Chapter ONE: Introduction

had a massive budget and the acting ranged from good to abysmal, often within the same Blast Off series. Continuity was commonly spotty as well and nobody was going to confuse the writing for high art. (n.): fiction dealing principally with the impact of actual But that was fine and dandy, because these or imagined science on society or in- television shows were fun and that’s what dividuals or having a scientific factor made us tune in every week. We longed for as an essential orienting component. adventure and they delivered that in spades! So what if we could tell that the robot was made of cheap plastic? Who cared if the cam- Now, add disco! This is RETROSTAR! era was just being tilted back and forth to give the illusion of the spaceship being hit? You say These days, science fiction can be found on vir- the laser blasts looked hokey? Big deal. We tually every television channel. It’s everywhere. wanted a fun science fiction story and that’s One only has to turn on the television in order exactly what we got. to find starship battles, post-apocalyptic survi- vors, malevolent aliens and robots of all kind. If you understand where we’re coming from, then Retrostar may very well be the game for you! But that wasn’t always the case. Sample Ourfile goal was to create a game that captured the essence of these shows from beginning to end. There was a time, back in the 1970s, when We wanted to bring all the fun, excitement and, science fiction was pretty hard to come by yes, cheesiness of the 1970s-era science fiction on television. Not only was it fairly rare, but television shows to life for you and the rest of much of it wasn’t overtly “science fiction” per your game group. This required us to study and se. For every full-on science fiction series – analyze the various TV shows of the time, taking Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers in the 25th them apart, figuring out how to best reflect the Century, Space: 1999, etc. – there was a series tropes with the rules and putting it all back to- that minimized the science fiction elements to gether into a faithful, cohesive game. one degree or another; shows such as The Six Million Dollar Man, Man From Atlantis and The Retrostar is not a “universal” sci-fi roleplaying Bionic Woman, for instance. game. While it’s certainly wide open for the creation of your own series, every nuance of Regardless of how many sci-fi trappings were the game system was fashioned to recreate present in these programs, they all had one the style of action and adventure cultivated common denominator: charm! That’s right; by the science fiction television shows of the charm. No, they didn’t boast computer-gen- 1970s. Trying to use it for anything drastically erated special effects, nor did they typically different is like attempting to fit a square peg display terribly deep storytelling. They seldom into a round hole.

6 However, if it’s a rollicking good time while though some of the information is recorded playing space adventurers, starship pilots, ro- on various sheets (more on that later). Unlike bots and the like, you’re in the right place. So, with actual television shows, however, you strap in and get ready for the ride of your don’t have to follow a rigid, pre-set script. It’s life. Just don’t expect that ride to have amazingSample mostly file improvised, which means that there’s special effects. practically no limit to what can happen. Pretty exciting, no?

This all sounds pretty vague at this point, so ABOUT ROLEPLAYING GAMES let’s reel it in a bit and get specific. The roleplaying game is, at its core, an ex- ercise in interactive storytelling for you and One participant acts as the Showrunner. The your friends to engage in. You gather around Showrunner is like the creator, director and a table (or other convenient space), consume producer of an actual television series, all snack foods, roll some dice and enjoy each rolled into one. Their job is to create the basics other’s company while working together to of the story, set the scene, govern the flow of tell a story, using the game rules found in this the action and control the supporting charac- book as a guide. ters (called, appropriately enough, Showrun- ner Characters or SCs). To put it in a way that ties more closely to the source material, when you play Retrostar, you The rest of the participants are called players. and your group effectively collaborate on the Each player steps into the role of one of the creation of a television series, one episode at story’s central heroes (called Player Characters a time. This is done verbally for the most part, or PCs). It is their tale that will be told as the game unfolds. The most direct comparison is 7 8 Chapter 1 Introduction whatever thewriter says isgoingto happen no wiggle room for what’sgoingto happen; television shows. Intelevision shows, there’s the picture. Andthisiswhere RPGsdifferfrom to pick up the dice and bring the rules into acters willbeindoubt.That’s whenit’stime will comeatimewhenthesuccess ofthechar progress quite far withoutusingtherules, there the gamerulesatall,butwhilestory can So far, itsoundslike there’s noreal needfor other typesofgames. makes roleplaying games so different than alter thevery course ofthestory. That’s what ing their characters’ actions can shape and ride, though. The choices they make regard The players aren’t justgoingalongfor the the story vicariously through their characters. of atelevision show. They get to experience to theactors portraying themainprotagonists hold ofsomemetal.” “There’s noway we’re getting offthis rock inless thantwelve hours unless we can get a Shelly: ever to can assimilate from the ship’sinterior. That’s whyit’sgoingto take solong. sheets ofmetal to patchtheholeswith.Unfortunately, you’llhave to make duewithwhat James: Shelly: but it’sgoingto take time. James: Shelly: attempting to figure outa way to get theshipbackoff ground. managed to landinalarge clearing surrounded bythickwoods. Aswe jointhem,theyare age to its engines.The result? Arisky crash-landing onaremote forest planet, where they Earlier inthegame,theirspaceshipwas caught inanasteroid field, causing somedam group. JamesistheShowrunner. right-hand woman. ShellyisplayingAlenaBrennan, themechanicand “muscle”ofthe tomized for deepspaceexploration. Valerie isplaying Astra Collins, hiswiseco-pilot and Dean isplayingDuke Carter, thecynical captain ofasmallspaceshipthathasbeencus Example ofPlay She’sgoingto gobackto thefront withtheothers andtell themthebadnews: How muchtime? Alenaimmediately headsto theengineroom to seehow badthedamageis. We’re talking twelve hours orso.Itwould beabouthalfofthatifyouhadlarge Aftercheckingoutthedamage,shesurmises thatit’spretty serious. It can befixed,

Sample file - - in quotation marks, itrepresents thepartici yet know whattheymean.Whenyouseetext rules have beengeneralized, sinceyoudon’t this brief example, allreferences to thegame actly whatyou’llfindbelow. For purposes of clearer with an example of play, which is ex games function.However, itwillbecomemuch You now know thebasicsofhow roleplaying those decisionsandrolls alongtheway. and keep thestory rolling forward, adapting to Showrunners! They have to go with the flow sidered. That’s whatmakes thegamefunfor into directions heorshehadnever even con the way thediceroll maysendthestory off but thedecisionsmadebyplayers and may know what’sgoingoninageneral sense, case inaroleplaying game.The Showrunner will pant speakingastheircharacter. happen. It’sset in stone. This isnot the ------Dean: [sarcastically] “Lovely. I doubt this place has any intelligent species living here, so getting metal is going to be impossible.”

Valerie: “Never judge a book by its cover, Duke. The planet’s initial impression may be deceiving.”

