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  1. Dartmouth Libraries
  2. Research Guides
  3. Dartmouth Libraries Guides
  4. Television Genres
  5. Science fiction

Television Genres

This research guide points to resources on different genres shown on Television.
  • Basic information
  • Action & adventure television
  • Biographical television shows
  • Cartoons and televised anime
  • Children's television
  • Comedies
    • I Love Lucy
  • Cop shows
  • Documentary television programs
  • Dystopian television programs
  • Fantasy television programs
  • Game shows
  • Historical television programs
  • Horror television programs
  • Internet TV
  • Legal shows
  • Live television programs
  • Made-for-TV movies
    • Hallmark movies
  • Medical shows
  • Reality TV
  • Religion on television
  • Science fiction
    • Star Trek
    • Doctor Who
  • Soaps
  • Spy shows
  • Superheroes on television
  • Talk shows
  • Television dramas
  • Variety shows
  • Westerns

Subject Librarian

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Lucinda M. Hall
Email Me
Contact:
Evans Map Room, Baker-Berry Library
Dartmouth College
25 N Main ST
Hanover, NH 03755
(603) 646-0962
Website Skype Contact: d1128r8@kiewit.dartmouth.edu
Social: LinkedIn Page LibraryThing Page
Subjects: Film and Media Studies, Geography, Polar Studies

Finding journal articles

Articles and other writings about reality television can be found in many publications. Our collection does include a journal title which looks exclusively at science fiction on television. You can use Film & Television Literature Index to find articles or use the search box at the top of the page.

  • Issue cover art Science fiction film and television by Liverpool University Press
    • On Campus or VPN
    Call Number: Electronic journal
    Science Fiction Film and Television is a biannual, peer-reviewed journal that encourages dialogue among the scholarly and intellectual communities of film studies, sf studies and television studies.
  • Resource logo Film & television literature index by EBSCO Publishing
    • On Campus or VPN
    • Database
    Call Number: Electronic resource
    Use this index to find articles about this TV genre.
  • Resource logo The web of science citation databases by ISI (Institute for Scientific Information)
    • On Campus or VPN
    • Database
    Call Number: Electronic resource
    The online version of 3 separate ISI indexes: Arts & Humanities Citation Index, Science Citation Index and, Social Sciences Citation Index.

Keeping up with Television Studies journal literature

Want an easy way to keep up with the journal literature in Television? And you use a mobile device? You can install the BrowZine app and create a custom Bookshelf of your favorite journal titles. Then you will get the Table of Contents (ToCs) of your favorite journals automatically delivered to you when they become available. Once you have the ToC's you can download and read the articles you want.

You can get the app from the App Store or Google Play.

Don't own or use a mobile device? You can still use BrowZine! It's now available in a web version. You can get to it here. The web version works the same way as the app version. Find the journals you like, create a custom Bookshelf, get ToCs and read the articles you want.

In the Library's collections

  • science fiction television programs
    The call number range is PN 1992.8.S35 on Baker Stack Level 4.

Introductory reading(s)

  • Cover art Adapting science fiction to television: small screen, expanded universe by Max Sexton; Malcolm Cook
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1992.8 .T45 S39 2015
    ISBN: 9781442252691
    Before it reached television, science fiction existed on the printed page, in comic books, and on movie screens for decades. Adapting science fiction to the new medium posed substantial challenges: Small viewing screens and limited production facilities made it difficult to achieve the sense of wonder that had become the genre's hallmark. Yet, television also offered unprecedented opportunities. Its serial nature allowed for longer, more complex stories, as well as developing characters and building suspense over time. ...
  • Cover Art Classical traditions in science fiction by Brett M. Rogers; Benjamin Eldon Stevens, eds.
    • On Campus or VPN
    • E-Book
    Call Number: eBook
    ISBN: 9780190228330
    For all its concern with change in the present and future, science fiction is deeply rooted in the past and, surprisingly, engages especially deeply with the ancient world. Indeed, both as an area in which the meaning of "classics" is actively transformed and as an open-ended set of texts whose own 'classic' status is a matter of ongoing debate, science fiction reveals much about the roles played by ancient classics in modern times. Classical Traditions in Science Fiction is the first collection in English dedicated to the study of science fiction as a site of classical receptions, offering a much-needed mapping of that important cultural and intellectual terrain. ...
  • Cover art The essential science fiction television reader by J. P. Telotte, ed.
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1992.8 .S35 E87 2008
    ISBN: 9780813124926
    Once confined solely to literature and film, science fiction has emerged to become a firmly established, and wildly popular, television genre over the last half century. The Essential Science Fiction Television Reader provides insight into and analyses of the most important programs in the history of the genre and explores the breadth of science fiction programming. ...
  • Cover art Science fiction television series, 1990-2004: histories, casts and credits for 58 shows by Frank Garcia; Mark Phillips
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1992.8 .S35 G37 2009
    ISBN: 9780786424832
    This is a detailed examination, from creation to cancellation of 58 science fiction television series produced between 1990 and 2004, from The X-Files to Star Trek. A chapter on each series includes production information; a history of the series; critical commentary; and interviews with key people.

