At Flashbak: The Five Coolest Gadgets of 1980s Science Fiction TV (that aren’t from Star Trek or Doctor Who)

My latest article posted at Flashbak remembers the coolest gadgets of 1980s cult-television.  It wasn't a great time for gadgets (outside of Star Trek), especially in comparison to the seventies. And yet, some cool alien devices indeed showed up from time-to-time

Here's a snippet and the url (http://flashbak.com/the-5-coolest-gadgets-of-1980s-science-fiction-tv-that-arent-from-star-trek-or-doctor-who-21099/ )

"In the 1970s, the creators of science fiction television programming toiled to imagine what the future would look like as mankind stepped into the final frontier. Programs such as Gerry Anderson’s UFO (1970-1971) and Space: 1999 (1975 – 1977), The Starlost (1973) and Buck Rogers in the 25^th Century (1979-1981) all imagined new technologies -- and gadgetry -- that would make better man’s future.

Intriguingly, the 1980s quickly proved a very different story. If the 1970s series involved man heading out into the universe, the new decade focused instead on aliens coming to Earth. Series such as The Phoenix (1982), V (1985), Starman (1986), and War of the Worlds (1987-1989) for example, all saw the final frontier coming to us.

Although Star Trek: The Next Generation premiered in 1987 and brought space adventuring back to TV, the majority of the decade saw alien tools and gadgets, not man-made ones, taking center stage.

As before, I have labored not to include guns on the list, as guns serve quite a different purpose than gadgets do."