Science fiction was the mentally healthiest thing I've been exposed to as a teenager too. It taught me more about creativity, moral integrity and the ability to believe in a better future than anything else on this planet. I think we always had different decades with changing rise and drop of sci-fi and we might get more of it in the near future again.
And somehow it never ceases to feel relevant. The political undertones of B5 are timeless and feel more and more prescient. I half expect a "Ministry of Truth" or Nightwatch to be announced any day here.
Re-watching B5 now.... and the all the language and thought-police actives undertaken by Nightwatch, and the parallels with the assassination of President Santiago and the assassination of Kennedy...
I'm rewatching TNG now. And it's only when I see it now that I can see that it affected me as a teenager with its strong morality and optimism. A lot of its messages rubbed off on me. I don't see any equivalent tv these days. I'll be re watching it with my kids hopefully when they're old enough.
Farscape ruined me for every other sci-fi show I've seen (even ones that I used to like). All others pale in comparison to me. They seem sterile and boring now. Farscape had great acting and make-up, special effects and storytelling. The chemistry with the characters was great. When I watch Star Trek The Next Generation, for instance, everyone seems so formal and stiff interacting with each other, even those who are supposed to be friends or in relationships. I don't buy it anymore. Stargate: SG1 is like watching paint dry compared to Farscape. Everyone just sat around conference tables for 40 minutes *discussing* what was going on and what they were going to do, then there was like 10 minutes of "action." Scorpius is the best villain in any sci-fi show or movie. Even the puppets in Farscape out-act characters in other shows. I wish Rockne S. O'Bannon and Brian Henson would stop talking about a new series and start making one already. :) (After pandemic mess, of course).
This is what I've been trying to tell people - that 90s era of sci-fi was the "golden age of television", not the mundane but well-acted dramas that came after.
With the greatest respect to the shows and actors, we have to also admit that this is in part due to the lack of much else of quality to compare with it. Ths Simpsons was probably the only other thinking show on at the time. I will always love TNG, but (while still good) it would stand up much worse to competition with "The Walking Dead" than it did compared to "Who's the Boss". I still agree with the point of the video, but it has to be looked at in context.
@@armamentarmedarm1699 it really doesn't! tried to watch again recently, clunky dialogue, poor, effects and i just lost interest around the tim the professor died. still never seen the final series, where the only main character left was rembrant.
For me Sci-Fi Friday was like going to church. My brothers and my father would sit and watch SG1, SGA and BSG. To this day no other block of televion even comes close to doing what the Sci-Fi channel was able to do.
Brian Healy I went to a school four and a half hours away by bus for five days a week. I really looked forward on those Friday trips home to settling in for my weekend at home with that lineup.
Honestly didn't realize just how "spoiled" we were with all of the sci-fi series we enjoyed experiencing during that timespan. A very humble thank you for this 3 minute and 48 second reminder.
The expanse is pretty beast, I'm glad syfy stopped with the wrestling and ghost hunter nonsense garbage so much and started investing in true science fiction again.
No love for Firefly or did i miss it? I agree with your video. Except that i don't have much hope for star trek as its behind a paywall. Also Stargate will gave a prequel coming soon. I hope it spawns newer Stargate shows.
Patrick Keefer Stargate ended around 2007 and we still had Atlantis and Universe so... And sorry you didn't like Firefly. It was a clever show with a lot of heart.
Loved firefly, I nearly cried when I found out it did't get a second season. The broadcaster killed it tho, not the show itself. One season getting a movie is downright unheard of, and we got it. Was a good movie too, but it still made u want the series to have panned out. and the golden age didnt end in the 90's patrick, it was a slow death over time. not an abrupt end, thats kinda how life tends to work. Slowly
Is it wrong to think Red Dwarf as situation comedy first with a back wash of SciFi? Don't get me wrong - loved the series. Smoke me a kipper I'll be back for breakfast ;)
No, it's not wrong to think of Red Dwarf that way. But the SciFi setting informed most of the Jokes. You had possibly the worst example of humanity trying to survive and stay sane in space, 5 million years away from Earth. It's probably more correct to think of Red Dwarf as a SciFi series with a good dose of humor. Especially the later series. Stoke me a Clipper, I'll be back for Christmas!
@@jekubfimbulwing5370 It's strangely realistic in some aspects not everyone respects one another and you rarely saw that on Star Trek it was all love flowers and puppies when it came to the crew.
I only in the past year thoroughly enjoyed Battlestar Galactica, and Deep Space 9. So good. I read all of The Expanse books. Can’t wait to start watching. Thanks for what you do.
In L.A. back in the late 90s, my Friends and I all made sure to be at my house for what we called, "Super Sci-Fi Sunday" on Channel 13 UPN... Star Trek: Enterprise Star Trek (TOS) Star Trek: The Next Generation Star Trek: Deep Space 9 Star Trek: Voyager Babylon 5 (And we watched our VHS recordings of X-Files, Farscape and Doctor Who...) GAWD! Those were good days! Talk about a Sci-Fi Geek TV Party! We got SOOOOO toasted by the end of the night... because we created a drinking (and other goodies...) game for EACH show... Well done video! It takes me back to MUCH better times... Thanks!
I hope there will be another golden age of sci-fi as well. Not only is it important from a cultural perspective but it also inspires innovation. Just by seeing ones imagine on screen can inspire scientist and engineers it create it in real life
"The Orville" is a deliberate attempt by MacFarlane to bring this golden era back. Fox has publicized it as a blunt comedy, and both the trailer and the pilot episode don't do justice to it. But if you follow a few more episodes you may get pleasantly surprised. I believe it arrives in the UK by mid-December, otherwise * cough * proxy or VPN * cough *. My two cents.
There are a couple of reasons why Sci Fi has lost its mojo. Firstly, colonialism. The spirit of adventure in Star Trek draws from the Hornblower stories and the voyages of Darwin and Cook. It's now not politically correct to appreciate this kind of heroism. Secondly, science. We now know that faster than light travel is impossible. We're going to be stuck on Earth or at best in this solar system forever. That takes the wind out of our sails a bit. The Expanse understands this and has done a fantastic job so far recreating Sci Fi for a more cynical age. The Orville does a nice job of melding old and new. Star Trek Discovery I think treats its roots with absolute contempt.
Having loved Star Trek: TOS as a child, I was blown away when Star Trek: TNG first aired on TV. Totally with you about the positive influence of the shows you mention on young minds.
Dark matter and Killjoys are kinda like Firefly, maybe the ships they use in those shows aren't as iconic as the Serenity but some of what both Dark Matter and Killjoys do is very similar to Firefly....
These Sci-Fi shows have all been a great escape from the day to day grind. Like old friends, I re-visit them once in a while. I'm disappointed with the new Trek series: Discovery, but really like The Expanse!
