TV Science Fiction

It's a pretty good time for fans of the genre.

There's Battlestar Galactica, a little less fun just lately, but still head and shoulders over most other dramas in any genre on TV right now.

There's the BBC contribution, Doctor Who, adult oriented spin-off Torchwood and various other Who related product of varying quality. CGI technology and BBC budgets have finally intersected and the traditional advantage the UK has in writing and acting means some great SF drama.

Heroes has been my must see this season. Although the execution and design have favoured the comic book iteration of the superman, the ensemble story reaches back to the literary history of the superhuman. Like Phillip Wylie's Gladiator (Superman's literary father), Odd John by Olaf Stapleton, Slan by A.E Van Vogt or The Chrysalids by John Wyndham. All explore worlds where despised outsiders have terrifying powers that are all that can save them from a hostile world.

Jack Kirby and Stan Lee didn't create mutants when they created The X-Men. It's a literary meme humans have been playing with for a long time. Heroes is a compelling and beautifully written contribution to the genre.

Anybody else been particularly grabbed by anything on TV this season? Don't go to the Studio 60 place, I'm still in denial that it could be that brilliantly written and still suck that badly.