The decline of Scifi Comedy

[Ben Paddon]

As we all know by now, the world of entertainment is pretty much solely in the hands of marketing departments who are generally of the opinion that if they can’t pluck some magically high number out of the air for a particular film or book or TV series or whatever that it’s no longer viable. The sixth episode of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (TV or radio, either one) sums it up quite nicely with the B-arc crew having in-depth discussions about what colour the wheel will be before actually doing the design-work, and also trying to determine what people want from fire before actually getting on with the task of discovering it.

I fear that Scifi Comedy has suffered somewhat from the same problem, and to that degree I’m beginning to understand why the BBC chose to turn down involvement in the Red Dwarf movie, and also knock away a potential Red Dwarf IX.

Look at Scifi Comedy over the past ten years. The single best thing I can think of is Galaxy Quest, which is an utter gem of a movie regardless of whether you like Science Fiction or not. It’s downhill from there, I’m afraid: We have Idiocracy, which is a superb idea that’s very poorly executed. We have the H2G2 movie, which isn’t a particularly good adaptation. We have Hyperdrive, which had potential and a great cast (and a few golden moments) but ultimately fell short.

We do, of course, have Red Dwarf VII and VIII. Although I maintain that VII has some of the finest moments in the whole of the shows run, VIII is largely very, very silly and doesn’t really fit with the rest of the show. At the very least we can include Pete and Only The Good…, as the rest of VIII isn’t quite as bad as that. And we have the Christmas Mobisode which I’ve not seen myself but which people generally seem to dislike.

I’m not saying it’s all bad – we’ve had Futurama which is brilliant, and Bender’s Big Score which is… less than brilliant, but still enjoyable. But as wonderful as Futurama is, it looks very much like a “diamond in the rough” at the moment.

Looking at the state of Scifi Comedy, it’s very easy to see why the BBC made the decision they did. From a marketing standpoint, from a purely monetary position, it’s difficult to greenlight something that fits a genre/setting that has proven to be wanting over the past few years.

What these marketing departments fail to take into consideration, however, is that the majority of the shows and films I’ve mentioned suffer from poor writing, poor structure, or generally just being very poor. Hyperdrive, for example, is badly paced and while it can be very funny it doesn’t hit that target quite as often or quite as hard as Red Dwarf ever did during its heyday.

The DVD sales of both Red Dwarf and Futurama prove that people want good Scifi Comedy. The problem is that they’re not getting it because no one’s doing good Scifi Comedy. Keyword: Good. Then they act surprised when their Scifi Comedy doesn’t receive high ratings, and they decide it’d be easier to knock that particular genre/setting combination on the head rather than, I don’t know, finding some good smegging writers to have a stab at it. I’m sure Hyperdrive would’ve been excellent if it’d had stronger writing and more focused direction. As it was, it was Red Dwarf VIII Lite.

My own webcomic, Jump Leads, started life as a script submitted to the BBC Writersroom. They loved the script, but didn’t like the premise purely because it was Scifi Comedy. A chap at the BBC has given me details to send him more of my work directly (work which is less Scifi-focused I imagine) because he likes my writing style. He, and by extension the BBC, no longer see Scifi Comedy as potentially lucrative or of sufficiently high quality. I do, and I pushed forward with finding an artist and turning it into a webcomic. Jump Leads now receives on average approximately 25,000 unique hits a month, and while that’s not a particularly high number for a website (there are some sites that achieve that figure in the space of a couple of hours) the comic has received critical praise from all sorts of sources and it’s popularity is steadily growing.

It’s interesting to note that a lot of people looking for good Scifi Comedy are turning to the internet, to webcomics like Starslip Crisis, to Good Ship Chronicles, to Jump Leads. Very interesting indeed, and I often wonder if a webcomic (or a print comic, perhaps) is the best way to continue the Red Dwarf story.

It just pisses me off that this is the state of Scifi Comedy right now. No one wants to get behind it, yet there are people out there who crave it and who are ready to put their money down on DVDs and merchandise, so long as the quality is there. That’s something production companies need to realise – find the right premise by the right writer.

Topic

[Ben Paddon]

?dimaond”? Bugger. I should of proof-read that bad boy before I clicked “Post Comment”.

Edit: oh look, I found an “Edit” button.

[Steve Harris]

I’m beginning to think there are numerous reasons why Sc-Fi comedy is passed over but the biggest factor is economics.

