This week we have three shows about
the future that throw us back into the past, revisiting the stories and moods
of the ‘90s, but updated for today. (The
‘90s! Now with more interesting women!). These shows also had me meditating on a lot
of ideas. The genre of the adventuring-party show. The trope that there is a “self” that
transcends experience, memory, or will. The
relationship between trust, proof, and humanity. The relationship between morality,
obligation, and survival. But the real
defining similarity between these shows is that they all feel like they’re
resurrecting an older vision of the future.
Perhaps they’re all a bit grittier than their forebears, or more cynical
perhaps, or maybe just a little different.
Regardless, there’s déjà vu to all of them.
Dark Matter (SyFy, new. Space Opera.)
Watched: first three episodes
Premise: 6 people awaken with on a
space ship with amnesia and gradually learn who they are and what they’re there
to do. It’s not what they might have
hoped.
Promise: Based on the comic book of the same
name. This is an “adventuring party”
show, and as I watch it I keep thinking that I’d enjoy gaming in this world and
playing these characters (or ones like them).
That sense is enough to pull me through some relatively simple plotting
and archetype-laden characteristics. The
show has a throwback feel—it feels like early/mid ‘90s science fiction and
doesn’t strive for the gritty complexity that the SF shows of the late ‘90s
accustomed us to—and I find that’s actually quite comforting. The pace is working for me, too—every
episode, we get a few clues about who the characters are and why they’ve ended
up this way, as they bond with each other and face standard space-opera
challenges. The show’s underlying
questions are about the nature of self (like Dollhouse, but without the
pervasively creepy undertones): if one
strips away memory and experience, is there some essential “self” that
remains? (The show says yes, but
explores its malleability). The twist
from its forbears is that the group’s de facto leader is a clever-yet-fallible
woman, who gets the role because she’s good at it.
Verdict: Fluffy and enjoyable.
Killjoys (SyFy, new. Action/Adventure.)
Watched: First two episodes.
Premise: Space!
Bounty! Hunters!
Promise: This show is another throwback to simple
sci-fi action, but again with the kick-ass female leader twist. The concept is deeply uncomplicated: bounty hunters’ jobs are complicated as their
pasts (his in the form of a brother; hers in the form of a shadowy figure from
her youth; the brother’s in the form of PTSD) come back to haunt them. The execution is low-rent, but it
accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do.
It’s the tonal equivalent of Transporter: The Series (“we have a job to
do but sometimes our morals get in the way, so we have to do the right thing”)
but even better, on account of featuring a kick-ass female leader instead of a womanizing
driver. Plus, it seems to have a bit of
political and emotionally complexity that Transporter hasn’t tried to hone. I wouldn’t look to the show for deep
thoughts, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find them every so often. And the collegial chemistry among the
characters is believable and human.
Verdict: Light fun.
12 Monkeys (SyFy, Winter 2015. Time travel adventure.)
Watched: Several episodes so far
Premise: A series reimagining the 1996 film.
Promise: I took a long time to watch (and even longer
to review) this one, because the film is such a formative favorite of
mine. The idea of reimagining it
frightened me—I had hopes too high to be realized, and I knew it. But I had to brave it eventually, and now I’m
sad I waited. It’s really good! The seams show a bit—the longer format
unfortunately gives the viewer more opportunity in a series to dwell on
characters’ illogical choices—but it has the same sense of desperation, hope,
inevitability, and uncertainty as the film. The story diverges relatively quickly from the original, but retains much of the original's doomed optimism. That means that I don’t
expect the same things to happen, but I still trust they'll be interesting. It’s a show that, like
Continuum, takes the full potential of its time travel concept seriously and
isn’t afraid to really use it. One is never entirely sure which time period made which. So it’s all
about trust: how is trust possible in an
atmosphere of incomplete information?
Can we ever truly understand our own moments? That’s unsettling, but in an interesting way.
Verdict: I’m sold.
In the queue: Astronaut Wives Club, Ballers, Complications,
Proof, Mr. Robot, HUMANS, Scream, Zoo…
