First known science fiction television program

Feb.11th, 1938

Today in 1938, the first known science fiction television program was produced by the BBC. It was a live broadcast adaptation of the play “R.U.R.” and was the only science fiction program the BBC produced before it was forced to shut down because of World War II. When the BBC resumed production in 1946, it broadcast a live performance of “R.U.R.” that had been specially adapted for television.

“R.U.R.” is a play by Czech writer Karel Capek. The acronym that make up the play’s title stood for Rossum’s Universal Robots. The word “robot” was coined especially for the play by Capek’s brother Josef. It comes from the word “robota,” which literally means “serf labor” in Czech, Slovak, and Polish and also carries the connotation of drudgery or hard work.

Capek’s robots are human beings that are assembled, much like automobiles, out of factory-made biological components. They are a stripped-down version of humanity, however, containing only the components that are necessary for labor. Since they are not paid for their labor, the robots soon compromise most of the workforce and become the basis of the economy.

The robots eventually rebel, killing all of the natural-born humans but one, whom they recognize as a fellow laborer. When they realize that the humans they killed destroyed the formula for making new robots, they charge the last surviving human with figuring out how to recreate it. He is unsuccessful.

Two of the robots, however, develop human feelings and fall in love with each other. Through these two, the world will be repopulated with feeling, caring robots – in essence, humans. A science fiction explanation for the 'Adam & Eve' story.

The broadcast’s cultural legacy is tremendous, having paved the way for future television science fiction programs like "Star Trek", “Doctor Who”, "Battlestar Galactica", and adaptations like “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” which in turn have helped spread the joys of science fiction throughout the world.