Is space-based sci-fi on TV dead?

[RavenCWG]

Is it just me or is the whole idea of “space-based” sci-fi, as an entire genre, at least when it comes to new TV series, completely dead? I mean, as far as I know (with the exception of Doctor Who and the animated series Star Wars - The Clone Wars), there is currently not a single, true sci-fi TV series currently being produced anywhere in the English speaking world. And by "true sci-fi" I mean the good old-fashion, often nerdy, space-based sci-fi that most of us grew up with and love, the kind with spaceships, aliens, strange new worlds and all that wonderfully geeky technobabble stuff that the non-sci-fi fans love to make fun of, shows in the same vain as the sci-fi greats of the not-so-distant past like Stargate, Star Trek and Babylon 5 just to name a few. Where is the next great would-be sci-fi classic and successor to those series that I mentioned? Can anyone see it coming anywhere on the horizon? It seems like nowadays the all attention has turned away from space-based adventures and towards purely earth-based dramas, and most of the shows that try to pass themselves off as sci-fi are so focused on the supernatural or the paranormal that they are more fantasy than sci-fi. If one needs more proof, all he has to do is to look at what a joke the SyFy Channel has become. I mean come on! WWE Smackdown? Ghost Hunters? Paranormal Witness? Viral Video Showdown? FaceOff? It’s like MTV (remember when MTV actually played music videos?); the SyFy channel doesn’t have room sci-fi shows anymore because they are too busy filling their time slots with crap!

So I guess the crux of my question is…

Is this move on the part of television producers and television viewers alike away from space-based sci-fi just a short term trend or are we truly seeing the end of this particular genre on television? Is space-based sci-fi on TV going the way of the Western?

[mr_kennedy]

We'll There is a space based show supposedly coming in 2013 called Defender i think (i'm pretty sure this got picked up) not that i've seen Firefly but i hear its kinda like that, maybe it will ignite a spark in this genre?

The trouble is Ratings, idk the fact that its been awhile since we last had a space based show (SGU/BSG) that we could get enough audience for that show, SGU had ratings trouble if i remember correctly, i think maybe if we had another Star Trek show it could probably survive for awhile

Not everyone likes Spaced Based Drama

[Durgia]

there was some genre burnout with BSG, SG1, SGA, Enterprise all going on at the same time. Added to that most of the core fan group use things like DVRs, streaming, etc that distort the ratings system which is what advertising dollars are based off.

I am really missing a good sci-fi series, maybe something like a SAAB reboot or Firefly clone would do well for a couple years.

[Everlovin]

I think there is a niche for space based actual sci fi. I just don't think there are any network execs out there who are willing to see it (the ready-made fan base desperately wanting something) and/or pay for quality scifi.

[Durgia]

We'll There is a space based show supposedly coming in 2013 called Defender i think (i'm pretty sure this got picked up) not that i've seen Firefly but i hear its kinda like that, maybe it will ignite a spark in this genre?

The trouble is Ratings, idk the fact that its been awhile since we last had a space based show (SGU/BSG) that we could get enough audience for that show, SGU had ratings trouble if i remember correctly, i think maybe if we had another Star Trek show it could probably survive for awhile

Not everyone likes Spaced Based Drama

Defender is going to be a show about supernatural kung fu high school students I think you might be referring to Defiance

Spoiler:

Defiance is in collaboration with Trion Worlds, with the Syfy series and Trion’s multi-platform shooter MMO poised to debut simultaneously. The series stars Grant Bowler, Julie Benz, Stephanie Leonidas, Tony Curran, Jaime Murray, Fionnula Flanagan, Mia Kirshner and Oscar-nominee Graham Greene. Set in the near future, Defiance introduces a completely transformed planet Earth, inhabited by the survivors of a universal war. Forced to co-habitate, the disparate group struggles to build a new society among the devastation. The dramatic tapestry of the series and the intense action of the game will exist in a single universe where their respective narratives will inform one another and evolve together into one overall story. Defiance is directed by Scott Stewart (Legion, Priest) and written/executive produced by Rockne O’Bannon (Farscape), Kevin Murphy (Desperate Housewives, Caprica, Hellcats) and Michael Taylor (Battlestar Galactica). Kevin Murphy serves as showrunner. Defiance is produced by Universal Cable Productions.

[escyos]

Defender is going to be a show about supernatural kung fu high school students I think you might be referring to Defiance

Spoiler:

Defiance is in collaboration with Trion Worlds, with the Syfy series and Trion’s multi-platform shooter MMO poised to debut simultaneously. The series stars Grant Bowler, Julie Benz, Stephanie Leonidas, Tony Curran, Jaime Murray, Fionnula Flanagan, Mia Kirshner and Oscar-nominee Graham Greene. Set in the near future, Defiance introduces a completely transformed planet Earth, inhabited by the survivors of a universal war. Forced to co-habitate, the disparate group struggles to build a new society among the devastation. The dramatic tapestry of the series and the intense action of the game will exist in a single universe where their respective narratives will inform one another and evolve together into one overall story. Defiance is directed by Scott Stewart (Legion, Priest) and written/executive produced by Rockne O’Bannon (Farscape), Kevin Murphy (Desperate Housewives, Caprica, Hellcats) and Michael Taylor (Battlestar Galactica). Kevin Murphy serves as showrunner. Defiance is produced by Universal Cable Productions.

