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This Week’s Poll: Which Sci Fi Series would you like to see revived?

This Week’s Poll: Which Sci Fi Series would you like to see revived?

BBCThis week’s poll poses the question of which Science Fiction series you would like to see revived and back on our screens. As ever to help you decide we’ve put together a small article with a bit of background information on each of the candidates.

  

 

UFO

Live action Sci Fi series from Gerry and Sylvia Anderson who had perhaps tied of puppets and model UFOworks and so decided to move into working with real actors. The successful partnership had already created such iconic shows as Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and Stingray. UFO revolved around a secret organisation, S.H.A.D.O, which protected the world from a race of aliens who wanted to harvest humanity for their organs. Amongst the stars of the television series were Gabrielle Drake, Ed Bishop and Wanda Ventham. 26 episodes of the series were made and aired over the course of two years from 1970 onwards. A second season was originally planned but later scrapped however, the Andersons used reworked their ideas of UFO’s second season into a brand new series – Space 1999.

 


 

Crime Traveller

A crime based time-travelling drama from 1997 created and written by Anthony Horowitz who stumbled upon inspiration for the drama while adapting an episode of Poirot for LWT. Michael French, Chloe BBCAnnett and Sue Johnson made up part of the cast of this 8 part drama which aired on BBC One in 1997. Jeff Slade discovers that Holly Turner has a time machine in her flat and uses it to solve crimes and even to tries to win the lottery in one episode.  A well written and produced series with a good, strong cast unfortunately this drama was never given a second run. Anthony Horowitz blames this on a change of executives in the BBC at the time meaning Crime Traveller fell between the cracks as it were; it simple was forgotten about in the changeover.

 


 

Space 1999

 

Drama from Gerry and Sylvia Anderson revolving around the inhabitants of Moon Base Alpha who are flung across the galaxy after a powerful nuclear explosion knocks the moon out of Earth’s orbit. The Space 1999drama follows the Alphans as the travel through the galaxy hoping one day to return home.  Leading stars included American Marin Landau and Barbara Bain who were cast at Lew Grade’s instance in the hope of appealing to US audiences. The series was took a lot of visual inspiration from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: Space Odyssey. A second series was commissioned but underwent a revamp with more action and fun introduced and several cast members axed. Joining the cast of the second series were Catherine Von Schell and Tony Anholt. A third season and spin-off revolving around Von Schell’s character were planned but later scrapped.

 

 


Babylon 5

 

Complicated but critically acclaimed and award-winning series from J. Michael Stracyznski who wrote the majority of the episodes across its five year run. Babylon 5 revolved around a huge space station in neutral space that was established to keep peace after the Earth/Minibari war several years before. The drama was “arc” formatted with another piece of the jigsaw falling into place each episode. There were two main arcs that covered the first four seasons; the creepy and powerful Shadows and the fall of Earth into a military dictatorship. The “Shadow” arc saw the gradual introduction of the powerful aliens who had disappeared a 1000 years before but had returned to wage war once again on the galaxy and long-standing enemies, the Vorlons. The series was rich in design, costume and boasted excellent special effects and brilliant performances from the cast.

 


 

Star Trek

 

The “daddy” of all Science Fiction franchises which has spawned five television spin-offs [if you include Paramountthe Animated series] and a long-standing film franchise as well as books, games and fan made productions. The last incarnation of Star Trek on television was the poorly received prequel Enterprise which barely made it to four seasons. The fourth season saw things import dramatically but it was too late as the axe fell. That was several years ago and with the success of Star Trek on the big-screen we wouldn’t be surprised if there wasn’t somewhere a plan for a new television spin-off in the works. After all when the Original Series was axed no one expected it to spawn the films and the spin-offs that followed from the 1980s onwards. 

 


 

Blakes 7

Camp but often dark BBC science fiction series from the 1970s/1980s which was created by Terry Season Three cast of Blakes 7 - BBCNation – the man behind Survivors, the Daleks and er the Mechanoids. Blakes 7 followed a group of criminal rebels who led the fight back against the corrupt and totalitarian Terran Federation. While critics blasted it for being camp with costumes inspired by Abba and special effects made up of fairy washing up liquid bottles the series remains fondly remembered. It wasn’t afraid to tell dark stories and kill off cast members as Gan, Travis and Cally were all killed across the four seasons with the final episode seemingly killing off the rest of the heroes. It was rumoured that Sky One were reviving the series along the lines of Battlestar Galactica but never further has been heard since.  

 


 

The X-Files

 

Investigative and conspiracy lead drama from the 1990s that was hugely popular with audiences Foxacross the world. The series initially revolved around Agents Dana Scully and Fox Mulder who work for the FBI and are given “X-file” cases; paranormal and unexplainable cases that no one else will touch. Mulder believes that the American government is aware of aliens and is even in league with them while Scully is a sceptic. However, across the many seasons a conspiracy is slowly revealed that proves Mulder right. The performances of Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny doubtless helped the series become an international success running for 9 seasons and two cinematic films. The truth is out there.

 


 

Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel

 

It started life as a film that didn’t really perform that well or set viewers abuzz but when it moved to television a few years later it proved to be a ratings and critical success with legions of fans – yes Angel we’re talking about Buffy Summers and her slaying ways. Joss Whedon’s television version of Buffy, a teenage girl who slays demons while trying to have a personal life, proved to be a huge hit with audiences. It made a real star out of Sarah Michelle Gellar and has seen every Brit sci fi set in a school since labelled a “British Buffy” [Hex, Trinity ect]. After three seasons Buffy spawned a spin-off revolving around the vampire with a soul, Angel. Countless other spin-offs revolving around other characters [Giles, Faith and Spike] have since been touted about as possible new ventures for the franchise. After seven seasons Buffy concluded while Angel was axed after five despite a rise in ratings – doubtless fans would like to see more of both shows.

 

Your favourite sci fi from days gone by not include in our poll? Then simply post your suggestion below!

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