Streaming Finds: Tracking down sci fi and fantasy shows of interest available on the streaming services.
What Is It? This 1970 British-produced television series from Gerry Anderson (best known for his Supermarionation shows like Thunderbirds as well as the cult sci fi series Space: 1999) brought us a covert war between a secret organization known as SHADO (Supreme Headquarters Alien Defense Organization) and an alien race from a dying planet.
Starring: Ed Bishop, Michael Billington, Gabrielle Drake, George Sewell
The Skinny: Some may consider this a campy relic of its time because the look and feel of the show has not dated very well. But if you can get past the cheesy (though good for their time) special effects, outlandish costumes, laughable 70’s music, corny dialog, and exceptionally wooden acting, you will find that this show is actually a decent little sci fi sleeper. Instead of following a formulaic alien-encounter-of-the-week format, the show actually delved into the implications of its interstellar conflict and showed the consequences of the war. It delivered moral quandaries and downbeat endings that helped it transcend its visual campiness. Not every episode was a classic, but the show had more than its fair share of good stories over its short run and is definitely worth checking out. (You can read more about UFO at this link).
There are so many small streaming services out there that it is hard to keep track of them all. But I recently stumbled upon Sci Fi Films by Fawesome TV which is a free streaming service with ads available as a Roku channel. Its primary focus is movies, but I found that it has a few sci fi TV gems as well. The complete run of UFO is available there (it was previously available on Tubi TV, but apparently not anymore), which is definitely a show sci fi fans should seek out. Among the other genre TV entries on the channel are The Greatest American Hero, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Charlie Jade, ReGenesis, Ray Bradbury Theater, Lexx, and the 1996 animated Flash Gordon. The channel also has some sci fi TV mini-series such as Robin Cook’s Invasion, The Triangle, Earthsea, and Meteor. The selection is not expansive (TV or movies), but it definitely has a few shows of interest and is worth adding if you have Roku (and if you don’t, you need to go buy one). The channel does not appear to be available for other services such as Apple and Amazon, but may make it to those at some point.
More from CancelledSciFi.com:
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Check back each Saturday for Sci Fi TV Retrospectives: A look back at cancelled, classic, forgotten, and more genre shows from the past.
