PrintTV Review – Just Talking About Science-Fiction (By Melissa R. Mendelson)
Just Talking About Science-Fiction
By, Melissa R. Mendelson
When I was a kid, I would curl up on the couch with my parents and watch “The Twilight Zone,” “Outer Limits,” and “Amazing Stories.” For a holiday gift, my father gave me a hard covered book, the best of Science-Fiction, which included stories from Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury. I’ve read Carl Sagan’s “Contact,” and I hated it. It was right up there with “Ender’s Game,” “Sphere,” and “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?,” but I loved the movie, Blade Runner. I’ve read and loved Stephen Hawking’s “A Brief History of Time,” but the mathematical equations gave me a headache. So, I donated the book to the local library afterward. I’ve read and kept “Timewarps” by John Gribbin and “Bermuda Triangle” by Charles Berlitz. I’ve read a lot, and I’ve lived off of Stephen King novels and movies during my high school years. I had hoped one day that I would join the ranks of these legends and write as they do, and I do write Science-Fiction. But I haven’t broken down the walls as of yet, and I hunger for something to fill the void inside me.
I used to love Syfy. I loved the Stargate shows, SG-1 and Atlantis. I tried with Universe. I really did, and it ended badly. So, I won’t own that show, but I continued with Syfy and discovered some great shows such as “Sanctuary,” “Eureka,” and “Alphas.” I just won’t own season 2 of “Alphas” because there was no ending. Unfortunately, “Warehouse 13” had a terrible ending. It should never have returned with six episodes. It should have just returned with a two-hour movie, and maybe then, it would have been good. And “Haven” came to its end, a bittersweet end, and I’m leaning toward not owning that show either. And I realized something. My tv shows are dying, and I’m left with only two now on Syfy, “Dominion” and “Killjoys.” With the way that “Defiance” had ended, I hope it’s not coming back, and I’m disgusted with “Ascension” and “Childhood’s End.” Maybe, Syfy has reached its end as well, but where does that leave me?
FOX had a great hit, “Almost Human.” That television show could have gone past its first season, but it was cut short. And now FOX is trying with other Sci-Fi shows as well as bringing back “The X-Files,” but I had enough. Maybe, they weren’t cut out to do Science-Fiction, and there’s been BAD Science-Fiction on the local networks such as “Extant” and “Under The Dome.” I was so mad that “Under The Dome” came back that I created my own fan fiction series on it called, Project Echo.
So, again, where does that leave me? Nowhere. I stay in a galaxy far, far, far away from anything that is remotely Reality Television. I binge watch “Supernatural.” I await my “Arrow” and “Flash.” I’m a CW girl now, and at least, “Flash” involves Science-Fiction. But there isn’t much out there, and I’m tired of the police and fire and medical shows. I’ll watch them because I like them. I just don’t love them. I want Science-Fiction. I want something original, groundbreaking, mesmerizing, inspiring, mind-bending, chilling and thrilling, and I fear that maybe Sci-Fi is becoming as extinct as the dinosaurs. But I hope I’m wrong.
And I guess I’m left with my writing.
Author Bio:
Melissa R. Mendelson graduated college with both an AA in Liberal Arts and BA in Mass Communication: Critical Analysis. She was a Long Island news reporter from 2002 to 2004 and later went to work for the State of New York. She has written a variety of writing that continuously is published by the Antarctica Journal News, and she recently finished writing her first Horror/Sci-Fi novel, Lizardian, which can temporarily be found as an E-book on Amazon Kindle.