# Why are there no good Space opera shows on Television? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 20, 2014, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-good-space-opera-shows-on-television/691221 "2014-06-20T17:23:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2014, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-good-space-opera-shows-on-television/691221/21 "2014-06-20T23:33:00Z")
The expense vs the payoff makes them incredibly unoptimal. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2014, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-good-space-opera-shows-on-television/691221/22 "2014-06-20T23:37:47Z")
cowboys, cops, space travelers they all keep using the same plots. the sets and costumes are easier with cops shows. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2014, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-good-space-opera-shows-on-television/691221/23 "2014-06-21T00:19:20Z")
They can’t find anyone who can sing a decent space aria. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2014, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-good-space-opera-shows-on-television/691221/24 "2014-06-21T01:17:45Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > They can’t find anyone who can sing a decent space aria. They certainly CAN: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/4MR6D7tL38U/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AH-BIAC4AOKAgwIABABGEUgWihyMA8=&rs=AOn4CLBPncSEvBCokUDbQYUQYleSTVav0Q "The Fifth Element: Music Video (1997)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MR6D7tL38U) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/wOiB7XJoi70/maxresdefault.jpg "Fifth Element - Diva Plavalaguna song") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOiB7XJoi70) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2014, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-good-space-opera-shows-on-television/691221/25 "2014-06-21T01:20:21Z")
Although, as a rebuttal, there’s this: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/evrbJkSJduE/hqdefault.jpg "Max Rebo Band") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evrbJkSJduE) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2014, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-good-space-opera-shows-on-television/691221/26 "2014-06-21T02:06:43Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > But it could swing back to cowboys for all we know. Not likely, for the same financial reasons. Period dramas create almost as many problems as science fiction, especially for exterior shots. It’s hard to find locations where there’s no sign of the 21st century. Also, a perfectly good shot could be ruined by contrails in the background or other things you can’t really control on location. In the 50s, it didn’t matter as much. Exterior shots were often on a sound stage, something that’d be unacceptable today. Now, if people ride into town, it’s got to be a real town (though a set would do). But that’s limiting. With a contemporary series, you can just find good locations and use them; with a western, you have to build them. ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2014, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-good-space-opera-shows-on-television/691221/27 "2014-06-21T12:49:35Z")
So revisit some old ones! We just finished up a run of _Blake’s 7_ which was great, as Mr Magnet wasn’t really allowed to watch it as a kid, had only a vague idea of characters and some plotpoints from vaguely remembered playground chat, and was probably the only person in Britain from that era who didn’t know how final episode ended. Best part is that he wanted to save the final episode for his birthday last week. Ah hahaha. It was awesome. Doesn’t count as space opera, but still sort of involved outer space – he wants to revisit _Sky_, an ITV programme kiddie mindfuck about a boy who travels back to 1975 from THE FUTURE. Episode 1 scared him so badly as a 7 year old that he wasn’t allowed to watch anymore of them (and is now apparently on DVD; there are badly compressed episodes on youtube). _UFO_ was my childhood bete noir. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2014, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-good-space-opera-shows-on-television/691221/28 "2014-06-21T14:24:07Z")
Wouldn’t it be trivially easy to edit out contrails, with current standard computer technology? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2014, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-good-space-opera-shows-on-television/691221/29 "2014-06-21T14:34:57Z")
With the onset of numerous _Star Wars_ movies, TV shows, and who knows what else, and things like _Guardians of the Galaxy_ (and maybe, though probably not, _Jupiter Ascending_) potentially bringing the genre back into focus, there may be a return of the space opera soon. But we have to get through this vampire/werewolf, Sherlock Holmes, Superhero, post-apocalypse phase first. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2014, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-good-space-opera-shows-on-television/691221/30 "2014-06-21T14:56:46Z")
I’m envisioning a vampire Sherlock type character, with super/mutant powers, set in a post apocalyptic alien planet that is overseen by Lensmen. Now THAT would be cool. Or a retooled ST:TOS style show with the same old rehashed storylines. What’s more likely? Yeah, I know… ::logic:: ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2014, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-good-space-opera-shows-on-television/691221/31 "2014-06-21T15:26:46Z")
