Prisoners of Gravity

Prisoners of Gravity was a Canadian television news magazine program. Produced by TVOntario, the show was created by Mark Askwith and Daniel Richler, and was hosted by Rick Green. The series aired 139 episodes over five seasons from 1989 to 1994. The series explored speculative fiction—science fiction, fantasy, horror, comic books—and its relation to various thematic and social issues. 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)." 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.