What happened to space opera?

Back in the early 2000s we had awesome epic space operas like Battlestar Galactica and Babylon 5. I used to see a lot of commercials promoting the Battlestar Galactica TV series back in 2004-05. I was never interested in sci fi until earlier this year when I played the first Mass Effect under the recommendation of a friend. I thought the Battle for the Citadel scene was epic. I have yet to watch Battlestar Galactica and Babylon 5.

Why don't we see shows like Battlestar Galactica or Babylon 5 anymore? Did the network execs decide the genre was dead? Have the average person lost interest in space exploration? Have we become more cynical for the future? I think we need more epic space battles on TV.

It was long thought that fantasy was a genre once thought reserved for geeks but Game of Thrones has garnered a huge audience. Perhaps a well written space opera with a huge budget could appeal to a diverse audience.

Do you think this genre should be revived?

I loved the Battlestar Galactica remake it was fracking good. I have to check Mass Effect? Not a space opera but I just finished watching Taken the tv series I think it is anyways.

a reply to: CmdrShep2154

The Expanse is really space opera, it is just that it develops slowly. I really hope that they write new seasons of it but, story wise, I'm unsure of where it could go now after the last season (perhaps with the human race becoming a level II civilization on the Kardashev scale with threats that only a level II civilization could cope with, such as further tests by the creators of the protomolecule?).

So was Firefly/Serenity and Killjoys, space opera in a way.

But on the way, they are still great Sci-Fi.

a reply to: CmdrShep2154

They let the Star Trek franchise continuity wither into decay just before that as well.

DS9 and Galactica were arguably more epic than Star Wars. I mean when one of the most interesting places in the entire Star Wars galaxy is Tatooine, no doubt as no Star Wars film lacking that desert dust ball is even tolerable, no contest. Frak Tatooine!

a reply to: IgnoranceIsntBlisss

DS9 is the best tv ever!

It still exists, but the problem is the ScyFy makes most of them and for some reason loves to kill them off as soon as the get some popularity.
Crazy considering their name.

But yes, weird how sci-fi these days is possibly more mainstream and popular than it has ever been. Yet we do seem to get less and less of it in the mainstream media sources.

For me here in Australia the problem has been when a sci-fi show comes on, they usually air it in a late time slot, then they tend to shuffle them around so you cannot keep track of when it is on or if it is on.
(RIP Farscape. Despite it's heavy Australian connections that show stopped started and got shifted around like nothing else I have seen on Aussie TV.)

I dunno. Maybe it's like politics. Old out of touch men and women running the networks. Wrong selection of people polled for surveys (aka neilsen ratings boxes)
I know more people who like sci-fi than don't. But I think it's the wrong people being heard or deciding about it.

On the upside though. We have the internet now so you can find plenty of what you want when you want it.
Some quite good fan made Star Trek shows and movies on youtube for example. Many featuring actors and the characters they played from the original shows. Walter Koenig aka Chekov for the original ST seems to love acting in them.

Not sure the genre needs to be revived. It's still going strong. It's just you need to look elsewhere than "main stream" sources these days for it.
But yes, would be nice if we had more options than the SyFy channel who seem to can everything like The Expanse and Dark Matter for some reasons.

But if you're interested some other recent sci-fi to check out is:
KillJoys.
Black Mirror. (kind of a Twighlight Zone with twists on tech abuse.)
The Orwell (Seth Macfarlane of Family Guy's rather good take on Star Trek.)
Dr Who (which is still running after being revived in 2005)

Otherwise there is a huge catalog of oldies out there.
Blakes 7.
The original BSG
Space 1999
Firefly and it's movie Serendipity.
ALL the STar Treks
New BSG and Babylon 5 as you mentioned.
LEXX
And well a tonne more. Too much to list here, especially if you start looking at foreign science fiction film and TV.

No shortage of it. But yes not in the public eye as much as it should be perhaps.
Not all is 'opera' but you should be able to find something to scratch your itch.

Sites like imdb and google are a good place to start.

a reply to: CmdrShep2154

The expanse is great. Best since BSG.

a reply to: chr0naut

Expanse is based on a book series. I could tell you where next season will go but I hate giving spoilers.

a reply to: chr0naut

Expanse, they are far ahead in the book series and will definitely finish before the show gets even close to catching them.

Books are awesome, TV show is awesome.

I do like ST Discovery and am looking forward to next season.

If you really crave space opera - start reading more, there's some fantastic series to be read. Your favorite search engine can give you plenty of lists to start from.

a reply to: SpartanStoic

TV show may not make it. SciFi cancelled it, it's on Amazon next year.

the expanse as others have said is pretty much the best space opera on tv now,we lost killjoys and dark matter.

still some good sci fi space opera book series around thought . like terms of enlistment(6 book series think starship troopers w less nationalisim)

alot of people like the lost fleet series isnt bad i hear

www.indiewire.com... the clone wars i coming back for at least 12 episodes but most of the rest on this link are older scifi shows ,i wish they would bring back more cowboy bebop. you may also like last exile (think there are 3 of them now) tv show its planetary based but with out going too much into it it gets a bit space opera like

a reply to: RalagaNarHallas

Killjoys has 2 more seasons, wasn't cancelled.

The Expanse WAS cancelled, it's on Amazon starting next year.

a reply to: OccamsRazor04

Bezos is a massive fan of the books. They picked it up super quickly and IIRC he announced it himself within 2 weeks of it's cancelation by SciFi.

I seriously doubt it will cancel or not finish at Amazon.