Thoughts on SciFi

[rurounihime]

It's kind of funny to watch the progression of a genre. I recently purchased the entire run of Space: Above and Beyond, a series I loved up until it was cancelled - rather unexpectedly in my opinion - and of course, afterwards as well. Looking back on it now, I can see so many inspirations in it for space-based shows that came after, and it's just neat to track the genre as it develops on television.

The most ground-breaking series in the genre, in my opinion, are:

~Star Trek, of course. No way that can be denied.
~Space: Above and Beyond. Definitely a new take, not on the distant future, but on the more immediate future, which is not often attempted in the genre.
~Firefly. I mean, who else could ever come up with a space-western? It's wonderful. (And the interesting thing is, watching S:A&B, I would be willing to bet money that Whedon watched it too.)

I don't watch Battlestar Galactica, but I have a feeling that it's also making a lot of headway, from what I've heard.

Some honourable mentions:
~Stargate SG-1: by virtue of its fascinating blend of faith and science;
~Farscape: took the idea of Star Trek and just flipped it on its head, beat the crud out of it, and popped off scintillating jokes all the while... with puppets;
~LEXX: talk about your weird. Definitely worth a watch just for the utter kink.

And then of course, there's Futurama. *grins*

So I am wondering, what is your take on this genre, f-list?

Comments

[aluinnsearlait.livejournal.com]

Maybe we are only talking about Television series, in which case, this is completely invalid, but one thing that hasnt been mentioned is Star Wars -- which, i think we can all agree was a pioneering set of films (the original versions, of course)

And really, in alot of ways, it was the original space western. Firefly is wonderful and totally unique, but at the same time, everytime I watch Serenity land on some dusty planet, I cant help but think of Tatooine; Mos Eisly reminds me so much of the docks on Persephone.

I think one of the most interesting things about the Firefly/Serenity verse is that, even though its Sci/fi, there seem to be no aliens or alien forms of life -- everything is completely, utterly human and mundane; and there is no reason that it could never actually happen.

The dichotomies inherent in the Firefly verse also make it something special. The stylised old west/space frontier is not as jarring as one might think, and really almost makes logical sense, if you believe the addage that the frontier molds man before man can mold the frontier. Add to that the ineresting exchange between old east and west cultures, and you got yourself something truly interesting.

All in all, I see star wars as a huge inspiration for firefly -- down to Han Solo's pants -- but I think Joss Whedon took those elements of Star Wars and made something great from them; I just wish there was more. :(

so. there my strangely long discussion. it probably makes very little sense.

[rurounihime.livejournal.com]

Haha, yeah, tv series. But that does not negate your statement. If Star Trek is the mother of new age scifi, then Star Wars is definitely the father. Or maybe they are both fathers. :)

even though its Sci/fi, there seem to be no aliens or alien forms of life -- everything is completely, utterly human and mundane

There are definitely two types of space-exploration-sci-fi: the kind like Firefly, which takes the stance that the only higher lifeform in the universe is the human (Stargate did that too, briefly, with another alien spreading humans across the universe to use as slaves), and the kind like Star Wars, which gives us all shapes and sizes of alien (the most recent example of this, I think, would be Farscape, which utilized puppets to great effect). It really makes for some different stuff, doesn't it? I love both stances, as long as they are done well, and originally.

[rurounihime.livejournal.com]

Hmm, just realized they could both be mothers, too. Heh, I have been slash shipping guys only for too long... *facepalms*