SFTV

September 2002
© 2002 Ernest Lilley / SFRevu
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My pick for the new season is Firefly from FOX

SFTV: - The New Season: Fall 2002
by David Marsh

Remember when we you lived for the moment the new TV guide came out with the cool new fall SF shows? Maybe you're not old enough. Maybe you still do...but one thing's for sure, though some of your favorite shows may not be coming back this year, there are some new ones that deserve a look, and some returnees that merit a second (or seventh) viewing.

I'm as sad as anyone that Farscape was just cancelled (see Tom Francis' Save Farscape article) but I'm looking forward to the movie project in the works and you could always...read a good book.

Here's the new SFTV season kickoff dates, so run to your VCRs and take another shot at trying to program a machine. Check your local listings at www.tvguide.com

New Shows

Show

Season#

Time?

Season Starts

Haunted (UPN)

Debut

Tue 9pm

24-Sep

Frank Taylor is a cop who sees dead people. Well, ghosts anyway. It helps him solve his cases, even though his ex partner and ex wife (there's a lot of ex in this guy's file) think he may be a case himself.

Twilight Zone (UPN)

Debut

Wed 9pm

18-Sep

Forest Whitaker hosts the new UPN incarnation of the classic series of fantasy and suspense. Wednesdays at 9 is evidentially the new Friday at 10.

Dinotopia (ABC)

Debut

Thu 8pm

10-Oct

Dinotopia picks up after the May mini-series leaves off, but beware, the story may be the same, but the cast is all new. It's scheduled opposite the killer "Friends" but they're betting the audience's don't overlap. Still, Ross might watch it .

Birds of Prey (WB)

Debut

Thu 9pm

9-Oct

From the WB Site: In the days when Batman patrolled the dark streets and rooftops of New Gotham, the world's master criminals were drawn to the city to prove themselves against the greatest crime-fighter of them all. Now, Batman has vanished, but New Gotham still seethes with generations of criminals. For the good citizens of this dangerous place, hope comes in the unlikely form of a trio of beautiful and relentless heroines, the "Birds of Prey."

Firefly (FOX)

Debut

Fri 8pm

20-Sep

Firefly is the best looking Space Opera to come along since B5, and I really hope that it does well. 500 years from now a tramp freighter plies the star lanes making a buck (legal or not) in the aftermath of a space civil war.

Captain Malcom Reynolds wants to keep his ship and crew intact without drawing too much "Alliance" attention...and that's the real trick now, isn't it?

John Doe (FOX)

Debut

Fri 9pm

20-Sep

John Doe is a man who comes out of nowhere, knows nothing about himself, and everything about everything else. Everything. Starting on an island and winding up in Seattle, he becomes a police consultant looking for answers for them, and for himself. It's an interesting premise, but you know they'll string you along with tidbits until your interest runs out.

The Lost World (A&E)

Debut (Miniseries)

Sun 8pm
Mon 8pm

Part 1 - Oct 6
Part 2 - Oct 7

This might just be an excellent series/adaptation of a classic SF Novel.

From A&E: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World is a fast-paced thriller about an a 1911 British scientific team on a breathtaking but terrifying journey into an uncharted central Amazon jungle... and a nightmare from which they may never return. Their destination: a remote plateau where it is rumored that dinosaurs still walk the earth.

Returning Shows

Andromeda (Syn)

Week of 30-Sep

Part II of the cliffhanging season 2 ender: "Tunnel at the End of the Light" - Episode #222 in which the Maru along with Ty and Beka take a bomb into an inter-dimensional tunnel to stop an invasion from an alternate universe, and the ship comes back, but not the crew...stay tuned Andromeda watchers.

Angel (WB)

Season 4

Sun 9pm

6-Oct 4

Angel is a vampire with a soul who's in love with a real angel. What's wrong with kids today? Don't they know that good solid fantasy has unicorns and elves and stuff? Angels and Demons and Witches are not the stuff of fantasy...they're the stuff of religion. I'm not sure whether these shows are an affirmation or denial of religion...but they worry me.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer (UPN)

Season 7

Tue 8pm

24-Sep

It took a while for Buffy to get over being dead, but by the end of last season she seemed happy to be a slayer. I'm sure the network is happy she's alive too.

Enterprise (UPN)

Season 2

Wed 8pm

08-Sep

Enterprise is back for its second season with Archer in the big chair. We'd really like to like this show, and Scott Bakula as Archer is a pretty good pick...but unfortunately, he's trying to pull the rest of the cast along with a tractor beam and a prayer. His Vulcan science officer would look a heck of a lot more at home in an excersice video than showing off her midriff in every other scene...and her brain in none. What's up with the Vulcans in this show anyway? They are just not a fun crowd to hang around. More Romulan ale please.

I do like the temporal twists in the show, as they give the series an out if they ever want to dump the future storyline (you rember, Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway...that storyline?) relegating them to an alternate universe.

Futurama (Fox)

Season 4

Sun 7pm

10-Oct

Season Four Looks like the end of the galactic road for Planet Express and our intrepid heroes. Twas the Emmy nomination that did em in, I guess.

Mutant X (Syn)

Season 2

Week of 30-Sep 2

Based on the Marvel Comic, which is slated for canellation, I believe. The Mutant X storyline has a group of genetically engineered humans with X-Men type powers on the run from their creators...who want to put the genie back in the bottle.

Smallville (WB)

Season 2

Tue 9pm

24-Sep

This is a great show, hurt only by the future we've already seen for it. If only Clark could pick his own destiny, instead of the one that's been scripted and rescripted for him. Oh well. Last seen, Clark was off to rescue Lana from a twister rather than kissing Chloe. His dad is missing and Lex has his own parent problems to deal with.

Stargate SG-1 (Sho)

Season 5

Mon 10pm

09-Sep

I still like Stargate SG-1, largely because I like Ricard Dean Anderson, though the supporting cast do a pretty good job too. I never did like the faux egyptian alien stuff though. I expect I'll tune in on and off this season too.

The West Wing (WB)

Season 4

Wed 10 pm

Judging by the overflow crowd at the West Wing panel at the Millenium World Science Fiction Convention, SF Fans think this is SF (or Fantasy), and they really like it. Bush may be in the White House, but Barlett is still in the West Wing.