What came before Star Wars in 1970s science fiction?

George Lucas directing Star Wars

It's true to say no one, in 1977, had ever seen a film quite like Star Wars. But that doesn’t mean no one had been trying to get big budget, old fashioned entertainment off the ground.

Today, Episode Nothing looks at film makers who were trying to make science fiction and fantasy, or to revive old movie genres, in the 1970s.

The critics strike back: How Star Wars was blamed for the death of intelligent film-making

George Lucas: The man responsible for the death of
grown-up cinema, according to some commentators

As we saw in this post about the contemporary reviews of Star Wars, the film met with an overwhelmingly positive reception in 1977. But within a few years, Star Wars was being held responsible for everything that was wrong with cinema.