As the only piece of new British Sci-fi available for free nears it's ending I ask: Why has British TV got so few fantasy and sci-fi shows?
Humans has only got two more episodes to go, and once it's done then I enter the long wait to September 19th, when Doctor who series 9 airs. That's nearly two months without a single original piece of sci-fi broadcasting (That I know of.). This isn't really a problem for me, as I have two series of Star trek and thirty episodes of classic Doctor who to watch, but the problem is worse for many.
Right now America has loads of sci-fi/ fantasy programming on (Probably because it's 40 times larger than the UK.), which only makes me more annoyed. While they have hundreds of different series in every genre we have maybe one or two on at once.
It's not like sci-fi gets bad viewing figures. As I've already written before 'Humans' has gotten the highest ever viewing figures for Channel 4, and every episode of Doctor who gets into the top twenty of the weekly viewing figures. Fantasy programs like 'Game of Thrones' are some of the most watched dramas of all time. So why aren't there more of them?
The obvious argument is that they cost too much to have them constantly rolling out. But I don't see why something like 'Humans' or Doctor who episodes like 'Listen' and 'Blink' would have higher budgets than one of the endless crime dramas that pop up. I think the problem is a lack of good sci-fi ideas and writers. The reason there aren't enough of these? Because there isn't enough sci-fi on TV for people to see writing TV sci-fi as a real job. Damn.
Monday, 20 July 2015
Sunday, 19 July 2015
Channel 4's Humans
If you live in the UK then you've probably heard about 'Humans' by now. It's an 8-part story about domestic androids in contemporary England, and has been the most watched drama on Channel 4 of all-time. Which is very, very promising.
Firstly, though I would like to say that I don't think humans is actually very good. Anyone that's watched it has to admit that it is way too slow-paced. Obviously a slow pace can be useful, as it gives the viewer a chance to get attached to the characters, but in humans it just feels like each episode has been pumped with filler. There are too many characters as well, with about 5 different active groups of characters at any one time. This means that in a given episode a group of characters will often get a max of roughly 15 minutes of screen time (except from the main family, which all seem to have their own individual story lines to make things seem even longer.) . My biggest problem is just the lack of likable characters. It seems like the writers tried to portray every character as flawed, which should be fine, but each characters flaw is so big that it often makes them irritating to watch. Take the character of Toby, the teenage son. He does a lot of good stuff, especially (SPOILER) taking a blow for his dad in order to protect his whole family after they find out that someone has done some saucy things with their 'synth'. However, his character is ruined by numerous scenes of him perving on his android in a really creepy way.
Even with all these flaws 'Humans' is still alright. It's very unsettling and the story does seem to be getting somewhere (While writing this 5 out of 8 episodes have aired.). The main reason 'Humans' is good is because of the message it sends out to the general public though: Science-fiction doesn't have to be cheesy space monsters and galactic senates, it can be as serious and thoughtful as the rest of TV dramas. As a sci-fi fan I've known this for years (Although I love cheesy space monsters more than unsettling 'human'-esque dramas.). The viewing figures give me hope that channel 4 will try out more sci-fi broadcasting. Maybe ITV will even pick up on it, and make something. Hopefully it would be better than 'Primeval' though.
Firstly, though I would like to say that I don't think humans is actually very good. Anyone that's watched it has to admit that it is way too slow-paced. Obviously a slow pace can be useful, as it gives the viewer a chance to get attached to the characters, but in humans it just feels like each episode has been pumped with filler. There are too many characters as well, with about 5 different active groups of characters at any one time. This means that in a given episode a group of characters will often get a max of roughly 15 minutes of screen time (except from the main family, which all seem to have their own individual story lines to make things seem even longer.) . My biggest problem is just the lack of likable characters. It seems like the writers tried to portray every character as flawed, which should be fine, but each characters flaw is so big that it often makes them irritating to watch. Take the character of Toby, the teenage son. He does a lot of good stuff, especially (SPOILER) taking a blow for his dad in order to protect his whole family after they find out that someone has done some saucy things with their 'synth'. However, his character is ruined by numerous scenes of him perving on his android in a really creepy way.
Even with all these flaws 'Humans' is still alright. It's very unsettling and the story does seem to be getting somewhere (While writing this 5 out of 8 episodes have aired.). The main reason 'Humans' is good is because of the message it sends out to the general public though: Science-fiction doesn't have to be cheesy space monsters and galactic senates, it can be as serious and thoughtful as the rest of TV dramas. As a sci-fi fan I've known this for years (Although I love cheesy space monsters more than unsettling 'human'-esque dramas.). The viewing figures give me hope that channel 4 will try out more sci-fi broadcasting. Maybe ITV will even pick up on it, and make something. Hopefully it would be better than 'Primeval' though.
Another blog!
Blogs are like little bits of fat clogging up the arteries of the internet, and here's another bit of yellow goo to add to the blockage. This blog will be focused on mainly sci-fi (Which stands for Science-fiction if you've been living in a hole since 'Metropolis' came out in 1927.). To be honest I wouldn't be surprised if the whole blog slowly reverted to another Doctor who fan site as I desperately try to increase my page-views. Oh well.
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