Aside from omitting arguably the best space faring SCI-FI ever in Firefly (I'm not there, but I've read the arguments) you hit the nail on the head. What a glorious time in TV from 87-09. Everything you mentioned here drew me in to purchasing all of them and watching all of them multiple times. I also agree that we just might be on the cusp of a new "era" in TV SCI-FI. Can't wait for The Orville and Discovery.
Some may argue the golden age of SciFi TV started a little earlier with shows like Blake's 7 and (I'd even go so far as saying) Sapphire and Steel, but for sheer breadth and abundance of shows you've pretty much hit the nail on the head in terms of the era. Just found your channel. Like what you are doing here.
Great video! Because of your channel I've got into the shows you have covered as being in this golden age. I've always been into Star Trek and had watched the odd episode here or there of shows like Stargate and Farscape. Now I've watched every single episode of Farscape and it was an amazing experience, even though series 1 was a bit slow; now I'm watching through Babylon 5 and Sheridan has just learnt about these beings called 'Shadows' so I'm excited to see where they take that. I just wanted to say thank you for making these videos and I hope you continue making more for people like me, who missed out on these shows, and everyone else too!
I actually think now is the new golden era for sci fi, because the media market has changed enough to allow for long format high production value series. The expanse, altered carbon, discovery, picard, tales from the loop,the mandalorian, electric dreams... Its a great time to be a sci fi fan.
Only just discovered this video and boy oh boy did I just go through a major nostalgia trip! My uncle and I are huge sci-fi fans and I remember us binge watching almost every show you mentioned that he owned complete dvd box sets of. Almost every weekend during my high school years I'd crash at his place and we'd binge watch entire seasons without a care in the world. Damn good times.
Sliders had the best actors workin together, period. The nerd, the hottie, the muscian, the prof, that mix of quadruplets made the shit so good. The balance of them made the show so great, but i must admit the last season was BS.
E:FC was yet another Roddenberry deveopment (Even the to the point of having Nurse Chappel in a recurring role.) Given Andromeda and all the Trek variants, it's interesting just how much of this 'Golden Age' came from his pen.
The lady playing Nurse Chappel? That was Majel Barrett Rodenberry, Gene's wife. And in addition to playing the part of Dr. Belman she was Executive Producer for E:FC and Andromeda. She did a lot to carry on Gene's works after his death in '91. E:FC is on my top 10 of favorite series, agree it should have been on the list. Unfortunately the same production bullshit that happened to B5 screwed up E:FC's last season too. Never really liked Andromeda much; started interesting but just dragged on with very little development.
SeaQuest! Everyone forgets about that show, and granted the last season jumped the shark. But it was a great look at how sci-fi doesn't have to be about space. Also, the first few seasons of Earth: Final Conflict. If you're including Andromeda, EFC ought to get in there no trouble.
*Red Dwarf* didn't get a mention, that was a *Really Big* oversight as it's an Awesome show! It started production in 1986 with the first episode airing in '88 so it was neck-and-neck with TNG, but it had a pretty unique take on things by approaching them from a comedic perspective. It had some very creative episodes, there was a matrix-style episode where the characters had their special skills erased and were comically trying to take off their AR-helmets (Alternate Reality) from within the simulation; that episode won an Emmy award back in 1994, long before the matrix, and they did a few of these years earlier. In the '88 pilot they introduced a digitally revived character a'la Jor-El in Man of Steel. It's a comedy show that took its inspiration from shows like TOS, Alien, Dark Star and the original Hitchhiker's Guide when the script was first written in '83, long before Next-gen hit, so they were the first to introduce a number of now standard tropes. Patrick Stewart initially thought they were ripping off next-gen when he first saw it in '94, he was outraged and about to call his lawyer but after it made him laugh throughout he realized it was its own animal and even said:"I wish I could have introduced some of that wild ironic humour into the Next Generation", after that he actually did a glowing introduction for the series and has been a fan ever since, turns out even Stephen Hawking was a fan, Smeggin' Hell! If you haven't seen it what're you waiting for?!
I am hopping against hope that Space Above and Beyond will get rebooted. Since out of all the shows you mentioned it has the most potential for a reboot. For there is so much more to be explored in that universe.
Yeah i was always sad the "Golden Age" had to end, but now that this is happening i get the feeling that it never did but simply took a break. For me Science Fiction is the most fascinating and relevant genre, it can talk about every important topic, show grandiose visuals, exite you with space battles and it can be grittyly realistic and hopeful at the same time. Yeah detective shows and so on have been the craze for a while but compared to the variety and possibility of Science Fiction they dont hold a candle in my opinion. You can in the end only watch a courtroom drama or Crime show so many times until the same shit happens all over again. In the end maybe the networks needed to force this break to realize that truth and viewers who thought of Science Fiction as too boring needed that time as well. So i am looking foreward to it, i love The Expanse. On Star Trek Discovery i am not so shure, my main problem is that Discovery exists because of the movies and a Show that wants to combine the brainless action of the reboot with the exploration and philosophie of the predessesors could really fuck up. Some elements just dont fit together and it could very much fail because of that.
I'm very confident in Discovery. I really enjoy the Kelvin Timeline movies, they're not nearly as "brainless" as people make out. Star Trek is very versatile as a franchise. Sometimes it's very philosophical, but then other times it's William Shatner delivering drop kicks to giant lizards. There's enough breadth for the franchise to have its cake and eat it with cool space battles, character development and intriguing ideas. Just not in every single episode or movie.
I know i heard about some changes in crew like the director i believe and thats always a red flag for me. But still I want it to be good i just keep healthy sceptisism so that i do not get dissapointed.
its only dead of ppl let it die. Might not matter anyway, rumor is CBS is doing their own star trek series. If thats the case, we wont see anymore paramount knock offs since they actually dont own star trek any more, CBS does. This is why the reboot movies and discovery have a different feel and look to them, because they are legally obligated to make it such. If the rumor of CBS doing their own is true, it'll likely be more akin to classic trek and hopefully continue after voyager like we all want.
Space Opera is the term ;) Ahh Babylon 5, how I miss thee. The Expanse is obviously the top dog at the moment but I hope shows like Killjoys etc keep going. Just remember folks, gotta support them to see them.
Well done. I have most of the box sets of those. In 1987 i was a engineer on the USS NEW JERSEY and we watched the first airing of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
I think one of the main reasons why this golden age of space based sci-fi disappeared was down to budget. Earth based stuff is cheaper and a safer investment. What I'm really looking forward to is the tv adaption of Isaac Asimov's Foundation series. This has gone from a Roland Emmerich movie, to a Jonathan Nolan HBO tv series, to David S. Goyer at Skydance. The biggest problem? They don't want the show to be accused of ripping off other sci-fi properties. Properties that were made decades after these books were written. A lot of what we know of science fiction today is taken from Asimov's works and most people don't know this.
