You go and put out some great shows and TOTALLY REDEEM YOURSELF! Okay, that was maybe a little cheesy, and the reference may only appeal to my mid-90s Farrelly brothers demographic, but how often does this situation actually happen? For years SyFy has been on the ropes for programming. That’s not to say that they’ve ever been super good at what they do, but at some point, they decided to stop even trying anymore. In recent years, they did have some big winners like Stargate Universe, and the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica. However, they mangled their lineup with fodder like WWE, and various reality shows, like Ghost Hunters. These latter bits are not very science fiction-y.
Indeed, for years, Stargate was the SyFy bread and butter. The original show spun off two other shows, all of which lasted for, like, 20 years worth of programming I’m sure. During the Stargate years, SyFy supplemented that programming mostly with miniseries events. Shows like Children of Dune, Tin Man, and Earthsea offset the brief periods of programming when there wasn’t a Stargate something on. Ok, I jest, but as a casual watcher of the channel, it sometimes seemed that way. There were other ways that SyFy rounded out their programming. They showed reruns of older sci-fi shows like Andromeda, Eureka, and Farscape. And who could forget Lexx, or MST3K? There have definitely always been high points in SyFy programming, but within the last year, the station has apparently reached some sort of renaissance period. I’m only going to look at a few shows because they’re the only ones that I’ve watched, but feel free to chime in with your thoughts and suggestions.
For me, it started with Helix.I’m not even really sure what the show was really about even to this day, but it included some sort of virus, the Arctic, and corporate meddling. It was what I would call a mid-concept sci-fi show in that it dealt with themes, but not necessarily in each episode. Instead, there were meta-themes throughout and the week-to-week enticement was the mystery that was unfolding. It’s the same formula that I’ll talk about for all of these shows. It just didn’t quite catch on. Next, I found Ascension. Talk about a great show! There’s an ark ship barrelling through space with definite class stratification, and all the benefits, or lack thereof that come with. There was intrigue, mystery, murder, and some top notch acting. And the season finale! I won’t spoil it, but it definitely left me thirsty for more! It got cancelled so expect disappointment, but it’s still well worth the watch. These two shows are what I consider a major turning point for SyFy. They started tinkering with a model that was different for the channel, and that could be used to create new, exciting, and most importantly, sci-fi centric shows. It should be mentioned that all of these shows fit into a category that I like to call the viewer participant category. They offer the viewer clues about the story and let the viewer try to figure everything out before the information is revealed. It’s not groundbreaking, but it is effective.
Skip to 2015. It was a great year for the channel. I first caught wind when Netflix picked up Dark Matter. I’m going to give credit where it’s due here because this show didn’t originate on SyFy. It originated on the Canadian station Space, but kudos to SyFy for picking a winner! The show revolves around six people on adrift on a ship. They have no idea where they are, or what they’re doing on said ship. No one even knows who they are. In fact, no one remembers anything preceding their waking up from stasis. The entire show becomes about these people trying to find their past, and their exploits along the way. It’s pretty much a meta-mystery, but it does that so well! There’s a lot of action, there are red herrings thrown at the viewer, and the way that the characters are developed makes them pretty relatable. Because you’re trying to figure out a mystery, you’re always left wanting a little more of the puzzle to use and it makes the show pretty addictive. I binged through it in two days because each episode leaves you on a mini-cliffhanger. It’s very fun!
Next in the lineup is Killjoys. A friend recommended that I give this one a try since I enjoyed Dark Matter. I was not disappointed. Once again, this show started on Space before SyFy picked it up, but that was a good move. If Dark Matter Is all about characters discovering who they are, Killjoys is kind of the opposite. It’s about the main characters running away from who they are. Out of all these shows, I understand the setting of this one the least, provisionally speaking. With Dark Matter, it’s intended that you know very little about the setting as a whole. With Killjoys you’re actually given a lot of information about the setting, but not in a way where it all falls into place. As a result, you really have to think in order to put the pieces together. You follow a crew of bounty hunters, one of whom is running from her past where she was actually trained to be a cold-blooded assassin. There are some really fun twists along the way, and by the time I finished season one, I couldn’t wait to see more!
Finally on this list is The Expanse. This is a SyFy original, and it really delivers! The show is about the power struggle between Earth, Mars, and the asteroid belt. Thanks to the dichotomy of the three ‘organizations’, there’s a lot of politics involved, and where there’s politics, there’s intrigue, and there’s drama. I’d say this is the most complex of the shows I’m talking about in the article, and the reason I say that is that the storytelling is pretty innovative. The show centers on the mysterious disappearance of one woman. But, all the action, and all the mystery is driven by three different groups investigating her disappearance. As a result, you’re given pieces of the puzzle that may not appear to fit at first. That aspect keeps you coming back for more as you try to solve the mysteries presented.
So what’s the point of this little editorial piece? First, the train of thought was spawned by a comment made by Chris Pine not to long ago where he said that you couldn’t make intelligent Star Trek anymore. I really feel like all three of these shows conclusively demonstrate just the opposite. Lumping all of the previous three shows together; they’ve all got huge boons working in their favor. Each is relatively smart in the writing, each has great casts of characters that are all utilized well, each has an interesting and well developed setting to play in, and each manages to find a really good balance between the cerebral and the physical, or the smart and the action. Each one of these shows is doing many of the same things as all of the others, but they manage to establish their own unique identity. It’s actually quite refreshing. It all establishes that sci-fi can still be about the ideas and the themes, but still integrate sexiness, and action as well. It gives me hope that we might see a return to good science fiction again instead of silly slug fests with shoddy CG, and terrible make up.
The second point to this week’s discussion is to give praise where it’s due. I’ve been in a sci-fi funk as of late with all that’s transpired within the Trek community. Huge divisions have been created between the studios and the fan base, and we officially live in an era where intelligent sci-fi is actively being shunned by a franchise that was built on intelligent sci-fi. It leaves one feeling somewhat downtrodden at times. But then there are these great shows on SyFy of all places that are showing the world that there are still a lot of people hungry for intelligent science fiction, people who want to see thought provoking material presented in a way that is fun and interesting, and most importantly, showing that action and sci-fi are not exclusive things. They can exist in harmony within the same tapestry. Shows like these are giving the Chris Pines of the world the proverbial finger, and they’re giving guys like me who crave good science fiction both hope and something to satiate those cravings. I never thought I’d say this, but good job SyFy! Keep up the good work!
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