Clearly the BBC gave it a shot with Hyperdrive and failed to grab a big enough audience..
It’s my belief that Hyperdrive was given the go ahead in the wake of considerable success with Sci-Fi drama but sadly they didn’t realise that it wasn’t funny enough.
Starhyke is still doing the rounds trying to find a buyer and believe me this is less funny than Hyperdrive.
Considering that Hyperdrive has failed (to a point) and that a Starhyke pilot is already in the can, it’s not exactly going to encourage investors.

It’s my guess that ‘space’ based comedy is a lot more expensive to produce than your average sitcom and is therefore far less likely to be taken up.

Starhyke was made with an expensive cast, it looks good and the effects are not at all bad, it’s just not funny.

I also think that you cant compare Futerama with a any British production..
Matt Groening has one of the best records in the universe for producing the goods in a country that spends billions on ratings, he’s a goldmine…

Interestingly though, where track records are concerned, Doug Naylor is pretty high profile..
Sadly, I think here-&-now, he’s been shafted by what’s happened since his last success and to be perfectly honest, his movie dream has probably wrecked any BBC TV chances.

Still, time will tell…

[listerssock]

*Shakes head in sad realization* :(

[Jason aka Smeg4Brains]

I would post something thoughtful and interesting but I can’t be bothered to read all that. I’ll just agree.

[Andrew]

I’m not sure you can call it a decline when the genuinely great entries in this genre – on TV anyway – can pretty much be counted on one hand.

Aside from anything else we’re talking about a sub-genre built from two of the hardest genres to work in – SF’s tough, comedy’s REALLY tough. People who can genuinely make it all work on TV or in film are impossibly rare.

The channels, it seems to me, know there’s an audience out there. It’s how Hyperdrive was commissioned. But there are maybe three people who could do it WELL. I see the webcomics, videos, scripts and ideas out there and I’m rarely left impressed by the genius; usually I’m disappointed by either the SF, the comedy, or both.

In TV great SF comedy is rare. just as a good musical drama show is rare. The lack you’re pissed off about, Ben, seems to me to be the standard lull between periods of luck and inspiration. This is ‘normal’. It’s a tiny sub-genre. (It also requires us to be pretty draconian about what constitutes SF comedy. Do we really need to exclude shows like Buffy or new Who, both of which are superb TV?)

I may bleat about cinematic SF/fantasy comedy not being as good now as in the 80s – Back to the Future, Ghostbusters, Gremlins, how spoiled we were! – but back then we had lousy comic book adaptations. Now we have some cracking ones – Sin City, Spider-Man, Hulk (yes, Hulk, deal with it), Batman Begins. ‘Tis just ebb and flow.

[pfm]

> Hulk (yes, Hulk, deal with it)

No. Just…no! The new film will be better, even if it’s just for seeing what Edward Norton does.

[Dave]

> Hulk (yes, Hulk, deal with it)

I liked the Hulk, but not Eric Bana. I was so dissappointed when he changed back

[Ben Paddon]

I?m not sure you can call it a decline when the genuinely great entries in this genre – on TV anyway – can pretty much be counted on one hand.

This is true, especially when you take into account that, specifically in terms of quality British scifi-comedy, you’re looking at ten years between H2G2 and Red Dwarf (and, if we’re counting it, fourteen years between Doctor Who and H2G2). But my concern is taking into account modern practices in marketing, which are mostly very very nasty and focus more on genre/setting/style than writer/cast/quality.

The channels, it seems to me, know there?s an audience out there. It?s how Hyperdrive was commissioned. But there are maybe three people who could do it WELL.

So the BBC/ITV/Sky/whoever need to get those people involved, then. Or at least try to.

I see the webcomics, videos, scripts and ideas out there and I?m rarely left impressed by the genius; usually I?m disappointed by either the SF, the comedy, or both.

I’m hurt, and I think I’m going to cry.

In TV great SF comedy is rare. just as a good musical drama show is rare. The lack you?re pissed off about, Ben, seems to me to be the standard lull between periods of luck and inspiration. This is ?normal?. It?s a tiny sub-genre. (It also requires us to be pretty draconian about what constitutes SF comedy. Do we really need to exclude shows like Buffy or new Who, both of which are superb TV?)

Buffy and Who are fantastic shows, both containing real moments of wit and humour, but they’re not strictly speaking comedies, are they? You can find Red Dwarf in the ‘Comedy’ section at HMV, but Buffy and Who tend to be in the ‘Drama’ section.

I may bleat about cinematic SF/fantasy comedy not being as good now as in the 80s – Back to the Future, Ghostbusters, Gremlins, how spoiled we were! – but back then we had lousy comic book adaptations. Now we have some cracking ones – Sin City, Spider-Man, Hulk (yes, Hulk, deal with it), Batman Begins. ?Tis just ebb and flow.

