Is there anything we can call science fiction?

There’s an article in yesterday’s New York Times about the new CBS drama Threshold (which is about a team of experts investigating an ongoing alien invasion). The Times is very quick to point out, however, that despite its science fiction trappings, Threshold really isn’t sci-fi:

Sure enough, the extraterrestrial being pursued by the “Threshold” team isn’t a bug-eyed little green man, but rather a mysterious signal that propagates itself through everyday technology – radios, computers, MP3 players – and creates chaos wherever it turns up. Were it stripped of this one otherworldly component, “Threshold,” with its emphasis on forensic investigations and the interpersonal dynamics of its cast, could pass for another spinoff of “CSI.”

Yeah, because bug-eyed little green men are the only aliens you’d ever see talked about in that dirty backwater called science fiction. It’s just this dark and lonely place where geeks sometimes “get together…[to] to debate whether a particular red-caped superhero could best a certain green-skinned goliath in combat.” Nothing intelligent ever happens there. What the article seems to be saying, essentially, is that science fiction is by its nature stupid and immature and the province mainly of geekdom; what makes Threshold interesting is that it isn’t any of these things; it’s smart and real, and therefore it just can’t be sci-fi.

It’s an old argument and, in all fairness to the show (which I happen to like), not one that its creators necessarily seem to agree with. If anything, I think they’re pushing the “we’re not really sci-fi” angle simply to attract viewers and advertising. (Because The New York Times aren’t the only ones who think that science fiction is only for geeks.) But it is a pretty specious argument nonetheless.

Maybe the reason why Threshold works isn’t because it’s busy upending genre conventions, but because it’s part of that genre. Maybe the science fiction that’s stupid and immature is the bad science fiction, and there’s plenty of the good stuff that does precisely the sort of thing that all these so-called non-sci-fi shows claim to do already.

I’m not the only one saying this — not by a long shot — but here goes: I really, really liked it. It’s very good, a lot of fun, and it’s worth seeing. I recommend it.

But I loved this a whole lot more.

Friday Random 10, “These are Just Some Songs, You Know?” Edition:

“Wooden Ships” – Jefferson Airplane
“Streets of Philadelphia” – Bruce Springsteen
“I’m Only Sleeping” – The Beatles
“Rocky Raccoon” – The Beatles
“Indian War Whoop” – John Hartford
“Waterloo” – ABBA
“Valleri” – The Monkees
“Hale” – Deep Blue Something
“Night Moves” – Bob Seger
“Lucky Ball and Chain” – They Might Be Giants

“Every tool is a weapon, if you hold it right.”
– Ani Difranco, “IQ”

Wild gorillas spotted using tools for first time

Elaine: Yes, The New Yorker. I’ve met with their cartoon editor and I got him to admit that that cartoon…MADE NO SENSE….
Jerry: Wow! Good work, Nancy Drew.
–Seinfeld, “The Cartoon”

New Yorker cartoon formula exposed

Erskine: What do you mean no ‘in a world?’ ‘In a world’ is our bread and butter. Test audiences love ‘in a world.’ The people like knowing a movie’s going to be ‘in a world.’
-Joshua Allen, The Morning News, “Behind the Scenes: The Minority Report Trailer“

The Shining, Redux

All links via Backwards City, except the fake Shining trailer, though they do have some more information about it. I originally found the link through defective yeti.