Talk:Prisoners of Gravity

Season One episode list
As far as can be determined, this information is unavailable anywhere else online, nowhere at the Merril SF library, and may be lost even to series producer Mark Askwith. Presented here from my personal notes, I'm unsure how (or if) this list should be incorporated into the article but here it is for reference...

10000. aired: week of ~ Aug 21, 1989. (Pilot / test episode, aired only once on TVO as a series preview in late August 1989. Extended intro sequence was tightened down to 1-minute version for all subsequent episodes.) Topic: IRONY in comics. Features included: "Even Teddy Bears Get the Blues" b&w comic by Ty Templeton; early issues of Marvel's "The Incredible Hulk" compared to classic Frankenstein monster (and possibly a clip from "SwampThing" (1982 movie)).

10001. aired: Sep 11, 1989. "THE ABYSS" (1989 sci-fi); James Cameron discusses the film and its production challenges.

10002. aired: Sep 18, 1989. NUCLEAR WEAPONS: "Miracle Mile" (1988 drama); "If You Love This Planet" (1982 NFB documentary film)

10003. aired: Sep 25, 1989. ENVIRONMENT: More scenes from "The Abyss"; "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" (1989 comedy).

10004. aired: Oct 2, 1989. TIME TRAVEL: "Millenium" (1989 sci-fi); "Young Einstein" (1988 comedy); early "Fantastic Four" issues; "Flash Gordon"; "Quantum Leap" (TV show); "Swamp Thing"; "Excalibur" by Claremont & Alan Davis; "Fantastic Four" by Simonson; "West Coast Avengers" by Byrne.

10005. aired: Oct 9, 1989. ANIMATION 1: Animation Expo '89. (...boring NFB & indie shorts.)

10006. aired: Oct 16, 1989. ANIMATION 2: "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" (1988 animated film) (...plus other unremarkable crap.)

10007. aired: Oct 23, 1989. HORROR: "Halloween 5" (1989 movie); Wes Craven's "Shocker" (1989 horror film); Clive Barker.

10008. aired: Oct 30, 1989. THE AMERICAN NIGHTMARE: "Fat Man and Little Boy" (1989 docudrama film); Epic's "Neuromancer" graphic novel; Bob Kane's "Negative Man"; Captain America to turn 50 in 1990.

10009. aired: Nov 6, 1989. COMIC BOOK CONVENTIONS: The Toronto Comic Book & Sequential Art Expo.

10010. aired: Nov 13, 1989. SEX in SF and Comics

10011. aired: Nov 20, 1989. MISC.: "The Bear" (1988 family film); unknown journalist interviewed; "Tin Men" (toys?); Marvel stuff upcoming in the 90s: "Sub-Mariner", "Ghost Rider", "Spider-Man" by McFarlane; Classics Illustrated: "Through the Looking Glass" by Kyle Baker.

10012. aired: Nov 27, 1989. UFO ABDUCTION: Visitation

10013. aired: Dec 4, 1989. TIME TRAVEL 1: "The Past of Future Days" (Xmen); "A Brief History of Time" by Stephen Hawking. Rick informs us that time travel is such an interesting topic that it warrants continuation next episode...

10014. aired: Dec 11, 1989. TIME TRAVEL 2: "Back to the Future II" (1989 movie) clip; AMIGA computer animation ("BEE"); Nick Poliwko's "Tony Bravado: Trouble Shooter" (comic), "The Eden Wars"; "Dr. Strange"#12 misprint; Orson Scott Card's upcoming stuff in 1990: "The Redemption of Columbus", "Endless Night", "Ender's Game"; Ray Bradbury's paperback "A Sound of Thunder".

10015. aired: December 18 1989. (pre-Xmas episode '89) GRAPHIC NOVELS & other GIFT IDEAS for the Holidays: "The Year's Best Science Fiction"; William Gibson's "Neuromancer", "Count Zero", "Mona Lisa Overdrive"; "Little Nemo in Slumberland"(Fantagraphics reprint); "The Spirit" and "A Contract With God" by Will Eisner; "Fires" by Matioti(?); "RAW Classics" (comic); "Robocop"(comic) by Alan Grant, from Marvel; "DUNE" - Bakka: defined as 'one who weeps for all mankind'. Said comic items available at "The Beguiling", Toronto (...a shameless plug inserted by the show itself.); "X-Men"#98; "Daredevil"#225.

(That same week on TVO's "Imprint": A report on the "Arkham Asylum" graphic novel.)

