Flagrantly Random

After being announced over a year ago and sitting ready on ABC’s shelf for months, the anthology series Masters of Science Fiction will finally begin airing this Saturday the 4th of August (USA). Six short stories from some of the greatest science fiction writers of our time have each been turned into an hour-long, stand-alone “mini-movie”. Check out this promo for the show, with another one - plus more info - after the jump:

Masters of Science Fiction trailer

Masters of Science Fiction ABC spot

If you’re wondering what’s up with the robot narration in the first clip, it’s actually the voice of Professor Stephen Hawking, who will be hosting the series by introducing the episodes each week. And yes, that was Terry O’Quinn (aka John Locke from Lost) you saw. Some of the other faces/names you might recognise include Sean Astin (The Lord of The Rings), James Denton (Desperate Housewives), Judy Davis (Australian actress who starred in The Man Who Sued God as well as Swimming Upstream), Malcolm McDowell (Mr. Linderman from Heroes) Elisabeth Röhm (Law & Order), James Cromwell (a lot of stuff; most memorably, Babe; most recently, Spider-Man 3) and Anne Heche (Men In Trees).

Its sister show, Masters of Horror (which I found a bit dissapointing), airs on Showtime and is currently in talks for a third season. There are a few differences between the shows, besides the obvious one of genre. MoH was more focused on big-name horror directors, whereas the “Masters” in MoSF refers to the original short story writers. Also, with MoSF airing on ABC (a US free-to-air commercial channel), it will be much more stricter content-wise (read: no boobies, swearing or extreme violence ). On top of this, MoSF will also have ads which means a much shorter running time as well as a more disjointed feel to the “mini-movies”, while Showtime (a cable channel) gave MoH just under a full hour to tell each story, with no breaks in between. Additionally, the presence of a host is an element unique to MoSF.

Unfortunately, while six episodes were produced for Masters of Science Fiction, it has been announced that only four will air at this stage, with ABC Entertainment president Stephen McPherson describing the show as “very uneven” and “a little bit problematic.”

However, Mark Dawidziak of The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) has seen all six episodes and claims “…it’s a stunning collection of grand stories, relevant themes, mesmerizing performances and riveting dialogue” and that it “may be the best futuristic anthology series since the glory days of “The Twilight Zone” and “The Outer Limits.”"

Only time the ratings will tell if we will ever see the final two episodes air. I’ll be checking this show out either way, and I recommend you do too.