'Scifi' Becomes A Dirty Word

[Qasim]

http://www.syfyportal.com/features.php?id=155

So, with "Invasion," "Surface," and "Threshold" all off and running, you'd think science fiction is back in a big way on television.

You'd think so, but apparently, you'd be wrong.

The folks associated with these new series seem to be going to great lengths to avoid the scifi tag.

Shaun Cassidy, creator and executive producer of ABC's "Invasion," would rather call his show a "suspense thriller" series, according to a recent news item on SciFi Wire.

"If at the end of the season it doesn't come off as science fiction at all, that would be fantastic," he said.

Meanwhile, Jay R. Ferguson, co-star in NBC's "Surface," told SciFi Wire that he doesn't think of it as science fiction either.

"To me, scifi is Star Trek or Star Wars," Ferguson said.

[TechnoWraith]

From what i get from the blurb above, i think those series are trying to separate themselves from the "SciFi" name associated with the SciFi channel, not the genre itself.

[Wyrminarrd]

Their views kinda reflect my own concerning what sci-fi is. I´ve always tended to think that space sci-fi is the only true sci-fi with shows that take place on modern Earth being something else. Some people called Buffy and Angel sci-fi which just makes me go "huh?" Where´s the technology and science in those shows? People really shouldn´t lump together science fiction and fantasy like that

[TechnoWraith]

I guess it comes down to what you define as "scifi". For me, if there isn't a space ship or a planet involved, i don't usually label it as scifi. (That's probably a flawed view, but you get the idea in general). I grew up on Star Trek as my primary Scifi show. So that's what my definition of scifi entails. Spaceships, aliens, planets, and spaceships blowing up other spaceships.

Today, the scifi genre generally encompasses anything that has to do with spaceships, aliens, technology, planets, spaceships blowing up other spaceships, anything that mutates and becomes bigger than it was, radiation of some sort, space travel, and just about anything in between. For the most part, some of the new series that are coming out are labelling themselves as Scifi, when they truly aren't.

[Qasim]

I agree TW

Most of us here grew up on Trek and I think that skews our definition of scifi

[NowIWillDestroyAbydos]

To me SciFi is something that has to do with spaceships and alien cultures. And the setting usually takes place in space. And some of these new shows fit to what I think is SciFi.

[Metarock Sam]

To me any kind of Science- Fiction is Sci-Fi. It doesnt matter what form it is in.

[jckfan55]

Well I think there's still a sense out there that science fiction means either space travel or giant bugs run amok. Wait a minute, I just described the SciFi channel. I've heard that serious science fiction readers call it SF to distinguish it from the giant bug school.

[the dancer of spaz]

The X-Files and Buffy were the most popular all-around scifi series on network television, and they never went into outerspace.

And it would seem to me like "Invasion," "Surface," AND "Threshold" are all trying to catch that "X-Files" feel, without (a) falling into the bottomless pit that their predecessors have and (b) turning people off with such a "geeky" genre as scifi...

The X-Files was science fiction, and they never denied it. And, IMO, if these networks want hits like The X-Files (never gonna happen right now), they'd better think of a different way to advertise them to the geeky scifi fans who sit at home and watch NBC's SciFi network for three hours straight...

Sorry. It just irritates me when ALL scifi gets a bad wrap, and the networks feel like they have to cater to the "non-scifi" fans... Hmmph.

We're not lepers, FCOL!

[TechnoWraith]

The X-Files and Buffy were the most popular all-around scifi series on network television, and they never went into outerspace.

In truth, i never thought of X-files or Buffy as "Sci-fi." I actually thought X-files was a mystery show, and Buffy was more "Action." In hindsight, i probably would consider X-files a "specialized sci-fi" show. While not traditionally scifi (by traditional definitions) X-files had enough "weirdness and sci-fi related stuff" in it to deem it a sci-fi show.

[the dancer of spaz]

In truth, i never thought of X-files or Buffy as "Sci-fi." I actually thought X-files was a mystery show, and Buffy was more "Action." In hindsight, i probably would consider X-files a "specialized sci-fi" show. While not traditionally scifi (by traditional definitions) X-files had enough "weirdness and sci-fi related stuff" in it to deem it a sci-fi show.

"Weirdness?!" Ooohhh yeah!

Plus everyone called it a scifi show.

[Simonthefurling]

They're probably just trying to pull in the audience which casts off and brands scifi as just for 'geeks'. Lets be honest, alot of people out their browse with blinkers on when channel hopping, if you tell somebody its scifi they'll probably just change the channel asap.

[Crichton]

Sci Fi has turned into Sci Fi/Fantasy...I don't have a problem with that.
I also like traditional Sci Fi a lot.

[Seastallion]

Humph. Dirty?!? Only people's ignorant and parochial perceptions of what Sci-Fi is, is dirty. Some of the most popular movies and TV shows of all time have been Sci-Fi. The Terminator, The X-Files, Star Wars (of course), Quantum Leap, The X-men, Babylon 5, Spiderman, Alias, The Matrix, The 4400, Armageddon, The Deadzone, The Stargate ( ), and yes, yes, yes... Star Trek too.

Science Fiction- Any Fiction that could happen given the appropriate advances in science and technology.

Fantasy- Fiction that could not happen regardless of science or technology. It usually uses magic and/or beings that cannot or do not exist in the 'real' world.

On the other hand, some of the very best Sci-Fi and Fantasy have elements of each in the other, so much so that it is sometimes difficult to tell them apart. People having "wild" powers, or mythological beings using technology.

One of my favorite concepts in all of science fiction, is the Technomage. A person who uses technology to simulate the effect of magic. JMS (of Babylon 5) used them in his short-lived TV series Crusade. (I liked the show, and particularly Galen, the resident technomage, so that was too bad.)

The word Sci-Fi dirty?? Bah..!

[StevetheWraith!]

Their views kinda reflect my own concerning what sci-fi is. I´ve always tended to think that space sci-fi is the only true sci-fi with shows that take place on modern Earth being something else. Some people called Buffy and Angel sci-fi which just makes me go "huh?" Where´s the technology and science in those shows? People really shouldn´t lump together science fiction and fantasy like that

Yeah mate absolutely. I mean Buffy ?! I guess that I would call Buffy a fantasy show or something like that. IMHO I think that the Sci Fi tag should be used for space related shows like Star Trek, Star Wars, Earth: Final Conflict... only. In the last few years its strange how it is being liberally used to call any show that contains some scientific concept or something like that Sci Fi and I feel that its wrong to do so. Anyways I don't really care what the hell they call them because the fact remains that they are awesome shows that have to be watched