I think this has great potential, especially considering the network it's on. Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead are two of my favorite series.
new AMC space sci fi series?
- Thread starter Temis the Vorta
- Start date
It's a TV show and it's new.
Contact, the TV series would be just fine by me.
Yeah 'Contact' was a beautiful movie...I think the idea would be awesome as a series.
Really? I can't envisage it working in an episodic format that's suitable for TV. A miniseries might be as close as you could get.
The premise would be a jumping off point. They'd have to adapt the storyline to the format. So really this series won't be Contact: the TV series, and complaints about that are therefore irrelevant.
I'd start the story after contact has been made (and show the first contact in flashbacks), and eventually take the story into space, but probably not until the first season finale. Maybe just hint at it then.
Maybe the aliens are so alien, we'll never really get to know them. Maybe the point of the series is for humans to get to know themselves, with the aliens as the catalyst.
But it is true that the premise so far has no obvious dramatic conflict in it. In Contact, it was Ellie trying to convince everyone that her belief in intelligent aliens was real and valid. That probably wouldn't be a viable conflict to drag out over the run of a whole TV series. The most crucial things for this series will be what central conflict they come up with (maybe the conflict can evolve over the series run) and of course, the casting.
Yeah 'Contact' was a beautiful movie...I think the idea would be awesome as a series.
Really? I can't envisage it working in an episodic format that's suitable for TV. A miniseries might be as close as you could get.
The premise would be a jumping off point. They'd have to adapt the storyline to the format. So really this series won't be Contact: the TV series, and complaints about that are therefore irrelevant.
I'd start the story after contact has been made (and show the first contact in flashbacks), and eventually take the story into space, but probably not until the first season finale. Maybe just hint at it then.
Maybe the aliens are so alien, we'll never really get to know them. Maybe the point of the series is for humans to get to know themselves, with the aliens as the catalyst.
But it is true that the premise so far has no obvious dramatic conflict in it. In Contact, it was Ellie trying to convince everyone that her belief in intelligent aliens was real and valid. That probably wouldn't be a viable conflict to drag out over the run of a whole TV series. The most crucial things for this series will be what central conflict they come up with (maybe the conflict can evolve over the series run) and of course, the casting.
As long as they dont go with the "aliens have a secret that we will never let the viewer in on just so they can keep watching the show" then I might be able to watch it. If could be interesting if they show a realistic human reaction to alien contact and then actually have aliens who don't have a hidden agenda and just want to say hello. Like the Vulcans did in Star Trek.
I'm inclined to think that's what this might be like. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if we never actually see the aliens, but they're talked about all the time...
Keep waiting then. This sounds like aliens coming to earth. So no more "space based" than V.
It would be fun if the aliens had an agenda that humans couldn't even relate to. Not conquest, not even curiosity. Maybe they eat nutrinos and our sun happens to spit out the tastiest nutrinos.
Even then, humans could relate, but only on a basic level. Everything consumes energy. That kind of baseline motivation would be what connects us to any life form. Not very glamorous, and probably not something that can be used for the dramatic conflict. For the aliens to be endangering the sun by eating nutrinos, for instance, or some silly science like that. Just let the aliens not be the threat for once.
Even then, humans could relate, but only on a basic level. Everything consumes energy. That kind of baseline motivation would be what connects us to any life form. Not very glamorous, and probably not something that can be used for the dramatic conflict. For the aliens to be endangering the sun by eating nutrinos, for instance, or some silly science like that. Just let the aliens not be the threat for once.
Depending on what the story is actually about (what the dramatic conflict is), I could see the story setting evolving from Earth to include space. Probably would always include Earth as part of it.
I am very intrigued. AMC definitely knows how to get good stuff made, so hopefully they'll be able to do this well. As simple as it is, the alien contact concept has a lot of potential, so I'm gonna hope they can get it right this time. (I'm one of the few people who likes the new V, but even I'll admit the show doesn't really live up to the potential of it's premise.)
Well, this sounds encouraging so far-- of course, so far we have almost zero information. 
It does sound a bit like Contact, but if that means it's real SF in the mode of Sagan or Clarke or Asimov, then it could be groundbreaking... for TV.
It does sound a bit like Contact, but if that means it's real SF in the mode of Sagan or Clarke or Asimov, then it could be groundbreaking... for TV.
I'll tune in, see what the deal is ... and then decide from there. At any rate, it simply *has* to be better than V.
Clone Wars?
Perhaps Pingfah, like me, doesn't subscribe to the Sky channels that carry Clone Wars. In any case, the PT put me off watching any related series, and I generally prefer science fiction to fantasy. Temis rates the series, so I might rent the discs sometime.
I despise the prequels with a fiery passion, but TCW is pretty good. So that pretty much covers it, huh?
What worked in '67 would get short shrift now. Peeples are impatient!
What worked in '67 would get short shrift now. Peeples are impatient!
Other than that it was pretentious, pedantic and anticlimactic, no, nothing wrong at all.
Even if I agreed with that, it wouldn't have any bearing on whether Contact works well as a premise, and in fact not even a premise, more like a topic. The show's premise will be the topic + whatever the central dramatic conflict is.
Even by TrekBBS standards, its premature to slam a show before we even know what the premise is.
Even by TrekBBS standards, its premature to slam a show before we even know what the premise is.
Given the lowbrow, Beavis and Butthead nature of contemporary "SF," a little pretentiousness and pedantry would be a breath of fresh air.
I would also recommend TCW as it allows way more character development than the PT could, and you do see Anakin's more gradual slide towards the Dark Side.
I'm looking forward to this new series but unfortunately with a few exceptions high concept sci fi usually means ratings suicide.
In addition to Contact, this series also reminds me alot of a decent Charlie Sheen movie from 1996 called The Arrival. WINNING!
