The folks at the Ringer recently posted a nice piece on our current, not-quite-futuristic, sci-fi television moment. The three franchises he wrote about that I’ve got some investment in: Star Wars via Andor, Star Trek via Strange New Worlds, and Alien via Alien:Earth, three shows that I’ve recently been more invested in.
I have to admit, I wasn’t a big fan of Andor season one. It was too slow and meandering for me (or maybe it was my attention that meandered?). But season two was amazing: four three-part stories with each part telling the story of one year closer to the events of Rogue One. The end of the story was quite moving for me, with the final moment between Andor and Syral being something I’ve thought about often these last couple of weeks. Still no lightsabers or Jedi, but still enjoyable.
Like many others, I’ve waited a long time for the newest season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. In general, I’m more of a Star Wars guy, but once in a while a Trek show will grab me. This time it was the adventures of Captain Pike and the crew of the Enterprise leading up to the events of the original series. The show is a wonderful blend of simple and spectacle. The show’s 10-episodes seasons leave you really wanting more.
The most recent show the article talks about is Alien: Earth. I’m a late-blooming Alien fan. I caught up on most of the movies a few years ago (probably tied to an anniversary re-release of one of the first two movies). The fact that Noah Hawley of Fargo fame was writing a new series for FX got me excited for the show, even though I’m not a big “jump-scare” kind of guy. The show is three episodes in, beautifully shot, wonderfully acted, and interestingly paced. Turns out its as much (or more) about technology as it is about alien species.
The point of the Ringer article, though, is about the 1970s aesthetic of each of these shows (and others like them). Lots of great quotes in the piece about the importance of space (even future space) feeling lived-in and less about moving around big screens (a la Minority Report). It’s a good read, especially since it includes a couple of YouTube videos about the topic. Beyond the aesthetic, though, is this sense that such shows are “filling in the gaps” for each franchise, with all three happening before each franchise’s initial “main event.” That’s worked really well for Strange New Worlds, which had Spock and Nikita Uhura on the bridge from “go.” Along the way they’ve added a handful of other characters, including a young Captain Kirk. The challenge with all of this is maintaining a sense of tension when you already know how things are going to go. But that didn’t stop Rogue One from being a good movie, and it hasn’t stopped any of these shows from finding ways to emotionally engage fans possessing deep knowledge and super-critical lenses for stories they love.
Space Enough, and Time 