Sci-fi shows and their downfalls: an analysis

[walter_MacChevron]

This thread is dedicated to finding the cause and exact date of some of the biggest science fiction shows ever. How it works: I state a show's title and then fans of that particular show can stae in what season the decline happened, when it hit rock bottom in quality, in what ways it hit rock bottom in quality (was it bad acting, bad storylines, etc.). And then after there has been enough discussion on that show somebody can state another show title. I'll start:

THE X-FILES

ok, whose a fan of that show has to reply and say when the show started to go downhill, when hit rock bottom in quality, and in what ways the quality wasn't as good anymore (not as scary, bad storylines.....)

[walter_MacChevron]

Nobody wants to chime in on this?.....are the rulles too confusing....if they are just ask for clarification

[TechnoWraith]

I think the rules are a little confusing, but i understood them enough to at least try a stab at posting here. Perhaps re-wording or changing the rules might help.

Personally, speaking, I stopped watching the X-files about two years before it ended. Not because the episodes were bad, but because the particular channel airing it kept changing the time-slots, so i just simply stopped watching the show. As such, I have not seen the last two and half seasons of X-files. So i can not specifically say when the show started heading south.

[Darth Buddha]

I was always more of a fan of the strong stand-alone episode than the conspiracy arc, but even that element was done fairly well in the early seasons.

Personally I felt that arc lost its intrigue after the film. Too much of the mystery was known, and once the alien conspiracy was wrapped up (more or less) the subsequent super-soldier plots were rather cheesy.

Around the same time the number of innovative stand alone episodes seemed to drop dramatically. There were still such episodes, but they seemed less fresh or even recycled from earlier episodes.

So the combination of a letdown in the conspiracy arc and a loss of hard hitting stand alone episodes really hurt the show.

Once David Duchovny left the show as a regular, however, it was truly time to put up the chairs and turn out the lights. Fox Mulder WAS the X-Files, and without the unique paranoia that character brought to the screen, and without his interaction with Scully, the remaining shows had less umph than "The Lone Gunmen" and their erstwhile series.

[yaaayoubetcha]

for me....it was 2 or 3 seasons before the actual end....

the writers just seemed to run out of things to do with the existing storylines and couldn't write anything really new and gripping...they tried a few times and it fizzled...well..for me anyway.

then there was the ongoing saga of whether Duchuvny and/or Anderson would be back next season or next season or next season...that kinda tied the writers hands when they don't know if they're writing for 1 main or 2 or if the show will proceed without them...

and then of course, the dreaded recasting...Nothing against Dogget or the other one...but, it wasn't their show. (and that's my secret fear about the reworking of SG1 as well). just reversing the roles of the genders wasn't really good enough. as i recall Dogget was the unbeliever and the girl was the believer.

i think the show ran out of actors rather than the other way around. i tried it a couple times in the last season...but it still didn't grab me.

[NightGloom]

I stopped watching every week during season 6 or 7 when it started getting really dumb. At least in the beginning they tried to do it on possible and real-life theories, but in the end they just completely made up most of the stuff. And the whole black oil, aliens, government conspiracy thing just got way too confusing and it was never fully resolved. They tried to stretch it out too much and didn't have enough episodes like "Small Potatoes" or "Detour"- ones that didn't involve it. By stretching out the arc, they made it too complicated. Plus, you could tell (with Duchovny especially) that the actors just didn't have their hearts in it anymore and neither did the writers. Bringing in Reyes was the last straw ("whale song," anyone?). Viewers wanted Mulder and Scully not Miss Cleo wannabe and guy from Terminator. I wasn't a shipper, but I admit that Scully and Mulder had good chemistry unlike Dogget and Reyes. Dogget wasn't bad at first, it made sense to bring in that type of character, but it didn't make sense for Scully just to do a complete 180 and suddenly become the avid "believer." I didn't like what they did with Skinner either.

[BritAngie]

The season after Duchovny left for me though it was going downhill when they moved the shoot from Vancouver to LA. The lighting and feel just changed sadly. The last season- in particular the last ep was dreadful.

[Elwe Singollo]

Although i wasn't a big X-files watcher every week, i caught a few episodes of every season (like repeats in syndication) and i saw something missing when Mulder left! The show lost the big believer that made the show (for me at least), who in each episode had to convince Scully in believing for at least a little bit. That was gone, but i watched a bit more with the new person(s) and it was an episode about how it was beneficial that Dogget, or who ever that agent was, wasn't a believer so he survived that thing. Yah i know that sounded confusing, but to sum that confusing sentence, IT WASNT THE SAME.

