A good season for sci-fi, fantasy and speculative fiction
Generally, the nature of the fictional output of the media tends to follow the current mood of the audience. With the current economic downturn, I was wondering what sort of television and film we would see coming out to reflect (or guide) public opinion. I certainly haven't been disappointed, it seems!
Fantasy, it seems, is back in vogue. Not surprising, perhaps, since fantasy's common themes of a great enemy (often authoritative), countered by a hero, a shining beacon of hope, suits a time when public opinion is dower. To this end, we have two great offerings at the moment:
Merlin
I was quite surprised by this series. I never had high hopes for the premise of a young Merlin having to hide his powers yet still help a young Arthur, but the BBC have managed to pull it off well. After the requisite few episodes of stumbling around, it eventually found its feet, and matured into quite the enjoyable light-hearted fantasy. The unique twist to this retelling is that magic is banned, and so the young Merlin is forced to hide his powers, acting simply as prince Arthur's man servant.
With colour blind casting actually resulting in a rather pleasant cast, principle characters kept to the absolute minimum, a unique setting, and far too many opportunities for slash, I would have to recommend this production. Take it too seriously, however, and you stand to be disappointed - Merlin knows that it is first and foremost family entertainment, not hardcore fantasy.
Legend of the Seeker
Similarly to Merlin, Sam Raimi's latest fantasy show is more of a family entertainment production than hardcore fantasy. The concept is very much a classic fantasy trope - a young man discovers his destiny to defeat an evil overlord, and the show itself plays on common fantasy tropes regularly, rather than being creative within the genre. It is, however, a fairly complex show to get into initially, with all three of the principle characters having their own unique fantastical powers and backgrounds. But from the second episode on, the plot twists reduce to a more typical level for Saturday evening television, and whilst still a drier show than Hercules or Xena, there are now finally hints of the humour that they hope to bring to the storytelling.
Die-hard fans of the Sword of Truth books (upon which Legend of the Seeker is based) could well however find themselves most upset. It seems to be the case that Sam Raimi takes 'based on' to mean "provided inspiration and some content suggestions", however I don't think that this is necessarily a bad thing at all. From what I have heard (having never read the original books myself), much of the original story would have lead to a rather poor screenplay.
Again, if you take your fantasy seriously and dislike the common tropes of the genre, you are unlikely to really enjoy Legend of the Seeker. But it is a nice setting, and those tropes give the show much of its charm. Being filmed in New Zealand also means that it has some stunning landscapes, but don't expect anything on the scale of Lord of the Rings - this is TV, after all.
Survivors
I have always been a massive fan of Terry Nation's work, so when I heard that a modernisation of this old post-apocalyptical drama was being produced by the BBC, I was very wary. On watching the results, however, this has changed to a rather pleasant sense of surprise! The story seems to be following very closely that of the original novel, and whilst I am not yet completely sold on the cast, the characters seem to mesh together well so far.
The concept is one that has rarely been explored - the idea of a world in which a deadly virus has killed off more than 90% of the world's population. Already some interesting moral dilemmas are being posed, and characters introduced that are clearly having trouble adapting to this new world.
So far it is only two episodes in, but there is a lot of promise there, both from what I have seen so far of the screenplay, and from my knowledge of the book it is based on (as it does seem to be a fairly faithful adaptation). There is, however, one new element thrown in for good measure - a secret sealed government lab that is being hinted about. This was never part of the original story, and I fear that in adding this, they could take the show off in a direction which was never present in the original. As long as there are no magic cures, and the government lab remains potentially in opposition, though, there shouldn't be a problem.
This re-imaging has had me thinking about what I would do if I were to find myself a survivor in such a situation. Much of the initial life post-collapse would be based upon looting, so the question of how one would go about looting, and what one would prioritise, are rather profoundly important.
Day of the Triffids
As a massive fan of the book, I was rather worried to hear of the BBC's announcement of a forthcoming dramatisation. Unlike survivors, this novel has had a long history of being completely and utterly ruined by any attempt at adaptation for screen. On the positive side, the origin of the Triffids is being faithfully kept (fuel producing crops), however this is mitigated by the decision to use a solar storm to turn everyone blind. In the original book, it is strongly suggested that the blinding was the result of a malfunction of cold war orbital weapon platforms, and I have always felt that this was an integral part of the story (since the theme of distrust for authority comes up regularly).
Despite these concerns, I am still cautiously optimistic about this production, more so since having found Survivors to have been a faithful modernisation. We shall have to find out next year, when it broadcasts.
Heroes, Season 3
I think most people reading this are probably extremely familiar with Heroes already, but it is equally deserving of a mention. The third season is a massive improvement on the second, and it seems to fit well into the general feeling of the populace at the moment. Core themes include a strong distrust of authority and power, and a countering theme of hope and salvation through personal effort. Very fitting for these economically difficult times.
Star Trek (XI)
Finally, and similarly to Heroes, this needs little introduction really. What is interesting is the continuing themes that can be found in science fiction at the moment. As I understand it, this prequel focuses on a young, rebellious crew finding their place within the system, earning respect, and ultimately fighting against those parts of the system that are wrong (although this might not be depicted, that was always a theme in TOS - to do what is right, no matter what the rules say). Star Trek was born during the cold war, and I suspect that the timing of this film is not accidental - the world could do with some hope right now.
