Why Scifi Isn't The Drawcard It Used To Be

This year I watched the new series Defiance. Having heard about the millions forked out, not to mention the game crossover, my expectations were high. I really wanted a new scifi show to love. Most of all, I wanted to ignore the feeling in the pit of my stomach that told me all the money in the world wasn't going to save the genre right now...

Turns out, my intuition, market understanding, call it what you will, was right. The series was a mess. 

Which got me thinking. Why wasn't I surprised? Since when did my expectations, in regards to my favourite genre, become so low?

When I was young (yes, I know, I sound about ninety), science fiction shows had the ability to command mainstream primetime audiences. Major networks didn't view investing in science fiction as a game of Russian Roulette with more than one bullet (the current attitude). Back then, everyday masses watched science fiction programs of an evening without any hesitation.

I remember, as a little kid, memorising the blurb in the TV Guide for the next episode of V well before the week's wait was over. Everyone loved those scary, rat-eating lizard people, not to mention the brave resistance, as well as the moralistic aliens who crossed sides, like Charles and Willy.

And who didn't love Captain Picard? Star Trek: The Next Generation pushed boundaries. Those writers really tried. One episode that stuck in my brain saw Dr. Crusher fall in love with an alien guy who suffers an accident and is transplanted into a woman's body. The story portrayed Dr. Crusher as an individual incapable of overcoming her prejudices to be with the person she loved. Pretty edgy material for the times.

Remember Alien Nation? The ultimate illegal immigrant metaphor? I loved those freckle-headed types and their attempts to become American suburbanites. (Not to mention some of the best "alien" soundtracks to ever come out of a television spin-off.)

Even scifi shows that weren't commercial successes, like the underestimated Space: Above and Beyond, were still brilliant family viewing. They had a lot to say about a number of moral and psychological issues, and the writing was topnotch. But obviously, the commercial allure of the genre was starting to show some fractures...

Following the trail of attempts at a scifi hit, you start to see a pattern, kind of in a crash-and-burn shape over the years. You had Crusade, which hardly anyone remembers. Farscape seems like a point where scifi transitioned fully from crowd-pulling prime time shows into niche television with a loyal following.

By the time it got to Voyager, even the new Star Treks were starting to go down the gurgler. The quirky science premise of Now and Again finished off the era with lacklustre numbers that were beginning to seem a worrying norm for science fiction.

Crossing over into the new millennium, people's expectations had plummeted to the point where even a quality effort like Firefly couldn't garner enough initial audience interest to keep it on the air of a major network. The genre had become synonymous with dubious quality television, and the masses were no longer willing to risk it (more's the pity in this case).

Even the money and big names behind Dark Angel couldn't seduce the crowds. Fervent trekkies barely made it through an episode of Star Trek Enterprise, while the interesting Jeremiah struggled to hold viewers. 

For the next decade or so, there were valiant attempts to bring the genre back to life as a primetime big hitter. FlashForward tried to reassert scifi as a mainstream power, and failed dismally. Battlestar Galactica garnered major critical acclaim but couldn't translate that into a primetime hit. The 4400 soon vanished like it's characters, Surface sunk, and Threshold barely found viewers, let alone alien life forms (I know, too much punning in one sentence).

I feel that around this period, you start to see a notable drop in the quality of the output. Someone got the terrible idea to try remakes, like V (again), a narrative mess that died horribly in the ratings. And then the scale just kept sliding... 

Stargate Universe was one of the worse shows I've ever seen- set in space or otherwise. Don't even get me started on the mess that is Revolution, and Terra Nova was a shocker. Also, Dark Skies (I only watched a few episodes of the first season and complained about them in a blog that may have been longer than the original pilot script).

Which brings me back full circle to the terrible Defiance (there, I said it).

I personally think aside from "dumbing down" scifi to make it supposedly more palatable, over-sexualising the genre is another major part of the problem. Networks are often so busy trying to throw pleasing ingredients into the mix that they ruin the recipes. And audiences... well, after the first few bouts of food poisoning, they're not coming back to the restaurant any time soon. 

Dollhouse was a prime example of upper level meddling. Science fiction had such a bad rep by the time Dollhouse was picked up that the network couldn't bring themselves to let the show sit and simmer to perfection. 

(In my opinion, they should have given the writers free rein to really WRITE, because this premise had so much potential. Some of the later episodes are baked to perfection, most notably the unaired material.)



The sad part is, nobody expects scifi to rate amazingly anymore. If a network's going to risk cash, they'll generally go procedural over science fiction. The edgiest big money show is maybe a paranormal procedural, but that's as close to the line as most will tiptoe. (Shows that are marketed as "paranormal" these days are more likely to lock down an audience, like Under The Dome.)

What happened to the genre? When did code for cutting edge become code for soapies-in-the-future instead, and ones that aren't even written that well? Did some bright spark think making the futuristic elements a form of scenery, rather than the core of the narrative, will "trick" people into watching? That audiences will get so caught up in the sexual tension/potential romance they'll "forget" it's science fiction?

Perhaps science fiction has become lost, as a television genre, because the setting seems like enough to qualify, when in fact, it should be the material, the concepts addressed, that make it "futuristic"? 

Here's hoping the next decade sees intelligent material that also entertains become the norm again, and that it will be "normal" for mainstream audiences to switch on an hour of science fiction television at night.

My favourite recent science fiction release of recent times is Continuum, because the quality of the narrative harks back to ye days of Olde. It doesn't underestimate the audience, dragging complex ideas into the narrative with gusto. 



Unfortunately, the general public's expectations of science fiction are currently so dismal, the chances of a low budget science fiction program like this becoming an international primetime hit are slim. But Continuum brings back that feeling you get when you watch something fresh, strong, and mentally challenging, not to mention entertaining. 

Fingers crossed that major networks take at least one lesson from the show... that great science fiction requires great narrative, and addresses issues consuming the psyche of the times (metaphorically or otherwise). 

Note: Of course there's exceptions to every rule, like Dr Who, who often bucks trends, regenerating many times in the ratings (see what I did there?). Happy fiftieth to the wily Timelord xx