Defying Gravity: H21K Review

As only the second episode of Defying gravity that I have seen i have to say that I enjoyed H21K far better than the previous episode. Perhaps it is simply because I understood the characters a little better having started without seeing the pilot but I suspect it is because I understood the threat a little better.

The entire plot of the episode is really quite simple. The ship is having mechanical difficulties, but it allows for a great many interesting things. One of the best is the explanation of their artificial gravity and why they aren’t floating around the ship all the time. It’s fun te see a show that is really using realistic problems, because though I enjoy shows like Star Trek the technology is mostly fantasy.

The shows flashbacks made far more sense to me this week too and although I’m not entirely convinced that they are needed I can understand the idea behind it. If the show took place entirely on the ship it could begin to feel claustrophobic, but I suspect that might be a good thing if you’re trying to get people connected to the audiance.

Realistic science fiction is harder to do that epic science fiction in many ways, but it is also something I have wanted to see for quite some time and so I am going to continue to watch this show and hope that it can keep the show at the quality level of H21K

Summer Science Fiction on TV

There hasn’t been any science fiction on TV except reruns since the season ended but in July there are a few shows, mostly on the sci-fi channel to look forward too. Most of them are short seasons but they might just tide us over until fall.

Eureka – This is the show i’m most excited to see.  The show is a lot of fun and they still manage to tell good science fiction stories even if some of them are old star trek episodes with different actors and it’s only 8 more days.

Warehouse 13 – I heard this show explained as the warehouse from Raiders of the Lost Arc at one point. This is about the place where the government stores all of the odd and bizarre things that it gets. I can only hope that this show will actually be good since I don’t know a lot more about it. Still, it comes out 3 days earlier than Eureka and I will be watching it.

Being Human – I  have no idea if this is any good, but in general i’ve liked the British imports and so I am going to give it a try. As I understand this is a show about a ghost, a werewolf and a vampire living in a house together.  The premise seems funny, but I’m not sure it can hold up for more than an episode or two before it gets old. We’ll see.

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.

Three Science Fiction ideas that need a TV series

Science Fiction is a genre of ideas. One of the reasons that traditionally in the past it has been seen as low on characterization and often a little difficult to get into is because these ideas are so important and typically as science fiction readers or watchers we look for new ideas, but there are a few ideas out there which for a variety of reasons I would like to see done again.

Idea: Traveling through dimensions

Space travel and time travel have both had multiple shows based around their ideas, but while there have been any number of comic books and novels written around the idea of multiple dimension and even a few episodes of TV series I’d love to see another show about the idea of exploring these dimensions.

Who did it first?

Sliders is the only show I know of which was based around this idea and I liked the idea well enough to watch 5 years of the show as it slowly gained speed in its decent past bad into an unwatchable, pointless show which could be compared unfavorably to spending a vacation in Dante’s circles of hell and the fifth season was even worse than that.

Why try it again?

Very few if any of the failings of this show had anything to do with the idea. This show started out watchable but it was simply mishandled. Replacing interesting characters with increasingly boring characters would have been bad enough but since the point of the show was getting home once there was no one left trying to get home it didn’t matter much.

What would I change?

The biggest problem with the idea of Sliders was that it relied on them getting in trouble on every world they went to with no real reason. This meant that they either had to have worlds which were truly chaotic, which stretches credibility, or simply push them into stupid situations every week. This show needed a quantum leap style device which forced them to interact with the world before they could leave.

Idea: Humans exploring a single new world for an entire series

In Star Trek it is common for them to visit a world, destroy its entire culture and then leave to never mention the place again. The same is similarly true of other shows in the spaceship sub genre, but the truth is that things get more interesting when you look closely and begin to slowly unravel the mystery.

Who did it first?

Earth 2 and Deep Space 9

While both good shows Earth 2 was canceled before it’s time and Deep Space 9 never spent all that much time on Bajor.

Why Try it again?

