Futuristic science fiction a thing of the past

I was thinking about the science fiction that is currently on TV last night, and I have been unable to come up with one show that is set in the future. There is some good stuff on, but it seems that it is all set in modern day. Fringe, Lost, Chuck, Eureka, and the new Star gate for example. Dr. Who is of course occasionally set in the future, but it’s also set in the past, and the present and it’s hardly on the air this year.

So why is this? I like these shows and I’m not complaining about any of them, but why? One simple explanation is that TV networks are all basically copying themselves. If there was a futuristic science fiction show on that worked they would copy it. This alone helps you understand why the science fiction genre has so much trouble on TV since the heart of science fiction is uniqueness but I don’t think that’s all of it.

I suspect a second reason is the same reason that Star Trek always time travels to our time period or close to it. The sets are already built. It is cheaper to have a show that is set in our modern world because it already exists.

Third, they aren’t science fiction, most of these are police dramas with science fiction elements. Fringe, Chuck and Eureka are all examples of this and while some have more science fiction than others they are still following the police drama trend.

I don’t suspect that there is a lot that can be done about this. There has to be someone in Hollywood who is making the pitches for epic science fiction and they are being turned down. Perhaps the new Star Trek movie will trigger some ideas at least though I suspect that they will simply dismiss that.

Here is my pitch for a futuristic science fiction drama. Set in 2112 humans have continued to develop technology, but the most major breakthrough in human history has just occurred. A brilliant scientist has discovered a way to bypass the speed of light.

In a rush to begin to explore NASA retrofits one of its shuttles with the technology. This shuttle is roughly 3 times the size of the modern shuttle with far better air recycling and artificial gravity(just because of the cost). This means that there is only room for 7 crew members comfortably. The scientist who developed the technology is the first, the rest are made up of the best on earth.

With every member of the crew important and the ship with little in the way of defenses they begin to explore.

Chuck vs The Ring

I think that we can all agree that the last two episodes of Chuck were amazing. Not only have they been fun, but they changed the direction of the show without changing the feel.

If you haven’t seen the last two episodes of Chuck then you need to watch them before you read any further.

There have been only a couple minor problems with Chuck this season. The two that most got to me was them having to constantly explain why Chuck was involved. This is a problem for any show where you have someone who is untrained. The other issue was Chuck constantly trying to get out of being a spy. There was nothing wrong with this, i’m just ready to move on from it.

I think we can assume the first is over completly and the second will be far less pronounced. More importantly though are the amount of questions that this episode left for next season.

What did Chuck learn from the new intersect? I think it’s safe to assume that they put more than Kung Fu into the intersect. The first question I have is if they put information into it like the original intersect or just skills.

Also in question is if Chuck keeps those skills permanently once he flashes or if they last for a few minutes then fade. It doesn’t matter a lot since he had began to learn how to control the intersect but that would still leave him vulnerible for a second or two each time he used it.

The next is the question of Orion and his computer. I have certainly enjoyed seeing Scott Bakula and I can’t imagine they won’t bring him back for guest roles but I’m not sure if I’d want to see that character on full time.  The computer on the other hand is quite cool and Chuck had it at the end of the episode.

Third is that of Bryce Larken. He could be dead, but on the other hand if he isn’t dead then he was in the room when the intersect was on. I think it would interesting if he showed up durring the next season as a second intersect.

Overall this season of Chuck was great and the signs are that next season will be even better.

Chuck: The First Kill

Chuck has been great this season every episode is building on the others making the characters more interesting, but at the same time it has felt stalled. This feeling has been good in one way, building on Chuck’s feelings of stagnations of his life and the key to all of this is Chuck trying to get the Intersect out of his head and with Orion around it seems likely that he might just get it out.

But if the Intercect is taken out of his head where is there for the show to go? I suspect that where the show is going is that someone from Fulcrom is going to become an Intersect. Probably just one person and just before Chuck and Sarah rescue Chuck’s father.

But why would another interect make Chuck keep the intersect but stop complaining about being the Intersect. First it would make it possible for him to return because The General will need him, but more importantly this person will have to be dangerous to someone he cares about.

The most obvious of these people would be Sarah. If the Fulcrom Intersect is killing agents then Chuck might be convinced that the best way he can help is to remain the intersect, perhaps by agreeing to remain with the government in return for Sarah being allowed to go free.

Another way that the show could go would be to have Chuck and Sarah not return to the government and simply be avoiding them. The problem I see with this is that the Buymore has become to big of a part of the show that it would be very difficult to not have Chuck there on a regular basis.

Chuck: Chuck Vs the Predator

During this season of Chuck nearly every episode has focused on Fulcrum in some way or another so this leads me wonder what is Fulcrum. We know, or are led to believe that they are evil, and we know that they want to have the intersect and the general says that they are in a secret war with them which only Chuck has been able to make any headway in.

Having an enemy like this has improved the show dramatically but I need to have some hint soon that they plan to tell us their goals at some point.

Now they have also put in a third party. Orion, a computer tech who created the intersect who is being hunted by the government and Fulcrum and has managed to avoid them for a decade.

By the end of the episode we are led to believe that he is dead but I’m not convinced.  We don’t see him get put on the Helicopter all we know is that he targeted the Helicopter with the Predator and that they assume he was on it, but if he died how did the package get in Chuck’s bedroom? Either he is alive or he had someone else working with him.

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