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REVIEWS: SCREEN
September 22, 2008
2008 Fall Preview: Part II
By Kathie Huddleston
Take a look around the sci-fi television landscape, boys and girls. Never before has there been such variety. From Battlestar Galactica to Pushing Daisies to Lost to Ghost Hunters to Saving Grace to Heroes to Supernatural to Torchwood, on a regular basis we're treated to great drama, fantastic acting and fully realized worlds.
It wasn't that long ago when we drummed our fingers on the remote, wondering why there wasn't anything good on television despite the fact that we had 500 channels to choose from. That can't be said today. If you can't find anything good to watch, you haven't set your TiVo or turned on the Internet, and you're not trying.
Forget reruns. Year round we're treated to great television, with more new shows coming every season. ... Miss a show? Download it off the Net. ... Want to find out more about show's world? Check out the online comic book. Explore the latest Web series ... save up a bunch of your favorite show's episodes and have a marathon, zooming through those pesky commercials ... It's winter and there's nothing to do? No problem. There's a new series premiering on cable. ... Want to hear some actors' commentary about your favorite episode of a series? Pop in the DVD.
We are not bound and spoonfed television shows anymore. We, the viewers, are the ones who are in control. And, fortunately networks, cable channels and the Internet are clamoring for our attention. Despite the devastating writers' strike and the thirst for ratings gold, those 500 channels and the Internet are hungry for content, which forces the major networks to take chances if they want to keep us watching.
We're in a new Golden Age, spurred on by creative minds and an enormous landscape of possibilities. And so shows that have no right to exist on network television (Heroes, Lost) have given opportunities to a new breed of series (Pushing Daisies, Eli Stone) that push boundaries in the most delightful ways. And with a whole new pack of fresh faces bursting through, offering their own take on what sci-fi and fantasy genre television is really about (Primeval, Sanctuary, Fringe), things are only going to get more interesting.
While the showy shows have pushed the envelope of what it means to be a sci-fi and fantasy series, quieter series have expanded the possibilities of what genre television is in their own way (Medium, Chuck). Meanwhile, the old friends we've embraced (Stargate, Doctor Who, Smallville) have continued to remind us what sci-fi is all about, and they haven't done that by playing it safe.
It's a force that no writers' strike could stop. And there's more waiting in the wings as the midseason replacements (Caprica, Dollhouse, Kings, Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire) ready themselves to explore their own strange new worlds.
Sci-fi and fantasy genre television now offer television writers and producers a way to push past the bounds of normal storytelling, and finally all viewers are ready to embrace it. This is a Golden Age that may never end.
Last week's 2008 Fall SF TV Preview, Part I had the scoop on all the new shows, canceled series and kid stuff.
Returning and Continuing Shows
Stargate Atlantis
SCI FI, Fridays, 10 p.m. ET/PT
Continuing
Happy birthday, Stargate Atlantis! You're hitting a hundred ... episodes, that is. "It's a milestone year for us. We're hitting a hundred episodes," said executive producer Martin Gero. "This year, more than ever, we were like, 'All right, what have the fans been dying to see?'" Presently in its fifth and final season, Teyla gave birth and became a working mom, Woolsey discovered that he can't always follow the rules, and McKay contracted an Alzheimer's-type illness called Second Childhood. As the final season continues, Daniel Jackson visits Atlantis in a midseason two-parter, a coalition of humans claim the Atlantis team has committed crimes against the people of the Pegasus galaxy, and Michael attacks Atlantis in an attempt to kidnap Teyla's child. After the series finishes its run in January, a two-hour Stargate Atlantis movie will air that will later be released on DVD by MGM. The film will be written by executive producers Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie.
The Outlook: It's sad to see Stargate Atlantis in its final season so soon after we lost Stargate SG-1. But the series will most likely continue on the way SG-1 has, as movies released direct to DVD. But fear not, Stargate fans. SCI FI has just announced a new series called Stargate Universe, with a different team and a brand-new mission. Check out the "Midseason and Beyond" section below for more details.
Midseason and Beyond
Stargate Universe, SCI FI, Summer 2009
It's a brand-new team and a brand-new series. After unlocking the mystery of the Stargate's ninth chevron, a team of explorers discover an unmanned starship called the Destiny, which was launched by the Ancients at the height of their civilization. However, it was a grand experiment that was set in motion, but never completed, and once the team boards the ship they aren't able to return to Earth. As the new crew of the Destiny travels to the far reaches of the universe, they won't be able to control where the ship goes as it attempts to complete it mission to connect with previously launched Stargates. Brad Wright and Robert Cooper (co-creators of Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis) will executive-produce and write episodes for the new
series. Production on the new series is planned to begin early next year, with the series premiering in the summer of 2009.
Movies and Miniseries
Lost Treasure of the Grand Canyon, SCI FI, 2009
Shannen Doherty and Michael Shanks end up on a quest for lost treasure, only to discover an Aztec culture.
Yeti, SCI FI, Nov. 8
Peter DeLuise stars in this film about college football team players who crash-land in the Himalayas and what happens when the local snow creature decides they look tasty.
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