io9 
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San Francisco, 1:13 PM
Wed Dec 2
31 posts in the last 24 hours
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07/11/09
You fail at your own argument again in short order -- you can't hold up SF parody Futurama as an ideal while dismissing Hitchhiker's Guide as a parody, you silly boots!
And anyone who dismisses Monty Python because "Americans liked it" is really just a hideous snob with no sense of humor [Oh, sorry, no sense of *humour*].
I also am quite enamored of how you are both holding up American SF as something to aspire to while insulting Americans across the board for their poor taste in liking the British stuff you disdain...
07/11/09
07/11/09
-A Doctor Who spin off, not Doctor Who itself, but a Doctor Who spin off just dominated the ratings for a full week. I've lost count of the amount of 'My dad/workmates/friends don't normally bother with this sort of stuff but they watched all of Children of Earth. That's not cult success that's mainstream and I get so, so tired of people who hold up the 'well it's not really science fiction, is it?' argument at times like this. He's a journalist, he should damn well know better.
-Hitch Hiker's Guide isn't science fiction parody, it's black comedy that uses science fiction as the frame to hang that comedy off. It's Vonnegut in dressing gowns, Ibsen in search of a nice cup of tea and that girl he always meant to talk to at parties. If he's going to cite examples he should cite the correct examples.
-Yes British SF is smaller scale, a lot of the time, than its US equivalents but the last time I checked smaller and execrable weren't the same thing.
The thing is though, that doesn't just come from the economic side of things it comes from the way drama was set up in this country, the fact that so many script writers continue to cut their teeth on the soap operas and the fundamental pragmatism that comes from that. You can have aliens that extend people's life spans, an invasion from the next dimension over and a battle over Canary Wharf provided you see the BBC reporting on it. SF in this country was born out of the 'kitchen sink dramas' of the '50s and '60s and it's still based there, still looking at the stars but all too aware it has the washing up to do afterwards. The good seasons of Red Dwarf, the stuff that's basically Waiting for Godot in space, do the same thing.
-You want an example of British SF cutting loose? Edge of Darkness. What starts as a conspiracy thriller becomes arguably the first piece of green science fiction on TV, taking in an exploration of grief, a beautifully played ghost story, corporate espionage and elements of pure, outright horror. It's one of the best pieces of television ever made, it leaves nothing in the tank and it gets over looked by far, far too many people. Still, Mel Gibson's starring in the movie version so I'm sure it'll be fine.
07/11/09
07/11/09
When something unspeakably horrible happens, Craven finds himself drawn into the orbit of GAIA, an environmentalist organisation and possible terrorist group, British Intelligence agents Harcourt and Pendleton and Colonel Darius Jedburgh, a CIA 'energy liaison'.
The story builds and builds, incorporating elements of the supernatural, science fiction, thrillers and jet black comedy to create something which is completely unique. It's staggeringly good and I think it's out on DVD too. More info here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edge_of_darkness
Any help?
07/11/09
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07/11/09
I like a bit of horror in my scifi. Very much so, in fact. Aaaand I'll have to add The Nightmare Man to the ever growing list of Things To Watch. I've already seen Apparitions and the new Survivors--which is what prompted me to watch the original. Thank you again! :D
07/12/09
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07/11/09
There's just so little of it to compare to the onslaught of American programming to be sure.
07/11/09
But I'd say Britain does pretty well for their (comparatively) limited opportunities and budgets.
07/11/09
But he's a TV critic and obviously an A class IDIOT.
07/11/09
07/11/09
Hell, can you imagine what kind of a film Jaws would have been if Spielberg had a working shark? Or CG? I think we'd have been the losers in that scenario.
On the Doctor front, my favorite episodes are probably amongst those with the smallest cost: Midnight, Blink & Love and Monsters.
01/27/09
01/25/09
1) largely procedural crime drama, just weird procedures.
2) pretty suspenseful but still character driven humor.
3) primarily episodic, but with plot resolutions forming a background story arc.
I think it could have flown. If not for stupid SciFi Channel cheeseball execs...
01/25/09
01/25/09
BTW, James Marsters will be starring on Numb3rs soon.
[www.jamesmarsters.com]
01/25/09
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01/25/09
I didn't know the new "improved" comments were going to put mine under his, I meant for mine to stand alone although I referenced his.
Fannish.
01/25/09
So, mysteries with techie stuff = fannish, ergo close enough to SF that we welcome it in.
01/25/09
01/25/09
I guarantee if you were to show up at a con dressed and acting like the characters from any of these shows, people would love and accept it. Because SF fans watch these shows as regularly and enthusiastically as they catch BSG or Fringe.
SF fandom were also the first westerners to catch on to "Iron Chef", untranslated.
Fannish. Your word of the day.
01/25/09
BTW, Mrs. Overclock (a.k.a. Dr. Overclock, Medicine Woman) assures me that the tests they do on HOUSE are exactly the right ones for the differential diagnoses they are making. She assures me they apparently have a very very good medical consultant. (As do the folks over at E.R., although they keep mispronouncing medical terms.)
01/25/09
The term you're looking for here, Graeme, is "fannish".
Sounds like none of you go to enough science fiction conventions. I've been to panels at cons where they discuss the CSI's, 24, House, Bones, etc.
These (as well as others like Mythbusters) are not "science fiction" but they are "fannish". As @Chip Overclock says, they "tickle the SF receptors in my brain".
Fannish. Learn it, love it, live it.
This has been another in the continuing series of rants about "io9 needs to go to conventions before they can call themselves really informed about SF instead of reinventing the wheel." (at least get a Locus subscription beamed into the implants and read some stuff from before 1980!)
01/25/09
What if the SF receptors are actually science receptors? I'm not an expert on the history of mass entertainment, but I don't recall any popular entertainments before the last decade or so that dealt with science on a regular basis since Sherlock Holmes (and the occasional Manhattan Project movie or scientist biopic, but those were really focused on moral dilemmas and triumphs over adversity instead of science). So ever since Jules Verne people have been feeding their science receptors mostly with science fiction and the occasional "Popular Science" or "Discover". I'm not sure if everyone in Hollywood read "The Demon-Haunted World" or realized that people were interested in the DNA testing parts of the O.J. Simpson trial.
01/25/09