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Mar. 7th, 2012
Space Advocacy, the Series
Mar. 7th, 2012 12:03 pmMundane science fiction can be a pretty hard sell for a TV series. Without the striking visuals plus the cheap, easy and quick travel of Star Trek or Stargate: SG 1 and can be downright dull if handled incorrectly, and there are a million ways to handle in incorrectly.
Actually, that's the whole problem. Space, in the words of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
autopope, is shit. If you're going anywhere aside from LEO or the Moon it's going to take a minimum of serveral months travel, with at least a half-dozen people jammed into a space the size of a couple of caravans, travelling through an environment that is empty of road hazards or interesting visual landmarks, but can kill you in a dozen invisible ways from oxygen loss, to radiation poisoning to simple health problems that are irritated into major crises by the effect of zero G. That can be milked for drama, in increasing historonic ways, but in the end it doesn't get across one of the most basic concepts of modern space exploration. That is, it's a seriously complex endeavor involving hundreds, of not thousands of people, not just a few jut jawed heroes, that despite the lack of glamour is still worth doing.
Some of the more recent examples can be disheartening. The Cape has the advantage of NASA support, but was stuck with soap opera drama. The failed pilot Plymouth had a more interesting premise (small American town moves up to a failing Moon colony to take it over) but was stuck with the old He3 canard. More recently we had Defying Gravity which had a nominally hard science premise but quickly degenerated into Lost style mumbo jumbo.
I think we need a different example to inspire people. Not the soap opera of The Cape or the space opera of Star Trek. We need a program that can simultaneously show the complexities (and occasionally the absurdities) of creating a manned space mission and more importantly show why it matters. What we need, in other words, in the space equivilent of The West Wing.
Just wish I knew how to do that aside from having a ton exposition spoken very earnestly while walking down hallways...
Actually, that's the whole problem. Space, in the words of
autopope, is shit. If you're going anywhere aside from LEO or the Moon it's going to take a minimum of serveral months travel, with at least a half-dozen people jammed into a space the size of a couple of caravans, travelling through an environment that is empty of road hazards or interesting visual landmarks, but can kill you in a dozen invisible ways from oxygen loss, to radiation poisoning to simple health problems that are irritated into major crises by the effect of zero G. That can be milked for drama, in increasing historonic ways, but in the end it doesn't get across one of the most basic concepts of modern space exploration. That is, it's a seriously complex endeavor involving hundreds, of not thousands of people, not just a few jut jawed heroes, that despite the lack of glamour is still worth doing.Some of the more recent examples can be disheartening. The Cape has the advantage of NASA support, but was stuck with soap opera drama. The failed pilot Plymouth had a more interesting premise (small American town moves up to a failing Moon colony to take it over) but was stuck with the old He3 canard. More recently we had Defying Gravity which had a nominally hard science premise but quickly degenerated into Lost style mumbo jumbo.
I think we need a different example to inspire people. Not the soap opera of The Cape or the space opera of Star Trek. We need a program that can simultaneously show the complexities (and occasionally the absurdities) of creating a manned space mission and more importantly show why it matters. What we need, in other words, in the space equivilent of The West Wing.
Just wish I knew how to do that aside from having a ton exposition spoken very earnestly while walking down hallways...