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    Do people even know what Science Fiction is?

    I've seen a lot of sentiments expressed (less so on these boards, though) about how SGU is "not SciFi", and they usually go something like this:

    "There are barely any aliens, and the few we do see are a complete mystery. They rarely discover or use any new technology. They keep introducing new questions without fully answering the old ones. There are barely any battles and we see way too much conflict between characters who are universally hard to like."

    To me, that describes the essence of Science Fiction as a literary and film genre.

    Science fiction has always been about asking a lot of questions and intentionally ambiguous answers. About hidden aliens and unknown motivations. And about characters most of all. Deeply flawed characters, confused characters, outright bigoted characters. Any kind of interpersonal conflict you can think of, SciFi has tackled it - ideology, personality, nationality, gender, rank, social class, and on and on.

    Even action- or war-oriented SciFi like Ender's Game or Old Man's War. Or fantastical SciFi like His Dark Materials. Or classic SciFi like War of the Worlds and Stranger in a Strange Land. Heck, even SciFi/Comedy like Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Biting the Sun. Science Fiction elements serve as the setting, but the actual story is always centered around imperfect human characters.

    Whether you like the show or not, and whether the show has successfully created an interesting story or not, SGU is actually truer to the SciFi genre than anything else on television. I wish more people recognized that.

    And I wish SyFy would try creating more "real SciFi" shows and movies. SciFi/Fantasy as a literary genre is as popular as ever, there's no reason why SyFy's ratings should be so low (if it consistently offered SciFi). Instead, when I asked a friend of mine - who loves SciFi/fantasy books - if she ever "watches anything on SyFy", she responded, "That channel with the cheesy horror movies?"

    #2
    Good post. (mental green)

    Comment


      #3
      Anyone remember The Outer Limits (either series)? To me, that is the quintessential definition of television science fiction.

      Unlike the definition that these forums seem to get hung up on, The Outer Limits touched on all of the bases. It had alien overlords curbstomping humanity; humanity reaching out to the stars, robotics, time travel, and even kids day dreaming about what the future brings.

      In those stories, science was often used as a background to get the heart and soul of the story into focus; as the OP says, to explore humanity's strengths or weaknesses and our interaction with the world around us.

      Comment


        #4
        Never have truer words been uttered.
        I would just add that those stories are centered around imperfect,that is ordinary people..as you've said it,put in an extraordinary situationes..and then they explore their reactions,interactions and characters development throughout those ordeals.
        And that is exactly what SGU has been about from the start.
        So I completely agree..that show is true sci-fi in it's pure form and I love it for it!

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by k1037 View Post
          I've seen a lot of sentiments expressed (less so on these boards, though) about how SGU is "not SciFi", and they usually go something like this:

          "There are barely any aliens, and the few we do see are a complete mystery. They rarely discover or use any new technology. They keep introducing new questions without fully answering the old ones. There are barely any battles and we see way too much conflict between characters who are universally hard to like."

          To me, that describes the essence of Science Fiction as a literary and film genre.

          Science fiction has always been about asking a lot of questions and intentionally ambiguous answers. About hidden aliens and unknown motivations. And about characters most of all. Deeply flawed characters, confused characters, outright bigoted characters. Any kind of interpersonal conflict you can think of, SciFi has tackled it - ideology, personality, nationality, gender, rank, social class, and on and on.

          Even action- or war-oriented SciFi like Ender's Game or Old Man's War. Or fantastical SciFi like His Dark Materials. Or classic SciFi like War of the Worlds and Stranger in a Strange Land. Heck, even SciFi/Comedy like Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Biting the Sun. Science Fiction elements serve as the setting, but the actual story is always centered around imperfect human characters.

          Whether you like the show or not, and whether the show has successfully created an interesting story or not, SGU is actually truer to the SciFi genre than anything else on television. I wish more people recognized that.