Science Fiction is best when it is examining the unexplained and unknown in detail. Skimming over the surface of a great idea dropping a few big words and moving on. Truly landing on a planet and spending 8 years there learning about something that is completely different than our world could be fascinating.

How would I do it?

A planet with a humanoid species just above the level of technology we are now but still without spaceships is met by a human ship with 10 crew who lands on their version of the white house.

These aliens would be a diverse people with multiple cultures and religions many of whom are excited to see the humans and many of them are not. Early in the first episode we would find out that Earth has changed as well, but it would take at least a season for us to discover that Earth is in its own civil war. What we would find out is that not only are there a great deal of secrets and oddities to the aliens but the humans are not all on the same side and as they begin to fracture it becomes increasingly more likely that their presence on this world will destroy it.

Idea: The Singularity and New Humans

Starting twenty years in our future human technology has evolved to the point where it is growing without us. Genetic Engineering has made our children a new species an computers are running many aspects of life, and it is getting exponentially more difficult for people to survive who were born naturally.

Who did it first?

There are enough short stories and novels about this idea for it to be considered a cliche in written science fiction, but I can’t come with any non-dystopian examples of this on TV or movies.

Why Try it?

Change is one of the most important aspects of modern life. The world will continue to change and while there may never be a true singularity there has always been a struggle between old and new, between the young and the old, between technology and freedom. These ideas are going to become increasingly important in the future and examining them now might give us a head start as well as making for a fun and interesting show, not to mention that every young person on the show can be a supermodel and there will be a good reason.

How would I do it?

The first episode opens with a news program explaining that the first computer built and designed completely by other computers has just been completed. This computer is a leap forward in technology that triggers this new age, but it is only the beginning this computer even before completely finished is finding solutions to mathematical questions which have been unanswered for centuries.

Our hero, a man born in the year 2010 is now thirty years old today. He is shorter and less attractive than those who walk by him his clothing hopelessly old fashioned and as he watches the program and just as the camera begins to pull back a man about fifty grabs a young girl’s purse and attempts to run.

Cameras turn to record the man as the young woman chases him down and pulls the purse out of his hand showing no fear of this elderly man. Our hero helps the dirty man to his feet and they have a short conversation where we learn that the man is simply desperate. He was once successful but there’s nothing left for him to do. The world has moved past him. Our hero gives him his last few dollars then looks back at the TV realizing that he has been left behind as well. This show will not be about the best or the smartest it will be about a good man who would be smart in our age simply trying to navigate this new age, and during the course of the show he might even save the world.

Heroes: Shades of Gray

I like it when shows don’t go where i expected. This episode of heroes wasn’t what I expected. From last weeks trailers I expected that Matt’s subplot would take far more of the episode.
Part of that was because I paid too much attention to the trailer at the end of last weeks episode and part of it was the message telling Hiro to save him. That was another of the expectations they broke which I found entertaining.
Then there was Clair and Doyle. I should have seen this part coming but I still assumed that she would help him immediately. This also seems to me to point to someone who can see the future sending the messages. Assuming that it’s not Matt, this leave Angela, someone we haven’t seen before or someone from the future.
I’m fond of the idea that it’s Angela, working with Micah and probably HRG and it appears we are likely to find out in two weeks in the next episode.
The bulk of the episode was, as the title implies, about Sylar. He found his father in this episode and this time I was a little closer on what i expected. I knew that his father was sick and leaving the man alive to punish him was pretty close, but where they really moved the character this episode was the idea that Sylar is hunting rabbits. Killing people who have no way to defend themselves.
This really does make sense, excluding the man with TK he kliled with a rock most of the people he has went after have had powers that were no threat to him. Many of the abilities such as superhearing, telling if people are lying, and healing are very useful but none of those people can really defend themselves and he hasn’t went after people like Peter, Hiro or Matt who could really defend themselves.
I also like the idea that this may change. I enjoyed seeing Sylar in the future as a father and as the president in different times and I would like to see either of them or even another interesting version of Sylar.

I liked this episode and am excited to see the next episode.