Science Fiction and Fantasy: TV Summer and Fall 2007

When one show hits big on television, it opens the door for many other shows of differing quality in the same genre. This year's fall schedule is full of new sci-fi/fantasy series, some already tried and some still unknown quantities.

Heroes, of course, is one of the two shoes that opened these floodgates. Who knew a show about ordinary people who develop superpowers would become such a hit? But it did, and everybody is waiting to see what will happen next since Hiro and company have "saved the cheerleader" and "saved the world."

One thing we know is that Hiro will still be stuck in Japan in 1671, in the middle of a samurai war.
For the rest, we'll just have to wait and see.

The other big story that got attention from both the networks and the cable channels is Jericho. When Jericho was cancelled at the end of last season, right in the middle of a big showdown, the fans went nuts..literally. When the beseiged inhabitants of Jericho were ordered to surrender or face obliteration, they sent back a message of refusal, "Nuts!" When the show was cancelled, fans sent thousands of tons of nuts to the network, and that crazy gesture caught the network's attention. In a triumph for viewers everywhere, Jericho will be back for at lesat 7 episodes in the fall.

Another show that has already returned is a favorite of mine, Eureka. This Sci-Fi channel original charmed me last year, with its tale of an idyllic looking small town which scientists use for all kinds of hush-hush experiments. The sheriff in this town doesn't just have to deal with crime, he has to deal with weird weather, berserk weapons, a really strange artifact, and who knows what else they'll come up with this season. Eureka is currently showing new episodes now.

Dr. Who will continue to show new episodes with David Tennent's delightful Doctor and another new companion. I can't talk too much about this one, because I've already seen them and I don't want to give anything away, but I was concerned when David Tennant replaced Christopher Eggleston, because i loved Eggleston's doctor. I'm not concerned anymore. Tennant is every bit as good and he has a grin that could almost charm a Dalek.

I've only seen the first few episodes of the Dr. Who spin-off, Torchwood. I can tell you that John Barrowman is really gorgeous, and the stories are MUCH more adult-oriented than the Dr. Who stories. They are very well-written and I love them. And Barrowman may well be the first bi-sexual sci-fi hero on television.

So what other new shows are coming up, and what trends do they reveal?

Well, there's a definite move away from space travel. The hot topics are science and technology and the paranormal, with a healthy dose of post-apocolypse thrown in as well. Although we DO have what must be at least the hundredth remake of Flash Gordon to look forward to. Despite the many, many times I've seen it done before, I really am looking forward to this one; I think it will be good fun.

But back to the technology category: First, The Bionic Woman is coming back. My first response was "Why?" but now, I've changed my mind. The technology has really caught up with the story, and being able to build a superwoman with bionic parts is no longer such a far-fetched idea. And I hear this BW is going to be far tougher than Lindsay Wagner ever was. It will certainly be worth a look to find out!

Chuck is a completely new, non-remake show featuring advanced technology, scheduled for NBC this fall. In it, a computer genius becomes a spy after the country's secrets are somehow downloaded into his head. This one is a dark horse, I think, but it adds an element of 24 to the mix, so who knows?

The rest of the shows seem to deal mostly with the paranormal, in some cases, throwing in a bit of few crime procedural. Pushing Daisies is one I think looks promising as it does not seem to take itself too seriously. In it, a part-time detective discovers that he can bring crime victims back to life with a touch, thus enabling him to find out who murdered them, but a second touch kills them again.

Journeyman's hero is a newspaper reporter who discovers that he can quantum leap into the past, a familiar sounding concept. Quantum Leap, the original, was one of my favorite shows ever, so this one will have a lot to live up to.

Immortals and the Undead are represented by New Amsterdam and Moonlight respectively. New Amsterdam features a New York cop who happens to be immortal and has been around for 400 years. Moonlight, created by the same guy who created Angel, features a vampire who is a good guy and a private detective (crime procedurals creeping in again.)

Then there's Reaper, with a protagonist who parents really epitomize bad, bad parenting because they sold his soul to the Devil. Now, he works as a sort of bounty hunter for Lucifer. This will either be really good or really bad. I don't think there will be an in-between for it.

These are not all the new shows with a sci-fi or fantasy twist coming out this summer or fall (for instance, The Sarah Conner Chronicles, based on The Terminator movies,) but they are what I think are the most promising ones. We'll see what stands and what falls when the new season hits the screen.