As established through a comic-strip montage opening sequence drawn by Ty Templeton, the premise held that Rick, a fan of speculative fiction, becomes disturbed by news broadcasts describing the alarming state of the world and decides that he must escape the Earth. He broadcasts his show each week, with help from his computer companion Nan-Cy (short for NANo-CYbernetic 3000), from an orbiting space station. The show's presentation was fully wrapped in its quirky premise, featuring on-screen graphics and background sounds to simulate a space station atmosphere, "using active, innovative cinematography to ease the visual boredom that often accompanies interviews with talking head(s)."[3]
The week's topic was introduced with a few opening thoughts before launching into various interview clips. In each episode, Rick would interview a number of authors and artists, along with filmmakers, animators, and the occasional futurist. Topics that were discussed ran the gamut: censorship, superheroes, humour, religion, fairy tales, Mars, cyberpunk, war, overpopulation, and sex. Episodes were 30 minutes in length (having no commercial breaks on public television) and typically showcased six to fourteen interviewed creators alongside bridging commentary from Rick. Roughly six hundred interviews were conducted and aired by the time the show's run came to an end.
The interviews were conducted at science fiction and comic book conventions by production team members Mark Askwith, Shirley Brady, and Gregg Thurlbeck. The majority of the shows were edited by Brian Karn. The series was produced and directed by Jamie Mandelkau (season 1) and by Gregg Thurlbeck (seasons 2 through 5).
The show was cancelled in 1994 for unspecified reasons,[4] possibly relating to TVOntario's intended programming diversification.[5] According to Rick Green, the signature chair from the space station sat in his garage until "raccoons pooed all over it..." and it was discarded.[6]
Availability
In the 1990s, the series premiered with select episodes from Season 2 onward being broadcast in the United States on PBS, and in Canada on the sci-fi specialty channel Space (which producer Mark Askwith had gone on to develop and continues to helm) and on Discovery Channel Canada.
Due to contractual restrictions made with interviewees at the time of the show's production, there is no commercial release on video or DVD. In 2011, TVOntario posted several episodes from the series in a lower resolution in their public archives.[7] In addition, many episodes (bar the first series) are available for viewing by appointment at The Merril Collection of Science Fiction, Speculation and Fantasy [1] public library located in downtown Toronto, Canada. The Merril Collection's tapes are reputed to be Askwith's own, donated to the collection for preservation. Interview clips from the show are also included with the CD-ROM in newer editions of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction by John Clute.[4]
