The Fall of Television Science Fiction

I just watched an episode of Star Trek (Next Generation to be specific-¡Picard rules!) and afterwards thought about playing some more Mass Effect 3.  I actually turned off the TV and did some reading, but my mind got caught up considering the state of sci-fi these days.

I think most any fan of the genre will happily, or I suppose more like disgruntled-ly, tell you there really isn't any good sci-fi on TV anymore.  Personally I think this ended with the show Firefly, and maybe that's why it holds such a fond place in my heart-it was practically television science fiction's dying breath.  Don't get me wrong, there's been a good one or two in the last while. I liked Sarah Conner Chronicles, and Dollhouse.  I might debate whether or not Lost counts as sci-fi, but that doesn't mean it wasn't quite enjoyable.  I hear lots of praise for Fringe, though I lost interest somewhere about halfway through the second season.

Television science fiction isn't going away, for sure, but I remember the days of Star Trek, Babylon 5, Farscape, Stargate, and Sliders.  I lived in a time where I could watch something that truly imagined something outside normal human experience and embraced that concept to explore.  You have to dig for that on TV nowadays.  Of course, you have to dig for anything of remote worth these days.

I recently heard that when TV was first invented people thought it would change the world for the betterment of humanity.  TV may have been a major part of winning the cold war.  It changed the way people communicated, allowing a story to reach millions from all around the world.  People thought that this power could be harnessed to spread messages of thoughtfulness, enlightenment, and truth to better humanity.  Such a grand vision is now swallowed up in banality as we're treated to a parade of vapid celebrity voyeurism and bad parenting, lack of life skill, or legitimate mental illness freak shows.

TV may be no more than a plethora of pathetic pandering to the "lowest common denominator," but there's still great science fiction out there in literature (I listen to a weekly sci-fi short story podcast that's wonderful) and also in one of our emerging art forms, the video game.  I'm getting a little long on this post already, so I think I'll make this a two parter and express my love for video game science fiction separately later. So, ¡Tune in again for the exciting conclusion!