No way Westerns are going to come back. I can’t imagine such a thing happening. They try it (in movies) every so often (“the Western is BACK!”) and it always flops. No one is interested (least of all me, I admit I am prejudiced and hate Westerns). Unless someone came up with a really outre good storyline, it’s dirty cowboys plugging along on horses, herding cattle, fighting the sheepherders, fighting the railroad, and of course the injuns, tumbleweeds, gunslingers…blah blah blah. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2014, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-good-space-opera-shows-on-television/691221/32 "2014-06-21T15:30:29Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Then there was that Marine Aviators In Space series. [_Space: Above And Beyond_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space:_Above_and_Beyond). > [@](#): > > _ **Space: Above and Beyond** _ is a short-lived mid-1990s American science fiction television show on the FOX Network, created and written by Glen Morgan and James Wong. Originally planned for five seasons, it ran only for the single 1995–1996 season. It was nominated for two Emmy Awards and one Saturn Award. It was ranked “50” in IGN’s top 50 Sci-Fi TV Shows, described as “yet another sci-fi show that went before its time”. > > Set in the years 2063–2064, the show focuses on the “Wildcards”, members of the United States Marine Corps Space Aviator Cavalry, 58th Squadron. They are stationed on the space carrier USS _Saratoga_, and act as infantry and pilots of _SA-43_ Endo/Exo-Atmospheric Attack Jet (“Hammerhead”) fighters. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2014, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-good-space-opera-shows-on-television/691221/33 "2014-06-21T21:46:47Z")
> [@AncientHumanoid](#): > > Cowboys and Aliens > (Yes, l saw the movie) COWBOY: What do they want? HOT ALIEN CHICK: Gold. COWBOY: Gold?! HAC: It’s just as valuable to them as it is to you. :rolleyes: Maybe, for cultural reasons, but a spacefaring civilization would find it much easier and cheaper to mine asteroids in the home system than raid gold mines in another system. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2014, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-good-space-opera-shows-on-television/691221/34 "2014-06-21T22:01:43Z")
The part I had a problem with there was why the cowboy would be surprised that they were after gold. It should have seemed perfectly ordinary to him: Why wouldn’t demons (or aliens) want gold? ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2014, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-good-space-opera-shows-on-television/691221/35 "2014-06-21T22:10:05Z")
It beats them coming here for water, made of two of the most plentiful substances in the universe. Or being allergic to water, made up of… I’m about to start Dominion. Humans versus Angels–what’s not to like? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2014, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-good-space-opera-shows-on-television/691221/36 "2014-06-21T22:36:08Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > ABC’s **Motive** was produced for the CBC in Canada; it’s the first time since the 60s I can recall a major network running a show not produced in the US. Maybe _ **Due South** _? _ **Night Heat** _? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2014, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-good-space-opera-shows-on-television/691221/37 "2014-06-21T22:42:57Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Maybe, for cultural reasons, but a spacefaring civilization would find it much easier and cheaper to mine asteroids in the home system than raid gold mines in another system. Depends on how abundant gold is in the Universe, what with having atomic number 79… :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2014, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-good-space-opera-shows-on-television/691221/38 "2014-06-21T22:59:46Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Maybe _ **Due South** _? _ **Night Heat** _? :dubious: _ **The New Avengers** _? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![DeptfordX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DeptfordX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeptfordX)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2014, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-good-space-opera-shows-on-television/691221/39 "2014-06-21T23:08:03Z")
I saw recently a trailer for the 4th season of Falling Sky’s. I never bothered watching it as I assusmed it would be cancelled after one season and it didn’t sound like it would be very good. How has that turned out? ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2014, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-good-space-opera-shows-on-television/691221/40 "2014-06-21T23:48:21Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Maybe _ **Due South** _? _ **Night Heat** _? :dubious: Don’t forget about [Flashpoint](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flashpoint_(TV_series)) and the upcoming [Welcome to Sweden](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welcome_to_Sweden_(2014_TV_series)). I’m really looking forward to the later. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-good-space-opera-shows-on-television/691221.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-good-space-opera-shows-on-television/691221.md?page=3)