''Prophets of Science Fiction'' is an American

documentary television Television documentaries are televised media productions that screen documentaries. Television documentaries exist either as a television documentary series or as a television documentary film. *Television documentary series, sometimes called d ...

series produced and hosted by

Ridley Scott Sir Ridley Scott (born 30 November 1937) is a British film director and producer. Directing, among others, science fiction films, his work is known for its atmospheric and highly concentrated visual style. Scott has received many accolades thr ...

for the

Science Channel Science Channel (often simply branded as Science; abbreviated to SCI) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel features programming focusing on science related to wilderness survival, engineering, manu ...

. The program premiered on . The series covers the life and work of leading

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

authors of the last couple of centuries. It depicts how they predicted and, accordingly, influenced the development of scientific advancements by inspiring many readers to assist in transforming those futuristic visions into everyday reality. The stories are told through film clips, reenactments, illustrations and interviews. The first episode received mixed reviews. Commentators appreciated the approach of combining coverage of contemporary scientific research and biographical exposition, but criticized the series as "light on the substance and heavy on the exaggeration". The series' attempts to link

Mary Shelley Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (; ; 30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English novelist who wrote the Gothic fiction, Gothic novel ''Frankenstein, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' (1818), which is considered an History of scie ...

's ''

Frankenstein ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is an 1818 novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific ex ...

'' to developments such as

organ transplant Organ transplantation is a medical procedure in which an organ is removed from one body and placed in the body of a recipient, to replace a damaged or missing organ. The donor and recipient may be at the same location, or organs may be transpo ...

s, supercomputers and DNA research were described by one critic as far-fetched but by another as successful.

List of episodes

The series' first season consists of 8 one-hour episodes which aired on the Science Channel in November 2011 and February 2012.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Prophets Of Science Fiction English-language television shows 2010s American documentary television series 2011 American television series debuts Science Channel original programming Science fiction studies