SyFriday: It's Sci-Fi, Jim, But Not As We Know It

These words echo through time, and are immediately followed by visions of grand space ships, bizarre-looking aliens, people in jumpsuits and, of course, distant worlds. This is the foundation of science-fiction as a genre.

However, gone are the days when science-fiction meant Asimov-style robots invading the Earth, bad prosthetics attached to the ears and forehead, giant talking carrots or even aliens themselves. Shows like “Heroes,” “Doctor Who,” “Torchwood,” and “Battlestar Galactica” are all pushing the perennial envelope to tell new and more original stories. In other words, it’s sci-fi, Jim, but not as we know it.

Instead, there is a new breed of sci-fi only beginning to show itself to the world, one that is more grounded in reality than in the stars. The most obvious is perhaps Ronald D. Moore’s “Battlestar Galactica,” which has made a point of distancing itself from the camp, strange and oddly watchable 1970’s original. Through swearing, the use of telephones and a familiar military style, the series has created a unique and dark tone that is rarely seen on serialised television.

Its complicated political system and the links to modern-day events only helps to firmly cement the show in reality, and in turn allows the series to be accessed by an audience that would otherwise be turned off by alien pets, words like “feldergarb” and spacemen running around in Disneyland. There are no aliens in the series, and that is what makes it so completely human. The Cylons, while they aren’t exactly of Asimov’s stature, do offer some unique intellectual debates and elevate the stories to something higher than dog-fight-of-the-week. The opening words of Tricia Helfer’s Six character beautifully summarizes this exploration of what it means to be human; “Are you alive?”

Other non-alien shows have been tried before, such as Joss Whedon’s addictive and compelling space-western “Firefly.” Promising to be the "anti-Trek," the odyssey of Serenity encompassed a brave new frontier comparable to the wild west and had its own set of dangers. Native’s were replaced with a rabid off-shoot of humans known as Reavers, the Browncoats found themselves oppressed by a new inter-planetary Government, not to mention a whole load of unscrupulous individuals seeking to line their own pockets.

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