10 Science Fiction Shows With Under 80 Episodes

Following the demise of Stargate Universe (and a rather interesting open letter to the fans from Syfy), I thought it’d be interesting to take a look at some of the great science fiction TV shows that have been shafted over the years.

The recurring theme here is ratings (or lack thereof) and the often bewilderment of networks to the genre…

10. Earth 2 (22 episodes, 1994-1995)

Created by Billy Ray (the man currently adapting The Hunger Games for the screen, not Miley’s dad), Earth 2 was an initially successful show made by Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment. Featuring the talents of none other than Clancy Brown, the show was basically about a group of interplanetary colonists who discover that an uninhabited planet isn’t so uninhabited after all. It won an Emmy and was nominated for a Saturn award, so, of course, it lasted one season. The reason? Its ratings plummeted after a promising start.

Is Star Wars Science Fiction?

It’s a common opinion amongst geeks: Star Wars is fantasy, not science fiction. It’s the sort of statement that appeals to pedants and prescriptivists alike (and geeks are usually both); furthermore, it allows for a convenient defence against claims that the science in Star Wars is poor or non-existent.

I’m not unsympathetic to that point of view. At heart, George Lucas has crafted a modern myth, and mythology relies on metaphor and poetic imagery, not rational explanations and plausible events. If science fiction must necessarily be plausible from a scientific perspective, Star Wars is out the window.

However, if science fiction must necessarily not contradict contemporary scientific understanding, what else gets crossed off the list? Try Star Trek, the Alien films and most other popular entertainment with a technological setting, at least on TV and film. Even Contact, a film based on a book by Carl Sagan, implies that radio waves travel much, much slower than the speed of light. Or what about Le Voyage dans la lune (A Trip to the Moon) from 1902, widely considered to be the first science fiction film… and yet we have the classic “man in the moon” as part of the visuals—preposterous even 100 years ago.

What does this mean? Are we going to reduce science fiction cinema to a handful of films? Or should we accept that maybe the genre is broader than us geeks will admit?