Did I Miss a Memo? When did good Sci-Fi die??? by nuclearday

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

Did I Miss a Memo? When did good Sci-Fi die???

POSTED BY: NUCLEARDAY
UPDATED: Wednesday, January 11, 2006 05:36
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VIEWED: 1763
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Tuesday, January 10, 2006 7:32 AM

Probably kicking a dead horse here, but I just got watched the Serenity DVD, and I kinda had to find somewhere to rant. :)

I remember when Firefly first ran, and thinking "oh nice, we need a good Sci-Fi series out there." I may be just a little confused with my timelines, but there just wasn't much good on TV at the time. I knew Enterprise was a last gasp for the Star Trek franchise as soon as I heard that crappy opening song, and Andromeda was fun to watch, but you know... Kevin Sorbo... that wasn't exactly going to be up for an era-defining show or anything.

So when Firefly came out, I thought maybe this one would be a keeper. I wasn't a huge fan of Buffy (started watching it too late in the series to really figure out what was going on.) But I thought Joss Whedon had a good voice for a science fiction show, judging by what I'd seen in his earlier work: enough comedy to not come off as heavy-handed; just enough drama to keep it from being silly.

From the first episode I was hooked. Here was a really original and interesting twist on a science fiction show, and I thought he'd hit the nail right on the head. As an aspiring writer myself, I had one of those moments watching the show where I thought "damn, I wish I'd thought of that!"

Maybe hoping for the next Star Trek would be terribly overambitious, but I thought here was a show I could settle into for awhile, get comfortable with. Buffy had a long run, Whedon had proven himself to be marketable: was it too much to expect at least one or two full seasons of this show?

Obviously that didn't happen. I've let myself get hooked on plenty of other tv shows that didn't make it: anyone remember Space Rangers? But this one really irked me. How many crime dramas are out there? How many formulaic sitcoms are running on the networks? Just, exactly, how many CSI's do I really need to watch in one week? Isn't there room somwhere for a sci-fi show without me shelling out an extra $30/month just to get the Sci-Fi channel?

Myself, I was born in '79. I grew up watching the old stuff. Reruns of Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek, Max Headroom, and countless series that ran back in the '80's. We as a culture ought to be sufficiently apt to do all that stuff one better by now.

We're at a time now when those franchises are dead, though. It's time for something new. Star Trek went out with a whimper, and Lucas pretty much killed Star Wars. Babylon 5 was good, but honestly I kinda thought of that as Deep Space Nine with more politics.

It would've been unfair too put all my hopes in Joss Whedon reinvigorating a flailing genre, but I really thought he could've been the man for the job. And if the series had been given a decent chance, maybe Firefly would have.

Finally a show that's original (I really can't take one more Star Trek rip-off), well-acted, and well-written, and it gets cancelled before it gets a chance to get off the ground?

I think someone really messed up here, and watching Serenity only confirms that for me. Anyways, that's my rant. I can only hope that the powers that be have enough wisdom to let us at the very least have a sequel to Serenity. And quite frankly: after Space: Above and Beyond, I feel that they owe us one.

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Tuesday, January 10, 2006 7:40 AM

STORYMARK

If you're looking for good, current Sci-Fi, check out the new Battlestar Galactica.

Having never enjoyed the original series as a kid, I avoided the new version when it kicked off a while back (Okay, and I was still livid at Scifi channel for cancelling Farscape).

But after reading a lot of positive comments about it, I rented the miniseries over the weekend. I was surprised at how much I liked it. It has it's flaws, and tries a bit to hard to sex things up at the beginning, but the drama was surprisingly compelling.

When I went to return my rental, I ended up buying the first season, and am almost through with it. So far, it's held up very well. I for one am very happy to have a quality scifi show on the air, that is still running (I am so tired of falling for shows just as they're getting cancelled).

"Well, my days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle."