James: You all hear the sound of movement in the woods.

Dean: Duke looks out the nearest viewport to see what’s going on. [the others quickly echo his sentiment]

James: About a dozen lizard-like humanoids wearing loincloths and wielding spears and clubs emerge from the tree-line. They are cautiously approaching the ship. You get the distinct impression that they’ve never seen a spaceship before.

Dean: “What’s that you were saying about initial impressions and such, Astra?”

Shelly: “There’s no need to be a smart-aleck, Duke. She may still be right. These aliens might look primitive, but they may yet surprise us.”

Dean: [sarcastically] “Oh, sure. I’ll bet they’re real cuddly and those crude weapons prob- ably shoot laser beams too.”

James: While you banter with each other, the lizard men are closing in on the spaceship. Their weapons are still at the ready. What do you want to do?

Shelly: Well, we can’t really take any chances, so Alena will keep her laser pistol handy without appearing overtly hostile. Sample file Valerie: Astra will use her Space Tarot Cards to try to determine the aliens’ intentions.

Dean: Duke sits down in a chair and kicks his feet up on the table. He laughs and says, “I don’t know why you two are getting all riled up over a bunch of simpleton lizard guys. It’s not like they can use their spears and clubs to break into the ship. I say we just ignore ‘em and concentrate on getting the ship fixed.”

James: Suddenly, you all hear a sharp buzzing noise followed by the rumbling of me- chanical ship parts. Through the porthole, you see that one of the lizard men now has a large-ish remote control device in his hands and he’s pushing some chunky red buttons on it. Whatever the gadget is, it’s causing the ship’s cargo door to slowly open.

Shelly: Alena gets behind cover, just in case they are hostile.

Valerie: Astra puts down the Space Tarot Cards and gives Duke a look. “You were saying?”

Dean: “Me and my big mouth.”

[The game continues from there, with all participants shaping the story as it unfolds]

9 10 Chapter 1 Introduction “Series”, inkeeping withthesubjectmatter). In ner to create theirown setting (whichwe call a specific setting. Instead, itallows theShowrun Unlike manyRPGs, The Series science-fiction television shows ofthe1970s. the gameperfectly suited for emulatingthe concepts aswell asafew aspects thatmake specifically, exploring someoftheimportant out ofthe way, we can now focus on With ourexplanation ofroleplaying games handy assets to be have around as well. can paper scrap and Pencils • per playerisaboutright. different. Five tokens ofeachtype what theyare, aslong they look two typesoftokens. Itdoesn’t matter • The Showrunner will need to bring (spectrum-games.com). book andasaPDFonourwebsite can befound atthebackofthis tion aboutcharacters. Ablankone sheet, usefulfor recording informa charactera need will player Each • should suffice). dard 6-sided dice (about six of them stan some need will player Each • you’ll needto have onhand: Retrostar In order to participate inagameof What YouNeed Important Concepts , there are some things that Retrostar doesn’t have one Sample file Retrostar - - -

Episodes impact theseries. the series and have in-game effects that can from 0to 6.Dialshelptrulydefinethe feel of Plot, Recurring, CheeseandSFX)thatare rated onists. Alsoincludedisaset ofDials(Thematic, gy, theprotagonists and,ofcourse, theantag such as the background/history, the technolo about thesetting can berecorded; information page logwhere information allthepertinent Each Series hasits own Series Bible,amulti- they’d rather not create onefrom scratch. eral sampleseries for Showrunners to useif cious vibe.Additionally, we have includedsev of advicefor givingtheirseries aseventies-li teaches themhow to doso,alongwithalot fact, therulebookhasadetailed chapter that of thecharacter’s role withinthe series. Think Background: • following aspects: Player Characters are largely definedbythe cast).as thesupporting are controlled bytheShowrunner (thusacting central protagonists) whilethelatter characters controlled bytheplayers (thusactingasthe Characters (SCs).The former characters are star There are two kindsofcharacters in The Characters to anepicclimaxand/orcliffhanger. and allthePlot shouldusuallybuildand when theyare nearing theendofaSeason, ferent. The Showrunner shouldtell theplayers episodes. A seasons wereTV anywhere from 6-22 or more Seasons during asinglesession. an actualtelevision series andcan befinished isode shouldfeel like anhour-long episodeof large chunk of the story). All told, a single Ep the case oflonger, more involved stories, a Each Episoderepresents asinglestory (orin : PlayerCharacters (PCs)andShowrunner Retrostar This isaconcise description Series shouldbenodif Retro ------of this as the show producer’s notes on each Most Showrunner Characters are much, much character. An example: “Macho yet sensitive, simpler than Player Characters, but that’s be- outlaw spirit, tough guy, very anti-authority, yond the scope of this section. honorable and loyal to his friends and all the runners, always sticks up for the little guy. Time Management Veteran of the war, but would rather not talk The stories in the sci-fi TV shows of the 1970s about. Has a way with the ladies and defini- were told in the span of 45 minutes or so, tive charm.” which meant that the writers had to be very concise and budget the screen-time wisely so • Casting: Casting is the look and tone of the that it would all fit. To reflect that, Retrostar character, summed up in 25 words or less. uses time management rules. Time Manage- For example: “Roguish smile, feathered brown ment limits the number of die rolls players can hair, smooth voice, ornery sparkle in his eye, make in an episode. Every roll is significant. athletically built, earth-toned clothes”. Just as importantly, every roll moves the ac- tion forward towards the exciting conclusion of • Traits: Each character possesses three Traits the episode. that largely determine how good they are in certain areas. The Traits are Adventure (how Each episode has five Acts and each Act al- suited they are for action), Thought (their men- lows for the players to make a total of 12 die tal faculties) and Drama (their charisma and rolls. Once those 12 die rolls have been made, strength of will). They are rated from -1 (terri- the next Act begins. ble) to 2 (outstanding), with 0 being more or less average. In Retrostar, the die rolls a player makes are called Intentions and those familiar with RPGs • Descriptors: Each Trait that is rated 1 or more will find the resolution mechanic different from will have one or more Descriptors that reflect other games. Retrostar is not concerned with areas of expertise or talent (Hotshot Pilot, Per- each individual action; rather it is concerned ceptive, Con Artist, etc.), while each Trait that with what a character is doing to move the is rated -1 will have a Descriptor that reflectsSample scene fileforward. an area of weakness (Clumsy, Ditzy, Socially Awkward, etc.).

• SFX: SFX is a list of special effects that the The Source Material character has access to during the game; any- Most everyone is at least marginally familiar thing that would require a budget to create if it with science fiction. However, the science fic- was a real TV show could be included here—a tion that graced the small screen during the laser pistol, alien power, rocket pack, the abil- 1970s had some interesting facets that many ity to leap extreme distances and so forth. people may not know about. It’s time to put Since the 1970s TV shows had relatively tight the genre (if you can truly call it that) under the budgets, each character has a pool of points to proverbial microscope, shall we? spend on their SFX throughout the game.

