yea you can find some "interesting stuff". The like of star treck usually get it spot on, they make it sound belivable but yea other programs are probably less equiped.
On the other hand anyone ever read any of the evil genious books ? many of the projects involge generating HT voltages starting from the mains and instructions are a bit patchy, needless to mention some of the "mumbo jumbo" explanations that often sound like science fiction.