There’s always been a warm place in my heart for Sci Fi.
By Bert Ehrmann
April, 2005
I am a fan of science fiction television, but I wouldn't categorize myself as a science fiction “nut”. I watched Star Trek back in the mid-1990's but only the Deep Space Nine series. I don't watch, and don't care for, much of what passes as science fiction these days, namely shows like Star Trek: Enterprise or the Stargate series. Somehow, somewhere, it was decided that characterization and story in science fiction television should, for the most part, be sacrificed for shallow plot lines, generic characters and "gee whiz" special effects.
I watch science fiction like any other show – if the story and characters are good then I'll tune in. It doesn't matter to me if the drama's taking place in Hawaii or on Alpha Zeta Prime. (I'm sure that Sean Ryan could set his show The Shield on some futuristic Moon colony and have it as effective as it is set in modern day Los Angeles.)
I think that's the secret to good drama/science fiction – the setting is somewhat irrelevant as long as the characters and story are well developed and written.
But just because most of what passes for science fiction television isn't that good, it doesn't mean that there haven't been a few good science fiction shows now and again.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine(1993-1999): I initially began watching Deep Space Nine (DS9) sporadically as a high school student. It took a few years for the obsession to kick in, but I eventually began watching the series religiously eventually recording the entire series to VHS. (Which, of course, these tapes are now all but obsolete.)
The DS9 series followed the exploits of the crew of a space station, located far from the Earth and placed in great peril by it's proximity to a conduit to another part of the galaxy ruled by “The Dominion” – an alien species that doesn’t play nice when it comes to parts of the galaxy it doesn’t control. DS9 really hit its stride a few years into the run of the show where the crew of the station was caught in the middle of two wars eventually forced to abandon the station to the enemy.
I can remember spending Sunday nights after the late local news watching the series in the basement of my Grandma’s house while doing homework for school the next day. (My living arrangement then was complicated to say the least.)
In an eerie prediction on our current state of affairs, a major plotline that ran through the later seasons of DS9 had a group of alien shape-shifters infiltrating the Earth in preparation for war. (Like the terrorists before 9|11.) In one episode, a shape-shifter had successfully disrupted the entire planet's power grid, instigating martial law by the Earth’s authorities in response. Except that the attack was really carried out by a member of the Earth's military, looking for an opportunity to grab power for himself by bending the panic surrounding the shape-shifters to his own means.
Space: Above and Beyond (1995-1996): If there ever was a show that introduced “grit” into the then clean white walls of what had been typical science fiction fare it was the show Space: Above and Beyond (S:aAB). In S:aAB, recruits to the Marine Corps in the mid 21st century are shocked to suddenly be thrown into a bloody intergalactic conflict after decades of world peace. Again eerily mirroring current world events, these recruits had initially joined the Marine Corps in attempt to better themselves never really expecting to see combat. But combat they did see.
The series focus was on the surviving squad of recruits as their numbers dwindle in ranks after months of ferocious fighting between the alien “Chig” enemy and humanoid looking robots wanting to return home after being cast out from the Earth into the cold depths of space.
The first half-dozen episodes of S:aAB were pure gold, still holding up in quality to this very day.
Firefly (2002): Firefly only lasted a dozen episodes during the 2002-2003 television season on Fox, but as the saying goes; “Revenge is a dish best served cold.”
The series followed the crew of a transport vessel classed “Firefly” as they tried their best to avoid Alliance patrols. The crew would do whatever it took to scratch out a good enough living to keep their ship flying, from smuggling illegal goods to hauling cattle to far off parts of the galaxy. In an odd twist for science fiction, Firefly felt like a drama that could have been set in the immediate years after the Civil war following ex-Confederate soldiers into the Old West. Again, setting shouldn’t matter. Somehow, series creator Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) was able to make all this work as science fiction, leading to one of the most satisfying television viewing experiences to come out in quite some time.
In an interesting turn of events, even though the series was canceled half-way through the first season there is a feature film in the works due in theaters this fall.
Battlestar Galactica (2003-?): This remake series is the rare science fiction beast – a show with great characterizations/story that's also generating the ratings it needs to survive. In fact, in several key demographic areas several episodes of Battlestar Galactica, namely the season premiere and finale, were the most watch cable shows of the day.
Battlestar Galactica follows the last vestiges of humanity as they try to outwit the robotic Cylons bent on human annihilation while at the same time holding onto their last vestiges of government/humanity instead of sliding down the slippery slope of a military dictatorship.
(In a related note, I cannot understand how the Sci Fi Channel can deliver such a show as the Battlestar Galactica remake while at the same time producing clunkers such as Snakehead Terror, Mansquito and Raptor Island. It's almost as if the network has Michelangelo working in one room and Roger Corman in the other.)