• Personal Dials: Player Characters have Di- Target Audience als, just like a series does. However, these ar- There are two broad categories of 1970s sci- en’t defined prior to the series’ first episode. ence fiction shows: traditional and kidvid. They develop as the game progresses, allow- ing characters to become more fleshed out or- Traditional shows were hour-long programs ganically as time goes on. geared toward young adults and up. While younger people certainly watched them, 11 12 Chapter 1 Introduction shows ( Night Stalker Space Nuts comedy shows ( Million DollarMan gan’s Run Blake’s 7 ture shows ( of thehighestorder. You hadspaceadven had great variety would beanunderstatement To saythat1970s-era sciencefictionshows with them. fiction elements atall; others were bristling Some ofthemcontained hardly anyscience were numerous shows thathadnoneofthat! television shows ofthe1970s. However, there were extremely commoninthesciencefiction filling theair. Make no mistake—those things lactic tyrants andbattleswithlaser-gun blasts furious dogfights involving spaceships, evil ga ence fiction”, their mind conjures up images of When theaverage person hears theterm “sci Sub-Genres the episodes. story” were commonlythreaded throughout “black andwhite” andclearcut“morals ofthe loomed attimes.Morality leanedmore toward pen, thoughthesupposedthreat ofitmayhave mature counterparts. Deathdidn’t usuallyhap kidvid shows was muchlighter than their more largely for guffaws. Regardless, the tone of were fairly serious, but somewere played geted muchyoungeraudiences.Mostofthem name suggests: half-hour programs thattar By contrast, kidvidwas pretty muchwhatits quences were grave indeed. consequences andsometimes thoseconse major character to buythefarm. Actionshad regularity, thoughitwas somewhat rare for a ic relief. Deathhappenedwithatleastsome ter thrown inhere andthere to provide com pretty straight, despite a cute kid, robot or crit in theirtone, buttheywere usuallyplayed over theirheads.These shows tended to vary many ofthemore sophisticated nuanceswent Wonder Woman , etc.), post-apocalyptic shows ( , Ark II , etc.), horror shows ( Battlestar Galactica , Monster Squad Quark , etc.), secret agentshows ( , The BionicWoman , Mork &Mindy , The Incredible Hulk , etc.), superhero , Buck Rogers Kolchak: the Sample file , Far Out , etc.) Lo Six ------, , lized re-purposed set piecesfrom other shows, ingenuity! They employedstock footage, uti to life withoutbreaking This required thebank. and search for clever ways to bring theshows ating suchprograms. They hadto improvise This fact required frugalthinkingbythosecre gets thattheirbig-screen equivalents enjoyed. shows were saddled with a fraction of the bud a shadow ofadoubt.Unfortunately, television the era, suchasStar Wars, proved thatbeyond effects inabundance,that’s for sure. Movies of say. Itcan certainlybuyhigh-qualityspecial Money makes theworld go‘round, orsothey Limited Budget and somuchmore. ville etc.), lost-world shows ( ered hair;guys sported over-sized sideburns far-flung future, everyone hadperms or feath had its fingerprints all over them. Even in the shows were born. The decade of the 1970s There was no escaping theera inwhichthese Products ofTheir Time adulterated fun! special effects, theymadeup for insheer, un What theseshows lacked instate-of-the-art ing bayspoilthefun? every timethestarship takes offfrom theland last year?Doesthe fact thatitlooks thesame wheels) from another show thatwas cancelled exactly like the post-apocalyptic land bus (sans cares ifthatspaceshipfrom oneshow looks pistol down at the local five-and-dime? Who we sawthey used as a laser the squirt-gun can seethe zipper ontheape-man suit orthat shows’ charm. Doesit really matter that we than-stellar, buttheysomehow addedto the All thesetechniques mayhave looked less- gadgets from commonhouseholditems. for aliens, andcreated robots, spaceships and perfections, putto useoff-the-rack costumes tors, devised usefulcamera tricks to hideim hired lackluster (oreven downright terrible) ac , etc.), fantasy shows ( Land oftheLost Ace ofWands , , etc.) Lids ------and bushy mustaches; earthy colors such as avocado, sunflower and harvest gold were everywhere, from décor to clothing (ditto for sharp black and white contrasts); technolo- gy was chunky and crude looking with lots of big buttons, toggle switches, cords, knobs and monochrome green computer monitors; jumpsuits, leisure suits and tunics reigned su- preme among the fashionistas of the centuries to come.

And then there was disco.

Disco was ubiquitous. It seemed that few shows could resist the temptation to include a disco-dancing scene at some point. It didn’t even have to make sense in the context of the story. It was this omnipresent force that per- meated virtually every aspect of the last half of the decade.

Disco wasn’t the only fad that made it into the sci-fi shows. No, no, no. If something was there solely to provide chuckles or to allow for popular at the time, you could bet the mort- heartwarming scenes. gage that it would weasel its way onto your television screen in some form or another. • Capable Females: The ‘70s was the era of Yoga, spiritualism, roller skating, kung-fu, CB the Women’s Lib movement and females who radios, truck-driving, mopeds, palm reading, could more than hold their own made their pet rocks, puka shells, skateboarding, surfing,Sample presence file felt in these programs. Whether they platform shoes, women’s lib, lava lamps, mood were butt-kickers and name-takers, high- rings, waterbeds, macramé and stunt biking— ly-skilled scientists or manipulative schemers, all of these things (and more) were fair game these ladies didn’t play second-fiddle to men for television shows! just because of gender. • Damsel in Distress: Okay, so the empow- Signature Conventions erment of women in fiction hadn’t completely There were certain themes, plots, tropes and taken hold yet. While capable females were notions that seemed to pop up with alarming becoming a more prominent aspect of these regularity. In this section, we’ll delve into some shows, the hold-outs were still around in abun- of them. Keep in mind that not all of these dance. Some women seemed to exist only to listings were present in every show. Each show spring the male heroes into action in an effort was basically a hodge-podge of these, cher- to save them. ry-picked by those who wrote the episodes. • Villain of the Week: This formula involved • Pooches and Bots: In an effort to appeal to almost every episode having a different pri- the younger viewers, the shows would com- mary antagonist rather than one persistent monly feature cute kids and (or) some manner adversary who caused trouble each week. of pet or sidekick (from robots to monkeys to robotic dogs). Such characters were typically

