From: rsrodger@wam.umd.edu (Yamanari)
Subject: Re: SF on TV
Organization: University of Maryland, College Park
Date: Sat, 9 Jan 1993 20:38:38 GMT

In article <1in185INN62o@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu> eek2@po.CWRU.Edu (Eric E. Katz) writes:
>It seems like the new shows are pretty cheesy as compared to some
>short-lived shows that blew them away.  


	It seems to me that now that special effects are getting
	dirt cheap, we're going to see a lot more dirt.


>Space Rangers was wanna be
>SF with a bad attempt at a future with a team of Space Rangers do
>a generic SF thing while the only thing that is interesting is the
>characters.  


	Space Rangers was fun, though.  Even if it must have
	been written by a bunch of manatee-like mouth breathers.
	"What galaxy is the criminal from"??  .. Christ, how many
	8 year olds know the difference between a solar system and
	a galaxy--how many Space Rangers writers do?


>DS9 had a decent setting and good characters but its
>going to fall into the STTNG episode template.  In an hour long 
>episode, it reads like this: 
>first 10 minutes they discover something is wrong
>next  20-25 minutes they figure out what that is
>next   5-10 minutes they find out who's responsible
>next  10    minutes, bad situation becomes worse
>next  5 minutes, the characters end up resolving the problem by no 
>virtue of their own or the work they did.  


	My sister has pointed out that ST:TNG fits into the standard
	afternoon soap opera template.  Long, slow stuff at the 
	beginning, and then a hurry-up-and-get-it-done part at the 
	end.  Tends to be the product of extremely poor writing.

	What a surprise.  Bad writing, I mean, from those 
	mental wonders who came up with the idea of a talking
	black garbage bag that was "the essence of evil"..


>There are a handful of
>exceptions to this, but the majority of the STTNG episodes fall 
>into this pattern with great development and a quick lousy ending.


	Or not-so-great development.  Consider that really bad one
	where Troi births a rugrat who grows rapidly.  Is it just me,
	or was it a wee bit dumber-than-a-stone?


>DS9 may be different, but I doubt it.  Also, in STTNG and STDS9,
>there are some major holes in just about every episode.  Take the 
>whole concept of DS9, why would the Federation take a Cardassian 
>space station.  


	I believe that DS9 was a Bejorran (whatever the ridge-face
	people are) space station that the cardassians took over when they
	came into power.

	At least, that's what the tv guide (not the TVGUIDE, just our
	local one) article said.


>Seriously, wouldn't the Cardassian put some sort of
>remote activated self-destruct mechanism.  There were some decent 
>things with the creatures in the Worm Hole, but if they have no 
>idea of linear time, how would they be able to communicate with 
>Sisko even if he was freed from linear time while in the wormhole
>although he was not.  

	The whole non-linear-time bit is bunk.  I just about 
	puked up a kidney.


>I'm waiting for Babylon 5, the whole universe
>sounds much better.  

	Well, almost.  The more I read about Babylon 5, the worse
	it seems.  Space station in a centrally located spot 
	equidistant from all of the empires?  Doesn't anyone else think
	that, given FTL transport, equdistant becomes pretty much meaningless 
	and stupid.  


>DS9 is trying to make something from what it is
>not.  They are trying to add other conflicts in a universe designed
>not to have those conflicts but draw them from other places.


	DS9 might be interesting if there's some big baddies on the
	other side of the wormhole or if the cardassians go to war with
	the federation, but IMHO, theres no way a space station is ever going
	to be as interesting as a ship is.  Everything will have to happen
	in that one spot, unless they decide to make DS9 mobile, which 
	would be even dumber.


>  I woudl say that Max Headroom was some of the best SF on TV.  The
>conflicts came from the greed of the people in this corrupt city.
>Max ended up being a gimmick in the whole thing, but the show was
>original.  It dealed with people who seemed real and hadd real 
>conflicts.  Everything was built in well rather than shoved in as 
>what happens with ST.  


	God, Max Headroom was awful.  The whole idea of how Maxc
	came to be bordered on idiocy, and the plotlines were 
	generally very poor.


>Alien Nation was also a good show.  It was
>interesting instead of being an alien invasion type thing, it had
>the humans and aliens facing the problems caused by their joint
>existences.


	Alien Nation was a good cop show.  I liked the show better than the
	movie.



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