Another interesting post but i am not sure Ridley Scott is to to blame
for current attitudes in SF? More, likely the X-files and it's parinod
view of everything. The X-files was at best only good for two early
seasons..and after that it was like watching paint dry as we had seen
this all before and for G'd's sake when is this all going to end that
people were switching off in their dozens like people are now with
LOST because they want a plot and an idea of resolution!!

People rave about Alias that i see as medioca at best. Maybe it had
something to offer and indeed i watched the pilot and thought 'this is
okay..nothing special...and certainly better than kid-vid Dark Angel
till suddenly the last 20 minutes low and behold we have a rebel spy
organisation masquading as Uncle Sam's Spys..that you are suddenly
left saying was not 11years of Muld and Skully enough that i switched
off and never ever watched any more!

I have lost track of Fringe which seems to be taking the Rebel
organisation card route again only JJ Abrahams maybe has learnt a
lesion that plot threads in his shows need to show themselves quicker
than in past series...Only problem is have we not seen all this before
or is this series only masquading as something that has boldly or
pariodly been where no one else has been before?

When, though it comes to long robes and SF what is to say that
trousers or shorts for that matter would be worn by every spacefairing
civelizations? We could have the sudo Roman/Greek styles of 1936 and
Things to come? However, look at the Vulcans in First Contact and
Enterprise...as this is not a series from the 70's and they are out
traveling the heavons in long robes over trousers!!

Kerry







--- In OnlineAlpha@yahoogroups.com, "richard650304" <point783@...> wrote:
>
>
> > In any case, Y1 S99 has a cinematic epic scale/feel unmatched by
> > anything else.
>
> Yes, and I feel it generally has a positive tone which is what draws
> me back. I wouldn't say this was solely a product of the time because
> the world of the early 70s was just as full of conflict as any other
> period since. Johnny Byrne's interest in mythology and possibly his
> religious upbringing are I think reflected in there to some degree.
>
> IMO all this 'dark' stuff gets a bit repetitive anyway; Ridley Scott
> has a lot to answer for because since Alien because that's become the
> house style! When Star Trek and new Dr Who do 'dark' it just gets
> monotonous for me - these are series which had their own styles yet
> rush to adopt someone else's default 'dark' setting. New Who has
> little of the substance I see in Johnny Byrne's thoughtful 1999 stuff
> - it's bubblegum for the eyes in comparison. Lightweight, soon
forgotten.
>
> > > 1999 was less of an innovation than an interpretation of the
> attitudes and influences of the day.
>
> Yes. any film or TV that old will show its age, it's impossible to
> avoid, but good SF/ fiction will say something about the time it was
> made rather than make predictions. I remember getting hold of the
> videotapes in the early 90s and thinking it was even better than I
> remembered as a youngster. There'll always be an element of nostalgia,
> having watched it in the 70s, but it's mainly the fact that it stands
> out from its contemporaries as being visually slicker and more
> thoughtful. However it was an innovation maybe not in what it did but
> in the way it did it.
>
> > > The idea that aliens would dress in long flowing outfits with long
> > > hair like Zandor comes straight out of the seventies and the SF
> > > graphic fiction of the day.
>
> Imagine how great Earthbound COULD have been had Freiberger rewritten
> it... only joking ;-)
>