10016. aired: Jan 8, 1990. (This episode came after a 2-week holiday hiatus.) HUMOUR: recycled pilot-episode clips from Ty Templeton, Ron Mann, more Ty Templeton... ; Kyle Baker's "The Cowboy Wally Show".

10017. aired: Jan 15, 1990. (The Coolest Episode Ever!!) MISC.: "Arkham Asylum" by Dave McKean and Grant Morrison. "Punisher War Journal" penciller Dave Ross explains the process of comic book production from script to store shelf; subtitled ANIME videos from U.S. Renditions, featuring clips from "Dangaio" and "Gunbuster".

10018. aired: Jan 22, 1990. MISC.: Clive Barker; "Dick Tracy" original comic strip & new movie trailer; "Carrothead" (comic); a "New York Times" January 14, 1990 article about Will Eisner; "MR. X"(comic); "Tremors" (1990 movie) clips; "DUNE" by Frank Herbert; Robert Heinlein's "Stranger In a Strange Land"; "Little Mermaid" (1989 movie); "The Snake".

10019. aired: Jan 29, 1990. MY LIFE IN COMICS: "Classics Illustrated"; "Alien Nation" (1990 comic) from Adventure Comics; "Ko Ko Yay" (?comic); "Street-Poet Ray" (1989 Marvel comic); "Freelance" (1940s); SF mags; SF writers.

10020. aired: Feb 5, 1990. HORROR Revisited: Clive Barker's "Nightbreed", "Hellraiser"; "Human Remains" by Craig T. Nelson; "In the Hills, the Cities" by John Bolton (from "Tapping the Vein").

10021. aired: Feb 12, 1990. SF's True North: Does it exist?: SF novels, Canadian writers; "Planet of the Apes" (1990 comic); Dave Ross pencils on "Wolverine"; SF Hotline 626-6901 (...dated phone number is now likely expired.)

10022. aired: Feb 19, 1990. MISC. (Dystopian visions): "Handmaid's Tale" (1989 movie); "Carnival of Souls" (1962 suspense movie) called "a subterranean classic... crudely poetic, genuinely creepy... eerily atmospheric chiller."; Frank Miller on "ROBOCOP 2" (1990 movie); "Fractals: The Mandelbrot Set", and "Big Numbers" by Moore & Sienkewicz; Classics Illustrated: "Great Expectations".

10023. aired: Feb 26, 1990. STAR TREK: the Old Generation: "The Man Trap"; "Spectre of the Gun"; "Space Seed"; "Omega Glory"; "The Enemy Within"; "Let This Be Your Last Battlefield"; "A Piece of the Action"; "The Trouble With Tribbles"; "Errand of Mercy"; "Devil in the Dark"; "The Changling"; "Tomorrow is Yesterday"; "City on the Edge of Forever"; "Mirror Mirror"; "Amok Time". Trek lexicon: "beam me up", "the engines can't take it", "phasers on stun".

10024. aired: March 5, 1990. (continued material from previous episode) STAR TREK, Too.: Gene RoddenBerry interviewed.

10025. aired: March 12, 1990. FANTASY: Terry Brooks; "Grendel" by Matt Wagner; Nintendo crap; "Mystery Train" (1989 movie) clip; "Far From Yokohama".

10026. aired: March 19, 1990. MISC. (Adaptations): "Dick Tracy: The Movie" - Disney Comics' adaptation 3-part prestiege format by Kyle Baker; "TMNT"(1990 movie) trailer; Dale Keown on "The Incredible Hulk" (#367) interview, anatomy, super-heroes; "Cartoon All-Stars" April 21st.

...Reruns or otherwise absent for the next 26 weeks. Season 2 began week of October 4, 1990.

Note that the season numbering prefix ("100xx") for these listed episodes is not official, merely added here for clarity. Topic titles may also be unofficial; any episode labelled "Misc" either didn't have an explicitly stated topic or isn't on my file. The first handful of episodes had a fairly poor signal-to-noise ratio (low content value), relying too much on movie junket pieces and promotional release footage to kill air time. The show didn't really find its familiar groove until a dozen episodes in, whereafter it picked up toward excellence.

...And yes, this is the living ghastly definition of "original research", taken verbatim from my own ancient records since no other copies exist - anywhere - not even at TVO. Their material was all destroyed when the nukes fell, I suppose...

~ G. 172.132.253.127 13:23, 20 August 2007 (UTC)