# SF on TV



## Brian G Turner (Jan 24, 2003)

Here's a thought - is science-fiction on TV too formulated? Personally, I'm gagging for something more experimental, but fear we won;t see it anytime soon because all the big stations will only commission SF according to normal program formulas - where space is reduced to nothing more than a fancy backdrop to soap-opera scripts.

Or am I being far too cynical? Having seen some of the other SF/F coming out of the USA, I daren;t really look at any others.

Maybe I'm just a snob.


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## mac1 (Jan 26, 2003)

I certainly know what you mean, but do you remember a show called Dark Skies a few years ago? Mistaken by many to be a cheap X-Files cash-in, it made for some of the most interesting TV in a long time.


> am I being far too cynical?


Not compared to that show your not. Possibly the most cynical (and at times ludicrous) show ever made. It managed to stretch the imagination of its writers to whole new levels creating complex conspiricy theoreys for practically every major event since World War II. We need more shows like that.

The Sci-Fi soap can be done extremely well, DS9 is a prime example of this, but it has now been done to death.

If anything its not really the formula of recent Sci-Fi TV thats the problem though. If anything its the attempted move to bring Sci-Fi and bullsh** teen comedy together thats the real problem. Films like American Pie should stay where they belong (at the Video rental store/In the bin/America in general) and shows like Roswell High need to be replaced with something a little provocative and inovative.

Unfortunately the way TV works is that once a show becomes popular others try to copy it. Star Trek, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, and The X-Files have all proved that they can achieve good rating, so they get copied...                 ... a little too often!!


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## Brian G Turner (Sep 28, 2003)

Is anyone doing any kind of "out-there" experiemental fiction? 

In short, is anyone treating TV as art, rather than as a marketing venture?


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## littlemissattitude (Sep 28, 2003)

I said:
			
		

> Is anyone doing any kind of "out-there" experiemental fiction?
> 
> In short, is anyone treating TV as art, rather than as a marketing venture?


Are you kidding?  The executives - who make all the decisions - would never allow anything really experimental to ever reach the screen.  This is not quite as true for cable, but nearly so.  The problem is, TV _is_ a marketing venture; really, the only reason the programs are there is to make you watch the commercials.  So, here in the states at least, on stations that run commercials, nothing really original is ever going to appear.  Once in a while on public televsion, something different will air (but not often), and pay cable (HBO, etc.) will show something edgy or experimental from time to time.  But this is much more the exception than the rule.

I think part of the problem is that people who are really interested in doing experimental stuff get driven out of the business because they a) can't make any money doing anything that is creatively satisfying to them, and b) they get demoralized because to get their work seen, they have to dumb it down so much.  They can work in film, but even then their work will only generally get shown in small, art film venues and will never get the wide distribution that would allow their work to make any impact (or any money - which is, sadly, necessary).

Well, I guess that's my rant for the day.

Except for this, for bigmacscanlan..."Dark Skies" was fun, wasn't it?  The first episode had me hooked, especially as the alien politician was from Fresno.  Living so close, I know that the secret is that all Fresno politicans are aliens.
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





  What was really interesting, though, was that right after the first episode was on, I took a trip to southern California and stumbled on to one of their filming locations.

We had actually gone to the cemetery where my father is buried to visit his grave.  On the grounds of the cemetery, there is a very old, very pretty white church that was moved there because of its historical value.  As we drove in, in the parking area next to the office we saw a collection of dressing-room trailers, and then people walking off across the cemetery dressed in what were obviously costume.  Interesting, but not that unusual in the L.A. area - you are likely to find a filming location almost anywhere.  Well, we drove on up and visited my dad's grave, from which we could see that the filming activity was around that old church.  Then, as we were leaving, I saw a guy in regular clothes walking off toward the church.  I drove up beside him and asked him what they were filming.  Turned out it was an episode of "Dark Skies".  He must have been in production, because he made a point of asking if I had seen the first episode and what I thought of it.

