On Science Fiction

I have always loved stories, and have read widely since I could read, but few genres have captured me as much as Science Fiction, especially if it involves space.

The first Sci-Fi I remember capturing my attention was E.T. I was all of 8 years old, almost 9, when it was released, and I made my long-suffering family take me to the cinema several times to watch it. I know they took turns, and I ended up seeing it 9 times in the cinema. By the last time, I could just about recite every word, and started crying when the yellow flowers drooped.

There have been many many stories since then, from Starman to Star Trek, Stargate and, of course, Star Wars. My love for everything with the word Star in it is no secret, really.

But even if there wasn’t Star in the name, if it was Science Fiction and set in space, you can pretty much guarantee that I watched it, and loved it quite a bit. I’m looking at you, Farscape, but not forgetting Andromeda, Battelstar Galactica, Lexx, and so many more.

Here is my confession. I have never really been big on reading SciFi. Sure, I read some of it – Dune mostly – but have, for the most part, not really included space operas in my reading, often because I steered clear of reading series of any kind, and preferred stand-alone stories.

Then, two years ago, I discovered The Expanse. A colleague told me about the books, but I had a fair bit going on in my life at the time (like planning moving my family to a new continent) that I didn’t quite pay attention. When the series was released on Netflix, I thought I would give a go. And I was hooked. In the two weeks that I was alone in the UK waiting for my family to arrive, I watched season 1 another two times through, and when season 2 was made available on Netflix, I devoured it (and rewatched). And then broke down and started buying the books, which just cemented my love for this series.

I woke up on Friday morning to the news that SyFy has decided effectively cancel the TV series. My heart has been broken since. But we, the fans, have been campaigning Amazon and Netflix since then to pick up the show, and maybe, just maybe, there is hope for future seasons.