13 14 Chapter 1 Introduction head outonanadventure. ing byinthehallway asthemaincharacters many consolesonthe space cruiserorpass just seeninthedistance, manningoneof the merely extras withno speakinglines.They’re to beingbackground characters or, worse still, acters sometimes found themselves relegated • Character Demotion: sound somehow exotic… atleastintheory. a cheapway to make even everyday things and beverages might beknown as“slurps”. It’s disks”, cars might be given thename“zoomers” “woofs”, monetary coinsmight become“cred- given different names: dogsmight be called mundane objects, activitiesandanimalswere was sciencefictionandoften not set onEarth, • Renaming: ries would have been draining onthebudget. for another thing, showing suchgrievous inju censors would have gonecrazy inthatera and it seldomproduced blood.For onething,the olence played a major role in these shows, but Violence: Bloodless • a tyrannical galacticempire. most commonStar Wars-ism istheinclusionof aesthetics or even its characters. Probably the ing feel ofthemovie, whileothers copiedits simply attempted to capture thefree-wheel rowed more heavily from itthanothers. Some capitalize onits popularity. Someshows bor enon andpractically everyone scrambled to theaters in1977,itquicklybecame aphenom Wars-isms: Star • regards to viewership. duced favorable results, eitherartistically orin could take place.These changesseldompro format couldbeoverhauled oratime-jump show’s setting couldbeentirely different, the Characters could be dropped (or added), the radical alterations withlittleornoexplanation. it wasn’t unheard offor aseries to undergo sons andespeciallyifviewership was down, • Tone-Shifts: To get across thefact thattheshow Usuallyoccurring between sea When Star Wars came to Not countingkidvid, vi Once-importantchar

Sample file ------backdoor pilot for aspin-offseries. ly shineandsometimes served asapotential This gave everyone afew to opportunities tru tire episode(oratleastmostofanepisode). spotlight ononeortwo characters for anen casts, thewriters would sometimes putthe Focus: Rotating • and theseries proper. would changebetween themovie/mini-series for various reasons, afew aspects oftheshow production values thantheyreally did.Also, make the episodes look like they had higher stock footage intheseries itself inaneffort to es from thismovie would typically beusedas with arelatively cushybudget. Somesequenc ly hadapilot movie ormini-series, complete had apilot episode,butafew of themactual • The Pilot Movie or Mini-Series: for series inwhichthe characters discovered time theyturn around. This was especially true ity for them to develop in-depth cultures every case ofkidvid),soitwas alogistical impossibil had an hour to work with (or in the Cultures: One-Note • with alackofcreativity. the aforementioned low budgets andless to do tachment. Obviously, thishadalot to dowith were stillunmistakably humanswithanat or someother trivial characteristic… butthey an enlarged head, pointed ears, three eyes mans. Perhaps theyhadgreen bodypaint, fore—aliens that looked suspiciouslylike hu All: at Alien Barely • tuated theactors’ positives. constantly) beseenwearing attire thataccen is thatthecharacters would occasionally (or generalization, butonlyjust.The bottom line hair). Okay, so this is a little bit of an over tight bodysuits (withplentyofexposed chest while themenwould bein,well, low-cut, skin males would beinlow-cut, skintight bodysuits, characters inskimpy orsuggestive clothes. Fe shows hadapenchantto feature attractive Appeal: Sex • Kidvid notwithstanding, these For shows withensemble Look,thewriters only You’ve seenthembe Most shows ------In Hindsight

Adam’s Ark, a Series incorporating Mormon themes, such as marriage for “time and eternity” and a council of twelve never made it to air when it was pitched in the 1960s. However, in the 1970s, it did. With some subtle changes. Adam’s Ark, of course, became Battlestar Galactica. Science fiction is often a wonderful storytelling method for delivering subversive messages. It allows a creator the chance to twist the lens ever-so-slightly, and present ideas in an all new way. Similarly, it allows a creator the chance to incorporate ideas from any source material (the kitchen sink approach), because... the future. Because... science fiction.

So, if your imagined future has roller skating samurai, that is what will be memorable to viewers. But, what about when there is a real depth, subtle or not, to the backstory? Science fiction allows a creator the chance to tell an in- teresting story through a new medium, and through a different lens. And when a creator has an agenda, that can be even more interesting. Sometimes these messages are subtle, and sometimes the creator might as well be hitting the viewer over the head with a two-by-four. Remember: take a scientific princi- ple; pose a question or hypothesis about that principle; and then explore the effects of that principle on society/culture.

Sample file new races or civilizations on a regular basis. • Improbable Coincidence: Sometimes, co- The result was ordinarily cultures based on one incidences were just destined to happen in trait, belief or role. For example, a race might these shows, no matter how contrived or shoe- have a warrior culture or a 1920s-era mobster horned the whole situation was. This hap- culture; or perhaps a culture that resembled, pened largely to keep the story moving along say, Mexican or French culture. This approach at a brisk pace, throwing out realism for the relied a lot on stereotypes, but made things a sake of brevity. lot easier on the writers and gave the viewer an immediate grasp on what the culture is all • Opening Monologue: Before the opening about without requiring excessive exposition. credits and title sequence of each episode, many shows kicked things off with a short • Bottle Episodes: One cost-cutting technique voice-over narration that gave new viewers a regularly put to use was to produce a low-cost quick overview of the series’ premise. episode or two, especially after a particularly ex- pensive episode. This was accomplished by using very few (if any) supporting actors and crafting a character-driven story that lacked special effects and inevitably took place in a single location.

15 16 Chapter 1 Introduction http://www.freeimages.com/ able for commercial use.http://flickr.com/commons and All photos in this sectionare inthepublicdomainandavail it was aboutassubtleabrick to theface. Sometimes, the pipingwas subtle; other times, terns, piping/stripes was useda great deal. While the1970sboasted manydifferent pat used for accents. pecially ifoneormore contrasting colors were at thetimewas thatwhite looked futuristic, es grounds to offset brighter colors. The mindset anything else, as wellvirtually as for back used everywhere –incostumes, vehicles and varying shades of brown and beige. White was sunshine yellow, harvest gold, orange and Trendy colors were avocado green, turquoise, ness following thetumultuousVietnam War. due to society’s yearning for peace and calm the tones became andwarmer, earthier likely the previous decade. Asthedecade wore on, the bright andpsychedelicpalette thatdefined was relatively drab and subduedcompared to The colorpalette thatdominated the1970s Colors andPatterns to give youabrief rundown oftheaesthetics. how thedecade looked. Ineithercase, we’re here 1970s orsimplythatyoumayhave forgotten It maybethatyouweren’t around during the A Visual Guideto the1970s

