Star Cops
Many "hard" sci fi fans tend to look down on sci fi TV shows. Rather than respecting the known laws of physics, TV (and movies) usually find it easier to just invent magic technologies to move faster than light, transfer minds from one person to another, hold things when the dolt who designed your uniform forgot all about the concept of "pockets," and so on. While sci fi often involves some currently-unknown technology like FTL travel, good sci fi still follows some sort of internally consistent rules.
And at least one TV series even managed to avoid inventing any sort of magic tech. In 1987 the British gave us yet another fine program, Star Cops. Set in the near future of 2027, the show follows a career detective, Nathan Spring (David Calder), who is pressured by his superior to apply for the job of leading the International Space Police Force (the unflattering nickname "Star Cops" was bestowed by the media). Spring isn't any avid space buff with a lifelong passion to get up to the High Frontier; his boss simply thought it would look bad if a Brit wasn't in the running for the post.
The reluctant Spring is shown the ropes by an expatriate American engineer, David Theroux (Erick Ray Evans), who is working on the European space station Charles de Gaulle (as opposed to the American space station Ronald Reagan). While the laid-back Spring is a space novice, he's also a quick learner and over time gains the trust and even friendship of the acerbic Theroux. Not all the cops are saints Up There; the Australian Pal Kenzy (Linda Newton) is busted for trying to shake down a planted 'suspect' for a bribe... but after becoming a media hero by foiling a hijacking Spring is politically unable to fire her.
In fact, more than a few of the crimes the Star Cops investigated were politically motivated (And to be fair, the British producers didn't make Her Majesty's government squeaky clean by any stretch). More than a few sci fi fans grew bored with the show- no aliens, no time travel, no technology that didn't (and still doesn't) look like it couldn't arrive in the next two decades.
True to the title, Star Cops was first and last a cop show. Of course there were always futuristic themes to the crimes, like sabotage by sending viruses into the systems controlling chemical plants or the Chunnel, or kidnapping an executive's cloned embryos, or extremely illegal research into biological weapons... but as the days are passing, one by one... these cases are looking less and less far-fetched.
And at least one TV series even managed to avoid inventing any sort of magic tech. In 1987 the British gave us yet another fine program, Star Cops. Set in the near future of 2027, the show follows a career detective, Nathan Spring (David Calder), who is pressured by his superior to apply for the job of leading the International Space Police Force (the unflattering nickname "Star Cops" was bestowed by the media). Spring isn't any avid space buff with a lifelong passion to get up to the High Frontier; his boss simply thought it would look bad if a Brit wasn't in the running for the post.
The reluctant Spring is shown the ropes by an expatriate American engineer, David Theroux (Erick Ray Evans), who is working on the European space station Charles de Gaulle (as opposed to the American space station Ronald Reagan). While the laid-back Spring is a space novice, he's also a quick learner and over time gains the trust and even friendship of the acerbic Theroux. Not all the cops are saints Up There; the Australian Pal Kenzy (Linda Newton) is busted for trying to shake down a planted 'suspect' for a bribe... but after becoming a media hero by foiling a hijacking Spring is politically unable to fire her.
In fact, more than a few of the crimes the Star Cops investigated were politically motivated (And to be fair, the British producers didn't make Her Majesty's government squeaky clean by any stretch). More than a few sci fi fans grew bored with the show- no aliens, no time travel, no technology that didn't (and still doesn't) look like it couldn't arrive in the next two decades.
True to the title, Star Cops was first and last a cop show. Of course there were always futuristic themes to the crimes, like sabotage by sending viruses into the systems controlling chemical plants or the Chunnel, or kidnapping an executive's cloned embryos, or extremely illegal research into biological weapons... but as the days are passing, one by one... these cases are looking less and less far-fetched.
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
Passionate Apathy
Fortunately sci fi is following the lead of mainstream dramas by not feeling the need to wrap everything up; to let some plot points dangle and grow over a season or longer.