Battleangel

Sometimes I get the feeling that sci-fi is a dying genre. At least that has been the trend for the last couple of years. At least that has been my own very subjective observation.

Star Trek Enterprise seems to be over. No renewal. No reconsideration. I can’t say I’m gonna miss the series terribly .. but it was sci-fi and it was Star Trek after all. So from a little broader perspective it was a dire loss. There was however a note in the press report that UPN and Paramount are looking forward to “a new chapter of this enduring franchise in the future.” All is not lost. For the most part Enterprise served its purpose.

A rising star on the sci-fi sky seems to be Battlestar Galactica. The ratings are solid and people are hailing it as a revolution in sci-fi. I can’t fully appreciate the series however. The series is highly progressive on one hand, somewhere in-between a non-sci-fi series like “24″, which is real-time and linked and say Stargate SG-1, the latter having arcs and directions but where most of the episodes are more or less stand-alone. Battlestar Galactica is no revolution of mine. If anything it is flimsy, incomprehensible and boring. The drama elements and relationships have been greatly exaggerated in place of real events. Everything is just too damn .. human. And silly. It’s like a British kitchen sink drama series in outer space. At any rate it looks like the show will get a second season and hopefully that one will be better. I can only hope this is not the future of sci-fi or some lasting gimmick to attract new viewers, age groups and women to sci-fi.

Stargate SG-1 is as solid as ever though. And Stargate Atlantis, though off to a shaky start picked up speed halfway through the first season. The episodes leading up to the finale were great and I can safely say Atlantis is probably the most promising new show on the air these days.
Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis will also be getting an enormous inflow of new characters for seasons 9 and 2 respectively. Ben Browder, Claudia Black, Beau Bridges, and Louis Gossett, Jr. will appear in SG-1 as regular or recurring characters. And Mitch Pileggi will join Atlantis. Also more crossovers to be expected. It’s a bold and thrilling move to not just drop SG-1 after eight successful seasons but rather try to reinvent the series and keep going.
SG-1 and Atlantis were also heavily nominated for the Saturn Awards this year. Among other things for Best Syndicated / Cable Television Series (which they won last year). Stargate remains the best thing on television.
On a side note, the first video game based on the Stargate universe, Stargate SG-1: The Alliance, is coming along nicely. The game promises a rich environment based on the Unreal 2.5 engine in single, multi and co-op modes. Could be interesting. By looking at the screenshots I would have guessed that it was some sort of adventure game but it is actually more of a first person shooter. Marvellous detail.

It reminds me of the Starship Troopers game somehow. Haven’t heard much from them lately either, but both games are coming out in 2005.

Another hot topic is the possibility of a TV adaptation of the Star Wars franchise. Rumour has it that the confirmed but shrouded project might include Mark Hamill and Kevin Smith. At any rate the show will probably enter preproduction after the release of Episode III. And here is the high point, no involvement from George Lucas. Now that would be something.