Steampunk Popularization (part 4 of 5)

Television and film

The 1965 television series The Wild Wild West, as well as the 1999 film, featured many of the elements of advanced steam-powered technology set in the Wild West time period of the United States.
The 1982 American TV series Q.E.D., set in Edwardian England, starred Sam Waterston as Professor Quentin Everett Deverill (the series title is the character's initials,as well as the Latin phrase quod erat demonstrandum, which translates as "which was to be demonstrated"). The Professor was an inventor and scientific detective, in the mold of Sherlock Holmes. In the show, the lead character was known primarily by his initials, Q.E.D.
The final scene of the 1990 film Back to the Future Part III implies that the protagonist Emmett Brown, after being stranded in 1880s California, has managed to adapt 1980s technology in a steam-powered context, including the development of a steam-powered train-based time machine.
The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., a Fox Network 1993 TV science fiction-western set in the 1890s, featured elements of steampunk as represented by the character Professor Wickwire, whose inventions were described as "the coming thing." The short-lived 1995 TV show Legend on UPN, set in 1876 Arizona, featured such classic inventions as a steam-driven "quadrovelocipede" and night-vision goggles, and starred John de Lancie as a thinly-disguised Nicola Tesla. Alan Moore's and Kevin O'Neill's 1999 The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen graphic novel series (and the subsequent 2003 film adaption) greatly popularized the steampunk genre. The Syfy series Warehouse 13 features many steampunk-inspired objects and artifacts, including computer designs created by steampunk artisan Richard Nagy, aka "Datamancer". Also, the Syfy miniseries Tin Man incorporates a considerable amount of steampunk-inspired themes into a re-imagining of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
The BBC series Doctor Who also incorporates steampunk elements in the design of the Doctor's time machine, the TARDIS, first presented in the 1996 American co-production when the TARDIS interior was re-designed to resemble an almost Victorian library with the central control console made up of eclectic and anachronistic objects. Modified and streamlined for the 2005 revival of the series, the TARDIS console continues to incorporate steampunk elements, including a Victorian typewriter and gramophone. Steampunk has begun to attract notice from more "mainstream" sources as well. For example, the episode of the TV series Castle entitled "Punked", which aired on October 11, 2010, prominently featured the steampunk subculture and used Los Angeles-area steampunks as extras Also the music videos from both David Guetta's 'Turn Me On' and Panic at the Disco's 'The Ballad of Mona Lisa' have drawn heavily on steampunk inspirations.
The 19th century detective series Murdoch Mysteries occasionally incorporates elements of steampunk. In the 2012 episode Who Killed the Electric Carriage?, for instance, an inventor develops an electric car that runs on NiCd batteries charged by solar cells, only to have Henry Ford and Standard Oil buy out his company and patents and kill the project. In many episodes, Murdoch himself envisions or invents futuristic devices using contemporary materials.