is the golden age of space sci-fi coming to an end ?

posted on January 27th, 2011, 3:45 am

is  it just me or does it seem like the golden age of space sci-fi is on its last legs .....is it because its all been done ? is it because the people who grew up with star trek and star wars are growing old ?....does sci-fi just need a break from space sci-fi ?? now that stargate universe is  cancelled with only two seasons under its belt that leaves very little ...if anything left to watch. there was so many at one time Andromeda, Babylon 5, Battlestar Galactica both of them, Caprica, Earth: Final Conflict , Farscape and Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars, Firefly , Lexx, Star Trek: The Original Series ,Star Trek: The Next Generation ,Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Enterprise, Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis , Stargate Universe, V  and such ....so what does that leave us with ....well there is a live action star wars but other then that i cant think of anything ?

posted on January 27th, 2011, 4:00 am

It already started coming to an end when the first of the Star Wars prequels came out (the great 90s series were over, and Star Wars movies started sucking), it was definitely over by the time SG-1 ended.

posted on January 27th, 2011, 4:00 am

1. there will always be more space sci-fi, but it may take a while for the genre to "cool off."  What you're saying is exactly right, there's a surplus of space sci-fi "that our parents watched" and it's creating a rift between the people who are willing to go watch lots of old TV and the people who aren't.  I'm sure given some time the genre will pick up, although there may never the same volume of media as during the "golden age" of science fiction in general.

2. I won't rag too hard on it, but as many people here know already I think SGU was an AWFUL show.  They tried to create "real people in moral dilemmas" but the result was characters so wicked you actually wanted them to die.

posted on January 27th, 2011, 4:11 am

ya SGU seems like the kind of show where i would not like the characters until  the 4 or 5  season well rush and eli were ok but 80% of season one sucked and season two was not much better.

posted on January 27th, 2011, 4:43 am

ya SGU seems like the kind of show where i would not like the characters until  the 4 or 5  season well rush and eli were ok but 80% of season one sucked and season two was not much better.

Agreed. I actually predicted that it wouldn't get past 2 seasons. Frankly the story line, although interesting, was weak to begin with, and when they added in all the social and political angst, the poor plot line just broke in half. And, as a story line, it has been done before with Atlantis and even Voyager, except that this time around they designed it so that there was a 0% chance of getting back. Translation, you've created a plot which can only go in circles.

posted on January 27th, 2011, 4:58 am

It already started coming to an end when the first of the Star Wars prequels came out (the great 90s series were over, and Star Wars movies started sucking), it was definitely over by the time SG-1 ended.

I'm one of those people who tolerated the prequels as fun popcorn flicks and really genuinely liked Atlantis through its run, so I'd call the "golden age Sci-Fi" dead when that was canceled, but I pretty much agree with you. In my opinion, the new BSG killed the old 90s Sci Fi shows' appeal. No one seems to want to watch a space show now without unlikeable characters and a oppressively overbearingly dark atmosphere where the good guys never win and everybody has insane character flaws.

[Nebula_Class_Ftw]

posted on January 27th, 2011, 5:44 am

Last edited by Nebula_Class_Ftw on January 27th, 2011, 5:46 am, edited 1 time in total.

I think SGU got better after Rush came back, and once the civilian vs. military thing was over with. Unfortunately it still kept the aspect of always just being on the verge of returning to Earth/being destroyed by the villain or monster of the week. Episodic plots about things that would end the series just don't have the tension that they are intended to.

posted on January 27th, 2011, 6:45 am

Really i think the main point behind SGU was great, going to find that one signal but trying to make it like a Jersey shore type show was just annoying. I mean common no one is that much of a 

posted on January 27th, 2011, 7:15 am

all i have left to look fwd to is the new star wars live action show but even that has risk ....no jedi no vader , no emperor , and its on a tight budget. so it might be kinda "meh"

[Tyler]

posted on January 27th, 2011, 1:12 pm

Last edited by Tyler on January 27th, 2011, 1:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I didn't mind the Star Wars prequals, they were far better than any sequals would have been if the Expanded Universe is any indication of what we could have expected.

Can't Stand Jar Jar Binks, though. Annoying as Neelix (even if less selfish/cowardly).

posted on January 27th, 2011, 3:59 pm

I thought stargate universe was crap as well, i kept waiting for it to get interesting but it never happened, they never got them an enemy like in sg1 with the guald, and in atlantis with the wrath.

