Would you watch a non-sci-fi, sci-fi show?

[Exapno_Mapcase]

@Johnny_Ecks

The big two volume set of George RR Martin’s short stories that came out a few years ago had an introduction by the author. In it he discusses a notice that was printed in Analog Science Fiction many years before. It consisted of a short science fiction story full of aliens, ray guns and spaceships, and then a word for word reprint of that story except with Indians, Six-guns, and horses. The stories both made equal sense, and the editors decried this sort of thing, saying that their magazine would print only Real Science Fiction Martin thought that this was silly- the setting is the least part of the story. What’s important is the story itself. He humorously closes with his own version- with elves, swords, and noble steeds.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, it doesn’t matter. If the stories are good, the show is good, regardless of setting.

That was an editorial called You’ll Never See It In Galaxy that appeared on the back cover of the first issue of *Galaxy *magazine in 1950, as an example of how Galaxy’s fiction wouldn’t be like the sludge being printed elsewhere. They mostly succeeded. The last novel shown on that page, laughingly retitled Sin in Space, was called Mars Child when it ran in Galaxy. It’s a very good, scientifically plausible for the day, adult look at a Martian colony - modeled down to the last detail on a frontier mining town in the American West.

[Johnny_Ecks]

Thanks for the correction, looks like I got the details wrong.

[Elendil_s_Heir]

@snfaulkner

I’ll watch anything if it is done well.

Zzzzzactly.

@Horatius

I’d give it a try. I liked the TV series Century City, which was basically a sci-fi LA Law…

Heh. I remember that. In one scene, a character’s sanity is called into question, so he’s asked some questions by his lawyer in court to see how well-grounded he is. One of the questions is, “Who is President of the United States?” He answers, “Oprah Winfrey,” and his lawyer says smugly, “You see, Your Honor? He’s perfectly sane.”

[bump]

I think the trick would be to keep the show from devolving into a soap opera that happens to have a few aliens mixed in, it’s probably best if you use the sci-fi setting as a “reflector” of sorts to highlight problems the humans or aliens are facing.

[Lemur866]

@bump

I think the trick would be to keep the show from devolving into a soap opera that happens to have a few aliens mixed in, it’s probably best if you use the sci-fi setting as a “reflector” of sorts to highlight problems the humans or aliens are facing.

If the aliens are just people with bumpy foreheads, you might as well make the wacky neighbors immigrants from Mypos instead of Melmac.

[Declan]

@Grrr

Not that I intend on producing one or anything.

Anyway, the show I’m imagining is a basically a family drama set 300 years into the future. The show would have lots of world building and aliens, but what it wouldn’t have is starships, or space battles, or laser gun fights, etc…

I believe the show’s main draw would be the world building and relationships between humans and aliens.
Does that sound interesting to you?

Or does it seem pointless?

Sounds like the Jetsons

[Snowboarder_Bo]

Just the other night I re-watched a time travel movie with virtually no special effects: Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel.

And my favorite time travel movie has even fewer special effects (effectively zero): Primer.

So yeah, I’d watch a non-sci-fi sci-fi show.

[furryman]

It depends. Usually not, but I enjoyed Intelligence and Person of Interest.

[Atomic_Alex]

@snfaulkner

I’ll watch anything if it is done well.

Agreed.

That said I have to admit I’m a fan of, for lack of a better term science-fictiony science-fiction.

For example if you have a science-fiction show that is marketed as ‘The Wild West in Space’ why would I not just cut to the chase and watch a show about the actual Wild West rather than a thinly veiled analogy with the cowboys carrying laser-pistols rather than six-shooters?

Oh and horror/sci-fi hybrids can just bugger off, Event Horizon and Alien were about the only decent examples.