Do we need a space adventure show that is well writen and set in an optimistic future

[CmdrShep2154]

Are we entering a golden age of space TV? We have The Expanse, multiple Star Treks, The Orville, Knights of Sidonia, and Vagrant Queen along with series based on Iain M. Banks and Battlestar Galactica in the works.

If we are entering or are in a golden age of space sci fi TV then it is unfortunate that most of these shows are not on the level of quality as BSG or The Expanse.

Vagrant Queen just looks cheap, tacky, and generic.



If this is the best Syfy can do then it deserves to go off the air or go back to wrestling.

The Expanse is the best space show of this decade but I am hungering for something shiny and optimistic but with the level of quality of BSG. Something filled with a sense of wonder and optimism.

Do you think the TV show producers can give us a space saga that is set in an exciting optimistic new sci fi universe that is not generic and boring?

How about a series based on Homeworld?

[Kokolums]

The reimagined BSG was an abomination.

The entire hook of the original 1970s show was that, here was this human civilization and it lost EVERYTHING. All of its colonies and territory. To a superior species. And it was on the run to find a mythical colony. And despite all of the loss, death, and destruction, they were amazingly upbeat, happy, playful, joking, even down to shiny brass on their uniforms. They were a font of positive thinking.

The reimagined BSG sucked so hard because it missed the entire point of the show. They made everyone moody, grim, somber, pouty. Dark sets and glum faces. No one happy. Maybe the reimagined BSG reflected the crappy mood everyone is in this decade, but we certainly didn't need it.

I wish they'd bring back the real BSG but oh well. This world desperately needs the real BSG back. It might inspire people to be positive again.

[justandulas]

The Orville isn’t optimistic enough for you??

[molliewoof]

ian m banks culture novels are fairly optimistic i thought? a galaxy wide civilisation without hunger that helps 'younger' civilisations mature.

i dont know what the series for banks will be about but if they base it on the player of games, it is basically about a bored guy going to play space chess with an unknown weaker culture. everyone has their troubles but i would love to be a culture citizen

The reimagined BSG was an abomination.

i enjoyed it, if everything i knew got destroyed and i was being chased, probably going to die id be an angry drunk also, the other day i stubbed my toe and was considering becoming one.

i admit there could be more humour in it though

[Shadowferal]

The reimagined BSG was an abomination.
The entire hook of the original 1970s show was that, here was this human civilization and it lost EVERYTHING. All of its colonies and territory. To a superior species. And it was on the run to find a mythical colony. And despite all of the loss, death, and destruction, they were amazingly upbeat, happy, playful, joking, even down to shiny brass on their uniforms. They were a font of positive thinking.

Which made no sense.
For the timeframe, it was something that was fun...then along came Buck Rogers in the 25th century, and a host of other shows that wanted to be Star Wars then.

Fun to watch. (and I had thing for Maren Jensen...who it seemed proved to be a reallife psycho...)
But a society that loses everything has no reason to be upbeat since it's all about survival where every life matters.

[Lex Icon]

nah. places i wan't to visit is all i need.

[Dread Pirate Phayde]

I think the golden age of Scifi TV has already come and gone. It started in the 90s with shows like TNG, and B5, continued with the Stargate franchise and ended with shows like Farscape. We'll have some gems here and there like the Expanse, but a lot seem like misses.

Syfy had such faith in Vagrant Queen that they already shifted it off Prime time. I don't honestly know why NBC hasn't just shut Syfy down already. They hardly produce any shows at this point.

[Theodarzna]

I am unsure what is the fixation on optimism?

[Knaar]

I just want a new version of Stargates with amazing cgi, similar funny crew and plenty of wtf moments!

[molliewoof]

I am unsure what is the fixation on optimism?

its just change at the moment i think.

we're all stuck indoors, bored out of our skulls.

its nice to see something nice rather than the dark stuff a lot of dramas pedal

[Kaleredar]

I get the sense the OP wants to make something space related but utterly lacks the skills to make any facet of their goal a reality and so uses this forum as an idea testing ground.

Suffice to say, OP (though they usually post their threads and then immediately abandon them) if you want to make something space/science fiction related... go learn some skill pursuant to doing that. Like art. Or writing. Or work some production job. You aren’t going to get anywhere posting vague speculative threads.

If you want to work in the industry, you have to have some skill to offer. Nobody is going to pay you to be the “ideas” guy. I imagine with the quarantine on you’ve lots of time to pick up some additional skills.

[molliewoof]

I get the sense the OP wants to make something space related but utterly lacks the skills to make any facet of their goal a reality and so uses this forum as an idea testing ground.

Suffice to say, OP (though they usually post their threads and then immediately abandon them) if you want to make something space/science fiction related... go learn some skill pursuant to doing that. Like art. Or writing. Or work some production job. You aren’t going to get anywhere posting vague speculative threads.

If you want to work in the industry, you have to have some skill to offer. Nobody is going to pay you to be the “ideas” guy. I imagine with the quarantine on you’ve lots of time to pick up some additional skills.

i have no idea of your history with OP but this seems harsh

[Biomega]

Optimism is a problem because it's hard to create drama when things work too well.

It's what sabotaged the original Star Trek premise - it was conceptualized as a Utopian world full of morally advanced humans, but in practice it never turned out that way because they couldn't find a way to make compelling television with such restraints. People had to be flawed, problems had to arise, imperfections had to be exposed. In fact, many would say that Star Trek is at its MOST engaging when the characters are put into contrast with such imperfections, i.e. they are given orders not in line with a Utopian world and choose to ignore them, or they make questionable decisions, or whatever. Deep Space 9 was a perfect example of this, with the Federation taking a more xenophobic, almost paranoid turn; going to war; introducing morally grey (or black...) sections of Federation intelligence, and having a "captain" that isn't afraid to go beyond the original ST boundaries (including the whole thing about religion).