It appears comicbook movies are in decline again, though – Spider-Man 3 was a disaster, neither of the Fantastic Four movies impressed, Superman Returns was a disappointment, and with X-Men 3 Brett Ratner single-handedly undid all of the great work Bryan Singer had put into the rather awesome first two films. Alright, we’ve had the films you’ve mentioned, and also 300 (incidentally, apparently this is Sparta. Who knew?), but we’re looking at more misses than hits at the moment. he only comicbook movie I’m not worried about right now is The Dark Knight, because having seen the first six minutes last month I fail to see how that film would possibly suck.

I’ve gone off on a bit of a tangent here.

[Andrew]

> my concern is taking into account modern practices in marketing, which are mostly very very nasty and focus more on genre/setting/style than writer/cast/quality.

As if that wasn’t true 20 years ago. Projects need financing. You don’t hand over cash for the sake of it, just to assist the ego of someone who ‘just wants to make stuff’. You fund for an audience, and that’s been true since silent cinema…and, for that matter, Shakespeare and before.

More importantly, none of this is specific to SF-comedy – genres that, separately, generate audiences. Since when is that appeal detrimental to commissioning?

I guess SF is more expensive, that’s an issue. You end up paying a lot for something that’s twice as likely to go wrong thanks to being composed of too painfully difficult genres. Bad SF is easy, and comedy is incredibly delicate. So, to finance it, you’d better be GREAT.

You really think the Beeb get sent dozens of great SF comedy scripts every year? There are commissioning issues, but that’s been true since the year dot. It’s not a recent decline.

> So the BBC/ITV/Sky/whoever need to get those people involved, then. Or at least try to.

Who are they, though? And who says that’s not happening? Hyperdrive was commissioned, after all…

> You can find Red Dwarf in the ?Comedy? section at HMV, but Buffy and Who tend to be in the ?Drama? section.

I’m not sure that proves much of anything, given that nobody would know where, exactly, to put Back to the Future within that system. You’re talking about semantics, not content. Is a Buffy episode like Superstar really so different from Red Dwarf?

We come up with these labels, but when you’re talking about mixed genres and sub-genres, it seems churlish to disqualify certain shows from a ‘there’s no SF comedy’ debate simply because some shows also add drama to that mix.

Some of the best moments in The Office are dramatic. Some of the funniest lines on TV come from Joss Whedon’s Firefly- and Buffyverses. Is it really useful to segregate so harshly?

> It appears comicbook movies are in decline again, though

I’d say it’s a bit early to call it that. Peaks and troughs again. I think we’re looking at some heavy, sweeping statements, and I’m not sure that’s appropriate.

Talking about ‘disasters’ is subjective when those movies did great business (Supes aside, which made loads but cost more). But Iron Man’s looking promising, as is Watchmen, and even the new Hulk. Greatness is hard to achieve, it’s not easy to get these things right AND turn profit – calling a decline after a year or two when we’ve only been able to make these flicks en masse for less than a decade seems a bit premature.

Especially when most of the artistic failings seems specific to Marvel’s movie department… :-)

[Dave]

I’m sure there is a bias against SF comedy, but if you were commissioning these things and a sitcom set in a prison, a priest’s house or a bookshop landed on your desk you’d say it had already been done.

As much as I love Jump Leads, and I do, for all it’s inventiveness, it’s set on ‘just another spaceship’ to these people.

Hyperdrive was conceived as a sort of Anti-Dwarf, Saxondale in Space. It failed on many counts.

A new SF comedy would have to be incredibly inventive to arrive on our screens.

[Seph]

There does seem to be an “its been done before” feel about SF comedy with the general public, I have a feeling any new SF comedy would be accused of ripping off Who/Hitchikers.

“with X-Men 3 Brett Ratner single-handedly undid all of the great work Bryan Singer had put into the rather awesome first two films”

I blame more the change in writer than change in directors for the disastor that was X-men 3, David Hayter actually seemed to know how to write decent plots and characters (maybe i’m just biased towards the idea of Solid Snake writing the x-men movies)

[pfm]

Well Sam Raimi managed to undo all the great work HE did on Spides 1 & 2 with the insanely stupid 3. X-Men 3 may still have been lacklustre under Singer’s direction (although the film would have had a longer production).

[Ben Paddon]

I blame more the change in writer than change in directors for the disastor that was X-men 3, David Hayter actually seemed to know how to write decent plots and characters (maybe i?m just biased towards the idea of Solid Snake writing the x-men movies)

I seem to recall Ratner requesting a different writer, or something.

[Author]

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