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Sci-Fi is Bonkers
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According to James McAvoy of Dune and X-Men fame, Claudia Black of Farscape, Stargate and The Nevers fame, reckons that sci-fi is bonkers. James agrees.

So reports Slashfilm when he was asked if he had any advice for Timothee Chalomet of new Dune fame:

But I'll tell you what's one really good piece of advice that was given to me once, was by the cast of ... what was the show called again? Farscape. And it was at the L.A. premiere of Children of Dune, and they said to me, that the thing with this sh*t, i.e. science fiction, is that you have to believe it more than you believe good writing. Good writing, you can just do. It's easier. But this stuff is hard, because it's so bonkers, you know what I mean? And I've really, I've always remembered that advice and taken it to heart. It's so kept me going really, through a lot of science fiction and fantasy work that I've done. Because it was Claudia Black that said it. And I think that's just good advice for any actor doing any kind of science fiction and/or fantasy, you know?"

Farscape especially in its later seasons was bonkers. If they met at Dune's premiere as he describes that would have been in 2003 at or near the end of her time filming Farscape and before her joining Stargate SG-1.

Claudia making some comment to that effect could be forgivable in that context but James of today has worked on several objectively well written sci-fi films.

Good Writing and Sci-Fi Are Not Multually Exclusive

Well written sci-fi exists.

Not all sci-fi is well written.  For a range of reasons. Historically sci-fi has had a much smaller audience.

Film and TV is a business. Execs treat cash as an investment. Smaller audiences means smaller potential returns means smaller budgets means less pay for writers. Unless writers particularly want to work in sci-fi, the more skilled ones could easily disregard it in favour of better paying genres.

Sci-fi fans have been lucky in George Lucas who is an excellent writer. Despite quality of directing being very uneven pre Disney's acquisition, the Star Wars films always attracted huge audiences.

Stories were great. Characters were believable. Special effects were top of the line. It had a good moral centre.

Over several decades it became a multi-billion dollar franchise.

Similar could be said of Star Trek of old. Minus a single person in absolute control of the franchise it was less even but still generally comfortably above average.

Today we're seeing an explosion of both TV and film content as streaming services compete for subscriptions. There are plenty of skilled actors available but maybe not writers.

And there are other factors.

Is Sci-Fi More Challenging to Write?

Possibly yes.

Real world based fiction doesn't have to create an entire world or worlds. Fantasy authors do but have great liberty in that respect. Their worlds can be whatever they imagine.

Whether it's far future or some twist on the real world, sci-fi authors need to create alternate worlds which are believable in relation to today's real world. Logical and scientifically sound. With characters and storylines which today's readers can relate to.

That's an added layer of difficulty and complexity for sci-fi authors to manage but it can, has and continues to be done well by some.

Sci-fi missed out entirely in the recent PrimeTime Emmys. This has been lamented.

But the winners were not undeserved. Of the other nominees, The Boys was also excellent but there can be only one winner.

How any of those Disney titles earned nominations is a mystery. They're not as bad as eg. their recent Star Wars films but are far from stellar.

The Expanse TV series has generally been excellent and possibly could have been a contender but any kind of sexual misconduct allegation attached to a show is essentially the kiss of death.

References

Bui, Hoai-Tran (September 28, 2021). James McAvoy, Son Of Dune, Has Advice For His Father, Dune Star Timothee Chalamet. Slashfilm.

Selcke, Dan (Septmber 20, 2021). Sci-fi and fantasy shows completely shut out of Primetime Emmys. Winter Is Coming.

Wikipedia. Farscape. (viewed October 5, 2021)

Wikipedia. Frank Herbert's Children of Dune.  (viewed October 5, 2021)