After the excitement of the holidays has waned into the drudgery of the new year it's rather nice that there are some decent new TV series starting. I'm very much a Sci-Fi geek and I'm being rather spoilt with the choice of Heroes - a world of conspiracy inhabited with super-power gifted humans; Survivors - a post apocalyptic world in which a few disparate individuals have survived a devastating viral outbreak, Being Human - the everyday goings on of three Bristol housemates who happen to be a ghost, a werewolf and a vampire; and CSI : Crime Scene Investigation - life (and death) in the forensics department of the Las Vegas police department.
At first glance you wouldn't really class CSI as Sci-Fi. However, on closer inspection it is a hard Sci-Fi series in which seemingly plausible scientific methods are used to solve the often convoluted crimes presented to the main protagonists. I say "seemingly plausible" because quite often they stray into the territory of the complete bollocks were a lazy bit of script writing sees a single pixel blown up to reveal a high definition picture of the villain's number plate, or a complex partial finger print search find a single hit in a huge database in nano-seconds. It is also noticeable that some of the equipment has been deliberately styled on futuristic detective films such as Ridley Scott's Bladerunner or Steven Spielberg's Minority Report.
It's quite a turn around from the 1990's when one of the most popular Sci-Fi series was The X-files with it's labyrinthine conspiracy theories and outlandish plots in which supernatural entities or shadowy aliens would rule the day. It rather drew the ire of Richard Dawkins who, in a Richard Dimbleby lecture in 1996 noted:
At first glance you wouldn't really class CSI as Sci-Fi. However, on closer inspection it is a hard Sci-Fi series in which seemingly plausible scientific methods are used to solve the often convoluted crimes presented to the main protagonists. I say "seemingly plausible" because quite often they stray into the territory of the complete bollocks were a lazy bit of script writing sees a single pixel blown up to reveal a high definition picture of the villain's number plate, or a complex partial finger print search find a single hit in a huge database in nano-seconds. It is also noticeable that some of the equipment has been deliberately styled on futuristic detective films such as Ridley Scott's Bladerunner or Steven Spielberg's Minority Report.
It's quite a turn around from the 1990's when one of the most popular Sci-Fi series was The X-files with it's labyrinthine conspiracy theories and outlandish plots in which supernatural entities or shadowy aliens would rule the day. It rather drew the ire of Richard Dawkins who, in a Richard Dimbleby lecture in 1996 noted:
Each week The X-Files poses a mystery and offers two rival kinds of explanation, the rational theory and the paranormal theory. And, week after week, the rational explanation loses.
Whilst The X-Files disappeared up it's own posterior in the late 1990's, CSI has ruled the airwaves in the last decade spawning three separate franchises - some 70 episodes per year. However, quite what Dawkins would make of CSI is another matter. Rather than science being unable to answer anything, in CSI science has ALL the answers. You never have an ambiguous outcome, a lack of data or a lab-technician who just doesn't know. There has also been noted a CSI Effect in the real world where juries and victims' families have unrealistic expectations of what forensic science is actually capable of. It's still enjoyable nonsense but it is debateable whether it provides a reasonable insight into how real science works - obviously 40 minutes airtime is going to restrict what can be shown.
The new series got off to a rather mixed start. I'm quite taken with Laurence Fishburne as the new CSI. His character is an ex- doctor and university lecturer who has (in a rather unlikely scenario) packed it in to work in the crime lab. I'm impressed that the producers have managed to get an actor of Fishburne's status into the role as this has provided a fresh angle into what were becoming rather stale plots. The story last night was of a minor movie star who was murdered in a staged car crash. The motivation for this involved a rather convoluted plot including a stalker and a skeleton-in-the-closet father but it did, at least, end on an intriguing cliff hanger as some unspecified and unsuspected object was found in the chest cavity of an autopsy room cadaver. Quite what this was remains for future episodes but it wouldn't surprise me if it was last seen giving John Hurt a really bad case of indigestion and then chasing Sigourney Weaver around a space-ship.
The new series got off to a rather mixed start. I'm quite taken with Laurence Fishburne as the new CSI. His character is an ex- doctor and university lecturer who has (in a rather unlikely scenario) packed it in to work in the crime lab. I'm impressed that the producers have managed to get an actor of Fishburne's status into the role as this has provided a fresh angle into what were becoming rather stale plots. The story last night was of a minor movie star who was murdered in a staged car crash. The motivation for this involved a rather convoluted plot including a stalker and a skeleton-in-the-closet father but it did, at least, end on an intriguing cliff hanger as some unspecified and unsuspected object was found in the chest cavity of an autopsy room cadaver. Quite what this was remains for future episodes but it wouldn't surprise me if it was last seen giving John Hurt a really bad case of indigestion and then chasing Sigourney Weaver around a space-ship.
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