[Braga (Star Trek: Enterprise) and David S. Goyer (Blade: Trinity) were frank about the trend toward genre TV in the wake of last season's hit show Lost.] There's [no] question that all ... of these shows probably won't survive, ... But I remember when ER and Chicago Hope both debuted, everybody was all, 'Oh, they're not [going to make it]. But they both [did]. ER [lasted] longer, but they both lasted for a long time. Two of [the new SF series] might survive, or maybe only one of them will survive. But I do think it's interesting. I mean, I've seen [Invasion and Surface]. I don't know if you guys have, but they're all really different. So it's kind of funny. I mean, they're all nominally science fiction shows that are dealing with aliens, but Invasion's very much small town, kind of Bodysnatchers. Surface is like The Abyss, kind of. And then ours is this weird kind of X-files-y [show], but also Twin Peaks-y. |
[In a tumultuous world, science fiction and horror series are a spin on current events.] It's obviously in the zeitgeist, ... You're telling allegorical tales, and you're shining a light back on society - what's happening now - and it's a way to kind of talk about what's going on, but from a sideways angle. |
As a viewer, (I) like shows like that. I like shows that have a breadth to them and that you can pick apart and watch again and again. I think that's fun. |
For my money, it's reaction, |
Historically when people have been scared and nervous, there's been an uptick in science fantasy horror. You're telling allegorical tales and shining a light back on society. |
Historically when people have been scared and people have been nervous, there's been an uptick in science-fiction, fantasy and horror. It happened in the '50s with the Red Scare and the Space Race and all of that. And there usually is a correlation between (events and fiction that follows). You're telling allegorical tales and you're shining a light back on society, and it's a way to talk about what's going on but from a sideways angle. |
I don't think four science- fiction shows are going to survive, but a couple probably will. |
I find out Peter Hyams was available, so I just called him and said, 'Can you help us out?' He said OK. |
I had to immediately start preproduction on that, so I had to find a replacement really fast. And one of the things that we liked was that people had seen the first hour and thought it had more of a cinematic quality, so we thought we have to find a feature director to do the second hour. Who's available? |
In science fiction, historically, you're telling allegorical tales. You're shining a light back on society -- what's happening now. It's a way to talk about what's going on, but from a sideways angle. |
It didn't hurt. There's no way to fully ever figure that out. |
It happened in the '50s with the Red Scare and the space race and all of that. And there usually is a correlation between those two. . . . You're telling allegorical tales and you're shining a light back on society, what's happening now, and it's a way to kind of talk about what's going on, but from a sideways angle. |
It's also one of the ways we're going to talk about [how] the aliens might even communicate or be communicating, ... One of the things we're trying to do with the whole first season is ... Molly and her red team of the threshold people are scrambling to try and find out what's going on and may frequently be wrong about what's going on, because it's not like the aliens just come down and say, 'Well, we're going to be doing this. We're going to be doing this.' A lot of what we're trying to do is posit the aliens as genuinely alien, so that even struggling to communicate with them is really difficult. And because our show is going to be a slow rollout, it's going to be a while before there's even any really secondary communication with them. |
Our show is meant to be disturbing and genuinely scary, because I think if something like this did happen, it would be disturbing and scary. |
There have been lots of great shows that have complicated mythologies. It didn't seem to hurt The X-Files, and it doesn't seem to be hurting Lost. |