CFP: [Film] Future Visions: Key Science Fiction and Fantasy Television Texts

full name / name of organization: 
Dr Lincoln Geraghty

I invite chapter proposals for an edited collection on science fiction
and fantasy television to be published by Scarecrow Press. This
collection will focus on the disparate visions of the past, present and
future science fiction and fantasy has offered television audiences. It
is the intention of this collection to not only shine new light on often
overlooked and forgotten series but also examine the “look” of science
fiction and fantasy television, determining how iconography (spaceships,
machines, technology), location and landscape (space, Earth, the city,
the countryside), mise en scéne, CGI and special effects, art and set
design, props, costume, lighting and manipulation of visual and virtual
space contribute to the creation of real, fully imagined, and often all
too familiar, future and alternate worlds. Establishing how the medium of
television can create a certain “look” for individual series will
inevitably lead contributors to discuss the cultural, historical, and
political impact these series had on both genre and society, however, it
will also be necessary to locate their visual aesthetics within broader
historical, industrial, and production contexts to fully understand their
cultural value. Notions of history and historical periodization clearly
influence how science fiction and fantasy television series were imagined
by their writers and designers and looked at the time of broadcast, but
consideration must also be given to how older series and their particular
looks are perceived by contemporary audiences and compared to more modern
series today. Therefore, analyses of modern remakes and reimaginings of
older series are welcomed, along with chapters that consider how history
impacts upon the visualisation of futuristic and fantastic texts.
        Intended as a broadly interdisciplinary volume on the look of
science fiction and fantasy television, this book aims at a wide audience
including students, academics and interested fans in the areas of film
studies, television studies, communications, anthropology, media and
cultural studies, politics, history, and visual culture. Contributors are
encouraged to approach their chosen texts from multiple angles in order
to fully assess the impact of television on the realisation of the
science fiction and fantasy genres. Possible texts to be considered
include:
Doctor Who (Old and New Series), Quatermass, The Twilight Zone, The Outer
Limits, Irwin Allen’s TV series (Lost in Space, Land of the Giants, Time
Tunnel etc.), Superhero and comic book series (Spider-Man, Captain
America, Batman, Heroes, Smallville etc.), British and American Cult TV
(Blake’s Seven, Red Dwarf, Star Trek), Animated Series and Children’s
science fiction and fantasy television (The Chronicles of Narnia, BBC
adaptations, cartoon series as extended toy adverts such The
Transformers, He-Man, etc.), Serials, mini-series and invasion narratives
(V, Day of the Triffids, etc.), Space and Spaceships (Babylon 5,
Battlestar Galactica, Farscape, Firefly, etc.), Earth bound series (The X-
Files, Survivors, Lost, etc.), Contemporary horror and fantasy texts
(Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Charmed, etc.).

Please send abstracts of 500 words and a short CV as email attachment
(word format) to Lincoln Geraghty at: Lincoln.Geraghty_at_port.ac.uk
Deadline for proposals is 14th December 2007.
Final chapters are to be no longer than 6,500 words including endnotes.
Scarecrow Press requires endnotes (both for references and further
explanation) highlighted in the text by superscript numbers and full
citations to be gathered at the end of each chapter in numerical order.
Submission of the completed manuscript to the publisher is scheduled for
September 2008, therefore, once accepted, the deadline for draft chapters
will be 31st May 2008 and all revisions to final drafts must be completed
by 31st July 2008.

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Received on Wed Oct 31 2007 - 07:39:32 EST

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