Science fiction, in the words of American author Ted Chiang, is a way of using speculative or fantastic scenarios to examine the human condition.1 It includes stories that explore how we might react to aliens arriving on Earth, ask what wed do if we could travel through time, follow great missions of space exploration, or chronicle the rise and fall of future civilizations. Many science fiction stories promote rational, life-serving ideas such as exploration, curiosity, and freedom. Others, however, by and large promote life-destroying ideas such as nihilism and anti-industrialism. <\/p>\n
Science fiction television is replete with examples in both categories. Some of it has been tremendously influential, inspiring people to become inventors, astronauts, writers, or simply to believe in a better future. Here are ten quality science fiction television shows that advocate life-serving ideas, particularly respect for reason, individualism, and liberty. <\/p>\n
Star Wars was originally a story about good triumphing over evil, pitting the Rebels, who value life and freedom, against the Empire, which murders people by the millions to prolong its totalitarian rule. Later Star Wars productions have drifted from this premise and swamped the moral clarity of the original trilogy, but Andor is an outstanding return to form in this regard. A prequel to the film Rogue One, it follows gun-for-hire Cassian Andor, who is disinterested in the cause of the Rebellionuntil a series of painful encounters with the Empire teaches him the true value of freedom. This is not only a story of good versus evil, but of one man discovering what it means to be good. <\/p>\n
The original 1960s version of Star Trek follows the crew of the USS Enterprise as they conduct a five-year mission to explore strange, new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations, and to boldly go where no man has gone before. It presents an optimistic future in which racism, war, and poverty are things of the past, and people work together as equals to explore the universea radical idea in 1960s America. Moreover, it presents a commentary on the roles of reason and emotion in a persons life through the interplay of the three main characters: The emotional, quick-to-anger Doctor McCoy; the emotionless, rigorously logical Mr. Spock; and the balancedrational yet passionateCaptain Kirk. <\/p>\n
The Canadian sci-fi\/fantasy series Sanctuary follows Helen Magnus, the head of a sanctuary for strangeand, in some cases, intelligentlife forms known as abnormals. She and her team protect these creatures both from the outside world and from each other. The show has a clear theme of scientific curiosity and fascination with the unknown; the villains often are people who fear, or try to exploit, the abnormals, regarding all as a threat based on the actions of a few or not recognizing the rights of intelligent beings among them. The heroes, on the other hand, value life intensely and relish the opportunity to study and protect these life forms. Moreover, Magnus is a fiercely moral character, never afraid to speak her mind, whatever others might think. As Magnus actor and Sanctuary executive producer Amanda Tapping said, I wish sometimes that I had her strength of conviction, without worrying so much about what other people thought.2 <\/p>\n
Doctor Who was born out of the BBCs original mission to inform, educate, and entertain.3 The order of those words was deliberate; Doctor Whos primary purpose was to teach children about science and history while also entertaining. It follows The Doctor, a Time Lord from a faraway planet, who travels through time exploring different worlds and time periods with a group of human companions, fighting evil along the way. One of the evil factions would propel the show to fame: a race of Nazi-inspired xenophobic half-robot mutants called Daleks. Their distinctive appearance and buzzing robotic voices made them an overnight sensation in Britain (think of them like a 1960s version of Minions), with countless Dalek-themed events, knock-off childrens toys, and two Dalek-focused movies. <\/p>\n
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Doctor Who, however, is The Doctors ability to regenerate, that is, stave off death by changing his form. This has enabled fourteen different actors to play the part in one continuous story. Regenerating changes The Doctors personality but not his fundamental values, which always include a conviction that individual lives are sacrosanct, a principled respect for freedom, and an unshakable confidence in the power of reason to solve problems. In one story, as he works to stop two warring tribes from destroying each other, he remarks, The very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common: they dont alter their views to fit the facts. They alter the facts to fit their viewswhich can be very uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that needs altering.4 <\/p>\n
Although the stories from the original 19631989 series have a (somewhat endearing) reputation for wobbly sets and improvised costumes, the moral themes they deal with are frequently deep and compelling, and the 2005 revival of the show delivers the high-quality action and spectacle that the earlier episodes sometimes lacked. <\/p>\n
Although almost all the Star Trek shows embody life-serving values, a few deserve special mention, and one of these is Voyager. It follows the crew of the titular USS Voyager, an exploratory vessel that gets thrown across the galaxy by a powerful alien force. Faced with a seventy-year journey home at maximum speed, Voyagers Captain Janeway must keep her crew safe in unfamiliar territory while looking for ways to get them home faster. Voyagers crew is divided on what they can and should do to achieve that goal, and Janeway is presented with several seeming opportunities that would come at the cost of violating her principles. In one story, Voyager encounters another stranded crewonly this one captured and experimented on intelligent beings while trying to survive. Janeway refuses to help them, saying Its never easy . . . but if we turn our backs on our principles, we stop being human.5 <\/p>\n
Voyagers story gets even more interesting at the start of the fourth season when the crew encounters the Borg, a race of cybernetic life-forms wired together into a collective consciousness. Rescuing a human who was assimilated by the Borg as a child, Janeway and her crew take on an additional mission: helping this Borg drone rediscover her individuality. <\/p>\n
Note: Im still trying to track down the later seasons of this show, so this review focuses on the earlier episodes. <\/p>\n