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Tuesday, January 10, 2006 8:29 AM

NUCLEARDAY

Yeah,I liked the Battlestar Galactica when I saw the mini-series. I don't get Sci-Fi channel currently with my cable subscription, and it's not worth the cost to me of upgrading just to get the one or two channels i'd actually watch. :)

Seemed pretty decent from what I saw though. I liked that they'd kept the ships from the original, though I kind of miss the jackets they used to wear (always thought those were really cool.)

And I was a HUGE fan of Farscape when that was running. I ended up missing the next to the last season, so I got kind of lost, but that was another really addicting show. At least that one got a chance to run more than half a dozen episodes, though. :)

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Tuesday, January 10, 2006 8:36 AM

JERRYT

Lol, yeah the new Battlestar is good. My brother finally forced me to watch the mini-series/1st season, ( I was having visions of kids and robot dogs.

)and it is a good series.

One thing I had a rant moment on was while watching the extras of the 1st season; someone was commenting on how this series was made to have a more realistic feel and base it more on character development over the "oh wow" special effects. I'm thinking; hey hasn't that been done allready? Oh yeah Firefly!!

JerryT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I'll be in my bunk"

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Tuesday, January 10, 2006 8:43 AM

STORYMARK

Quote:
Originally posted by jerryt:
Lol, yeah the new Battlestar is good. My brother finally forced me to watch the mini-series/1st season, ( I was having visions of kids and robot dogs. )and it is a good series.

JerryT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I'll be in my bunk"

That's the same thing that kept me from watching it for so long. Hated hated hated the kid and that stupid robot dog.

When they intorduced the kid (Boxer) in the miniseries, I groaned. I really, didn't want him to be a major character. I've been pleased so far that in the first season, he has shown up again all of once, and I don't think he spoke.

Whew, dodged a bullet there.

And I don't get the scifi channel anymore myself. Just cancelled it a couple weeks ago, along with my digital cable. I'll just keep up on DVD, or if I get desperate for the latest eps before they hit DVD, I'll watch at my Moms or download them (and buy them later - I only d/l that which I will buy).

"Well, my days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle."

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Tuesday, January 10, 2006 8:48 AM

DANIELFYRE

A little tidbit on Galactica...when they were looking as to how to shoot the show as far as battle sequences and space camerawork they took ideas straight from Firefly. There was an article on the board not too long abou it. I watched Galactica before Firefly and I was a huge fan especially of the camera work, but when I saw Firefly I didn't put the two together until I read the article. Anyway the new Galactica, in my opinion is the best sci-fi show out there (besides Firefly of course). I do agree that they tried to sell sex in the begining far more than was required but the plot and character developments get you hooked and even though at times it has a somewhat cheesy quality it definately never loses entertainment value.

-Dan

Ain't that just shiny?

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Tuesday, January 10, 2006 9:35 AM

CHRISTHECYNIC

Good sci-fi never died, and it probably never will, it's just kind of erratic. New series that are good have always popped up, and have usually died quickly.

Old series that became good don't last long either.

For example one day I was flipping through the channels and there was enterprise, and I decided to give it yet another chance. To my complete shock, amazement, astonishment, surprise, and other words it was good.

This after three seasons of wasted time giving it more chances than it ever deserved. Immediately I looked online to see what I had missed and discovered in addition to suddenly being good it was suddenly being cancelled.

To add to the insult of cancellation they had one special episode to end it all, and that was so bad it was an insult to Star Trek, sci-fi, fans, viewers in general, TV, video in all forms, language, writing, all intelligent things, all not so intelligent things still capable of thought, and just about everything else. Not only did they have to cancel it once it was good they had to make sure it ended on a bad note.

(I don’t actually know who "they" is.)

Good sci-fi will (probably) always exist, but whenever it is noticed it will quickly be cut down.

I have no idea why this is.

-

On the other hand bad sci-fi, and I mean really really bad to the degree that not even MST3K could make it fun, seems to be on the rise.

