Yes. Damn them.
It was actually four specials in a year, but who’s counting? Yeah, there are fewer episodes per series (season), but it’s quality over quantity. Plus, with four series and one set of specials, anyone getting into it now will have a lot of catching up to do.
And yeah, it’s more science fantasy than science fiction. I think “sci fi”*covers both. But either way, it’s good television.
I thought it got a lot better, especially with the second season. It gradually got darker and darker, and the mini-series Children of Earth (which IS hard sci-fi) was as dark and brutal as just about any science fiction I have seen.
Who got into sci-fi for the arcs? They are a pretty recent development, at least as far as TV series go. Plus, I remember something about begging and choosing…
There are overarching arcs for each series, sure, but they are generally pretty subtle and don’t really come into play until the end. Plus, the character development is at least there, unlike some series I could name. >koff< next generation >koff<
I didn’t like what I saw of Farscape and Firefly died an early death (I haven’t watched it for that reason, but I have seen and disliked the Serenity movie).
And Dr. Who and Lost and whatnot are not the scifi series I’m referring to by using the term.
At least for the forseeable future, I fear there will be no more … high scifi?
Networks these days are far too trigger-happy with cancelling series and far too eager to get lots of audience. To maximize audience potential they have to water-down the level of scifi … and then scifi purists shrug it off because it’s gotten too far out of the scifi niche and the casual mainstream viewers shrug it off because even they eventually realize there’s too little meat to it and it’s still nerdy scifi anyway.
Well, that’s my “conspiration theory” anyway. ;)
rezaf
Farscape, like all sci-fi of that time, doesn’t truly begin until at least a season in (though its first season is much better than the others mentioned here, except Firefly). No wonder that kind of sci-fi died :)
Yeah, Farscape really hits its stride once Scorpius shows up. Seasons 2-4 have some really excellent work. Some folks just can’t get over the “puppet” thing, but frankly that never bothered me at all. They are just characters. CG or mummery, who cares?
It’s worth pointing out though that Farscape is much more on the side of Space Fantasy than Sci-Fi. They don’t make any effort to actually try and be even a little realistic (indeed they mercilessly mock the technobabble from other shows). Not a bad thing at all in my mind but it’s worth warning anyone who wants something more toward the “plausible” end of the spectrum.
. Some folks just can’t get over the “puppet” thing, but frankly that never bothered me at all. They are just characters. CG or mummery, who cares?
I’ve never understood that. How can a generation of geeks raised on Yoda quibble over the puppets in Farscape?
First of all, Firefly is worth watching, even though it was cut tragically short. Just an all-around fantastic show. Every single character is compelling.
So, if Doctor Who or Lost or whatever is not what you’re looking for, what is? I mean, what are the “high sci-fi” series from the past that you’ve been interested in?
Farscape has far too much silliness for some people I guess. I still maintain it is the best Sci Fi series I’ve seen, with DS9 following in second place.
For anyone who believes DS9 is not the best of the Star Trek series, I refer you to The Lesson of the Geese.
“Best of the Star Trek series” isn’t saying much. At least they got more of an overarching storyline. Still, it’s no Babylon 5.
You’re just full of 'em!
I love that aspect, it has silliness but at the same time Crichton is clearly going a little nuts as the program progresses. And with good reason.
Okay, I’ll bite: What didn’t you like about Babylon 5? I can appreciate that some people might not take to JMS’s writing style (his humor can be a little…off), but it was a huge, epic storyline, and had an overarching plot back before it was popular. Plus, it was deeply grounded in science fiction.
I honestly had no problem with B5. I’m not the world’s biggest fan of JMS’ writing, but he was a lot better in B5 than he was on, say, Fantastic Four. It had the same rough start a lot of new shows do, but by the time it picked up, it was a really great sci-fi experience. Still, it’s no Deep Space 9.
For instance, it had people who could act.
Scifi pickings are so slim these days, I’d even watch a Lexx revival.
From what I noticed, Babylon 5 had a lot more twists, turns, and difficult character arcs than Deep Space 9 did. For one thing, it wasn’t afraid to kill of major characters if the plot called for it (which it did, frequently). The stakes were a lot higher, and there were definitely earth-shattering changes in the story. Not to mention: no holodeck, no time-travel episodes (okay, maybe one…), no mirror-universe episodes…and of course, I’m ignoring all the “coincidental”*similarities between the two shows.
Space Dracula.
Yeah, it’s different than the Alien Forehead of the Week.
Hopefully not too much of a spoiler since it was a self-contained episode mostly, but “Far Beyond the Stars” is some of the best social commentary Star Trek has ever aimed for. Even apart from the whole ‘gimmick’ of the piece (allowing all the aliens to appear sans makeup) it just hits on all cylinders.
Supposedly the plan was to pan out at the end of the series and show the DS9 sound stage, with Benny holding a spec script off to one side. It was vetoed as too much of a WTF moment.