Moving on from Doctor Who

[mtbc]

I have noted here that Doctor Who isn't the show I want any more, episodes I like have become too rare. So, I have not bothered to watch it recently though I would be glad to hear of improvement. poliphilo's thoughts move me to expand a little on this, in case there is something else that I should try watching.

What I liked about some older episodes of the show was that it tried to intelligently explore various concepts from science fiction. The Doctor would arrive somewhere new, we would learn about the people and circumstances of the story then see the Doctor figure out a cunning way to help the locals address some issue they were facing. It would at least try to be realistic and interesting, often drawing us into the situation and offering food for thought even if, especially before the show's reboot, it could also miss its mark laughably.

The current show seems to aim differently. The acting and production is generally great but I often find the scripts overbearing, cartoonish and lazy. It probably serves some audience well but, especially in recent years, it has lost sight of what I liked about many previous stories. It may be exciting fun but no longer seems clever, subtle, or even plausible.

My having largely given up on modern Doctor Who, I wonder what else might come closest to delivering what I wish it were. I doubt that Inspector Spacetime is the place to start! Still, there is hope: even Stargate: SG-1 had the occasional standalone episode which is much as I describe above: the premise allows the regulars to step into some interesting situation, learn about it, perhaps help in some way before leaving. The plot might not stick with me afterward but the show gets points for occasionally going beyond extraterrestrial action and attempting decent science fiction.

A realistic, inventive series is Black Mirror. Sure, it doesn't feature touring regulars but it certainly delivers thoughtful and varied concepts and plots. However, rather than featuring some wise visitor enabling a solution, it tends to deliver enough unpleasant misery that it feels more like a warning than it does entertainment: although its ideas are good enough that I sometimes think back to past episodes, I am not eager to watch more because movie adaptations of 1984 and Farenheit 451 make for lighter viewing.

With luck, there is plenty that I am missing: I wonder which other series to try watching that might provide varied science fiction that is entertaining and thought-provoking. Low-budget is fine: as I mentioned here a few years ago, cheaply made series can be rather good. In the meantime, now I have Iain M. Banks' Against a Dark Background to read.

Comments

[vyvyanx]

For current varied SF, O suggested Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, which apparently goes back to the original ST stand-alone episode approach, rather than focusing on a single overarching narrative. It seems to have gone down well with viewers.

For recent serious SF with a single narrative arc, we've enjoyed The Expanse, based on the James S A Corey series of books (which I can also recommend) - it's reasonably hard space opera, initially Solar System-based. For All Mankind is also really good (alternate history of the space race and subsequent developments), though we've only seen the first couple of series so far.

For older mostly or partly episodic SF, we regularly re-watch early Star Trek, Blake's 7, Babylon 5 and Firefly. We're also currently re-watching random episodes from the classic first 6 series of Red Dwarf (a 6d6 roll works beautifully!) which are all available on iPlayer, and the first few series of The X Files, available to stream on Channel 4. Oh, and The Outer Limits (late 90s version) really does it for me too.

[thewayne]

I read an article a couple of days ago about Iain Banks and the billionaire tech class being huge fans of his works, oblivious to the fact that he was seriously socialist and anti-billionaire class. It made for interesting reading.