Finding realistic sci-fi disappointing

POSTED BY: MerryK
UPDATED: Tuesday, January 14, 2025 07:02
VIEWED: 10003
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MERRYK

Thursday, January 3, 2008 1:18 AM

I recently introduced my parents to Stargate: Atlantis, and had a very odd conversation about it with my mother. Now, my mother is a long-time Trekkie ever since TNG first started (though she watched TOS as a child) and even went to a couple conventions before settling down to be a homeschooling mother of seven, so it's not as if she's new to sci-fi, though she hasn't watched anything since Voyager ended. She also watched some of Stargate SG1 because my dad really enjoyed it. She loved Firefly.

However, after watching half of Season 1 of SGA, she sighed as she told me "I miss the Star Trek format, where you met a danger and dealt with it, and then the episode was over and everything was good." Upon further questioning, she said that she didn't like that they had an enemy that was always there and not easily warded off, and constant problems with food and power and allies. Shocked, for though SGA is not the lightest sci-fi fare, it is by no means the most hardcore, I tried to explain why I liked the more realistic elements. She continued to say that she liked the feel-good endings of old Star Trek episodes, and not having to worry about a villain that was always about to destroy them in the next episode.

Has anybody else who is from those had this experience with people who are from older generations and prefer those mindsets, having a hard time with modern television? I'm really baffled by it all, especially since she liked Firefly, but I suppose there goes all chances of her liking the re-imagined BSG.

--
"My way of being polite, or however...well, it's the only way I have of showing you that I like you. Of showing respect." Simon Tam, Jaynestown

EMBERS

Thursday, January 3, 2008 2:50 AM

speaking as one of the older generation...
I like BSG because it is character driven, and your Mom might get into it that way too,
but I can't bear SG1 (I've tried) because it is just way too military for my taste....

okay I know that sounds contradictory since BSG is all military all the time too, but IMO the sci-fi elements are a lot more fiction, and interesting in BSG.

However, even more than 'happy endings' I miss the humor. SG1, and BSG both take everything so seriously!
In my experience, even people who are currently dying with tubes running in and out of them, find more to laugh about.

so I guess I'm not being much help huh?

Firefly just had it all: the great characters, the wonderful metaphor/fiction elements, and lightening the Black with laughter.

FARFLY

Thursday, January 3, 2008 2:57 AM

Hmmm, realistic fiction?

Never having watched any of the Stargate programs I can't comment on the enemies they might have encountered. But there was always an enemy, some for just an episode, some as part of story arc, some for a whole season. Buffy had a wide variety of foes but in the end she fought vampires almost every episode. Happy ending of an episode, maybe, but the vamps were still there for next week. Angel had the same, demons and vampires, but Wolfram & Hart were still the ever present enemy. Firefly had the Alliance, and Reavers. TOS had Klingons and Romulans in addition to the odd space monster of the week. TNG wasn't much different but they had better equipment. After all, when things got rough they could always modify the coffee maker to speak Andorian or boost the ship speed to light times 200. Or maybe it was the phase array, I forget...

Remembering that the key word is fiction, whether there is a new enemy every episode or not, they all had to deal with the everyday menaces that lots of humans face. The fact that in TOS, TNG and Firefly they are in a hostile environment just getting from here to there you would think is story enough. But selling mundane episodes to the public wouldn't be too profitable, so they make up shit..put them on a space ship and there you have, sci-fi. Some get by with monster of the week, some don't. I kinda like to get to know my monster before it gets slain.

MERRYK

Thursday, January 3, 2008 3:14 AM

Actually, the one thing that kept my mom watching both Stargate programs was the humor...I don't think there's a snowball's chance in hell of getting her watch BSG. Heh, it depresses me sometimes, and I love dark and tragic stories, while my mom prefers optimistic fare. She did make a relevant comment when I complained that old TV's optimism felt scripted: "It's TV, you know it's not real no matter what." Well, yes...but I guess I was born into a generation that likes to forget that as much as possible.

Just as a side-note, did you start watching SG1 from the beginning? I had similar issues while watching the first and most of the second season even though I'm pro military in RL, and so only watched SGA for a while, but started to enjoy SG1 as the science and humor increased as it continued.

--
"My way of being polite, or however...well, it's the only way I have of showing you that I like you. Of showing respect." Simon Tam, Jaynestown

AURAPTOR

Thursday, January 3, 2008 3:15 AM

Quote:
She continued to say that she liked the feel-good endings of old Star Trek episodes, and not having to worry about a villain that was always about to destroy them in the next episode

Might be it feels, to her, too much like the former Soviet Union, and the Cold War ? A bit TOO real, if you get my point. SciFi is, for many, about escapism from the world's problems and troubles.

It is not those who use the term "Islamo-Fascism" who are sullying the name of Islam; it is the Islamo-Fascists. - Dennis Prager

" They don't like it when you shoot at 'em. I worked that out myself. "

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Thursday, January 3, 2008 6:19 AM

You seem to be talking about the difference between episodal shows versus "prime time soap opera" serial shows.
You mother (and much of older generations) prefer to see episodes of episodal shows, meaning that the episodes are interchangeable without choronlogical complications, there is no "greater arc" of character developement, and any problems presented in an episode are resolved by the end of an episode. This way, if the cows get out of the fence during the next show next week, nothing will be missed because no cliffhangers were left unresolved this week - which provides reliable entertainment without complications during the early decades of broadcast TV.
For those dandies and lazies who have nothing better to do than sit at home all day in front of the TV, soap operas provided the day-to-day sustinence of nothing happening character study - like the old adage, missing a week or 2 of a soap opera doesn't matter, nothing happened anyhow.
Star Trek was episodal, much like Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Batman, and most of the rest of Prime Time TV. I understand Peyton Place was serial.
Firefly is serial, not episodal. What happened in one episode derives from previuos episodes and applies to future episodes. It's format is considered by many to be a soap opera, much like Dallas, BSG, and such. Joss and Tim specifically stated they desired and developed the "overarcing storyline" for Firefly. Season 2 episodes, when made would not be able to be interchanged with season one. In Gunsmoke, other than main characters dying off or being replaced gradually, an episode from the 16th season could be shown before and episode from the 3rd season without major continuity problems.
You said your mom liked Firefly. Did she see it broadcast on network, or in DVD set or SciFi marathon? Seen at once, the serial element is diffused, you don't need to wait a week to see what happens next. Seen on broadcast, it may have more soap opera feel, as Joss intended. They wanted to take a season to tell a story, not complete a story in each episode.

