Has science fiction become too dark, gritty, and depressing?

[RitzyCinnamonRoll]

I have always been fascinated with space but strangely enough I am not that big of a Star Trek or Star Wars fan. I do enjoy the Star Trek and Star Wars movies as a casual fan. I tried getting into The Expanse and while I think it is the highest quality space thing on TV today it is very bleak. I tried getting into the new Star Trek series and I think it tries too hard to be Battlestar Galactica and the aliens look generic.

A long time ago a friend recommended me this video game called "Mass Effect". I finally decided to get the trilogy on my XBOX and I thought the game's universe and story was much more exciting than both Star Trek and Star Wars. The first Mass Effect had the optimistic feel of the original Star Trek series. The second reminded me of Firefly and the third one was huge intergalactic war of survival reminiscent of Battlestar Galactica. I loved all the aliens that were in Mass Effect. The spaceships were cool looking as well.

I have also gotten into Iain M. Bank's Culture series of novels.

Do we need a show set in space that is optimistic and exciting? Something that will make us excited for space again? Should sci fi give us optimistic futures again?

A artist who worked on Avatar the Last Airbender and Pixar movies has his own webcomic that has mech football in it.

 

[MillauFr]

I thought the Martian was very uplifting and it gave me hope for the future.

 

[BrianL]

I can somewhat agree with you, especially about Star Trek. The new shows are just way too dark for me, and lack the optimistic nature I expect for Star Trek. Sure, there has alwasy been room for some darker aspects in Trek, but it was never to the level it is now - even when it got dark in the past, it was also always hopeful. The new shows seem to lack that and just try to be edgy, shocking, and different just because. It's not my cup of tea.

 

[Tiggr88]

Have you tried the clone wars on Disney+? It is a much better backstory to the original star wars movies then the prequels were. You mentioned the movies so I shouldn't be spoiling anything here.

While it concerns the clone wars which we already know from the movies leads to the destruction of the Jedi's and the creation of the empire, the actual series is not really that dark. It does a much better job establishing Anakin, as well as his relationship to ObiWan. It also gives a rather interesting background on the clones themselves and their relationship to the Jedi and the republic as well as why and how they eventually turn on the Jedi. It also introduces Ahsoka Tano who starts off as Anakin's padawan. She is one of the Star Wars favorite characters and I found her story to be very interesting.

She will also be showing up in the next season of Mandalorian, whenever that is if you watch that. I would recommend it if you haven't. It can also be a little dark but I wouldn't consider it the same vein as The Expanse.

The Expanse basically envisions a world where our human nature is unchanged as we expand throughout the solar system. The same power struggles and issues we have today, just on a planetary scale. There is no Star Trek Gene Roddenberry inspired optimism that we somehow overcame our baser instincts (after a cataclysmic nuclear third world war) and united before our trip through the galaxy. So yes, it can be dark and may get worse before it gets better (if it gets better). The show is not quite halfway through the books yet. The books were written (and the show produced by them as well) by two people who were heavily influenced by George RR Martin and Game of Thrones. While it is not quite as bleak as that, you're right that it is definitely on the darker side.

Not sure how much of the "optimistic" movies/series there are more recently.

 

[Kitty 34]

I'm still trying to get over the War of the Worlds!!!

 

[marcyleecorgan]

sci fi has always traditionally been dark, gritty and depressing. they are intended as morality tales for the future & modern social commentary. instead of princesses and castles, there are... princesses and spaceships

 

[TipsyTraveler]

Dark, gritty, and depressing. That just sounds like art imitating life at this point.

 

[NYCgrrl]

I thought you were talking about books and was going to suggest you change authors.

 

[KayMichigan]

You could take a look at 'The Orville', a Star Trek like show created by Seth MacFarlane. It's sort of a science fiction/ comedy hybrid. It was on Fox but it's moving to Hulu.

I do wish they'd do a Star Trek series that's much more like the original series, just a fun action show about a crew exploring space. I tried watching Discovery but just didn't enjoy it.

And yeah, real science fiction is not optimistic in nature. When the first Star Wars movie came out in 1977 a lot of arguments were made that it wasn't really science fiction, but science fantasy.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Dark, gritty, and depressing. That just sounds like art imitating life at this point.

A lot of the time, science fiction reflects the current reality.

 

[gillep]

I like both versions. Star Trek The Next Generation is my favorite show of all time and it is quite Utopian, but I also enjoy the darker takes as well, I guess I just like the genre as a whole in any form.

 

[Praying Colonel]

I'm sitting here rewatching BSG (currently in season 3). Pretty doggone bleak, and that was 15 years ago. You go back even farther and you've got Blade Runner and Alien, just to name a couple of gritty/dark/bleak scifi movies.

 

[spiders]

The new Piccard on CBS All Access is definitely different than traditional Star Trek or the Star Trek relaunch. I still enjoyed it.

Another one that I always thought was underrated was The Man in the High Castle. It's set in the 1960's in a world where the Allies lost WWII. It can be depressing for sure but I thought it was very well done and I enjoyed the ending except for the final 30 seconds.

 

[Flight]

Watch or listen to the BBC version of “The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.“

That will cheer you up!

 

[Heather07438]

I loved all the Star Treks, Next Generation is one of my all time favorite shows. It looked to the future with change for the better. I watched the whole series again last year and surprised by how forward thinking it was. It aged well.

My son was a big reader in middle school and even he got bored with all the dystopian sci-fi. It has its place and there are some classics but after a while it does seem too doom and gloom everything and the stories are just being phoned in.

 

[Diznygrl]

I was going to mention The Orville as well. It's more comedic than old school Star Trek, but it still has drama and an optimistic view of the future, and it also addresses real world social issues under the guise of science fiction. So a lot like Star Trek used to be. In fact, it was created as an homage to the older Star Trek series'. I really enjoy it a lot and I'm kind of bummed that it's moving to Hulu because I don't currently subscribe to Hulu.

 

[marcyleecorgan]

The Orville is hysterical.
Star Trek has always been a favorite of mine.
I also really love Babylon 5 and Firefly (Serenity not so much). Also a big fan of Dune!
I love Ewoks and if they could just make an entire franchise revolving around "Jub Jub", I could totally buy all the things. the rest of it... oh no thank you.

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

Has science fiction life become too dark, gritty, and depressing?