Based on notes left behind by the late Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, Earth: Final Conflict is set on a near-future Earth that has been radically transformed by the arrival of the alien Taelons. Although they appear to be benevolent and eager to help the human race evolve, it soon becomes clear that the Taelons have their own plans for humanity, and they wont let individual lives get in their way. As one Taelon says in the episode titled Live Free or Die, The only imperative concerns the welfare of our collective sentience, not the survival of an individual. <\/p>\n
The first season follows detective William Boon, who becomes head of security for the Taelons. He uses his role to uncover their plans and covertly support a group of freedom fighters. Although the acting is a little shaky in places, and the digital effects are dated, the shows fascinating concept and exemplary moral themes make those issues comparatively insignificant. <\/p>\n
Babylon 5 is a place of commerce and diplomacy for a quarter million humans and aliens. A shining beacon in space, all alone in the night. This opening narration from Babylon 5s first season describes its setting: a gigantic space station built to serve as neutral ground for alien races to meet, trade, and work out their differences in the aftermath of several major interplanetary wars. But forces are at work to reignite those conflicts, and it is up to the crew of Babylon 5 to fight for freedom, not only among the stars but also back home on Earth, as it falls into the grip of a totalitarian regime. Of all the shows on this list, Babylon 5 has perhaps the most well-crafted storyan integrated, preplanned five-season arc that deals with such subjects as the origins of religion, the human cost of war, the challenges of addiction, and the importance of learning life lessons firsthand. <\/p>\n
This prequel series, set a hundred years before the original Star Trek, follows the first human ship to venture into deep space: the USS Enterprise. This isnt Captain Kirks Enterprise but an earlier design, one far less advanced than the alien ships its crew encounters. That crew, led by Captain Archer, whose father invented the engine that powers the ship, must be exceptionally rational and courageous to survive in the face of often overwhelming odds. Not only that, but they must defend the very idea of exploration in the face of fierce resistance from Earths allies, the Vulcans, who consider humanity unready to venture into the galaxy and so work to discourage human space exploration. <\/p>\n
For Archer, this is a personal quest; although hes excited about his mission, he is angry that the Vulcans prevented his father from ever seeing the engine that he designed fly. He also faces opposition from groups on Earth who resent the influence of aliens on human cultures. The crews values are tested time and again as they stumble into interplanetary conflicts, get infected with alien diseases, and attract the attention of warlike factions intent on preventing Earth from becoming a major power in the galaxy. In the third season, when Enterprise ventures alone into a dangerous region of space to find and destroy an alien superweapon being built to attack Earth, Archer must carefully consider what lines hes willing to cross to protect the people back home. <\/p>\n
In the late 1970s, Doctor Who was at the height of its success, and Star Wars had just demonstrated that people were hungry for stories about fighting tyranny in the depths of space. In response, Dalek creator Terry Nation and the BBC came up with a new show: Blakes 7. It follows a band of escaped criminals who steal a powerful starship from the Federation, an Orwellian dictatorship that controls Earth and numerous other worlds. Naming the ship the Liberator, Blake and his fellow escapees evade the forces pursuing them. Many of the gang want to flee the Federation altogether, but Blake wants to stand and fight. When another escapee tells him, At least youre alive, the idealistic Blake responds, No! Not until free men can think and speak, acknowledging the fact that one is not fully alive unless one is fully free.6 <\/p>\n
As with any show from this time periodand especially from the BBCthe sets and visual effects look cheap and dated today, but all other aspects of the showthe concept, the characters, the actingare outstanding. <\/p>\n
What if aliens built the pyramids? Thats a question conspiracy theorists and quacks have asked for decades, but the Stargate franchise goes a step further: What if those aliens are still out there today, posing as gods and forcing entire planets of human beings to worship them? The 1994 movie Stargate depicted a military expedition traveling through the stargate: an alien device that enables instantaneous travel to other planets. It carries them to a world where people are enslaved by an alien posing as the sun god Ra. <\/p>\n
The movie is fun, but the TV continuationStargate SG-1is where things really get good. When another alien, posing as the god Apophis, attacks Earth through the stargate, the U.S. Air Force forms a group of elite SG teams to fight these aliens and find ways to defend Earth. Across its ten seasons, Stargate SG-1 follows the members of the lead SG team, SG-1, in their attempts to sow doubt and discontent among those who worship the gods. SG-1 encourages these people to use reason, follow the evidence, and throw off their oppressors and the belief systems that keep them enslaved. <\/p>\n
The show also conveys a wealth of information about ancient mythologies, including Egyptian, Greek, Norse, and English, as various aliens impersonate gods and characters from these traditions. If you make it to season eight, its also worth watching the spin-off series, Stargate: Atlantis, at the same time, as the two aired together, intertwining and expanding each others backstories in fascinating ways. <\/p>\n
*** <\/p>\n
Many more shows could go on this list, and a few honorable mentions are Star Trek: The Next Generation, Farscape, The Expanse, and the sadly short-lived Firefly. Also, the original 1978 version of Battlestar Galactica is a life-affirming story of hope and determination (although the 2003 reboot sadly swapped that tone for one of nihilism and despair). <\/p>\n
Science fiction is at its best when it conveys the values of reason, curiosity, and freedom. These are the values that will enable us to boldly go into a better future. Savor them in these fascinating explorations of what that future might hold. <\/p>\n
Thomas Walker-Werth is associate editor at The Objective Standard and a fellow at both Objective Standard Institute and Foundation for Economic Education. He hosts the podcast Innovation Celebration with his wife Angelica. See more of his work at walker-werth.com. <\/p>\n
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