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Okay, I’m sure you’re saying, tell me something I don’t know.
Well, maybe my reason is different to yours. For years now I’ve been wanting a futuristic science fiction adventure that is, well, in the future. Not since Bablyon 5, Farscape and Battlestar Galactica have we had a space opera that really invests in the futuristic tech idea. You know, physics, chemistry and science, extrapolated several hundred or thousands of years hence, or in the present but with aliens who have tech far more advanced, or featuring an entire ensemble that are from an advanced race unrelated to Earth.
Another Life had a few references but it was more about relationships. Pandora had a few more, but it’s mainly about uni students with some tech and rayguns. Even the Orville, apart from a brief flit to the 29th century, seems to have stagnated somewhere in the 25th century, afraid to go all high concept hard future tech.
I had little interest in the first season of Discovery as I struggled to be engaged in a prequel series. The 2nd series was a bit better, but only because I loved the time travel tropes. The fact it was still before had me sighing, though that is probably due to the propensity of many TV show writers needing to write for an American audience that prefers familiarity over strange. But now, with Discovery’s third season, and especially episodes 5 & 6, I am absolutely thrilled that they’re in the ‘far’ future. There are some nostalgia references that are part of this trade off but, this is exactly what I’ve been looking for, for years. It’s also the kind of stuff I write in my short stories (though, usually a bit further than the year 3000. I doubt humans would still be living on Earth at that time.)
Still, I’m always on the lookout for new series set far from our own.
Foundation sounds like it might be worth a look, especially considering Asimov had combined his Foundation series and his robot series. As much as I would like to be excited by Dune, Herbert made a conscious decision to resign artificial intelligence to the history books. In this case, unless the series is full of non-anthropomorphic aliens, I’m more inclined to watch the Mandalorian instead, which while science fantasy, at least it’s not as restricted. Picard was great, but for those of you who saw the last episode, should it really have that name anymore? I am looking forward to the next series and am dying to see Guinan in it. That is going to be one awesome episode. (Though, not wanting to overpromote, I might end up saying ‘There she is, there she is. My life is complete,’ and not really notice the story.) I might try to watch Lost in Space after episode 3 again, but I’ve never really got into any science fiction TV show that has children in it. Generally, when child actors are added (don’t get me started on Raised by Wolves) the show becomes an emotional mess. (Yeah, I’m one of those viewers who would love a series focused solely on future scientists and their discoveries, with guest appearances by a hologram of the late Stephen Hawking.) Dark Matter had potential but there were too many “seriously?” moments that I had trouble staying in the reality to really enjoy it. The Expanse is just war and politics until season 4 but you’ve really got to watch the first 3 seasons. I couldn’t get past episode 5. Maybe when world politics becomes boring again I might need this kind of drama. Still, it had some great science; I’m just not interested in drama, intrigue, fighting and politics. (Yeah, that kinda wipes out 90% of American science fiction right there.)
So, I think that Discovery Season 3 is awesome purely because of the future tech. That’s why I’ll be watching, while, of course, enjoying the character arcs and stories that come from this tech. When you create a world that is completely different to any world writers have written in before, you’re more likely to get stories that have never been written before. This is the most exciting part. Original science fiction! (Well, to be more specific, original space opera!)
Now, if Discovery could just have a permanent time travel system, I might consider switching my allegiance from Doctor Who.
Feel free to leave a comment below if you disagree but I’m only really into far future space opera with as much science, aliens and exploration as possible, preferably with a utopian or joyful atmosphere. Doctor Who and Star Trek are at the top of that list, though Stargate comes a close second, with Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (the radio play) and Red Dwarf a close third. More of these please!
