It is a truism that there are no original ideas left in Hollywood, which seems happy to do remakes of old movies and revivals of old TV series. Still, there are a few old science fiction series that might prove worthy of bringing back.
Firefly
Firefly is on the top of everyone’s list, not so much to be brought back but to be continued after it had been so rudely interrupted by being canceled a few years ago. The adventures of a crew of a space freighter/pirate ship operating on the fringes of the law in the 25th century was beautifully written and had a great cast of young actors. The downside is that one will have to hope for the cancellation of, for example, Castle, the great murder mystery show staring Nathan Fillion, who played the Captain in Firefly, for this to come off.
Star Trek (Classic)
A return of the original Star Trek and the adventures of Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, and company “exploring brave new worlds”, etc. has already been set up by the wildly successful movie directed by Lost’s J.J. Abrams. Manny Cotta, who proved that he understood the spirit of Star Trek when he ran the fourth and last season of Enterprise, should be put in charge of the revived series.
Jericho
Jericho started as a promising series about a limited nuclear holocaust that strikes America from the point of view of a small town in Kansas. Unfortunately it devolved into a conspiracy show involving the religious right, rabid neocons, evil corporations, and rogue CIA agents in a plot to take over the United States by destroying it. A reboot of Jericho would be a worthy idea, but this time with a scenario that is less offensive and more plausible.
Sliders
Sliders was about a motley group of people who find themselves popping from one alternate reality to another. At first, the show had promise with worlds like one in which the Soviets won the Cold War or the British the Revolutionary War. Then it devolved into some kind of weirdness with “Cromags” trying to conquer the multiverse and other such nonsense.
A revised Sliders, this time run by someone who understands alternate history would be a great idea. The trick would be to map out which alternate realities exist, with plausible points of departure, and whatever story arcs should be told in advance.
Men into Space
Men into Space was a series in the late 1950s depicting the efforts of the United States Air Force to explore space in the near future. With revised interested in beyond low Earth orbit space exploration, bring the series back (under another name-Into Space Perhaps) and involving not only NASA, but international players and commercial adventurers might be a good idea.
