---

I’m not sure what it is about science fiction that appeals to me. It could be the idea of escaping into a different world, or maybe it’s the fact that technology often plays a major role.

Another possibility could be the speculation aspect, in that science fiction often involves conjectures of how things could turn out if certain other things happen in a particular way. Maybe it’s all of these, or maybe it’s something else entirely.

But I digress. This is a site dedicated to TV and not self-analysis, and you’ve probably guessed the direction this column is going to take – having a look at science fiction on TV.

My plan is to write articles on various science fiction shows that I’ve watched over the years giving background information and my views on them. I’ll explain things like how the various Star Trek series fit together and just why I think that Babylon 5 is the best TV show ever.

The one thing I’m probably not going to do is cover new/current shows. Not because I don’t want to, but because I don’t have DSTV and neither SABC nor eTV currently offer much in the way of science fiction.

Which is a segue into a rant against the aforementioned two broadcasters. Neither of them has the greatest track record when it comes to showing science fiction.

In the time that eTV has been around, I can only recall them showing one decent science fiction show and that was Babylon 5. To their credit they’ve shown every episode and all the related movies, and I’m glad I got the opportunity to see it, but that doesn’t quite make up for them not showing anything else.

To be fair to SABC, they have shown a lot of science fiction over the years, but their treatment of it has at times left something to be desired. They only ever broadcast the first season of Farscape, and never bothered to show the later seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager.

All four shows have long since ended, so it’s unlikely that SABC will decide to show these “old” shows. Apparently the later seasons of all those shows are the better ones, but until I can afford to buy them on DVD, I’ll never know.

SABC is also guilty of regarding good shows like Sliders and Space: Above and Beyond as children’s shows and putting them on in the afternoon (they also did this with the earlier seasons of Deep Space Nine), despite the fact that these shows were never designed to be children’s shows. Being at school and then university when they were broadcast meant that I was able to watch them, but now that I’m working I wouldn’t be able to (and I also probably wouldn’t be aware of them being shown).

And as for the current selection on SABC, the only science fiction show currently on is Charlie Jade. Unfortunately, they’ve put it on in an awkward timeslot, clashing with movies on other channels, and so I haven’t been able to watch it.

OK, now I’ve got that out of my system (for now), I’m ready to proceed with my first article, which should appear in the next day or so. No serious discussion of TV science fiction can take place without mentioning Star Trek, and that’s what I’m going to make the subject of my first proper article for this column.

---

---

---

Comments