Paul Levinson

"Societies have always been shaped more by the nature of the media with which people communicate than by the content of the communication." - Marshall McLuhan Marshall McLuhan, one of Canada's most influential and controversial figures, burst into the center of media circles in North America with his strange and prophetic pronouncements - "electric light is pure information" - on advertising, television, and the emerging computer age. "Out Of Orbit" also pays tribute to McLuhan, his message, and the way in which his theories and words have penetrated and influenced the consciousness of today's media-literate society.

FANTASTIC VOYAGE charts a course of discovery through the history of science fiction, from its origins in the changing world of the Industrial Revolution through the explosion of genre magazines like Amazing Stories and onto the silver screen. See how the stories have evolved and matured over the years, and see sci-fi filmmaking unfold through clips from classics like A Trip to the Moon, King Kong, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Author Greg Bear, directors Robert Wise (Star Trek) and Roger Corman (The Pit and the Pendulum, Little Shop of Horrors) and Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner, are among the many insiders interviewed for this fascinating survey of a genre that continues to inspire, challenge and entertain us.

A young man's life is turned around with the help of a genie inside a lamp.

As a merchant sets off for market, he asks his three lovely daughters what they would like as a present upon his return. His youngest daughter, who he adoringly calls Beauty, replied. "All I'd like is a rose you've picked specially for me." Remembering his promise to Beauty he plucks a rose, enraging the owner of the rosebush, a fearsome boarlike beast who inhabits the nearby castle. The Beast agrees to spare his life, but on one condition, that he brings him the daughter for which he plucked the rose.