Customer Reviews

Science Fiction Serials: A Critical Filmography of the 31 Hard Sf Cliffhangers, With an Appendix of the 37 Serials With Slight Sf Content

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I looked forward to reading this book but found little of interest. For each of 31 serials, none of them "hard sf" despite the subtitle, Kinnard lists credits and cast, story, and comments. Often the story (a nearly unreadable plot summary) exceeds 42 column inches (as for MANHUNT OF MYSTERY ISLAND)--- for no known reasons--- while other serials get less than 6 column inches, with no rationale. I suspect the insanely expanded plot summaries were added to bulk out a very slender book-- less than 200 pages of text. Comments on the serials are repetitive and tend to lack insight or specifics. For instance, the gross overuse of rear projection in FIGHTING DEVIL DOGS is not mentioned. Misprints are few but often hilarous, as "Mephisto lashes Brand with a ship and stalks out of the room," on p. 111. There are odd errors, particularly phonetic spelling of character names!

I've been a serial fan since the Republic serials played on TV in the '60's and found this book to be a refreshing, well researched and even-handed treatment of its subject.