 

[L. Arkwright]

Thats the one. I vaguely remember something happening to his eyes as well when he used wild upbringing skills. Wasnt he being chased by someone as well like a Mowgli type David Banner?

 

[Dave]

Yes, he was being chased by a reporter or something. I really can't remember more than that.

 

[L. Arkwright]

What about the TV program called Project Bluebook. I remember it used to be on thursday afternoons. My parents would go shopping at Brent Cross and it would be on when I got home.
Just remembed another, it was about a guy who owned a scrapyard and dreamed of going to the moon. It was called skyjunk 1 or something like that.

 

[Dave]

Project Bluebook was actually called Project UFO I think.

If it is it has a very old thread of it's own here: http://www.ascifi.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2666

I never saw it originally, but I saw it repeated on SciFi Channel when the channel first started up. It was a little ahead of it's time maybe; a sort of Close Encounters/ X-Files/ Taken precursor I think. I thought it looked very dated.

The other one about the scrapyard I don't recall at all.

 

[L. Arkwright]

I had a good look, it took a while seeing as I couldnt remember the title, lol, but i finally found it. It was called SALVAGE 1


What about FANTASTIC JOURNEY It had Roddy McDowel in it and a guy who carried around a purple crystal tuning fork. Apparently he could tune his life force into the thing and use it as a weapon.


You where right Dave, it was called Project UFO not Bluebook. They seemed to solve every sighting they came across in that show. Bit of propaganda by the powers that be eh? (im not serious here )

 

[Jake Speed]

I use to watch Time Traxx and I never missed and episode.

Anyone remember this one? I don't think it was on for long though:

Doin Hard Time on Planet Earth

 

[roadster]

forgotten sci-fi series

There was one a long time ago about these poeple on this incredibly huge spaceship. The ship was made up of various bio-spheres, each with a different stage of man's developement. Some were advanced and knew thet were in a ship others thought they were on their planet. Anyway the beings controlling the ship are all dead I think and this small group of people try to make it to the control center of the ship, but they have to go through these bio-spheres and encounter many different people some ok some not. Maybe someone here knows the name of this show. I think it was 70's or 80's fare.

 

[Dave]

Was it "The Starlost"?

I saw a few episodes on the UK SciFi channel about three years ago, it seemed like utter tripe to me then. I just read this site about it though, and it certainly didn't fail because of the writers involved:

http://users.snowcrest.net/fox/star.html

 

[roadster]

You got it, Starlost was definately it. I agree the finished product was garbage, but I always thought that it would be a great project for someone to re-make. The original plot is a very good story and with todays tech. it could be a winner.

 

[irbster]

How about "Quark" in '78 or UFO from '70. And from CBS on saturday mornings "Ark II" and "Jason Of Star Command". Anyone remember those?

 

[Status]

Originally posted by irbster
How about "Quark" in '78 or UFO from '70. And from CBS on saturday mornings "Ark II" and "Jason Of Star Command". Anyone remember those?

I had forgotten about those, only one I don't know is "Quark"

 

[Dave]

'UFO' I remember well, it has it's own thread within the Gerry Anderson Forum here.

Those others I've heard of but I can't remember seeing. I was just reading something about 'Quark' recently. It sounded good, but I'm certain that I've never seen it before. Maybe it didn't ever reach the UK?

 

[ray gower]

After chatting about Randell and Hopkirk (Deceased) with youngest grandson, was reminded of another ATV production- The Champions.

Of a team of three International spies given special powers after their plane crashed in the Himalaya's. Sort of British version of Man from UNCLE

 

[Dave]

Originally posted by ray gower
(I) was reminded of another ATV production- The Champions.

My brother and sister and I never missed that. We watched it every week. Terry Nation was a writer, and it was devised by Dennis Spooner and Monty Berman (who also devised 'Department S' and 'Randall and Hopkirk (deceased)'.)

I particularly liked the introductory bits just before or after the credits, like the runaway car and the paper cup throwing, and how Trevelyn knew something wasn't quite right, but couldn't actually put his finger on it.

 

[Dave]

Actually, I've been reading about the trend recently to put a sci-fi element into the plots of mainstream drama as if it is something new. Shows such as 'Alias' and 'Third Rock from the Sun' being quoted among others.

In the Sixties and early Seventies it was just the same, somehow during the eighties and ninieties this line got drawn between drama and sci-fi which is only just now being wiped out again. I think it is the success of shows such as 'The X-Files' that has made it possible.

Shows such as 'The Avengers', 'The Invaders', 'The Champions', 'Department S', 'The Prisoner', 'Randall and Hopkirk (deceased)' all had a surreal, if not sci-fi or fantasy element on a weekly basis. I wish there was that kind of show on again now.