TV vs. Film
Which medium do you feel has better served Science fiction as a genre?
There are certain classics on film like 2001 which would not work on the small screen or serial format.
However the more action oriented ones that have multiple sequels get very repetitive very fast and loose what ever was that created the suspence and itnerst. Television can play around with that kind of format more, which Is why I think Terminator: The Sarah Chronicles was better than any of the big screen sequels.
Any thoughts? As AMc is providing this forum are there any classic Sci-Fi series that you wish they would re-air?
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Because of Battlestar Galactica alone, I think the answer is clear: Television!
Add to that Star Trek, which collectively I would argue is better than the collective Star Wars, and television is definitely the direction for Science Fiction. Even quasi-scifi shows like Lost I think overpower most of cinema today.
Thanks to CGI, big budget is just, well, big budget.
Thank you for replying. I have really been wanting to have this conversation.
The sci fi in film I have been most invested in generally been tv. I was completely engrossed by the sagas of BSG, B5 and Farscape. No point in arguing that Star Trek is a much more compelling universe than Star Wars, if only because it actualy has ideas instead of what ever the light and dark sides of the force were.
Then when I thnk of what sci fi films I have loved that would not be better expanded into an epic like any of the series I mentioned above, I relized that (a) They tend to go with the more horrific side of sci-fi and (b) they generally express a fear of the human body, specifically not having contol over oneself (pretty much anything directed by David Croenber, Alien). They don't have to follow part a to be all about part b. Blade Runner's plot is set in motion because some replicants hate that their lifespan is so programmed and their bodies are enslaved, in Moon the plot is also about learning that they don't really own their own bodies, even back to The Incredible Shrinking Man is not a horror film, but the premise is about fear of loss of control.