On the Frontier of Space

Last updated
On the Frontier of Space
Genrescience documentary
Presented byNorman Caton
Alexander Webster
Jack Alexander
Country of originCanada
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes3
Production
ProducerNorman Caton
Running time30 minutes
Original release
Network CBC Television
Release21 March (1959-03-21) 
18 April 1959 (1959-04-18)

On the Frontier of Space is a Canadian science documentary television miniseries which aired on CBC Television in 1959.

Contents

Premise

This series presents the 20th century development of outer space travel technology, and speculates on its future development. Footage was compiled from Canada, the Soviet Union and the United States. Interviews with experts such as Wernher von Braun were included.

Scheduling

This series was broadcast on alternate Saturdays at 6:00 p.m. (Eastern) as follows. The American series Panic!/No Warning! was broadcast in other weeks.

Episodes

  1. 21 March 1959: overview of launch vehicles such as rockets and missiles since World War II
  2. 4 April 1959: describes the man-machine relationship of outer space travel
  3. 18 April 1959: discusses the potential and pitfalls of space travel

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Science fiction on television</span> Television genre

Science fiction first appeared in television programming in the late 1930s, during what is called the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary world not limited by the constraints of reality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western (genre)</span> Multimedia genre

The Western is a genre of fiction typically set in the American frontier between the California Gold Rush of 1849 and the closing of the frontier in 1890, and commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spaceflight</span> Flight into or through outer space

Spaceflight is an application of astronautics to fly objects, usually spacecraft, into or through outer space, either with or without humans on board. Most spaceflight is uncrewed and conducted mainly with spacecraft such as satellites in orbit around Earth, but also includes space probes for flights beyond Earth orbit. Such spaceflights operate either by telerobotic or autonomous control. The first spaceflights began in the 1950s with the launches of the Soviet Sputnik satellites and American Explorer and Vanguard missions. Human spaceflight programs include the Soyuz, Shenzhou, the past Apollo Moon landing and the Space Shuttle programs. Other current spaceflight are conducted to the International Space Station and to China's Tiangong Space Station.

Fraggle Rock is a children's musical fantasy comedy puppet television series about interconnected societies of Muppet creatures, created by Jim Henson.

The year 1963 involved some significant events in television. Below are lists of notable TV-related events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TLC (TV network)</span> American multinational pay television channel

TLC is an American multinational cable and satellite television network owned by the Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established in 1980 as The Learning Channel, it initially focused on educational and instructional programming. By the late 1990s, after an acquisition by Discovery, Inc. earlier in the decade, the network began to pivot towards reality television programming — predominantly focusing on programming involving lifestyles and personal stories — to the point that the previous name with "The Learning Channel" spelled out was phased out in favor of its initialism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military science fiction</span> Military subgenre of science fiction

Military science fiction is a subgenre of science fiction and military fiction that depicts the use of science fiction technology, including spaceships and weapons, for military purposes and usually principal characters who are members of a military organization, usually during a war; occurring sometimes in outer space or on a different planet or planets. It exists in a range of media, including literature, comics, film, television and video games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CTV Sci-Fi Channel</span> Canadian specialty TV channel

CTV Sci-Fi Channel is a Canadian English-language discretionary specialty channel owned by Bell Media subsidairy of BCE Inc.. The channel primarily broadcasts speculative fiction and related programming.

British science fiction television series Doctor Who debuted on North American television in January 1965 on CBC. It appeared in syndication in the United States beginning in 1972. This article explores the connections of that series to distribution, broadcast and fandom in Canada and the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Space Western</span> Subgenre

Space Western is a subgenre of science fiction that uses the themes and tropes of Westerns within science-fiction stories in an outer space setting. Subtle influences may include exploration of new, lawless frontiers, while more overt influences may feature actual cowboys in outer space who use rayguns and ride robotic horses. Although initially popular, a strong backlash against perceived hack writing caused the genre to become a subtler influence until the 1980s, when it regained popularity. A further critical reappraisal occurred during the 2000s due to critical acclaim for Firefly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Commercial use of space</span> Economic activities related to space

Space economy refers to the set of activities, industries, technologies, services, and resources that generate economic value through the exploration, understanding, management, and utilization of outer space.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westerns on television</span> Television genre based on the American Old West

Television Westerns are programs with settings in the later half of the 19th century in the American Old West, Western Canada and Mexico during the period from about 1860 to the end of the so-called "Indian Wars". More recent entries in the Western genre have used the neo-Western subgenre, placing events in the modern day, or the space Western subgenre but still draw inspiration from the outlaw attitudes prevalent in traditional Western productions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lists of fictional astronauts</span>

These are a series of incomplete lists of fictional astronauts appearing in various media, including books, film, television shows, radio shows, records, and comic books.

<i>Macross Frontier</i> 2008 anime series

Macross Frontier is a Japanese anime television series and the third Japanese anime television series set in the Macross universe. It was broadcast on MBS from April 4, 2008 to September 26, 2008.

<i>The Outer Limits</i> (1963 TV series) American anthology television series

The Outer Limits is an American television series that was broadcast on ABC from September 16, 1963, to January 16, 1965, at 7:30 PM Eastern Time on Mondays. It is often compared to The Twilight Zone, but with a greater emphasis on science fiction stories. It is an anthology of self-contained episodes, sometimes with plot twists at their ends.

<i>The Outer Limits</i> (1995 TV series) American-Canadian science fiction anthology television series

The Outer Limits is a science fiction anthology television series that originally aired between 1995 and 2002 on Showtime, Syfy, Channel 7 and in syndication. The series is a revival of the original The Outer Limits series that aired from 1963 to 1965.

Kristian Ayre is a British actor, best known for his portrayal of the character Radu from the Nickelodeon children's science fiction show Space Cases.

Conquest of Space is a Canadian science television miniseries which aired on CBC Television in 1969.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Space opera</span> Subgenre of science fiction

Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction that emphasizes space warfare, with use of melodramatic, risk-taking space adventures, relationships, and chivalric romance. Set mainly or entirely in outer space, it features technological and social advancements in faster-than-light travel, futuristic weapons, and sophisticated technology, on a backdrop of galactic empires and interstellar wars with fictional aliens, often in fictional galaxies. The term does not refer to opera music, but instead originally referred to the melodrama, scope, and formulaic stories of operas, much as used in "horse opera", a 1930s phrase for a clichéd and formulaic Western film, and "soap opera", a melodramatic domestic drama. Space operas emerged in the 1930s and continue to be produced in literature, film, comics, television, video games and board games.

<i>Untitled Web Series About a Space Traveler Who Can Also Travel Through Time</i> 2012 web series

Untitled Web Series About a Space Traveler Who Can Also Travel Through Time (UWSAASTWCATTT), also known as Inspector Spacetime, is an American adventure-sci-fi web series created by Travis Richey, and based on the television comedy series Community. The series is based on a fictional series first mentioned during the episode "Biology 101" of Community. Inspector Spacetime is, by itself, a Doctor Who parody. UWSAASTWCATTT follows The Inspector, a character that can travel through time and space by way of a red BOOTH, a special space/timeship similar in some ways to the TARDIS. Reception for the series has been positive, with USA Today including it in their "Best of TV on the Web in 2012" list. The series had only one season but production of the second season shifted to make a feature film based on the series, titled The Inspector Chronicles, in 2014. Although a crowdfunding campaign was launched that year, the film's further development seems to have been adjourned.

References