I'd like to see a Sci-Fi series where there was no space war and even no aliens, (at least not right away.) Instead, its a series about the first interstellar exploration.

An Earth-like planet is discovered near Alpha Centauri and years later, after much long distance investigation, an "enterprising" expedition is mounted. No warp drive, instead it would be somewhat along the lines of "Journey to the Center of the Earth" -- except in space, or like a space-going Shackelton expedition.

With the help of their advanced technology, (which could be fictional but would have to be reasonably explained,) the explorers would be able to reach the new planet in six years. Along the way, they would face what we might expect to be real interstellar dangers -- radiation dangers and unseen asteroids to name just two. A lot of things could happen without the usually "aliens" or "does John love Mary?" plots. (Sure, some soap opera stuff - if its really dramatic and the characters are compelling, but otherwise, lots of science.) The "adventure" would be in the science. (And of course, interesting characters.) The climax of the series is when they "land" on the planet, and what they find there, after many trials and tribulations.

On the new world they would not discover an alien civilization, but something much stranger.

Are you bored by this idea? :roll: I'm not, but I'd also be among the few who would watch it. :wink: I'm sure the show would be deemed too intellectual for dumbed down TV today.

A litlle bit ago i suggested a similar idea. Instead of interstellar travle it will be set inside our solar system entirely. It will entail the first steps into human exploration of the planets, ateroid belt, and the moons. The shpows will feature real technology (only differences is improvements on todays tech).

No Aliens of the week, No "Lifeform scanners", and no transporters. The crews will be believeable but entertaining. Sure like your idea there will be a Space Opera style, but it will be done teastefully. No steriotypes, real people.

The episode will entail the journey to the outer solar systems. IT will start with the first few episodes to the moon, then Mars, and so on. it will be a compilation of mini-shows. The cresws will change except for one character or two. Every so often there will be check ups on how certain areas of the past shows are doing.

Like how is life on the moon base with Johnny? OR mars colony with Betty? The dangers of living there will be real and ever present.

And i will say this again: NO ALIENS!

Oh and FOX will not be making it. They should be punished for their past mistakes.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

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*Smites Captain Swoop*

I like the idea(s) and have wished for similar series myself. I'd like to see a series realistically documenting some of the early stages of exploring the solar system; where mankind has a permanent presence on the Moon and Mars, and perhaps a few far-flung outposts elsewhere. No aliens, no interplanetary wars, no technobabble, just good science and good stories.

Another idea I'd like to see is a series or maybe a good (good!!)movie documenting the first manned Mars mission, from launch to landing to Earth return. It could be done as an episodic show or a faux documentary-style mini-series. Of course, if Fox got its hands on it, it would probably be an unreality show where we get to see which astronauts hook up with each other, lots of explosions, and bug-eyed monsters waiting for them on the surface.

The idea sounds cool, Chip. I probably wouldn't attract that many viewers, but if it was done well, the viewers that would watch it, like me, would be loyal. I doubt anyone today would have the courage to do such a thing. Execs care too much for their hot tubs.

But the idea of a series that focuses on enduring the journey is very good. It's often conceived well, but rarely executed well. When I first saw Star Trek: Voyager, I thought the idea had a lot of potential. The idea of perhaps an Apollo 13esque odyssey home could have been really good. Unfortunately, they didn't get far into the series before they abandoned the focus on working on ways to survive and get home and instead decided to focus on aliens-of-the-week. When they did occasionally have the kind of problems associated with being stranded far from home ('Demon', 'Parturition'), they were one offs. There was no build up to the event and no consequences afterwards. But, all the damage was repaired, new shuttlecraft were built and Janeway's ready room was always sparkling.