Great video. Can't argue with the main points of this video's argument. For a while it felt like we were in a scifi desert. I do think that Travelers is a pretty good show, even though he's right that it is somewhat derivative. I've never seen Killjoy or Dark Matter, but the Expanse is brilliant. I'm hoping that he's right, that it's the herald of new Golden Age.
i loved the darker tones of space: above and beyond. war is hell, and the good guys don't always win. similar themes explored in DS9 in the later years, got too real for a lot of fans, far from roddenberry's original vision of a hopeful future, but i love complexity.
Loved B5 and Farscape. Have you noticed the actors from B5 are all dying off at an alarming rate or is it just me? I enjoy your vids Rowan, keep em coming.
I love every second of The Expanse, and killjoys look good too, I hope a lot for Star trek but I have reservations that grow every day. in general I think prequels might not be a great idea after all, at least not all the time.
Well, it starts out that way, but gets twisted once Crichton meets up with Moya's crew and the Peacekeepers. Farscape also inadvertently compliments our xenophobia and mistrust.
I have expressed similar feelings to friends and family. This was a great synopsys of why we need inspirational science fiction and what we've been missing.
I couldn't agree more -- I just finished rewatching Stargate SG-1 and am pretty much through Atlantis. I can't help but notice how many actors/actresses crisscrossed from one show to the next -- I think at one point I saw one actor on both Stargates and he was on 2 other SciFi shows. What a great time to be alive, it's hard to find such quality SciFi nowadays. You come across one-hit wonder like The Expanse only for it to struggle to land a studio for Season 2+ ... it's a good thing Amazon was there to pick it up. Haha, that's crazy -- I had posted that first paragraph about 1min 30 sec in only to have you also reference the Expanse!
That's kind of why I watch anime as well. I mean with a new Gundam series every few years, plus various other series featuring mecha of some kind and the always popular Ghost in the Shell. And the killer reboot of Star Blazer 2199 as well as the coming reboot of the epicly great Legenf of the Galactic Heroes. With anime the golden age of sci-fi never stopped. You just need to expand your viewing habits.
To a certain degree? Yamato and its sequels were always more on the space opera side of the sliding scale, but there's nothing wrong with that. The issue I run into is there have only been a few series recently I could actually dive into that really *explored* some particular theme or philosophy or society, diving right into the guts rather than just skimming the surface. GitS has suffered sequel degeneracy where they're just retreading old ground, so that doesn't really help. And even in anime there's plenty of... shovelware? Not sure what word I'd use for this. I guess what I'm trying to say (while dead tired) is it's not dead in the anime world, but you really do have to dig to find the gems. Not sure if I could call it a golden age as such, but at least a silver age.
Idk, I binge-watched Fringe recently and it was daamn amazing, even on the character level. Fell in love with the cast. I am a great Star Trek and Stargate fan, and I know this show is pretty different, yet I loved it. But by far my most favourite ongoing TV show is Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. I think that one has long surpassed it's comic origins and became a pretty solid adventure show, more casual in terms of science fiction, but... It always invents something new and amazing, staying fresh and amazing for 6 years now. And THAT is an achievement, I think. Again, a very different show of a different age, but sooo underappreciated. And then of course there are The Expanse and Orville. I love the Expanse, I'm not into politics at all, yet that show has Avasarala who is just too amazing. And Orville is just necessary in our age of grittiness and pessimism.
I noticed this to. I didn't see much of these as a child even though I grew up during the later part of this era, but in High School, I started getting into Star Trek and Stargate, plus I looked into others (although some were good, the two I mentioned are the ones I really was/am into). I noticed that there was an explosion of these shows from around 1993-2005, with some starting before (TNG) and some lasting longer (SG1, SGA, and SGU).
Thanks for showing some love for B5! In its defense, it seemed on the verge or cancelation, so the fifth season plots got smushed into season 4. When it got renewed (on TNT) it got a bit flakey. No Telepath war. The Drach revenge on Centari Prime. The final episode, "Sleeping in Light" was the last episode for season 4, though broadcast at the end of season 5. It's great, even if you never saw the show.
Spot on! And as a resident of Vancouver it's very hard to suspend disbelief when you recognize all the locations. Like hey what are Starbuck and Apollo doing outside the library? Oh it's supposed to be Caprica :/
One that vanished completely that I used to watch regularly for the first four seasons was "Earth Final Conflict." Season 1 was the best, but season 2-4 really weren't that bad, 3 was pretty decent, but cast changes already started to slip in the 4th season. The fifth season was an abomination and really has nothing to do with the earlier show other than the executives wanted to make a Buffy the Vampire Slayer knock off and instead of just cancelling the show and putting something new on they hijacked the EFC name and put some strange unrelated property on as the 5th season. It made the dismal seasons 3.5-4 of the new Battlestar Gallactica look good by comparison. It's a shame, the actresses who played the Taelons gave some great performances.
I'm glad that I have so much more of this golden age to venture into. I've seen some of the 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' films and the 'Stargate' film; I love 'Firefly' and 'Farscape'; 'Doctor Who' (for a large part, based on those years) is a big part of my life in itself; and this year, I started 'Andromeda'. I very much look forward to 'Stargate' and 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' among others. As for more recent and ongoing television series, 'The Expanse', 'Killjoys' and 'Dark Matter' have all caught my attention as ones to watch at some point. And I highly recommend 'The 100' and 'Humans' (neither are about space travel but they're sci-fi). Also, this is my first experience of your channel and I'll now subscribe. I recommend putting this as your channel trailer. It serves that purpose well.
Killjoys is definitely worth a watch. I initially wasn't convinced it wasn't going to be just another sci-fi action thing, but it actually turned out to be much more character driven than I expected. If you loved Firefly, I think you'll get something out of it.
Couldn't agree more. Your brief synopsis managed to include all my favorites. Currently I'm re- binge watching Farscape, one of my all- time favorites. I remain hopeful more will come. I've watched a few episodes of The Expanse and the jury is still out on that one. And how about the new series Snowpiercer? I was ambivalent about the movie and, after watching a few episodes, I find the ambivalence growing with the series as well.
I started watching sci-fi TV regularly with TNG when I was around 9 I think? I was always attracted to sci-fi games, shows, movies, etc ... but when I started watching SG-1 in 2001, that was it. I've seen and liked/loved every show you've mentioned (except Farscape; couldn't get into it) for the reasons you gave. I'd add Firefly to the list for sure and give a brief mention not just of technical advancement, but social critique as well. Sci-fi does the best, from Outer Limits or Black Mirror or Doctor Who, at getting people to think about different cultures and differently about our own. I also agree about the periodization of a golden era. I only watched TNG and Babylon 5 as reruns, but I spent my entire youth under the comfortable glow of Stargate and since then, I really felt the sea change. It took me a while to try out Fringe, but it definitely turned out to be an island between then and the emergence of Killjoys (which is so-so) and especially the Expanse (which is very good). The buddy elements, serialization, hopeful tone, and big universe aspects are still kinda missing in available content, but I look forward to the rediscovery. With self-driving cars, hyperloops, Mars colonization proposals, and TRAPPIST-1 in the air, maybe the industry is catching a pretty sweet ride.