There was no reason to watch it as it wasnt really a scifi action series it was just a scifi drama and it sucked.

posted on January 27th, 2011, 5:22 pm

SGU was SciFi? I realy thought it is a soap 
And there is something. Star Wars the Clone Wars (the newer one, there are two) - if you like Star Wars for children.
But Ep 1 was already Star Wars for children.

But why golden age.
Sci Fi in Television startet with Star Trek. And there was everytime time between new series.
And there where some more or less series at the same time.
The only problem I see. In the moment they try to copy BSG (the new one) and fail.

posted on January 27th, 2011, 10:40 pm

Star Wars the Clone Wars? That movie was the same piece of shit as the other prequels, but with boring wooden romantic/angry dialog replaced by boring wooden kid show dialog.
The series is better (and worse, like the episodes where Jar Jar was the MAIN HERO!! ) in places , but that's just because it's a series. Even Enterprise had its few good moments compared to Star Trek V.

posted on January 27th, 2011, 10:52 pm

You all realise that isnt all there is for scifi, scifi is more than just space stuff.

Startrek was not the start of scifi by any means lol there were old black and white space aliens landing on earth in the 40s, all kinds of crap way before kirk ripped his shirt off.

Theres just a dry spot recently, new ideas will surface and scifi will continue its not the end just an intermission.

posted on January 27th, 2011, 10:54 pm

i liked sgu, in many ways its what voyager promised to be but wasnt. everyone was like starfleet and maquis crews might have some conflict and the ship wont have a starbase/yard to run back to and repair before the next episode. and episodes will arc into eachother. but there was no conflict after the first few eps and all damage was fixed with the big reset button after each episode and there were only 2 parters. ds9 had more arcs lol.

i like the fact that some people on sgu are bad, people in real life are arseholes sometimes. cant all be good guys.

people having affairs? that happens all the time in real life.

people being annoying? im annoying myself lol

people being plain machiavellian? there are people like that.

i also like the fact that they cant fix the ship after each ep. things actually stay broken, the hull stays breached.

they designed it so that there was a 0% chance of getting back

how do u figure that? if they could get someone in via the stones to fix the ships batteries they could recharge from a star to the levels needed for dialling nine chevrons.

or they could figure a way to safely take energy directly from a star to the gate, maybe build some new rudimentary power conduits to go alongside the normal ones to prevent overload.

or they could join up with the seed ship and use its power. the ursini currently control it, but they could take it from them.

or they could find a power source out there. i mean they are travelling through several galaxies.

the civilian vs military thing was believable, rush and wray are dominant people used to getting their own way. wray had power before and now she doesnt. its good to see some conflict among good guys as conflict is common in real life. the wounds of the failed mutiny are still not fully healed and probably never will be, in the mess they still sit apart mostly.

they never got them an enemy like in sg1 with the guald, and in atlantis with the wrath.

its hard to have a recurring enemy when u go from galaxy to galaxy so often.

also why would you want one? they already did 2 shows with recurring villains. many sci fis have done recurring villains. its an old story technique. i find it boring. there are plenty of aliens out there. voyager took it too far with random surly aliens of the week though. every week they pissed off a new species beginning with the letter T.

recurring villains have several downsides apart from being clichéd. they usually suffer from villain decay. look how the goauld suffered, at first a team of redshirts firing a powerful assault rifle (m16s) in the pilot could only down 1 jaffa, and jaffa armour was bullet proof. then a submachine gun like the mp5 could do it, then late in the series a simple 9mm pistol could down a jaffa in 1 hit through their armour. the staff weapon at first blew redshirts backwards with massive holes in their torso and cut through BLAST DOORS, just like C4 explosive. then later a metal part from a UAV (an aircraft, needs to be light to fly) could block staff blasts completely. hataks had weapons capable of reaching down to the SGC with several megaton blasts, later it takes an entire fleet several days to destroy earth with peashooter ship mounted staff cannons. the wraith suffered it too, they started off nearly invulnerable, entire magazines were required to down a warrior, later they got mowed down by the hive load like redshirts.

i dont want a recurring villain in sgu. variety is nice.