Jan Johnson-Smith,
American Science Fiction TV: Star Trek, Stargate and Beyond.
London & New York: I.B.Tauris, 2004.
ISBN 1 86064 882 7
320pp
£12.99 stg. (pb)
(Review copy supplied by I.B.Tauris)

This book offers a valuable overview of the recent history of science fiction television, with a primary focus on narrative, imagery and ideology. It offers many insights and helps to open up a genre that has not received sufficient critical and scholarly attention. It is also well-written and displays a genuine passion for its subject matter.

Its principal theme is the manner in which science fiction has replaced the western as the genre within which television perpetuates “the dominant mytho-history of the USA – the story of the frontier, the Wild West.” The author believes that “records of epic journeys, part genuine exploration and part flamboyant speculation, are central to the development of a national character and psyche,” and science fiction has assumed a lead role in keeping the frontier myth alive in the dominant contemporary medium (5).

It has brought change however. Classic TV westerns such as Bonanza or Big Valley portrayed a vast, frequently sublime frontier, peopled with archetypal characters, and science fiction television initially followed suit. However, in recent science fiction TV, “alternative ideologies and cultural discourses in both narrative-drama and narrative imagery have begun to appear,” and the latter “tells its own, sometimes discordant, story. … Revolutionary ideas and experiences can be offered.” (5-6)

To some extent this is quite true, although some of the most recent science fiction TV shows are notable not for their revolutionary ideas but rather for their “retro” re-assertion of traditional western images, themes, and even clichés. The critically acclaimed Firefly, for example, was explicitly set on the “frontier” of space (wherever that might be from earth) and deliberately invoked the western by leaving “law & order” behind, arming its characters with “six shooters”, and having bar-room brawls, a preacher, and even a “town prostitute” (albeit one inexplicably treated with groveling subservience as a quasi-royal personage). As the author concedes, “Firefly makes no effort to be metaphorical: this is the frontier, America’s [mythical] Wild West made manifest” (136).

The new version of Battlestar Galactica is also retrograde, once again recalling the first series’ invocation of the Mormon Church’s epic 19th century trek across the United States to its ultimate haven in Utah. Its heroes confront endless mortal threats, inept politicians and vicious traitors, while facing an utterly ruthless enemy in a completely lawless universe.

This book chooses to focus however on several other series, particularly the Star Trek franchise in its many versions, Stargate SG-1, Babylon 5, and Farscape – all of which have made significant contributions to the genre. Of these, Farscape (which was made in Australia) is probably the most innovative and best exemplifies the author’s claims about the enhanced capacity of contemporary television to communicate through spectacular and frequently bizarre characterization and imagery.

The structure of the book is quite accessible. After introducing its general argument the book spends the first chapter discussing the meaning of “genre’ and how it helps illuminate the various narrative and other strategies that characterize science fiction. Here the author draws upon several prominent theorists, including Darko Suvin, whose neo-Marxist approach has been extremely influential in the field over the past 20 years. This is supplemented by the similar work of Fredric Jameson, Robin Wood and others.

Chapter Two provides an historical account of the role of the western, especially in its television form, focusing on its ability to capitalize on its inherent “televisuality” as the relevant sfx and cgi technologies matured and TV began (the author argues) to shift from a predominantly verbal to a predominantly visual medium. Science fiction continued this process as it facilitated the almost total freedom of the visual imagination that was exemplified in the apparently inexhaustible and even overwhelming visual spectacles of Farscape, and other shows.

The remaining four chapters of the book explore many interesting issues while focusing on several of the most successful science fiction TV series. Chapter Three looks at the later series from within the Star Trek franchise, beginning with its “rebirth” in 1987, with Star Trek; The Next Generation. Chapter Four is particularly interesting, investigating the portrayal of the military in contemporary science fiction TV. Here the focus is on Space: Above and Beyond, which “interrogates the standing of the military and its relationship to the political and public sphere [and considers] questions of human expansion and colonialism” (9) Chapter Five seeks to draw many of the book’s arguments together via a detailed analysis of Babylon 5, “perhaps the only programme to have ever truly competed with Star Trek in the creation of a sustainable and plausible future universe” (10).

Science fiction TV series provide interesting and unique challenges for scholars prepared to undertake the difficult but necessary task of analyzing this important area of popular culture. Such series can span decades and literally hundreds of episodes, attracting very large numbers of devoted, articulate, and resourceful fans, and supported by high profile Internet websites and merchandizing campaigns. The fan bases provide virtually instant feedback on each episode and on plot developments, interacting continuously with the production companies, as was demonstrated with the cancellation and resurrection of such series as Farscape and Firefly. In addition they increasingly support “slash fiction” websites, where fans post spin-off stories, usually involving unlikely romantic dalliance between stars of the shows.

\We are witnessing the convergence of film and television technologies, especially as film sfx and cgi come to depend increasingly on digital technology, and as television itself becomes fully digital and widely available on large, high-definition screens. This means that the scholarly critical and analytical apparatus that has served so well in its treatment of film will increasingly find itself called upon to deal with issues that are becoming evident in science fiction TV. This book marks an important step forward in meeting this exciting challenge.

Mervyn F. Bendle,
James Cook University, Australia.
Created on: Wednesday, 20 July 2005 | Last Updated: 20-Jul-05