The Best in Sci Fi TV 2007

A long time ago on a Web site far, far away (and by that I mean two months ago on About.com), television critic Mark Wilson wrote a fairly comprehensive analysis of diversity in the fall's science fiction programming. Bionic Woman topped his list, mostly because Isaiah Washington, an African-American, was cast in a recurring guest role. The irony here, to all but Wilson, is that Washington was lucky to score the part after being dropped from Grey's Anatomy for allegedly violent homophobia.

Wilson's thesis is that science fiction television hasn't progressed a whole lot since the original Star Trek's multicultural cast (even on shows like Stargate Atlantis, the nonwhites are usually aliens, he notes). I'll concur, as far as race goes. But all in all, 2007 was an extremely diverse year for science fiction if you look at it in terms of gender and sexual orientation.

Leading Women:

Bionic Woman was far from the only sci-fi program to focus on female leads. Midway through the year, Sci Fi Channel replaced the short-lived Hellblazer rip-off The Dresden Files with Painkiller Jane, a cops-n-psychics series centering around Kristanna Loken, a fandom favorite ever since she brought life to Terminator 3's assassin-bot.

Loken played Jane, a black ops enforcer endowed with the ability to heal no matter what the injury. Bullet to the back? No problem. Electrocution? Just pop a Vicadin, and she'll be all right. Unfortunately, the show's concept was never fully explored; the depth of the ethical ambiguity was never plumbed. Instead, in the end, I was left wondering why Sci Fi couldn't have just diverted the funds to another couple episodes of Battlestar Galactica.

Oh, BSG, BSG, how I'll miss thee during the writers' strike. Obviously, Battlestar Galactica, with its female-centric Razor "TV event," was the creme de la creme for challenging gender politics this year. Fans saw the return of Admiral Cain (or Ensign Ro, depending on which sci-fi generation you're from), the introduction of the morally tormented Kendra Shaw (both a woman and a minority!). But to me, the highlight of the entire BSG season was the episode, "Maelstrom," aka, "The 'Death' of Starbuck," focusing on the breakneck pilot's over-foreshadowed destiny. It ain't often a viewer is rooting for a main character to off herself.

Gay Characters:

Again, I can't imagine why Wilson would ignore how science fiction has led the mainstream in strong, un-stereotypical portrayals of LGBT characters. BSG: Razor capped off the year with the implied lesbian triangle between Shaw, Cain and a Cylon. But the year began with the return of Captain Jack Harkness, the bisexual spinoff protagonist from Doctor Who.

Not only did BBC launch Torchwood, with Harkness as the central character, but they put Painkiller Jane to shame by granting Harkness a similar physical invincibility, and then adding onto it a conflict: if he can't die, what happens to him a billion years from now? And so, for me, one of the highlights of the season was the episode "Gridlock." Let me clarify: it's the second watching that's so good; once you've made it through the entire series, and you know Harkness's true identity, that's what makes "Gridlock" so fascinating. (Incidentally, as Wilson acknowledges, Doctor Who also featured the first nonwhite female sidekick, Martha Jones.)

But, the fantasy side of the spectrum was where the real shocker emerged: JK Rowling announced that Harry Potter's sage, Albus Dumbledore, was gay. While Harry Potter isn't yet on television, it did ripple through the networks with Saturday Night Live spoofing both the revelation and Larry King aptly. Here's the YouTube link.

Back to Basics:

But in the end, I'll contend, sci-fi was still directed at the male hormones. The best advertisement of the year, in my humble opinion, was the Sci Fi Channel's promo campaign for their relaunching of Enterprise. The whole "Men were real men; sexy green women were real sexy green women" pitch turned me back onto the otherwise disgustingly gung-ho patriotic series.

Coming next... the worst in 2007 science-fiction programming.

Recommend (0)

|  Comments (0)

|  Email

|  Share

Share  Facebook Digg del.icio.us