That's all for now, everyone! I should probably write something soon about my thoughts on Batman Begins and The Dark Night, since I have finally gotten around to watching these (together with Iron Man - which I shall simply say for now is the best of the current action hero films, in my opinion!).
Fantasy, it seems, is back in vogue. Not surprising, perhaps, since fantasy's common themes of a great enemy (often authoritative), countered by a hero, a shining beacon of hope, suits a time when public opinion is dower. To this end, we have two great offerings at the moment:
Merlin
I was quite surprised by this series. I never had high hopes for the premise of a young Merlin having to hide his powers yet still help a young Arthur, but the BBC have managed to pull it off well. After the requisite few episodes of stumbling around, it eventually found its feet, and matured into quite the enjoyable light-hearted fantasy. The unique twist to this retelling is that magic is banned, and so the young Merlin is forced to hide his powers, acting simply as prince Arthur's man servant.
With colour blind casting actually resulting in a rather pleasant cast, principle characters kept to the absolute minimum, a unique setting, and far too many opportunities for slash, I would have to recommend this production. Take it too seriously, however, and you stand to be disappointed - Merlin knows that it is first and foremost family entertainment, not hardcore fantasy.
Legend of the Seeker
Similarly to Merlin, Sam Raimi's latest fantasy show is more of a family entertainment production than hardcore fantasy. The concept is very much a classic fantasy trope - a young man discovers his destiny to defeat an evil overlord, and the show itself plays on common fantasy tropes regularly, rather than being creative within the genre. It is, however, a fairly complex show to get into initially, with all three of the principle characters having their own unique fantastical powers and backgrounds. But from the second episode on, the plot twists reduce to a more typical level for Saturday evening television, and whilst still a drier show than Hercules or Xena, there are now finally hints of the humour that they hope to bring to the storytelling.
Die-hard fans of the Sword of Truth books (upon which Legend of the Seeker is based) could well however find themselves most upset. It seems to be the case that Sam Raimi takes 'based on' to mean "provided inspiration and some content suggestions", however I don't think that this is necessarily a bad thing at all. From what I have heard (having never read the original books myself), much of the original story would have lead to a rather poor screenplay.
Again, if you take your fantasy seriously and dislike the common tropes of the genre, you are unlikely to really enjoy Legend of the Seeker. But it is a nice setting, and those tropes give the show much of its charm. Being filmed in New Zealand also means that it has some stunning landscapes, but don't expect anything on the scale of Lord of the Rings - this is TV, after all.
Survivors
I have always been a massive fan of Terry Nation's work, so when I heard that a modernisation of this old post-apocalyptical drama was being produced by the BBC, I was very wary. On watching the results, however, this has changed to a rather pleasant sense of surprise! The story seems to be following very closely that of the original novel, and whilst I am not yet completely sold on the cast, the characters seem to mesh together well so far.
The concept is one that has rarely been explored - the idea of a world in which a deadly virus has killed off more than 90% of the world's population. Already some interesting moral dilemmas are being posed, and characters introduced that are clearly having trouble adapting to this new world.
So far it is only two episodes in, but there is a lot of promise there, both from what I have seen so far of the screenplay, and from my knowledge of the book it is based on (as it does seem to be a fairly faithful adaptation). There is, however, one new element thrown in for good measure - a secret sealed government lab that is being hinted about. This was never part of the original story, and I fear that in adding this, they could take the show off in a direction which was never present in the original. As long as there are no magic cures, and the government lab remains potentially in opposition, though, there shouldn't be a problem.
This re-imaging has had me thinking about what I would do if I were to find myself a survivor in such a situation. Much of the initial life post-collapse would be based upon looting, so the question of how one would go about looting, and what one would prioritise, are rather profoundly important.
Day of the Triffids
As a massive fan of the book, I was rather worried to hear of the BBC's announcement of a forthcoming dramatisation. Unlike survivors, this novel has had a long history of being completely and utterly ruined by any attempt at adaptation for screen. On the positive side, the origin of the Triffids is being faithfully kept (fuel producing crops), however this is mitigated by the decision to use a solar storm to turn everyone blind. In the original book, it is strongly suggested that the blinding was the result of a malfunction of cold war orbital weapon platforms, and I have always felt that this was an integral part of the story (since the theme of distrust for authority comes up regularly).
Despite these concerns, I am still cautiously optimistic about this production, more so since having found Survivors to have been a faithful modernisation. We shall have to find out next year, when it broadcasts.
Heroes, Season 3
I think most people reading this are probably extremely familiar with Heroes already, but it is equally deserving of a mention. The third season is a massive improvement on the second, and it seems to fit well into the general feeling of the populace at the moment. Core themes include a strong distrust of authority and power, and a countering theme of hope and salvation through personal effort. Very fitting for these economically difficult times.
Star Trek (XI)
Finally, and similarly to Heroes, this needs little introduction really. What is interesting is the continuing themes that can be found in science fiction at the moment. As I understand it, this prequel focuses on a young, rebellious crew finding their place within the system, earning respect, and ultimately fighting against those parts of the system that are wrong (although this might not be depicted, that was always a theme in TOS - to do what is right, no matter what the rules say). Star Trek was born during the cold war, and I suspect that the timing of this film is not accidental - the world could do with some hope right now.
That's all for now, everyone! I should probably write something soon about my thoughts on Batman Begins and The Dark Night, since I have finally gotten around to watching these (together with Iron Man - which I shall simply say for now is the best of the current action hero films, in my opinion!).