SF TV: My Unrequited Love

Most of the time we League members talk books, but every so often we slip across into other media, and that’s what I’d like to do today. Today, I want to talk TV.

Oh, sci-fi TV. You have such a long history of breaking my heart.

Remember SeaQuest DSV? I do! For a start, my high school years were spent in love with Jonathan Brandis, but I loved the near-future world the series created, seeing what had changed and what was different. I loved that the series traced big, bold plots, and intense human stories as well.* And then they cancelled it.

And what about Earth 2? I’m in love with stories about new settlers on unknown planets, and always have been – Earth 2 had everything I wanted and more, from unknown terrain to planetary mysteries, to a great and varied cast of characters with their own, very different, motivations. Cancelled.

I’m barely even ready to talk about Firefly yet, even though it’s been a while. Joss Whedon. Enough said, really. Space, Nathan Fillion, snappy dialogue, smart plots, mystery, heart-in-mouth tension and laugh-out-loud comedy. I can’t bring myself to say it—but you all know what happened.

Most recently, I dipped my toe in the water again with Terra Nova, and I went back in time 85 million years, watching humanity attempt to rebuild, and deal with an invasion from the future. So many mysteries laid out – mysteries I’ll never see answered, because season two isn’t coming. Wah!

The world’s attention has turned to fantasy and Game of Thrones rules the airwaves – and that’s fine with me. I’ve been reading the series for years, and it’s great to share something I’ve enjoyed with a wide audience.

In time, though, the next awesome SF TV show will come around, and broken heart or not, I’ll be waiting! In the meantime, I’m marathoning Battlestar Galactica – I know that one makes it to the end!

What’s your favourite SF TV? Anything you’d love to have seen last longer?

* Please note, all show descriptions may be coloured by the author's rose-tinted glasses and a considerable dose of nostalgia. If it turns out the shows of my childhood weren't quite what I remember, then ignorance is bliss, right?


1 comment:

Jessi L. Roberts said...

Terra Nova was good, so was Firefly, though it was a bit adult for my tastes.
Another TV show I loved was Jericho, a post-apocalyptic show with a bit of conspiracy in it and great characters. It was canceled twice.
The Clone Wars is another one. Yes, it's a "kid show" but it had great characters and it was quite mature for being animated. Guess what? When Disney bought Star Wars, they canceled that one even though it had good ratings. The Clone Wars is one of the few good shows that's survived five seasons.
Then there was Young Justice. That one got canceled too. It was a bit more of a kid's show than The Clone Wars but I still enjoyed the characters, which were all pretty well-done.
A few still-living shows I like are Revolution, which is going into what looks like an awesome dystopian second season, and Avatar, which is now on the Legend of Korra storyline. Yes, this is another kid's show but the characters and broken cliches are amazing, much more developed than a lot of live action I've seen.