Sample file - - - - - Tight pants were becoming increasingly popu menswear. You justcouldn’t avoid it. pect offashion, especially (but not exclusively) Polyester was king!Itinvaded nearly every as rose to prominence. people commonlyassociate withthe1970s the middle of the decade that the styles most the late-1960s fashions. It wasn’t until close to largely resembled less-flamboyant versions of The fashions oftheearly years ofthedecade be mostenlightening. of theera. Aquickinternet search willprove to can easilybeascertainedbyviewing photos (i.e., the1970s),soclothes for suchseries Some series took place in contemporary times Contemporary Fashions pants, the 1970s represented the first time that suits were extremely common. Speaking of the decade, pantsuits, track suits and leisure but dissipating by1979.Toward thelasthalfof shrinking more and more as time went on, all lar for both genders andflared pantlegs were - - women regularly wore them in every walk of Hairstyles life. Skirts and dresses persevered and would Feathered hair was extremely popular, espe- continue to do so, but they were being edged cially in the last half of the 1970s, for both out by trousers. men and women. Men had longer hair than in previous decades, not counting the styles Other popular clothing articles that defined worn by hippies in the 1960s. That said, most the era: striped v-neck velour shirts, platform men on TV didn’t boast terribly long hair; just shoes, tunics, culottes, robes, gold medallions, long enough to allow for the hair to color tight t-shirts, cowl-neck sweaters, wedge heels, most of all of the ears. Women’s hair lengths flower-patterned dress shirts, tennis headbands, varied drastically, with short-ish hair becom- flower-collared shirts, suntan pantyhose, breezy ing quite popular as well as the more tradi- disco dresses, overalls and so forth. tional longer lengths.

Futuristic Fashions Afros stuck around throughout most of the What was futuristic-looking to the people of ‘70s, slowly decreases in size with each pass- the 1970s looks dated and even a bit silly to ing year. Even by the decade’s end, however, those in the early 21st century. But, that’s half they were still popular. the charm. Full beards were common sights on men, as The creators/costumers usually took existing were pronounced (and even huge) sideburns. fashions and put a “futuristic” spin on them. Ditto for big mustaches. Then there was chest Jumpsuits and tunics were especially popu- hair! Lots and lots of chest hair. lar for this. As mentioned earlier, white was considered very futuristic, especially with one Weapons color to add a splash to the look (sometimes Futuristic series usually featured high-tech more than one color). Silver and black were ranged weapons, especially laser guns. Keep also common colors used with the purpose of in mind that budgets were tight, so many such seeming futuristic. weapons were relatively simple looking. Such Sampleweapons file (along with other gadgets) tended to Not all sci-fi shows followed these colors, be very angular in shape and chunky in size. however. Many took a more grounded ap- proach, using a lot of earth tones/browns. Vehicles The colors were more subdued and the styles Series that took place in the future were lad- were more utilitarian. en with spaceships, aircraft, cars and every other type of vehicle one could imagine. As with weapons, many shows had very limited budgets to work with, so the vehicles often looked a bit cheap, though there are numer- ous exceptions.

Most vehicles were pretty blocky but with an attempt at making them look streamlined and sleek. Whites and grays were almost universally used for the color of vehicles in these shows.

17 18 Chapter 1 Introduction robots. Robots were seldomlarger thanthat, less than a foot tall to human-sized combat and sizes, from boxy littlerobots thatstood Another sci-fistaple, robots came inallshapes Robots extraordinary intelligence orwisdom). fora visualshorthand alienraces possessing perhaps enlarged noggins (the latter was often colors, extra arms that never actually move or ent skin colors, elongated ears, odd hairstyles/ or aliensthatlooked like humanswithdiffer budget, whichresulted inbarely “alien”aliens shows, however, hadto make dowithapitiful see in big-budget films of the era. Most of the high-quality aliens; aliens you would expect to ficient budget to accommodate surprisingly the decidingfactor. Afew series hadasuf ated from series to series, withbudget being The level ofdetail for thelookofaliensfluctu of thegenre, even backthen. in asciencefictiongame,asthey were staples We would beremiss ifwe didn’t discuss aliens Aliens constraints. given thebudgets quite believable, robots thatwere ingenuity to concoct teams usedgreat The specialeffects tically everywhere! seemed to beprac actor. “Cute” robots worn byahuman up that couldn’t be lating a robot get- expense) ofarticu the difficulties(and however, dueto Sample file - - - - - poignant for gamers. they have traits thatmake them particularly essarily because oftheirquality,butbecause define thegenre. Others were chosennot nec they are amazing or iconic series that helped runners. Somewere includedsimplybecause tremely usefulfor fiction television shows that we feel are ex We have included a selection of 1970s science Toward thebeginningofchapter, of thisrulebook. once youread therelevant section sense to youright now, buttheywill The numbers won’t make much • SFX=(ofcourse!) • C=Cheese • R=Recurring • P=Plot • T=Thematic which Dialitis. an abbreviation. This lets you know On each Dial, in red text, you’ll see of sorts. tion. Think ofthemasbenchmarks each of the shows we list in this sec to seewhattheDialswould befor We felt itmight beusefulfor readers tain aspects of the show as a whole. ries hasfive Dialsthatmeasure cer we briefly mentioned thateachSe What AreThese Recommended Viewing Knobs? Retrostar Players andShow ------Ark II (1976) only a fraction of the humans This kidvid series opened alive. The survivors boarded each episode with a voice- every spaceworthy vessel they over narration: “For millions could scrounge up and head- of years, Earth was fertile and ed into the unknown to find the rich. Then pollution and waste long-lost thirteenth colony: the began to take their toll. Civi- planet Earth. lization fell into ruin. This is the world of the 25th century. The show focused on a hand- Only a handful of scientists ful of core characters, most of remain, men who have vowed which were members of the to rebuild what has been de- Colonial military: the heroic stroyed. This is their achieve- Apollo, the roguish Starbuck, ment: Ark II, a mobile store- the wise Commander Adama, house of scientific knowledge, as well as a few others. Their manned by a highly trained convoy of spaceships faced a crew of young people. Their wide variety of sticky situations, mission: to bring the hope of many of which were related to a new future to mankind.” the pursuing Cylons.

