A local comedy sci-fi series

[DrJohnZoidberg]

Why don't we seen any local science fiction series'?

I've recently been watching the BBC comedy series Red Dwarf and even though it's pretty old (first aired 1988) it's still pretty funny if you like that kind of old school British humour. It also manages to be a comedy series that isn't overly "science-fictiony" so it's not unkind to viewers that don't really care to much for that kind of thing.

I think a show like this would be great for the South African market. It would be epic to see a show like this in Xhosa or Zulu so it can be enjoyed by these South Africans that have never had exposure to these kinds of shows in their native tongues. I think it is also very much overlooked that shows like this can really drive young minds to seek out answers and, excuse the cliche but, reach for the stars.

With projects like SKA coming to our shores I think South Africa can really benefit by encouraging people to want to pursue careers in the space sciences.

What you guys think of a show like this in SA? I think they could even basically clone the Red Dwarf theme and just give it local flavour.

If any TV producer is reading this, feel free to steal my idea

 

[henniedebeer]

We had a comedy / sci-fi series... it was called The Coconuts...

 

[grok]

Damn that Verwoerd fella for making Sci-Fi so hard!

 

[Azbubu]

Tokoloshes in outer space.

 

[twicode]

Only the Brits would link Sci Fi with comedy.

 

[oronte]

Only the Brits would link Sci Fi with comedy.

Quite true, the only American Sci-Fi comedy series I can think of is 'Homeboys in Outer Space': http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115206/
Which is probably the reason there are no other Sci-Fi comedies...

But seriously it's a matter of popularity: two producers go to the SABC one with Red Dwarf and one with Isidingo - who do you think gets the money? Even if someone does come up with a great idea none of the channels accept unsolicited submissions (so that producer with Red Dwarf never even got a meeting at the SABC), they all issue Commissioning Briefs which have very exact specifications for what they want. They don't believe there is enough of a market in SA to justify a science fiction show and (unfortunately) they're right (for now).

 

[Lupus]

The SABC can barely make the shows they've got so you will get what you get, DSTV would rather pay for popular overseas shows over making their own as it probably costs less, as the local shows we did have are mostly over, LOL, The Coconuts etc...