Enterprise looked like it could be something we could have liked. The first humans to reach out beyond the solar system (except for all the freighters :roll: ). They would be pioneering new technology that may find itself not up to certain tasks. They would be on a mission of science, trying to use their resources to best accomplish their mission objectives. There would be aliens, of course, but it would be good. Of course, Enterprise was nothing like what it promised, hence why the ratings went the direction of the worm ship from The Core. It was all about a ship carrying out the whims of her immature captain. No sense of discovery, no sense of pioneering, no sense that they are actually on a mission.

Chip, your idea has a lot of merit. Proper scientist and engineers on a proper mission. And if the hypothetical writers were really good, problems wouldn't be episode by episode, they would run throughout a stream of continuity.

nice idea
i like it
no that i don't like technobabble, but it's so much harder to understand when it's an alien with a bad accent.

Believe it or not the original title for the movie that became 2001 was, “How the Solar System Was Won”. Described by AC Clarke as a realistic view of how the solar system was explored and colonised.

That particular concept apparently didn’t last very long before Aliens , albeit unseen, began to take over the movie. If you’re interested in how movies in general and 2001 evolve, check out “The Lost Worlds of 2001” by Clarke, a great read

I'm going against the NO ALIEN theme here: I want to see a show where there is only ONE alien species, they ARE NOT humanoid (the further from it, the better), and the only way we can communicate with them is through science.

But if that doesn't happen, I'll second Chip's idea.

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I like crinoids.

Wow - such great posts. I underestimated people's interests and enthusiasm for a somewhat "realistic" approach to a science fiction show. On further reflection, it seems that the only chance is for a visionary filmmaker (with a big budget,) to come along and make a new "classic" movie, rather than a TV series. Nevertheless, I'd love to see a series with some of the ideas expressed in this thread, with production values and budget equal to "Babylon 5." That would be great! It could be done - by whom I don't know. Who would sponsor it?

I think TV is too (cringe) "life style" and "entertainment" oriented to run with an interstellar, or solar system or Mars exploration series. PBS's "Nova," the Discovery Channel, or the BBC might do a one-off "what if" program with some dramatization, but I think the budget would be a lot lower.

One program which has several of these components is Red Dwarf. Though meant as a comedy it actually had a lot of good (or at least not-ridiculously-implausible) science in it. Sadly that was the early days, before the show gained popularity and it became Star Trek with laughs. *sigh*

I too would love to see a film like this. Unfortunately, film-makers seem to be very non-conversant with anything to do with science and prefer psuedo-scientific babble instead. My wife has a work colleague who's son is a rising star in the canadian film industry (apparently, though his name eludes me at present) and she gave my wife a "preview" of his latest "science-fiction" effort. It appears to feature: telepathy, aliens, miraculous life-after-death, and other such nonsense. My wife was intrigued, I cringed. No doubt some "science advisor" has told him that everything is "valid"- if you believe John Edwards et al, anyway.

I'm going to find out more and see if I may be was mistaken (it was a 1 minute preview- I could be) but given trends in Science Fiction film-making I doubt it.

You want Lem's Eden adapted for film. Hopefully better executed than the last version of Solaris was.

How about a sci-fi series based around the "aliens'" point of view? For example of a Star Trek series where the main characters are Klingons on a Bird of Prey instead of humans on a Star Fleet ship. Of course I think they would need to hire a better team of writters to pull it off.

If a studio did attempt that I would want it to be a new society of ailens. The Star Trek idea is alright, but it would probably fall into the same rut that Enterprise has been in. I would want a new world, with aliens that are different than us but yet have a few of the same qualities so that we could relate to it.

Chip, I do like your idea as well though!

*Edit for clarifying* It seems like the studios will take an idea and say, the people who view these kinds of shows want a show like this. A few episodes may be based around the original idea, but then in order to get ratings and viewership they need to change it. By adding the general things to which we have seen again and again. This weeks episode: BIG explosions. Next Week: A love story mixed with someone potentially dying and more big explosions!

It would be nice to see some of these ideas used, in the forms that they are intended to be.