          And I wish SyFy would try creating more "real SciFi" shows and movies. SciFi/Fantasy as a literary genre is as popular as ever, there's no reason why SyFy's ratings should be so low (if it consistently offered SciFi). Instead, when I asked a friend of mine - who loves SciFi/fantasy books - if she ever "watches anything on SyFy", she responded, "That channel with the cheesy horror movies?"
          Excellent post and well worth some rep points. I think people should think about all the points you brought up before dismissing SGU as not sci-fi. Sure, SGU has its flaws just like any other show but to say it's not sci-fi is wholly inaccurate.
          sigpic

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            #6
            People are stupid, just deal with it.
            Mia: Don't you hate that?
            Vincent: Hate what?
            Mia: Uncomfortable silences. Why do we feel it's necessary to yak about bullsh*t in order to be comfortable?
            Vincent: I don't know. That's a good question.
            Mia: That's when you know you've found somebody really special: you can just shut the f*** up for a minute and comfortably share silence.
            - Pulp Fiction

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by k1037 View Post
              I've seen a lot of sentiments expressed (less so on these boards, though) about how SGU is "not SciFi", and they usually go something like this:

              "There are barely any aliens, and the few we do see are a complete mystery. They rarely discover or use any new technology. They keep introducing new questions without fully answering the old ones. There are barely any battles and we see way too much conflict between characters who are universally hard to like."

              To me, that describes the essence of Science Fiction as a literary and film genre.

              Science fiction has always been about asking a lot of questions and intentionally ambiguous answers. About hidden aliens and unknown motivations. And about characters most of all. Deeply flawed characters, confused characters, outright bigoted characters. Any kind of interpersonal conflict you can think of, SciFi has tackled it - ideology, personality, nationality, gender, rank, social class, and on and on.

              Even action- or war-oriented SciFi like Ender's Game or Old Man's War. Or fantastical SciFi like His Dark Materials. Or classic SciFi like War of the Worlds and Stranger in a Strange Land. Heck, even SciFi/Comedy like Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Biting the Sun. Science Fiction elements serve as the setting, but the actual story is always centered around imperfect human characters.

              Whether you like the show or not, and whether the show has successfully created an interesting story or not, SGU is actually truer to the SciFi genre than anything else on television. I wish more people recognized that.

              And I wish SyFy would try creating more "real SciFi" shows and movies. SciFi/Fantasy as a literary genre is as popular as ever, there's no reason why SyFy's ratings should be so low (if it consistently offered SciFi). Instead, when I asked a friend of mine - who loves SciFi/fantasy books - if she ever "watches anything on SyFy", she responded, "That channel with the cheesy horror movies?"
              of course SGU is sci fi. Sci fi is a very niche way of story telling that will always be meshed with more basic story elements such as drama, comedy,... . It all comes down to how all these elements come together however and in what quantities they are mixed. And it's clear that the general public does not like the approach SGU and Caprica is taking in how they bring their story. For example I would be somewhat interested in seeing the ethical quandries of "stoning" explored in SGU, just not in the way they did it. We got a whole bunch of episodes where nobody seemed confused or ethically challenged with having sex in other people's bodies and stuff and all we got as far as I can remember is a 2 sentence off screen explanation on Joseph Malozzi's blog that the people being "stoned" signed a release form allowing for all that to happen. Then more than a dozen episodes after these moral issues should have been featured we suddenly get a boring storyline about Eli and his mother (but still redeemed by the fact that it is an inerently sci fi issue of switched personalities) mixed with a boring dramatic storyline about Wray and her lesbian lover not finding her keys and not being so happy with the strange bodies after all. This is just bad story pacing and telling that makes me lose interest about what I'm seeing fast, even if the stories in themselves weren't badly written or brought objectively.
              I'm an average viewer. As plain as they come. People make TV shows based on my demographic.

              Million's of ZPM's, ZPM's for free! Millions of ZPM's, ZPM's for me!

              Comment


                #8
                /signed

                Its true that I find SGU to be more similar to my asimov, clarke, heinlein, niven, ect. than any other recent series i can think of.

