Individual successes aside, it seems to me that a pattern emerges when we look at the major genres of speculative fiction and how well they do in the various media. Fantasy, for instance, seems to be suited well for the written medium. After all, I can name many more current, popular fantasy authors than I can horror and scifi combined. Scifi tends to find success in movies and tv. Perhaps it needs big budget special effects to sell its milieu, but on the other hand scifi tends to be most acclaimed on television, which offers the audience a chance to learn the technology of the show and watch it grow and interact with the characters. Horror (the kind that sets out to scare you) seems to harness its greatest rewards on the big screen. Could it be that all those things going bump in the night resound the best in a dark movie theater with popcorn, soda and a hot date?
Are these just random trends? Or is there something inherent in each of these genres that lends itself well to the genre in which it�s experienced its most acclaim? _________________ Violet "Violanthe" Kane
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Joined: 30 Mar 2006 Posts: 231 Location: Kent, England, U.K.
Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2006 11:21 am
Good question. I think Horror works well in film because of the combination of images (sudden shock), music etc.
Sci-Fi seems to work well on T.V. because it is all about concepts, ideas etc. and it appeals to all ages and can be adapted differently.
I think fantasy works well in books because of budget and special effects limitations. CGI makes a difference but I prefer models and puppets because your own imagination comes into play. Models and puppets look real because they are real. CGI definitely has its place though.
Joined: 30 Mar 2006 Posts: 231 Location: Kent, England, U.K.
Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2006 11:37 am
CGI definitely has its place though when used correctly or sparingly. For instance I am not a huge fan of CGI werewolves. However, if you use a werewolf puppet you can then use CGI to enhance it. For instance if the puppet didn't have legs you could add CGI legs. The result is it looks really good and you can't tell its CGI.
So which TV series do you consider to be fantasy or scifi?
There has been a lot of series which are clearly scifi or have general scifi ideas, but much less fantasy series. If you could have a fantasy series with good writing and characters, I'll bet it would do well. Mostly I blame crappy writing, but maybe there are some US fantasy shows that have had good writing and still been bad.
I've seen:
scifi: Farscape, Stargate SG-1, Star Trek, ST:TNG, ST:DS9, Battlestar Galactica (the new one), Quantum Leap, Doctor Who (the new one)
sort of scifi: Alias, Lost, 4400, MacGyver?
fantasy: Xena, Hercules, arguably Buffy and Angel. Charmed? Bewitched?
The scifi series have in common good writing, interesting characters, and good CGI. While Xena had some good episods, most of the time it had awful plots and stereotypical characters (the last three seasons were a bit better, though). Hercules was just plain awful. I'm a Buffy fan so I can't really be objective about it. Could it be that fantasy shows are started more as joke than a "serious" series where you spend money to get good writers?
Most of the fantasy movies wouldn't have been good in another genre, either.
Joined: 29 Mar 2006 Posts: 418 Location: Minnesota
Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2006 5:02 pm
I think we shall see much more fantasy on TV. Television in recent years has gone for the long story arcs. 24, Alias, etc. Large fantasy worlds could make a big splash on TV. George R.R. Martin is/was a TV writer.
Sci-fi has done well in the past because they were written in very short strokes. Each sci-fi story was very small and could be easily pitched to a TV exec. Star Trek = Western in Space. Thus, sci-fi got an early foot in the door.
I think with Hercules and Xena and with Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter movies, Fantasy is being explored in other media. TV is just around the corner.
Horror is just popular right now in movies. They can be made cheaply and bring in good box office. Have you noticed the number of PG-13 horror movies? It is because young people like to be scared. However, I think the desire to go for the PG-13 rating is going to hurt the genre. _________________ Douglas E. Gogerty
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