Entertainment and Media

A lot of purists are screaming right now. "WTF?!? John from Cincinnati isn't SciFi!!!" Let me back up my decision to include it. First, Mitch Yost levitates. Second, John pops in and out of locations at will and tells characters things that he couldn't possibly know. Third, Zippy, Shawn, and John recover from death or serious injury. Fourth, we have more questions than answers, which is a hallmark of SciFi.

Okay, now it's probably not strictly scifi, but neither is Carnivale, and I don't think anyone would dispute that one. I'm including it because nobody I know has levitated. Ever.

This Sunday is the season finale, and while I can't wait, I also know that it's almost impossible for them to answer everything. Furthermore, it leaves nowhere to go in season two. At this point, I'm hoping for enough answers to tune into season two, because so far, all of the questions are more unsatisfying than trying to get answers out of Lost.

Before we begin, I must admit that I've never seen Firefly. That won't keep me from passing judgment on it though. :D

Firefly is a western, set in the future. Interesting as that may sound, there's one fatal problem with it. The creator, Joss Whedon, said that nothing has changed in the future. We may have new technology, but we've still got the same moral, political, and ethical problems. Why is this a fatal flaw? It's a hard sell to anyone.

Look at past wars, and you will see death totals that are completely inconceivable by today's standards. Look at murder rates and you will know just how peaceful the world has become. It used to be quite commonplace to have a slave if you could afford it. Now, while racism still exists, only the hardcore nutjobs still miss slavery. The world is progressing. I don't know if it's progressing quickly enough to save us before we kill ourselves, but it is progressing. So the idea that we're in exactly the same place in the future is not one that I buy.

Quantum Leap was one of the most original shows ever. I would have loved to sit in on the meeting where they pitched it. Here is this show where the main character appears as someone else, and tries to fix the person's problems. It's like the scifi and geek's version of Touched by an Angel.

I included Futurama on a list of tv scifi because it's nice to have a comedy in there. I thought for sure that Futurama was going to bomb HARD when it came out, and for a while, it did. People expected something like the Simpsons, and that's not what they ended up with. But it barely survived cancellation long enough for people to start watching, and then became separate from the Simpsons in their minds. And that was the key to it staying on the air.

I don't have strong feelings towards Futurama either way. It's sometimes funny, and I'll watch it if it's midnight and there's nothing else on, but I can't think of a single time I went out of my way to see it.

The Twilight Zone was one of the first, if not the first scifi show on TV. It was really an unusual sort of concept. Still is, for that matter. No standard cast, no ongoing storyline, and lots of freaky stories that hadn't been seen on television before.

I can't remember which holiday it is, but on one of the big holidays, the SciFi Channel hosts a 24 hour marathon. I love that, and every year I look forward to it.