Space Opera is back on TV!

When Stargate Universe bit the dust in 2011, I mourned. And I didn’t even like the show. But it was there – the last space opera on TV, and I need my fix.

Then followed years of no space opera on TV. There were sci-fi, mind you, but just no space adventures. Hollywood wasn’t game. Super high budgets, low ratings. Bad ROI. Even Syfy (once SciFi) was looking elsewhere. Wrestling. Mutant sharks. Anything but producing glorious space epics it was known for like Battlestar Galactica.

And then, this year, a renaissance! We have two space operas showing on TV. There will be a third at the end of the year.  Syfy, after years of ugh programming is finially back on the ball producing awesome science fiction again.

Killjoys

Premise: Bounty Hunters in space.

What I love: Cool heroine: Dutch, the ass-kicking ex-assassin. The two brothers are bland and predictable, sadly. Make one of them a face-sucking undercover alien, and maybe I’ll be 100% onboard.

What I don’t quite love: A been there, done that premise. Although watchable, Killjoys has not offered anything new or groundbreaking in the story department. Though Dutch’s dark history with the mysterious assassin order which trained her since kidhood promises some dramatic tension in the future.

Dark Matter

Premise: A couple of folks wake up from cryosleep and find themselves floating in space in a ship with a serious case of amnesia.

Usually the amnesia plot device makes me groan out loud, but this one promises revelations, surprises and twists. Well, in theory. So far the characters seem pretty … standard. Tough lady who leads the team, bland hero guy with a conscience, mysterious guy with ninja moves, jerk gun-happy grunt and even a spunky teen with ESP. Still, the mystery of who they really are (and who wiped their memory banks clean) is compelling. Here’s to hoping for more exciting developments.

The Expanse

Premise: Men have colonised the solar system. Humanity is under threat (when is it never in danger?), and somehow police detective Josephus Miller (Thomas Jane), ship’s officer Jim Holden (Steven Strait) and his crew play a key in humanity’s survival.

ETA: December 2015

Zero gravity sex. Sorry to be pervy, but that’s what first came up when I googled the show. So it promises to be gritty, dark, and maybe the Game of Thrones of Space Opera. (But pretty please without the mutilations, torture and non-stop deaths.) Best of all, it’s based on, awesomely, James SA Corey‘s magnum opus space opera series of the same name. I love the novels and you betcha I’ll be rooted in front of that TV, eyes wide open ready to devour it.