With an ethnically diverse cast, Battlestar Galactica is one of including the commander of the most archetypal shows the Ark II (Jonah), his two young of the milieu. Every player or peers (Ruth and Samuel) and, Showrunner should watch at of course, their talking chim- least a few episodes. The writ- panzee (Adam). Together, they travelled the ing is outstanding and the acting is top flight. wasteland in their 44-foot long mobile lab that Even the special effects were well done, espe- looked much like a futuristic recreational ve- cially considering it had a television budget. hicle, helping pockets of civilization out Samplehow- file ever they could. The show had no violence to speak of, so it lacked the sheer excitement of Speaking of its nighttime counterparts. Still, the stories were Dials... good, cheesy fun and well worth a watch. Many series undewent changes from Battlestar Galactica (1978-79) one season to the next, especially “Fleeing from the Cylon tyranny, the last bat- after the first season. Some were tlestar, Galactica, leads a rag-tag fugitive fleet relatively minor; others were drastic. on a lonely quest...a shining planet known as Cast changes, different focuses, new Earth.” These words, spoken by the late, great goals... all of these things happened. Lorne Greene, concluded each episode, neatly In most cases, the aspects covered summing up the concept of the entire show. by the Dials changed little if at all. Buck Rogers was an exception to To elaborate, the Twelve Colonies of Mankind that; as such, its Season 2 Dials are were led to believe that the Cylons (warrior given in a text box. robots who likely destroyed their reptilian cre- ators) finally sought peace after a war that lasted a thousand years. It was a sham. The Cylons destroyed all of the colonies, leaving 19 20 Chapter 1 Introduction proved quite anasset to the organization. He ate. Hispiloting, combat andtactical skills the protection Defense oftheEarth Director after he went into spaceand was now under been devastated by nuclear weapons shortly Century. Hequicklylearned thattheworld had years, untilrevived bythedenizens ofthe25th frozen inhisspacecraft for over five-hundred Buck Rogers was effectively cryogenically Due to alife malfunction,astronaut support (1979-81) Buck Rogers in the 25th Century after thesecondseason. of theseries. Even Blake himselfwent missing The titular“7”changedthroughout thecourse Terran Federation. preparing to wage war onthe escaping in that spacecraft, overcoming thedefenses and however, was Blake andcrew able. Whattheydidn’t expect, ing theprisoners to beexpend the craft’s defenses, consider craft afterbeing repelledby and several others to board the prison transport shipsentBlake the Federation crew aboard the ing astrange alienspacecraft, prison planet. Uponencounter on boguscharges andsentto a domed city,butwas arrested survivor. Hereturned to the traitor), leaving Blake theonly tion security forces (thanks to a ing was interrupted byFedera the past,filledhimin. The meet rebels whoworked withhimin the leader of anewer group of such activities, butBran Foster, Roj hadnomemoryofany fight againsttheoppressors. ganization ofpolitical dissidents whotried to learned thathewas oncetheleaderofanor Federation, theseeminglyaverage Roj Blake In asterile future ruledbythedespotic Terran Blake’s 7(1978-81) - - - - - Sample file - - fond ofhaving to take orders la, despite thefact thathe’snot es. Kane hasdesignsonArda mander oftheDraconian forc was joined by Kane, thecom her concubine of sorts. She over and to Earth make Buck dala, whose goalswere to take the femme fatale, Princess Ar of thevillainywas provided by During the first season, much around byTwiki. of asmalldiskthatwas packed er namedDr. Theopolis, whotook theform “ambuquad” robot Twiki andsentientcomput Directorate leaderDr. Huer, thediminutive ours) CommanderWilma Deering, theDefense was joinedbythe“ballsy”(Buck’swords, not first season,however. ond seasondoesnot detract from thestellar tressing change.The less-than-wonderful sec with littleauthority was perhaps themostdis tary big-shot to asofter, less capable damsel Wilma Deering’s transition from atough, mili stars insearch ofnew pockets ofhumanity. focus beingonexploring the pearing altogether andthe most ofthecharacters disap an entirely different show, with The secondseasonwas almost full series. came whentheshow hitasa was more defiant than hebe choice. Inthepilot movie, Kane peror, however, sohehas little from her. Herfather istheem as follows: T-5 P-4 R-4 C-5SFX-5 For Season2ofBuckRogers, theDialsare ------Doctor Who (1963-1989) (1975) The stranger known simply as “the Doctor” This series was legendary TV producers Sid comes from a remote civilization from another and Marty Krofft’s foray into the science-fic- planet that long ago mastered the technolo- tion territory. Viewers familiar with the other gy to travel not only through space, but also Krofft shows from the 70s and 80s will cer- through time. He uses a time tainly recognize their style machine that’s also a highly throughout the show. It cen- functional spaceship and, on tered on the bumbling duo of the outside, looks like a Brit- blue collar-style, coverall-wear- ish police phone booth from ing NASA maintenance workers the 1950s. Seemingly capable Barney (Chuck McCann) and to go anywhere in time and Junior (Bob Denver, TV’s Gilli- space (with a few plot-driven gan from Gilligan’s Island), and exceptions), the Doctor and his their furry alien companion companions travel to ever new Honk. The latter was a female spots where they invariably of her species, and could com- have to solve a mystery and municate only through literal- right some wrongs: it can be a ly “honking” the horn-shaped dictator or tyrant, a bunch of tube sticking out of her head. evil robots, or a hidden mon- Of course, this would get ter- ster or alien that is ultimately ribly annoying to television revealed and defeated or driv- viewers’ ears very, very soon. en away thanks to the Doctor. Since he remains strongly op- A children’s comedy show pro- posed to violence and weap- duced in 15 episodes of 25 min- ons, he always has to rely on utes each, Far Out Space Nuts his wits, ingenuity, scientific was clearly among the batch of background and verbal skills to light-hearted and slapstick sort beat his enemies. Sampleof sci-fi file shows that took nothing very seriously at all. The heroes This formula could be retold of the show got themselves in a in hundreds of variations, and allowed for a few sticky situations due to clownish misunder- great variety of sets, locations, costumes, and standings or mere coincidence. While they were so forth, which is only one of the reasons that frequently captured and hindered by strange Doctor Who as a program became so long- alien creatures--typically a new species in ev- lived and popular. Children watched it, as did ery episode--they got by using their goofy and their parents and grandparents. lovable antics, and were never in any grave danger. Space-type locations and aliens were During the 1970s, the role of the Doctor was simply used as a template for verbal and phys- first played by Jon Pertwee (1970 to 1974), fol- ical comedy, other planets and their denizens lowed by Tom Baker (1974 to 1981). That de- were just a good reason for the heroes to act cade saw some of the series’ best plots, the confused or crack more jokes. The Space Nuts’ introduction of the Whomobile, the robotic dog spaceship prop was based on the actual Apollo K9, and the master villain Davros, creator of Lunar Module from the sixties. the Daleks. Random trivia: Patricia Maloney, the actress in the “Honk” costume, also went on to play the little Wookie Lumpy in the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special in 1978. 21 22 Chapter 1 Introduction clear to everyone thatthiswasn’t ina Earth used by alien civilizations. It soon became cavemen, giantplans, andruinsofbuildings al world with three moons, full of dinosaurs, mysterious universe: asavage, primordi gigantic waterfall andlandedinanew and plained every time. They plummeted down a a routine expedition,” asthethemesongex Holly -were ontheirinflatable raft while“on called RickalongwithsonWill anddaughter Three members oftheMarshall family -adad Land oftheLost(1974-76) much, despite these modifications. cast shake-up. The show’s feel never changed fill 30-minute episodes)andsomething ofa change (from 15-minute serial-like episodesto about manyalterations, includingaformat The shift from Season 1 to Season 2 brought there was no tomorrow! He chewed thescenerylike ery timehewas onscreen. that hestole theshow ev so wonderfully over-the-top portrayal ofthevillainwas mention here, asSidHaig’s Dragos deserves a special with slimy,brown seaweeds. looked like theywere covered and hisstrange minionsthat Cosmos” known as Dragos against the evil “Master of the ed colleaguesastheyfought asteroid base),andhisassort the sameexterior prop ofthe (thus allowing themto re-use den sectionofSpaceAcademy tion thatoperated outofahid an agentofasecret organiza this series, we followed Jason, any links between thetwo. In Academy, there were hardly morning kivid show, Space technically aspin-offofanother Saturday Even thoughJasonofStar Commandwas Jason ofStar Command(1978-81) - - - - Sample file - - only thebeginning. mini crossbows... andthatwas laughable, butcool-looking - hostilebeingsarmed with frog-like, big-eyedSleestaks encountered intheform ofthe turn. Recurring enemies were ways lookingfor away to re adventures anddiscoveries, al and rocks, andhadmanyodd what theycouldfrom plants ape-like Pakuni people,built They madefriends withthe a hungryTyrannosaurus Rex. regularly hadto chaseaway their new homeinarocky cave, where they separate, closeduniverse. The Marshalls made prehistoric dinosaur-filled time, but an entirely friend, the SandmannamedFrancis, dogged escaping withthelovely Jessica. His former tioned theorder ofthingsandendedup the Sandmen.OneSandman, Logan,ques being hunted by security officers known as ple have managed to escape thecity,despite whichendedintheirdeath. Somepeo thirty, dergo anelaborate ceremony attheageof was ahitch,however. Every citizen would un given everything theycouldever want. There lived theirlives outinautopian fashion, being ture inwhichthecitizens oftheDomedCity this series was set inapost-apocalyptic fu Based onthe1976filmofsamename, Logan’s Run (1977-78) hand puppets. A groovy mixture, definitely! a combination of stop-motion animation and For its many creature scenes, theseries used 1991, andlater afeature filmwith Will Ferrell. make with an all-new cast in so popularitspawned are 1980s and90s.Itwas infact tion andreruns, well into the had a long life in syndica Lost Krofft,and Marty fantasy spearheaded by Sid A bizarre andcaptivating ‘70s became aculthitand Land ofthe ------the duo’s trail at every turn, as they set out time warp to Earth in the year 3085--or per- to find the mysterious place known as Sanc- haps much later, since the date is debatable. tuary. They eventually met a human-look- Actor Roddy McDowall served as the main ing robot named Rem, who link between the films and the accompanied them on their TV series, playing Galen. This journey. Together, they came did not mean reprising a role, upon various survivors of the though, as he had played two apocalypse, each one posing different chimpanzee charac- a unique problem that had to ters in the movie series. be dealt with in different ways. Most of the stories revolved The special effects were ex- around escaping and hiding tremely uneven, ranging from from mortal danger, like Bat- pretty spectacular for the time tlestar Galactica and Logan’s to embarrassingly bad (one ro- Run would do a few years later: bot in particular stiid out as be- The humans, Virdon and Burke, ing comically bad, as were the were on the run just because effects used for laser blasts). they were self-determined hu- The pilot had better special ef- mans in a world controlled fects than the rest of the series, by intelligent apes (gorillas, as it borrowed heavily from the chimps, and orangutans); Ga- theatrical film’s footage. On av- len was hunted for disobeying erage, though, the series held the apes’ rigid laws, mainly by its own decently enough with clinging to the belief that hu- the other shows on television. mans had not always been a subservient race, and it was Logan’s Run was initially a rat- not a natural law that the apes ings success (allegedly, actress were in charge. On their trav- Heather Menzies’ extremely short skirtSample had els, the file three friends were helping out human something to do with that), but the network communities and searching for ways to estab- constantly pre-empted the show, causing those lish peace. ratings to plummet until it was cancelled after the first season. Quark (1977-78) In the perplexing space-faring future of 2222, Planet of the Apes (1974) planets and civilizations have organized as This series of 14 hour-long episodes was based the United Galaxies. With the thousands of loosely on the series of five theatricalPlanet of spaceships flying around, they have a gar- the Apes movies of the years directly preced- bage disposal organization tasked with pick- ing it (1968 through 1973), the first of which ing up other spaceships’ garbage loads - the was in turn based loosely on a satirical French pompously named United Galactic Sanitation novel by Pierre Boulle. Patrol. The titular hero of the show is actually Captain Adam Quark (played by Richard Ben- In the TV version, audiences were treated to jamin), commanding a cruiser of said Patrol, the adventures of a trio of heroes: former as- little more than a garbage scow in space. His tronauts Alan Virdon and Peter Burke, and their bossy superior Dr. Palindrome sends Quark very human-like chimpanzee friend Galen. and his colorful crew on missions that are os- The astronauts were Americans from the year tensibly only about going to yet another sys- 1980, and their ship had been cast through a tem to pick up trash, but turn out to be rife