Ah back to around the early 2000's. Live in the UK and most of the sci-fi programmes here were on BBC2 or E4. The BBC got a new boss in, who hated cult TV and shut it all down, replacing it with the weakest link, shudder. E4 had presenters who were 'just too cool' to say good things about the shows and, eventually, everything ended up on more obscure channels. Essentially, it was killed off because broadcasters wanted to change everything to something cheaper. I don't see this as a loss of the golden age of sci-fi TV, but rather the death of TV in general.
I loved Star Trek, particularly Deep Space 9, Babylon 5, Stargate and the Dr Who from the 1980s and 90s. 2009 was the year that ended everything for me. I don't watch the new stuff now
Farscape holds up great to this day, on my second rewatch and it compares with anything on air today...yes even the cheesier episodes. B5 has a few problems for the CGI crowd, but if you can get someone to keep watching for a few episodes you'll have a fan.
TNG and Bablyon 5 were the GOATs. TNG for the characters and the themes it explored. B5 for having a truly epic story arc, a decade before that sort of thing became popular in TV on a widespread basis.
I agree with everything you said, and especially the part about it being healthy for you. Part of me wonders if more people had been exposed to these shows in that amazing period from 1987-2009 if our world would be a more optimistic place today.
1:25 great scott, the music. fine, now i wanna rewatch all stargate seasons... whatever, i'm just learning italian, so i might go for stagione uno episodio uno right away... :D
Your perspective of gold really seems to revolve around big CG space battles. The last three years have seen the most incredibly produced and best written science fiction television I've ever seen. The super hero shows along that we have currently blow Star Trek Stargate and B5 away. Add to that more convoluted sci-fi like Legion or Orphan Black and Westworld and more understated scifi like Outlander, and Man in the High Castle.
How I would rate them: 1. Babylon 5 2. Firefly 3. Farscape 4. Battlestar Galactica. 5. STDS9 6. STTNG 7. Stargate SG-1 8. STVOY 9. STENT Those are the 9 Series I’ve watched.
I think it's pretty fitting that Babylon 5 provided the background music for all this because in many respects it was the peak of this Golden Age in terms of ambition. It was a new IP with no baked-in fanbase embarking upon a 5 season arc that would carry the characters through a reasonably well constructed path. Star Trek as a well-established franchise will always find some way to get a movie or TV show going, Dr Who seems to have anchored itself pretty well also and rebooting existing franchises is in many respects something we should worry about instead of cheer as it crowds out the truly new experiences in new IP. While there's a part of me that would very much like to see more of the Babylon 5 universe I think more important then that is ensuring that the next ambitious Sci-Fi IP has the room and chance to start up.
Science fiction was the mentally healthiest thing I've been exposed to as a teenager too. It taught me more about creativity, moral integrity and the ability to believe in a better future than anything else on this planet.
I think we always had different decades with changing rise and drop of sci-fi and we might get more of it in the near future again.
It inspired me to become an engineer.
It was a great time indeed!😊
B5 was frakkin amazing
And somehow it never ceases to feel relevant. The political undertones of B5 are timeless and feel more and more prescient. I half expect a "Ministry of Truth" or Nightwatch to be announced any day here.
I would like to see remastered Babylon5 with new graphics )
It's the GoT of Science Fiction. Big well thought out story arcs and well written characters
ya they done GOT 20 years ago. most ppl think GOT is revolutionary, its not ....
Re-watching B5 now.... and the all the language and thought-police actives undertaken by Nightwatch, and the parallels with the assassination of President Santiago and the assassination of Kennedy...
I'm rewatching TNG now. And it's only when I see it now that I can see that it affected me as a teenager with its strong morality and optimism. A lot of its messages rubbed off on me.
I don't see any equivalent tv these days. I'll be re watching it with my kids hopefully when they're old enough.
I'm watching Farscape for the first time right now and I can't believe I haven't seen it before. It's one of the best Sci fi shows I've ever seen.
Farscape ruined me for every other sci-fi show I've seen (even ones that I used to like). All others pale in comparison to me. They seem sterile and boring now. Farscape had great acting and make-up, special effects and storytelling. The chemistry with the characters was great. When I watch Star Trek The Next Generation, for instance, everyone seems so formal and stiff interacting with each other, even those who are supposed to be friends or in relationships. I don't buy it anymore. Stargate: SG1 is like watching paint dry compared to Farscape. Everyone just sat around conference tables for 40 minutes *discussing* what was going on and what they were going to do, then there was like 10 minutes of "action."
Scorpius is the best villain in any sci-fi show or movie.
Even the puppets in Farscape out-act characters in other shows.
I wish Rockne S. O'Bannon and Brian Henson would stop talking about a new series and start making one already. :) (After pandemic mess, of course).
Totally agree, I for one am sick of Dystopian and I think the world needs a bit of good old scifi optimism
This is what I've been trying to tell people - that 90s era of sci-fi was the "golden age of television", not the mundane but well-acted dramas that came after.
With the greatest respect to the shows and actors, we have to also admit that this is in part due to the lack of much else of quality to compare with it. Ths Simpsons was probably the only other thinking show on at the time. I will always love TNG, but (while still good) it would stand up much worse to competition with "The Walking Dead" than it did compared to "Who's the Boss".
I still agree with the point of the video, but it has to be looked at in context.
Sliders, Seaquest DSV, Earth 2, Quantum Leap, Futurama, Mantis, Earth Final Conflict, The Outer Limits, Alien Nation it was a Golden Age!
I am so happy that you mentioned Earth 2, i so loved that show!
Actually, seasons 1 and 2 are pretty good.
Futurama was funny. the rest of those are a bit average.
@@armamentarmedarm1699 it really doesn't! tried to watch again recently, clunky dialogue, poor, effects and i just lost interest around the tim the professor died. still never seen the final series, where the only main character left was rembrant.
Loved alien nation, wish they bring it back.
For me Sci-Fi Friday was like going to church. My brothers and my father would sit and watch SG1, SGA and BSG. To this day no other block of televion even comes close to doing what the Sci-Fi channel was able to do.
Brian Healy. Ya great times.
Brian Healy I went to a school four and a half hours away by bus for five days a week. I really looked forward on those Friday trips home to settling in for my weekend at home with that lineup.
