Summer SF TV

There are few worse places to be on the "prime-time" network TV schedule than 10 pm on Saturday night during August. That may not be as true nowadays, with DVRs making TV schedules increasingly irrelevant, but it's still a place to stick a show the network is sure will not be popular. Particularly when the network does nothing to promote the show.



So it was that ABC's MASTERS OF SCIENCE FICTION flew under my radar for half of its four-episode summer run.



I did, however, manage to catch last week's and this week's episodes. Last week was dissatisfying. It was an adaptation of Robert Heinlein's story "Jerry Was a Man." Although it was written and directed by Michael Tolkin, and starred Anne Heche and Malcolm McDowell, it felt bloated, like a half-hour idea blown up to an hour. Alas, half-hour dramas are extinct.

This week's episode was far better -- in fact, one of the best TV adaptations of written SF I've seen. It adapted Harlan Ellison's story "The Discarded"; and although it was updated, and characters' personalities expanded, it was a surpassingly faithful adaptation of the story -- possibly because Ellison co-wrote the teleplay (and played one of the mutants on the ship). It was directed by Johnathan Frakes, who played Riker in the STAR TREK franchise and directed the best NEXT GENERATION movie, FIRST CONTACT. In contrast to the previous episode, the story felt neither bloated nor spare; instead, it filled the confines of the hour like liquid finding its own level. The teleplay, in fact, resembled a stage play, and could probably be produced as a three-act play. The confined setting (a spaceship) and the dialogue-driven storytelling contributed to the theatrical feeling. Some might find issue with laying out a story so much through expositional dialogue; but it worked well in this setting.

Alas, few viewers probably saw this excellent work -- although I'm sure ABC will release it and the other episodes on DVD.