                Comment


                  #9
                  I've come across several of the "it's not sci-fi" in other forums and I usually ask the poster what science fiction they read and I never get a response. I have come across people who I disagree with that don't like SGU for well explained reasons but they are not the ones saying it isn't sci-fi.
                  I love SGU and I even like the other two SGU prequel shows

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Seinfeld was Science Fiction right?
                    sigpic

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Science Fiction is Futurama - not the other way around.

                      End of.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        I sometimes wonder if science fiction knows what science fiction is. For me, science fiction is about asking the unasked questions - what makes us human, what makes the universe tick, where do we go when we die, what effect does this/that have upon us? In that respect, I view much of the sci-fi literature as being hard and proper sci-fi. Philip K. Dick was the greatest explorer of the human condition in respect to sci-fi whilst Arthur C. Clarke was the perfect explorer of the world without, the technology and the ornaments of humanity that will lead us into the future world.

                        I have often railed against a genre that I consider to be 'space fantasy' a genre that asks no profound questions and simply uses the beauty of space to trick its viewers/readers into thinking that it is bona fide sci-fi. For me, SGU is guilty of such tricks, it ruins the viewing experience by such devices as the stones which are simply convenient, imo, to make up for the storyteller's lack of skill. It is obvious that they are unable to progress the story without the backdrop of earth, which begs the question, why bother making a Stargate show that is supposed to be lonely, where people are supposed to be stranded? You can't be alone if you can simply transfer bodies, visit everybody you knew, then go back again. That's just not science fiction. Or, at least, it goes against the essence and the spirit of sci-fi.

                        SGU for moi is a drama with elements of science fiction. It could have been full-on sci-fi if it had wanted but I'm not sure proper sci-fi in a popular form is in anybody's mind nowadays.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          The Earth drama isn't very science fictiony. Even though it happens with people inhabiting other bodies, and dream sequences and whatnot, its still people dealing with real-life issues, just using a science fiction device to get there. When you look at the scenes on Earth, most can exist without the Sci-Fi background.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Originally posted by k1037 View Post
                            I've seen a lot of sentiments expressed (less so on these boards, though) about how SGU is "not SciFi", and they usually go something like this:

                            "There are barely any aliens, and the few we do see are a complete mystery. They rarely discover or use any new technology. They keep introducing new questions without fully answering the old ones. There are barely any battles and we see way too much conflict between characters who are universally hard to like."

                            To me, that describes the essence of Science Fiction as a literary and film genre.

                            Science fiction has always been about asking a lot of questions and intentionally ambiguous answers. About hidden aliens and unknown motivations. And about characters most of all. Deeply flawed characters, confused characters, outright bigoted characters. Any kind of interpersonal conflict you can think of, SciFi has tackled it - ideology, personality, nationality, gender, rank, social class, and on and on.

                            Even action- or war-oriented SciFi like Ender's Game or Old Man's War. Or fantastical SciFi like His Dark Materials. Or classic SciFi like War of the Worlds and Stranger in a Strange Land. Heck, even SciFi/Comedy like Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Biting the Sun. Science Fiction elements serve as the setting, but the actual story is always centered around imperfect human characters.

                            Whether you like the show or not, and whether the show has successfully created an interesting story or not, SGU is actually truer to the SciFi genre than anything else on television. I wish more people recognized that.

                            And I wish SyFy would try creating more "real SciFi" shows and movies. SciFi/Fantasy as a literary genre is as popular as ever, there's no reason why SyFy's ratings should be so low (if it consistently offered SciFi). Instead, when I asked a friend of mine - who loves SciFi/fantasy books - if she ever "watches anything on SyFy", she responded, "That channel with the cheesy horror movies?"
                            Can't help but agree. It has always made me sad to see how some people "distill" the meaning of science-fiction to space-ships, blasters and "little green men"
                            sigpic

                            This ship was named "Destiny" for a reason (c)

                            Comment


                              #15
                              I've seen the "its not scifi" comments around. I really don't get that, and I was kind of surprised that whether or not SGU was a scifi show was an issue. I understand not liking SGU or the type of scifi show that it is; but I really don't understand how people can go around saying that it is not a science fiction show. But people can believe whatever they want I guess.
                              sigpic

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