Masters Of Science Fiction – DVD Review

It’s not surprising that Masters of Science Fiction wasn’t given a real chance. At the outset it had too much going against it: it was Science Fiction, it was an anthology show, and—perhaps its most glaring problem of all—it was intelligent. So, although it is a real shame that a show with such potential was canceled after only airing four episodes, it seemed almost inevitable considering the attitudes the networks have for the genre.

Hosted by Stephen Hawking, each episode aimed to adapt a seminal work by SF’s greatest authors. Six episodes were filmed, with only four aired, and the list of authors reads like a veritable “Who’s Who” of Science Fiction: John Kessel, Howard Fast, Robert A. Heinlein, Harlan Ellison, Robert Sheckley, and Walter Mosley. In fact, Ellison has a co-author credit on the teleplay for the adaptation of his story “The Discarded,” and Mosley solely wrote the adaptation of his story. The shows are incredibly faithful to the original stories with only a few tweaks here and there to make them contemporary, and what really makes this series interesting is that the creators chose very intimate, very personal stories, which may be one of the reasons why the series never succeeded.

These aren’t tales about people roaming the vast reaches of space or time, and there isn’t a great sense of awe and grandeur that made other SF shows like Star Trek, Babylon 5, and Farscape so popular. In fact, five out of the six episodes take place on Earth. Essentially these are morality plays that use Science Fiction concepts to highlight various aspects of human nature—many of which are base and dark. These are not Gene Roddenberry worlds where racism, classism, and sexism are things of the past; these are imperfect worlds that darkly mirror our own, populated with stupid, greedy, fearful people and many times the episodes leave us with stark questions about the nature of humanity.

While this may make it seem that the stories are bleak, perhaps even nihilistic, this is also what makes the show so good. The authors don’t hand out pat answers to complex problems, they realize their intricate nature and instead provide “what ifs” designed to make you think and come to your own solutions. What makes this so frightening (and intriguing) is the unspoken idea that maybe there is no right answer.

Of course, while the source material is very important, the show’s strength lies in more than just picking the right story to adapt. Masters of Science Fiction was produced by the same people who created the much more successful Masters of Horror and both shows strove to tell great stories by bringing in high name actors and directors. There are some great actors in this series, including John Hurt, Brian Dennehy, James Cromwell, and Judy Davis. They really bring the stories to life and bring a sense of credibility to the series.

In truth, though, the same care and attention given to selecting the stories and the actors shows in every aspect of this show, and that makes its cancellation even harder to bear because you can tell that the people involved were really trying for something special here. There really was potential here for this to become a great anthology series in the vein of The Outer Limits and The Twilight Zone. Unfortunately, it went the way of other great Science Fiction television shows and fans are left to wonder just what might have been.

The video and audio for the episodes are top notch and there were no transfer problems that I saw. The video is presented in Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1 and the audio is Dolby Surround 5.1.

There were no special features for this collection.

This was an impressive beginning to show that was never given a chance. Intelligent, thought-provoking if a little bleak at times, Masters of Science Fiction could have been great. Do yourself a favor and pick this up. Highly recommended.

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Anchor Bay Entertainment presents Masters of Science Fiction. Running time: 264 minutes. Rated NR. Released on DVD: August 5, 2008. Available at Amazon.com.