'The Message'
A topic for the discussion of Doctor Who, Arrow, and The Flash. Beware possible invasions of iZombie, Sleepy Hollow, or pretty much any other "genre" (read: sci fi, superhero, or fantasy) show that captures our fancy. Expect adult content and discussion of the Big Gay Sex.
Marvel superheroes are discussed over at the MCU thread.
Whitefont all unaired in the U.S. ep discussion, identifying it as such, and including the show and ep title in blackfont.
Blackfont is allowed after the show has aired on the east coast.
This is NOT a general TV discussion thread.
I would quibble with the part of the post Fay linked to that says Children of Earth was groundbreaking for mixing sci-fi with social commentary.
Hey, we've been doing that since the '60s! Star Trek was all about the social commentary - interracial dating, tolerance, peace/war! :)
War of the Worlds, The Time Machine, there's a long tradition of mixing sci fi and social commentary.
Watching Eureka now. Would like to note that when Henry says the dish is made of a beryllium compound that that's a real metal. Good on the writers for researching a light but strong metal.
Which British TV show/s are you thinking of in particular?The Prisoner leaps to mind. Quartermass has a number of similarities to CoE that I suspect are intentional on Davies' part. Cold Lazarus.
Star Trek was all about the social commentary - interracial dating, tolerance, peace/war!
Fond as I am of old-school Trek... it's got plenty of moralizing, but I think to qualify as social commentary, the criticism needs a bit more nuance than "war is bad."
War is bad ("A Taste of Armageddon"), except when it is good ("Errand of Mercy")! See, nuance.
I think to qualify as social commentary, the criticism needs a bit more nuance than "war is bad."
Aside from any storylines, Trek had an Asian man, a black woman, and a Russian character on the bridge. I agree that it often wasn't very nuanced commentary, but also agree that Children of Earth is hardly the first sci-fi to address social issues.
Aside from any storylines, Trek had an Asian man, a black woman, and a Russian character on the bridge. I agree that it often wasn't very nuanced commentary, but also agree that Children of Earth is hardly the first sci-fi to address social issues.
Also, the guy with the pointed ears and green blood was one of the main characters, and undisputedly a good guy. Hell, I've always thought the whole goateed version = evil was dead wrong as Spock turned out to be basically the same in the mirror-verse (and Cartman's goateed twin WAS the good twin) as in "ours". Big change, since I the only positive alien in a mainstream context I can think of prior was Michael Rennie in THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. I'm sure I've missed a few, though.
Star Trek isn't sci-fi for adults on British TV though. (Which just goes to show that if you define your parameters narrowly enough, almost anything can be "groundbreaking.")
But The Prisoner was, so that's still not narrow enough.
Or, sorry, is that your point? I've had 4 hours sleep so reading through here I feel like the conversation is happening through the semantic equivalent of a fisheye lens.
the only positive alien in a mainstream context I can think of prior was Michael Rennie
Well, there was this dude who was rocketed from a dying planet...
Well, there was this dude who was rocketed from a dying planet...
Heh. I was so focused on movies, I didn't even think of that (and of course, there were movies, TV, etc. for Supes).
Mainly though, I was thinking that many of the tropes in TDtESS were similar to those of movies where aliens = evil du jour, but then it turned out to be an optimistic film.