{"id":3123,"date":"2008-08-21T22:37:21","date_gmt":"2008-08-22T02:37:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=3123"},"modified":"2008-08-21T22:39:47","modified_gmt":"2008-08-22T02:39:47","slug":"sci-fried","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=3123","title":{"rendered":"Sci-Fried"},"content":{"rendered":"

Closing out today’s science fiction-heavy posts, first here’s an in-depth re-evaluation (in two<\/a> parts<\/a>, via Gerry Canavan<\/a>) of Star Trek: The Next Generation<\/em>, which suggests that ultimately the show must be understood as a creative failure:
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Again, though, in order to find something interesting to say about the characters, the writers had to go out of their way to concoct Rube Goldberg plot machines that would allow for emotional arcs without messing with the precious status quo. If you start looking, you can find a lot of episodes that go to the same well: there’s always something to trigger or mitigate unusual behavior, something to excuse the characters from acting like real people as soon as they put on those damn Starfleet unitards.<\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I don’t agree completely with everything he says here, but it’s hard not<\/em> to see the show as deeply flawed in its slavish devotion to its status quo. Even Deep Space Nine<\/em>, which I think was ultimately the better show in almost every way — admittedly, in part, because TNG<\/em> helped pave the way for it and it also became a very different show — had this problem. I’ve always felt that my two very favorite episodes of each (“The Inner Light” on TNG<\/em> and “The Visitor” on DS9<\/em> would have worked better if they weren’t Trek<\/em> episodes, if in the end they didn’t have to return to business as usual. <\/font><\/p>\n

This is what I loved about Farscape<\/em>, and what the cast and crew talk about time and again in their DVD commentaries for the show: there was no reset button. Because really, only a show with<\/em> a reset button could air an episode like “Conspiracy<\/a>” and never<\/em> return to it.<\/font><\/p>\n

And next, Cinema Blend argues that Star Wars<\/em> killed Babylon 5<\/em><\/a>.<\/font><\/p>\n

And you know, I don’t buy the argument at all. Babylon 5<\/em> had a five-year plan, and it was on the air for five years. Even for that final year, when the quality was really starting to slip. It even had spinoffs, in which the quality was sometimes not even present. To claim that the show would have taken off in year five and become some kind of huge cultural touchstone in the geek community if only it hadn’t been for that meddlesome George Lucas (and his mangy droid)…well, it’s beyond silly.<\/font><\/p>\n

And this?
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Farscape<\/em> blew the minds of the few who bothered to see it, before being quietly cancelled and forgotten by all but the most hardcore fans.<\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Quietly? Really? There was a huge fan campaign that got Ben Browder, albeit briefly, interviewed on CNN about the show and a Sci-Fi miniseries made. There are still webisodes and comics planned.<\/font><\/p>\n

And don’t get me started on the “Farscape<\/em>, Firefly<\/em> and Serenity<\/em> are all crap” folks commenting there. They’re entitled to their opinions, but these ones are pretty ill-informed. (If Firefly<\/em> had 20 episodes, please direct me towards those last five. I’ve never seen ’em. I don’t think anyone inside this universe has.)<\/font><\/p>\n

Are any of these shows as big a hit as Star Wars<\/em>? No, even if they arguably should be. For a lot of people, science fiction is<\/em> Star Wars<\/em>, or Star Trek<\/em>, of their like. And that’s unfortunate…but I think it would also be unfortunate if Babylon 5<\/em> was the series by which you judged everything else. I think you lose out on a lot great stuff if you restrict your focus in either way.<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Closing out today’s science fiction-heavy posts, first here’s an in-depth re-evaluation (in two parts, via Gerry Canavan) of Star Trek: The Next Generation, which suggests that ultimately the show must be understood as a creative failure: Again, though, in order to find something interesting to say about the characters, the writers had to go out … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[238],"class_list":["post-3123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3123"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3123\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}