I miss SG-1 and Atlantis so much. Made my late childhood.
yup .When Fridays made you excited to stay in instead of going out with friends ..
@@agibson236 The irony now is that syfy channel is ruining sci-fi buy not letting anything take root. If it's not an instant hit they want to can it.
Honestly didn't realize just how "spoiled" we were with all of the sci-fi series we enjoyed experiencing during that timespan. A very humble thank you for this 3 minute and 48 second reminder.
The good old days gotta love them. That being said I really like The Expanse, a solid sci-fi outing so far.
Great show. Can't wait for season 3
The expanse is pretty beast, I'm glad syfy stopped with the wrestling and ghost hunter nonsense garbage so much and started investing in true science fiction again.
I will have to check that show out. I stopped watching syfy years ago for those reasons you mentioned.
the ceo of syfy reportedly said shortly before Defiance started airing " the era of genre lite is over"
Dark Matter is good too. Has a Blake's 7 vibe to it.
No love for Firefly or did i miss it? I agree with your video. Except that i don't have much hope for star trek as its behind a paywall. Also Stargate will gave a prequel coming soon. I hope it spawns newer Stargate shows.
Aye I'm annoyed I forgot to mention Firefly. I'll have to make a video about that show to make up for it
Rowan J Coleman Yay.
Firefly was after Star Gate and obviously past 90s programing. Nobody mentions Firefly because only weak men with feminine penises like that show.
Patrick Keefer Stargate ended around 2007 and we still had Atlantis and Universe so... And sorry you didn't like Firefly. It was a clever show with a lot of heart.
Loved firefly, I nearly cried when I found out it did't get a second season. The broadcaster killed it tho, not the show itself. One season getting a movie is downright unheard of, and we got it. Was a good movie too, but it still made u want the series to have panned out. and the golden age didnt end in the 90's patrick, it was a slow death over time. not an abrupt end, thats kinda how life tends to work. Slowly
I think Red Dwarf should of gotten a mention in this.
Craig Charles is one glorious coke fuelled bastard.
Is it wrong to think Red Dwarf as situation comedy first with a back wash of SciFi? Don't get me wrong - loved the series. Smoke me a kipper I'll be back for breakfast ;)
No, it's not wrong to think of Red Dwarf that way. But the SciFi setting informed most of the Jokes. You had possibly the worst example of humanity trying to survive and stay sane in space, 5 million years away from Earth. It's probably more correct to think of Red Dwarf as a SciFi series with a good dose of humor. Especially the later series. Stoke me a Clipper, I'll be back for Christmas!
the first 7 seasons or so anyway
@@jekubfimbulwing5370 It's strangely realistic in some aspects not everyone respects one another and you rarely saw that on Star Trek it was all love flowers and puppies when it came to the crew.
1:18 love the change of music as he says struggles. thats basically SG1 season 1 too season 6 in a nutshell
OMG I had forgotten about Space Above and Beyond - It was an Amazing show - "One season Diva" I think But it was very well Written and Acted
Col Ray Butts is one of the best, one episode characters ever :( That episode is what introduced me too Johnny Cash.💔😭😭😭😢💪🖒😎
I only in the past year thoroughly enjoyed Battlestar Galactica, and Deep Space 9. So good. I read all of The Expanse books. Can’t wait to start watching. Thanks for what you do.
In L.A. back in the late 90s, my Friends and I all made sure to be at my house for what we called, "Super Sci-Fi Sunday" on Channel 13 UPN...
Star Trek: Enterprise
Star Trek (TOS)
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: Deep Space 9
Star Trek: Voyager
Babylon 5
(And we watched our VHS recordings of X-Files, Farscape and Doctor Who...)
GAWD! Those were good days! Talk about a Sci-Fi Geek TV Party! We got SOOOOO toasted by the end of the night... because we created a drinking (and other goodies...) game for EACH show...
Well done video! It takes me back to MUCH better times... Thanks!
I hope there will be another golden age of sci-fi as well. Not only is it important from a cultural perspective but it also inspires innovation. Just by seeing ones imagine on screen can inspire scientist and engineers it create it in real life
Absolutely agree.
It's all about zombies now....
"The Orville" is a deliberate attempt by MacFarlane to bring this golden era back. Fox has publicized it as a blunt comedy, and both the trailer and the pilot episode don't do justice to it. But if you follow a few more episodes you may get pleasantly surprised. I believe it arrives in the UK by mid-December, otherwise * cough * proxy or VPN * cough *. My two cents.
Absolutely. It's not a "parody" of Star Trek... It is much closer in spirit to golden age Star Trek than the Bad Robot / Secret Hideout offerings.
There are a couple of reasons why Sci Fi has lost its mojo. Firstly, colonialism. The spirit of adventure in Star Trek draws from the Hornblower stories and the voyages of Darwin and Cook. It's now not politically correct to appreciate this kind of heroism. Secondly, science. We now know that faster than light travel is impossible. We're going to be stuck on Earth or at best in this solar system forever. That takes the wind out of our sails a bit.
The Expanse understands this and has done a fantastic job so far recreating Sci Fi for a more cynical age. The Orville does a nice job of melding old and new. Star Trek Discovery I think treats its roots with absolute contempt.
@@popculture70 I mean we also know superpowers don't exist, still quite some people like marvel/DC films
God I miss the three hour Scifi Friday nights when we got to watch SG1, SGA, followed by BSG.
Having loved Star Trek: TOS as a child, I was blown away when Star Trek: TNG first aired on TV. Totally with you about the positive influence of the shows you mention on young minds.
Firefly / Serenity was part of that genre for me. Love B5, ST, & SG.
Thanks for mentioning the Expanse. Great books, decent adaptation for the budget. Hopefully it gets enough viewers to keep it going for a while.
Missed Firefly in there :D But yeah, an amazing time. I hope we get another.
Yeah I realised I forgot to mention Firefly after I finished editing. I may have to make a video about that.
Dark matter and Killjoys are kinda like Firefly, maybe the ships they use in those shows aren't as iconic as the Serenity but some of what both Dark Matter and Killjoys do is very similar to Firefly....
Dark Matter was cancelled!!!!
WHat? FUCK!
Indeed he did miss it. But I can totally see how that could happen - he may have blinked!
This totally brought me back to my childhood, so many great shows from back in the day.
I loved Babylon 5. Farscape was great too. I think James Gunn was inspired by that show when he made Guardians of the Galaxy.
These Sci-Fi shows have all been a great escape from the day to day grind.
Like old friends, I re-visit them once in a while.
I'm disappointed with the new Trek series: Discovery, but really like The Expanse!
