More Space Please
A recent article on io9 clued me into something that I knew, but wasn’t consciously aware of; there are no sci-fi live-action shows on television set in space and aboard space ships probably in my life time. There has always been some fun space adventure to enjoy each season. For most of that time it was Star Trek and then Battlestar and Stargate filled the void. Mixed in were Firefly, Farscape and all of the short lived shows I can’t remember but I gave a try.
Having good space fiction is important for stimulating dreams of the future. It’s about what we can accomplish. It’s about exploring the unknown. Eureka touches on this to some degree. The current season even has a space ship and a mission to Titan. But it’s grounded in present day and on Earth. And also canceled after next season. What is there to fill that void of exploring what humanity can accomplish?
Sure, Star Trek and Eureka are kind of corny and have some hokie science. That’s one of the problems that shows like Eureka have, they are to close to reality and they try to use some elements of science that some people understand. But true space opera touch on things we can’t understand. They inspire people to try and do things.
How many technologies do we have now, were fantasy things on Star Trek? Cell phones, Kindle’s, desktop computers, etc? Sci-Fi is full of silly impossible seeming things. People, sometimes as kids, see these things and are inspired to try and make the unscientific fiction become science reality. I’m sure my wife isn’t the only one working on the ISS project that loves her job far more than would be possible otherwise, just because it’s a space station. This enthusiasm is inspired by a childhood love of sci-fi, particularly Star Trek.
Aside from inspiring a belief in the ability of humanity to overcome challenges, not blow ourselves to hell and to make a better world for ourselves, it’s also about awesome space battles. Watching space battles on tv as a kid (and adult) is just fun. You can’t have fleets of starships with flashy special effects blasting away at each other in a tv cop drama or a reality tv show.
We need some more good space adventure fun. There’s no lack of ideas out there. I may need to rethink my stance that a new Star Trek should wait a few years.
