# What was your first Sci-Fi show? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 8, 2007, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-sci-fi-show/395117 "2007-03-08T16:09:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-sci-fi-show/395117/41 "2007-03-09T13:07:31Z")
[QUOTE=Small Clanger] You remember to the day and you were 3? The first Dr Who episode I remember was the one with the Autons (manifested as shop front dummies with guns for hands) I must have seen lots of episodes before that but that’s the first one I remember. [/QUOTE] I don’t remember the date directly, no – but I remembered enough detail about the story to be able to look it up recently. I was curious about why I had such vivid recall of watching that particular episode, when I otherwise can’t remember anything before Patrick Troughton’s second season, two years later. Turns out it was the day my brother was born. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-sci-fi-show/395117/42 "2007-03-09T14:49:05Z")
I remember bits of Captain Midnight & the old Flash Gordon serials. But _The Twilight Zone_ was my first real TV Science Fiction. It reminded me of the “adult” science fiction I was already reading. (Back then, in that context, “adult” meant “uses long words.”) I did like _Star Trek_. Tom Baker was my first _Doctor Who_–on PBS, where many Americans first met him. I was far past childhood, but he’s still My Favorite Doctor. That’s probably why I didn’t agree with those who initially found The Latest Doctor “too silly.” ---
**Author:** ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-sci-fi-show/395117/43 "2007-03-09T15:27:19Z")
I watched **Supercar** and **Stingray** , but I went nuts over **Thunderbirds**. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-sci-fi-show/395117/44 "2007-03-09T17:07:38Z")
Probably _The Outer Limits_ when I was little, in the early '60s. But my earliest clear sci-fi memory is that I can remember seeing the premiere of \*Lost in Space \* when I was 5. ---
**Author:** ![MoodIndigo1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@MoodIndigo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoodIndigo1)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-sci-fi-show/395117/45 "2007-03-09T17:25:51Z")
_Twilight Zone_ and _The Prisoner_. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-sci-fi-show/395117/46 "2007-03-09T17:47:30Z")
[QUOTE=Small Clanger] I do, and I have vague memories of Fireball XL5 but I’ve looked up the original to-air dates and I must have been watching that from the womb. [/QUOTE] Obviously a womb with a view. _Twilight Zone_ for me. There were a number of science fiction radio dramas in the late forties, early fifties. Many of them were dramatizations of print short stories of the time. A lot of the first years of television were recreations of their radio counterparts. Were there any such of those radio S-F programs that predate _TZ_? ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2007, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-sci-fi-show/395117/47 "2007-03-10T14:26:05Z")
Dr Who. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2007, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-sci-fi-show/395117/48 "2007-03-10T14:48:03Z")
If you include radio then [Journey Into Space](http://www.whirligig-tv.co.uk/radio/journeyintospace.htm) which was on the BBC Light Programme in the early 50’s . Fantastic show, and all the better for being on radio. This was because the imaginary special effects were far superior to anything you could see on film or television. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2007, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-sci-fi-show/395117/49 "2007-03-10T15:12:43Z")
All around the same time (early '60s), I recall seeing episodes of _The Twilight Zone_, _Outer Limits_ (I vaguely recall some really scary images but can’t remember much of anything else about the show) and, on Saturdays, the Gerry Anderson puppetfest _Fireball XL-5_, which I loved. I have clearer memories of watching the original run of _Lost in Space_ and found the first few episodes absolutely gripping. Kids at school were always telling me about _Time Tunnel_ and _Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea_, but IIRC they were on ABC and since my Dad for some reason refused to buy an outside antenna for the TV, we couldn’t pull in one of the network’s stations clear enough to watch them. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2007, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-sci-fi-show/395117/50 "2007-03-10T15:54:17Z")
I never forget that my first SF show (and second remembered show on TV) was Star Trek, the episode “Return of the Archons” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2007, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-sci-fi-show/395117/51 "2007-03-10T20:23:38Z")
[QUOTE=Voyager] Rocky Jones, Space Ranger. Really cool finned ships, which landed tail first at a gantry. Space battles (low rent) - ships that got hit fell down. :rolleyes: I got a DVD of a few episodes, and they hold up pretty well. Also saw a few One Step Beyonds, and Science Fiction Theaters. I was an experienced viewer by the time Twilight Zone came on. The Rocky Jones DVD also had an episode of a Flash Gordon TV series which I hadn’t known about. Dreadful. [/QUOTE] I also watched Science Fiction Theater, but as that was taken by the time I saw this thread, I thought I’d go for the throat with Rocky Jones, Space Ranger (“High on a mountain top…”). To no avail. I must sadly admit defeat and award you, sir, the Old Fart in Science Fiction medal. grrrrrrr… (But hey, those were some good times, huh, at least when we could get around or even appreciate the cheezy effects?) ---
**Author:** ![Full\_Metal\_Lotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df705f/32.png) [@Full\_Metal\_Lotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Full_Metal_Lotus)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2007, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-sci-fi-show/395117/52 "2007-03-11T02:27:10Z")
Star Trek (original series) and Thundebirds I was very young… (maybe 4-5) and always assumed that Spock was the boss, as he was the only one not losing his cool when things went badly. Thunderbirds… I couldn’t understand why the characters had such big lips… Regards FML ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2007, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-sci-fi-show/395117/53 "2007-03-11T13:00:39Z")
I was a tiny leedle thug, when _Trek:TOS_ was in its first run. And Mom claimed I was scared of that Salt Vampire beastie. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-first-sci-fi-show/395117.md?page=2)