Aside from that, your think it realistic to have things such as continual power problems.
If traveling to Mars, for instance, to consider it acceptable to have an unreliable power source, propulsion, life support, of similar would be absolutely ridiculous, not realistic. Any society or race thinking so should deservedly be eradicated from the gene pool. How accepting would you be if flying a plane which regularly fell out of the sky and crashed? I don't see how that is realistic, other than providing plot devices. Star tTrek at least had fairly original problems to solve.

REGINAROADIE

Thursday, January 3, 2008 6:23 AM

I totally agree with you in regard to humor in sci-fi shows as of late. I think one of the reasons everyone holds TOS up in such high regard is that there is humor in the show in terms of character interactions. I mean, the rapport between Kirk, Spock and McCoy is some of the most entertaining and humorous bickering in sci-fi history. I always felt that the fighting between Mal and Jayne with Simon is that Mal and Jayne are the Kirk and McCoy dealing with a very Vulcan-like Simon.

And as for later sci-fi shows, part of the reason that I prefer HEROES and DOCTOR WHO over stuff like LOST and BATTLESTAR GALACTICA is that not only do they have a sense of humor, but they also have a sense of fun to them as well. Like on HEROES, you sometimes get flashes from some of the characters where they go "Hey, this is kinda awesome." And the character of Hiro Nakamura is instrumental in that sense of fun and wonder. Without him, the show would be seriously less enjoyable to watch. And with The Doctor, it feels like an adventure, but in the good sense. With LOST and BATTLESTAR, the situation is as serious as cancer and the characters are people stretched to their absolute limit and one loud noise away from a nervous breakdown and fighting to survive before they're blown to smithereens while at the same time trying to solve the mysteries of the universe. With DOCTOR WHO, it's "Let's step into a police box that can travel through time and space and see the wonders of the universe. Yes, we'll run into Daleks, Cybermen, The Master and any other bad guys, but you'll have the most chipper and smart traveler alongside you and who will never let you down."

I think it just comes down to whether you want your sci-fi to help you escape from reality, or for it to act as a prism and show you the world around you in a new way. And I think the best sci-fi in the world is a perfect blend of both of them.

**************************************************
"And it starts with a sentence that might last a lifetime, or it all might just go down in flames. If I let you know me, then why would you want me? Each day I don't is a shame. Each day I don't is a great shame."

Loudon Wainwright III - "Strange Weirdos" off the "Knocked Up" soundtrack

STRANGEBIRD

Thursday, January 3, 2008 6:52 AM

It's exactly the reason I really can't watch LOST or BSG. It's a shame really. LOST was alright, it had some humor and a few light moments but after they killed of one of the few providers of such moments(Charlie) I swore never to watch the show again. Couldn't get past the first five or so episodes of BSG, it wasn't worth the deep depression that show sent me into.

I have to disagree on the remarks that Stargate is lacking in humor and "too military". The humor is what makes both series so exceptional. I would go so far as to say they are sometimes too unrealistic and goofy in portraying the military. They do a great job most of the time but there are few episodes that don't contain more than a handful of tongue-in-cheek moments. Stargate Atlantis has recently started taking itself alot more seriously, nearly as much as in the first season. Really, though the writing is certainly not as sharp, it's very comparable to Firefly in it's balance of humor, drama and action and slightly less in character development. Next to Firefly I'd say Stargate Atlantis is my favorite space/action scifi series. Yes I actually like it better than most of TNG.

Anyway concerning the problem at hand I get what your saying. Scifi and Fantasy TV in general has always been more campy and lighthearted than most genres and now that they are starting to take themselves more seriously many of them are going a bit too far for my tastes. That's not to say they shouldn't. There is obviously a huge fanbase for BSG and LOST. I have no problem with it as long as there continues to be shows like Chuck, Pushing Daisies, Stargate, Heroes and others with scifi/fantasy elements that understand the viewers want escapism and entertainment not just angst and thrills. A little seriousness never hurt anyone and neither has alot of humor.

My advice is stop focusing on the dark aspects of the show and take joy in the lighter moments. If all you do is dwell on the drama and seriousness you can't enjoy the fun... pretty much my advice for life in general.

--------------------------------------------------
"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction." Albert Einstein

MONEYTRAIN

Thursday, January 3, 2008 11:13 AM

sg1 was a great show there was always the number 1 bad guy they were after who changed as they went along as they got rid of them but they wernt always hung up by the 1 guy, also the characters were great fun i found them funny, never got into atlantis

MERRYK

Thursday, January 3, 2008 1:53 PM

Re the continual power problems. True, it would not be realistic on every show. However, on Atlantis, where they are dealing with a 10,000 year old city, it should be expected. I was just using that as an example. It's like Serenity's inability to find jobs in Firefly...realistic, but wouldn't work on every show.

Yes, my mom watched Firefly on DVD, so it doesn't feel so serial.

--
"My way of being polite, or however...well, it's the only way I have of showing you that I like you. Of showing respect." Simon Tam, Jaynestown

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