Alison wrote:
Anyone got the actual list, for discussion purposes? As I recall:
[Cough] That was me. :-)
Harriet:
I've just rewound the tape to the final countdown. In forward (or whatever is reverse of reverse) order:
- Star Trek
- Dr Who
- Red Dwarf
- Thunderbirds
- Hitchhiker
- Blake's 7
- Sapphire and Steel
- Tomorrow People
- Buck Rogers
- Space 1999
Ta, muchly.
I gathered there had been some sort of poll of the general public to arrive at these - presumably we didn't hear about it in time to stuff the ballots?
Actually, no, I don't think so. As has been pointed out, it's more to do with what they can show clips of, and what their pundits talk about - possibly which they're most entertaining about. The Top Ten series has always been somewhat bizarre in its selections.
But even so, I'm not surprised that B5 wasn't there. Everything in the list is Old, with the exception of Red Dwarf, and that was a prime-time sitcom. I believe that much of the decline of quality of media sf is because it was the sort of stuff watched by kids two decades ago, who are now running TV companies, and think that stuff's just for kids - they don't watch it themselves, and don't think it deserves the time and effort "real" drama gets - sorry, off on a rant there.
Point is, most of it's had twenty-odd years to seep through public consciousness and take root, sometimes spawning collectable Dinky toys en route, and it comes from an era when you watched that stuff because you didn't like what was on either of the other two channels. Nowadays, B5 is a kids-only thing that's purely ephemeral, and lost in the noise of the satellite and cable channels.
steve
On Mon, Oct 15, 2001 at 10:13:51PM +0100, Steve Kilbane wrote:
But even so, I'm not surprised that B5 wasn't there. Everything in the list is Old, with the exception of Red Dwarf, and that was a prime-time sitcom. I believe that much of the decline of quality of media sf is because it was the sort of stuff watched by kids two decades ago, who are now running TV companies, and think that stuff's just for kids - they don't watch it themselves, and don't think it deserves the time and effort "real" drama gets - sorry, off on a rant there.
Who says that's a recent phenomenon? That's the way it's *always* been, ever since Doctor Who began. SF is for kiddies is the attitude... at least you're lucky in the UK -- you actually *get* "real" drama. (I shudder to think what would happen the day the UK TV folks decide that costume dramas are too expensive -- the whole world will be the poorer).
Point is, most of it's had twenty-odd years to seep through public consciousness and take root, sometimes spawning collectable Dinky toys en route, and it comes from an era when you watched that stuff because you didn't like what was on either of the other two channels. Nowadays, B5 is a kids-only thing that's purely ephemeral, and lost in the noise of the satellite and cable channels.
But consider how fortunate you are in the UK, really -- you actually get SF in something close to prime time. You get Stargate and Farscape on DVD! (We can't even get Farscape on video yet -- argh!) B5 was actually more popular in the UK than anywhere else, I gather. So don't knock what you've got...
Kathryn Andersen (who just gave an obscene amount of money to Blackstar to get UK Farscape season 2 DVDs to play on her PC) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Vila: When do they let up? Blake: They don't. (Blake's 7: Horizon [B4])
Steve K replied to me:
I gathered there had been some sort of poll of the general public to arrive at these - presumably we didn't hear about it in time to stuff the ballots?
Actually, no, I don't think so. As has been pointed out, it's more to do with what they can show clips of, and what their pundits talk about - possibly which they're most entertaining about. The Top Ten series has always been somewhat bizarre in its selections.
Oh well, maybe I misremembered - I thought they mentioned a vote, but I can't check any more because my tape is in the hands of the post office en route to Australia.
-
Harriet Monkhouse -
Kathryn Andersen -
Steve Kilbane