Just a random comment, but I've always felt some of the aliens in Star Trek TOS were more convincing (physically) than nearly anything in the later series. Ok, so we had a guy scurring around under a throw rug, a stone guy with glowing eyes, a box with flashing lights inside, and an assortment of puppets. The most adventurous they seem to get in the later series is to boldly add bumps where no bumps have been before.

It seems like it should be possible to have a great, classic sci-fi series/movie yet still get some general viewership. After all, Shakespeare is widely regarded as one of the greatest English writers of all time, and he's widely read and studied at high school and university levels. Yet Shakespeare essentially rewrote old folk and fairy tales, and always opened with a fight or a supernatural event to catch the attention of the groundlings.

Why shouldn't it be possible to write a good compelling sci-fi series, which aren't bad science, which focuses on humans only, yet is accessible to the general viewing public? Most of the successful shows on TV don't have aliens; why must a sci-fi series have them? Such a series would be a very human drama about exploration and settlement, about pioneers far from home with just themselves, the machines they've entrusted their lives to, and probably a tenuous radio connection to home. What is it about that theme that would be more alien to the general viewing public than, say, a western, or a "reality" show?

pmcolt, I agree with your point about aliens of classic. Consider 'Civilisation' [ENT]. Ooh, aah. They find an M-class planet with life on it. Who would have thought it? What do we find when we get there? Aliens that walk like us, talk like, are pretty much uninteresting. But they are so alien because they have weird things glued to their foreheads. :roll: Do you remember the good old days when Michael Westmore actually put in effort and showed his true talents at make-up?

I suppose the key to it all is not what they look like as much as how they act. So the special effects are bad. They use it to great effect and that's what is important. Consider the Stargate SG-1 episode 'One False Step'. The aboriginal aliens are not exactly revolutions in make-up artistry. You can see the zippers on their body suits for crying out loud. But it matters not, they are brilliant. That's because Stargate SG-1 actually uses good actors who act the role of aliens.

With Enterprise good aliens are often hinted at but never truly shown or explored. We might get a couple of seconds worth of good aliens but pretty soon, the classic alien-of-the-week variety will pop up: the ugly brute in a tight leather outfit with a gruff voice, who is made to look even uglier because he has a Westmore poached egg on his forehead.

But that's not the point. The point is that we are an oppressed minority and this is our second cause after promoting nuclear fission.

How could this work?

I remember watching a special showing of the original pilot for Lost in Space. I could see why it didn't fly. Just the family lost in space - pretty dull.

The pilot that did fly is the one we know. What made the difference? The adddition of an antagonist - Dr. Smith. Gotta admit, it takes a "good" bad guy to make a good show.

So, even without aleins, having a good antagonist/bad guy in the mix could allow for the show to pull off.

Just my thoughts.

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You do have a point neb. I disagree with the cliche "higher up crazy leader" type. The captain should be competant and trustworth.

Make it a spy. Have the spy do terrorist type activitities and try to screw up the mission. Yet we never truely know who it is. Sometimes he/she acts good and helps out sometimes he/she is bad. We never see a face, just the acts.

Sherlock holmes in space.

Co-o-o-o-ol!

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I'm not entirely sure about how good the science was, but didn't Firefly attempt to do something along these lines?

The closest thing I've seen to the kind of series you're talking about was Earth 2, but I don't remember that much about it. I remember the show was different - the people had to face the challenges of being on a new planet with limited resources, but there were aspects of it that were just a little too strange.

Yes Psychic aliens that can tunnel throught the ground like moles on speed and an abusive govt. Very weird. But i did like the first few episodes.

Where's the conflict? You don't have a story without conflict. Yes, you could make a story like you suggest where you have the man vs nature (well space) as the conflict. But I don't think that will work for more and 1 two hour show (i.e. movie). For a continuing show, I think you would need more conflict. Now you could put in character conflict or conflict between nations spilling over into space, but without aliens to 'spice' things up for a network execs, I don't think it will fly for the execs.

