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Some years ago I confidently stated that British television science fiction was a thing of the past. Clearly I was wrong. I admit it. I made a mistake. Now could everybody please stop reminding me?
At the time I spouted my foolish statement we were hearing the first rumours of BBC Wales resurrecting Doctor Who and on hearing this news, while my fond memories of Tom Baker gave me hope, my common sense undermined my optimism. With the majority of television science fiction output coming from high-budget US-based production houses, I could not see how a British show could compete.
At that time the big commercial success stories such as Stargate SG-1 suggested that viewers wanted spectacle, they wanted giant space ships and they wanted expensive and realistic looking aliens and all that required a huge budget. In a climate where British science fiction had the audience appeal of a rotting prawn in the curtain pelmet, I could not imagine anyone getting the money for the effects needed to please the audience.
When I saw Christopher Eccleston grab Billie Piper’s hand and deliver the simple instruction “Run!” in the first episode of the revitalised Doctor Who I realised I had done something unforgivable. I had underestimated the viewers. I apologise to Russell T Davis for my lack of faith but that said, while I am the first to praise the current incarnation of the good Doctor, there is more to the recent surge in popularity of science fiction than one show. The whole genre of Science Fiction has changed and any writer wanting to work in the genre needs to be aware of this.
Not only has the British science fiction television show reasserted itself on the screen in the UK but it seems to be holding its own against the giants from over the sea. Only Heroes has had any real impact on the terrestrial channels and although Battlestar Galactica has been leading the US charge for multi-channel, neither show can compare with the regular viewing figures for Doctor Who or the record number of digital viewers who tuned in for the launch of Torchwood. Not only is the science fiction show suddenly back in the big audience arena but it is to the tune of a Soap-opera-sized 14 million viewers for Doctor Who on Christmas day. Not bad for a dead show.
Big audiences mean potential writing opportunities and with a plethora of re-makes in the offing, including Blakes 7 and The Prisoner, it may well be time to re-address the approach to writing science fiction for the mass audience.
Quatermastery overturned – The new wave of science fiction character
Resonance, the act of reflecting current events or social problems, is not only a frequent element of the science fiction show but it can almost be considered as an expected as part of the narrative. Examples of this include the post-war undercurrent in Quatermass, the inclusion of new-age religion in Star Trek Voyager and Deep Space 9 and the bold statements on the morality of suicide bombing in the recent Battlestar Galactica.
Possibly as a result of this leaning toward analogy, character has often tended to be a matter of stereotyping and occasionally rather crude stereotyping at that. Characters, particularly transient antagonists, tended to be exaggerated, walking conduits for the analogous narrative of the show. This fixation with metaphor is still present in the new wave of mainstream science fiction but its portrayal now increasingly relies on the emotional response of the often ethically ambiguous characters. This is a subtle but important change that means the Daleks are no longer simply pepperpot representations of Nazis; in the new wave we see the human response to their genocidal drives.
An excellent example of this in action can be found in the re-make of the 1980s space opera Battlestar Galactica. Here we are presented with a pressured group of refugees running from a ruthless and almost indestructible enemy. The over-plot of the series is the same in both incarnations and as a result, the show perfectly demonstrates the shift in the storytelling approach for the modern audience. In the new version, episode after episode focuses on the effect of the struggle for survival on the central characters and with each new challenge, they twist and writhe in emotional and often physical agony.