23 24 Chapter 1 Introduction vealed whichwas which. and aclone,whonever re actresses, allegedly an original Betties, playedbyidentical twin sonalities, andthesexy twin tween its maleandfemale per would unexpectedly switchbe by amaleactor, abeingwho “transmute” Gene/Jean,played memorable ideasincludedthe ly bordering ontheridiculous: ing strange sci-fitraits, clear members besideQuark hav late 70s, withbasically allcrew is weird” premise popularinthe ies. Itrunsonacomedic“space ters from sci-fishows andmov vious parodies ofother charac either broad stereotypes orob ers andcharacters thatwere tracks, doubleentendre one-lin sitcom, complete with laugh ed like atraditional 25-minute This show was filmedandact believably badluck. but he always gets himself in a fix due to un kind ofadventure Quark isreally wishingfor, super-weapons, andinterstellar crises. Justthe with strange occurrences--invasions, disasters, cover it,butwill focus onthose seasonsthatfell into ourdecade ofchoice. bulk ofashow existed outside ofthe1970s(Dr. Whoisafine example ofthis), we still If itexisted, atanypoint,during thediscodecade, it’sfair gamefor usto cover. Ifthe So, whatdoes began inthe1970scouldhave charged into the‘80s. series thatstarted inthe1960smight have rolled right oninto the‘70s, whileonethat Not every series neatlybeganandendedinthe1970s.There was somespillover. A Retrostar The RetrostarYears cover? ------Sample file - or less byaccident. across andbecame iconic,more ficient way ofgetting thepoint hanced powers. Itwas acost-ef the useofSteve Austin’sen tion filmingthataccompanied ic” soundeffects andslow-mo ing hallmarks are the“electron One oftheshow’s mostendur of asecret agent. formation, acting as something with theOfficeofScientificIn matically. Healignedhimself agility andeyesight hadbeenincreased dra never know itbylookingathim.Hisstrength, fectively turned himinto acyborg, thoughyou’d naut Steve Austinunderwent asurgery thatef Injured whenhisairship crashed, NASAastro The SixMillionDollarMan(1973-78) foot himself. mad scientists... andeven Big and spiesto criminals and guys, ranging from cyborgs against avast array ofbad frequently found himselfup a certainblue-collarflair. He devoted anddetermined with eryman typeofhero; honest, Austin came across asanev ------Six Million Dollar Man is a perfect example of Space: 1999 (1975-77) a show set in contemporary times with rela- When an unknown cosmic calamity caused the tively few overt science fiction aspects. Yes, nuclear waste stored on the moon to explodes, Austin used his bionics often, but it was low the planetary satellite was knocked out of key compared to other sci-fi shows of the era. Earth’s orbit and sent hurtling through space… along with the inhabitants of Moonbase Alpha! The Secrets of Isis The moon effectively became (1975-77) an uncontrollable space vessel High school science teacher that goes through a black hole Andrea Thomas finds the an- and, later, through a couple of cient Tutmose amulet while on “space warps”. The denizens an archaeological dig in Egypt. travel through the universe, She found that by exposing the looking for a new home and amulet to the sun and saying a encountering all manner of simple invocation (“Oh mighty alien civilizations and uncanny Isis!”), she would transform into phenomena along the way. the very embodiment of the goddess Isis. This granted her The two primary characters “the powers of the animals and of the show were Command- the elements.” er John Koenig and Dr. Helena Russell, though there was never The majority of her adven- a shortage of supporting char- tures revolved around using acters involved in the stories. her powers to help teenagers As was common in these se- get out of danger that inevi- ries, the dynamics of the show tably arose due to their own shifted for the second season. poor decisions. Given that this For starters, some characters was a kidvid series, (such as Professor Bergman there was a moral to be found Sampleand Paul file Morrow) disappeared, in almost every story and the while new ones debuted (in- writers weren’t afraid to blud- cluding the Psychon science geon the viewer with it using all the subtlety of officer, Maya). Additionally, the storylines -be a jackhammer. came less nuanced and more action-oriented.

