In 1987, Gene Roddenberry’s legendary creation of Star Trek came back to the small screen in the form of Star Trek: The Next Generation. In much contrast to the original Star Trek’s short-lived fame and ultimate cancellation after just three seasons, TNG went on to span seven seasons, four movies and multiple spin offs, and it played a key role in starting a revolution in science fiction’s place on television. For roughly the next two decades following TNG’s premiere, the small screen was filled with a plethora of fantastic shows to add to the genre; from strange and exotic space operas like Farscape to the birth of more urban-based science fiction like The X-Files. All this spanned over what Rowan J. Coleman describes as the “Golden Age” of sci-fi on television.

Unfortunately, the apathetic death of Star Trek: Enterprise and gradual disappearance of other popular sci-fi entities on television eventually led to a time when the genre had been almost completely eradicated from television networks all across the board. In modern day, the majority of popular thrillers on TV fall into the categories of being urban crime anthologies, detective and forensic shows, or other titles of a similar nature. Popular series like Fox’s Bones have gone on to boast ten or more seasons of television, whilst the few existing attempts at sci-fi like Dark Matter get cancelled before they receive an opportunity to grow and flourish. Although recent changes to the way people are viewing television may harbor hope for science fiction’s future on TV, the reality of the situation is that other genres are still pushing the most genuine and heartfelt of sci-fi and fantasy away from the light. The matter simply begs two questions:

Why is this happening, and what can be done to bring in change?

Episodic Versus Serialized Storytelling

Most TV shows, regardless of the genre, can easily be placed into one of these two categories. Episodic television consists mostly of single-episode stories, which conclude by the end of the episode. When it comes time for the next episode to roll in, you’ll still see the same familiar characters and settings, but the plot will be a brand new and similarly brief experience.

Serialized television, on the other hand, functions on the level of story arcs that span over a full season or even an entire series. Contrary to episodic storytelling, the continuation of a plot allows for a deeper exploration into the depth of the plot and themes behind the show, but most importantly into the characters and their lives, and how they grow over the course of time. This is perhaps the biggest reason why episodic television has typically reigned superior over television history.

As explained by writer and director Alex Epstein on his blog Complications Ensue, “Network execs will tell you that even viewers who say they watch a show tend to watch only about 1 out of 4 episodes.” If you were watching a serialized show in that manner, you’d likely be very confused at times, and you’d probably lose interest because of that factor. Episodic shows, on the other hand, provide you with the luxury of being able to miss things and still have an understanding of what’s happening, because the episode playing on your screen doesn’t necessarily rely on information provided in the previous episode.

In modern day settings and plots, episodic storytelling is usually an easy option. In crime anthologies, each episode is a case that is solved by the protagonists by the end of the episode.

Science Fiction stories are usually a representation or allegory for some vast bigger picture, as they can “turn a situation upside down, reverse it, take it to its logical extreme and bring to light aspects of it the audience couldn’t,” as explained by Chris Farnell. As such, they usually tend to have complicated, serialized plots and a strong cast of characters that are developed and put to effective use over the course of the series.

Image from “Star Trek: Enterprise”

Of course, there are a few exceptions. Star Trek stands out as the only major space opera to mostly focus on episodic storytelling. Despite its long-running success, it ended up falling off the big screen and almost out of existence for the very different reason of suffering from overproduction and a lack of original content, or “franchise fatigue” as many describe it.

[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Episodic shows provide you with the luxury of being able to miss things and still have an understanding of what’s happening.[/perfectpullquote]

Other shows of that nature, such as The X-Files, have combined a more recognizable setting with a variety of episodic threads and moved on to be one of the longest running sci-fi series in history with a record 10 seasons. But even then, that’s a relatively low number in comparison to some other large TV titles.

Image from “The X-FIles”

The Show’s Focus

Where the show focuses it’s attention is another major concern. Characters are obviously a major part of any show’s plot. Serialized storytelling tends to allow the characters the time and space they need to grow and expand throughout the series. Episodic shows cannot do this easily, seeing as any important events in said character’s life cannot be too major to have a direct effect on the next episode’s plot.

As mentioned above, science fiction tends to be character-focused in nature. Especially in universes where strange, paranormal things happen, or the plot constantly revolves around space or time travel, it’s useful to have interesting and relatable characters that the audience can find common ground with.

Money

Finally, there’s the overarching objective of money, which unsurprisingly plays a large part in determining what network executives want on television.

First and foremost, shows are assaulted with the production cost. Which show will require more money to create? The sci-fi/fantasy thriller with a wealth of unique stages to prepare, and stunning CGI scenes to animate? Or perhaps it’s the show about detectives searching the streets of any select Canadian city, where the most visually intense scene is the occasional gunfire? No, I think it’s the first one.

In addition to this, you can dive even deeper into the issue and look at how this idea persists within the genre. In modern day, most sci-fi and fantasy shows are those that take place in our modern day world and use relatively simple plots to avoid costing too much, whereas fantastic space operas and mystical fantasy shows set in different realms tend to get much less spotlight.

Just take a look at the Netflix Original series about time travelers from the desolate future, Travelers. Sure, it’s a good show, but Hanh Nguyen describes there being a “limit of the special effects on this show, which is a shame, but perhaps that’s because it’s mainly set in our present, where flying cars are still not a thing, alas.”  If it wasn’t for the characters verbally expressing that they came from the future, then there wouldn’t have been any indication that it was a sci-fi show whatsoever.

Image from “Travelers” on Netflix

Of course, the amount of gold-pressed latinum racked up by the show’s viewership is another important point to bring into light. There’s no doubt that science fiction is something that a lot of fans would want to see more of on television. But as pointed out above by Alex Epstein, most viewers don’t tune in often enough to catch all the episodes of a show. Network executives only care about what’s most likely to make a lot of money, which in most cases will favor the episodic detective show over the space opera. [perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Fantastic space operas and mystical fantasy shows set in different realms tend to get much less spotlight.[/perfectpullquote]

Graeme McMillan explains it best when she says, “Ultimately, what appears to have killed off science fiction on mainstream broadcast television is the fact that mainstream broadcast viewers don’t really want to watch it anymore…[other shows] are cheaper for the networks to produce and don’t involve nearly as much explanation to viewers tuning in for the first time.”

Streaming Services: A Potential for Change?

In an article by Ernie Smith, he explains the relevance of recent statistics from the CTA (Consumer Technology Association) when he says, “CTA found that an equal percentage of Americans subscribe to streaming services as to television services like cable and satellite.”

Even if live television still holds plenty of relevance to today’s society, streaming services still hold the potential to re-ignite sci-fi’s fire. Many services will release entire seasons of a show at a time, meaning viewers won’t have to wait or worry about missing episodes of a show. Whether it’s in multiple sittings or one giant binge session, the audience can now truly engross themselves within a serialized show’s narrative.

That said, it’s only been met with limited success so far. As perhaps the biggest and most popular of these services, Netflix has yet to adopt a space opera to its collection of originals, and the only major sci-fi entities currently existing within that pool are shows like the aforementioned Travelers and Sense8.

On the other hand, CBS All Access promises to deliver with Star Trek: Discovery, the return of the long-dead TV entity to the small screen.

What fate will lie in the future of science fiction? In the end, only time will tell.

(Featured Image from the movie Star Trek, 2009)

Post by Jake S.