Pondering Friday TV

Over the past month, one thing or another has consistently caused me to miss Fridays on the SciFi Channel, and thus news episodes of Sarah Jane Adventures, Doctor Who, and Battlestar Galactica.  Memorial Day weekend was an exception, but to my disappointment there were no new episodes of these favorite series- instead, merely a three day marathon of crap movies of such quality which SciFi is famous for.  It was all the more disappointing for me considering that, given current financial restrictions, there are few other vehicles for science fiction and fantasy readily available to me at the mo’.

The big shows have finally picked up again this past weekend, and lingering thoughts from my posts about Wars and Treks have had time to congeal, and be juxtaposed against today’s shows.

It proves difficult to enjoy Battlestar Galactica when you are only able to view it intermittently.  The big payoff is for fans who tune in religiously, I’m afraid.  While I frequently hear acclaim for its strong, continuous story, for that same reason it is hard to jump into the middle (or latter half) of everything.  Funny how it has grown in popularity, considering the controversy and unsure reception it received early on.

Doctor Who, which airs immediately before BSG, has the benefit of standalone episodes with self-contained stories, of not taking itself too seriously, and a long history of lore to fall back on.  Yet with each season, Doctor Who still manages to connect the better part of its episodes with underlying plot elements that always climax toward the end.  Naturally, this format works best for one such as myself.  I also have to agree with a statement my brother made prior to this new season: just about every episode of Doctor Who up until that point had been a hit, as opposed to shows like Battlestar and Heroes, which have occasionally slipped and missed.  As for the former, when the execs at SciFi told the creators of BSG to create more standalone episodes for Season 3 to attract newer viewers, it backfired.  This is not all that surprising, considering how different the shows are.  But as for Heroes, it was simply poor pacing of the plot, handling of romances, and introduction of new characters that got it off on the wrong start.  Then the Writer’s Guild Strike hit; who knows if the production crew could have recovered had it not occurred?

Spin-offs are alive, though not always groundbreaking.  Series like Torchwood, Sarah Jane Adventures, and Stargate Atlantis provide more of the same of what fans love, but rarely do they beat the original.  At best, they can match that quality every other episode with a slightly newer perspective.

But I ask again, where are Star Wars and Star Trek in all this?

Cont. ...

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