They have taken the form of immigrants, invaders, lovers, heroes, cute creatures that want our candy or monsters that want our flesh. For more than a century, movies and television shows have speculated about the form and motives of alien life forms. Movies first dipped their toe into the genre in the 1940s with Superman cartoons and the big screen's first story of alien invasion (1945's The Purple Monster Strikes). More aliens landed in the 1950s science fiction movie boom, followed by more television appearances (The Invaders, My Favorite Martian) in the 1960s. Extraterrestrials have been on-screen mainstays ever since. This book examines various types of the on-screen alien visitor story, featuring a liberal array of alien types, designs and motives. Each chapter spotlights a specific film or TV series, offering comparative analyses and detailing the tropes, themes and cliches and how they have evolved over time. Highlighted subjects include The Eternals, War of the Worlds, The X-Files, John Carpenter's The Thing and Attack of the 50-Foot Woman.

More than 400 films and 150 television series have featured time travel - stories of rewriting history, lovers separated by centuries, journeys to the past or the (often dystopian) future. This book examines some of the roles time travel plays on screen in science fiction and fantasy. Plot synopses and credits are listed for TV series from England, Canada, the UK and Japan, as well as for films from around the world. Tropes and plot elements are highlighted. The author discusses philosophical questions about time travel, such as the logic of timelines, causality (what's to keep time-travelers from jumping back and correcting every mistake?) and morality (if you correct a mistake, are you still guilty of it?).

L. Frank Baum's novel, The Wizard of Oz, has spawned 39 official sequels, over 100 unofficial sequels, well nearly 40 films, several TV series, music videos, commercials, computer games, radio shows and more. It has received a number of different interpretations: an African-American slant, a Turkish low-budget fantasy, Japanese anime, and American pornography, among others. This book provides synopses and basic bibliographical information for the forty Oz books in the original series and a number of related books by the Royal Historians of Oz; synopses and credits for live performances (videos and made-for-television performances are included here) based on the Oz books and on Baum's non-Oz fantasies; comic book and comic strip adaptations of Oz; synopses and credits for radio shows and dramatic performances on audiobook or vinyl records; synopses and credits for theatrical films and shorts; documentaries and educational films; synopses and credits for television series and episodes based on Oz; video and computer games; useful websites; and short scenes on television or in movies that have an Oz element.

American films, like America itself, have long been fascinated by the threat of outsiders posing as citizens to destroy the American way of life. This book tracks real-world fears appearing in the movies--Nazi agents, Japanese-American spies, Communist Party subversives, Islamic sleeper cells--as well as the science-fiction threats that play to the same fears, such as alien body-snatchers and android doppelgangers. The work also examines fears inspired by World War I German spies, the Japanese-American internment and the McCarthyite witch-hunts and shows how these issues, and others, played out on screen.

Since the first SF film produced for television - 1968's ""Shadow on the Land"" - nearly 600 of the films initially released to television have had science fiction, fantasy, or horror themes. Featuring superheroes, monsters, time travel, magic, and other elements of their big screen counterparts, these films range from the phenomenal to the forgettable, from low-budget two-hour films to blockbuster mini-series. Some, like ""The Ewok Adventure"", were based on theatrical releases, while others, like ""Babylon 5"", have developed into very popular series. Information on all of these films released in America from 1968 through 1998 is collected here. Entries are arranged alphabetically and include cast and credits, a plot synopsis, and qualitative commentary, as well as notes on interesting points (e.g., future stars, salutes to other films). Appendices include a listing of films that, while not strictly genre movies, include some science fiction, horror, or fantasy elements; a chronology of the films; and a guide to alternate video or syndication titles.