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Where'd all the SF shows go?

Discussion in 'Sensorium' started by Taluntain, May 17, 2014.

  1. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    [​IMG] It seems that pretty much all the most popular SF shows like Stargate and Star Trek ended years ago and nothing new's aired since. There was BSG and then... uh... Fringe? :heh:

    Anyone more in the know about what's caused this apparent death of the genre? Mind you, I'm talking about spaceships/space stations SF here, not your various fantasy/SF hybrids that seem to have mushroomed lately.
     
  2. Beren

    Beren Lovesick and Lonely Wanderer Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    Each Star Trek series got successively more boring. I'm not shedding any tears as I watch at least any ST television series drift away into dead space.

    The movies, that's a different story.
     
  3. The Great Snook Gems: 31/31
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    I miss Firefly
     
  4. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    You'd think that 10 years after Enterprise they'd have managed to come up with a better series... but I'm not talking just about ST, everything else seems to have more or less vanished as well. There used to be a number of SF shows up until around 2005, then gradually declining to 2010 and after that - almost nothing. This seems very weird to me given that the audience is obviously still there and no one is catering to it. The BSG remake for instance was a huge success so it doesn't make any sense, does it?

    Edit: Firefly was fun. :D
     
  5. dmc

    dmc Speak softly and carry a big briefcase Staff Member Distinguished Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!)

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    I'm no industry insider, but it seems to me that space ship type sci fi involves a rather large budget. In that most TV seems to be moving towards lower budget (just look at the proliferation of crappy reality shows), maybe your explanation is as simple as that.
     
  6. henkie

    henkie Hammertime Resourceful Adored Veteran New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!)

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    I would expect, that like everything else, SF series come in waves and then go in waves as well. Probably there'll be a resurgence in another 10 years or so, who can say.
     
  7. Keneth Gems: 29/31
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    There is actually an overabundance of scifi shows. There are, however, no space sagas, that's true. It's quite a shame really, I was personally a huge fan of Star Trek (all series), Stargate (all series), BSG, Firefly, Farscape, Andromeda, etc.
     
  8. Harbourboy

    Harbourboy Take thy form from off my door! Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    So you only count shows set in deep space? That's just a setting. A bit like saying there aren't many shows set in 1950s diners or Boston bars any more. Marvel's Agents of Shield and Tomorrow People are sci-fi, just not in space.

    But the greatest and most enduring sci-fi show of all time, set in every part of space, with the ultimate spaceship, is about to come back later this year, so who cares about any of the others?
     
  9. Keneth Gems: 29/31
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    Personally, I put the Doctor in a category of his own. :D
     
  10. Darion

    Darion Resident Dissident Veteran BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    Maybe it's out of fashion these days.
    I mean most of the shows airing today are Reality or something Procedural or Action. Or a mix of those.

    Dunno. Maybe old-school SF requires a certain mind-set or infantile curiosity that seem to be lacking these days.:confused:
     
  11. Keneth Gems: 29/31
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    I find it had to believe that the current audience no longer has the taste for space exploration. There's no easier way for people to suspend their disbelief than being presented with a setting where imagination is the only limit.

    I'd say the biggest problem is the budget. Sci-Fi series, especially franchise ones, have massive budgets so that they can produce satisfactory special effects. Not that they can't get by on lower budgets—Farscape didn't have that much of a budget at all and it was still phenomenal—but people, especially younger audience, are a lot more critical of the visual aspects these days. It's hard to convince companies and networks to provide you with the funding if you can't guarantee them the numbers, and it's hard to get those in the genre without top notch presentation.

    Personally, I wish they'd make more time travel shows. The heavy kind, where things get horribly messed up, not the whovian kind where paradoxes resolve themselves, by and large. Unfortunately, temporal physics and time theories go over the head of most "normal" people, including fiction writers/directors. Even decent series, like Journeyman, tend to be canceled after one season because they're not mindless enough for the masses.
     
  12. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    I put Dr. Who in a category of its own alright... the "if there's absolutely nothing else left, I might as well watch it" category. :lol:
     
  13. Keneth Gems: 29/31
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    Bah, Doctor Who is brilliant. I wasn't a huge fan of Matt Smith, but maybe Peter Capaldi will surprise me. David Tennant set the bar pretty high though.
     
  14. Nobleman Gems: 27/31
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    Time travel back and revive Firefly. That would be awesome.

    I generally don't like timetravel movies, shows etc, since 95% of them fail or just skip the fundamental paradoxes that needs to be dealt with. Those that nomatter what thesis you put up about timetravel need to be adressed.

    I guess especially space sagas have a hard time catering to the masses without risking the high investment needed these days.
     
  15. Darion

    Darion Resident Dissident Veteran BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    ^ Ten was awesome! He was no doubt my fave Doctor!
     
  16. Keneth Gems: 29/31
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    It's annoying because Joss Whedon and all the actors are on board and they have a huge fanbase, but they just can't get the green light.
     
  17. Blackthorne TA

    Blackthorne TA Master in his Own Mind Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    Unfortunately that fanbase isn't large enough or they just don't show up. Serenity didn't quite recover its budget in worldwide boxoffice receipts.

    Oh, and they killed off Wash in Serenity... Where would Firefly be without Wash?! :)
     
  18. Keneth Gems: 29/31
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    Yes, well, therein lies the problem. In spite of massively high critical acclaim, the show simply didn't have enough viewers. Not only is it in a niche genre, but it was also shoved into the Friday night death slot, and running the episodes in the wrong order didn't help much either. Consequently, even though almost everyone agrees that it is a great show, it never managed to kick off. Unsurprisingly, Serenity didn't really attract enough people after the fact.

    I do think it had every chance of succeeding, regardless of the high production costs. But why bother when you can make loads of money with dirt cheap reality shows, right?
     
  19. Harbourboy

    Harbourboy Take thy form from off my door! Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    Seeing as Doctor Who is the greatest TV show of all time, let alone sci fi, let alone spacey, so the real question should be: why can't we have Doctor Who all year round?
     
  20. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    I seriously don't get some people's obsession with Dr. Who. They're like die-hard fans of ALF or something... :lol:
     
    Nobleman and Blades of Vanatar like this.
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