Why does Sci-Fi on TV nowadays suck so badly?

[Archae]

I loved the 1978 Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers, all the Star Treks, nowadays, there is none of that optimism we enjoyed, "The future is going to be better."

Nowadays everything is so dark and gritty and depressing.

[blogslut]

1. I liked "Eureka" and "Warehouse 13"

Sadly, they're both done. They weren't the greatest shows ever but they were fun and engaging.

Lots of people dig "Falling Skies" but I've not seen it. Also, there's a British show called "Orphan Black" that's supposed to be good.

[Chan790]

2. I think today's is waaay better than that crap.

Never has anything in the history of TV been as overrated as late-1970s science fiction. There are some episodes of the original BSG that it's really obvious that the writers were mixing LSD and Quaaludes because they lack for both a point and a plot but are filled with imagery that is inexplicable.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

3. I haven't found anything in the modern era that competes with the science fiction or horror

of yesteryear like the original The Twilight Zone, the original Outer Limits, Way Out, Thriller, Night Gallery, Harlon Ellison's short-lived TV series of 1972 The Starlost, Dr. Who or the various Star Treks. I never was a fan of any of the Battlestar Gallacticas, even the original. The only recent series that matched those in my opinion and maybe even surpassed anything we've ever seen on TV was Masters Of Horror, but that had a short run. TV series today are absolute crap because the people in charge are not the creative geniuses of yesteryear but worthless executives who've never written a single line of a script. We have no more Serlings, Roauld Dahls or Roddenberrys.

[OriginalGeek]

4. I hate what Syfy has done to sci-fi.

Things are pretty shitty when the channel made FOR science fiction airs the very worst sci-fi in the history of the universe. And wrestling.

I loved modern Battlestar Galactica but that's about all I can think of that I've liked in years. And I'm a fuckin' GEEK!


I will say Eureka didn't bother me. It was cute in a funny sort of way and it made my daughter laugh and I'm generally for anything that makes my daughter laugh. But I didn't even consider that really sci-fi. When I think of sci-fi i want shit blowing up in space. They can maybe visit earth once a season but mostly it should be happening out in space and/or on other planets.

BSG and Firefly. I loved Firefly. But that was just a western in space. And it had Jewel Staite. Space westerns with Jewel Staite are OK in my book.

[Arcanetrance]

5. I'd love to see a new star trek but it wouldn't make it due to Abrams trek I refuse to call it star

Star trek. The younger groups don't want to be forced to think. Abrams trek gave them trek lite

[pinboy3niner]

6. I missed Sharknado, but doesn't humanity triumph in the end?

Of course, some wags might say that a win by the sharks over L.A. and Hollywood would have been the optimistic ending...

But some of the made-for-TV sci-fi movies, at least, are stories of a crisis overcome.

[Paulie]

7. Ah, slapstick scifi. Tigerman? Hawk?

The has been some really great scifi in the recent past. Yes it's dark in some respects but it also makes it more plausible.

Babylon 5 (probably the best we had on TV)
Earth:Final Conflict (except the last season)
Stargate SG1
Stargate Atlantis

Going a bit further back:

Space:Above and Beyond
Alien Nation
War of the Worlds

[Rosco T.]

8. Continuum, Orphan Black, The Almighty Johnsons, coming up Almost Human, Agent's of Shield....

no, Scifi on TV does not suck. you just need to look for the good stuff

[jakeXT]

12. I watched the first episode of The Almighty Johnsons, I believe it's something like Fantasy Comedy

[RebelOne]

9. There are occasionly some good films on SyFi on Saturday. n/t

[BlueJazz]

10. Saw Orphan Black when I was home. Pretty good show. "The Dome" is simply irritating.

The show constantly has character development to eat up the time.
REALLY irritating.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

11. Pretty much the same thing happened to Westerns.

The darker and kind of depressing revisionist stuff took over the genre by the early 70's.

[lastlib]

14. I agree, more of it needs to boldly go where no man has gone before!

I would love to see more of Arthur C. Clarke's works made into movies--"Childhood's End" would be awesome, as would "This City And The Stars", "The Sands Of Mars", "Imperial Earth".....

[Taverner]

15. Everyone has realized the future is NOT going to better

No Star Trek Federation, we'll be lucky if there's a few survivors banging rocks together when Aliens finally reach us. By then they'll enslave us by calling themselves "Jesus" or "Gibreel."

No Jetson's world, we have the tech for all of that but we say NO!

We want to reverse the clock...and we know how well that works

[MiddleFingerMom]

16. If you're interested, here's a website that streams the "X Minus One" Old Time Radio program...

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... from the mid-50s. 123 episodes.
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Many of the classic short stories from Masters like Asimov, Heinlein and Bradbury
were transcribed and presentrd as excellent 20-30 minute radio dramas.
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That's a LOT of new old stuff to enjoy.
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RealPlayer works for me, but other players work, too.
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http://otr.net/?p=xmn1
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