Television is now four decades removed from the premiere of Rod Serling's "The Twilight Zone," the medium's first great science fiction series. More than three decades have passed since the voyages of the starship Enterprise debuted on NBC. In just the past year, two longtime SF favorites, "Babylon 5" and "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," have reached the end of their syndicated runs.
It's a good time to step back and assess where TV science fiction is headed. And while no one is prophesying doom just yet, there's a growing consensus that it needs some new blood.
"It's bland city," writer and critic Harlan Ellison says of the current state of science fiction television, which he believes suffers from a mind-numbing sameness. "It's the same problem for science fiction as it is for sitcoms, as it is for doctor shows, as it is for cop shows. They all wind up in the same bag. No one seems to understand that the days in which television was a novelty and everybody wanted to watch it all the time are gone. The thing that is attracting all the interest now, for Pete's sake, is wrestling."
The trick will be to move the genre to places no man has gone before: shows that don't put people in a U.S.S. Enterprise and send them off to other galaxies, or don't tap into the paranoid "The X-Files" vein, or depend on alien-looking creatures to salvage plots that would doom a more ordinary-looking series.
"For its long-term health, it needs to find a new view," says Tim Brooks, senior vice president for research for USA Networks, parent company of cable's Sci-Fi Channel. "More paranoia shows [like Fox's 'The X-Files'] is probably not finding a fresh view. Of course, if I knew what that fresh view was, I'd be producing it."
"I'm a huge fan of 'Star Trek,' but we've kind of gone though 31 years of 'Star Trek'-like shows," says Rockne S. O'Bannon, the force behind Fox's "Alien Nation" and Sci-Fi's "Farscape." Noting that "Star Trek" begat "Star Trek: The Next Generation," which begat "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," which begat "Star Trek: Voyager," he suspects the genre is just about trekked-out.
Science fiction, suggests "Babylon 5" creator J. Michael Straczynski, "is going to have to grow up a little bit."
As anyone who remembers science fiction from the early days of TV can attest, the genre's already done a lot of growing. By the end of the 1950s and early 1960s, crude sets and gee-whiz gimmickry of such shows as "Captain Video" and "Space Patrol" had evolved into the sophisticated storytelling and social commentary of "The Twilight Zone" and the best episodes of "The Outer Limits."
Science fiction's next great leap forward came with the 1966 launch of "Star Trek," which chronicled the interplanetary voyages of the starship Enterprise and painted a refreshingly hopeful picture of life in the future. By the 23rd century, we were assured, the people of Earth would all get along and a ruling Federation would maintain peace throughout the galaxy (save for an occasional run-in with Klingons or Romulans).
But while "Star Trek" would garner a tremendous cult following, it proved a failure in the ratings, never cracking the top 50 during its three seasons on NBC. Which may explain why SF lay fallow for much of the next 20 years, reduced to such gimmicky shows as "Land of the Giants" and "The Six Million Dollar Man" (the syndicated "Space: 1999" was one of the few exceptions).
Next generation
That began to change, however, in 1987, with the return of an old friend, although in slightly different clothes.
"The current cycle of sci-fi popularity on TV really began in the mid-1980s, with 'Star Trek: The Next Generation,' " says Sci-Fi's Brooks, co-author of "The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows."
"That show just ignited a boom in TV science fiction. It showed that what had been a cult genre had the potential to attract a very wide television audience, including women. To this day, it's the most successful sci-fi syndicated show ever, and arguably the most successful syndicated show ever."
By expanding on the theme of brotherhood (and, just as importantly, sisterhood) that Gene Roddenberry introduced with the original "Star Trek," "Next Generation" struck a chord with viewers. Men and women were truly equals here (the women of "Star Trek" were pretty much there only for Capt. Kirk to ogle), and audiences clearly enjoyed this vision of the future.
More than 10 years later, however, many in the SF genre believe it's time to move on. And, by definition, almost anything is possible when it comes to science fiction.
"What makes science fiction work has always been the sense of wonder," says Straczynski. "I think there's room for shows that are more speculative fiction, that look at the affects of technology -- where we are now, where we're going in the next 20, 30, 50 years. We're in for some interesting times in the next 20 or 30 years as technology changes. Those areas could be addressed right now in new shows."
One traditional hindrance to putting quality science fiction on television has been the high cost of the sets and special effects. But that is becoming less and less of an issue, says Straczynski. Improved technology, including digital imaging, has brought the cost of SF television in-line with more traditional genres. "Babylon 5," he notes, was produced at a cost of about $1 million an episode, on the low side for an hour of TV.
"It can be done," he says, "if you do it correctly."
