Religion and Scifi

From Airlock Alpha

As an avid science-fiction fan, shows like “Battlestar Galactica,” “Caprica” and “Lost” rank amongst my favorite shows. But somehow these shows – in an effort to be edgy and contemporary – got lost along the way trying to find ways to counter-balance their extreme science-fiction mythology.

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“Lost” was thought to be one of the most pre-eminent science-fiction shows of the modern era and was heralded as the best example of successfully melding sci-fi with commercial dramatic television. Yet in the space of 15 minutes, “Lost” managed to alienate the very audience that faithfully tuned in for six years. Instead of delivering the expected epic showdown between good and evil and a climatic ending for the fans, it opted to wrap up its journey with an image of its cast sitting on church pews reverently awaiting the light to welcome them.

My short answer to this: Religion is not a problem in scifi; confused, baffled, stupid characters running around with their heads up their ass, is.

I didnt have a problem with the Lost ending. I had a problem with the entire show up to the end. I had a feeling they were making shit up as they went along, and I was proven right when I read a Wired article on Lost; Mid-way into the series, they actually hired someone to keep track of things they were constantly pulling off their ass (lots of people thought the show had a ‘plan’). Battlestar Galactica sucked, and the conservative actor Dirk Benedict who played the previous Starbuck seems to agree with me.

Look, after 9/11, US show biz, art seemed to fall into a funk. Of course religion issue had to be “handled” somehow. On this front, non scifi shows, books did well; The Da Vinci Code slapped around the Catholic Church, as it duly deserved. Supernatural is fun to watch. House, Smallville, are all ok.

On pure scifi front Eureka is fine, with its Star Trek TNG feel and mindset.

So all hope is not lost (no pun intended).