Tag: science fiction

Firstly: A. 1938

Secondly: C. Robot

On February 11, 1938, BBC Television broadcast a 35-minute adaptation of a section of Karel Čapek’s play R.U.R.—thus becoming the first science fiction piece ever aired on television. Although some low-quality still photographs survive, no recordings of the production are known to exist.

R.U.R. (Rossumovi Univerzální Roboti—(English: Rossum’s Universal Robots)) is a 1920 science fiction play by the Czech writer Karel Čapek. It introduced the word ‘robot’ to the English language and popularised science fiction as a genre. R.U.R. quickly gained influence and was translated into thirty languages by 1923. It was a commercial success in Europe and North America during its time.

In 1948, the BBC aired another adaptation, this time the entire play, running for 90 minutes but unfortunately, no audio or visual recordings of this version survive either. Patrick Troughton who played the robot Radius in this latter production played another sci-fi character when he became the Second Doctor in the BBC’s Doctor Who in 1966. 

Firstly, on 11 February in which year did the first science fiction piece ever aired on television make its debut?

A. 1938

B. 1945

C. 1950

Secondly, the play that was adapted for this television programme had, when originally published in 1920, introduced a new word to the English language. What was that word?

A. Cyborg

B. Droid

C. Robot

The answer will be posted later today.