Screening the ‘futuribile’: Science and ethics in the Italian fantasceneggiato

In a study published in 2016, Leopoldo Santovincenzo and Carlo Modesti Pauer identified the fantasceneggiato as a genre that dominated the TV drama production in Italy in the 1960s and 1970s. Resulting from the unique blend of fantastic, thriller and science fiction, these sceneggiati remain uniquely central in the cultural imaginary of television viewers of the time. This article concentrates on two sci-fi/thriller hybrid fantasceneggiati , A come Andromeda (‘A for Andromeda’) (1972) and Gamma (1975), juxtaposing a close textual reading to a discussion of the institutional discourse that introduced them to viewers via the columns of the Radiocorriere , fostering a debate on the most contentious aspects pertaining to scientific progress.