The Chronic Rift producer John S. Drew writes: In 1990, a group of students entered ELA Worldwide Studios, located in the basement of a welding factory in Hell’s Kitchen, NY, and produced a twenty-nine minute episode of what was supposed to be one of six episodes of a public access talk show on fantasy, science fiction, horror, and comic art called The Chronic Rift. After six episodes, they were having so much fun, they decided to continue until they got bored.
The show lasted four years and 100 episodes. It featured not only discussion, but news, reviews, and interviews on the various genres. It was featured in The Village Voice and lampooned on Comedy Central. Hosted by writer Keith R.A. DeCandido, noted individuals such as Isaac Asimov, George Takei, Ray Harryhausen, Gary Gygax, Thomas Disch, Wendy Pini, Marie Wallace, Ellen Datlow, and Kenneth Johnson appeared on the program.
And now, in honor of the twentieth anniversary of its premiere, Lucky Shot Productions is releasing the episodes for the public to download for free on iTunes and at the show’s home at chronicrift.com. Each week, an episode will be released as it was released back in 1990. Take a trip to a simpler time for many as we relive the genre as it was seen two decades ago.
SFScope was a bit delayed in announcing the releases, but Drew offers these descriptions of the first four episodes to be release:
3 September: “Science Fiction TV Shows That Flopped”—The Rift crew take a look at those television shows that didn’t catch the eye of the viewing public.
10 September: “J.R.R. Tolkien”—Recognized by the American Tolkien Society for its look at the fantasy author.
17 September: “Women in Science Fiction”—author Susan Shwartz, editor James Frenkel, and New York Public Library librarian Alice Dowd discuss the portrayal of women in the genre.
24 September: “Star Trek: The Next Generation“—On the eve of the show’s fourth-season premiere, then-Trek-editors Robert Greenberger and Dave Stern talk about what viewers might expect to see in the coming season.