Actually, Babylon 5 had around half the budget of Star Trek: Voyager. In fact, jms made a comment that if he had Voyager's $23 million that they spent on the pilot, he could have made 1.3 SEASONS of Babylon 5. Babylonian Productions were very creative in how they produced Babylon 5 and did things very differently than most sci-fi shows.

C.J. Cherryh's "Chanur" series would be very good for that premise. especially if you also had stories on the Alliance-Union (Earth) to fill in Tully's background. For those who don't know, the Chanur series is set in Compact Space and Tully is the first human to travel widely there aboard a Chanur freighter. (I don't want to get any more specific and give away spoilers.)

That is why the Babylon 5 spinoff Crusade died. TNT Atlanta wanted to add spurious things (more fights, a character who explores other races by mating with them, extra unneeded exposition, etc) to the show and jms said no. The show died not long after at TNT Atlanta's behest.

Probably because most TV execs equate sci-fi to aliens. Heck, Babylon 5 had a hard time getting started because almost all the TV execs didn't think there could BE any other sci-fi space TV than Star Trek.

Kizarvexis

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Off topic - I'd just like to say that Babylon5 is my all time favorite sci-fi series. That was a series different from most others - with the exception of all the different alien species of course.

There was a tv series about the crew of an international space station.
The theme of the series was....well..life aboard an international space station. There was no giant parasites or alien battlecruisers, they had to deal with things like budget cuts. Although there was one episode where the station's orbit was decaying. This series was from the UK, but I do not know the name.

I totally agree. Babylon 5 is my favorite sci-fi show. Such a great overall story comprised of so many good episodes. I'm always finding new things and connections between eps even after all this time.

Kizarvexis

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"We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary." - James D. Nicoll

This type of realistic science fiction is exactly the sort of thing I've always wanted. Someday I'd like to try writing something like this myself, but in the mean time I agree that it would be a refreshing change from all of the TV and movies that currently get made.
One idea that would probably be very hard to translate to the screen, but which I think would be cool is a multi-generation crew traveling for 100 years or so. Or perhaps multiple such ships where you see how some go wrong and some function and what sorts of personalities/conficts make the difference. Then again, I doubt if it would work for anything except perhaps a novel.

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I was expecting someone to say that. Sounds like you've been taking a course in screen writing. Actually, conflict is good drama, but in reality, any plot device can follow any other plot device. Any set of situations can lead to any other set of situations. I think a successful story also depends on the imagination of the writer. Too many TV series have "conflict." Great stories exist with (and without) "conflict." Let's have lots of conflict - but please, no aliens and ray guns. But as I implied, a few people here would be the only viewers because (as you say) it would not "fly for the execs." Please, no explosions either unless its a fuel cell as in Apollo 13. And no planets between here and Alpha Centauri - space is big.

Yeah. Since semi-docu-drama science shows (alla PBS) are so much lower budgeted, the budget for Babylon 5 applied to the proposed program would be grand.

That's cool, for a different show. No aliens allowed in this one...except ... maybe in the last season, the crew either discovers an actual alien microbe, or something weird and "over the top" happens with an unseen presence alla 2001. Before that - no aliens.

Well put! Don't get me wrong, I dig aliens in sci-fi, and Babylon 5 (and the first Outer Limits) had some of the best of them - but please, no aliens on this one, just good, exciting science! :wink:

This topic made me think of some of Larry Niven's books that deal with human colonization of space and I think I would really like to see The Integral Trees done in computer animation. I suppose it could be done with live actors using the current technology but I don't think you would get the same "feel" as you could with animation. No aliens but humans adapting to a very unique and foriegn environment. Something like that could have a few successful seasons.

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I agree completely, Series 1, 2 and 3 were great, up to 6 was good.

It's always a bad when they start to recycle plots and degenerate into 'Aliens of the week', it's a sign they have run out of ideas. Losing Red Dwarf, Rimmer and then bringing in qa fake Kachanski was the killer.

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