Although Roddenberry died in 1991, his widow, Majel Barrett, continues bringing his ideas to television, most recently in the syndicated "Earth: Final Conflict" series, which chronicles a struggle for supremacy on this planet between us and a race of beings who swear they have come only to help, but whose real motives appear decidedly sinister. She agrees the genre needs help if it's to survive and thrive, but insists the real problem is simply that writers have gotten lazy.
"They need to pay more attention to story than technology," she says. "I'm tired of seeing people blow up into little pieces. I'd just like to see a whole bunch of good stories."
Likewise, Rick Berman, executive producer of the three "Star Trek" sequel series, sees nothing wrong with the franchise he's been shepherding for over a decade.
"The franchise that Roddenberry created, the idea of a bunch of humans and others off on a journey of exploration, is something that is timeless," he says. "It's just a question of developing good stories and telling them."
But perhaps even more than good scripts, science fiction writers are going to need room to experiment, to stretch the limits of their imaginations. And in the profit-driven world of TV, where the shows most likely to get picked up by the networks are those that mimic earlier successes, that may be the toughest hurdle of all.
"Gene always said, he would do anything as long as he knew the network wasn't involved," says Barrett. "You can't get what you want out of a network. With shows being canceled so quickly, you can't build an audience."
The people who head the networks "don't understand science fiction, for the most part," agrees Straczynski. "Fortunately, most of the old fogeys are dying off and are being replaced by people who grew up on 'Star Wars' and 'Star Trek' and 'Twilight Zone.' "
But even that can be a two-edged sword, cautions Ellison. Hollywood in the 1990s puts such a premium on youth that older writers and directors, who have a better grasp of the conventions of storytelling, are shunned.
"Science fiction, as an art form, is very different from anything else on television," he says. "In science fiction, it is a new game every time out. You have to create a new superimposed continuum. And since the people doing the shows have not been brought up in any kind of literature, they don't have the imagination, they don't have the inventiveness and they don't have the courage to go and try something very different."
Seeking an edge
Some promise may be derived from the Sci-Fi Channel, whose devotion to the genre could provide the breeding ground for science fiction's future successes.
"The channel provides a home on television for the genre, and that's very important," says Sci-Fi's Brooks. "It provides a place to experiment, to try things out. ... It's easier for the Sci-Fi channel to nurture shows than CBS."
"I think they're good as far as they go," says Straczynski, whose "Babylon 5" and "Crusade," his latest series, have both aired on rival cable channel TNT. "But they tend to do more of the cute science fiction and the gee-whiz science fiction. You don't see much hard-edged stuff on there. I think in some ways they still have that adolescent point of view of what science fiction is."
So, what's out there to admire? Not counting their own shows, just about everyone interviewed for this story praised "The X-Files" and the vision of creator and guiding force Chris Carter. "Gene would have loved 'The X-Files,' " says Barrett. "That's about the only show out there I think he would have cared for."
Several also praised the recent big-screen film "The Matrix." Says Ellison, "There are, in the threads of plot of that story, some very interesting and original thinking. It's done well, and it's done with great elan." "Those guys," agrees Straczynski, "if they turned their talents toward television, could have some serious impact."
Beyond that, the current landscape appears pretty bleak. Straczynski, for example, is disappointed that the folks at TNT have interfered with his vision for "Crusade," and says there's only a 50-50 chance the series will continue beyond its initial 13 episodes. And while Berman pledges "Star Trek: Voyager" will be around for at least another two seasons, plans for a fifth "Star Trek" spinoff are still in the very early stages of development.
But no one is ready to throw in the towel just yet.
"Science fiction," says Straczynski, "is as healthy as our dreams, our imagination and the network suits will allow it to be."
Sci-Fi sampler
The state of science fiction television in 1999:
"The X-Files" (Fox): The most popular SF television series ever, Chris Carter's vision of a vast alien/government conspiracy is still going strong heading into its seventh season.
"Star Trek: Voyager" (UPN): The last of the "Star Trek" spinoffs is guaranteed for at least two more seasons, says executive producer Rick Berman -- good news for beleaguered UPN, which needs all the ratings help it can get. Will Captain Janeway and her crew ever find their way home?
"Earth: Final Conflict"(syndicated): An unproduced script by Gene Roddenberry led to this series about a superior culture making its way to Earth and trying to ingratiate itself to the inhabitants, who fail to recognize their ulterior motives.
"Crusade" (TNT): The latest from Joe Straczynski has a spaceship hurtling through space, desperately searching for the cure to a plague decimating the Earth.
"Farscape" (Sci-Fi): This joint effort from Rockne S. O'Bannon and the Jim Henson Company follows an astronaut who unexpectedly finds himself embroiled in an interspecies war galaxies away.
"Sliders" (Sci-Fi): A group of twentysomethings find themselves jumping from dimension to dimension, always in the same place and at the same time, but never in quite the same world.
Pub Date: 7/05/99