Sci-Fi

This weekend I watched two items of Sci-Fi storytelling told via two groundbreaking television series from either side of the Atlantic, although one has morphed into a series of high profile films whilst the other has remained on its original medium.

The First was Doctor Who with an episode entitled 'The Wedding of River Song' which told a complicated and sometimes confusing story of how the Doctor managed to escape being killed on the shores of Lake Silencio in Utah. I will not go through the story here except to say it didn't include a re-boot of the universe as several other series enders have, which was nice.

The second was a re-boot (no pun intended) of the Star Trek franchise introducing us to the much younger crew of the start ship Enterprise and putting them in a completely new time-line so that they would not be tied into the events of the original TV series and the other films. Clever stuff and very Dr Whoish as well.

What struck me was that I was actually looking at equivalent story types, Start Trek was Americas Dr Who. There have been several different captains of the Enterprise as there have been Doctors in the Tardis, plus the Tardis changed as did the Enterprise. (I include Voyager as a form of Enterprise in this as well).
Both series have a strong hero figure with many useful and in several cases, expendable, assistanys and companions. Both series have a space (and time) travelling ship that is very much central to the strories and takes on a charcter of its own to the point that the story without it is not very satisfying (The Search for Spock).

So what dis I think of the stories that I saw?

Dr Who was good if not as good as the Doctors Wife, it did certainly have its moments. I especially liked the ending when we found out what the question hidden in plain sight was (won't spoil it here). Can't wait for the next series as it will be the 50th anniversary year. All in all it was a slightly disappointing end to a brilliant series, but that said it would have been a humdinger for most other lesser series that we are subjected to from America!

Star Trek has always been the exception to the rule that American Sci-Fi will be formulaic and predictable. It told some really good stories and several of the films were great pieces of sci-fi art. The latest film was not really ground breaking and much like several of the Harry Potter films it really felt like there was a great story fighting to get out but that it was sacrificed somewhat to set-up the next film. I really hope this will be a good one as the set-up was nicely done if a little bit slow at times.