It went from epic Space Battles to sparkly vampires... It's exciting to see it coming back again
Great video I watched so many of these shows and loved them all. The expanse is a great show which I advise people to watch if they haven't already
Aside from omitting arguably the best space faring SCI-FI ever in Firefly (I'm not there, but I've read the arguments) you hit the nail on the head. What a glorious time in TV from 87-09. Everything you mentioned here drew me in to purchasing all of them and watching all of them multiple times. I also agree that we just might be on the cusp of a new "era" in TV SCI-FI. Can't wait for The Orville and Discovery.
Me too. Babylon 5 was what revived my interest in SF.
Some may argue the golden age of SciFi TV started a little earlier with shows like Blake's 7 and (I'd even go so far as saying) Sapphire and Steel, but for sheer breadth and abundance of shows you've pretty much hit the nail on the head in terms of the era. Just found your channel. Like what you are doing here.
We lived the same childhood and even now in my 30s I have nearly all of the shows you listed on DVD and get through each of them at least once a year
Great video! Because of your channel I've got into the shows you have covered as being in this golden age. I've always been into Star Trek and had watched the odd episode here or there of shows like Stargate and Farscape. Now I've watched every single episode of Farscape and it was an amazing experience, even though series 1 was a bit slow; now I'm watching through Babylon 5 and Sheridan has just learnt about these beings called 'Shadows' so I'm excited to see where they take that. I just wanted to say thank you for making these videos and I hope you continue making more for people like me, who missed out on these shows, and everyone else too!
Holy shit you're on to The Shadows! Mate, buckle up, it's gonna get insane.
“Angsts people solving cases with the FBI around Vancouver” 😭 comedy in truth
I actually think now is the new golden era for sci fi, because the media market has changed enough to allow for long format high production value series. The expanse, altered carbon, discovery, picard, tales from the loop,the mandalorian, electric dreams...
Its a great time to be a sci fi fan.
Only just discovered this video and boy oh boy did I just go through a major nostalgia trip! My uncle and I are huge sci-fi fans and I remember us binge watching almost every show you mentioned that he owned complete dvd box sets of. Almost every weekend during my high school years I'd crash at his place and we'd binge watch entire seasons without a care in the world. Damn good times.
Earth Final Conflict seems like a glaring omission. Sliders was also a great Sci-Fi show in this period, although it wasn't space focused.
Sliders had the best actors workin together, period. The nerd, the hottie, the muscian, the prof, that mix of
quadruplets made the shit so good. The balance of them made the show so great, but i must admit the last season was BS.
Yeah, I agree. Sliders started off amazing, but really began to lose focus towards the end. Didn't really feel like the same show.
E:FC was yet another Roddenberry deveopment (Even the to the point of having Nurse Chappel in a recurring role.) Given Andromeda and all the Trek variants, it's interesting just how much of this 'Golden Age' came from his pen.
James Wymer Never saw Sliders.
The lady playing Nurse Chappel? That was Majel Barrett Rodenberry, Gene's wife. And in addition to playing the part of Dr. Belman she was Executive Producer for E:FC and Andromeda. She did a lot to carry on Gene's works after his death in '91.
E:FC is on my top 10 of favorite series, agree it should have been on the list. Unfortunately the same production bullshit that happened to B5 screwed up E:FC's last season too. Never really liked Andromeda much; started interesting but just dragged on with very little development.
Using the DS9 theme as the intro music for this vid was inspired. It perfectly reflects how amazing it was to grow up watching all these shows!
SeaQuest! Everyone forgets about that show, and granted the last season jumped the shark. But it was a great look at how sci-fi doesn't have to be about space. Also, the first few seasons of Earth: Final Conflict. If you're including Andromeda, EFC ought to get in there no trouble.
*Red Dwarf* didn't get a mention, that was a *Really Big* oversight as it's an Awesome show! It started production in 1986 with the first episode airing in '88 so it was neck-and-neck with TNG, but it had a pretty unique take on things by approaching them from a comedic perspective. It had some very creative episodes, there was a matrix-style episode where the characters had their special skills erased and were comically trying to take off their AR-helmets (Alternate Reality) from within the simulation; that episode won an Emmy award back in 1994, long before the matrix, and they did a few of these years earlier. In the '88 pilot they introduced a digitally revived character a'la Jor-El in Man of Steel. It's a comedy show that took its inspiration from shows like TOS, Alien, Dark Star and the original Hitchhiker's Guide when the script was first written in '83, long before Next-gen hit, so they were the first to introduce a number of now standard tropes. Patrick Stewart initially thought they were ripping off next-gen when he first saw it in '94, he was outraged and about to call his lawyer but after it made him laugh throughout he realized it was its own animal and even said:"I wish I could have introduced some of that wild ironic humour into the Next Generation", after that he actually did a glowing introduction for the series and has been a fan ever since, turns out even Stephen Hawking was a fan, Smeggin' Hell! If you haven't seen it what're you waiting for?!
We had a very similar childhood, sir. I too am excited by the revival of the Space Opera genre on TV.
I am hopping against hope that Space Above and Beyond will get rebooted. Since out of all the shows you mentioned it has the most potential for a reboot. For there is so much more to be explored in that universe.
Yeah i was always sad the "Golden Age" had to end, but now that this is happening i get the feeling that it never did but simply took a break. For me Science Fiction is the most fascinating and relevant genre, it can talk about every important topic, show grandiose visuals, exite you with space battles and it can be grittyly realistic and hopeful at the same time.
Yeah detective shows and so on have been the craze for a while but compared to the variety and possibility of Science Fiction they dont hold a candle in my opinion. You can in the end only watch a courtroom drama or Crime show so many times until the same shit happens all over again. In the end maybe the networks needed to force this break to realize that truth and viewers who thought of Science Fiction as too boring needed that time as well.
So i am looking foreward to it, i love The Expanse. On Star Trek Discovery i am not so shure, my main problem is that Discovery exists because of the movies and a Show that wants to combine the brainless action of the reboot with the exploration and philosophie of the predessesors could really fuck up. Some elements just dont fit together and it could very much fail because of that.
I'm very confident in Discovery. I really enjoy the Kelvin Timeline movies, they're not nearly as "brainless" as people make out. Star Trek is very versatile as a franchise. Sometimes it's very philosophical, but then other times it's William Shatner delivering drop kicks to giant lizards.
There's enough breadth for the franchise to have its cake and eat it with cool space battles, character development and intriguing ideas. Just not in every single episode or movie.
Well lets hope you are right ^^
I would love more good Star Trek, the more the better.
the show is already dead, from what I've heard unless it absolutely blows away expectations the show wont make it past it's first season
I know i heard about some changes in crew like the director i believe and thats always a red flag for me. But still I want it to be good i just keep healthy sceptisism so that i do not get dissapointed.
its only dead of ppl let it die. Might not matter anyway, rumor is CBS is doing their own star trek series. If thats the case, we wont see anymore paramount knock offs since they actually dont own star trek any more, CBS does. This is why the reboot movies and discovery have a different feel and look to them, because they are legally obligated to make it such. If the rumor of CBS doing their own is true, it'll likely be more akin to classic trek and hopefully continue after voyager like we all want.
