Has Scifi got better recently? by Moss

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Has Scifi got better recently?

POSTED BY: MOSS
UPDATED: Thursday, March 23, 2006 08:08
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Friday, March 17, 2006 7:36 AM

(I saw BattleStar Galactica before seeing Firefly so please forgive me).

Wow hasn't Scifi got good lately. I have been a closet scifi fan since aged 7 seeing StarWars back in 77. I have never got practically involved in fandom but I just have to share this.

Every so often something good comes along that makes me remember why I got hooked on scifi in the first place. First came Dune on TV, great for staying up really late and immersing yourelf in desert fashion. Then KABOOM Battlestar came along. I remember sitting on the sofa with in complete shock thinking "wow, man that was completely awsome", some serious stuff was going on, Scifi was never this good. I have just managed to compose myself after seeing the stand off with the Pegasus episode (still smiling about it as I write).

Then there's Firefly-- What can I say, it was worth waiting nearly 30 years for, at last something that has knocked Star Wars off of the top slot. Cancelling the show has only lifted it to the stuff of legends, a thing of beauty that must be cherished and shared.

So even though Firefly may be no more, hasn't Scifi got so much better lately?

Um Num Shubuy.

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Friday, March 17, 2006 8:34 AM

STORYMARK

I'll agree that sci-fi has been pretty strong the last few years. But I'd hardly attribute it all to Joss. I'd offer a hefty thanks as well to Ron Moore (for BSG), John Harrison (Dune mini), and Rockne O'Bannon and Brian Henson (for Farscape) as well. Not to mention all the other talented writers, directors, actors and crew who worked on these shows.

No TV show is a one-man endeavor. Even Babylon 5, which was written almost in it's entirety by one man, was a group accomplishment.

"I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him."

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Friday, March 17, 2006 8:42 AM

ARCADIA

I agree: BSG and Firefly are kickass. I haven't seen the Dune mini-series. I might look for it later, if I ever read the books, as I've heard to many good things about it.

I will add that Lost is another excellent addition to the scifi realm, proving that scifi isn't all about aliens or hunting ghosts. Scifi can produce amazing, complex, character driven work. Hopefully, Scifi will continues to improve and all its mediums and will eventually shed the stigma of being cliche-ridden and convelutted, fit only for geeks with visions of lazers in their head.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Objects in Space"
River: It's just an object. It doesn't mean what you think...

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Friday, March 17, 2006 9:29 AM

BLACKEYEDGIRL

I've gotta agree. Within the last 5-10 years Sci-Fi has improved leaps and bounds. I give my personal favorite Sci-Fi/Fantasy shows as proof:

#1 Farscape: I am only getting into this show now, but I am as hooked on it as I was Firefly. There are definate correlations between Firefly and Farscape and I can see that admitted or not, one of Firefly's definate 'space show' influences was Farscape. It is beautifully produced, completely visualized, and well written. Plus I now want Ben Browder and Nathan Fillion to get their own homeboys-in-space show.

#2 Buffy the Vampire Slayer & Angel: Bringing the concept of the monster show back to people. But not in a lame cheesy way, in a smart, pop culture infused, intellectual way. A show that never considered it's audience to be dumber than it's writers. Of course brought to us by the brilliant minds at Mutant Enemy, which brings us to...

#3 Firefly, I'm preaching to the choir here...

#4 Wonderfalls & Dead Like Me - Two girls with bizarre powers (one's a reaper, one is told to help people by talking tourist tchotchkes), and enormous chips on their shoulders learn to bear the brunt and actually start to enjoy their new lives and skills.

#5 Dark Angel - James Cameron on the small screen, gave birth to Jessica Alba, and finally made genetically altered humans not objects of evil, but instead mis-guided attempts at military perfection (so often seen in comic books). it was an excellent allegory of making a new family once you've walked away from what you were raised. Post-Pulse world an interesting concept.

#6 Lost - ABC shocked the shit out of me with this one. Although now it is getting to the point (without JJ's guidance thanks to Cruise & MI3) where I wonder if they even know where they are going with this show or if they are just making it up week-to week.

#7 Stargate SG1- For proving that not only can a movie be made into a successful TV show, but it can switch networks, get an even bigger audience, become one of the longst running Sci-Fi shows ever and spawn a spin-off all on cable TV. Without it we would have no

#8 Battlestar galactica: It takes the best of the original, and absorbs the current affairs in our lives today, add into that a little bit of every other space show that has ever been on TV, some bad politics, and naughty human shaped robots and you've got a hit.

#9 Carnivale - No, not sci-fi, but fantasy none-the less and a huge epic biblical sized view of the great depression, carnival life, and the battle between good and evil, light and dark and the equilibrium required in everything.

#10 Supernatural: Another new way of looking at an old concept. They are bounty hunters for evil. Well, they don't get a bounty and sometimes their evil are nothing more than spirits at unrest, but this look at North American Urban and Rural legends as well as boogey-man stories is a great concept, with the addition of a revenge super arc and a something wicked this way comes female nemesis, this show only gets better.

What is Sci-fi/fantasy teaching us right now? That it is the most adapatble (and often most-cancelled) genre on TV (and in the movies) and that it endures not because of a handful of rabid fans, but because people have enough reality in their lives and sometimes a metaphorical escape is just what the Doctor ordered. But only if that Doctor is Doctor Who. :)

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
http://pluralofapocalypse.blogspot.com
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Inara: "Do aliens live among us?"
Kaylee: "Yes. One of them's a doctor."

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Friday, March 17, 2006 9:52 AM

PROSERPINE

Quote:
Originally posted by Arcadia:
I haven't seen the Dune mini-series. I might look for it later, if I ever read the books, as I've heard to many good things about it.

OMG, everyone who has not seen them yet MUST see the Dune mini-series. Dune is excellent, a little slow at times, but Children of Dune is AMAZING! You don't even have to read the books first. Personally, I read them afterwards, and having seen the movies/mini-series did not diminish my enjoyment of them.

"Dear Diary, Today I was pompous and my sister was crazy. Today we were kidnapped by hill folk never to be seen again. It was the best day ever."

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Friday, March 17, 2006 9:56 AM

KUANGZHEDE

I cant wait to see that Dark Kingdom mini series coming out at the end of MArch

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Thursday, March 23, 2006 8:08 AM

ZISKER

I think programming has gotten better, but I'm still upset that their website is no longer publishing written material. I was exposed to some great classics through their site that I wouldn't have been able to read otherwise because they're out of print and have been for years, and the new material being accepted by editor Ellen Datlow was phenomenal . It garnered a number of awards and critical praise.

If you're looking for a good read, just browse the selection: http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/

In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and is widely regarded as a bad move. - Douglas Adams

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