Selected book title(s)

  • Cover Art Music in science fiction television: tuned to the future by K. J. Donnelly; Philip Hayward, eds.
    • On Campus or VPN
    • E-Book
    Call Number: eBook
    ISBN: 9780415641081
    The music for science fiction television programs, like music for science fiction films, is often highly distinctive, introducing cutting-edge electronic music and soundscapes. There is a highly particular role for sound and music in science fiction, because it regularly has to expand the vistas and imagination of the shows and plays a crucial role in setting up the time and place. Notable for its adoption of electronic instruments and integration of music and effects, science fiction programs explore sonic capabilities offered through the evolution of sound technology and design, which has allowed for the precise control and creation of unique and otherworldly sounds. This collection of essays analyzes the style and context of music and sound design in Science Fiction television. ...
  • Cover art The paranormal and the paranoid: conspiratorial science fiction television by Aaron John Gulyas
    • On Campus or VPN
    • E-Book
    Call Number: eBook
    ISBN: 9781442251137
    Toward the end of the twentieth century, science fiction television took a dark turn. Series like 'The X-Files,' 'Millennium,' and 'Dark Skies' wove menacing technologies, paranormal forces, and shadowy government agencies into complex tales of corruption and cover-ups. Mind control, alien abductions, secret government laboratories, and implacable "men in black" moved from the fringes to the mainstream of American culture, making weekly appearances in living rooms everywhere. ...
  • Cover art Time on television: narrative time, time travel and time travellers in popular television culture by Lorna Jowett; David Simmons; Kevin Robinson, eds.
    • Book
    Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1992.9 .T56 T56 2016
    ISBN: 9781784530136
    From early examples such as 'Star Trek' and 'Sapphire and Steel' to more contemporary shows including 'Life on Mars' and 'The Vampire Diaries,' time has frequently been used as a device to allow programme makers to experiment stylistically and challenge established ways of thinking. Time on Television offers readers a range of exciting, accessible, yet intellectually rigorous essays that consider the many and varied ways in which telefantasy shows have explored this subject, providing the reader with a greater understanding of the importance of time to the success of genre on the small screen.

Other library resource(s)

  • Resource logo Doctor Who from Oxford Bibliographies Online by Paul Booth
    • On Campus or VPN
    Call Number: Electronic resource
    ISBN: 9780199791286
    As a television program (and now multimedia experience) with over fifty years of history, Doctor Who has reflected an ever-changing media culture. First aired by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on 23 November 1963, the British program is now seen in over ninety countries and held the record for the largest ever simulcast of a TV drama when the Fiftieth Anniversary special was shown in movie theaters across the world in 2013. Doctor Who depicts the adventures of a time-traveling alien known as “The Doctor” who travels across all of time and space with various companions in a blue Police Box (the TARDIS—Time and Relative Dimension in Space) that is bigger on the inside. ...
  • Resource logo Star Trek from Oxford Bibliographies Online by Daniel Bernardi, Michael Green
    • On Campus or VPN
    Call Number: Electronic resource
    ISBN: 9780199791286
    Few popular narratives in recent history have generated as much cultural material as Star Trek: six television series and eleven feature films, as well as novels, comic books, video and role-playing games, conventions, websites, and fan fictions. In other words, Star Trek is more than just a television show and feature film franchise.
  • Resource logo The Twilight Zone from Oxford Bibliographies Online by Lester H. Hunt
    • On Campus or VPN
    Call Number: Electronic resource
    ISBN: 9780199791286
    The television series The Twilight Zone (1959–1964, hereafter referred to as “the series”) has attracted the attention of scholars for a number of reasons. It was the first television series presenting science fiction and fantasy for adults. It introduced modernist (and some would argue, postmodernist) elements into popular entertainment. It broached controversial subjects, such as war and race, that were carefully avoided by other television series of the day. It provoked thought about fundamental philosophical, moral, and political issues. It was the first series to be strongly associated in the public mind with its writer, Rod Serling. ...

Selected Science Fiction shows

Find more science fiction television in the Library's collections.