Can't agree more: so much Sci Fi that covered the whole spectrum: action, drama, fun, depth of storylines. Genuinely something for everyone...🏴👍
I LOVE STARGATE!! That music in the background just gets me.
Space Opera is the term ;)
Ahh Babylon 5, how I miss thee. The Expanse is obviously the top dog at the moment but I hope shows like Killjoys etc keep going. Just remember folks, gotta support them to see them.
I agree with you Rowan, and thanks for the great vids, your fan from Egypt
Well done. I have most of the box sets of those. In 1987 i was a engineer on the USS NEW JERSEY and we watched the first airing of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
I think one of the main reasons why this golden age of space based sci-fi disappeared was down to budget. Earth based stuff is cheaper and a safer investment. What I'm really looking forward to is the tv adaption of Isaac Asimov's Foundation series. This has gone from a Roland Emmerich movie, to a Jonathan Nolan HBO tv series, to David S. Goyer at Skydance. The biggest problem? They don't want the show to be accused of ripping off other sci-fi properties. Properties that were made decades after these books were written. A lot of what we know of science fiction today is taken from Asimov's works and most people don't know this.
Great video. Can't argue with the main points of this video's argument. For a while it felt like we were in a scifi desert. I do think that Travelers is a pretty good show, even though he's right that it is somewhat derivative. I've never seen Killjoy or Dark Matter, but the Expanse is brilliant. I'm hoping that he's right, that it's the herald of new Golden Age.
"...one of the healthiest things I was ever exposed to as a child"
Yes, I know what you mean. I agree.
I loved StarGate Atlantis. And the musical theme of Deep Space Nine! 😊
i loved the darker tones of space: above and beyond. war is hell, and the good guys don't always win.
similar themes explored in DS9 in the later years, got too real for a lot of fans, far from roddenberry's original vision of a hopeful future, but i love complexity.
Loved B5 and Farscape. Have you noticed the actors from B5 are all dying off at an alarming rate or is it just me? I enjoy your vids Rowan, keep em coming.
I love every second of The Expanse, and killjoys look good too, I hope a lot for Star trek but I have reservations that grow every day. in general I think prequels might not be a great idea after all, at least not all the time.
Totally agree with what you say in the video. Those awesome shows made me happy and still do when I watch some random episode.
Never thought of it this, way but you are very correct. Great video.
You hit every point Nearly every show, well done. Totally agree.
Your videos speak volumes to me. Love this channel.
Firefly deserved a shout out with the Western nod, but great video and overview of the "Golden Age" of SciFi!
Farscape doesn't exactly fall into the 'optimism about our.... Getting off earth and explore' category
Well, it starts out that way, but gets twisted once Crichton meets up with Moya's crew and the Peacekeepers. Farscape also inadvertently compliments our xenophobia and mistrust.
I have expressed similar feelings to friends and family. This was a great synopsys of why we need inspirational science fiction and what we've been missing.
Amen to this video! Farscape and Babylon 5 are pure gold in my eye's!
i just loved farscape, i even read it's comics
Yesssss to the Babylon 5, star gate, and TNG awesome music in the back ground. I love the golden age of sci-fi it was epic and will come again
"Some Canadian city pretending to be somewhere else" OMG so true!!
You literally mentioned my favourite shows ever
I couldn't agree more -- I just finished rewatching Stargate SG-1 and am pretty much through Atlantis. I can't help but notice how many actors/actresses crisscrossed from one show to the next -- I think at one point I saw one actor on both Stargates and he was on 2 other SciFi shows. What a great time to be alive, it's hard to find such quality SciFi nowadays. You come across one-hit wonder like The Expanse only for it to struggle to land a studio for Season 2+ ... it's a good thing Amazon was there to pick it up.
Haha, that's crazy -- I had posted that first paragraph about 1min 30 sec in only to have you also reference the Expanse!
I'm liking the video for the space above and beyond reference. Awesome one season show.
That's kind of why I watch anime as well. I mean with a new Gundam series every few years, plus various other series featuring mecha of some kind and the always popular Ghost in the Shell. And the killer reboot of Star Blazer 2199 as well as the coming reboot of the epicly great Legenf of the Galactic Heroes. With anime the golden age of sci-fi never stopped. You just need to expand your viewing habits.
To a certain degree? Yamato and its sequels were always more on the space opera side of the sliding scale, but there's nothing wrong with that. The issue I run into is there have only been a few series recently I could actually dive into that really *explored* some particular theme or philosophy or society, diving right into the guts rather than just skimming the surface. GitS has suffered sequel degeneracy where they're just retreading old ground, so that doesn't really help. And even in anime there's plenty of... shovelware? Not sure what word I'd use for this.
I guess what I'm trying to say (while dead tired) is it's not dead in the anime world, but you really do have to dig to find the gems. Not sure if I could call it a golden age as such, but at least a silver age.
I agree 100%! Babylon 5 was my favorite from that era.
Idk, I binge-watched Fringe recently and it was daamn amazing, even on the character level. Fell in love with the cast. I am a great Star Trek and Stargate fan, and I know this show is pretty different, yet I loved it. But by far my most favourite ongoing TV show is Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. I think that one has long surpassed it's comic origins and became a pretty solid adventure show, more casual in terms of science fiction, but... It always invents something new and amazing, staying fresh and amazing for 6 years now. And THAT is an achievement, I think. Again, a very different show of a different age, but sooo underappreciated. And then of course there are The Expanse and Orville. I love the Expanse, I'm not into politics at all, yet that show has Avasarala who is just too amazing. And Orville is just necessary in our age of grittiness and pessimism.
I noticed this to. I didn't see much of these as a child even though I grew up during the later part of this era, but in High School, I started getting into Star Trek and Stargate, plus I looked into others (although some were good, the two I mentioned are the ones I really was/am into). I noticed that there was an explosion of these shows from around 1993-2005, with some starting before (TNG) and some lasting longer (SG1, SGA, and SGU).
Thanks for showing some love for B5! In its defense, it seemed on the verge or cancelation, so the fifth season plots got smushed into season 4. When it got renewed (on TNT) it got a bit flakey. No Telepath war. The Drach revenge on Centari Prime.
The final episode, "Sleeping in Light" was the last episode for season 4, though broadcast at the end of season 5. It's great, even if you never saw the show.
Spot on! And as a resident of Vancouver it's very hard to suspend disbelief when you recognize all the locations. Like hey what are Starbuck and Apollo doing outside the library? Oh it's supposed to be Caprica :/
OMG Couldn't agree more about the Golden Age... now I"m getting up set...
