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I've been tasked by @IDontWannaGo_ with the particularly exciting mission to recommend non-US science fiction TV shows, and by the God of Telephagy, this is the mission I was born ready for.
Buckle up, folks, this is gonna be long. LONG.
Buckle up, folks, this is gonna be long. LONG.
As a preamble, let me reiterate what I told @IDontWannaGo_ last night : not all TV cultures are equal in front of sci-fi. It's (*almost* by definition) a televisual genre that can be expensive to produce, for one.
And quite simply there is oftentimes no tradition for sci-fi in many places, because it is assumed the audience doesn't have a taste for it (usually those TVs have more fantasy going on, but I digress).
Doesn't mean none can be found at all, of course, as you'll soon find out.
Doesn't mean none can be found at all, of course, as you'll soon find out.
Please also note that this is list is in no way exhaustive. It's what I could think of right now. I've also tried to break it into subgenres/themes for conveniency... but those very things imply biases.
There's a lot of TV to go around out there and I am but one telephage.
There's a lot of TV to go around out there and I am but one telephage.
Lastly let's not forget that genre shows tend to travel LESS than others shows. I've tried to keep in mind accessibility (all those shows have at least English subtitles available SOMEWHERE), so everything should be watchable, but again, that limits our list.
...Since I wouldn't be mad at some of you reading my stuff sometimes, I've used this thread of recommendations as a #shamelessselfpromo opportunity, too :P Don't say I didn't warn you !
Alright, here we boldly go.
Alright, here we boldly go.
Space opera/Space travelThis is by essence the type of sci-fi LEAST likely to be produced in TV industries that don't have the kind of funding and/or scale of US TV (which itself relied in no small part on English-speaking Canadian TV anyway). This is gonna be quick...
#Missions (France) - What should be the first human flight to Mars becomes an incredibly complicated experience for the team when they land and find that someone is already on the soil of the red planet.
http://www.ladyteruki.com/2019/09/01/lazarus/ // http://www.ladyteruki.com/2017/04/19/space-oddity/
http://www.ladyteruki.com/2019/09/01/lazarus/ // http://www.ladyteruki.com/2017/04/19/space-oddity/
Aaaaand that's all I could think of. Next.
(I mean, we can talk about #Farscape until the cows come home from being kidnapped by aliens, but let's be real, this is not the task I was given)
AI/Robots/CyborgsHumanoid robots have become somewhat trendy again, in no small part thanks to how easy they are to portray on TV with real humans. I mean : real actors, ahem
#ÄktaMänniskor (Sweden) - The real reason why a lot of productions around the world are attempting similar stories, and still a "classic". YES, you could watch the UK/US series derived from it ( #Humans), but then what would the point of this list be ? http://www.ladyteruki.com/2012/01/26/now-its-personal/
#LuchsheChemLyudi (Russia) - Found as #BetterThanUs on Netflix, it's clearly inspired by the show above (I don't care what its producers claim), but with a different approach to the portrayal of technology, not to mention a very different visual style. http://www.ladyteruki.com/2017/04/15/better-than-itself/
