scifi tv
The best science fiction television from every decade.
Doctor Who: The Lie Of The Land Review
Warning: Potential spoilers ahead for the episode. The trilogy is a most dangerous form of storytelling. It assumes that you will be able to tell one large story across three separate parts (or acts if you prefer) with each standing up on its own. The opening can be good, the middle can be strong, but it is the ending that might ultimately determine how the story is remembered. What has been termed “the Monks trilogy” has seen the long running British science fiction series Doctor Who attempt a trilogy in the middle of its tenth season with the titular aliens coming and taking over the Earth. So could the dystopian The Lie Of The Land bring the trilogy to a satisfying close?
By Matthew Kresal9 years ago in Futurism
The Fire Next Time
Climate change has hit the headlines again in the last few days with the decision made by the current administration to withdraw from the Paris Accords. There's been all the usual discussions: should we or shouldn't we be a part of it, is climate change even real, and so forth. In my own mind though was a miniseries I recently watched on the recommendation of a friend and fellow writer called The Fire Next Time that, despite being aired in 1993, touched upon much of what we're dealing with in the year it was set in.
By Matthew Kresal9 years ago in Futurism
History of Science Fiction Part III
At the dawn of the 1960s, the history of science fiction took a huge turn from its past. In two decades, the whole genre of sci-fi would change in ways that would alter mainstream perspectives of the science fiction genre.
By Anthony Gramuglia9 years ago in Futurism
History of Science Fiction Part II
At the start of the 20th century, the history of science fiction took a great turn thanks to the emergence of motion pictures and the proliferation of pulp magazines. It is thanks to these two entertainment forms that the landscape following H.G. Wells' sci-fi novels took such a different direction than the scientific romances of the 19th century.
By Anthony Gramuglia9 years ago in Futurism
History of Science Fiction Part I
When chronicling the history of science fiction, you need to think about the history of sci-fi as it pertains to the history of mankind. Throughout its span, sci-fi asks where we are as a species, where we will go, and what will happen when we get there.
By Anthony Gramuglia9 years ago in Futurism
Rewatching... Doctor Who: The Evil Of The Daleks - Part 2
Saturday 27 May 1967 "You seem to be well acquainted with the creatures." Best incidental music so far! There hasn't been a score like this before. We've had lots of specially composed music of course, as well as stock library music, or no music at all. Or as with The Moonbase, ambient sounds doing the same job. The first story had some creepy piano tinkling, there was some marvellously ominous music in the first Dalek one, re-used in Troughton's debut. The Savages had some great orchestral music but as with most of the previous stories it seemed sparse overall. This one has a proper 'full' score by Dudley Simpson with small orchestra as well as Radiophonic synthesiser. Something we will become used to...
By Nick Brown9 years ago in Futurism
Doctor Who: The Pyramid At The End Of The World Review
Warning: Potential spoilers ahead for the episode. Science Fiction often is a way for us to see our world through different eyes. As classics like The Twilight Zone or the original series of Star Trek have shown, there is something about the genre that allows us to remove ourselves slightly and see the world we live in in a different context. Doctor Who has also shown itself capable of this both in its original run and with its current 21st century incarnation. The Pyramid At The End Of The World, aired on the 27th of May, was to prove that once again with an episode that combined the genre and the show's most recent story arcs with the world we live in now.
By Matthew Kresal9 years ago in Futurism
Review of 12 Monkeys 3.8-10
The concluding three episodes of the penultimate season 3 of 12 Monkeys on the SyFy Channel last night -- soon to be rebranded in all caps -- was as good as the first seven, which is to say, superb indeed, and you can put that in all caps any time.
By Paul Levinson9 years ago in Futurism
Review of 12 Monkeys 3.5-7
A superb, punching, philosophic triad of episodes 3.5-7 of 12 Monkeys last night, with Jennifer's most memorable line coming in 1953, "a thing for Asimov". This has almost nothing to do with the story, but it's meta-beautiful, since Asimov's The End of Eternity -- from around three years in the future, in 1956 - has always been, to my mind, at least, since the day I first read it back in 1959, the best single time travel novel ever written.
By Paul Levinson9 years ago in Futurism