After that, I would have had to watch the series even if I hadn't liked it, just to see that episode.  I came later on in the season, when they were supposed to be in Alaska; they only used the interior of the church in the show.


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## Gnome (Sep 28, 2003)

I think the Fox Network is more willing to take chances:

"Strange Luck"
"Millenium"
"X-Files"

I loved "Strange Luck" when I discovered it (It was not very well promoted).
Sadly, I only caught about 4 episodes before it got yanked.
Trouble is the "general" audience rarely "get's it", and it takes too long to build a large following of the people who do.  Shows like this tend to use vocabulary that your average red neck doesn't understand.  Mass market entertainment is just that, for the masses.  I try to avoid it at all costs.  It's like reading a First Grade Primer.


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## littlemissattitude (Sep 28, 2003)

I kind of lost interest in "Millennium" after the first season.  Don't know why; it just seemed to kind of lose steam or something.

I'm still a bit ticked off at FOX for cancelling "John Doe" without some kind of wrap-up.  I loved that show.  Then, at the end of the last episode they dangled that obvious cliff-hanger of the bartender appearing to actually be the bad guy - and then didn't renew the series.  No fair.
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




And then there was "VR-5", which led into "X-Files" one season early on.  Loved that show, too.  And, of course, it got cancelled.

I don't remember "Strange Luck" at all.  What was that about?

What I really liked, that they didn't give much of a chance to, was the spin-off from "X-Files" they gave to the Lone Gunmen.  Yeah, it was a silly show, played mostly for laughs.  But I liked those guys - they were just too funny.  And then, to add insult to injury, they killed them off near the end of the last season of "X-Files".


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## dwndrgn (Sep 29, 2003)

I don't think I ever recall seeing Strange Luck either.  So please do explain what it was all about so I can get all riled about not seeing it 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




Some of the SciFI Channels shows are better - but of course that is what they are there for. 

I really enjoyed Firefly but it was cancelled almost immediately as well.

Anyone recall Voyagers?  This was a show where a man and a young boy travel through time with the help of an old pocket watch.  It wasn't on long and I didn't get to see a lot of it but what I did see I really enjoyed.  I'm with Littlemissattitude about time-travel - I'll watch anything that mentions it.  There was also another interesting show that, of course, got canned almost immediately.  It was called something like the Travels of Jules Verne and the actor who played Jules Verne was British, Michael Praed (who you may know as Robin Hood from the mid 80s show).  It was a unique concept mixed in with a lot of cheesy film formula but I really liked the way it was done.  Apparently Verne was a secret agent keeping the world safe, but was  also an inventor so always had some cool new gadget to play with.

I don't think that the current way of judging a show's worth is very effective.  We ought to all have opinion buttons on our boob-tubes so that we can vote on each show as we watch it.  That way some grandma in Boise can't tell us what to watch...


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## Gnome (Sep 29, 2003)

To find out more about "Strange Luck" :

go here:  http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/3893/slhome.html

or: search for strange luck in your browser.  Lots of cult websites for this one.


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## dwndrgn (Sep 29, 2003)

Gnome said:
			
		

> To find out more about "Strange Luck" :
> 
> go here: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/3893/slhome.html
> 
> or: search for strange luck in your browser. Lots of cult websites for this one.


Thanks for the info!  It reminds me of 'Early Edition' which I loved about a man who gets the local daily paper a day ahead of time and figures he is obligated to fix things like stop a person getting run over by a car, or stopping a shooting or a suicide...I miss this show.  I thought they did a good job of dealing with the problems of trying to correct things and which things would be more important to correct and whatnot.  I also liked the mysterious cat that seemed to arrive with the paper...it was just thrown in there and I loved how it sort of meant something, but didn't.


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## littlemissattitude (Sep 30, 2003)

I never watched it until it was on SciFi channel, and then not that often, but I am quite fond of "Sliders".  Cool show.  But I like the earlier episodes better than the later ones.


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