Television, Cult, And The Fantastic

For more than forty years, science fiction, fantasy and horror have been captivating television audiences around the world. The imaginary worlds of Star Trek, The X-Files, Xena: Warrior Princess, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer have become resources for lucrative multimedia franchises, their fictions extending beyond television into films, novels, video games and a wide range of other merchandise. Cult television series, once associated with small and marginalized groups of avid viewers, have stormed the mainstream.

Television, Cult and the Fantastic considers the commercial success of cult television series in relation to other multimedia cultural phenomena such as Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter. The book examines their genres, themes, textual and marketing strategies, relating these to wider debates about audiences and consumers, the culture industry, technologies and storytelling.

Students taking courses in television studies, cultural and critical studies, cyberculture and cultural ownership will find this a fascinating introduction to cult TV.

Sara Gwenllian Jones is Lecturer in Television and Digital Media at Cardiff University. She is co-editor of Cult Television (University of Minnesota Press, 2003) and the online journal Intensities: the Journal of Cult Media (www.cult-media.com).