Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Sci-fi seeks critical mass

Collapse
This topic is closed.
X
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Sci-fi seeks critical mass

    From Newsday:

    Sci-fi seeks critical mass

    BY DIANE WERTS
    STAFF WRITER
    July 10, 2005

    Rodney Dangerfield was wrong. It's sci-fi TV that don't get no respect.

    Case in point: A vice president in the TV industry recently asked me what TV shows I watch for enjoyment. I mentioned my favorite is "Battlestar Galactica" on Sci Fi Channel. She laughed. I asked if she'd seen it. No, she said, and laughed again. Did she know, I asked, that it's a gritty adult drama of family members and colleagues in deep-rooted conflict not unlike that of "The Sopranos"? That they're part of a civilization struggling not only to survive but to define itself amid messy terrorist warfare? That it explores the values of competing societies that demonize each other's spiritual beliefs? That it's full of gutsy acting by the likes of Edward James Olmos and sophisticated allegory mirroring today's global politics?

    She laughed again.

    And she's not the only one. Mary McDonnell laughed, too, when the two-time Oscar nominee was offered one of the lead roles in Sci Fi's latest series smash. From "Dances With Wolves" to "Battlestar Galactica"? "I couldn't equate myself with that particular genre," says McDonnell, a graceful 50ish woman you might expect to see on something erudite like "The West Wing," if not the space-based drama that begins its second season Friday (10 p.m. on Sci Fi). Even McDonnell "felt, like, here I am, this sort of earth mother, and my perception of people in science fiction was sort of pristine. I was very naive and ignorant about the genre. And on the other hand, I'm very interested in the metaphysical in life."

    A challenging role

    So McDonnell read the script and took the role of a government bureaucrat suddenly elevated to the presidency after an apocalyptic attack wipes out nearly her entire civilization. As the survivors continue to be hunted by an attacking race of human-looking robots that they themselves created, McDonnell's character comes to believe she is a "chosen" leader whose rise was foretold by religious prophets. That makes her a lightning rod for no-nonsense military leaders (led by Olmos), for power-seeking rivals and even soldiers torn between pragmatic duty and spiritual beliefs.

    "There are unlimited possibilities, really, because it embraces the other dimension, and the light and the dark of the spiritual dimension," McDonnell says. "We're able to look at religious, war and environmental needs - all of these imbalances we're facing" in our own world today.

    "I voted for it as outstanding drama on my Emmy ballot," says Bryce Zabel, who served as chairman of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences from 2001 to 2003, after writing and producing everything from "L.A. Law" to "Dallas" to his own fantasy-tinged creations, "Dark Skies" and "M.A.N.T.I.S." Zabel knows from both sides the battle sci-fi wages to be taken seriously by those adult viewers who can't get past the spaceships and alien species to savor the complex human stories those fantasy devices allow to be told. He says, "They don't know how well-constructed and dramatic and emotional" Sci Fi's new "Galactica" remake is under the guidance of executive producer Ronald D. Moore, most recently of HBO's mystical "Carnivale."

    "There is this horrible misconception that science fiction is for somebody else, not for me," says Bonnie Hammer, president of Sci Fi Channel and USA, who campaigns daily to convince skeptics that today's TV genre encompasses more than space and special effects. "It's speculative fiction, it's the imagination, it's anything outside what we know to be true, it's the not-quantifiable," she says. In her seven years overseeing Sci Fi programming, its series have been repositioned not as fantastic adventures but relatably soul-driven dramas.

    Click on the link to read the rest of the article.
    It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.

    #2
    I think Mary McDonnell (BSG aka: Laura Roslin) has been blessed with all three of the most important aspects of this series. Considering the situation she was thrown into, she balances between the political, religious and physical struggles being presented before her. I hope TPTB do keep her in the series for a while, even if they decide to turn her into a cylon as a *miracle* cure for her terminal health condition.


    Also, I don't remember the exact sentence, but when Laura's character was first introduced in the introductory Mini-series (having the role of the Secretary of Education), someone (Adama?) made a snarky comment about taking orders from someone in the school's Education system, now turned into an acting "President". Regardless of how it was actually worded, I think she has risen above the criticisms and handled all or most of them very well, considering she isn't particularly liked by those oppose her in one way or another. She has displayed an inner strength and wisdom that goes beyond just "school" status.

    Question I have, is now that's she's behind bars, will Adama and whoever else continue to give her the medication she has desperately been relying on, or will she go into withdrawal effects and have a turn for the worse. That's regardless of whether or not she took what few pills were left in her medicine bottle with her into the brig, and if those who put her in there actually even allowed her to do so in the first place.

    If her "dying from cancer" becomes revealed because of this imprisoned brig situation, I have no doubt that will have a strong political affect on her position as president. If Zarek ever finds out, it would seem that he'd be smelling *victory* for himself, in believing his future as President is assured, regardless of how long Laura has to live.

    Comment


      #3
      The article only confirms what I've always believed... and that is the networks, the viewing public and the media tend to hold scifi in scorn or not take it too seriously when it is probably the most dynamic, thoughtful and exciting genre on television.

      I remember when my MIL came to stay with us a couple of weeks some years ago because she had to undergo an op. When we said that we were watching Stargate and that it was a science fiction show, you should have seen the look on her face. (But she knew that I was a scifi fan) But I spent the next 10 minutes explaining what the show was about and promised her that it wasn't about monster of the week and all the merits of scifi. Surprisingly she stuck around and watched that particular episode with us. I think it took her by surprise... it wasn't at all what she expected and I think she was even slightly impressed.
      I don't think we should blame Star Trek entirely for people's misconceptions. Over here in Australia, scifi shows get shafted in a big way. Imagine a show like Farscape that was actually made here and was not even shown in Australia until a year later and then it's scheduling changed more quickly than Odo's form. Even Stargate SG-1, which used to be on prime time has now been relegated to a later spot.

      I love Tim Minear's throwaway line at the end...
      sigpic
      "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth"

      Comment

      Working...
      X