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Tuesday, January 10, 2006 9:44 AM

CHRISTHECYNIC

On the subject of the new Battlestar Galactica, it is a very good show which I avoided for a long time because I have an intense dislike of things where people are seeing things that aren't real and then having to try to not be noticed and such.

Every time I tuned in there would be the woman in the guys head. Now though I've been watching the new ones and it looks like he's finally managed to deal with that to the level where it isn't a constant source of irritation to me. Though it still irritates him at times.

It isn’t Firefly, but for what’s out there I’d have to say it’s the best, and this is coming from someone who has loved Stargate SG1 for ages. Then again I’m not sure if it is better than Stargate because it is simply better, or because Stargate has gone into a definite decline (in my opinion) and I'm judging it based on current Stargate.

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Tuesday, January 10, 2006 9:48 AM

JERRYT

Quote:
Originally posted by Storymark:
When they intorduced the kid (Boxer) in the miniseries, I groaned. I really, didn't want him to be a major character. I've been pleased so far that in the first season, he has shown up again all of once, and I don't think he spoke.

Whew, dodged a bullet there.

Lol, yeah I was worried about that too. In the deleted scenes there are quite a few more with him, but they decided (yay!) that he didn't really work for the show.

JerryT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I'll be in my bunk"

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Tuesday, January 10, 2006 10:18 AM

CITIZEN

That robot dog is smeggin' stupid.

More insane ramblings by the people who brought you beeeer milkshakes!
The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four persons is suffering from some sort of mental illness. Think of your three best friends -- if they're okay, then it's you.

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Tuesday, January 10, 2006 11:02 AM

STORYMARK

Quote:
Originally posted by DanielFyre:
A little tidbit on Galactica...when they were looking as to how to shoot the show as far as battle sequences and space camerawork they took ideas straight from Firefly. There was an article on the board not too long abou it. I watched Galactica before Firefly and I was a huge fan especially of the camera work, but when I saw Firefly I didn't put the two together until I read the article. Anyway the new Galactica, in my opinion is the best sci-fi show out there (besides Firefly of course). I do agree that they tried to sell sex in the begining far more than was required but the plot and character developments get you hooked and even though at times it has a somewhat cheesy quality it definately never loses entertainment value.

-Dan

Ain't that just shiny?

Same effects company. Which is why there's a Firefly class ship in the Galactica miniseries, and Galactica was one of the Reaver ships in Serenity.

Between the simmilar styles of the shows, and the no-aliens rule both have (at least I havn't seen any on Galactica), I kinda like to think of Galactica as a follow-up to Firefly.

In my version, the 12 colonies of Kobold are the "core worlds" from Firefly. All the outer worlds and settlements we saw in Firefly were wiped out durring the first Cylon war, and now the remaining humans are searching for Earth-that-was.

But that's just me. I also like to view the Terminator films as prequels to The Matrix (with The Animatrix's "The Second Reniessance" as the tie between them).

"Well, my days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle."

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Tuesday, January 10, 2006 12:28 PM

CYBERSNARK

Actually, I kinda liked the new Boxy. I liked the idea of a kid taken under Starbuck's wing as an assistant/sidekick/mascot, and p*ssing off Col. Tigh by his very existence.

-----
We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.

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Wednesday, January 11, 2006 5:24 AM

NUCLEARDAY

ACtually, growing up I'd always wanted that robot dog from Battlestar Galactica. :)

... course it lost some of it's greatness when I watched later on in life and saw just exactly how much it looked like a guy walking around on his hands and knees.

Also, I still think the jackets they wore in the original were freakin awesome.

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Wednesday, January 11, 2006 5:36 AM

CHRISISALL

Quote:
Originally posted by nuclearday:
Also, I still think the jackets they wore in the original were freakin awesome.

I made one for a convention back in the day...

Chrisisall, a former Apollo costume geek

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