At the first sci-fi convention I was a guest at, I spoke at length about how the new generation of sci-fi authors were more realistic then their processors. A lot of this had to do with cumulative knowledge, sure, but also from a post-modern sensibility of taking basic sci-fi tropes and turning them inside out. I was pressed for examples of this “new realism,” and the first thing that came to mind was a BATTLESTAR GALACTICA episode, “Water,” where our space operatic heroes’ water supply is sabotaged in the emptiness of space.
This was laughed at. To my fellow panelists, science fiction meant books. TV was a wasteland of matinee idols and silly special effects. The idea of a Serious Adult Science Fiction Drama on TV was unheard of.
Serious Adult Science Fiction Drama on television is an elusive beast. It’s not easy to do right, and has become almost anthemia to sci-fi television in general. BATTLESTAR GALACTICA—which I believe has now almost eclipsed it’s original 70’s source material; I haven’t heard referred to as the “New BSG” in quite some time—comes very close, even if it routinely fails the ”One of two things” test. However, I will fault no series that gives Michelle Forbes work.
Ever since she gave Majel Barret the stink-eye way back when, I’ve been a fan of our Ms. Forbes.
But that can’t be it, can it? One show? Surely, there are more Serious Adult Science Fiction Dramas out there, that can be held up against the best TV dramas out there, right? I mean, it has been eight years since DEEP SPACE NINE ended. Something should fill that void.
I feel like sci-fi is little more than a genre, and as such, deserves the deluxe treatment cowboys, cops, and spies have gotten. One of the greatest television shows known to man is THE SANDBAGGERS. It’s a spy thriller that cuts at the meat of what spy thrillers should be about; namely, the people who do horrible things in unfriendly lands, and the people who send them there to do them. It’s not James Bond, something Roy Marsden’s Director of Operations makes abundantly clear in the first episode. It’s a genre story that stands above the genre’s normal trappings, and looks all the better for it.
TORCHWOOD was supposed to that, as well. That was the hype, leastways. A serious, adult look at the weird and wonderful world of DOCTOR WHO was supposed to be a contender for BSG’s crown, but ends up looking more like BUFFY’s castoffs. I suppose in the attempt to prove itseld as “adult,” with its barely-bloody violence and its nippleless sex and its oh-so-naughty language, TORCHWOOD forgot that what makes a story adult is consequences. Childhood fantasy doesn’t bother itself with consequences; they have a tendency to ruin the fun. And quite frankly, that seemed to be where TORCHWOOD wanted to go. But it’s hard to fit consequences in a 40 minute episode when you also have to expound about alien races and secret technology and have a sex scene or three in there too. Only two of the episodes–“Ghost Machine” and “Out Of Time”—seem to have integrated the concepts of consequences into the story proper, while others –“Cyberwoman,” I’m looking at you—just latch them on at the end. Not that there’s anything intrinsically wrong with having a woman in bionic-bikini-briefs battle a pterodactyl, but let’s not pretend its anything more than that. With it’s gloomy setting and constantly arguing characters, TORCHWOOD is in fact the perfect adolescent fair for the kid who thought Buffy was too touchy-feely. But it isn’t Serious Adult Science-Fiction Drama any more than FARSCAPE or STARGATE are.
This is not knocking either of those shows, or even TORCHWOOD. They are what the are, and what they are is perfectly enjoyable. But they are not up to SANDBAGGERS, or even LAW & ORDER levels of adult drama. But they are fun. As I’ve said in the past, you can’t knock a tv show that gives us bondage outfits and muppets.
The Patrick Stewart vehicle 11TH HOUR tries harder to get its S.A.S-F.D. on, and for the first two episodes actually makes good. 11TH HOUR is hard sci-fi—or, at least, as close as we’ve gotten on TV yet—and its first episodes about cloning and a viral outbreak do what TORCHWOOD can’t, complete with sex scenes and dirty words. Unfortunately, the second half of this 4-episode series can’t measure up to the standard set up by the first half. Stewart does his best, but even he can’t turn stories about global warming and a cancer-curing spring into exciting television.
The producers seem marginally aware of that, and Roy Marsden of THE SANDBAGGERS shows up to add some weight and menace to the final episode. Doesn’t change the script any, but he is fun to watch as a foil for Stewart.
Obviously, the first thing we can take away from this is Serious Adult Genre Drama requires Roy Marsden in one shape or form.
I feel like sci-fi needs more than one Serious Adult Drama, especially with BSG bowing out after next season. My fellow panelist on at that convention years ago scoffed at the idea, but the fact remains that television is where our culture still forms its ideas about genres. The internet is too unregulated, and movies are too specific. But television is just broad enough to hit the sweet spot of the public consciousness. For good or for ill, STAR TREK has become a far stronger culture touchstone than LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS. There’s really no reason that another show, one that isn’t based on a program from the 70s or a spin-off of a popular family show, can’t have that impact today.
Also, I’d really, really, really like to watch it.