One distinctive feature of the show was that Isis would sometimes break the fourth wall, looking at the camera with a wry wink or ad- dressing the viewer in other ways.

“It’s better to live as your own man than as a fool in someone else’s dream.” — Commander John Koenig Space:( 1999)

25 26 Chapter 1 Introduction opposite ofwar is more often slavery.” posite of war was peace. We found outthehard way that the “I came from aworld where thepeople believed thatthe op gaming fodder, whichiswhyitmakes thislist. isodes. However, it has a lot to offer in terms of special effects employed after the first few ep that reputation, especially in terms oftheinept the worst series ofalltime.Itdeserves muchof The Starlost iswidelypannedasbeingoneof exploring theship. Eventually, allthree escaped, a collisioncourse withasun. and thattheshipwas on one biosphere outofmany Cypress Corners was merely each other. Devon learned that the fact thattheydon’t love despitea mannamedGarth, arranged for Rachel to marry Unfortunately, the Elders have with awoman namedRachel. man namedDevon was inlove Amish-like Cypress Corners, a In onesuchcivilization, the were onashipatall. tions beganto forget thatthey of years, thevarious civiliza able to interact. Afterhundreds kept thebiospheres from being dent that killed the crew also tures andsocieties. The acci worlds, eachwithits own cul intents andpurposes, sealed biospheres, whichwere for all years ago. This ship carried 53 space. The crew hadbeenkilledhundreds of called “Ark” drifts uncontrolled through deep In thefar-flung future, an enormous spaceship The Starlost (1973-74) - - - Sample file — CommanderApollo ( - Moonbase 3(1973) Man From Atlantis (1977-78) Future Cop(1977) Electra Woman andDynaGirl (1976-77) Doomwatch (1970-72) S(1969-70) Department Bigfoot andWildboy (1977-79) Ace ofWands (1970-72) in ourlist. be found beyondwhatwe included entertaining sciencefictionseries to checking out.There were plentyof list, itdoesn’t meanthatitisn’t worth make the“Recommended Viewing” Just because show aparticular didn’t Wonder Woman (1975-79) UFO (1970-71) The Tomorrow People (1973-79) The Incredible Hulk(1978-82) The Fantastic Journey (1977) The BionicWoman (1976-78) Star Maidens(1976) (1977-79) Sapphire andSteel (1979-82) Salvage 1(1979) Mork andMindy(1978-82) Other Series Battlestar Galactica - ) The Elder’s Data File or How to Use This Book

The Elders have passed down these data files, and entrusted them to you.

Chapter 1 is an overview of Retrostar, and how and why it came to be. In the future there was science, and it was far out.

Every Retrostar game is a Series. Chapter 2 contains information on the com- ponents of a Series, and how to create or manage your own.

Every game needs players, and Chapter 3 discusses players and their roles in a Retrostar Series.

The Intention System might be a futuristic pan-democratic society, or it might be the game mechanic, overseen by the Elders of Fate, wherein players and their characters interact with the worlds around them. The Intention System is detailed in Chapter 4.

Lightswords, laser pistols, and love interests, or should it be special effects and sexy aliens? Chapter 5 breaks down SFX in a Retrostar Series, as well as characters of the non-player caste.

Contained within Chapter 6 is instruction on how to oversee a weekly Series on the teevee, balancing the writers room, ratings, and letting all the actors shine in their roles. Or, if you’re in a bind, and your friends are dropping by with pizza, Tab soda, and Billy beer, and you have to run an episode of Retrostar, how to do so on the fly, and your players will get to have their moments too! This is episodic television, andSample episodic television file has rules! The 5-Act Struc- ture and the 60-minute program are covered in detail in Chapter 7.

Assembled across multiple realities is Chapter 8, recounting exemplar Series, so that those that follow the Elders may learn from them; or a full lineup of prime-time programming with example Series.

An actual transmission of the Intention System is transcribed in Chapter 9.

Chapter 10 is how Retrostar came to be, and how to fill your own space adven- tures with disco balls.

The 1st appendix contains notes meant only for Showrunners, in relation to the exemplar Series in the 8th Chapter.

The 2nd appendix catalogs and summarizes the most salient universal truths, for easy reference.

27