[FoolishPleasure]

I became totally frustrated when the "super soldiers" started to appear - the story arc branched out in a totally different direction without ever answering /tying up anything that had previously happened. What happened to the faceless aliens? What happened to the bounty hunter dudes? The black oil was creepy over several episodes. .and what was the purpose of introducing a tribe of Indians who were immune, then never revisiting it?

I liked Mulder and Scully, but the syrupy romance got boring. *zzzzzzz. . .channel flip*

[walter_MacChevron]

Ok, that just about covers The X-files downfall, now next is...........

BABYLON 5


*Please note: if you do not feel a particular show i mentioned really had a downfall, please state your opinion on the matter after people start to say the reasons why that show has gone downhill.

Example:

Person #1: Babylon 5 started going downhill in its lat season (insert reasons here)

Person #2: Yeah, I totally agree because (insert reasons here why show went downhill at that particular time)

Person #3: I'm gonna have to disagree guys, the show was always good and entertaining! (insert reasons why show did NOT have a downfall here)

[Darth Buddha]

Babylon 5 had a pretty rough birthing... I actually gave up on it in Season 1. But later I caught some of Season 2, with Captain Sheridan as the new skipper in place of Commander Sinclair. The story arc was more evident, and I was hooked.

Season 3 was incredible. So much was packed into that season. Season 4 was similarly packed... but it began to fray a bit around the edges. There was so much content that many important points seemed not to be given enough time to develop, or provided sufficient screen time. This fits with the real world complication in the show when some time in season 3 J.M.S. thought Bab5 would be cancelled before he got to his planned season 5.

Then he GOT season 5 on TNT.. but he had already covered a great deal of the material intended for season 5, and it showed. Worse, Claudia Christian left the show in a money dispute, so Ivanova was replaced with Captain Lockley, the supposed "ex-wife" of Sheridan played by the aging fitness model turned actress wannabe Tracy Scoggins. Blech. The telepath rebellion absent their planned involvement in the Shadow War was weak beyond belief (remember how Shadow vessels were vulnerable to telepaths? The planned tie in is oh so obvious). The telepaths, the establishment of the alliance with Sheridan as President, and the Centauri threat due to the manipulation of the Drahk just wasn't enough to bring season 5 to the content level of even the slow season 1.

Season 5 was painful to watch. I couldn't blame JMS, as he just tried to tell his five year story in four years when under threat, then got surprised when he GOT that fifth year. All of the seasons were also painful in terms of dialogue, as JMS apparently doesn't hire or doesn't listen to script editors... he actually manages to come up with lines more forced, stilted, and awkward than even George Lucas. But the story arc made that bearable until season five.

[CatGoddess]

B5 was a great show until season 5.

I'd say the decline started around season 4, when the network indicated that they might not pick up B5 for another season, and JMS realized that he would have to compress the remainder of the 5-year story arc into season 4 if he wanted to get everything out there. Suddenly B5 was picked up for another season, and JMS had to scramble to come up with something to fill it, because he'd already crammed much of what he'd planned for S5 into S4. I don't blame JMS - I probably would have done something similar in his shoes - but I'm still not going to buy the S5 boxset.

I actually liked season 1. The arc did start off slowly, but I enjoyed watching as the B5 universe was established, and it seems that I can't watch an S1 ep without noticing something I hadn't noticed before.

[Matt G]

I'm going to have to back up Darth and Cat here.

B5 was my first online fandom and JMS pretty much admitted in the chat transcripts that used to be on the Lurkers Guide that S4 was originally supposed to end round abouts 'Intersections in Real Time'(I think). Most of the 'Final Five' aside(apart from Sleeping in Light which didn't work for me at al) the show jumped the shark in S5 because the on/off about S5 knocked JMS's gameplan out of whack.

[Easter Lily]

I'm with everyone on Season 5... seemed to me to be too much of an add on... A couple of key characters missing... Ivanova and Marcus... and the narrative seemed in some ways to dragging certain subplots like the rogue telepath arc or maybe I just didn't buy new blonde Brit Byron...

I enjoyed Season 1 even if it was paced most slowly. It set up the conspiracy angle sufficiently to warrant my interest in the second season. Also it did something quite radical which was to use flashforwards... almost unheard of in my viewing experience at the time.

[walter_MacChevron]

Ok! Very impressive feedback and opinions......thank you for joining in! Alright these couple of shows are known by nearly ALL, and i dont even know if any of them had a downfall. So here goes........

ALL OF THE STAR TREK SERIES!!!