Tv scifi anthology series

[bearfax]

Has always intrigued me that TV has been unable to replicate the brilliance of its early SciFi anthology series. Twilight Zone, Outer Limits and Out of the Unknown (UK) were standout scifi story lines, adapting top of the line scifi authors material for the small screen.

There have been efforts to replicate and certainly the later versions of Twilight Zone and Outer Limits werent bad. Amazing Stories had their moment. But in the early years of TV they were everywhere. Science Fiction Theatre, Tales of the Darkside, Out of this World, Ray Bradbury's Theatre, Tales of Tomorrow.

With increased capital and CGI I would have thought the anthology style would thrive. But apparently not. The last one I recall was American Horror Story but that was 2 decades ago. Have producers run out of ideas?

Where is the genius of Serling (TZ) and Stevens (OL) and Stefano (OL). With virtually a shoe string budget, some good writing and scripting and some clever cheap special effects, they remain the giants of the genre fifty years on.

[pakar]

Viewers these days prefer long story arcs which are of course incopatible with an anthology type of show.

[P-90_177]

Indeedy. It used to be that these short stories used to capture the viewer's imaginations and leave them pondering the complexities of the unknown, but people prefer longer stories these days. It's the same in writing as well. Once upon a time there were whole publications that dealt with pulp fiction, penny dreadfuls and amazing tales, but now, people much prefer to read a full novel than bother with short stories.

[bearfax]

Worthy comments guys and I have to agree with you in general terms.

But there is a fundamental difference between TV series of today with their story arcs and anthologies of the past. Most scifi TV series today have a scifi background and certainly an ongoing scifi element in their stories but they are effectively little different from any other show in that they are really about relationships between people. Scifi is merely the context.

Anthologies are about people but the primary purpose is to express an idea and its impact on people, not the relationship between people with a SciFi veneer. What I call true SciFis are those shows that have an anthology feel about them. The original Star Trek for example was less about relationships and more about ideas based on what was being discovered. X-Files followed that theme in its early seasons and I feel only lost its way when it tried too much to rely on story arcs. Star Gate was also fairly good in that respect.

But many other SCiFis of today are less about the idea and more about the relationship between people involved. This I feel is where Terra Nova failed. Its was a great premise and could have been a fine anthology style show looking out at an alien world. But it got caught up in what I call the 'soap' tradition. It was less about looking at a brave new world full of wonders and more about the interaction arc between people there. Any show can do that.

Anthologies are about ideas and many of our best SciFi producers will identify elements of those types of shows as having given them the ideas for their productions. I think therefore there is still a place for the anthology as well as the other.

[ZRFTS]

I miss the days of Anthologies; different characters, different stories, different perspectives, all potentially taking place in the same universe...

To heck with long stories, I want me my anthologies.

[pakar]

Worthy comments guys and I have to agree with you in general terms.

But there is a fundamental difference between TV series of today with their story arcs and anthologies of the past. Most scifi TV series today have a scifi background and certainly an ongoing scifi element in their stories but they are effectively little different from any other show in that they are really about relationships between people. Scifi is merely the context.

Anthologies are about people but the primary purpose is to express an idea and its impact on people, not the relationship between people with a SciFi veneer. What I call true SciFis are those shows that have an anthology feel about them. The original Star Trek for example was less about relationships and more about ideas based on what was being discovered. X-Files followed that theme in its early seasons and I feel only lost its way when it tried too much to rely on story arcs. Star Gate was also fairly good in that respect.

But many other SCiFis of today are less about the idea and more about the relationship between people involved. This I feel is where Terra Nova failed. Its was a great premise and could have been a fine anthology style show looking out at an alien world. But it got caught up in what I call the 'soap' tradition. It was less about looking at a brave new world full of wonders and more about the interaction arc between people there. Any show can do that.

Anthologies are about ideas and many of our best SciFi producers will identify elements of those types of shows as having given them the ideas for their productions. I think therefore there is still a place for the anthology as well as the other.

You are right but only up to a point.Especially the last years are many examples of what you say but i don't think that star trek or BSG were mostly about the characters, the central plot was the idea unless someone missed the point (as many have done wth BSG)

[bearfax]

Certainly I agree with you regarding BSG. But of the original Star Trek, it was far more focused on each new experience the crew went through. Sure the relationships existed between Kirk, Spock, McCoy etc, but that was far more secondary to each very different story line. Their relationships were the topping, not the core, whereas in later series such as STTNG, the relationships became far more central as they were in BSG. X-Files was certainly story based. The relationship between Mulder and Scully in the early seasons was primarily just the eyes to see the unusual events of each story unfolding. Its cousin series Millennium was similar That's why I call Star Trek , the original series and X-Files, more like anthology episodes because each story was very different and wasnt related and the characters were just there, like our eyes, to participate in what was happening.

[pakar]

The ideas don't mean much without people, without them they become abstract.

[bearfax]

Pakar, people are in anthology shows just like other shows. That's not the argument. Its where the focus lies. Is the story the focus and the relationships the supplementary or are the characters the focus and the story is the supplementary. Some times its a fine line

[pakar]

the world people refers allways to people with personalities = characters.Not to some abstract notion of people or to caricatures. So you missed my point.

[pakar]

the world people refers allways to people with personalities = characters.Not to some abstract notion of people or to caricatures. So you missed my point. And it's allways a fine line be it the 60's or today.

[Wyrminarrd]

One of the hard things with making a new anthology series is that most of the good ideas have already been taken by earlier series.

[bearfax]

There's a need to look closely at how episodes in a series develop Pakar. I use Star Trek and BSG as examples.

There is no question that Star Trek uses relationships between characters.All shows do. But look closely at what each episode offers. In Star Trek Kirk may have a relationship with a woman, Spock too or one of the other characters. There may be some significant relationship issue that occurs between the characters. But in each case it is related the story, the idea that is being told. It is encapsulated in the idea of the episode.

Now watch the next episode and those that follow. Its as if they have started from scratch. There is no continuance and little mention of those issues related to that relationship. Its as if we are starting with a clean slate. The primary closeness exists but there is no ongoing romance, dispute, anger issue conflict. What happened in the previous episode is irrelevant to the next and later episodes. In BSG the relationships continue to have relevance and develop episode by episode. The relationships are a primary aspect of what is being told. Without being disparaging its a soapy style, where each episode sees the relationships developing.

That is what I mean by the idea taking precedence in Star Trek but not in BSG and why Star Trek has a more anthology slant. The idea takes precedence in Star Trek. The relationships take precedence in BSG. Thats the difference

[ecgordon]

Black Mirror from the UK might become another good anthology series, but so far we only have seven episodes to judge from.

[bearfax]

Looks interesting ecgordon. thanks for the tip.