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Old September 20th, 2005, 11:31 PM   #1
Excalibur
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: New London, OH
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Battlestar Galactica 2004 Re-inventing Sci-Fi

I have heard it so many times.


Almost everytime a new sci-fi show is created, the creators seem to go to lengths to make sure the TV viewing public understands they are re-inventing sci-fi. "This isn't 'Star Trek.' " As if "Star Trek" is in some way, a dirty word.

I'm not saying they don't take a different spin on the genre, or that they don't take things to a new level, but why do they feel they have to play down "what was" in order to elevate what they are doing.


I love "Star Trek." I grew up with it. I love "Stargates SG-1 and Atlantis." I love "Battelstar Galactica." I loved "Farscape," I loved "Space Above and Beyond," I loved "Babylon 5," I loved "Dr. Who," I loved "Andromeda," at least until they ruined it by giving the axe to the heart of the show Robert Hewitt Wolfe. And, never in watching any of these shows did I think about comparing them to any other sci-fi show. I took each of them for what they were.

I always used to get asked which "Star Trek" was my favorite. I have a hard time looking at it that way. They all had their strengths, and yes they all had their weaknesses, but even though they all fit into a common cannon, they were all their own seperate shows. When I do pick one, *cough, "DS9"* I feel bad about saying it, because I love them all.


I find it funny how sci-fi is put down by "serious" actors. You always hear about these actors who get sent a sci-fi script, and they recoil as if it were poision. "NEVER!!!" And then they will find something attached to the script, like a director they have always wanted to work with, so they look into it, and find, "Hey! This is a great script! This is a really deep story, and this character is unlike anything I have ever had the opportunity to play before!" Actors will get into sci-fi with the fear that this will be the end of their career, and find a world they didn't know existed. Scripts that they would never get in "stright" drama. Character moments that would never work in anything else. And, fans that will be with them until long after they die. Only then do they realize sci-fi isn't the blackhole they thought it was, but they have a hard time letting those still on the outside come to the same understanding, because they are some how tainted now.



I have never understood, why you can't be a true fan of one show, while at the same time being a true fan of another show.

Several years ago I had to stop going to a "Babylon 5" forum, because a day wouldn't go by, when "Star Trek" wasn't trashed by someone. As far as the majority of the people on that board were concerned, "Babylon 5" was the greatest show ever created, and any one who had a different opinion was to be attacked, as I was so regularly attacked. You dare not defend "Star Trek" or else.

Why is Sci-fi not taken seriously? And, why can't a show just be a show, without having to be portrayed to the people as not "Star Trek?"

When a new law show is put on TV, do they have to make sure everyone knows that it isn't "Perry Mason?" "Don't worry folks, this is totally not your grandparents 'Matlock.' " NO! People aren't stupid, and yet because "Star Trek," one of the greatest known franchises, worldwide, has been made fun of for so long, by people who see it as a "geeks" show, because it is made for people who know how to use their brain, it gets used as an example of where this new show isn't going.


I'm sorry, but it seems to me like the people who don't want to be compared to "Star Trek," are the first ones to mention "Star Trek," while trying to promote their show.

Ok, I've rambled on, and I'm not completely sure I made any sense, but I was watching the extras for "Battelstar Galactica" season 1, and listening to statements about how they wanted to re-invet sci-fi, because obviously "Star Trek" was a huge failiure.

Don't get me wrong. I love "Battlestar Gallactica," and am glad for the differences, and think they are doing a great job, and have high hopes the show will still be talked about in 30 years. I just hope the new generation of writers aren't using it as an example of what their show won't be anything like. "Don't worry folks, our show won't be anything like Battlestar Gallactica! We are re-inventing sci-fi!"

There are no fans like sci-fi fans! Sci-fi has survived many cancellations. In fact it has thrived inspite of them. If Gene Rodenberry hadn't defied those who saw sci-fi as something that should be scraped off your shoes, the world of television would be completely different today. It's thanks to "Star Trek" that network suits finally realized there was an audience they were ignoring.

I guess what I'm trying to say, is...
Can't we all just get along?
And, stop picking on "Star Trek!"
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