2014 may be in the rearview, but all around it was a damn
good year for science fiction. We got fantastic movies big and small, new and
interesting additions to the literary side of the genre, and we’ve even got
three, soon to be four, Doctor Who comic books. There was
also a ton of great stuff to watch from the comfort of our very own couch and
tune into week after week on ye olde boob tube. There are some definite gaps in
my viewing for the year, but here are some of my favorite sci-fi shows of the
past 12 months. In retrospect, this is actually kind of a sad list, as multiple
entries have already been cancelled or are definitively on their way out.
The 100
A year ago, having seen the promos full of handsome teen
boys and pretty teen girls running around the woods, if you told me I’d be
sitting here and The CW’s sci-fi Lord of the Flies drama
The 100 would be one of my favorite shows on TV, I’d have
called you crazy. But here we are, and that’s exactly what I’m saying. In fact,
my only real hang up is that everyone in the cast looks like a damn model,
aside from that, which isn’t hard to get past after they have an episode or two
worth of dirt piled on top of them, the rest of is one of the best sci-fi shows
of 2014. I’m as surprised as anyone, that’ll teach me to be closed-minded.
After the world has been wrecked by nuclear war, the
remnants of the human race survive orbiting the Earth in a cobbled together
space station called the Ark. But it sucks, is cramped, and is falling apart
around them. In a desperate, last ditch effort, they send 100 juvenile
prisoners down to the surface to see if it’s survivable, like canaries into a
mineshaft. There is, of course, some of the usual teen drama at first, but after
a few episodes, The 100 quickly established itself with a
collection of strong, unique characters and stories that never take the easy
way out or go where you expect. It’s been a pleasant revelation, and now
halfway through the second season, just when it was in danger of jumping the
shark and trailing off, it continues to surprise by moving in new directions.
Orphan Black
Anchored by a truly mind-boggling performance from Tatiana
Maslany, who plays multiple distinct characters, often in the same scene, BBC
America’s clone-drama Orphan Black has progressively gotten
better, and that’s saying something as it started off very strong. After taking
us by storm, season 2 opened up the world, showing that there’s even more to the
conspiracy that Sarah, Allison, Cosima, and the others chase after. There’s
intrigue, action, drama, and emotion, and even though we have months to wait
until season 3 kicks off later this spring, we’re willing to wait and suspect
it will be worth the time.
The last season steadily moved Sarah and the others towards the brink of war, though with who remains unclear. Just when you think you have a handle on it, the landscape shifts and your perspective changes. Now not only is there the Dyad to contend with—not to mention Allison’s suburban soccer mom troubles—but they’re not the only clones on the block. A male set clones, all played by Ari Millen, showed up on the scene, but unlike their female counterparts, who live relatively normal lives (as normal as can be given the circumstances anyway), they’re all highly trained soldiers and are going to be a force to be reckoned with.
Continuum
Continuum may be coming to an end—the
embattled time travel series was recently renewed for a truncated fourth season,
though it will be the last—but over the course of it’s too-short run, it became
one of the most interesting, engaging science fiction shows on your television.
Rising costs and diminishing returns led to Canadian channel Showcase to pull
the plug, but if nothing else, at least we’ll be able to get some closure, and
we’ve got a handful of strong seasons to revisit from time to time when we need
a fix.
The show follows Kiera Cameron (Rachel Nichols), a cop from
the year 2077 who is accidentally booted back in time to present day Vancouver,
B.C. along with a group of terrorists. Once she lands, she must use her
knowledge of the bad guys, as well as the future, to stop them from wreaking
havoc and reshaping the world. That sounds pretty standard, but there’s way
more in play. She wants to get home to her family, has cool new tech that helps
her out, teams up with a tough-as-nails though still hunky present day cop, and
even enlists the younger version of an influential industrialist from the
future in her quest. Continuum really hit it’s stride in
seasons 2 and 3, finally realizing it’s potential, just in time to be
cancelled, of course.
Almost Human
We can add Almost Human, the robot buddy
cop drama from J.J. Abrams and Fringe mastermind J.H. Wyman,
to the list of sci-fi shows that were cancelled well before their time. It’s
one of those situations that are hard as a fan. Do we lament the fact that the
show is gone or celebrate that we got to see it at all in the first place, even
if it was only for one truncated season? While it sucks that Fox gave it the
axe, we’re going to go with the latter option because it was a fun ride while
it lasted.
Almost Human takes the police procedural
trope of a grizzled, loner cop hiding his secret pain and trauma, paired with a
new, mismatched partner, and gives it a sci-fi twist. Not happy with his
officially mandated robotic partner, the department scrapes the bottom of the
barrel for Detective John Kennex (Karl Urban) latest ride along, Dorian
(Michael Ealy), the last remnant of a line of synthetics most remembered for
malfunctioning and being wildly emotional and unstable. As you probably
guessed, Dorian’s unusual blend of neurosis and personality quirks make him a
perfect foil for Kennex, and the uneasy relationship, trust, and even
friendship they form, as unlikely as it may be, is the real emotional core of
the show. It also works pretty damn well as a hard-boiled sci-fi detective
story, with hints of Blade Runner and other influences, as
the pair tries to unravel a sprawling conspiracy that goes so far we’ll never
see the end.
Star Wars Rebels
I’m still not a fan of the style of animation, but thus far,
that’s the only real knock I have against Disney XD’s Star WarsRebels. The first new addition to the post-Disney buyout of Lucasfilm
Star Wars universe, more than anything, watching
Rebels feels like watching the franchise you love. There’s
that familiar sense of high adventure and swashbuckling action that George
Lucas originally lifted from the movie serials he loved as a kid, and it’s as
much fun as you hoped, even if it is obviously aimed at a much younger
audience.
Set between the events of Revenge of the
Sith and A New Hope, Rebels is
set in a world where the Empire is tightening its oppressive grip on the
galaxy, and on the backwater world of Lothal, a group of resisters, the seeds
of what ultimately becomes the Rebel Alliance, stands up. Into their midst
stumbles a wayward young Orphan, Ezra, the Luke Skywalker of this particular
saga, and the undercover Jedi leader Kanan takes him under his wing, mentoring
the boy, developing his abilities with the force.
Honorable Mentions
I have a troubled relationship with AMC’s zombie drama
The Walking Dead, but the show is as good as it’s ever been,
and getting better, and is finally coming close to the potential inherent in
Robert Kirkman’s comics. Not strictly sci-fi, Marvel’s Agents of
S.H.I.E.L.D. started to get good after Captain America: TheWinter Soldier, and now, in the middle of season two, it’s become a
legitimately important piece of the MCU, and recently introduced some elements
from the Inhumans that are likely to play a big part moving
forward. Cosmos is definitely more science than fiction, but
I will listen to Neil DeGrasse Tyson talk about anything, and if he wants to
take me on a guided tour of an abandoned strip mall, I’m there. NBC’s
Believe, from J.J. Abrams and Alfonso Cuaron, had all the
potential in the world, but while it felt like it was starting to find itself
near the end—it was moderately compelling, but always felt
almost good—no one tuned in and the network pulled the plug
on yet another promising young series.
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