From The Next Generation and Enterprise to Farscape and Babylon 5, sci-fi television series in the US have multiplied since the 1980s. Jan Johnson-Smith shows how, in line with national political upheavals, this vibrant and perplexing genre set about expanding the myth of the Western frontier into deep space. She looks at the 'sense of wonder' or sublime that infuses science fiction, and traces the genre back to the heroic journeys of the Classical epic. She also explores too the juxtaposition of arcane language and technological jargon in modern American sci-fi television, revealing the extraordinarily alien, yet curiously familiar arena it creates. Jan Johnson-Smith is Senior Lecturer in Film and Head of Theory, Medi