Hello everyone Earlier this month we received a couple announcements that 'Farscape' was being cancelled and that there would be no Season 5. Despite having a developing high profile and winning awards, their main sponsor decided to cut the series loose. Another SF TV series biting the galactic dust prematurely. No doubt there is some campaign going on to fight this decision, This editorial is targeting as to why this happens so much and if we can hit the problem target before it happens again to whatever SF show this happens to next.. TV Science Fiction series tend to develop a big worldwide following. Not just in their first run but in the repeats over the years. Financially, this makes them a far longer term interest than even the soaps. When was the last time you saw a soap-opera or a short season mainstream series go into repeats from their first year? All right, I can think of series like 'Columbo' and a few detective series which are the exception to the rule and they have their own fan following. However, when you look on the High Street shop shelves, it's TV SF series that tend to dominate far longer than any quickly promoted and then gone general film or TV series. When it comes to merchandising, the product can go on for years as 'Star Trek' will testify. Saying that, the availability of SF TV shows on video or DVD also means some diminishing of repeat viewings when you already own a copy. It's impossible to win both ways here, especially when a TV channel can cut/edit the show when owning a video/DVD means you get an uncut version. Even so, a cult SF TV show is a potential cash cow that will survive way beyond its original 5 or 6 or 7 year life-span. Left to their own devices, most of these shows know when to stop and are usually based on the actors' contract longevity. The fan following tends to grow irrespective of the studios. Despite the case for the contrary - which deserves an editorial all to itself sometime - Science Fiction in all its forms has developed a certain amount of respectability. In films, they are amongst the highest grossers and certainly dominate the charts for making the most money despite the cost they make to produce. It is foolhardy not to appease such audiences by not giving them something they want. This is contrary to the situation with TV production. The downfall for cutting a TV SF series short is the studio financiers saying it's too expensive to support. In many ways, it probably is. With the majority of SF series based on starships exploring alien worlds, expense has to be greater than terrestrial-based TV series. Even with terrestrial-based SF series, there is always the added expense in making the series in the future or adding elements that will make it SF in the present. Knowing this, production teams tend to stay within budget and if or when they overrun the budget on one episode do a 'bottle-show' on others to keep the costs down. No one is in the business in overrunning their budgets. Science Fiction on TV is always seen as the poor cousin compared to mainstream. How often does it appear as potential award-winners on, say, the Emmys? Even when 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer' got put up for one its episodes this year, it was sabotaged by preventing the tapes being distributed on time. Is it any wonder that TV SF is seen as being at the dirt end of the stick when it comes to respectability? It's almost like an international conspiracy as the same problem affects most countries. It's so extreme in Australia that if you're an SF fan you either stay awake into the earlier hours or hope you've got the video recorder set up right. Here in the UK, we rely far more on US imported SF TV series than our own product these days simply because our TV channels don't believe they can compete. All this despite having 'Doctor Who' which was the longest running SF TV series and Channel 4's 6-part 'Ultraviolet' series which kept quiet about the 'V' word and its horror origins but still became compelling viewing for many who might not have watched it otherwise. We have a history of decent series from 'The Avengers' to 'The Prisoner'. Over here, we have a tendency to make up for any production short comings with story quality. Yet UK/home-based productions are low on the ground because companies over here believe they can't compete with US productions or get them as cheap. TV SF, even at its quality best, is seen as poor cousins to mainstream material. If it isn't relegated to graveyard times, then it's often placed on at pre-watershed (for those outside the UK, that means at a time when otherwise adult SF TV gets edited so kids don't see any of the more violent aspects of shows like 'Buffy', 'Angel' or even 'Farscape'!!!) times or in competition with the news on the other channels or when people are still arriving home tired out. Hardly a means to find their target audiences outside of a video recorder, is it? The signals from this is the shows aren't even realised as being adult-orientated material even when the unedited versions are available to buy on video or DVD. Ever get the feeling that someone doesn't like Science Fiction? I know I'm talking to an audience who knows all about this but no harm in recognising the situation. It's an impossible situation. Don't forget, according to viewing figures, if you video-recording your favourite SF show to see later than you haven't actually watched it so the programme is noted as having a low viewing figure! That's not to say that there aren't exceptions to the rule. Shows like 'The X-Files' get moved to a more prestigious viewing spot when the viewing figures hit the roof in the early seasons in the UK. It was also shown originally at a time when people were around to watch it in the first place, never being earlier than 9pm at night. It doesn't answer the real question of why is there so much stigma attached to TV Science Fiction? It's given begrudging times. It's removed when there's a choice between it and sports. [Although to be fair, in the UK, BBC2 and Channel 4 have put in multiple episodes per week to keep within their schedule this past year.] I expect you all could give me different answers. If Science Fiction is going to develop beyond space adventure - which is what the majority of the TV SF series are - then it has to be allowed out of the box. It also needs to capture times suitable for the audience it was aimed at. [I'm not forgetting the younger generation who might want to see a particular show, but with parents' consent, there is nothing stopping them video recording the show to see the next day.] In many respects, 'Farscape' is another space adventure series although, compared to the other series around, it has shown more inventiveness with stretching the boundaries than the rest. Science Fiction should never be a safe medium. Whether in books, film or TV, it should be there to make you think. Maybe that's been the problem for so long. TV channels would rather have a passive audience willing to watch whatever so-called 'reality-show' they put on and digest the adverts to buy the products of their advertisers. Voice your say in the choice of programs, be it TV SF or mainstream, by what you watch. Fighting by only watching quality viewing is bound to influence the viewing figures and cause a massive rethink in what is put on the box. If anything, it might be worth reminding the TV companies that you have to record a particular show because the time they show it is not convenient. Now that would be a letter campaign that would force some serious rethinking, wouldn't it? Thank you and good night Geoff Willmetts
editor: SFCrowsnest.com PS For those keeping up with my health. I've been told my lungs are clear but all the coughing has stretched the intercostal muscles (between the ribs) on my right side, affecting my left shoulder and tendons. Hurts like hell when typing even with pain-killers. Is pain nature's way of saying it would be easier to be a masochist? Food for thought: Don't forget to complain to your own country's TV channel when they show a show at inconvenient times. If nothing else, it'll tell them you're watching. (Less Serious) Thought For The Month: I don't usually watch SF TV shows for continuity errors, but the other night I was watching an X-Files Season Two episode 'F. Emasculata', where Scully was using two hands to examine a contagious infection and simultaneously didn't have and then had a surgical mask on between frames - not scenes! Hands up those who think Scully had a spare pair of arms tucked away in her bra. No wonder she wanted to keep Mulder at...er...arms' length. PS: For those keeping track, I'm about 17 months (mid-April 2001 if you think I'm just repeating the same message every month) behind with going through the ebook samples. Thank you for your patience but let me know if you've sold elsewhere so I can reduce my pile or changed address. |