  • Cover art Alice by Nick Willing
    • DVD
    Call Number: Jones Media DVD #10395
    Jack gives a rare family ring to Alice, even though he barely knows her. Soon after, Jack is kidnapped and Alice is confronted by a stranger known as the White Rabbit, who entices her to follow him through the liquid glass of an ornate mirror. Here she lands in Wonderland, an outlandish underground city of twisted towers and staircases. Discovering the ring controls the looking glass, and is the key to the power of the Queen of Hearts, Alice must discover the reasons Jack gave her the ring.
  • Cover art Babylon 5. The complete first season: signs and portents by J. Michael Straczynski
    • DVD
    Call Number: Jones Media DVD #2332
    ISBN: 9780790770116
    In the year 2258, it is ten years after the Earth-Minbari War. Commander Sinclair takes command of a giant five-mile-long cylindrical space station, orbiting a planet in neutral space. At a crossroads of interstellar commerce and diplomacy, Commander Sinclair must try to establish peace and prosperity between various interstellar empires, all the while fighting forces from within the Earth Alliance. It is a precarious command, particularly given that sabotage led to the destruction of Babylon stations 1, 2, and 3 and 4 vanished without trace.
  • Cover art Battlestar Galactica. The complete epic series by Glen A. Larson; Ronald D. Moore
    • DVD
    Call Number: Jones Media DVD #2070
    ISBN: 9781417002191
    In the deepest reaches of space, the fight to save all human life from extinction has begun. Hoping for lasting peace following centuries of intense warfare, the Twelve Colonies gather to sign a treaty with their dreaded enemies, the Cylons. But after an act of treachery, the Cylons launch a devasting surprise attack, destroying the Colonies home planet. A lone flagship, the Galactica, remains to aid the surviving colonists on their epic journey to their new home-- far-off Earth.
  • Cover art Dark Angel: the complete first season by James Cameron; Charles H. Eglee
    • DVD
    Call Number: Jones Media DVD #5024
    Set in post-apocalyptic Seattle in the year 2019. Max Guevara is a young genetically created woman and part of a top-secret government elite military squad, who is living life as a bicycle messenger/fugitive in the ruins of Seattle. She is hiding from her former commanding officer, Lydecker who is looking to bring her back to his fold. Max meets and turns to Logan Cale, a crippled computer specialist/left-wing rebel who runs a pirated TV system, who helps hide her and asks for her help in cleaning up Seattle of crime and corruption.
  • Cover art Fringe. The complete first season by J.J. Abrams; Alex Kurtzman; Roberto Orci
    • DVD
    Call Number: Jones Media DVD #9027
    ISBN: 9781419883064
    Three unlikely colleagues -- a beautiful young FBI agent, a brilliant scientist who's spent the last 17 years in a mental institution, and the scientist's sardonic son -- investigate a series of bizarre deaths and disasters known as 'the pattern.' Someone is using our world as an experimental lab. And all clues lead to Massive Dynamic, a shadowy global corporation that may be more powerful than any nation.
  • Cover art The lathe of heaven by David Loxton
    • DVD
    Call Number: Jones Media DVD #6607
    ISBN: 9780767026963
    George Orr is haunted by dreams that become reality. In a world where pollution has destroyed the ice caps and plagues rage unchecked, a psychiatrist sees Orr's power as a way for humanity to escape its bleak fate. But as each attempt to direct Orr's dreaming ends in failure, the doctor's obsession with playing God grows stronger.
  • Cover art The prisoner by Patrick McGoohan; George Markstein
    • DVD
    Call Number: Jones Media DVD #1466
    ISBN: 9780767040952
    An agent who has resigned from his country's secret service is taken prisoner and prevented from escaping the village that becomes his home.
  • Cover art Quantum leap. The complete first season by Belisarius Productions
    • DVD
    Call Number: Jones Media DVD #2945
    ISBN: 9780783286136
    Theorizing that he could time travel within his own lifetime, Dr. Sam Beckett stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator and vanished. He woke trapped in the past. His only guide is Al, who appears in the form of a hologram that only Sam can see and hear.
  • Cover art Tales from the darkside. The first season by George A. Romero
    • DVD
    Call Number: Jones Media DVD #8874
    ISBN: 9781415744994
    A cult-favorite horror anthology series from the '80s depicting standalone stories of horror fantasy and/or science fiction. Some episodes are gruesome, a few are of a lighter comedic style.
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  • Last Updated: Jul 1, 2025 9:15 AM
  • URL: https://researchguides.dartmouth.edu/tvgenres
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