It started with the networks making episodes of current series available on their websites for online viewing. Now, with the arrival of Hulu.com and CBS Classic, the options for online viewing of Science Fiction and Fantasy television shows from the past to the present have exploded.Hulu.com was started by NBC but they have also partnered with video providers such as FOX, NBC Universal, MGM, Sony Pictures Television, and Warner Bros. and therefore the site has quite a number of television shows available (the site also has movies available for viewing). The Science Fiction and Fantasy shows that Hulu.com offers available ranges from current shows such as Heroes and Journeyman to sixties classics such as Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and Bewitched. The site also has some hard to find series which have yet to find their way to DVD such as Exosquad and John Doe. Episode availability varies for each series. In some cases all episodes are offered, but with others only a sampling is available (especially frustrating with Exosquad, but hopefully more episodes and the missing eleventh are coming soon).
CBS Classic is an offshoot of their main website where they have started offering classic series from their vaults for online viewing. Currently, they have only three Science Fiction and Fantasy offerings: Star Trek (Original), The Twilight Zone, and MacGyver. All episodes of Star Trek and MacGyver are available for viewing, but just a sampling of Twilight Zone episodes from seasons one through three are currently available. Hopefully they will expand the list of Twilight Zone episodes soon and start making other series available as well.
ABC has yet to open up the vault on their website, but has made a nod in that direction by offering all four seasons of Lost for online viewing. The complete seasons one through four are available on their site in High Def streaming video. Several other ABC series are available on Hulu.com, such as Land of the Giants and Battlestar Galactica (original).
As far as video quality, I have found Hulu.com to be the best and simplest to use. It is basically click and play, and it never asked me to install new software or make updates to existing software. And the videos that I watched played with little or no interruption to service. CBS Classic played a little slower than Hulu.com, but it wasn’t too bad (and I am cursed with DSL so that could be contributing to the problem).
We have compiled a list of shows available on Hulu.com, CBS Classic, and ABC.com which currently comprises 50 series. We will continue to add to this list as new offerings become available. If you know of Science Fiction and Fantasy shows available at these sites that we have missed and/or of other (legitimate) sources for online viewing, please contact us as mail@axiomsedge-scifi.com.
-PSW
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