Sci - Fi TV
May 3rd 2008 16:19
When I was a boy one of the things that I learned from a very young age, was a love of space. My mother was from a generation that fell in love with space and the endless possibilities of the vast unknown that exists above our heads.
They saw a man land on the moon and they also saw the adventures of the Starship Enterprise, a Door that lead to endless stories of possibilities and stretched the imagination and a guy with a scarf fighting Darliks and handing out Jelly Babies.
So as a child I reaped the benefit of Star Trek, Twilight zone and Dr Who.
As a small child I could only go to the cinema on a rare basis but I could watch Battle Star Galactica, Re runs of Star Trek or the new twilight zone.
This was something that could engage me at a time when I was discovering the world and learning who I would become.
Then in 1987 Star Trek Next Generation began. I immediately identified with this new show as I was in a true sense a Next Generation fan.
Next Generation was the spark that lit the fuse.
I would watch the new adventures of the Starship Enterprise and allow my mind to travel the depths of space.
Then a show started called Babylon 5. A truly landmark moment in Sci - Fi TV.
It was no longer about the adventure, the special effects and the problem of the week. Babylon 5 was about story. A single unifying story that had a beginning middle and end.
I was hooked. For seven years I watched Babylon 5 ( the pilot, the series and the spin off Crusade) and fell in love.
This show was spawned out of the early nineties a period of time that will one day come to be known as the golden age of Sci - Fi TV. From this period we got Babylon 5, Space Above and Beyond, The X - Files, Earth Final Conflict, Hercules, Xena Warrior Princess, Deep Space Nine, Star Trek Voyager, Earth 2 and some lesser known shows Space Rangers, Mercy Point Alien Nation the series and Probably a million shows that I haven't mentioned.
All this was followed by
Andromeda, Farscape, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, Lost, Battlestar Galactica, Heroes, Smallville but now what.
Battlestar is in its final season, Lost is getting ready for the end, Smallville is winding down, Heroes has just finished its second season but once Battlestar winds down what will be my weekly fix so that I can dance among the stars?
It seems to me like the landscape is getting grim for lovers of good Sci - Fi TV out among the stars.
I mean this is the part that I don't understand. There is a market for it but everyone seems surprised when Space Opera on TV is successful.
Firefly is probably the best and easiest example ( there are many others that I could site but Firefly does seem to sum it all up in a neat bow, and it has a happy ending
)
You have a well written show, something that created great characters, had stories that were about something, but not caught up in there own self importance and it is canceled after only half a season. From what I have heard, because the people who run the network could not understand it, they couldn't find a box to put it in.
Well can I be the thousandth person to say that I hate boxes and I want good TV. I love good TV. There are shows that I watch that I cannot wait till the next episode and wish would never end.
Heroes and Battlestar I'm looking at you.
And now Battlestar will be ending and there is no space based show that will replace it.
Here is the thing that I find Ironic. I have developed as a human being to come to expect good story telling on TV. This is because the people who make TV shows taught me the potential that weekly serialized fiction on TV could be. But the very same group is afraid to invest in something that will fulfill the need that they created in me to begin with. The same goes for Space Opera on TV.
But I have hope that by the time that Heroes is ready to pack its bags and leave for a place in the history books I will have other adventures out among the stars, with another crop of compelling and fascinating characters.
Because like my mothers generation believed Space is the home of endless possibilities and I need to have a part of my visual imagination soaring free among the stars.
They saw a man land on the moon and they also saw the adventures of the Starship Enterprise, a Door that lead to endless stories of possibilities and stretched the imagination and a guy with a scarf fighting Darliks and handing out Jelly Babies.
So as a child I reaped the benefit of Star Trek, Twilight zone and Dr Who.
This was something that could engage me at a time when I was discovering the world and learning who I would become.
Then in 1987 Star Trek Next Generation began. I immediately identified with this new show as I was in a true sense a Next Generation fan.
Next Generation was the spark that lit the fuse.
I would watch the new adventures of the Starship Enterprise and allow my mind to travel the depths of space.
Then a show started called Babylon 5. A truly landmark moment in Sci - Fi TV.
It was no longer about the adventure, the special effects and the problem of the week. Babylon 5 was about story. A single unifying story that had a beginning middle and end.
I was hooked. For seven years I watched Babylon 5 ( the pilot, the series and the spin off Crusade) and fell in love.
This show was spawned out of the early nineties a period of time that will one day come to be known as the golden age of Sci - Fi TV. From this period we got Babylon 5, Space Above and Beyond, The X - Files, Earth Final Conflict, Hercules, Xena Warrior Princess, Deep Space Nine, Star Trek Voyager, Earth 2 and some lesser known shows Space Rangers, Mercy Point Alien Nation the series and Probably a million shows that I haven't mentioned.
All this was followed by
Andromeda, Farscape, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, Lost, Battlestar Galactica, Heroes, Smallville but now what.
Battlestar is in its final season, Lost is getting ready for the end, Smallville is winding down, Heroes has just finished its second season but once Battlestar winds down what will be my weekly fix so that I can dance among the stars?
It seems to me like the landscape is getting grim for lovers of good Sci - Fi TV out among the stars.
I mean this is the part that I don't understand. There is a market for it but everyone seems surprised when Space Opera on TV is successful.
Firefly is probably the best and easiest example ( there are many others that I could site but Firefly does seem to sum it all up in a neat bow, and it has a happy ending
)You have a well written show, something that created great characters, had stories that were about something, but not caught up in there own self importance and it is canceled after only half a season. From what I have heard, because the people who run the network could not understand it, they couldn't find a box to put it in.
Well can I be the thousandth person to say that I hate boxes and I want good TV. I love good TV. There are shows that I watch that I cannot wait till the next episode and wish would never end.
Heroes and Battlestar I'm looking at you.
And now Battlestar will be ending and there is no space based show that will replace it.
Here is the thing that I find Ironic. I have developed as a human being to come to expect good story telling on TV. This is because the people who make TV shows taught me the potential that weekly serialized fiction on TV could be. But the very same group is afraid to invest in something that will fulfill the need that they created in me to begin with. The same goes for Space Opera on TV.
But I have hope that by the time that Heroes is ready to pack its bags and leave for a place in the history books I will have other adventures out among the stars, with another crop of compelling and fascinating characters.
Because like my mothers generation believed Space is the home of endless possibilities and I need to have a part of my visual imagination soaring free among the stars.
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Comment by Jason King
Salty Popcorn
I am still suffering from withdrawals from when Voyager finished years ago. My all time fave. My suggestion - if they don't make something to satisfy your galactic need for TV, start buying all of them in order again on DVD and start the entire show over again. 140 episodes of Voyager alone. Go for the entire re-run thing yourself!! I don't watch payTV but does the sci-fi channel not start anything new. They better think about that - they have an entire TV channel, new product might be wise!!
PS: George Lucas is meant to be pulling his finger out and releasing a 100 episode Star Wars TV show and coming to the cinemas soon is a new Star Wars animation called The Clone Wars (it looks amazing). And watch out for Avatar - James Cameron's SUPER film being released in 2009. It is going to be the biggest and BEST film EVER made. It's total sci fi about two planets at war.
Comment by Aldoth
It's All Geek To Me
For Star Wars Clone wars, that is cool and I may change my opinion when I see it, but it doesn't give me anything intrinsically new and again not live action space opera TV.
Star Trek is still too pricey to justify at this time but soon maybe and it still is not something new
Comment by Johnny Come Lately
Jack's Back