Sources used in this document:

In this discussion of the science fiction genre in TV, three popular TV shows in three different periods are analyzed based on their depiction of scifi and its role or effects to society. The Twilight Zone, Quantum Leap and the X-Files are considered top-rating and among the most popular scifi shows in the 1960s, 1980s and 1990s (to 2000), respectively. This analysis discussion posits that these scifi shows reflected society's attitude towards technological progress and development of the period, and to a certain degree, documents the level of scientific and technological progress and capabilities of human society of that time.

This mirroring of society's attitude towards technological progress and development is apparent in the focus of these scifi TV shows. Specific examples of these can be found in the following examples (episodes) of each scifi program mentioned: The Twilight Zone's "It's a Good Life," depicting the life of the child Anthony, who terrorized his town armed with his mental powers and terrible imagination; Quantum Leap's "Disco Inferno," which showed the main character Sam assuming the role of another man through his quantum leaps, and was reminded that he had a brother who died in the Vietnam War; and the X-Files' "Soft Light," which illustrates how deathly the consequences of a discovery in physics can be, both for the scientist, its unwitting victims, and even the government.

Through these episodes, audiences can see the pessimistic attitude that society has expressed with the increase in progress and development of science and technology. Twilight reflects the fearful aspect of science, especially when embodied in a child whose mental powers exceeded the individual's mature capability to control these powers. Quantum demonstrates the troubles an individual went through in order to "correct" and control the effects of his time-space experiment, while, on a similar vein, the X-Files episode "Soft Light" showed the adverse effects of an accidentally 'successful' experiment, especially when the success of the experiment meant the death of all living things exposed to this new "matter." To a certain extent, these three episodes also represent the different portrayals of scientific and technological capabilities and expected future trends of each period. Twilight contemplates the possibility of the mind possessing powers that can go beyond its perceived capabilities; Quantum breaks the time-space continuum and enters a parallel universe and assumes a different identity as an individual; and X-Files focuses on specific advancement in physics through the discovery of a new and powerful, yet deathly, dark matter.