One that vanished completely that I used to watch regularly for the first four seasons was "Earth Final Conflict." Season 1 was the best, but season 2-4 really weren't that bad, 3 was pretty decent, but cast changes already started to slip in the 4th season. The fifth season was an abomination and really has nothing to do with the earlier show other than the executives wanted to make a Buffy the Vampire Slayer knock off and instead of just cancelling the show and putting something new on they hijacked the EFC name and put some strange unrelated property on as the 5th season. It made the dismal seasons 3.5-4 of the new Battlestar Gallactica look good by comparison. It's a shame, the actresses who played the Taelons gave some great performances.
I saw Journeyman flash by! I’m SO glad I bought it digitally while it was still available! One of my favorites!!!
Spot on, miss this era of sci fi.
All these stuff plus firefly are waiting in my hd for my little baby to watch. Expose golden age to new generation
Good parenting right there :)
@@RowanJColeman can't. Argue with that
I'm glad that I have so much more of this golden age to venture into.
I've seen some of the 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' films and the 'Stargate' film; I love 'Firefly' and 'Farscape'; 'Doctor Who' (for a large part, based on those years) is a big part of my life in itself; and this year, I started 'Andromeda'.
I very much look forward to 'Stargate' and 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' among others.
As for more recent and ongoing television series, 'The Expanse', 'Killjoys' and 'Dark Matter' have all caught my attention as ones to watch at some point. And I highly recommend 'The 100' and 'Humans' (neither are about space travel but they're sci-fi).
Also, this is my first experience of your channel and I'll now subscribe. I recommend putting this as your channel trailer. It serves that purpose well.
Killjoys is definitely worth a watch. I initially wasn't convinced it wasn't going to be just another sci-fi action thing, but it actually turned out to be much more character driven than I expected. If you loved Firefly, I think you'll get something out of it.
I liked Humans as well. Not a big fan of Dark Matter though.
B5 and Farscape. The two best sci fi shows ever on the air. Period.
The Expanse is pretty awesome.
Couldn't agree more. Your brief synopsis managed to include all my favorites. Currently I'm re- binge watching Farscape, one of my all- time favorites. I remain hopeful more will come. I've watched a few episodes of The Expanse and the jury is still out on that one. And how about the new series Snowpiercer? I was ambivalent about the movie and, after watching a few episodes, I find the ambivalence growing with the series as well.
I pretty much agree with you. There was a golden age of scifi TV, and it was fantastic.
I started watching sci-fi TV regularly with TNG when I was around 9 I think? I was always attracted to sci-fi games, shows, movies, etc ... but when I started watching SG-1 in 2001, that was it. I've seen and liked/loved every show you've mentioned (except Farscape; couldn't get into it) for the reasons you gave. I'd add Firefly to the list for sure and give a brief mention not just of technical advancement, but social critique as well. Sci-fi does the best, from Outer Limits or Black Mirror or Doctor Who, at getting people to think about different cultures and differently about our own.
I also agree about the periodization of a golden era. I only watched TNG and Babylon 5 as reruns, but I spent my entire youth under the comfortable glow of Stargate and since then, I really felt the sea change. It took me a while to try out Fringe, but it definitely turned out to be an island between then and the emergence of Killjoys (which is so-so) and especially the Expanse (which is very good). The buddy elements, serialization, hopeful tone, and big universe aspects are still kinda missing in available content, but I look forward to the rediscovery. With self-driving cars, hyperloops, Mars colonization proposals, and TRAPPIST-1 in the air, maybe the industry is catching a pretty sweet ride.
Ah back to around the early 2000's. Live in the UK and most of the sci-fi programmes here were on BBC2 or E4.
The BBC got a new boss in, who hated cult TV and shut it all down, replacing it with the weakest link, shudder. E4 had presenters who were 'just too cool' to say good things about the shows and, eventually, everything ended up on more obscure channels.
Essentially, it was killed off because broadcasters wanted to change everything to something cheaper. I don't see this as a loss of the golden age of sci-fi TV, but rather the death of TV in general.
Well said sir. I've never thought of that period in sci-fi television as the golden age but I suppose it was. Let's hope it returns in some form.
This was my adolescence. Thanks for the reminder.
I loved Star Trek, particularly Deep Space 9, Babylon 5, Stargate and the Dr Who from the 1980s and 90s. 2009 was the year that ended everything for me. I don't watch the new stuff now
Thanks Rowan. I agree, back then Friday night on scifi channel was something magic.
"Canadian City which is pretending to be somewhere else."
Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeyyyyy...that's...
...that's accurate. We did get Continuum though!
Farscape is so awesome! Glad to see it still being bought up. Watched it recently- WOW!
Farscape holds up great to this day, on my second rewatch and it compares with anything on air today...yes even the cheesier episodes. B5 has a few problems for the CGI crowd, but if you can get someone to keep watching for a few episodes you'll have a fan.
Anyone know what episode of Farscape it is that spoofs the other sci-fi shows as mentioned at 1:51?
TNG and Bablyon 5 were the GOATs. TNG for the characters and the themes it explored. B5 for having a truly epic story arc, a decade before that sort of thing became popular in TV on a widespread basis.
You had me at Babylon 5
I agree with everything you said, and especially the part about it being healthy for you. Part of me wonders if more people had been exposed to these shows in that amazing period from 1987-2009 if our world would be a more optimistic place today.
1:25 great scott, the music. fine, now i wanna rewatch all stargate seasons...
whatever, i'm just learning italian, so i might go for stagione uno episodio uno right away... :D
Your perspective of gold really seems to revolve around big CG space battles. The last three years have seen the most incredibly produced and best written science fiction television I've ever seen. The super hero shows along that we have currently blow Star Trek Stargate and B5 away. Add to that more convoluted sci-fi like Legion or Orphan Black and Westworld and more understated scifi like Outlander, and Man in the High Castle.
How I would rate them:
1. Babylon 5
2. Firefly
3. Farscape
4. Battlestar Galactica.
5. STDS9
6. STTNG
7. Stargate SG-1
8. STVOY
9. STENT
Those are the 9 Series I’ve watched.
I think it's pretty fitting that Babylon 5 provided the background music for all this because in many respects it was the peak of this Golden Age in terms of ambition. It was a new IP with no baked-in fanbase embarking upon a 5 season arc that would carry the characters through a reasonably well constructed path. Star Trek as a well-established franchise will always find some way to get a movie or TV show going, Dr Who seems to have anchored itself pretty well also and rebooting existing franchises is in many respects something we should worry about instead of cheer as it crowds out the truly new experiences in new IP.
While there's a part of me that would very much like to see more of the Babylon 5 universe I think more important then that is ensuring that the next ambitious Sci-Fi IP has the room and chance to start up.