There's an experience to these sci fi shows -- getting together with your geeky friends and watching them and talking about them regularly. It's like comic books or movie theaters... you can sit back and wait for graphic novel collections or DVD releases -- but you're trading part of the experience that makes it fun.
Totally agree, I think DS9 did one off episodes very poorly however, and as I said Voyager was hit and miss. Enterprise was a step in the right direction for weekly entertainment, but was overshadowed by SG-1.
(I don't really even agree that it's a creative or a national thing, though... Voyager had a short first season, and it wasn't anywhere near as good as most full seasons of TNG. British shows are certainly happy to capitalize on success, too... how many Dr. Who spinoffs are in the works now?)
I only meant the length of seasons is an american thing, I have nothing against spinoffs, I'm loving Atlantis (infact I've enjoyed it more than the latter seasons of SG-1). British shows don't tend to stretch to 24 episodes, Dr Who is 13, few shows go longer than this.
But don't get me started on Who, I think we've destroyed something many of us have precious memories of, the budgets have improved, the filming, acting, but the writing is atrocious and horribly condescending. I grew up watching everything from 63-89, reading about it, about how the drama dept insisted it was kept from the childrens department as there was a tendancy to talk down to kids, and it didn't, it varied in quality but it always respected the viewers, whether they be the children or parents.
With the exception of awesome episodes such as the girl in the fireplace and the empty child the show is an insulting disaster with no understanding of what can be accomplished with science fiction. These days I really dislike british entertainment, the only shows I watch on a weekly basis are american, canadian and japanese.
Quarto said:
You know, one of these days you really owe me an explanation as to what the heck it means "to abstractly understand the human condition" - and why you don't think that shows like Buffy which explore everyday aspects of human lives like love and relationships don't, in your opinion, contribute to our understanding of "the human condition" as much as something like Voyager or Battlestar Galactica does
I think when you go into any show which has ties to real life, no matter to what absurd tangent it is taken, you enter with preconceptions. Really good sci-fi or fantasy can mirror events and have you seeing the world through another perspective without even realising. I know its a bit pretentious, I'm certainly not suggesting every show or novel does it (or even should) but I believe these can be valuable ways of opening peoples minds without simply preaching to people. When you make something to close to reality its hard to shake off the thousands of points of view that the viewer will already heard. For example I felt that Critical Care put a human face on people who fall victim to a private health system, whereas the movie John Q was criticised by many people with certain political views.
But let me be clear, I don't think Buffy contributes to anything, this is probably partially because I find the majority of the characters to be abnoxious and self involved, particularly Buffy and her sister; heck spike seemed to be the most human of all the characters when I watched it. Personallity changes were frequent and each transition was jarringly immediate. I've never really been a fan of camp scenarios as a source of humour, the scenario wasn't serious but at the same time it showed less ability to have a sense of humour about its self that a show such as stargete. It was a stuck up show about using kickboxing moves on vampires featuring unlikeable teen characters.
I don't think BSG contributes much in this regard, but it does make you consider the odd issue such as the necessity for fair trials, treatment of prisoners, but ultimately I don't think its a good example; as I said I'm a fan of voyager as its best episodes confronted issues such as the re-writing of history, subjective ethics, the consequences of interfering with the development of others, and their perception of such interference, and the most basic of things: the value of a life and how we prioritise that of those close to us (a recurring theme).
I know many writers despise having an underlying message (Tolkein in particular would disagree strongly) but personally I love a film that leaves you thinking, Gattaca giving a compelling plausable reminder that we are not out of danger of repeating past mistakes, even eternal sunshine of a spotless mind made me consider that some of my personal memories might be a necessary learning experience, rather than the burden I'd come to treat them as.