Defiance is not so much space-based. Its set after a war, there are no ships or even planes to fly around in. But its still the most interesting scifi to come on television in years.

[min min light]

It's all down to ratings - it'll be back when and if a network thinks it'll be a hit. If space opera got the same kind of ratings as Big Bang Theory, the networks would be running them wall to wall. It's kind of ironic to me that a show about people who love space opera is a hit, while space opera itself is doomed to have a cult following.

[Lt.Colonel John Sheppard]

i will say this that after 14 years of Stargate shows and 17 seasons i am starting to feel a little burnt out myself regarding Syfy. i mean star trek 2009 renewed my likeness in star trek, so maybe that's what stargate needs to do is to take a little break and who knows in 3 more years we may see a revitalization.

[mr_kennedy]

Defender is going to be a show about supernatural kung fu high school students I think you might be referring to Defiance

Spoiler:

Defiance is in collaboration with Trion Worlds, with the Syfy series and Trion’s multi-platform shooter MMO poised to debut simultaneously. The series stars Grant Bowler, Julie Benz, Stephanie Leonidas, Tony Curran, Jaime Murray, Fionnula Flanagan, Mia Kirshner and Oscar-nominee Graham Greene. Set in the near future, Defiance introduces a completely transformed planet Earth, inhabited by the survivors of a universal war. Forced to co-habitate, the disparate group struggles to build a new society among the devastation. The dramatic tapestry of the series and the intense action of the game will exist in a single universe where their respective narratives will inform one another and evolve together into one overall story. Defiance is directed by Scott Stewart (Legion, Priest) and written/executive produced by Rockne O’Bannon (Farscape), Kevin Murphy (Desperate Housewives, Caprica, Hellcats) and Michael Taylor (Battlestar Galactica). Kevin Murphy serves as showrunner. Defiance is produced by Universal Cable Productions.

No not Defiance, i know about that show, but i was sure that Defenders was a space based show, oh well my bad, i do still think there is one coming next year tho, just cant think of the name of it and for some reason i thought it was Defenders

[Snowman37]

People have lost interest in the space program, hence why space-based shows dried up on TV. The masses are no longer interested. Today, it's all about procedural, supernatural, and dark-and-edgy terrestrial science-fiction shows.

[mr_kennedy]

People have lost interest in the space program, hence why space-based shows dried up on TV. The masses are no longer interested. Today, it's all about procedural, supernatural, and dark-and-edgy terrestrial science-fiction shows.

But what people dont realise is that Space Based shows have all of that stuff *points to B5, DS9* we'll except for the last one but they were dark and edgy at times

[RavenCWG]

While I admit that “Defiance” does sound interesting and I will make sure to check it out, I have to agree with Escyos that it does not really meet the criteria of a space-based show. Sure it’s going to have aliens in it, but they are aliens who have come to us and the whole show appears to be set entirely on earth; but a true space-based series by its definition has to involve humans going “out there” to have their adventures.

As to the whole issue of ratings, I think that it’s a very complicated subject, as a drop in ratings can be caused by so many factors. I think some of it has to do with genuine fan burnout, but I think it also has a lot to do with the fact that many long time fans over the last decade or so have really began to feel more and more alienated by “their” shows’ producers who have either stopped producing the same quality of shows or who have chosen to completely abandoned their core viewing audience in an attempt to draw in a new demographic. You see examples of the former in the decline of the wring in waning years Star Trek, starting with Voyager and culminating in the failure of Enterprise. Likewise you see it in the latter seasons of both Stargate SG1 and Atlantis. As to the latter, I can speak to my own experience. For example, I simply can not stand dark, gritty, character-driven sci-fi melodramas, with cameras that never stop moving which give me a migraine, and which are full of unlikeable, neurotic, dysfunctional and morally bankrupt anti-heroes. As a result I was rather put off by shows like SGU and BSG; and though I tried really hard to give them a fair chance I ultimately gave up on them and stopped watching as they simple were not the kind of sci-fi that I enjoy. Now I know that many of you loved both of those show and that’s fine. I don’t begrudge you that. But at the same time I know that I am not alone in my views, and that there are a lot of other people (particularly older fans like myself) who felt the same way. It’s not that we are tired of sci-fi, it’s that those who make sci-fi are tired of us and of making the kind of sci-fi shows that we want to see. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for trying to reach out to a new generation of fans, but not at the expense of abandoning the long time sci-fi fans whose support has made the genre so successful in the past. So yah, I place a lot of the blame for the slow death of sci-fi on TV squarely on the shoulders of sci-fi producers. It’s simply not that the TV viewing public is no longer interested in sci-fi, rather it’s the sci-fi producers who are so out of touch with the fans of their shows that they no longer giving those fans what they crave; but the networks don’t care about all of that, all they see is that ratings have dropped and that means no more incentive to make more sci-fi.

[the fifth man]

I don't think that kind of TV is dead. It is just taking a bit of a break.

[maneth]

I'm certainly hoping it's temporary, I miss having good space-based sci-fi on TV.

[jelgate]

Yes. I think the 90s were oversaturated with space scifi which is why with we see so little on these days. Also bear in mind a lot of the space scifi TV was aired in syndication which is effectively dead. On the bright side a similiar trend is happening with reality TV. Its oversaturation has led to worse ratings presently for reality tv and their is less of it these days compared to 10 years ago.