What's hot and what's not in the world of sci-fi

[DanaC]

The sci-fi scene seems a tad bleak to me just now. Admittedly after a pretty decent decade of stuff. The end of Battlestar Galactica seemed about to herald a whole new life for the franchise, with Caprica, but that show's cancellation after just one slightly patchy season cast a cloud over that. A new spinoff project called Blood and Chrome may be good, but looks a little young and shiny (Battlestar Twilight?). Still, here's hoping.

Stargate, one of the longest running Sci-fi franchises, seemed about to go off in interesting new directions with SGU, but then Sy-fy cancelled it just as it was starting to find its feet with its second season.

Doctor Who I love, as always, but it's never been 'hard' sci-fi. Lots of intriguing shows around that play on the margins of sci-fi and fantasy, many set in the modern world, with a few odd elements thrown in. Lot of supernatural themed shows, my current favourites being True Blood and Being Human. But where are the hard sci-fi shows? Where's the space opera, the alien worlds, the exploration beyond the bounds of the now?


I miss the scale of Startrek, Stargate and Battlestar. I miss the gorgeous alien tech, and indeed the gorgeous aliens. I get some of that kick from Doctor Who, but the Doctor only comes out to play for short runs. I miss the epic sweep of space opera.

So, I was quite intrigued to see that the BBC was taking a punt on a new sci-fi show: Outcasts. Set on another planet (tick) and involving things like space ships (tick) and cool 'memory retrieval' tech (tick).

Watched the first two episodes, and Oh God, I remember now why we don't often do straight-up sci-fi here: we are shit at it. If there's a bleak streak of humour running through it, then we're the people to deliver, but if you want hard sci-fi, get the Americans in, they just do it so much better.

I'm going to give it a couple more episodes to find its feet. And it isn't all bad; there are two or three really interesting characters and some of the plot intrigues me. But really: far too ponderous, takes itself way too seriously, and tries to crowbar a sense of mystery and intrigue into every other conversation.

So, what do you guys think: what's hot, and what's not in the world of sci-fi?