That's not to say, of course, that it's IMPOSSIBLE to make a more optimistic vision of SF work. You can still find ways to engage people without it all being about good vs. evil, in whatever incarnation, or flaws vs. ideals. But it's hard work, and it's often resistant to the application of established genre tropes - and those tropes are something that executives love because they're a tried and trusted commodity (just look at ST: Enterprise Season 2 which was full of episodes that were effectively remakes of existing stories, both within SF and outside of it).

To be truly original and capture audiences is a difficult, complicated, and uncertain task. In other words, it's a forest of red flags for producers and execs. Nobody will be willing to finance a project of sufficient scope that can't present itself in the light of something established. By which I mean it's not literally impossible, but extremely unlikely. Even a smash hit like Breaking Bad was rejected by just about every studio in the world because it seemed too far from the norm, and that's going to be the exact same case with a non-standard SF show.

For all the praise you can (rightfully) heap on shows like The Orville or The Expanse, they are also just iterations of existing materials. It'd be very hard to be original and actually convince someone to put in the necessary money - to the point where I don't see it ever happening in the near future.

[mizeri]

The reimagined BSG was an abomination.

The entire hook of the original 1970s show was that, here was this human civilization and it lost EVERYTHING. All of its colonies and territory. To a superior species. And it was on the run to find a mythical colony. And despite all of the loss, death, and destruction, they were amazingly upbeat, happy, playful, joking, even down to shiny brass on their uniforms. They were a font of positive thinking.

The reimagined BSG sucked so hard because it missed the entire point of the show. They made everyone moody, grim, somber, pouty. Dark sets and glum faces. No one happy. Maybe the reimagined BSG reflected the crappy mood everyone is in this decade, but we certainly didn't need it.

I wish they'd bring back the real BSG but oh well. This world desperately needs the real BSG back. It might inspire people to be positive again.

the new BSG was way better then the original show, all 80's show was all upbeat and each episode ended with a comedic relief, the new BSG was more like it would be if you are the last of humanity and very little hope of survival, now i would agree that the last season of the new BSG wasnt very good but that was because of the damn writers strike that had happened then.

[Kaleredar]

i have no idea of your history with OP but this seems harsh

He comes in every month or so posting this same kind of vague nonsense. Then he never responds to his own threads, which makes me doubt he's looking for any sort of discussion.

I'd say my response is pretty generous in assuming he's not just a weird troll, and is instead actually looking to pursue some sort of creative career endeavor. Hence my response, which is how the industry works. To wit, you want in, you gotta either be 1) rolling in stupid amounts of money and be able to self-finance or, as applies to most people, 2) have some sort of production-related skill or experience to get your foot in the door with. People seem to think they're going to get into TV/film/games by writing some super duper amazing outline on a napkin that'll blow the pants off some executive and then be put in charge of a fleet of artists and writers who they'll then give a thumbs up/thumbs down to all the way to a finished product. But that's not the case. I wouldn't call that "revelation" harsh, if that's indeed what you were referring to... that's just how things are.

[kendro1200]

Optimism is a problem because it's hard to create drama when things work too well.

I'd disagree, optimism comes from seeing the good in how things are or could be. As was pointed out with the original BSG in the 70's, and a lot of shows in the 70's and 60's. There was horrible stuff that happened, but you could see the good in what was there too.
I still think it's a crime that Peter F Hamilton's Commonwealth Saga hasn't been picked up by HBO or some other network. The series has everything going for it that premium networks love: Drama, Sex, Politics and Violence. The thing I like so much about the Commonwealth Saga though, is that it shows that even through the worst parts and possibilities of humanity's future, it is still a future worth striving for. People still have similar stagnant economic situations that is current in the world, but at the least they get to spend it in eternal youth. Humanity is spreading out through the stars, and even manages to turn the clock on Earth and undo a lot of the damage done to it from the 18th to 21st centuries. Horrible things happen, but people manage to persevere and make it out by the skin of their teeth by the end. Then after all is said and done, humanity learns a lesson, several times over and changes again for the better. It is optimistic sci-fi, but a very believable kind.

[Biomega]

I'd disagree, optimism comes from seeing the good in how things are or could be.

As I said, it's not IMPOSSIBLE, it's just harder - and producers don't want to do hard things. They want to do easy things. They want to redo and rehash things that they know work. Not take chances on things that might work. And the darker, grittier future formula has been proven to work. So they stick with it, and press every new thing into that mold.

Someone might break that. They might push through some show that works, and maybe after that we'll have nothing BUT optimistic shows, riding on the new paradigm. Who knows.

[Frontenac]

I am unsure what is the fixation on optimism?

Probably some disgruntled Star Trek fan who thought Discovery and Picard were too dark.

[Osmeric]

Any fiction with faster than light space travel is already ridiculously optimistic.

[s_bushido]

The reimagined BSG sucked so hard because it missed the entire point of the show. They made everyone moody, grim, somber, pouty. Dark sets and glum faces. No one happy. Maybe the reimagined BSG reflected the crappy mood everyone is in this decade, but we certainly didn't need it.

lol, what nonsense. "No one was happy" because no one would be happy in that situation. If you want to write a story where none of the characters behave like humans would behave...what's the point in making them human in the first place?